To Murder Matt (36 page)

The housekeeper saw Nico threaten him, and then run into the house, shouting.  She thought the world was going mad, first Matt comes back about a month ago covered in bloody bandages, which he says was from an accident, but she had seen the wounds on his back when he showered. She knew stab wounds when she saw them. Then the scuffle with the man and woman yesterday, and now this man threatening him too.  She didn’t know what was going on, but she thought it time that her and her husband found a new job, and soon.  She liked a quiet life.  She went and called the police again.  Today she wasn’t going to wait for any fights to start, and the visiting man was already acting crazy, and out of his mind.

As Nico ran around the house screaming for Veronique, his terror was that Matt would have killed her.  The police arrived. The housekeeper let them in, and they followed Nico's voice to where he was.

“Thank God you are here.” He said to the police, with relief. “Help me find her.”

“Who?”

“Veronique. She has to be here.”

“Who is Veronique?”

“His sister.” 

“Take a seat Monsieur.  Let us have a little chat.”  He signalled to his accompanying officer to go and speak to Matt.  Nico didn’t have a minute to waste he turned, and ran outside, and jumped into his car, and drove away, as fast as he could.  The policemen came running out and started to speak into the radio in the car. They didn’t follow him, although he didn’t quite understand why.  He stopped down the road realising that if they had radioed ahead, they might stop him further along the road, in a roadblock, and so he reversed up the lane, and parked behind some thick bushes and trees.  He returned to the villa on foot. It reminded him of the day he had first rescued her from the villa. The time she had said she had been mugged. He had followed her home earlier that day and had decided that now he knew where she lived, he would go back to see her another time.  When she hadn’t returned to the ship, at the normal time, he had borrowed a car from a dockworker and gone to find her.  He had found her passed out by the pool, bruised and bloody. He had carried her to the car and taken her back to the ship. He had put her in her cabin, and had to ensure that no one saw him. Then he just had to wait for Marie to find her like that.  It had been an agonising wait, and he still didn’t really know what had happened.

Now he was outside the villa again, and didn’t know where she was, whether she was still alive, or even if the police were after him. He had no transport, as they may be looking for his car. He had had better days.

Nico crept along the front and crouched behind Matt’s car. It was a vintage Ferrari. He waited.  About fifteen minutes later, Matt was assisted out to the police vehicle.  Both policemen were carrying him. One of the policemen was complaining about the ambulances being busy, and this would be quicker than waiting.  Nico watched them put him in the back seat.  They drove off at high speed.

Nico crept around the car.  He couldn’t borrow the car, to leave, as it would be too noticeable. Matt would need to drive his car at some point. He tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked.  He quietly opened the door and sat inside.

He didn’t know much about cars, but he knew that every car had its weak points. Every car needed brakes on the winding roads, especially around here. Maybe, he could drain the brake fluid. 

“No it wouldn’t work because the brakes were so important it would be the first thing Matt would check. He would find a problem with them immediately.” He said to himself, under his breath. He looked at the dashboard before him, and his thoughts were confirmed by the presence of warning light indicator.  He was sure that even if he put small pinpricks in the pipes, the slightest loss of fluid would alert him.  A fuel leak could be a solution. Matt would think it just meant he needed to refuel. If he loosened the union to the fuel filter, it would allow fuel to drip onto the hot exhaust, and as the engine was at the back of the car, Matt would have no idea, until it was too late.  It would not take long for the fuel to burst into flames, which fanned by the passing wind through the car, would remove any chance of him seeing the flames, or smelling the burning fuel. When he stopped, the blowback would cause the car to explode, killing Matt instantly. This would also look like a technical fault, and an accident. Nico crept out of the car. He would return after dark and put his plan into action.

He sat around in the bushes waiting for night to fall.  Matt had returned from the hospital and he went straight inside.  Several hours later, under the cover of darkness, Nico went to the back of the car. He opened the driver’s seat, and silently pulled the lever that would open the engine.  He found the fuel pipe, and slowly loosened it. He smelt the heady smell of petrol.  After closing everything down quietly, he crept away, back into the night.  He went back to the car, and drove slowly into town. He checked into the best hotel.  He was shattered, hungry and thirsty.  He went up to his room and showered and then went back into the bar, where he drank the night away, pleased that any day now, Matt would be dead.  He would stay in Nice until he heard the good news.  He would finally get to murder Matt but he would never tell her he did it.

He would kill Matt and make it look like an accident, because he loved her.

N
ico

The next day whilst in reception and leaving to go to the beach, Nico thought he saw Veronique, but this woman was blonde and he knew Veronique had dark hair.  His thoughts still kept coming back to her.  He wanted to look for her, but also wanted to keep a low profile.  Where was she? Was she safe?  What was she doing now?  She would be so pleased to know Matt was dead.  He smiled, and picked up his towel, and walked towards the beach.

Veronique

Veronique was just walking back through the hotel reception, when she thought she saw a good looking man, who looked just like Nico. She smiled at the thought of him and carried on walking.  She missed him and wondered what he was doing.  She had tried ringing home but no one answered. She couldn’t wait to hear that Matt was dead.  She wished she could tell Nico what she was doing.  She was very pleased with herself.  Now that Matt would be dead, she had gone out to the best hairdressers and had her dark hair dyed back to blonde.  It wasn’t as bright as she wanted, but the hairdresser had managed to remove most of the dark colour and had added lighter and blonder hair extensions giving her an even blonder look.  She was going to reclaim her own identity now. She had nothing more to fear. 

Ellen and Dean

Ellen awoke in Dean’s arms. She was blissfully happy. Since their encounter with Matt two days earlier they had been joined in a huge secret.  They had booked into the best hotel they could find and had made non-stop passionate love. They had been at it like rabbits. Just the thought that they had had their revenge on Matt, had given them an appetite, and the fact he had been lying there in a pool of spreading blood gave them hope of his imminent death. They knew it looked very bad and they hoped, fatal.  They knew too, that their time was limited. It was only a matter of time before the police tracked them down. They had pledged to wait for the other as long as it took. They didn’t care about any prison sentence, because whilst they had both lost everything, they had found each other, and their love was more important than anything else.  Their lives could only get better from now on. They were both free of the one person they both hated the most.  Dean got out of bed and phoned down to reception to book a table. He grinned cheekily at Ellen, as he stood naked before her.

“I can’t help it if I get really hungry after sex,” he said, after putting the phone down.

“Couldn’t we just have room service?  This might be our last night.”

“No Ellie. If it is our last night. Let us dine like kings and queens.” He waved his arm in the air like a cavalier, and bowed before her. “Madame?”  He held his hand out to assist her from the bed, and she daintily got up and kissed him.

“Why, thank you, kind Sir.”  She curtsied, and he suddenly grabbed her, and together they danced naked around the room. “I could get used to this,” she said, laughing in his ear.

They both dressed and went downstairs for dinner.

Nico was sat at a table in the dining room when Veronique walked in for dinner.  He stood up in disbelief, when he saw her with the blonde hair.  He called across the room, over the heads of all the other diners and they stared at him and the sound of his loud voice.  She looked across when she heard her name called, and she ran over to his table.  She ran straight into his arms, and cried with laughter. They kissed passionately in front of everyone, not caring who watched.

“Oh my darling, I love you,” he said when they came up for air. He held her head in his hands and kissed her again and again. They suddenly remembered where they were and laughed and sat down. A couple of diners applauded sarcastically when they stopped kissing, and they grinned happily in their direction.  They couldn’t stop talking to each other, both wanting to say so much, and yet, not saying everything they wanted to.

Suddenly, Veronique looked up, and squealed with delight when she spotted Dean. Both of them stood up and called across to him. Behind him, Ellen was walking in too and had spotted them, before he did.  They walked across towards them laughing and began hugging and kissing in delight.  There was background chatter as the other diners complained about them, to each other, but the four of them were oblivious to everyone else in the room. They were so happy.

Dinner was a great celebration. All of them were happy. All of them safe in the belief that each of them had killed Matt, yet none of them said a word to the others. They just enjoyed the moment for what it was, four friends all happy.

Matt got angrily into his car.  He had had enough.  He would find and kill them all one by one. Slowly.  He would kill Ellen, his wife, Veronique his sister, Nico, her lover and Dean, his former business partner.  He would keep all the money, and the businesses, and not have the hassle of them turning up in his life again.  If he couldn’t have Veronique, no one else would.  He got into the car and revved up the powerful V12 engine.  It roared to life and he sped out into the road. His head hurt from his fractured skull. He still felt groggy from all the sleeping pills they said he took, but he didn’t remember taking, and he wasn’t quite thinking straight. Objects still span, and were sometimes blurred with his vision, but the one thing he was sure of, he was going to kill them all.

As he got angrier and angrier, he pushed the car, faster and faster. Other cars were coming towards him and they flashed and beeped their horns as he drove past.  He laughed at their jealousy.  They could beep all they wanted. He was the king of the road.  Their cars would never drive as fast as his, be as expensive as his. They were just jealous.  A car came round the corner, and the driver drove towards him, pointing to the back of his car, his face white with terror.  He laughed, and laughed, as the car sped passed beeping its horn frantically, but when the next car did it and the next car, he suddenly checked his rear view mirror, and saw the back of the car on fire. He slowed down, and jumped out, just as the car burst into flames. The explosion deafened him and a large fireball enveloped him, an instant before he blacked out.

As they clinked glasses once more, Veronique stood up to make a toast.

“Lady, and gentlemen, present,” she nodded first to Ellen, and then, to Dean and Nico. “I should like to make an announcement.”  They all looked up expectantly.  She looked at Nico and grinned.

“I should like to ask Nico, ask
you
” she paused, and smiled again “to marry me.”  Nico looked really surprised.

“I didn’t know it was a leap year.” He said as he smiled.

“It isn’t.”  Veronique said laughing. “Will you or won’t you?”

“Of course.” He laughed happily. “I thought you would never ask!”  He stood up and they kissed.

Behind them, several police officers all started walking towards their table, and they all turned and blanched.  Dean and Ellen stood up, ready to be led away. Nico sighed, stood up, and shrugged to the others, fully expecting to be taken out in handcuffs.

“They have come for me,” he said to them all.

“No. It has to be me,”  Veronique said in reply.

“No. We think it’s us,” Dean said, as Ellen nodded.  They all looked at each other in a state of confusion.

“Madame Mellor?”

“Yes?” Both Ellen and Veronique replied in unison.

“You must come to the hospital at once. There has been a terrible accident.”

“Listen.” Nico whispered as they all walked out together. “We all have to pretend we haven’t seen each other for ages. I think it best if we all arrived at the hospital separately.  We must make out we don’t know what happened whatever they say. It could make all the difference.”  They all nodded and continued to follow the policemen.

Nico, Dean and Veronique all returned to their hotel rooms to wait and let Ellen go to the hospital then they all left the hotel one by one.

“I
am sorry, we did everything we could, but his injuries were too extensive. I am afraid we lost him.”

“Lost him?”  Ellen didn’t dare hope.

“Yes. I am afraid he is... dead.”

Whatever the doctor said after that point, Ellen had no idea. She could see his lips moving but didn’t hear another word. Her mind was rejoicing and repeating over and over again.
“He’s dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!  What a relief. She was free.
  She wanted to do the “happy dance” all around the corridor of the hospital.

Ellen realised she was standing alone.  The doctor had gone.  The next thing she knew,  Dean, Veronique and Nico were all around her.  They were all cuddling her.  Both Ellen and Veronique were crying tears of relief as Nico and Dean just gave a nod to each other, a simple nod of understanding.

Inspector Le Sime watched them closely in their joy they had all forgotten his presence, their preoccupation was with each other.  He stood up and sighed.