"I've waited so long to see you," said a woman's voice.
"Did the others see us?" he said.
"No. I made sure of it."
I then heard kissing sounds, and they were beginning to get more and more passionate. I then joked to myself: it was Paris, after all. But then I thought, who is this mystery woman? I knew it was too much of a risk to peek my head round the corner. Could it be Shona, or Stephanie, or even Chloe? I thought it might be Chloe.
Anyway, I decided to sneak back into the hotel before they caught me eavesdropping. It was ironic because they were the ones who were supposed to be secretly doing something, but I did not want to get involved. I went back inside and acted as though nothing happened. After all, I did not feel sorry for Veronica one bit.
It had been a long day, so we all decided it was time to go to bed, for tomorrow was going to be a big day.
That night, in my room, it was fairly hot, so I opened the window. I heard arguing in the room next to me, which I heard Alan and Shona Sanderson going into before.
"Why did you have to get involved with him again?" Alan said, extremely angry.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Alan? I did not get involved with him!"
"Then where did you go when he went outside for a cigarette?"
"I told you. I went outside to look at the view!"
"You're lying!"
"Prove it!"
"Alright, I will," said Alan. "I'll go and ask that Tammy tomorrow, shall I? She was outside when you were, so let's see what she has to say!"
My fears had come true – I did not want to get involved in it, but if Shona was having an affair, then perhaps Alan should know the truth. However, I just thought about the ten years of marriage, and that marriage was now in my hands.
Chapter 28
Throughout the night, I lie awake, thinking about the next day. Ever since I was a small girl, I wanted to go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, and today was going to be the day. I had never had time to go on holidays, nor did my parents – we were too busy taking care of other things over the years.
The morning eventually arrived, and surprisingly, I was not tired. We got dressed in summer clothes, because the weather said that the day was going to be sunny, even if I could not understand what they were saying. It was early in the morning, but at least we would have the full day in the city. Chloe said that it would take about half an hour to get to the city center, which was not bad, considering Paris was a capital city, and we were on the outskirts.
When I got downstairs, I was surprised to see that almost everyone who was going on the trip was there: the Sandersons, Stephanie and Brendan, and of course, the Wilson, although they were not sat with the others in the red outdoor seating area. They were sat out of the way on a nearby table. Chloe then arrived, looking as stressed as ever.
"Right, everyone," she said. "The bus will leave in ten minutes. Now, where are those Miltons?!"
The Miltons, of course, were elderly people, so they would take their time with things. I worried that they might not make it in time.
"If they don't hurry up we'll have to leave without them!" Chloe cried, pulling her hair.
"They'll get here," said Veronica. "Don't worry."
"Oh," said Stephanie. "I've forgotten my sun cream! I'll just be a minute."
"You were looking for it earlier, weren't you?" said Brendan.
"Yes. I don't know where it is," replied Stephanie.
"I'll help you look for it," I offered, considering I had nothing else to do. Stephanie agreed, so we went up the stairs and onto the first floor, directly above the outdoor seating area. We looked for a couple of minutes.
"It's a lovely place, isn't it?" she said.
"It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to," I replied, still feeling as though I was living a dream.
Stephanie then went out on to the balcony, where she saw the bottle of sun cream. Before picking it up, she took her dry, red towel from the balcony, and then put a wet, blue towel over the balcony, leaving the green one in the shade.
"I'll have to leave this one in the shade," she said, pointing to the green one, "because this one tends to fall off and fall into the seating area."
Stephanie and I continued to make small talk. She seemed like a very nice girl, and I was happy for her that she was engaged. That reminded me of Alan and Shona –they were in a hot mess. They had not yet approached me to ask about last night, but I sensed it was coming. I knew it was.
We arrived downstairs, and surprisingly, the others were now by the swimming pool, including Veronica.
"It's nicer here," said Shona. "We get more Sun."
Alan, Shona and Brendan were all talking to Veronica, and I found it rather strange. Then again, she might have been nice to talk to if she did not dislike you. I thought about whether I wanted to approach her to start a conversation with her, but decided to go out and look for my parents.
"Those bloody Miltons!" cried Chloe. "We've only got five minutes before we leave!"
"They'll get here," said my father, trying to calm Chloe down.
"I knew this would happen. I knew it would! Every week, we go into Paris, and nothing ever changes. Someone either gets sick, or there is some sort of drama!"
"Calm down!" said my mother, getting rather stressed out herself for no apparent reason.
I then noticed Christopher off by himself, doing nothing but sitting in the sunshine in the red seating area.
Fortunately, the Miltons arrived, dawdling their way down the stairs.
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Milton," Chloe said, altering her tone of voice. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," said Mr. Milton. "Very well. We aren't late, are we?"
"No. Of course not!" cried Chloe.
Now that everyone was here, we all set off on to the bus – me, my parents, Chloe, the Miltons, the Sandersons, Stephanie, Brendan, and of course, the Wilsons all got on the minibus, ready for our exciting adventure into the heart of the city of love.
Chapter 29
There is one word that describes the main part of Paris: breath-taking. It was the most beautiful place I’d ever been to. Everywhere you looked, it was beautiful. The buildings just blew me away –– they were so wonderful. Their structure amazed me. I loved every single molecule of Paris that existed at that moment in time. I truly believed I was in Heaven. Everyone else around me loved it as well, except for Chloe, of course, who was too busy stressing out about the day’s schedule. We were in the bus, and had been driving through Paris for five minutes, when Chloe picked up a microphone and started to speak.
"Good morning, everyone," she said. "It's usually a larger group than this, but never mind. It's easier with just a few people, anyway. Today we are going to see the main sights of Paris. Now, first, we are going to go on a boat trip. It's a little unusual for daytime, but less people are present, and it's just as nice anyway..."
I did not like the way in which Chloe expressed her opinions as facts. It would have been much nicer when it was dark.
"...While we are on the boat, we will pass some monuments: some famous bridges, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. We will then go off into town for some dinner, and then we will go to the Eiffel Tower!"
There were cheers all around on the bus. I was even tempted to join in. This was going to be the perfect day – I knew it.
As Chloe said, the first thing that we did was go on the boat trip. That part of the day was amazing, even though it was in daylight. The boat went through the city slowly, allowing us to see the sights of the most romantic city in the world.
On the boat, my parents and I sat near the front, while Stephanie, Brendan and the Sandersons were behind us, and the Wilsons were sitting out of the way. The Miltons sat next to them as well, taking in the sights, enjoying the peace away from the crowd on the boat.
"Do you mind if I take a photo?" said Stephanie, seeing that I had a camera in my hand. "I'm interested in pho
tography."
"Of course," I said, passing her the camera.
While Stephanie was taking the photo, Veronica surprised me again by conversing with the Miltons and Chloe. Before, she had shown no interest in the Miltons (or Chloe for that matter), but now, she was keen to talk to them.
"So, what other exciting adventures are we getting up to this week?" said Vera.
"Well, on Thursday, I'm arranging a visit to the little French village next to our hotel," said Chloe, attracting the attention of the neighbors. "It's a nice place. A lot of things that happened in the war remained there, and it's interesting to see what the people from World War One left for us."
"Sounds interesting," said Veronica, smiling.
Christopher just sat there, listening in, saying nothing while the rest of the group was having fun.
To my great and utter shock, when I turned round, underneath the empty seat next to me, I saw a gun. It was a pistol.
"That was not there before!" I cried. "How on Earth did this get here?"
Everyone on the boat just sat there in silence, staring. We approached Notre Dame.
"Somebody has just put this gun here!" I cried.
"Well... We'll hand it over to the police," said Chloe, acting a bit nervous and shaky.
I knew it was a real gun. I had seen these before. They were very common.
I wondered who could have put the gun there. Perhaps someone on the boat dropped it when they walked past?
Although everyone was still agitated, they continued to take photographs, because the boat was quickly moving away from the Cathedral.
"Let's just try to forget about this," said Chloe, laughing ever so slightly.
I could not help being suspicious of everyone on that boat, but when I left the boat, I decided to forget about it. After all, there were dangerous people in the big, bad world.
After having wandered around the city a little, we visited a fancy restaurant for some dinner. I was keen to try the French food, although I was going to give the snails a miss.
Dinner was nice, but I was still saddened to see the destroyed relationship between Alan and Shona. Because they were speaking quietly and were sitting at a separate table from the rest of the group, I could not make out what they were saying, but it was obvious they were arguing about what had happened the night before. In contrast, Stephanie and Brendan were loving every minute of it. It was a traditional romantic meal in Paris: they were sharing spaghetti, and they got hold of one piece, slurped it together, and reached the end, which resulted in a kiss. Personally, I thought that was overdramatic, but they were on vacation in Paris and they were young lovers, so I accepted it. Stephanie and Brendan were laughing and joking too, and then they took photos using their mobile phones, standing against the window, which showed the Eiffel Tower in the background. Then I looked at the Wilsons: I did not know how to describe them exactly in my head. They just did not speak. They looked in opposite directions, as if they had been told some devastating news or something. Occasionally, each of them would take a sip of their soup, or a bite of their baguette. Finally, I looked at the Miltons. Again, it was nice to see romance, both young and old. The Miltons were happy together, and had been all their life. They were eating the French food that I had found disgusting. They then got up and looked out the window, watching life go by in one of the most stunning capitals of the world.
When everyone was finished with their dinner, Chloe got up and said to everyone, "if everyone is ready to proceed, we shall, and the next stop is the Eiffel Tower!"
Again, there were cheers and clapping, as we all got up to go for what was possibly the most amazing experience of our lives.
Chapter 30
All of the senses inside me were tingling as we approached the Eiffel Tower. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. Ever since I was a young girl, I had wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower, and now that I was here, standing right next to the thing, my dream had come true. It made me forget about the horrible event that had occurred at home; all of my anger and self-hatred had gone. I now felt more confident in myself, and looked forward to enjoying life again, putting that brief period of depression behind me.
Chloe got all of the tickets for us, and it was announced that we would have to take the stairs up to the second floor, because the lifts were far too busy and the lines were too long. Although there were several groans behind me, I would have preferred to walk it anyway it was part of the experience. However, I turned round and realized the Miltons would have to walk up with us.
"I'll help escort you up," I offered, realizing that they must be in their eighties.
"Why, thank you, young lady!" said Doreen Milton.
"I can do that," said Chloe, grabbing Frank Milton by the arm.
"I can come with you, anyway," I argued. "I would prefer to walk slowly anyway."
"Well, if you insist," said Chloe, looking somewhat disappointed.
The others dashed up the tower (including my parents, who left me behind). I just waited with the Miltons and Chloe. On the way up, I looked through the iron bars, and I kept looking down. It was a huge drop, and it gradually increased as we walked up each flight of stairs. I loved every minute of it, though. I was on the Eiffel Tower! I kept touching the bars, just so I could touch the Eiffel Tower. I then noticed that the tower had an unusual structure to it – from where I was standing, it seemed that each bar went off in the opposite direction to the one next to it. I could see right through some of the gaps at times, right to the other side. It was fantastic.
"Are you alright?" Chloe said to Doreen, who was beginning to slow down more and more.
"Perhaps we could have a five-minute break on the first floor?" replied Doreen, rather out of breath.
"Of course," said Chloe, giving a huge grin.
"So have you sorted out that business with the gun?" asked Frank.
"We're just going to forget about that," said Chloe, moving her hand in such a way that it resembled her shoving something out of the way, like a person.
We got to the first floor.
"You can go and catch up with the others if you like," said Chloe. "They're not that far ahead – I can see them from here."
Reluctantly, I agreed to catch up with the others, although I was not too quick to do so. By the time I got to the second floor I was completely exhausted, which was worrying for a woman my age. I was devastated when I saw there was a long line for refreshments.
"Here you are, honey," my mother said, saving the day by handing me a bottle of water. I was so grateful for that.
I went over to the ledge, where I stood next to Stephanie and Brendan.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" said Stephanie.
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," was my reply, and it truly was. I walked around the second floor, taking a few photos.
After having finished taking photos, I went back to the line for refreshments, to see if it had gone down – I was quite hungry. Unfortunately, it was still busy. I decided to explore the tower a little more. I saw that Veronica was not with Christopher (although that was not a surprise). He was on his own, where no-one else was, taking photos. Veronica was also on her own, but on a different side of the tower.
All of a sudden, I heard Stephanie scream.
"Oh my God!" she cried.
Brendan, Alan and Shona surrounded her, confused by her hysterical behavior.
"What's the matter?" said Alan.
"I dropped my ice cream over the ledge!" she cried. "And now it's going to land on someone’s head!"
"Oh my God!" cried Shona.
"A person down at the bottom is going to get the fright of their life!"
Stephanie then proceeded to break down. I thought it was a bit too dramatic, but then again, I had seen Stephanie being dramatic before.
Suddenly, I had another fright when I heard a loud bang!
It came from the other side of the tower. When we all got there, we were astounded to see that Christopher De
well had been shot in the head!
"He's dead!" screamed Veronica.
I knew that it was true. Now everyone, including Chloe and the Miltons, was surrounding Christopher's dead body. Just then, another shot was heard, but this time, it came from the other side of the tower. We all ran over there, and we saw that no-one was there.
"I can't believe this has happened!" screamed Chloe.
Doreen Milton fainted. Stephanie continued to cry, this time collapsing on the floor and shaking on the ground like a baby. Veronica just stood there, looking over a ledge of the tower. I could not make out what she was feeling, but one thing was for certain: the person who killed Christopher was someone staying in the same hotel I was staying in, because every other person on that floor at the time of the shooting, every other person who surrounded Christopher's dead body, was Asian, so they would not know him at all, and therefore, the person who killed Christopher had to be someone I had met the day before. I knew that my time had come to solve another baffling mystery.
Chapter 31
As we were descending the tower, Chloe announced that she was taking everyone back to the hotel immediately. While we were waiting for the bus to pull up, something happened that astounded even me – Veronica cried hysterically! She collapsed on to the floor and started to sob, holding her head in her hands and shouting, "I can't believe this has happened! Why did you take the man I love!"
There were police cars everywhere, trying to establish what had happened. However, I felt it was my duty to do this investigation for a number of reasons. Firstly, the suspects would feel more comfortable talking to me since I had already met them and conversed with them. Secondly, I felt that I’d had a head start because I felt like I knew a lot about each of them already, and I had witnessed the events of that day. This murder had been planned, so I was going to think back to see how everyone had been behaving the morning of that day. However, there was one other reason – I felt that I needed to solve this murder in order to redeem myself from the previous investigation. If I solved this murder, I would feel much more confident again about going back to work, so I made it my own personal goal to solve this murder, as always.
Mystery: Quest for Justice: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) Page 12
