Swindled

by Mayes, June

  “So what exactly was it like?” he asked sounding a bit like he was laughing.

  “He was a thief and we had this business deal. In the end, he stole money from us and I just lost it. In the heat of the moment I said I wanted to kill him. It just came out.” Beth kept trying to explain. This was sounding weak even to her.

  “Uh huh,” David drawled. There was defiantly a hint of amusement there.

  “No. Look it was a legitimate business deal and he swindled the business out of money,” as Beth bumbled along trying to explain, she heard a muffled snicker. She frowned. That wasn’t him. Where had that come from? She looked down at the phone. NO! This couldn’t be happening. She heard another muffled noise. Yes it was happening. She had conferenced everyone into the call. Trust her friends to just listen to her bumble into one mess after another without hanging up. Beth wondered how long they had been listening. The only time she had touched the phone was when she was trying to adjust the volume. Oh Beth let her head drop back; she was never going to hear the end of this.

  “Look Elizabeth I don’t know what is going on but you can relax. I told the detective you were with me. I just wanted to find out what was going on,” David said with his very calm and soothing voice. “I don’t suppose you made sure you were with me while someone you hired killed your brother?” he asked after a pause. Beth wasn’t sure if he was asking because he was seriously concerned or just to listen to her tie herself in a knot again.

  “No! I wouldn’t do that,” Beth replied scared that that might be what the detective thought. She felt the panic begin to build again. All the worry that had been defused by speaking to her friends came flooding back. In this state what could she say to David to explain that Brian’s murder had nothing to do with her? What made it worse is that her rather vocal friends were listening to every word.

  “She really wouldn’t,” Charlotte’s voice chimed in just as Beth reminded herself they were there. Charlotte had decided to finally take pity on her inability to coherently explain the situation. It was time for more direct intervention. Beth figured, given her inability to think clearly, the interruption was not a bad thing.

  “Who is that?” David demanded surprised to hear a new voice on the line. Beth could almost feel him shift the phone from his ear to stare at it in shock.

  “Charlotte. I’m conferenced in on the call,” As Charlotte replied, Beth slowly banged her head on the desk top again. This was going from bad to worse. This couldn’t be happening… shouldn’t be happening. And she was getting a headache with all the banging. While she calmed her racing mind, she reminded herself that she never had to see him again. As much as that thought saddened her, it also meant that once she got through this conversation she could forget about it. Well forget as much of it as her body would let her. Shut up body! Beth thought sternly and put her attention back to the call

  By the time she was focused again, all three of her friends had introduced themselves. They were currently trying to give David a bit of background on her relationship with her brother. All at the same time.

  “Enough everyone!” Beth said pulling herself together and taking charge of the situation. “I am sure that Mr Andrews has better things to do then listen to us go on about my problems. Thank you, David for answering the detective’s questions. I appreciate your honesty. Now I think we’ll let you get on with your day. Best of luck,” Beth paused hoping that David would take the hint and hang up.

  Never again she told herself. Never again would she have a one night stand or for that matter was she ever having sex again. It just wasn’t worth the embarrassment. Beth quietly sighed to herself. There was still the option of hiding in her room until it all just went away.

  “Bet it was a shock waking up to a police man knocking on your door,” Bee said after a brief silence, her dulcet tones encouraging an answer.

  David gave a chuckle and replied, “I thought it was her husband and spent a few minutes panicking. They don’t make back doors to hotel rooms.” Karin, Charlotte and Bee all started giggling. Beth sat in her study hoping that she could find a way to rewind the whole conversation and pretend it never happened. Now, more then ever, the world needed a time machine she decided.

  “Beth’s not married,” Karin said slyly once they had all paused for breath. Beth groaned quietly to herself.

  “And rest assured I am saying thank you with every fibre of my being,” David responded to Karin with another chuckle. He sounded relieved.

  Ugh! Beth looked at the phone. There was no going back in time, no erasing this from living memory and no hiding in her bedroom until it was all over. She looked at the phone a minute longer and then quietly hung up. How mortifying! There was no way her wayward friends were going to let this one go until they were good and ready. She didn’t even want to think about what her friends were saying to David.

  *

  David shook his head as he hung up the phone minutes later. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. This woman had, he decided, a strange ability to blindside him. Beth also had a very devoted and confident group of friends. Just by their protective manner and gentle bickering, he could tell they were a very close and special group of people. They obviously were devoted to Beth and it seemed to underline that she was the kind of person that David had thought she was. He may not have known her for long, David smiled but he did see quality there. She was interesting. More then that, she made him want to see her again and talk to her face to face.

  David left the hotel feeling cheerful. He strolled down the embankment with his hands in his jean pockets relishing the fresh air. It was a start he thought. Finding a group of friends and one potential girlfriend in the first day of arriving back was definitely a good start he decided. A good start indeed.

  Chapter 13

  Twenty minutes later Bee rang Beth back. “So how are you?” she asked with a note of sympathy in her voice. Bee, ever the pacifier, had obviously been nominated to neutralise the neurotic murder suspect Beth thought.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied quietly. She had been sitting here surrounded by the most amazing variety of colours and textures unable to get her mind around a single creative idea. Her thoughts kept bouncing back to the night before and she felt warm and bothered. Beth tried to get herself pulled together so she would stop thinking about him but David kept haunting her thoughts. The problem was, when she wasn’t thinking about David, she was thinking about Brian and who murdered him. And what she was going to do about the detectives who thought she did it. Consequently by the time Bee called, Beth was not in a good mood.

  “He sounded nice and he liked you, I could tell, Beth. Maybe he’ll call you again and you can go out or something,” Bee said earnestly before she could say a thing. Not only did Bee always see the best in people, she was sure that everyone would love each of her friends as much as she did. If one of those friends liked a guy then of course he would like her. Things just worked that way in Bee’s life. Meet someone, fall in love, get married - how hard could it be? Beth closed her eyes. Put like that it even sounded easy.

  Not long ago Bee’s parents had arranged a meeting between her and a ‘suitable’ man. Much to Bee’s surprise that man, Ken, had turned out to be someone she could relate to. Three months after their initial meeting Ken took Bee out for dinner, dropped on one knee after dessert and popped the question. Apparently he had asked Bee’s father’s permission two days after meeting Bee. The wedding was planned to take place in three weeks and in typical Bee fashion it was completely arranged. Flowers, outfits, venues, seating plans proved to be no match for Bee’s organised mind. No last minute plans were needed.

  Now though, with time on her hands until the actual wedding day arrived, Bee was focused on helping her poor single friends find salvation or at least dates for the big day. Beth knew that if they ignored Bee it would be at their peril. She had a way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it.

  “I don’t even want to contemplat
e the idea. I never want to see this guy again. And nothing the three of you can cook up is going to change that!” Beth said with a pitiful wail. It was hopeless. No matter what she said Bee was going to be planning some way of throwing David and Beth together. Not only that, Beth realised that Charlotte and Karin were no doubt in on it as well.

  Charlotte, unlike their friends, did not believe in the one man for everyone theory. No, she felt there were lots of men out there and all of them should be sampled. Her ambition in hooking Beth up would merely be to ensure that her friend was living life to the fullest. Charlotte wouldn’t care if Beth kept him or not as long as she enjoyed him while she could. Beth shook her head. She was doomed.

  “Best not watch any rugby then,” said a voice from the door making Beth jump. Speak of the devils. Charlotte and Karin had let themselves in with the emergency key kept under the flower pot outside. They stood framed in the doorway looking like angels or demigods. Beth wasn’t sure which. Both were blond with fair skin. Karin was a tiny petite china doll like woman while Charlotte was a more curvy Barbie type. They were desperately trying to keep the smiles off their faces. Neither one looked like they were going to let her sit here and stew all day. Demigods, definitely demigods Beth thought rubbing a hand over her forehead

  “What do you mean ‘don’t watch rugby’?” Beth asked confused looking up again. How did rugby feature in this

  “You should have stuck around Beth,” said Karin with a grin as she pressed speaker phone so that Bee could hear as well. “Charlotte gave him the third degree,” she had sauntered up in her high heels and perched herself on the edge of the desk. Despite the fact that her home was no doubt in shambles, Karin looked perfectly turned out. Not one hair was out of place. Beth groaned her frustration. She just had to look at a packing box and a nail would break. How did Karin do it?

  “You really should have stayed on,” Bee added through the phone. “We found out all about him.”

  Beth looked at Karin and Charlotte. It looked like her fate was sealed. David had passed the friend exam. Okay, with Charlotte that didn’t take much nor Karin for that matter but if Bee was also on the bandwagon it didn’t bode well. They were going to pester her forever Beth decided. David had defiantly convinced them. She had slept with a guy and her friends knew more about him then she did. Beth shook her head. Meeting David coupled with the Brian situation was mind boggling. How did she get herself into these predicaments?

  “He’s a captain of one of the biggest rugby teams and you didn’t recognise him,” Charlotte laughed looking at Beth’s puzzled and frustrated face. “Even Bee knew once he mentioned rugby.” Beth just covered her face with her hands and hoped she would wake up soon. Could this day get worse?

  “What else?” she asked finally giving in to her curiosity. Okay she may not want to see him again but she couldn’t stop herself from asking. She wanted to know more about him. Maybe it would stop her from thinking about him all the time. Anyway she told herself it was ludicrous not to know at least the bare essentials.

  “Well he is solvent, has two brothers and a sister, is about to retire and is planning on settling down in the area,” Karin cheerfully told her, practically bouncing with glee. She just loved Beth being in the firing line. Usually it was Karin that did something silly, at Charlotte’s suggestion, and had to be hauled over the coals. It was no doubt refreshing to have the shoe on the other foot.

  “Oh god … you really did give him the third degree,” Beth sunk low in her chair. She should be happy she thought. There was really no way David was going to go anywhere near her again. In fact he was probably frantically changing his identity in a bid to avoid any chance of her tracking him down. Well on the plus side of things, she wouldn’t need to hide in her bedroom for the rest of her life. Not that her so called friends would let her of course.

  “Yup, though to be honest, he stopped being so interested in answering once he figured out you weren’t on the call anymore,” Charlotte said peering at her impeccably pink painted nails. In true Charlotte fashion she was wearing a pale blue silk wrap top with white trim over tight blue jeans. Her shoes were an intricate weave of multicoloured ribbons. She looked every inch the elegant sophisticated fashion editor that she was. She appeared delicate, model-like and far too smug for Beth’s tastes.

  “Think he likes you,” sang Bee on the other side of the phone. Charlotte and Karin shared a grin. Beth put her elbows on the desk and dropped her head into her hands. She groaned. They really would never let this one go.

  “Guys this isn’t the time,” she muttered into her palms. “There are police out there trying to prove that I killed my brother. Trying to make a one night stand turn into something is really not my priority.”

  “It should be,” Bee said quietly, “The police will get the bottom of it, Beth.”

  “And if they can’t, we will,” Karin said with an elegant shrug of her shoulders.

  “So,” Charlotte said nonchalantly perching on the other end of the desk to Karin and studiously avoiding being drawn off topic, “Care to tell us about last night?”

  Beth looked up at the two faces beaming down at her and groaned. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Either discuss the savage murder of her brother or how she managed to throw herself, naked into a strangers arms. She could tell Bee was holding her breath on the other end of the phone. They were like vultures waiting for her to reveal all. “No I don’t think I do,” she said looking back at her friends and shaking her head to emphasis how determined she was to keep her mouth shut.

  “Come on,” Charlotte begged. “He wouldn’t tell us anything,” she sounded disgruntled. It was rare for a man to refuse Charlotte. In fact this was probably the first time it had happened since Charlotte grew into that sultry Barbie doll figure of hers.

  “I can’t believe you asked him,” Beth shook her head in despair. Maybe they should go back to talking about Brian.

  Karin pushed away from the desk heading to the table to play with a piece of ribbon. “Bet he was really hot,” she said over her shoulder as she played the ribbon between her fingers trying to look innocent. In her fiery red sheaf dress with its loose chiffon trim she looked anything but innocent. She grinned wickedly back at Beth. “Rugby players have such nice sexy bodies. Not an ounce of fat anywhere. It must have been joy pure joy to be in bed with him,” she ended with a sigh and a far away look in her eye.

  Bee was giggling over the phone. No doubt she could picture exactly what was going on in Beth’s study. Beth sitting trapped between two very curious, very determined and very single-minded blonds. There was no escape. They really should go back to taking about the murder.

  “No, I’m not telling any of you anything. This has all just been a nightmare and I am going to pretend its all not happening,” Beth said firmly. She pushed the pattern she was working on to the side and leaned back in her chair. There was no way she was going to get any work done today. There was no way that they were going to leave her alone so why fight the inevitable?

  “That good huh?” Charlotte said. She and Karin then set about wheedling Beth out of her office, dragging her to lunch. Beth was surprised that she was hungry; she didn’t think she would be.

  She grabbed her scarf, following Charlotte and Karin out the door. Why not take a break from all the stresses and what better way to get her mind off David. And enjoy her freedom until they locked her up.

  Chapter 14

  The three of them ended up going around the corner to a local Italian restaurant. It was filled with the family running the place. The teenagers waited on tables, the grandparents rushed into the kitchen to prepare meals and everyone else snatched quick conversations with one another by the till as they helped out. There was a relaxed atmosphere and, to Beth’s super charged nerves, it was just the break from reality she craved. She just needed some normalcy in her life for even the briefest of minutes.

  Bee arrived about ten minutes later glowing. Her forest green A-cut sk
irt swirled around her knees as she pulled up a chair. Throwing her matching suit jacket over the wooden back of the chair she gave Beth a comforting smile. The friends were all together again and even if they teased her unmercifully, Beth felt comforted by their support.

  After placing their order, they discussed the visit from the detective that morning. While Brian’s death was difficult to come to terms with, it was a nightmare to even conceive that Beth and her family were suspects. From what the friends could figure out, the detective must have gone from Beth’s to the hotel to speak to David and then directly to Karin’s house. It made sense as Karin’s new home was about ten minutes from there.

  “I was vacuuming so didn’t hear the door at first. I can tell you they weren’t too pleased when I finally did let them in. What a shock. When I first saw them I thought for a minute someone had died,” Karin said and then thought for a minute. “I mean someone important, not Brian,” she amended after a few seconds pursing her lips.

  “I know what you mean,” Charlotte agreed nodding. “Seeing those two standing on my doorstep made me think something horrible had happened. I was scared witless that I would have to identify one of your bodies. Don’t ever do that to me guys. Just don’t okay?” After getting what information they could from Karin, the detectives had ended up on Charlotte’s doorstep about one hour later. Bee on the other hand had been phoned by someone from the station around the same time that Karin was being interviewed. All they wanted from her was a brief background on her relationship with Brian.

  “It seems like they just went through Brian’s black book and interviewed everyone in it,” Charlotte mused as she dug into her meal.

  “It does seem strange doesn’t it? I wonder why the book was so important,” Bee frowned thinking about it. Beth worried that if they were desperate enough to be trolling through all of Brian’s old flings that there were no other leads. That did not bode well for her or any of the other potential suspects.