‘Goodnight, Stephen.’ Suzy retrieved her small clutch bag from where it had fallen from her lap.
Stephen, his back to her, shoulders slumped, waggled his fingers in the air while pouring another tumbler of whisky. ‘Goodnight, my darling Suzanna. I don’t want to lose you as well as my son. I simply couldn’t bear it.’
He looked so defeated that Suzy felt sorry for him.
Of course he was upset…he had just lost his only child!
She hurried to him and wrapped an arm across his back, resting her hand on his right shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, I understand. You are grieving.’
‘I am, my dear, I am.’ Stephen turned, wrapping an arm around Suzy’s waist, pulling her to him, crushing her to his chest. ‘We need to support each other at this terrible time.’
‘I’ll be here when you need me, Stephen,’ Suzy mumbled against his chest.
He smelt familiar. Her nostrils twitched. He was wearing the same cologne Simon used to wear.
‘I miss him,’ Stephen continued. ‘I was so looking forward to having a larger family once he and you were married. Now that will never happen.’
Thinking not of that, considering Simon hadn’t really been romantically in love with her anyway, Suzy thought instead of the times they had spent together as friends, the times before the year of courtship. Unable to stop herself, she cried. ‘I miss him, too!’
‘Shush,’ Stephen soothed, smoothing Suzy’s hair. ‘I won’t allow you to be lonely.’
‘He was the one person I could always turn to!’ Suzy let out an undignified mix of a snort and sob.
‘You can always rely on me, dear Suzanna.’
Closing her eyes, Suzy inhaled deeply. ‘You’re wearing the same aftershave he wore.’
‘I thought it may make you feel a little less sad.’
‘No!’ Suzy said. ‘It makes me feel worse…I used to buy it for him and it took me months to save up for it!’
‘You will have no worries about money if you come to me. I will always give you whatever you desire as long as you ask for it.’
Suzy froze, feeling uncomfortable as Stephen’s hands moved across her back. One settled in the small of her back and the other travelled up to her neck, slipping underneath the curtain of her hair. She pulled away from where he had squashed her earlier to his chest and raised an eyebrow.
‘I think I need to leave,’ she said.
Stephen peered down at her without removing his hands. ‘You don’t have to run away, Suzanna.’
‘I really think I do,’ Suzy replied. Thinking she may do something she would regret.
Like kneeing him in the privates if he continued with the wandering hands!
Stephen’s hands moved again, coming together at the back of her neck, thumbs resting gently against her throat. ‘When all of the people have left the party I will be alone. Won’t you stay, Suzanna, for me? We can keep each other company.’
Suzy lifted Stephen’s hands from her and stepped backwards, eying his glass of whisky on the mantle. ‘I think Nathaniel is not the only one who has had too much alcohol this evening. Goodnight, Stephen.’ She turned to leave the library.
Stephen caught her elbow at the door. ‘Please, Suzanna.’
He went to reach for her waist but Suzy saw the move coming and twisted free. ‘Go to bed, Stephen. You need to sleep it off. I’ll call you.’
Stephen raised two fingers to his lips, kissed them and lifted them up as a wave. ‘Remember, you can call me whenever you wish. No time is off limits.’
Without replying Suzy hurried outside. Once on the top step outside the front door she shuddered and heaved a sigh of relief.
Stephen was drunk. Obviously he had started drinking way before the party. He’d be ashamed of himself in the morning, she thought, but being drunk didn’t excuse his behaviour…that was just plain sick-inducing.
‘Everything okay?’ Detective Sanders drew up beside Suzy on the top step. He rubbed his hands together. ‘Nippy out here tonight.’
‘It is,’ Suzy replied.
‘Sorry you had to deal with that from Mr Prendergast.’
Suzy blushed. ‘So you overheard.’
‘He’s as drunk as a newt. He’s always been a ladies man. He probably forgot who you are.’
Suzy doubted it. ‘He was married for years.’
‘Before that I heard he was quite the charmer.’
‘You shouldn’t be listening to local gossips.’
‘Why, because I’m a man?’
‘No, I meant because you are a police detective.’
‘Which is why I listen to everything.’
‘Eavesdrop, you mean!’
‘You should be glad I was standing outside the room. If I hadn’t have been then there would probably be a rumour circulating about you turning your attentions to the last remaining Prendergast…I sent away a woman who came sniffing.’
Suzy groaned. ‘Thanks, it was probably my cousin Siobhan. She’s so nosy.’
‘Maybe you should try to lead a life a little less interesting then!’
‘Hey!’ Suzy protested yet her mouth curved into a grin.
Julian nudged her with his elbow. ‘There it is; the smile which had been missing.’
Sevastian stepped out from the shadows as the taxi which Detective Sanders had ordered arrived. He flicked a still smouldering cigarette from his fingers and blocked Suzy’s path.
‘I can drive you home,’ he said, half of his face cloaked in darkness. ‘I have not been drinking.’
‘No need. DC Sanders arranged it all for me.’ Suzy turned and waved pointedly at the detective who was watching from the front entrance.
Sevastian grasped her arm just as she passed him. ‘Keep your eyes open,’ he warned.
Suzy yanked her arm free and defiantly raised her chin, determined not to be frightened. ‘I’ve had enough of people mauling me this evening and I don’t know what you mean about keeping my eyes open.’
Sevastian’s face was cast into complete darkness as he moved in front of the taxi’s headlights. ‘The ground is a little uneven out here. I would not want you to fall over and injure yourself.’
I won’t, Suzy thought, hurrying to the car, confused as to whether his words were those of concern or warning. His dark figure remained unmoving as she peered through the back window of the departing taxi. Detective Julian Sanders remained on the top step and whether he was watching her leave or studying Sevastian, Suzy was not sure.
* * *
Chapter Four
The night sky was cloudless and illuminated by a swarm of coruscating stars. Suzy watched the familiar landscape roll easily past the window of the taxi as the vehicle sped down the lane towards the town. She unclipped her clutch bag and using a tissue dampened with spit, peered into a compact mirror, rubbing away the streaks of mascara which had tattooed her face.
At this rate, she thought, she’d be spending more time removing the damn stuff than applying.
The compact mirror clanked against her house keys when she returned it to her bag, reminding her she still had the key to Simon’s penthouse suite on the key chain.
‘Change of plan, can you take me to The Ship Apartments, Harbour Street, please?’ she asked the taxi driver.
The plush lift effortlessly carried Suzy to the top floor of The Ship Apartments. Simon’s penthouse suite occupied the whole floor and, after she’d entered the four digit access code, the lift doors opened silently into his foyer.
A huge pop-art painting filled the wall directly opposite the lift doors. Her own and Simon’s faces grinned in greeting from the canvas. Suzy had always loved the painting; Simon had had it commissioned to mark their six month anniversary. Suzy made a mental note to ask Stephen if he’d mind if she kept it. Simon may well have been in love with another man but the moment captured on canvas was when Suzy had felt on top the world, invigorated with the excitement of a new relationship, and Simon had always listened to her even when she had consumed too muc
h wine and her grumbles grew into full blown whiney rants. He had been extremely proficient in the lending of an ear and comfortable shoulder.
The all too familiar tears prickled the back of Suzy’s eyelids but wishing to remain in control, she forced them aside. The apartment was exactly how she last remembered seeing it on the evening before the morning of wedding horror. Simon’s soft canvas shoes he wore whenever he was indoors sat neatly together, nestled in the soft pile of a sheepskin rug placed in front of the modular, white leather sofa. A Christmas tree stood unlit, its simple white decorations sparsely placed. The vast panoramic windows overlooking the harbour spread beyond the tree giving views to the outside while obscuring in the reverse. Simon’s favourite magazine, a glossy on photography, perched atop the white high-gloss, coffee table, their right angles perfectly aligned.
On the matching leather chair beside the sofa was one of Simon’s sweaters, folded with shop-perfect precision. Suzy lifted it up and rubbed its softness against her cheek, his aftershave scent lingered lightly on the cashmere. Realising she was cold as the apartment lacked its usual warmth generated from heating underneath the hardwood floor, Suzy laid her clutch bag on the coffee table then slipped the sweater on. She eased her own shoes and pushed her feet into Simon’s soft canvas shoes before making her way to the bedroom, the too-large shoes creating a flip-flopping noise.
Before Suzy snapped on the overhead light she noticed the power light from Simon’s laptop blinking blue in the darkness from his minimalist desk, indicating it was still plugged in. The bed, topped with a vibrant red quilt which contrasted with the white walls, was neatly made with three pillows each sleeping side. The white bedside cabinets both sides of the bed housed only a lamp each, and the glossed wardrobe doors were neatly closed.
Suzy rolled out the hard plastic desk chair and lifted the lid to Simon’s laptop, noticing a memory stick protruded from the machine. As the laptop screen came to life she saw Simon had been looking at photos. She flicked through several, not recognising the scenery they revealed until a certain one caught her eye. It was of a cemetery and several impressive crypts. Suzy zoomed in on the picture, trying to glimpse any details, wondering why Simon had been taking snaps of a cemetery, and more to the point when he had, when a faint noise startled her. Quietly, she eased the memory stick from the laptop before sliding it into the left cup of her bra; she couldn’t explain why but somehow she felt as if the photos may be of importance.
Especially as Simon had been looking at them on the morning of their almost-wedding.
Or rather, on the morning of the day he died.
The small hairs on the back of Suzy’s neck prickled. Footsteps came from the living area.
Who else had a key? Suzy gulped. Simon had said he had only given her a key and that he had told no-one else the access code.
“This is my sanctuary,” he had said. “I don’t want anyone turning up unless I invite them.”
That had been the day he had given Suzy a key.
“Now it is our sanctuary, let’s keep it that way,” he’d told her with a smile and a kiss to the tip of her nose.
Carefully, she eased Simon’s too large canvas shoes from her feet and tiptoed to the bedroom door. Wondering if it was Stephen as he was the only other person she could think of who could possibly have a key, she listened.
The doors of cupboards in the lounge area housing Simon’s collection of films and books were slammed open and items sent hurtling from them, crashing loudly on the hardwood floor. Suzy shrank back until the wall was behind her and felt her way along to the bed. Since the attempted bag-snatching on the seafront, she had realised there was probably a whole lot more to Simon’s murder than she’d first thought and she bet it had something to do with the Vydrina Diamond. Dropping silently to the floor she slid under the bed, the space between the bed and the floor was just enough for her to ease underneath it and the quilt, being extraordinarily large as Simon had had it specially made up to be twice the size of a king-size quilt, hung conveniently over the edges almost to the floor.
Footsteps clomped into the bedroom and Suzy forced herself to breathe quietly. She could make out a tiny sliver of black boots passing the bed and stopping by the desk. There was quiet while the intruder studied Simon’s laptop before jerking the power lead from the wall socket and snapping the lid of the machine shut. The bed creaked as the intruder lowered to sit on it and a hand snaked down to the overhanging flap of the quilt.
Adrenalin-fast, Suzy rolled out from the bed, held her breath and hid behind the outside opposite flap of the quilt while the intruder peered underneath the bed. The quilt lowered and she slipped back underneath the bed again, her heart leaping madly.
The bed creaked again as the intruder stood up and Suzy twisted her head to the other side. The person stomped to Simon’s wardrobe and slid the doors open. Hangers rattled as item after item was noisily wrenched from the wardrobe and shoes upended from their boxes. Fear clutched Suzy, freezing her in its grasp. The intruder returned to the bed momentarily, the boots visible again, before finally leaving the room.
Suzy listened to the footsteps making their way back towards the living room and forced herself to remain hidden under the bed yet all she wanted to do was to run. She had counted for two minutes before cautiously beginning to ease free and was half exposed when the footsteps returned. In a panic, she slid back into her hiding place and held her breath to steady her thundering pulse.
The boots shuffled backwards and the intruder dragged something along the floor. Suzy watched the black boots stop by the bed. The person bent down, pulling the heavy plastic something beside the bed, and kicking it before leaving.
This time Suzy waited an anxious fifteen minutes before deciding it was safe enough to emerge from underneath the bed and slowly crawled out from the opposite side. She tiptoed to the bedroom door and listened intently for a further few minutes before edging over to the green plastic lump beside the bed. Part of her mind told Suzy to run and not to look back but another part told her to investigate. Suzy remembered all the scary films she had watched and, as if watching one now, her fingers crept forward of their own accord and drew back the plastic covering.
It took a moment for her brain to translate what she was seeing. When it did, she screamed, the violent rush of sound ripping her inside.
In horror she stared at Nathaniel’s eyeless, bloodied, face. His distorted jaw was set oddly, the mouth forced obscenely open by the metal top of a cocktail shaker, a scrunched up sheet of paper stuffed inside it.
Suzy was huddled inside Simon’s wardrobe under a pile of his clothes when Detective Sanders arrived.
‘Come on out.’ Julian offered his hand to her. ‘It’s perfectly safe now. I left as soon as you called.’
Suzy shook her head. She was too petrified to even cry. ‘I can’t.’ She pointed to where Nathaniel’s body lay. ‘Not while he’s still over there.’
Julian hauled her to her feet. ‘Well, you have to. I need to ask you some questions. You’ll have to come to the station. After, I’ll take you home.’
Suzy clutched the solid warmth of his hand and followed him from the room, eyes down until she reached the door. She glanced back over her shoulder to see one police officer removing the piece of paper from Nathaniel’s mouth with a pair of tweezers.
‘Boss,’ he called to Julian. ‘It says the same thing.’
‘The same thing as what?’ Suzy questioned as she hurried with the detective into the lift.
He pressed the ground floor button before replying. ‘The same as we found this evening on other bodies.’
‘What do you mean more bodies?’ Suzy squawked.
‘I shouldn’t be telling you this,’ he continued, ‘but a jeweller in town was also murdered.’
Blood rushed from Suzy’s head down to her feet and she slumped forward forcing Julian to quickly steady her in concern.
‘I don’t think you need to be hearing this. You’ve had a nasty shock t
onight,’ his voice was gentle.
Suzy laughed hollowly. ‘No worse than finding your bridegroom bleeding to death in a church cemetery on the day you were supposed to be marrying him.’
‘The jeweller’s wife and daughter were also killed.’
Suzy gasped. ‘She was only a teenager.’
The detective’s eyes sparked. ‘You know who I’m talking about?’
Suzy nodded. ‘Gerard from Cove Jewellery, his wife, and their daughter Amanda.’
‘How did you know?’
Suzy realised she’d said too much. ‘Just a guess. It is the best jewellery shop in Eastcove after all.’
The detective seemed to accept her explanation and gestured for her to exit the lift first as it reached the ground floor.
‘What did the note say?’ Suzy asked in hushed tones as they passed through the main foyer of the building.
‘Eyes don’t lie.’ Julian shrugged. ‘Our guess is that the victims had seen something they shouldn’t.’
Yes, Suzy thought, like the Vydrina Diamond.
The problem was, she had seen it too.
* * *
Chapter Five
It was two days before Christmas Eve and Suzy could not help wishing she had her tiny house all to herself again. It was not that she didn’t love her parents, of course she did, but living with them in the confines of her small house did not do much to keep relations between them smooth. Simon’s body still hadn’t been released by the police and Suzy doubted the funeral would take place before Christmas.
Easing her legs from under the bedcovers, Suzy pushed her feet into her slippers and padded over to her dressing table where she’d left her laptop the night before, Simon’s memory stick atop it.
Unveiling Lies (Eastcove Lies Book 2) Page 5
