“Murder? Sorry?”
“Yes, I said, that is a good murder mystery in your hand. It is a good book.” She looked down and remembered she had bought the book in the bookshop at the airport in the hope of some inspiration.
“Ah.” She said, suddenly understanding his comment.
“Yes. I read them to relax. I am a homicide detective. Sometimes reading them helps us with our work when we have a difficult case. Sometimes they point out things we haven’t even thought of.”
“Mmhmm.” She wondered why he was sat next to her but took it as a sign for her to listen, after all the universe always delivers your wishes. “What a horrible job you have. It must be awfully depressing.”
“Yes it can be at times.”
“Tell me. Is it true it is almost always someone the deceased knew?”
“I would say that is true in about ninety percent of the cases. At other times, the person is just in the wrong place, and time, and it is a random act of a killer.” She nodded again. Matt most definitely knew her. She didn’t care if she was caught. She would probably turn herself in after he was dead anyway. She had nothing to live for any more, nothing to lose. “Some people try to make it look like suicide you know.” Veronique sat up, suddenly very interested.
“Oh how do they do that?”
“I wouldn’t normally tell someone this, but you look normal enough.” He chuckled. “I can normally tell a murderer at a hundred paces.”
If only you knew Veronique thought Give me time. This time tomorrow... Inwardly she smiled maliciously. It was like a sweet secret that entwined around her heart and moved like vines inside her mind and body.
“One of the most common methods is they cause a natural looking tear in the brake fluid pipes, allowing the brake fluid to escape so when the person goes to brake there is nothing to stop and they crash. But,” he paused, “sometimes they survive. It depends on the car and the speed at which they were travelling. I am sure lots of cases are missed by lazy police who just write it off as an accident.” She smiled her sweetest smile. “Oh that’s my plane being called for boarding. Nice meeting you.” He stood up and gathered his things and left, not realising that he had just given her a few more ideas to think about.
She arrived at the airport in Nice and rented a car. It was odd driving up through the coastal hills of Southern France. She had been away for a while and it was strangely familiar and yet unfamiliar too. She realised she was finally going to get him for everything he had done to her; for all the beatings, the rape, the forced sex sessions, for the loss of her childhood and her innocence, but most importantly it would be for the loss of the person she loved the most, for her Michael. The closer she got, the lighter she felt. Soon, it would all be over. She stopped a little ways down from the villa, and parked the car in behind some trees, in some thick bushes. She didn’t want anyone to know she was there. She didn’t want anyone to see the car, or report it either, and so she hid her tracks carefully. Luckily, she knew the area like the back of her hand. She let herself into the villa, grateful for the first time ever that she hadn’t thrown the key away. She knew she would need it again.
She crept inside the house, passed the kitchen and the servant’s quarters. Inside, she heard the housekeeper speaking to her husband. Her accent was thick, and colloquial, and totally familiar to Veronique.
“That hussy in the bakers tried to charge me tourist prices for the bread today!”
“I am sure you didn’t let her get away with it,” he said in a resigned manner.
“Too right I didn’t. And you know what? The whole village is alive and talking about you being hit by the master. They think it is because you aren’t working hard enough for him. I told them straight, it was because you came to protect me but they didn’t believe me.”
“Yes dear.”
Veronique crept passed the door, and out to the pool. She knew that if he were in the house this is where he would be. She walked quietly, and slowly, over to the sun lounger under the sun umbrella, where he lay relaxing by the pool. He had a bandage on his head, which surprised her, and he appeared to be sleeping. By the side of him, was a low table with a drink on it. She moved stealthily towards him, and reached into her bag to get out her sleeping tablets. Her heart was beating so loudly, she was surprised he didn’t hear it, and she tried to hold her breath. Getting out the pills, as quietly as she could, she opened the capsules, one by one, and let the powder fall into his drink. She managed to get about four or five in before he started stirring. She stopped what she was doing and stepped back behind his sun lounger. His hand came out and he sat up slightly, took his drink and drank it all in one and then he laid back and went back to sleep. She placed the empty and plain capsule bottle by the side of him to make it look like he had taken them. She quickly wrote a quick suicide note and dropped it on the floor by the sun lounger.
Veronique was astounded. Was it really that simple? She started to back away from him and as she did so she bumped against something causing it to clatter to the ground. He woke up, and turned around drowsily. He squinted at her, but the sun was behind her, and so she was silhouetted as a black shape against the sunlight.
“Veronique?” He said sleepily. She stepped back into the shadows, and she disappeared into the darkness of the shade. He put his head down and went back to sleep. A sleep that she hoped would last forever. She crept passed the servants again, and returned to her car.
Driving away, she laughed and sang at the top of her voice. She was free, finally free of him, and Michael had been avenged. She had never been so happy.
Chapter Twenty Four - Nico
From the moment that Veronique had come downstairs looking like her normal self, he knew something was very wrong. He knew that she wasn’t thinking straight and he had to work out where she could have gone and get to her to stop whatever she was planning to do. She would only put herself at risk.
He sat down and went through everything he knew about her right up to the moment she left. One thing kept repeating in his mind. It was all to do with Matt. That had to be the answer. When Michael had died he had sworn vengeance, but all his enquiries had drawn a blank. Matt wasn’t in France, wherever he had gone to recuperate from his injuries, it hadn’t been there and with his money, he could have hidden anywhere. Only a few days later, he had returned to the UK to be with Veronique. She was his primary concern. He would get Matt at a future date. He didn’t expect that he would suddenly be thrown into action now.
Nico grabbed his things, and jumping into his car, he left for the airport. Veronique was only just ahead of him by an hour, or so, and if he was quick he might just be able to catch up with her.
The flight to Nice had left about half an hour before, he got there and the next flight was two hours later. He bought a ticket and waited impatiently in departures. Whilst he was there he thought about what she had said about Dean and Ellen visiting the day before. What had they said to her to create such a change in her? It was as though they had turned a switch in her head and she rebooted as the “old” Veronique. He remembered her saying something about them going to visit Matt. Luckily he knew the address, otherwise he wouldn’t have a clue where to go.
In Nice, he was annoyed that the woman had delayed him with all her questions at the car hire place. All he wanted was the car, not a twenty-minute speech on driving and car safety. He had said “yes, yes” grabbed the keys and left in a foul temper. He got into the hire car and drove as fast as he could up to the villa. It was approximately twenty minutes, but he did it in just under fifteen. He didn’t know what he was going to do, or say when he got there. He screeched to a halt, and ran inside, leaving the car door open. He didn’t know if Veronique was still there, had even been there, or had left, but he couldn’t take any chances.
The manservant opened the door, and looked at him suspiciously. He had a big bruise on his jaw and a swollen lip.
“Yesh?” His swollen mouth made it difficult for him to speak and
he looked at him sideways, not sure whether to trust him or not.
“I have to see Matt.” The manservant shook his head. He didn’t want any more fights and whilst he didn’t quite understand what was going on, he could see the man was in an agitated state, and he had already had enough after yesterday. He wasn’t going to risk it.
Nico wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and pushed past the elderly man, and moved him aside as though he were swatting a fly. He went from room to room, shouting for Veronique. He asked the man where she was. He shrugged his shoulders and mumbled that she wasn’t there, and he hadn’t seen her for almost a year. Nico didn’t believe him. He went outside to the pool, where Matt lay with a bandage on his head.
He looked a deathly pale, even under his tan. He grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him awake, his eyes taking a while to focus.
“What?!”
“Where is Veronique?” Matt laughed. He must be dreaming again.
“Not here. You lost her? Join the club.” He closed his eyes, and Nico shook him awake.
“Where is she?”
“In my bed, well fucked. She could be dead for all I care”
“I’ll kill you. If it’s the last thing I do,” Nico raged. He looked passed him and saw the brown tablet bottle on the table. He picked it up and read the label.
Patients name. Veronique Mellor. Mogadon 5mg. 1 Tablet to be taken before bed.
Do not exceed this dosage.
It was dated the week before, and it was empty. He didn’t know how many pills were in there, or whether she had taken them all, or even why the bottle was there. All he knew, was that she had been there, and very recently. He dropped the bottle, and in his panic, he ran from the poolside, and into the house. He just didn’t know what had happened between her and Matt, and that was what worried him the most. Where was she?
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.
Chapter Twenty Five
Nico
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 wante
d, 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.
To Murder Matt Page 28
