“We’re here,” David said, shaking Eve out of her thoughts.
“I’m sorry, I was miles away. It looks like the police are already here.”
Eve and David walked towards the house and just as Eve was about to put her key in the lock, Detective Chief Inspector Jameson opened the door.
“Ah, Miss Masters, come in; I’m afraid the house is a bit of a mess.”
“So I’ve been told,” Eve spoke miserably.
She walked into the lounge, followed by David.
“Oh no, It’s worse than I expected. All of Andrea’s things have been thrown everywhere and it looks like some stuff has been destroyed or damaged at the least. There are papers torn up and china smashed. Is the rest of the house like this?”
“I’m afraid so,” Jameson replied.
Eve turned to David, almost in tears.
‘Who could have done something so heartless?”
“I honestly don’t know, darling,”
“It must have been Marion. What do you think, Inspector?”
“We have a few suspects in mind now that Vera’s in jail.”
“I knew she was innocent.”
“She may or may not be.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I am not in a position to reveal anything at the moment, Miss Masters.”
Eve grunted. She hated being left in the dark, but she didn’t think she’d be able to wind Jameson round her little finger in the way she thought she could Dimitris Kastrinakis.
“How did they get in?” Eve asked the inspector.
“They smashed one of the kitchen windows.”
“Not again,” Eve sighed. “That’s how the burglars got in last week. We’ll have to fork out for a new window again. Charles Sheffield, on the other hand, picked the lock on the side door. I think the windows need bars on them and the doors the locks we have in Crete: Mortise locks I think they’re called.......... And the house definitely needs an alarm system.”
Eve stood there, looking as if she didn’t know what to do next, so David came and put his arm around her.
“Are we able to tidy up yet,” he asked Jameson.
“Soon, once photographs are taken of each room. And if you can tell us if anything’s missing, Miss Masters.”
“I’ll try, though as I said the last time, I don’t know everything that Andrea had.”
“I’ll give you a hand tidying up if you like,” Sarah interrupted. “I feel terrible. I said I’d keep an eye on your property and this happens on my first night of looking after it.”
“Don’t be silly,” Eve replied. “It’s hardly your fault. You can’t watch the house twenty four hours a day. Don’t worry about clearing up. I’ll use this as an advantage to sort through Andrea’s things. I’ve been meaning to do it before we go back to Crete.”
“Right, we’ll be off for now,” Jameson said. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
Eve was relieved to see the back of them.
“Are they going to Marion’s?” she asked Saran who was looking through the net curtains.
“No, they’re going to the other side. I did see Trevor arrive at the same time as the police.”
“My goodness,” Eve exclaimed. “Do the police think he did it? I suppose he could have done it to try and frame Marion and get his mum out of jail.”
Oh Eve, thought David. Don’t get involved in the case again. Why don’t you just sell the house and be done with it. Does it really matter who’s doing all these awful things? That person wants to frighten you at the least or murder you at the worst and they damn well nearly succeeded. Please sell it. We can stay in a nice hotel if we come back to Perth. You know how much you love style and luxury. All I want is to be with you and I don’t want to lose you.
* * *
The police had noticed Trevor going into his mother’s home earlier and he had noticed them. He wasn’t keen on talking to them, but there was no point running away as they’d catch up with him eventually. Anyway, why should he run, he had nothing to hide.
Trevor was sorting through his mother’s post when the doorbell rang. Reluctantly he got up. He knew it was the police.
“Mr. Ryan,” Jameson said, “May we have a few words.”
“Sure, but I have nothing new to tell you.”
“Well, we have something to speak to you about, sir.”
Trevor reluctantly let them in and they all went into the sitting room. He didn’t bother to offer them a tea or coffee. He wanted them to be gone as soon as possible.
“Somebody went into Eve Masters’ house during last night and ransacked it,” Jameson got straight to the point. “Can you tell me where you were?”
“Yes, at home with my wife and my sister and her husband from Adelaide. They’ve come up to give mum support. We ate dinner at seven and sat up until about two, chatting.”
“We will check with the relevant people. Is your sister still here?”
“Yes, of course,” Trevor snapped. “She’s not going to leave mum when she’s been falsely arrested.”
Jameson chose to ignore that remark and continued.
“Does your mother have a key to the house belonging to Miss Masters?”
“I have no idea. Why, do you think I took it and went and ransacked the house?”
“No, somebody smashed the kitchen window to get in.”
Trevor wondered why the inspector had asked him this, but he didn’t have a chance to ask.
“Well, I think that’s all for now. We’ll be over to your house later to question the rest of your family, so don’t go anywhere.”
Trevor nodded, but inside his blood was boiling. How dare the police think he ransacked Eve’s house. Why weren’t they questioning Marion Carpenter? This could make things worse for his mum.
* * *
The police then proceeded to visit the few homes close by which had a view of Eve’s house. They asked the people living in them if they had seen anything the previous night, but they had no luck until the very last house belonging to a Mrs. Graves. She was eighty-two years old as she very proudly told the detective and his sergeant, but she seemed quite sprightly for a woman her age.
“Sit down and have a cup of tea,” she said.
“No thanks,” Jameson replied “We’ve not long had one.”
“Nonsense. You can never have too much tea. And you’ll want a slice of my boiled fruit cake.
Jameson and John Duffy, his sergeant, felt they wouldn’t get any answers from Mrs. Graves unless they did as they were told, so they sat down and waited for their refreshments.
They hadn’t been sitting there for long before she came in with the tea and two large slices of the fruit cake. As she poured, Jameson broached the subject of the previous night, not really expecting any answers. He thought that whoever did break in would probably have come in the middle of the night when everybody was asleep.
“Well, let me see, last night; I’m not sure if I remember properly. I was just about to go to bed at about ten when I decided to look out of the window. I quite often take a peek outside to see what’s going on.”
Mrs. Graves smiled as if she were remembering something.
“And then when you looked outside, what did you see?” Jameson prompted Mrs. Graves.
“What did I see? Let me think. Oh yes, that Marion, my she’s a strange one I must say. She’s very quiet; you can’t have a conversation with her. I have tried, but she doesn’t say much more than yes or no.”
“What about Marion last night?” Jameson asked, trying to keep his temper. She was old after all.
“Ah yes, I saw her walking away from Andrea’s house. I thought it strange because she’s dead, isn’t she?”
Jameson and John looked at each other. They could bring Marion in for questioning with this evidence, but was Mrs. Graves to be trusted. After all, she didn’t seem to be aware of all the comings and goings in Andrea’s house. As far as she knew, Andrea was dead and nobody should be going into that house
.
* * *
About ten minutes later, Jameson and his sergeant were at Marion’s door. She answered more or less as soon as they had knocked, but as usual she had been watching from behind her curtains.
‘What can I do for you officers? There’s nothing wrong, is there?” she whispered, but Jameson thought he detected a note of fear in her voice, fear which he hadn’t noticed at any time when he had spoken to her before.
“We’d like a word with you, if we may.”
“What about?” she asked, sounding even more on edge.
“It’s better that we come inside, madam, if you don’t mind.”
Marion stepped to one side and let the officers in, not feeling as if she could refuse their company as she did with Eve and David.
‘The door on your right,” she indicated.
They all went into the sitting room and Jameson was pleased that in the state she was in, she had forgotten her manners and didn’t bother to offer them tea or coffee.
“Can we ask what you were doing last night, well in fact the whole of the evening and the night?”
“I was here all the time.”
“And you didn’t go out at all?”
“No, I stayed in.”
“Can anybody vouch for you?”
“No, I was alone.”
“Mrs. Graves from across the road saw you coming out of Eve Masters’ house yesterday evening at about ten o clock.”
“That’s not possible. I didn’t go into Eve’s house. Oh, wait a minute, I didn’t go in, but I went to the door. The postman had put two letters for Andrea through my door and I’d forgotten all about them. I saw the letters just before I was going up to bed so I popped over with them.
“That’s a funny thing to do at that time of the night.”
“I’d had them for a couple of days and I kept forgetting to take them round so I thought I’d better put them through her door while I remembered. Why are you asking all these questions?”
“Eve Masters’ house was ransacked last night and we’re asking everyone close by where they were and if they saw anything. Did you see anything suspicious at any time during the evening or night?”
“No, but you think I did it, don’t you? Vera’s in jail, so now the suspicion falls on me.”
Marion started to become quite agitated. “Well, I didn’t do it. Why would I want the house? I have a house.”
“We have heard that it was your aunt’s house and that you expected to inherit it one day,” Jameson said, shocking Marion with his knowledge.
“Who told you that? They’re lying. It would have been nice to have it, but I wouldn’t try and kill somebody over it. I’ve done none of these things, none of them.”
“Calm down, Miss Carpenter, please. These questions are just routine. I suggest you have a nice cup of tea or something stronger and have a rest. We’ll take our leave of you for now.”
Marion walked with them to the door looking ill. Jameson was sure she was shaking as she opened the door.
Once out of earshot, Jameson spoke to his sergeant’
“Well, she seemed guilty if ever I met anyone who was. Though she could just be the nervous type. Look, there’s Sarah Marshall leaving Eve’s. I must have a quick word with her.”
Jameson dashed out of Marion’s garden and caught Sarah before she got into her car.
“One other thing, Mrs. Marshall, was there any post when you got to Eve Masters’ house this morning/”
“Yes, there were a couple of letters on the doormat. I had a quick look at them as the postman is terrible. He keeps posting letters to the wrong houses. However, they were for Andrea so I picked them up and put them on the table by the front door.”
“Thanks a lot, Mars Marshall. G’day.”
Jameson turned back and walked over to Sergeant Duffy.
“Well, it looks like Marion was telling the truth about the letters, but of course she could have been very clever and used that as her alibi so to speak. It doesn’t mean she didn’t go inside the house as well. The same with Vera’s son. He could still have come over to the house last night meaning the whole family could have been in on it. They could have wanted to set Marion up so that we’d release Vera.”
“What’s the next move then, boss?”
“I’m not certain, not certain at all. We’ll wait and see if the fingerprints give any clues, but I’m pretty certain that whoever did this wore gloves.”
* * *
Eve was sitting on the floor sorting through a pile of old letters. Suddenly she burst into tears. David rushed over to comfort her.
“Oh David, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Why can’t whoever’s doing this just stop?”
“I don’t know darling. They’re obviously desperate for this house.”
Eve wiped away her tears and then looked resolute.
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m selling it.”
“Eve, it’s not like you to give up.”
“David, you’ve wanted me to sell the house from the very beginning. I thought you’d be happy.”
“Well I am, but you’ve been so determined to keep it.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I can’t keep my eye on this house from Crete so it’s better that it goes.”
“Ok; if you’re sure.”
“I’m sad that it’s come to this, but I’m in no doubt that it has to be done.”
They were interrupted by a knock at the door and Eve jumped up. David thought she had renewed energy now that she had made up her mind what to do about the house.
It was Jameson at the door. After the usual greetings, he spoke quickly.
“I’ll be brief. Has Marion or Vera got keys to this house, Miss Masters?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t think to ask them as I was handed four sets of keys. I gave one to David, one to the kitchen people, which I’ve now got back and one to Sarah Marshall. There could have been more. Andrea could have given a set each to Marion and Vera. Why do you ask?”
“We’re considering the hauntings that supposedly took place in this house while Andrea was still alive. There are no reports of break-ins, so whoever did it, must have had a key.”
“Yes, of course,” Eve replied. ‘These locks really do need changing.”
“It would be advisable. Well, that’ll be all for now I think,” Jameson concluded.
“Wait a minute,” Eve stopped him. “Have you got any further in discovering who did this to my house, or does it all hang in the balance on who has a key?
“No, it doesn’t all depend on that, but it will help our case. We’re in the process of gathering quite a lot of information, Miss Masters.”
Eve nodded, but inside she was fuming. Why did Jameson have to be so shifty? He was just like all coppers. They never wanted to give anything away.
Once Jameson had gone, Eve went back to her job of sorting the house out. A little later she searched the internet for estate agents. She wanted to put the house on the market as soon as she could. Now she had made her decision, she wanted everything done as quickly as possible.
Chapter 17
Two days later, after Eve and David had mainly spent their time clearing out Andrea’s personal things from the house, but also managing to fit in a little sightseeing, Eve got a phone call from the estate agent, Ann Winters, informing her that a woman wanted to buy her house at the agreed price. Eve found it quite strange that the lady hadn’t even bothered to bargain nor had she wanted to view the property. Ann said she had been at Eve’s house putting the ‘for sale’ sign up when the woman turned up out of nowhere, asked the price and agreed to buy it straight away.
. Alarm bells rang in Eve’s head.
“She didn’t, by any chance, come from the house next door?”
“Not as far as I know; well, put it this way, I didn’t see where she came from as I was busy putting up the sign. After we had spoken, she just walked off down the road.
Well, perhaps she didn’t want to let on wher
e she lived, thought Eve
“Did she give you her name?” Eve asked.
“She called herself Regina Dobrowolska. Her parents must have been East European though she didn’t have any hint of an accent. She was probably born here in Australia.”
Well, if it was Marion as I believe it was, she wouldn’t give her real name, would she? Mind you, how she thinks she’s going to get away with buying a house with a false name I don’t know.
Eve decided she had to find out if it definitely was Marion who Ann had spoken to. She remembered that she had found some photos of Andrea with some of the other women from the street including Marion, so thought it a good idea to take them to the estate agency to show Ann.
“Are you going to be in the office for the next hour?” she asked Ann.
“Yes I am. I should be here until about three.”
“Great. I’ll see you shortly,” Eve said and closed the call, leaving Ann wondering what on earth Eve wanted to see her about so quickly.
Eve went and hurriedly got dressed and redid her make-up. She was relieved that David wasn’t there and had gone to the gym. He had been feeling the effects of too many hotel and restaurant meals and had decided an hour a day in the gym was required to keep him in the shape he was.
Within fifteen minutes, Eve was ready. She grabbed a couple of the photos and went out to the hire car. She completely forgot to leave a note for David.
* * *
When Eve arrived at the estate agent’s office, Ann Winters was locked in conversation with a couple of clients. However, she still managed to acknowledge Eve. Still, Eve knew she shouldn’t be, but she was annoyed that Ann wasn’t free immediately. The old Eve was emerging; very impatient and desperate to know if it was Marion who had put an offer in for the house. She couldn’t imagine that it was somebody completely unknown to her. Who would buy a house at the exact price the seller wanted or without viewing it?
Luckily for Eve, Ann wasn’t engaged for too long and her customers soon left the office.
“Ann,” Eve spoke immediately after the other people left. “I have some photos here which I found in Andrea’s house. Well, my house now. Could you tell me if the woman who made the offer for the house is in any of them?”
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