Ann looked at the photos, studying them for a few moments before speaking.
“Yes, yes she is.”
“Can you tell me which one is her, please?”
“Of course. Here she is.”
Eve gasped. “That’s Sarah Marshall, the actress, not Regina whatever you called her.”
“I’ve never heard of Sarah Marshall,” Ann said.
“Well, she does mainly theatre work.”
“Oh, I’m not much interested in the theatre.”
How can people not be interested in the theatre? Eve thought. It’s so varied; I would have thought there’s something to interest most people. However, that’s not what I’m worried about today; the only thing I’m bothered about is Sarah Marshall or whatever her name is.
“What do I do now?” Ann asked. “Do you want to accept the offer or not?”
“Do nothing for now please. If she rings you, say you can’t get in touch with me. There’s something very fishy going on here at the moment.”
“Very well,” Ann replied. “But keep in touch.”
Eve left the office feeling confused. What was she to do now? For a start, why did Sarah want the house? Was she getting it for herself or for Vera or Marion? Either of the two women could have put her up to this. It must have been one of them because it was either Vera or Marion who had poisoned her. Sarah wasn’t at Vera’s house when she ate the lamington; only Vera and Marion were. Eve was now faced with a dilemma. Should she go and confront Sarah or should she tell the police and leave it up to them? She knew both David and Jameson would be angry if she took the law into her own hands yet again, but this might be her last chance. She’d have to give up sleuthing soon; she had promised David, but she needed to see this case out.
* * *
As usual, vanity was Eve’s driving force. She couldn’t bear to let the police take the credit for capturing Sarah. However, she was a little worried this time. After her ordeal with Charles Sheffield she didn’t feel quite as invincible as she used to think she was when she had confronted the killers on Crete. Perhaps she should tell David where she was going; just to be on the safe side. However, she knew that he would try to dissuade her. She could of course be liberal with the truth; there was no need to tell him any more than the bare facts.
Eve got out her mobile and called him. When all she got was his answer phone, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was much easier to talk to a machine than to David. He now wouldn’t be able to try to stop her from doing what she fully intended to do.
“David, darling, it’s only me,” she said. “I’ve just found out that Sarah Marshall wants to buy my house. I’m finding this rather strange as she already lives across the road, so I’m going over to see her. I won’t be long. Love you.”
Eve started up the engine of her hire car wondering how she was going to start the conversation with Sarah, or should she call her Regina? It suddenly dawned on her that Sarah Marshall might be her stage name, so perhaps there wasn’t anything fishy about her calling herself Regina. Still, why would she want two houses?
Arriving at Sarah’s house, Eve saw that her car was in the driveway. She parked up and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. She remembered Jameson telling her not to interfere, and how many times had Dimitris Kastrinakis told her to keep her nose out of his cases. She had never taken any notice of Dimitris and look where that had got her. Still, she had always managed to get out of trouble, so she probably would be alright again. Anyway, Sarah was a tiny little thing and Eve was sure she could overpower her if need be.
Eve got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Within seconds of ringing the doorbell, Sarah answered and invited Eve in immediately.
“How lovely to see you again. Coffee?” Sarah asked.
“Please.” Eve replied.
Once they were settled and all the niceties were out of the way, Eve thought she had better broach the subject of her house.
“I’ve put the house up for sale, Sarah.”
“I know. I’ve seen the sign. I must admit I was very surprised: You were so adamant that you weren’t going to sell it. I’ll be sorry to see you go. I was hoping you’d come back to Perth now and again and we could become closer friends.”
“Why aren’t you telling me the truth, Sarah?”
“What do you mean, the truth about what? What makes you think I’m keeping something from you? We’re friends; I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“We were friends, at least I thought we were; that is until I found out that you wanted to buy my house, Sarah, or is it Regina?”
All the blood drained from Sarah’s face and Eve wasn’t certain if she was frightened or if she was getting ready to attack her. Eve began to regret her decision to visit Sarah. Perhaps it would have been better telling the police what she knew rather than confronting Sarah with no back-up.
“I don’t know what to say to you,” Sarah mumbled. “How did you find out?”
“When the estate agent, Ann Winters, informed me that somebody wanted to buy my house at the asking price without viewing it, I became suspicious. Ann said the person just walked by the house when she was outside it and I immediately thought it was Marion. I had found some photos Andrea took of people down this street. I showed them to Ann, but instead of picking out Marion, she said you were the one who wanted to buy my house. What have you got to say?”
“It’s none of your business why I want the house,” Sarah said, turning defensive.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll sell it now. I’ve changed my mind.”
“You have to sell it, it’s imperative that you do.”
“I don’t have to do anything. It’s my house and I can do what I want with it. So, tell me, who put you up to this, Marion or Vera? I’m pretty certain you don’t want the house for yourself,” Eve said, getting up and starting to move towards the door, ready to make a quick exit as soon as possible. She felt she knew too much now and she certainly didn’t trust Sarah.
Eve’s instincts were right. As quick as lightening, Sarah lunged at Eve, knocking her over. Eve banged her arm against the coffee table and screamed with pain.
“Come on Eve, don’t give me that. I’m warning you not to do anything stupid. Pretending to be hurt won’t cut it with me.”
“I’m not pretending,” Eve replied, wincing with the pain. “I think I’ve broken my arm.”
Sarah wasn’t certain whether or not to believe Eve. She was starting to get nervous. How did she get herself involved in this? And what was she going to do with Eve now?
Eve spoke again. “You know, it won’t be so bad for you if you let me go now. I presume that all you did was ransack my house the other night?”
“Yes, that was me. I had to take the spotlight off Vera and make it look as if Marion was the one who had been trying to get you out of your house.”
“So it was Vera all along?”
“Yes, she wanted the house for her son, Trevor. He didn’t know anything about it though. He has no idea she’s got so much money. It was left to her by an uncle who died before she got married. She didn’t tell her husband or anyone. It was her means of escape if she ever needed one. As it was, she didn’t.”
“Why on earth did you get involved with her?”
“We’ve been friends for a long time and she promised me enough money to get my ex-husband off my back. This house is in both our names and I didn’t have the money to pay him off .I didn’t want to lose my home. When Vera was arrested I went to see her and she got this plan all worked out. I was to ransack your house which would hopefully be the final straw for you. You would then put the house up for sale and I would buy it under my real name. It was all working out well until you poked your nose into it. She’ll kill me now that I’ve messed it all up.”
Eve’s arm was hurting more and more, but she was determined to get all the information from Sarah.
“So you actually condone her trying to kill me – and Marion as well. Marion�
�s her friend.”
“Oh, I don’t think she was trying to kill you, either of you. She was just trying to frighten you off. That was the whole point. She wanted to chase you away.”
“But she could have got the amount of belladonna wrong and we could both have died.”
Sarah shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to say to that.
“So what are you going to do with me?” Eve finally asked, noticing Sarah seemed reluctant to say anything else.
“I don’t know. I have to think. I didn’t plan this. I’m not a murderer. All I was going to do was mess up your house.”
“Well, let me go then and tell the police what you know. You’ll probably only get a suspended sentence if you do that.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. But if you do something to me, your sentence will be a lot longer.”
“You don’t really expect me to listen to you. You’re only trying to save yourself, not help me which of course is perfectly understandable.”
Suddenly the doorbell rang and Sarah leapt over to Eve and grabbed her broken arm, twisting it round to her back.
“Scream and I’ll twist it even further.”
Eve was in horrendous pain, but she kept quiet. Heaven only knows what this mad woman would do if she did shout out.
* * *
David Baker got back from the gym feeling re-energized. It certainly seemed to be doing him a lot of good; he’d ask Eve to go with him next time, not that she looked like she’d put on an ounce.
David went into his hotel room and called out for Eve, but there was no reply. He wondered where she could be. She had said she’d read until he got back. David got out his mobile to check if there were any messages and indeed there was one. He played it back.
“Damn,” David said out loud when he had listened to it. “Eve, haven’t you learnt your lesson. If Sarah is involved in all this, she could be dangerous. I’d better get a cab over to the house and see what’s going on. No doubt you’ve taken the hire car.”
David had showered at the gym so all he had to do was get changed, but he kept stopping as thoughts of all the dangerous situations Eve had got herself into on Crete crossed his mind. He started to become seriously worried as he remembered those awful times when she was lucky to have escaped death. How could she have forgotten all that? More importantly, had she really got over being kidnapped by Charles Sheffield so quickly? That situation had taken the wind out of her sails and he couldn’t understand how she was already able to confront someone who could be dangerous. He knew he had to stop thinking like this otherwise he might not have the strength to help Eve, but it was difficult to clear his mind.
Luckily, David was able to get a cab almost immediately and it wasn’t long before he was at Eve’s house. The hire car wasn’t outside and he then thought that perhaps she took a cab. He could have kicked himself for not checking if the hire car was at the hotel or not.
David didn’t know what to do first. Perhaps he should ring the police, but what if nothing had happened. He would look stupid. No, he’d investigate before ringing them. Perhaps he’d go into Eve’s house first.
‘Reaching the front door, he realized he’d left his keys in the hotel so he rang the doorbell. When nobody came to the door, he rang again, but again nobody answered. He saw Marion’s curtains twitch. Eve wasn’t in there, was she? No, why would she be? Then all of a sudden, Marion appeared.
‘David, I saw Eve go into Sarah’s house a while back. I haven’t seen her come out.”
“Thank you, Marion,” he replied.
She might have missed Eve coming out, but he doubted it. She seemed to always be looking out of one of her windows.
Marion gave David a weak smile and went back into her house.
He suddenly felt sorry for her. If she wasn’t involved in any of this, she was probably just a very lonely woman.
David crossed over the road to Sarah’s house, noticing the hire car parked outside.
Damn, why didn’t I look there for the car first? Then I would have known Eve was in Sarah’s house. I don’t think I’m going to be much help at all. I’m really not on the ball today.”
David rang the doorbell, but there was no reply. He rang again, but again nobody came to the door. He opened the letterbox and shouted through.
“You’d better open up, Sarah. I know you’re there and that you’ve got Eve.”
There was still no sound from inside the house.
“Right, I’m going to call the police now,” David shouted, again through the letterbox.
Still, there was not a peep from inside. David began to get worried, really worried. There was nothing for it, but to call the police. Jameson had given them his direct line. He had been worried that something else might happen and he preferred Eve and David to get in touch with him directly. This was definitely an emergency and he needed to call Jameson now. David got his phone out.
* * *
Within twenty minutes the police arrived at Sarah Marshall’s house. David was standing at the door impatiently. Every minute had seemed like two while he had been waiting for them. Jameson came up to him and nodded before ringing the doorbell, having sent a couple of his men round to the back door to catch Sarah if she should try and escape that way.
Inside, Sarah was sitting with Eve on her sofa, still holding onto her broken arm. Eve was feeling faint with the pain and she barely heard the doorbell ring despite Jameson continually ringing as well as knocking on the door.
Suddenly, Sarah let go of Eve’s arm and got up.
“It’s no good, is it? They’re going to catch me whatever I do. I’ve never done anything like this before, Eve. I’m not really a criminal. I’m going to answer the door.”
Eve stared at Sarah and a feeling of relief washed over her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
A few moments later Sarah opened the front door to a very surprised detective.
“I’m all yours, Chief Inspector,” was all she said as two officers handcuffed her and took her away.
David rushed into the house to find Eve sitting on the sofa looking very sorry for herself.
“Eve, darling, are you alright?”
“She broke my arm, but apart from that, I’ll live.”
“Oh Eve,” David started, but then decided that the lectures could wait for another time. Eve had to get to the hospital now and no doubt the police would want to question her, but for the moment, all she needed was a big hug.
Chapter 18
A few days later, after Eve had been to the hospital to have her arm plastered, David decided that after all Eve had been through, they would relax on the beach and enjoy the excellent restaurants Perth had to offer. David was still going to the gym, but Eve said she wasn’t quite up to it, despite him saying that even with a broken arm, she could probably do some leg exercises. To tell the truth, Eve was feeling a little sorry for herself and just wanted to take it easy and be pampered. And why not? She had had more than her fair share of trouble, not that she was prepared to acknowledge that any of it was her own fault.
Near the end of their stay, Eve and David went back to the house to shut it up before returning to Crete. Eve had taken it off the market, deciding that she had been through too much to let anyone else have it. She had survived all the attacks on her and the culprits were now in jail, so she wasn’t frightened anymore. As well as this, Eve didn’t have many relatives and she wanted to keep something that connected her to the little family she did have. She was pretty certain that Andrea hadn’t left her the house so that she could sell it immediately. Although they had communicated very little recently, Andrea knew how well off Eve was and the money she would get from the sale of the house would be a drop in the ocean to her.
Eve and David had kept an eye on what was happening with the people involved in the attacks on her and the house. Vera had been charged with two counts of poisoning her and one count of poisoning Marion, setting Eve’s shed on f
ire and burglary. Sarah had been charged with damaging Eve’s house, withholding evidence and also with grievous bodily harm against Eve. Vera was expected to receive a very long sentence, but nobody was quite sure how Sarah would fare. Trevor, it seemed had no knowledge of any of this.
As Eve and David left the house for the last time this trip, Marion came rushing out of hers.
“Have a good journey back to Crete and I look forward to seeing you again.”
“Oh,” Eve said, genuinely surprised to hear her say this. “I thought you’d be disappointed that I wasn’t selling the house. I had heard that you wanted to buy it.”
“When I was younger I did want it, but that was when I thought I would marry and have children. I thought it would be lovely if a child of mine would live next door, but I expect they’d probably want to move away. Anyway, I never married nor had children.”
Marion’s face took on a wistful look and Eve momentarily felt sorry for her.
“Well,” Eve said, changing the subject. “When we come over next time, we must get to know each other a bit better. There hasn’t been much of an opportunity this time.”
“I’d like that.”
As Eve and David walked away, Eve suddenly felt a little sad thinking of Marion all alone in her house always watching from behind her curtains. She once again realized just how lucky she was to have such a wonderful man as David in her life.
* * *
A couple of days later Eve and David were sitting on a plane travelling back to Crete. Eve was feeling quite exhausted, despite having had a relaxing last few days.
“I’m looking forward to going back to Crete for a rest, David. This has really been a tiring holiday.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that you were tired out, not ever!”
And I didn’t think I’d hear you say you were looking forward to going back to Crete either. he thought happily.
“Well, you must admit, a lot did go on over the last few weeks, didn’t it, darling? I wonder what Dimitris Kastrinakis would think about my latest escapade?”
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