Eve paused, not knowing whether to ask the all-important question, but she and Paul had become good friends since they, together with Jane, had been held hostage by James Anderson. In the end, she decided to go for it.
“Have the police decided if it’s murder or not?”
Paul looked at Eve, realizing that she was going to go on the hunt for the killer again. He didn’t know why he had ever doubted it.
Is there any point not telling her? he asked himself. She’ll know soon enough anyway.
“Well, Eve, I reckon you’re going to find out today, so I might as well tell you; yes, Lucy was murdered; strangled in fact. Keep it to yourself for the time being, please.”
Eve gasped, but agreed that it was best not to spread it around the village.
“Of course I will. I certainly won’t tell David. He’ll worry about me interfering!”
“I’m sure he will.........You’re not going to, are you?”
“Whatever makes you think that?” Eve asked mischievously.
“Well, be careful if you do,” Paul replied, shaking his head. “Listen, I’ve got to get going to my brother’s. See you later.”
“Bye,” Eve replied, her mind racing.
Once Paul had gone, Eve carried on walking, thinking what to do next. One thing she did know was that she wasn’t going to tell David that Lucy had been murdered. Let him find out later. He would be the last to know if she had anything to do about it, although she’d miss having him by her side trying to solve the crime. Even though he had been reluctant to help her previously, it had been fun that he’d finally given in. To top it all, he was a pretty smart guy and had been useful.
It was good to have a bit of assistance. I could certainly do with someone’s help this time as well.................What about Jane? I like her and we have become good friends, despite a few bumps along the way. Plus she might find out a few things, what with being Paul’s girlfriend. I’ll give her a call right now.
Eve didn’t give a second thought to the fact that it was only seven o’clock in the morning.
She got her cell phone out of her handbag and a couple of minutes later, a very sleepy Jane answered her phone.
“Jane, hello, it’s Eve. I’m out walking Portia and I just bumped into Paul. He told me Lucy had been murdered. It came as such a shock.”
“He told you?” Jane exclaimed, waking up abruptly. “I didn’t think he would tell anyone, but I expect he felt you should know as you were the one to discover her body. Anyway, I’m glad he did. I have something to talk to you about, though I know I shouldn’t. If you get involved in trying to solve the murder, David’s going to be cross with you, isn’t he?”
“Oh forget about David,” Eve exclaimed excitedly, but then realized that she was being unkind to the man she loved. “Oh Jane, I didn’t mean that. I had already decided that if Lucy had been murdered, I wouldn’t tell David that I was getting involved. I’ve also promised myself that I’m going to be very careful this time. I don’t fancy being poisoned again, or being thrown down a cellar and having my house set on fire. No, I will take precautions.”
Eve suddenly realized that she was rambling on and hadn’t let Jane speak. She felt guilty which was totally unlike her.
Goodness, I must be getting soft, she thought.
“So what have you got to tell me?” Eve quickly asked Jane.
“I’d rather talk to you face to face, Eve. Give me twenty minutes and come over for breakfast; that is if you’re hungry?”
“Starving. All this walking in the early hours has given me an appetite!”
Eve closed her call and smiled, still not having apologized for waking Jane up. She was much too excited that Lucy had been murdered to think of anything else.
* * * *
It didn’t take long for Eve, with her dog in tow, to reach Jane’s house. Jane’s home had belonged to her father, John Phillips, who had been murdered the previous summer. When Jane came over at Christmas, she had intended to put the house on the market, but after her disastrous relationship with James Anderson, she had fallen for Paul Fowler and had decided to stay on indefinitely. It made perfect sense to live in her Dad’s house for the time being.
Jane gave Eve a cup of coffee while she made breakfast. Eve was hungry after her walk and was pleased to see that Jane was preparing a full English breakfast. There were mushrooms, eggs, baked beans, fried bread, hash browns, sausages and bacon for Jane and vegetarian sausages for Eve.
Eve had stopped eating meat and fish over twenty years ago, but had been disappointed by the lack of vegetarian products to be found on Crete. Luckily she had discovered that the local English freezer shop did stock some vegetarian sausages and burgers. Jane had held a small barbecue recently to which Eve and David had been invited and she had some of the vegetarian sausages left over.
“Breakfast looks delicious, Jane,” Eve exclaimed.
“I thought you could do with it. I doubt if you ate properly yesterday with everything that happened.”
“No, I didn’t. I missed lunch completely, had a few crisps and nuts in the afternoon with a couple of rather large G and Ts and then had a slice of quiche at
The Black Cat
in the evening. I must admit that I could find room for a full English breakfast this morning.”
“I hope you’re feeling a bit better today, Eve. I’m sure it must have been awful finding Lucy’s body.”
“Yes, it was. It was horrible.”
Eve trembled, remembering the previous day. She had become so excited about finding out who had murdered Lucy that she had forgotten how dreadful discovering the body had actually been. Suddenly it all came back to her.
“I literally tripped over her, Jane,” Eve continued. “I didn’t sleep at all well last night. I had a terrible nightmare about Lucy.........I’m alright now though......at least I think I am.”
Eve paused for a moment, attempting to put the image of Lucy’s body out of her mind.
“Yes,” Jane said. “I’m sure it’ll take time to forget about yesterday.”
However, in those few moments Eve did manage to put the picture of Lucy right out of her mind. Now it was time to get justice for her death. It didn’t matter that she was an unpleasant woman, she still deserved it.
After about five minutes, Eve felt she’d left a suitable length of time before asking Jane what she knew about Lucy’s murder. Instead of shaking with fear, she was now trembling with excitement.
I haven’t felt like this since Jennifer’s murder. I know it sounds terrible and I do love David, but it’s not enough. I need more than just a man in my life. Not that David’s ‘just a man’. He is the most wonderful man I’ve ever met and I don’t want to lose him.....”
Eve’s thoughts were interrupted by Jane.
“Breakfast is ready. Let’s eat while I tell you what’s been on my mind.”
Eve went to sit at the table quickly, hoping that Jane had something substantial to tell her about the murder.
As soon as Eve started to tuck into her breakfast, Jane began to speak.
“Okay, I’ll tell you what I know, but promise me you’ll keep it all to yourself and you’ll be careful with the information.”
Eve nodded, wishing Jane would hurry up.
“Well, as you know, Kevin and Lucy’s marriage wasn’t going so well.”
“Yes, yes,” Eve replied impatiently.
“Well, Kevin didn’t seem upset when he heard about her death yesterday. In fact he showed no emotion whatsoever, although his son, Justin, was in tears.”
“Obviously loves, or should I say loved, his Mum.”
Jane nodded and then carried on.
“Well, firstly Paul thinks Kevin had time to kill Lucy. The murder was committed between seven and ten the night before last. Kevin’s plane took off for Athens at nine. He says he left for the airport at seven, but you know what it’s like with these internal flights. Lots of the Greeks don’t check in until twenty minutes before the plane takes off.”
“Or even less,” Eve said excitedly. “And Kevin wouldn’t have had check-in luggage if he was only going for the night.”
Jane nodded.
“I thought Paul was close to his brother?” Eve asked. “Why is he trying to pin it on Kevin?”
“He isn’t really,” Jane replied. “He’s thinks it’s a possibility. I’m sure he hopes it wasn’t Kevin. But there’s something else.”
Eve took another large forkful of her breakfast and leant forward eagerly.
This is all getting very interesting, Eve thought. How could I ever have thought of not getting involved in the hunt for the killer?
“Well, last night Kevin admitted that Lucy was having an affair.”
“An affair! I don’t believe it. I mean, she was so unadventurous and dull. Not to mention that she gave Kevin hell for his one night stand with Jennifer. Perhaps she was paying him back?”
Jane shrugged her shoulders.
“And who would want to have an affair with her?” Eve continued. “I mean she was as ugly as sin.”
Eve regretted saying this as soon as she had spoken. She had resolved to be a nicer person, but words did slip out when she wasn’t thinking.
“You sound just like Paul. He said something similar,” Jane laughed.
“I promised myself to be nicer and here I go again.”
“Don’t worry about it, Eve; I was astonished that Lucy had found someone to have an affair with as well! Not that Kevin is certain who that person is. Anyway, this leads me to what I wanted to tell you about. I had totally forgotten about it until yesterday. A little while ago I saw Lucy and Yiannis Neonakis together. They were laughing and he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. It could have been nothing; just a bit of flirtation, but now that I’ve heard about her affair, I don’t know.”
Eve gasped.
“He’s about fifteen years younger than she is,” Eve said, with a note of excitement in her voice. “Mind you, he’s not fussy where women are concerned. He’s quite a gigolo, and proud of it......Well, well, now that definitely opens up the suspect list, doesn’t it, Jane? Yiannis has got a violent temper, as you well know, and I wouldn’t rule him out as the killer. Lucy could have upset him in some way, making him angry and he then strangled her. I reckon with him, the murder wouldn’t have been premeditated. He’s a strong man as well and it wouldn’t have taken much for him to carry her round to the cave from the cove. He could even have killed her somewhere else and brought her to the cove by car.”
“You could be right, but they could just have been flirting the day I saw them. Lucy could easily have been having an affair with someone else and he could have killed her.”
Eve nodded, but tried not to smile at Jane’s excitement.
“Yes, it could definitely be another man, Jane.”
Eve thought how interesting the case was already proving to be. Unlike the previous murders, there were already two prime suspects early on in the case. Lucy’s husband, Kevin, topped it of course. Their marriage was on the rocks and he could have become fed up of arguing with her. Finding out that she was seeing another man could have been the last straw. Then there was the lover. It looked quite likely that Yiannis was the man that she was having the affair with. Eve knew he was promiscuous. During the season, he was always hanging around the female holidaymakers and as much as she hated to admit it, Yiannis was very good looking and he did manage to get his fair share of tourists. Eve felt sorry for them. Yes, a lot of the girls in their late twenties or early thirties knew it was just a bit of fun and wasn’t going to lead to anything more, but some of the younger girls fell madly in love with him and ended up with broken hearts. She was sure he had been having a few one night stands the previous summer even though he was in a serious relationship with Laura, the poor girl who Phyllis murdered. Of course, the man who Lucy had been having the affair with might not be Yiannis, which would bring in a third suspect.
Eve hoped Yiannis was the killer. They hadn’t got on since she had suspected him of murdering Jane’s father and he was always having a dig at her.
I would feel much more relaxed if he were locked up for a good many years, I really would, Eve thought to herself. Mind you, it still seems strange that he would have an affair with Lucy. She must have thrown herself at him. He’s not the type to turn down a bit of fun, even if the woman’s not exactly attractive. Perhaps that’s it. He didn’t want anything serious while she did and the only way to get her out of his life was to kill her.
“Eve, what do you think?” Jane interrupted Eve’s thoughts.
“What did you say?” Eve jumped. “I’m sorry. I was miles away.”
“I could see that. You’d better be careful when you get home otherwise David will think something’s wrong. You’re usually so chatty. If you’re not, he might think you're obsessed with the murder.”
“You’re right, I suppose.”
“Anyway, Eve,” Jane continued, “I was hoping that I could help you solve the case this time. I mean, you’d be in charge of course, but I’d like to assist. I’d be very discreet. I think I’d be an asset with Paul being Kevin’s brother. I might find out quite a few things.”
Eve looked at Jane. She had thought about asking for her help earlier, but was now a little worried. After all, Eve did like to take all the credit for solving the murders for herself. David had helped her before and had let her get all the praise, but would Jane?
Yes, I’m pretty certain she would. She’s shy and would probably hate the limelight. It would also be useful to have someone to look out for me and to watch my back, plus Jane was right, she could find out lots of interesting bits of information just from listening to Paul and Kevin.
“I am getting bored as well, Eve. I did have that job making breakfasts in a cafe in Almerida covering for someone in hospital, but she’s back. It’s hard to get jobs here now. I know I have my inheritance from Dad, but I need something more; something to occupy my mind.”
That did it for Eve. She knew exactly how Jane felt.
She needs something interesting to occupy her days. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight......or perhaps she’s being very clever, knowing that I will sympathize with her. But if she is, full marks to her. She’ll be a useful addition. I still think I can easily be in charge.
“Okay, Jane, you’ve won me over, but I think that this time we’ll have to be very discreet. Remember what happened to me last time and also to you and Paul, and I know you heard about all the attempts on my life after your Dad was killed.”