Free Hot on the Trail by Irena Nieslony

meantime, he ordered room service for himself. There was no way they’d be eating out that evening.
    * * *
    A few doors away, Joanna Neonakis sat picking at her dinner. She hadn’t been scared to go down into the dining room to eat; in fact she felt fully confident that she wouldn’t be recognized with her new appearance. She had got her hair cut and with a bob and a fringe, she looked even less like the old Joanna Neonakis.  No, the reason she hadn’t ventured into the restaurant was that she was depressed, quite a rare state of mind for her. Charles had tried to contact her again. He had rung a couple of times and left text messages, but she had ignored them. She had no choice but to do this Victoria Castle was dead.
    Joanna wondered how long Charles would carry on trying to contact her. She had longed for a man like him for many years, but had put it out of her mind in order to concentrate on making a wealthy woman of herself. She didn’t even think she had been in love with James Anderson, her now dead husband. She had only married him to get hold of his aunt’s money.
    Joanna’s phone rang again. It was Charles. Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? She couldn’t bear it for much longer.
    Tomorrow I’ll get a new pay as you go sim card for my phone and get rid of this one. I don’t want to see his name come up again and again. He’ll be back from Adelaide tomorrow and will go to the Hyatt Regency and find out I’ve gone. I wonder if they’ll tell him I’m wanted by the police. God, I hope not.
    Joanna got up and paced the room. She hadn’t banked on this happening to her. Why on earth did things turn out like this?  She switched the television on to try and absorb herself in some trivial programme. Tomorrow she’d have to make a new plan for the future. She knew she would have to leave Perth, but where would she go? Would she have to leave Australia altogether?
    * * *
    Detective Chief Inspective Dimitris Kastrinakis collapsed into bed that night. He was exhausted, not to mention completely fed up. He had been round as many hotels as he could with a photo of Joanna Neonakis asking if she had booked in that day. If the desk clerk who was on duty earlier wasn’t in, Dimitris left a photo at reception. He had no luck at any of the hotels he went to, which included the Duxton, and he was more or less ready to give up.
    The Australian police offered the help of one of their men to Dimitris, but he refused, his pride getting in the way. By the end of the day he realized what a mistake he’d made considering the number of hotels there were in Perth, but by this time it was too late.
    Stavros, his assistant, had had an easier day of it as he had waited outside Joanna’s room at the Hyatt Regency, but, as they expected, she didn’t turn up.
    Dimitris felt at a loss as to where to go from here. Perth was a big city. How would he be able to find one woman here? He wished he had never come. He would be a laughing stock when he got back to Crete. He would have let Joanna Neonakis escape from his clutches, not once, but twice. Yes, the whole police force would think he was a joke.
     

Chapter 7
     
    Eve woke up once during the night convinced that two strangers were coming towards her brandishing knives. She sat up in bed and felt herself shaking and perspiring. Eve knew she was being selfish, but she felt afraid and had to wake up David. Once he had reassured her that there was nothing to be scared of, she realized that she still felt very thirsty. While he got her another drink of water, she became aware that the awful pain in her head had disappeared. Eve was relieved; hoping that perhaps she was getting over whatever this was she was suffering from.
    “How are you feeling now, darling?” David asked when she had drunk the water. He was very concerned and wished now that he had ignored her when she said she didn’t want to go to the hospital.  .
    “Better, thanks and a bit hungry!”
    “There are some crisps