A Vested Interest - Book 1 of A Vested Interest series

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Dark Secrets - Book 2 of A Vested Interest series
No Secrets - Book 3 of A Vested Interest series
Stones, Stars and Solutions - Book 4 of A Vested Interest series
Leap of Faith - Book 5 of A Vested Interest series
Regret and Retribution - Book 6 of A Vested Interest series
Consequences - Book 7 of A Vested Interest series
Ashes to Ashes - Book 8 of A Vested Interest series
Dust to Dust - Book 9 of A Vested Interest series
Raging Storm - Book 1 of Blood of the Rainbow - an A Vested Interest prequel series
Roses and Regret - Book 2 of Blood of the Rainbow prequel series
Choice and Change - Book 3 of Blood of the Rainbow prequel series
A Vested Interest - Book 1 of A Vested Interest series
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You can find some short stories by John at Amazon

All three are very short.

All are about time travel.

All are a little silly.

https://smarturl.it/iwadasn

https://smarturl.it/iwadasn2

https://smarturl.it/iwadasn3

It was a dark and stormy nightIt was another dark and stormy night

It wasn't a dark and stormy night - Titanic Time

Coming soon is a collection of all these stories including a fourth story with the explanation for the Marie Celest and Leonardo da Vinci

Also by John

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Brenda's Murder

When we wrote the original version of the story we realised by page 470 that the book was just too long; and we had not yet reached the end of the story! A lot of editing had to be done.

In the original story Richard and Donna stopped for a while in a hotel located at a peninsular in Rutland Water. Doubles took Richard and Donna's place and were kidnapped and murdered along with their 'tail'

Brenda was a waitress at that hotel and wanted to earn some money by talking to a reporter

Kate took Brenda by the arm and led her to the office, closing the door. “No matter what you think, Brenda, you’re wrong. The couple who were here were under police protection. That’s who their chauffeur was. The police already know all about them and they won’t take kindly to you, letting anyone know about this. We get a lot of business from things like this and, quiet frankly, if you value your job, you’ll stay out of this and say won’t anything to anyone – is that understood?”

“But that couple are the ones that…”

“Brenda, I’m obviously not getting through to you. There are four people dead because of this. Do you want to be the fifth? Anyone who gets involved in this is in danger - Leave it!”

Brenda grew pale, her mouth open. After a few seconds, she closed her mouth, turned and walked out the door. As soon as the door was closed, Kate reached for the telephone.

------------

Brenda arrived at the pub fifteen minutes early; the owner had just turned the sign around signifying it was open. She got out, walked in and took a seat in the last booth as she had said she would. The waitress came over to her booth and handed Brenda a menu.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Yes, I’ll have a glass of white wine please.”

“I’ll bring it right over,” the waitress replied, disappearing behind the bar.

Brenda reached in her bag, brought out a paperback book and started reading it while she waited for her drink. She had everything all worked out, she was going to sell her story to the newspaper, get enough hopefully to make a holiday in Spain possibly. Her drink arrived and as she sipped it, an Asian man wearing a poppy on his on his left lapel sat down opposite her. Brenda said, “You’re the guy from the Ray?”

“I am indeed. Can I get rid of this damn silly poppy now?” Brenda’s nervousness settled when the man spoke without a trace of an accent. The reporter held out his hand, “My name is John Liu, can I get you another drink – what did you have?”

“I’ve only just got this one but you can buy me lunch though while we talk.”

They looked through the menu then the Liu summoned the waitress and ordered two of the lunch specials. When the waitress left he turned to Brenda and said, “So what can you tell me?”

“If I were to tell you, I know for certain the two scientists working on this death gene thing are not dead after all, how much would your paper pay for that information?”

“How did you come to know this?”

“They were staying in the Hotel where I work. Two days after the TV said they were dead, I was still taking their meals to them.”

“Are you sure about this? Can you prove it was them?”

“Only if you can pay for it; we need to talk money.”

“What are you asking?”

“I’d really like to take a holiday in Spain; say a month or two, private villa, all expenses paid?”

“If you can give me some proof, then yes, I might be able to swing that. What can you offer as proof?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, these people don’t play games. I have a family to worry about and I don’t want them be to be able to trace it back to me. Either you keep my name out of this and you pay me cash or there’s no deal.”

“If your story checks out, we’ll agree to that. If you can tell me where they are now, then you could own that villa.”

Brenda produced a digital camera from her bag. I have pictures of the rooms they were using on this,” she said. “They show the lab they setup in the hotel. They left in a hurry. There are also some pictures I took from the security camera in the hotel. It shows the three of them quiet well; the two scientists and their driver. Is that proof enough?”

Liu examined the digital pictures on the camera’s screen. Although they were tiny, he could see clearly enough to identify that they were genuine. “We can do business. I’ll need this and I want to know what you saw – the full story.” He reached into his wallet and took out ten bank notes. “There’s five hundred pounds. I’ll have to get the rest from a bank but it should be enough to gain your trust – will it not?”

For the next fifteen minutes as they ate, Brenda told Liu everything she had seen and heard and lot more that her imagination had fabricated.

“You said they left in a hurry – what sort of transport did they use?”

“For their entire stay at hotel, their car never moved. Two days after they disappeared, so did their car. They sent somebody in who cleared out everything and left no proof, whatsoever, that they were ever there; even the hotel registry had been wiped. Either that or there was never anything recorded in the first place.”

“A friend of mine who works at a farm near the hotel said that same night when he was locking up; he saw a white pizza van speed down the road by the farm. He said he saw a light and heard, what sounded like a helicopter take off. About five minutes later, he saw the same white van come back down the road but this time there were no pizza signs on it. Since the road is a dead end, he said there was no way in hell the pizza van could have come back without him seeing it.”

“Do you have any idea where they went?” Liu asked.

“None at all; all my friend said, was that he thought the noise he heard faded towards the north of the lake.”

“Alright, you’ve held up your end of the bargain. Let me get you something special and we’ll toast to your holiday in Spain.” Liu got up and went to the bar. A few minutes later, he came back with two brandy glasses containing a pink tinted liquid. “Pink gins,” he said. “It’s what all the ex-pats drink in Spain. Tradition is to down it in one go.” They clinked glasses and Brenda pulled a face after drinking the bitter liquid.

“Stuff that – I’ll stick to Sangria,” she said.

Liu got to his feet. He paid the bill at the bar and together they left the pub. On the way to the bank, Brenda began to fill a little flushed and short-winded.

“Are you feeling all right?” he said with pretended concern. “You look a little pale. Why don’t you wait here and get some fresh air while I get your money?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “What kind of fool do you take me for? I’m not letting you out of my sight until I get the rest of my money!”

A few seconds later, as Liu walked ahead, Brenda grabbed her chest and collapsed. Within seconds a crowd gathered around her. Liu stepped to the edge of the crowed and watched her die. As her eyes began to glaze with death, he walked away knowing that the cerbera he’d slipped in her drink would not be detected by a western pathologist. Brenda’s meddling would stop here. Liu walked a safe distance from the crowd, flipped open his mobile, dialled a number and said, “They were here. Left by helicopter two days ago, heading north. Problem resolved.”


 



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