Chapter 10
Now Diana is looking back through the photos with minute interest. “These people must be staying at the same hotel”
She is looking at me differently. She comes over and sits beside me. “You’re right. Everything you said about him is true. Geraldo is going to blackmail me, pretending to be you, to get at my money. The gold-digging, murdering, cheating, bastard!"
She's become concerned. "He's going to kill you. That's why he's made sure that there's nothing to connect him to your corpse. I'm the only one with an obvious motive for your death. He might even be intending to implicate me and then hold it over me to make me change my will. There's no way I could plausibly establish a connection between him and you. But I've been sleeping with you and he'll have the evidence. If you seem to have been blackmailing me, I have a strong motive."
With relief in her voice, she concludes: "No way of connecting you two, except for the chance discovery of someone else's holiday snaps in this camera you stole."
She's sees it all immediately.
Now she suggests a way for me to avoid Geraldo's stiletto: "I can post these images of you two together on a public site, like an album in Google or on Instagram, then SMS Geraldo with the URL to forestall him. His alibi and motive will both be blown and he won't be able to kill you without suspicion falling on him."
Diana is much smarter than me! In a single instant she has solved the whole puzzle.
Not only that, she's also realised that there must be a back-up camera. “We need to search this room top to bottom, starting with those suspicious smoke detectors; and that dancer; and that vase." she says, looking around.
"Let’s hope we don’t find any cameras connected to the internet, otherwise I may soon be the celebrity sex-scandal sensation of the year.” She says laughing and seems to be quite excited by the thought! "But that's unlikely, he wouldn't risk an inferior hotel web connection that might be hacked. He'll collect his video cards when he gets back on Monday."
How does she know all this technical stuff? She's right about the smoke alarms, the sculpture and even the flower vase. We've gathered four full HD video camera memory cards.
"That seems to be all..." she says, beckoning. "Come over here and sit beside me. You've been a very foolish boy you know? You've been set-up to be a posthumous blackmailer!"
Her hand is behind my head and her lips are pressed to mine.
It has been the most terrifying hour of my life. I've been to purgatory and now I'm saved! No stiletto. No jailhouse buggery. Just Diana's forgiving kiss.
"So, if I understood you correctly, your plan was to stay the night? Maybe we should put the cards back and complete your mission?" she suggests huskily.
On this occasion, Olympus truly was auspicious!
Perhaps that Australian was an Angel from God? Maybe this is Devine intervention... ¡Gracias a dios.