Angel In Paradise Excerpt
A high wind blew over the northern end of the Greek Island of Corfu. Sophie Papadopoulos sat up in bed and found that she was shivering. This was very unusual. Corfu, a warm, sunny island, is seldom cold except in the depths of winter, and the climate is normally pleasant and enjoyable. They called it the island paradise because it was so full of flowers and sunshine. But after all, Sophie realised, this was still wintertime or perhaps more like early Spring and one had to expect a measure of cold and windy weather.
She should have turned on the central heating. She would have to drag herself out of bed and turn on the switch in the cupboard on the landing outside her bedroom. Her luxurious villa was equipped with everything she could possibly need, including central heating as well as air conditioning, but she hadn’t expected that it would be so cold tonight.
Sophie was the widow of a Greek millionaire who had made his money in computers, had a series of heart attacks, probably from overwork, in his early fifties, and then died. She had plenty of household help, but none of them slept overnight in the villa. Sophie preferred the privacy. Now she wondered if it might be a good idea to have one of the girls sleep over on a regular basis, so that she would be there to help in times like this. To save Sophie from having to go and turn on the system herself.
What a pain!
Sophie was seventy-eight and getting out of bed in the middle of the night was not just metaphorically, but also physically, a pain. Her rheumatism had been growing much worse recently.
It was when she had finally managed to stand upright by the side of her bed, and was beginning to drag on her warm dressing gown, that it occurred to her that the chill in the air seemed to be coming from a draught blowing up the stairs just outside her bedroom door. Surely she hadn’t been silly enough to leave one of the windows open downstairs? Or had it been the noise of someone breaking a window which had woken her?
It had just crossed her mind that it would be as well to press the alarm bell and bring the local police roaring to her aid, when she heard a faint sound somewhere in the house. She moved quickly but cautiously across her bedroom floor to the switch positioned on the wall beside her dressing table. Perhaps she should have the alarm moved closer to the bed for future occasions like this, she thought.
By this time her hand was reaching out to touch the switch. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Heavy feet thundered up the staircase. The bedroom door burst open. A big, thickset man in black was suddenly in the room. He was wearing a hooded mask which completely covered his head, except for the narrow slits through which she could see his sharply gleaming eyes. They reminded Sophie of the eyes of a wolf she had seen many years ago, yellow, narrow, frightening. The man seized her from behind before she could move.
“I wouldn’t do that, Grandma,” he said in menacing tones. His voice was thick and not quite hoarse. Although he spoke in Greek there was a trace of some sort of accent. Sophie couldn’t identify it. American, possibly? “Come and sit down over here.”
He pushed her across to the nearest chair and thrust her down into it. Sophie noticed through her terror that another man had followed him more quietly into the room.
“Now then, Grandma. No need to worry. All we want you to do is give us the combination of the safe. Where you keep your jewels, see? You tell us that and nobody will get hurt.”
The second man came up behind Sophie and twisted her right arm behind her back, pushing her forward in the chair as he did so. It hurt. But that wasn’t what worried Sophie most. What worried her most was the cigarette lighter which the first man had clicked on. The wavering flame came closer and closer to her face.
It was then that Sophie started screaming.
She should have turned on the central heating. She would have to drag herself out of bed and turn on the switch in the cupboard on the landing outside her bedroom. Her luxurious villa was equipped with everything she could possibly need, including central heating as well as air conditioning, but she hadn’t expected that it would be so cold tonight.
Sophie was the widow of a Greek millionaire who had made his money in computers, had a series of heart attacks, probably from overwork, in his early fifties, and then died. She had plenty of household help, but none of them slept overnight in the villa. Sophie preferred the privacy. Now she wondered if it might be a good idea to have one of the girls sleep over on a regular basis, so that she would be there to help in times like this. To save Sophie from having to go and turn on the system herself.
What a pain!
Sophie was seventy-eight and getting out of bed in the middle of the night was not just metaphorically, but also physically, a pain. Her rheumatism had been growing much worse recently.
It was when she had finally managed to stand upright by the side of her bed, and was beginning to drag on her warm dressing gown, that it occurred to her that the chill in the air seemed to be coming from a draught blowing up the stairs just outside her bedroom door. Surely she hadn’t been silly enough to leave one of the windows open downstairs? Or had it been the noise of someone breaking a window which had woken her?
It had just crossed her mind that it would be as well to press the alarm bell and bring the local police roaring to her aid, when she heard a faint sound somewhere in the house. She moved quickly but cautiously across her bedroom floor to the switch positioned on the wall beside her dressing table. Perhaps she should have the alarm moved closer to the bed for future occasions like this, she thought.
By this time her hand was reaching out to touch the switch. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Heavy feet thundered up the staircase. The bedroom door burst open. A big, thickset man in black was suddenly in the room. He was wearing a hooded mask which completely covered his head, except for the narrow slits through which she could see his sharply gleaming eyes. They reminded Sophie of the eyes of a wolf she had seen many years ago, yellow, narrow, frightening. The man seized her from behind before she could move.
“I wouldn’t do that, Grandma,” he said in menacing tones. His voice was thick and not quite hoarse. Although he spoke in Greek there was a trace of some sort of accent. Sophie couldn’t identify it. American, possibly? “Come and sit down over here.”
He pushed her across to the nearest chair and thrust her down into it. Sophie noticed through her terror that another man had followed him more quietly into the room.
“Now then, Grandma. No need to worry. All we want you to do is give us the combination of the safe. Where you keep your jewels, see? You tell us that and nobody will get hurt.”
The second man came up behind Sophie and twisted her right arm behind her back, pushing her forward in the chair as he did so. It hurt. But that wasn’t what worried Sophie most. What worried her most was the cigarette lighter which the first man had clicked on. The wavering flame came closer and closer to her face.
It was then that Sophie started screaming.