[Intertwined Souls 05.0] No Good Deed Read online

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  EPILOGUE

  Mary D. Brooks

  NO GOOD DEED

  Intertwined Souls Series

  Book 5, 2nd Edition

  Copyright © 2016 Mary D. Brooks

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  AUSXIP Publishing - Sydney, Australia

  www.ausxippublishing.com

  CHAPTER 1

  Sydney, Australia

  April 02, 1951

  It felt good. It felt more than good—it felt right. Eva leaned back against the wood paneling of the elevator and felt at ease. Her mind lazily wandered through the events of the day. She had come back to work, to her small, windowless, claustrophobic office, and she couldn’t be any happier. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was the same it had always been, but this time she didn’t mind it. It was familiar, and nothing was going to surprise her. No one was going to spring any new revelation or secret, and nothing was going to change her life in the time she was there. She hated change and surprises, and her visit to Larissa and Berlin had yielded an avalanche of secrets. Surprise was an understatement.

  Before she left for Europe, the only family Eva had was her beloved spouse Zoe Lambros, her father Panayiotis Haralambos, and her best friends Henry Franz and Earl Wiggins. Her other close friends consisted of people she had befriended in Australia or on the way to the new country, like Zoe’s best friend Elena and her husband Friedrich. She felt she didn’t need any other family; at least none of her family back in Germany, which had disowned her, but the universe, or God, or the Fates had a way of upsetting her plans. It happened every time she got comfortable in her life; something would happen that would tip that particular cart right at her feet—a huge cosmic sign that said ‘don’t get too comfortable now.’

  Eva was not expecting to find herself not only with an aunt she thought had died long before she was born, but also with a cousin, a great aunt and an uncle, and an overabundance of secrets that just continued to tumble out from a bottomless bag.

  The Interpreter Service was child’s play compared to the deluge of emotions that ran through her mind, and it physically hurt to be reminded of her past. The most surprising aspect to come out from their trip to Europe was the letter from her mother and THE secret. It wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill secret. Oh no, that was just too small and insignificant. Zoe, her beloved spouse, called it the ‘Oh-My-God-And-All-Things-Holy-Pentasensical-Secret’. Eva chuckled as she thought of the nonsense word that Zoe had coined. THE secret. She was a descendant of Theresa Eva, who just so happened to have been a follower of Jesus Christ. It also happened she was one of the chosen one hundred and twenty to receive the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost in 33 AD. The Holy Ghost was sent by God to further the work started by Jesus Christ of spreading the message of salvation. The events in a room in Jerusalem had ramifications for the descendant of one woman present. Her name was Theresa Eva and she was given the gift of languages to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ. What no one foresaw was that those gifts would be handed down from generation to generation, and that each generation would acquire other gifts. How that came about or why no one knew—it was another mystery to be revealed at some inopportune time.

  Eva shook her head as she stared down at the floor. Why did the gifts continue to be given? What purpose did they serve other than to drive many into believing they were demon possessed or insane?

  Eva was told she was gifted with those extraordinary Pentecost gifts. There was no doubt about that now after the extraordinary vision of her future she had on the ship heading back to Sydney. She had a gift for languages—she always found it easy to learn new languages, and she also was aware that she could tell when events would happen. She never really thought about it. It was part of her and she thought everyone was like that.

  In Larissa, she found her ‘dead’ aunt—a woman her family believed was possessed and sent to an insane asylum, where she perished in a fire. That was far from reality. How does one explain this aunt and her paranormal gifts? It was only when she was in Berlin that the full realization of what she was became apparent. No matter how many times Eva tried to make sense of everything happening around her, she found herself stumped. She was shell shocked and utterly unprepared for the revelations that just seemed to materialize. To those who knew about these gifts it felt normal, but to Eva, this was the most shocking revelation, and she needed time to adjust to finding out she was not normal. Everything made sense and nothing made sense.

  Apart from her long lost aunt, great aunt and uncle (if that wasn’t enough), Eva and Zoe had to contend with their own painful memories of the small Greek town of Larissa. It was, without a doubt, the place where Eva found her one reason to live, but even that was a struggle. She fought for her own life, against and then with a young woman who had stolen her heart. This required her to find a way through the mental barriers, all thanks to the aversion treatments she had been subjected to in a small town called Aiden on the German/Austrian border. This was her hell on earth and one place that struck fear into her heart. The mere threat of being sent back made her ill. It was all too much. She sighed. It had been quite a struggle, but she was still alive and still sane. Somewhat.

  Whilst in Germany, in addition to all those secrets that just didn’t want to stay buried, she found out she was the heir to her mother’s inheritance, which amounted to a great deal of money and property. Eva also found the courage to confront her grandmother, the imposing matriarch of the Muller family, Beatriz Muller, and finally give voice to the terror she had been subjected to in Aiden. Her grandmother’s indifference to her pain hurt Eva in a way she didn’t think possible. It all culminated in the War Crimes Unit in Germany arresting Beatriz for crimes against humanity for torture of Eva and others in the Aiden Research Facility; a facility ironically inherited by Eva on her thirtieth birthday.

  When Eva and Zoe left Sydney to reclaim Zoe’s inheritance in Greece, they had a government-sponsored mortgage on the house they shared in a quiet Sydney suburb. They were not wealthy by any means and they both wor
ked to make ends meet. Often times they found themselves scrounging around for shillings to see out the week. After they came back from Europe, Eva was a double heiress of both the Faber and the Muller fortunes. The whole thing made her head spin.

  Eva gazed up at the lift floor indicator and sighed deeply. She put her hand in her handbag to take out her cigarette case and her fingers touched a smooth object. She closed her eyes and smiled as she pulled her hand out. Fastened onto the cigarette case with some scotch tape was a pebble. She stared down at the rock in her hand for a moment before bringing it closer to see the little stick figures that had been drawn on the smooth surface. She couldn’t help laughing. Zoe had painted two figures, obviously women, making love on a bed. One was short and the other was tall and had a little halo around her head. It was the funniest drawing Eva had seen on the pebbles so far. Her gorgeous eccentric wife had collected rocks from Larissa as a joke whose significance only the two of them would ever understand, and brought them back to Australia with them. It was a rock thrown by Zoe that hit Eva on the back of the head in 1943 what signaled the start of their hate/hate relationship, which would eventually lead to friendship and love. It wasn’t the most conventional way to start a friendship, but then they were in the middle of a brutal war.

  Zoe had started a tradition by painting scenes from their lives onto the rocks in Berlin, and it continued after they arrived back home. Eva wasn’t sure when she would find a rock, but it always made her smile when she did. She flipped the rock to find Zoe had painted it blue and had written the letters ETL in script with a tiny rock sailing over a halo. Eva held the rock against her chest and giggled.

  ETL. Her new initials. She still couldn’t believe she had got married again. The L in her name stood for Lambros.

  Eva Muller was the daughter of Hans and Daphne Muller of the wealthy Muller family in Berlin. She became Eva Hoffman in the winter of 1939, when she married Dr. Erik Hoffman, who died two years later in the war. Then she went back to being Eva Muller while she traipsed all over war torn Europe with her stepfather. She changed her name to Eva Haralambos when she discovered her real father was Father Panayiotis Haralambos, Larissa’s village priest, and she was now Eva Lambros, married to Theodore Lambros, Zoe’s brother. Marriage to Theodore was a marriage of convenience. The marriage idea was convoluted but it served a purpose. In the eyes of the law Eva was married to Theodore Lambros which in turn made her the sister-in-law to Zoe Lambros. Bound by blood and another way to ensure a family connection. They both never wanted to repeat the circumstance that led to Zoe, whilst being in a traffic accident, was prevented from having Eva at her bedside as next of kin. Eva was mentally exhausted just in thinking of the various ways they twisted themselves up into trying to fit into a society that hated them because they loved one another.

  Eva leaned back against the wood paneling of the elevator and shook her head. “God, please, grant me a boring life.” She looked heavenward. “That’s all I ask. I want a boring, uneventful life with Zoe and children. How hard can that be?”

  She sighed. “At least work is still work,” she said aloud to the empty elevator. She pocketed the pebble and opened her cigarette case. Zoe had got to that as well: all her cigarettes had little eyes on them. Eva laughed as the doors opened.

  Henry Franz, her best friend and confidante, entered. He was a tall, broad shouldered young man, taller than Eva’s six foot two frame. He had been her driver, her guard, and eventually her ally while they worked together in the French Resistance in Paris, and also with the Greek Resistance in Larissa during the occupation of Zoe’s hometown.

  “Henry! You’re a little lost, aren’t you?” Eva exclaimed as she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Ha, ha. I was coming up to pick up some files and I thought I might pay you a visit,” Henry said as he looked at the cigarette in Eva’s hand. “Did Zoe draw on your cigarettes again?”

  “She did.” Eva held up the cigarette and turned it around to reveal eyes that looked like they were rolling back. It made both of them laugh. “So, you just thought you would pay me a visit? You saw me last night.” She leaned against Henry and looped her arm through his elbow. “It has nothing to do with last night’s dinner and a certain young woman? Does it?”

  “Well, yes.” Henry grinned and kissed Eva’s head. “I didn’t want to wait to find out, so I decided to come and see you. What’s the verdict?”

  “Does my opinion matter? I’m not marrying the girl.”

  “You know your opinion matters to me.”

  Eva smiled. “I think she’s wonderful. She’s an intelligent woman and she doesn’t back down easily; that’s a good sign.”

  Henry laughed as she put his arms around Eva. “That’s how I like my women—strong, intelligent, and determined. Oh, I thought World War III would break out between her and Zoe!”

  “Zoe does get quite emotional about those serials she likes to listen to on the wireless. She loved the debate, and she gets so passionate when she’s fired up. I was a little worried that we would bore our guest, but it turns out Alexandra is a bigger fan of those serials!” Eva said with a great deal of mirth in her voice. “I just sat back and enjoyed the two of them debating the merits of Egbert and Rupert.”

  “Rupert was the landowner’s son, right?”

  “No, he was the gardener’s son who doesn’t want to come in between Loretta and Egbert, and this week…” Eva stopped for a moment and looked up to find Henry’s amused look. “See? This is what happens when Zoe starts with that serial. I think Rupert should just elope with the girl and be done with it! When I get home tonight, I’ll wager than Zoe is yelling at Rupert to hurry up with it.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that you think I should just elope with my girl?”

  “I thought we were talking about Rupert and Loretta. I think you should marry the girl, yes, very much so. She loves you and that’s all that matters. You deserve to be happy, Henry.” Eva lifted herself slightly and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s about time you got a girl. Zoe was getting ready to find you one.”

  “That isn’t a bad idea about Zoe finding me a girl. She has good taste.”

  Eva leaned back against the elevator paneling and laughed. “I would be scared for the girl because she would have Zoe interrogate her!”

  “Well, we have spared a young woman the frightening prospect of Zoe’s interrogation methods. You were comfortable with Alex as well, which says a lot.”

  “I think it was the wine,” Eva joked. “Yes, I felt very comfortable. She’s not afraid to speak her mind, and she wasn’t judging us either.”

  The elevator door opened and a couple of people entered ending the conversation between the friends. Eva smiled up at Henry as they waited for the elevator to reach their floor.

  They exited the elevator and walked down the corridor to where the Interpreter Service was. Eva leaned towards the door expecting to hear the clients in the waiting area, but a general quiet had descended. She shrugged and opened the door to find the usually bustling waiting area devoid of any clients.

  Sitting behind an L-shaped desk, Eva could see the blond receptionist, her head down while typing away on her typewriter. Moments later Debbie Harrison looked up and smiled.

  “About time you came back, Mrs. Lambros.” Debbie smiled broadly and cheekily winked at Eva before she turned her attention to Henry. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Franz!” She almost squealed as she raced around the desk and hugged him. “How’s that leg of yours, Henry?”

  “It gets women hugging me! I’m back at work. Thought I’d come by and pick up some files, plus walk Mrs. Lambros back to work.” .

  “I heard about your new girl! You need to bring her over for dinner.”

  “That didn’t take long. The Zoe News Service. Faster than a speeding bullet,” Eva quipped making her friends laugh.

  The telephone rang and Debbie made a face before going back to her desk to answer.

  “The date needs to be befo
re Alexandra starts showing,” Eva whispered to Henry. Henry’s smile slowly disappeared, as did Eva’s when she realized what she had just said.

  “I…uh… Let’s talk later,” Henry suggested when Debbie finished her phone call and returned back to them.

  “Mrs. Lambros…”

  “You do like that name, don’t you?” Eva asked with a smile.

  “I do. It’s much easier than Haralambos and a lot nicer than...” Debbie stopped.

  “It’s a lot nicer than Muller,” Eva finished the sentence as she leaned against the desk.

  “Yes, but that was not nice of me.”

  “It’s the truth,” Eva replied with a tiny shrug. “You don’t have to worry about calling me that now.”

  “I still can’t believe you went to Europe and got married.”

  “It was a surprise to me as well.”

  Debbie laughed. “You are funny! Before you disappear, you also have a meeting with Mr. Farmer at four p.m.,” Debbie reminded Eva as she passed her desk.

  “I do?”

  Debbie stared at her for a moment. “Yes, you do.”

  “I must be in trouble about something,” Eva said under her breath. Debbie’s laugh followed her down the dark corridor. “What happened to the lights?” Eva called out.

  “They blew. I called maintenance and they said they are sending someone up to fix them. Do you want a torch to see your way to your office?”

  “Ha, ha.” Eva walked down the linoleum-tiled corridor. The sound of her heels almost kept time with the clock that was on the wall near an old photograph of some former External Affairs Minister. The area was populated by leaflets and tiny booklets about various services the Interpreter Division could supply. Eva passed them without a second glance and approached her office, which had the door ajar.

  Henry waited for Eva to pass him before he closed the door and sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs.

  “How did you know Alexandra was pregnant?” he asked.

  “It was just like a thought that entered my mind,” Eva replied and sighed. “I just knew.”