[Intertwined Souls 05.0] No Good Deed Read online

  “What about this Saturday? It’s our anniversary. I know you wouldn’t forget.”

  “No, I never forget our anniversary, love,” Eva replied. “We can’t go this Saturday.”

  “Why?”

  “Jana, Mr. Hester, and I are meeting the Turkish ambassador for dinner.” Eva rushed through her explanation and hoped Zoe would understand that with her new job came extra responsibilities.

  “Oh, alright. That’s not going to be a problem. We don’t need a mountain to celebrate.”

  “I want to go up to our cabin. We will, but it’s just going to be a little later than we thought.”

  “I’m alright with that arrangement. It will also allow you to relax a little, and we can stay in bed.”

  “I love you, Zo,” Eva whispered into the receiver and laughed when Zoe made kissing noises. “You are adorable.”

  “I am,” Zoe said with a laugh. “Debbie tells me that Mr. Hester’s secretary is a bitch and that you are the number one star on the grapevine today. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Has Debbie left anything out?”

  “She is being very thorough. I am worried about this woman and I keep thinking that she has taken too much of an interest in you. Maybe she’s taken a liking to what she sees—”

  “Zoe!”

  “It’s possible.”

  “With Mrs. Wainright? Please, I have some respect for myself!” Eva joked, getting a laugh out of Zoe. “Although there is this nice girl in the mail room.”

  “The young lady has a name. Her name is Emily Brandy. What does she look like?”

  Eva looked at the receiver in her hand and shook her head. “Yes, Emily. Didn’t your spy tell you what she looked like? She’s tall, blond, and has blue eyes.”

  “Not your type. You noticed her eyes,” Zoe teased.

  “Well, we were standing really close. It was a bit hard to miss them.”

  “Uh-huh, what was Miss Leggy with the blue eyes doing at the time?”

  “Running into my shins with a mail cart,” Eva replied. “Emily was delivering mail and I crashed into her, or she crashed into me. There’s only one woman for me.”

  “Yes, Emily.” Zoe’s laugh echoed down the line.

  “Hardly! Now, I hear you had a hand in decorating my office,” Eva said as she imagined Zoe’s smiling face. “That was quick.”

  “I wanted it to be special for you.”

  “It is, love. Can’t wait for you to see it.”

  “I could come up and have a look if you want.”

  “Can you? That would be great! See you then.”

  ***

  “Wow!” Zoe turned around to look at the External Affairs building. People were milling about the lobby. Debbie was showing her the building and escorting her up to the main External Affairs offices. They got into the lift with six more people. Zoe gazed up at the businessmen in their striped suits and she felt out of place in her casual clothes.

  The lift doors opened and they exited. Zoe heard Debbie’s groan as soon as they exited the lift. The reason became apparent soon after when a tall, blond haired young woman came towards them. “That’s Emily,” Debbie whispered.

  “Oh, Mrs. Harrison, how lovely to see you,” Emily gushed as she rushed towards them.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Brandy. This is Mrs. Lambros’ sister-in-law, Zoe Lambros, and an artist.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Lambros.”

  Zoe extended her hand and shook Emily’s hand. “Lovely to meet you.”

  “At least I didn’t crash my mail cart into this Mrs. Lambros.” Emily giggled. “Can you please apologize to your sister-in-law again? It was so clumsy of me and she was so nice.”

  “I will do that. She’s probably forgotten about it already.”

  “She’s such a nice lady.”

  “Debbie was telling me you were very nice to her this morning.”

  “Really? I mean yes, I was, but she was nice to me.” Emily stammered. “Can you please convince her to play for our basketball team?”

  “Hm, that might be a little difficult, but you never know.”

  “Thank you. I have to get going,” Emily replied and quickly walked away, pushing the mail cart down the corridor.

  Zoe chuckled when Emily disappeared around the corner. “I think Eva’s made a friend.”

  Debbie nodded as she escorted Zoe through the corridor. “I think so as well and that’s great because at the moment she doesn’t have a lot of them here.”

  “Women get intimidated with her, and men are just… Well, they’re men.”

  Debbie stopped and took out her key to the next door. She turned to Zoe and smiled. “She is a beautiful woman, so the men will notice.”

  Zoe laughed and nodded. “Oh, yes. Our milkman leaves little notes for her with our milk. It’s very cute. She gets all shy about it.”

  “Aren’t you jealous?”

  Zoe shook her head. “Not at all. I agree with him and the others.”

  They entered the office to find a huge bouquet of flowers sitting on Debbie’s desk. Zoe looked at it for a moment before walking up to the desk and reading the name on the envelope. “Hm, these are for Eva.”

  Both women turned towards Eva’s office door when they heard voices. Zoe glanced at Debbie. “What language is that?”

  “Turkish. Eva is trying to teach herself Turkish before Saturday, and she asked me to get the Turkish interpreter she used to work with to help her.”

  “She’s not having any problems from the sound of it,” Zoe said with pride. Eva’s ability to quickly learn a new language was part of her Pentecost gift, but this wasn’t the first time she had witnessed it in action. Eva knew a little Turkish at the start of the day, and from what Zoe could hear, she was speaking fluent Turkish with the interpreter.

  “Wow, I’m impressed,” Debbie said with a touch of awe in her voice.

  “Evy has a gift for languages,” Zoe replied. “I felt the same way when we were in Larissa during the war. Her Greek is flawless. She could switch from Greek to German effortlessly.”

  “It’s a great skill to have in this job,” Debbie said. They got interrupted when the door opened and Eva walked out with Bahadir Sevim, the Turkish interpreter Zoe had met many times when Eva was working with him.

  “Bahadir!” Zoe exclaimed, and came forward to embrace him. “It’s so nice to see you.”

  “Ah, my favorite Greek girl,” Bahadir replied, taking Zoe’s hand and kissing it. “It’s so nice to see you. I hear you got married?”

  “Yes, to Eva’s cousin, Thomas.”

  “Good, good, we will see a baby soon?”

  Zoe patted her stomach and giggled. “I hope so.”

  “Allah willing we will see little Zoes all over the place!” Bahadir said with a laugh.

  “That’s what I wish for,” Eva said as she lovingly gazed at Zoe. Zoe could see Eva had almost forgotten who was there and she quickly looked away.

  “Yes, Allah will hear,” Bahadir responded. “I now have to go and see what our new receptionist, Mrs. Bovine—”

  “Bahadir! It’s Mrs. Bovarine. You just called her a cow!” Eva corrected him. Zoe and Debbie joined in the laughter.

  “I know,” Bahadir replied and gently slapped his hand in repentance for his slip. “My mistake. You have excellent language skills, Eva. You will do well with the ambassador.”

  “Teşekkür ederim, Bahadir,” Eva said in Turkish. Bahadir’s faced creased into a smile.

  “Birşey değil, Eva, Hoşçakal!” Bahadir replied. He kissed Eva on the cheek and left the office.

  “He is such a funny man.” Zoe giggled. “Hello there,” she said to Eva, and gave her a very chaste kiss on the cheek.

  “Did Debbie give you the tour?”

  “She did, and we ran into Emily.”

  “Hm. Did you get flowers, Debbie?” Eva asked.

  “No, you did.”

  “Are they from you?” Eva asked Zoe.

  “Not my doing,” Zo
e replied and took a seat, picking one of the flowers and giving it a sniff.

  Eva opened the card, and as she read it, her face creased into a huge grin. She handed the card to Zoe, who looked at it and started to chuckle.

  “Share the joke, ladies,” Debbie said.

  “‘To my darling wife, congratulations on the new job; you are just like a rose! Love, your adoring husband, Theodore,’” Zoe read aloud. Thrilled by the way her brother had congratulated Eva on her new job, she made a mental note to thank him when she got home, and correct him on Eva’s favorite flowers—roses were not her favorite.

  “Isn’t that sweet! He’s so thoughtful,” Debbie said.

  Zoe took Eva’s hand, entered the office, and closed the door. She followed Eva, who had sat down on the sofa near the door.

  “The flowers will hit the grapevine soon and Theodore’s name will be on everyone’s lips. Your Turkish is really impressive.”

  Eva smiled. “Bahadir was really patient with me.”

  “How long did it take for you to speak so fluently?”

  Eva paused for a moment and smiled. “Ten minutes, but I took up to three hours of Bahadir’s time. He was very impressed that I picked up the language so easily with the phrases he was teaching me.”

  “That took no effort, did it?”

  Eva shook her head. “This is a really good gift to have.”

  Zoe looked up into Eva’s blue eyes. “You’re looking very tired. You’re not well.”

  “No. I think it’s more than a cold.”

  “I didn’t think it was just a cold. I spoke to Aunt Stella on the phone and she said she will look in on you when she comes back tomorrow. She thinks you may have come down with some bug.”

  Eva nodded. “I agree with her. I hope this bug goes away soon.” She smiled at Zoe. “Don’t worry, Zo; everything will be alright.”

  CHAPTER 11

  “Ugh,” Eva exclaimed as she sat back down on the bathroom floor. She scrunched up her face, since she could still feel the sour taste in her mouth. She had got out of bed feeling quite nauseous and, not wanting to wake Zoe, had practically run to the bathroom to throw up.

  Eva braced her back against the tiled wall and brought her knees up to her chest. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before resting her head on her folded arms over her knees. She felt like her stomach wanted to rebel about everything.

  Eva looked up when she heard footsteps on the wooden floor. She rested her head on her arms again as she tried to stop her nausea. Zoe entered with a damp towel and a glass of water. Without hesitation, she knelt in front of Eva and stroked her head. “Lift your head up, love.”

  Eva did so and Zoe wiped her face with the moist towel. She smiled wearily at Zoe, who tenderly cupped her cheek.

  “I really hate this, Zo.”

  “I know. Aunty Stella is coming home today and she will come here before she goes home, but I think we should go—”

  “No, I don’t want to see another doctor.”

  “Evy, please, you’re throwing up and you know how—”

  “No.” Eva shook her head and stubbornly refused. “Please, I don’t want to.”

  “Alright, alright.” Zoe wiped Eva’s face with the moistened towel again and playfully cleaned her dimpled chin.

  “I’m such a delicate flower,” Eva said with a little self-deprecating humor.

  Zoe leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You have a very sensitive stomach, and any bug will just take you out.”

  “Ugh.” Eva shook her head and accepted the glass of water Zoe held out for her. “Can you look up your herb book and see what there is for nausea?”

  “I did that last night. Is the nausea occurring more in the morning?”

  “No. It’s happening during the day as well, so it’s not just the morn…” Eva clamped her mouth shut and shut her eyes as she attempted to force herself not to throw up again. After a brief moment, she looked up at Zoe. “Like now.”

  “I remember my mama saying that eating a cucumber soaked in water helps, but that was for morning sickness.”

  Eva looked dubiously at Zoe. “Cucumber soaked in water?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t think I can eat cucumber in the morning, whether it’s soaked in water or not.” Eva shuddered.

  “How about mint leaves with some tea? That worked really well the last time you had a cold.”

  “Hm. That sounds good,” Eva said. She put her head down when another bout hit her. “Anything.”

  “I think Stella is going to give you a shot of something.”

  “I don’t want drugs.”

  “Evy.” Zoe put her hand on Eva’s shoulder. “Sometimes the herbs don’t work and you are miserable.”

  “Drugs make me feel funny. I would rather throw up all day than take them.”

  “I bet you wouldn’t want to throw up all day, but alright.”

  “No drugs.”

  “How about you have a bath and then I’ll make something that won’t make you throw up?”

  Eva looked up and nodded. “I’m going to need to get off this floor, right?”

  “Yes. The bathtub is over there,” Zoe said and pointed to the large tub on the other side of the room.

  “Do you want to take a bath with me?”

  “Hm, that’s a difficult decision, Mrs. Lambros.” Zoe giggled and put her arm around Eva. “I would kiss you but…”

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “Alright, let’s get you up.” Zoe stood up in one fluid motion and reached down to help Eva off the tiled floor. “You’re staying home.”

  “No, I can’t. I have an important meeting today.”

  “Evy, please…”

  “I can’t, Zo. I’m going to be fine.”

  ***

  Paula Wainright opened the door to her boss’ office feeling quite sure that he wasn’t going to walk in. The minister was in a meeting and wouldn’t be returning for at least a few more hours. She closed the door quietly behind her, feeling like she was living in a spy novel.

  She opened the filing cabinet and removed three files, rearranging the others so as not to show anything was missing. She smiled, knowing that she had thought up a foolproof plan to get rid of that troublesome woman. She would have to show Mr. Hester how much of a liability Eva Lambros was.

  The door opened suddenly and Paula stumbled against the desk, her hand on her heart. Her friend Clarice stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She flipped the light on and frowned. “What are you doing, Paula?”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus, Clari, you scared me into next week!”

  “Why are you filing in a dark office? Sometimes I worry about you.” Clarice chuckled and went down on her knees to pick up the scattered papers from the files.

  “I’m working on the plan.”

  “Uh-huh, and you had to sneak around your own office to do it?”

  “I didn’t think to turn on the lights.”

  “You do know it’s alright for you to be in Mr. Hester’s office, right?” Clarice laughed lightly. She handed the files to Paula and got up, dusting herself off.

  “Where is the kraut?”

  “I saw her on level two.”

  “Good. I’m going to go over to her office and put them in her handbag.”

  “Are you going to tell Mrs. Harrison? We don’t want her in trouble; she’s a good egg.”

  “Of course I am. I just want that…that…woman gone.” Paula huffed.

  “Are you sure you are doing the right thing?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Mr. Hester is wrong and I think he just needs someone to show him how wrong he is.”

  “Will this get the police involved?”

  Paula sighed. “No. I don’t think so. It will be a disciplinary issue and she will be sent back to the Interpreter Service where she belongs.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve done this before, Clari; don’t worry. Remember Williams, who worked with us two years ago?�
��

  “Oh, my goodness, yes. What ever happened to him?”

  “He was sent to Trade and Customs, I believe. Not sure what happened to him after that, but he wasn’t with us, that’s for sure. Right.” Paula put the file under her arm. “I’m going to get this done and soon we will be rid of this woman.”

  ***

  Paula strode to the assistant’s office, giving the workmen who were painting the walls a disgusted look. She couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t do their maintenance work at night when no one was around. It was inconvenient and only yesterday her favorite skirt had been damaged by droplets of paint that had fallen onto her after she passed one of the painters.

  The door to the office was open and Paula stood for a moment while the harried secretary answered three phone calls in succession. Paula liked Debbie—she found her easygoing and quite chatty.

  “Time for a break,” Paula announced. She closed the door and took a seat across from Debbie. “Do you remember I told you I had a plan to get Mrs. Lambros transferred?”

  Debbie blinked and sighed. “Yes, I remember. Look, Paula, I’m really—”

  “No need, I understand. Really, I do.” Paula pulled out the files and laid them on Debbie’s desk. “These will get her in serious trouble.”

  Debbie picked up one file. She was about to open it when Paula stopped her.

  “Don’t read it. You’ll get into trouble and I don’t want that. These are classified files.”

  “If they’re classified, why aren’t they in the safe?”

  Paula sighed dramatically. “They were, but Mr. Hester wanted to review them and they were sent to him yesterday. It’s all hush-hush!”

  “Have you read them?”

  “Of course not! It’s all hush-hush, like I said.”

  “So what do you want me to do with them?” Debbie asked.

  “Put them in her handbag. I’m assuming she won’t notice until she gets home.” Paula looked at Debbie for a moment and continued. “I tell the minister I can’t find the files that he told me need to go back to ASIO. The files are gone, there is a search, and whammo! They show up in her handbag.”