WAS IT MURDER? by: Virginia Peten-Roberts Published by Domhan Books Disc Book $5.00 Ebook $4.00

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Intrigue and suspense set in Brussels.
David is the hard-working owner of a car rental agency; Kate is his newly-hired secretary. Both are competent, independent and single at the moment - David is a widower with a teenage daughter, Henrietta, and Kate has almost given up on men altogether as being "too much trouble" - a sentiment shared by David where women are concerned.
Theirs would have been the perfect working relationship if David's daughter hadn't gone missing and later been found dead. These dramatic events throw David and Kate together in their quest to find out how this tragedy happened...

Virginia lives in Belgium, and writes in a variety of genres.

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CHAPTER 1

David looked at the young woman sitting in front of him, at the quiet confidence in her eyes, and wondered why he hesitated at saying yes. She was definitely intelligent, suitable for the job, there was no doubt about her secretarial skills - but she was also very beautiful and that bothered him. Sooner or later she, too, would leave the job for some man, he thought. Still, she was older and presumably wiser than his present secretary, and since she had never been married she might refrain from doing so altogether.

"The reason I need a secretary is because my present one is getting married in two weeks time. Myriam handed in her notice day before yesterday," he said, with a faint trace of disgust in his voice. "So as from next week I'm minus one secretary."

The young woman who according to her curriculum vitae was called Catherine Cordell, 30 years of age, smiled and asked "Because she is getting married? Surely - I mean, she would have known about the marriage for quite some time? Also isn't one supposed to give one's employer a month's notice?"

"Yes, one is supposed to. Only Ms West has already called in sick twice last week, so I figure I'll let her go once I've found a replacement." He hesitated a few moments longer, but made up his mind there and then. "If you don't mind working long hours, even impossible hours at times, working some weekends, if you can put your job before your personal life rather than the other way about, and be good at your work at the same time - and if you can start right now, the job is yours. A one month trial period."

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Good. Make sure you don't get one either - best way to avoid marriage," he said jokingly.

She laughed. "Also the best way not to get pregnant."

"Pregnant?"

"You present secretary is pregnant, isn't she?"

"Women always seem to notice these things." He pressed a button on his desk and Myriam came in. She looked rather pale and said "Yes, Mr. Searle?"

"This is Catherine Cordell. Show her the ropes, will you? She'll be replacing you."

"Yes, Mr. Searle."

 

"You don't look too well." Kate said a minute or so later, hoping to draw the girl out and learn a bit more about this place and her new employer.

"I don't feel too well either. I - I'm pregnant."

"So I heard."

"I don't understand why they insist on calling it morning sickness - it seems to last all day."

Kate laughed. "I guess the majority of women only get it in the morning."

"Lucky them. Do you have kids?"

"No."

"Married?"

"No. So what's the job like?"

"Pretty busy most of the time. There are days the phone doesn't stop ringing and one has one's job to do as well. Then the sales staff walk in and out all the time, and so do the mechanics - so in the end I have to work overtime to get it all done. That's why I wanted to leave - I would like to get home before 8 or 9 p.m. every once in a while. Actually the money is great, Mr. Searle never minds paying for overtime, I'll miss that side of it."

"I don't mind working late."

"Just as well, or you wouldn't last a week. He's a regular slave driver, our Mr. Searle. Also he seems to expect me to run this place, as he will expect you to - in the end that means it's not just a secretarial job, more like an office manager."

"Same difference." Kate said. She didn't mind a challenging job - she liked something which she could get her teeth into.

"I guess they'll give you my car, which is a Ford Scorpio - and that one I'm going to miss. Mind you, if the car you're using is needed for a rental because no other car of that class is available, you may have to give up yours and you may end up with a small car, like an Opel Corsa for a few days."

Kate shrugged. "A car is a car - I'm not fussy."

After a couple of hours of hard work, interrupted by numerous phone calls, both women went out for a quick lunch.

"What about the weekend work Mr. Searle mentioned?" Kate asked.

"The office is open on Saturday mornings too... The companies that lease cars won't come in then, but we get a lot of customers picking up cars for short time rentals - tourists mostly. On top of which sometimes cars have to be delivered or picked up on Saturdays and Sundays - if nobody else is available, you'll have to be." Myriam paused, then went on "Do you speak German too?"

"Not all that well, but I get by. Why?"

"Mr. Searle deals with German, French and Dutch companies as well as UK and US ones. Many of those have branches here, in the Brussels area, in some cases even their head offices. Mr. Searle speaks French well enough, I suppose -" She grinned.

"Mind you, his accent is terrible - and although he seems to understand Flemish I've never heard him speak it. That's why he wants a Dutch or Flemish secretary who speaks English, French and German as well. My not speaking Dutch is probably one of the reasons he isn't sorry to let me go. When Mr. Searle set up the business here some years ago he didn't think it all that important, since most of the Flemish people in this area speak English fluently, but lately he has been pressing me to follow courses to learn Dutch and I really didn't see me going to evening school on top of working all those hours. You are Flemish, aren't you?"

"That's right."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem then." She smiled "Strange country we live in, isn't it? We're both Belgian but we speak a foreign language rather than one of our own."

Kate shrugged "I don't mind speaking French if you prefer me to do so. I'm more comfortable with English, that's all."

"I don't mind. How come you have an English name?"

"My father was English, he moved here when he started working for an American company. He's retired now."

"Do you live in Brussels?"

"No, in Leuven."

"The boss lives in Tervuren. His daughter goes to school there. She is 17 and quite a handful. She's forever coming here, asking her dad for money. Oh well, that housekeeper of his probably has no discipline."

"Housekeeper?"

"His wife died three years ago."

"Does he have a woman friend?"

"Not that I know of. I don't think he's all that interested in women, at least he didn't show a flicker of interest in me."

"Well with your looks, he should have. Either that, or he keeps his work separate from his private life."

"The man has no private life, I'm telling you."