Promise Me Eternity (49 page)

When I get out, it will be different
,
he thought.
Since research interests me far more than surgery,
I’ll find a hospital or a research center where they will take me
on. I’ll be able to spend the whole day doing research and then get
home and be in a good mood. After work, I’ll have some me time.
I’ll read books, leaf through magazines, go for walks ….

He also established something else. He had
more friends in prison than before. Because of his research, he
hadn’t had the time or the will to socialize with others. And then
there was Helen, who had driven away all their friends with her
impossible behavior. That’s how they had ended up with only the
Meltons, who were just as odd as them. No one else ever came to
visit.

“You look good,” Edna once said to Simon.
“You did before, but now I see a change in you. You smile a lot and
make fun of yourself. You didn’t use to do that.”

And she was right. He wasn’t left with
anything but to cheer up himself and others.

Chapter 113

_______________________

Simon didn’t like reading the newspapers
after having seen Christine in the
Mail
. Even though reading
the paper had been his only connection with the real world apart
from Edna, he had stopped doing it for one reason only. It made him
want freedom. If, for instance, he read an article about a
wonderful getaway in Tunisia, he wanted it. Looking at photos with
cars always made him think how nice it would be to drive along a
road. If there was a description of a shopping center, he wanted to
be there. He decided it was easier for him not to know anything. If
there was anything important, he found it out from Warden
Tuttle.

And so one afternoon, Paul Tuttle said to
him, “Yesterday I read a very unusual article.”

“Really?” Simon kept his head in his
book.

“Yes, I’ll show you. Look, it’s on the first
page of the
Mail
. You have to read it.”

Reluctantly, Simon lifted his head. Tuttle
had interrupted him in the middle of an interesting crime novel.
“And what’s so odd about it?”

“It’s about Carlo Vucci’s widow …”

Simon felt as if a pair of strong hands was
gripping his throat. He stopped breathing and turned around
slightly, making the chair legs screech along the parquet. “What
did you say?”

“The poor woman seems to be suffering from
some kind of aging illness. Look at her, she looks about
sixty.”

Astonished, Simon got up and walked toward
him. “Show me the article! I must see this.” After taking a good
look at the front page, he recognized her. It was Christine, but
the skin on her face was so wrinkled it was almost impossible to
recognize her. Her lips were cracked, her eyes had lost their shine
and had large, dark bags under them. She looked awful.

He flicked through the newspaper, glancing at
articles, looking for the one about her. She was covering her face
with her hands on some pictures. The press were attacking her from
all sides like hyenas. The article said that in the last twelve
months she must have aged by at least forty years.

She had squandered her entire fortune on
doctors all over the world, but no one could help her. They were
all of the opinion that she was suffering from Hutchinson-Gilford
syndrome, like some children do. It’s known that in rare cases
children are born with this syndrome and within a short period they
grow old and die. It was thought that she must have had the
syndrome all along but somehow it had not affected her earlier,
until something set it off at the age of twenty-three. There was no
known cure.

Because of the lack of information about this
rare condition, she demanded that the doctors find a cure in the
shortest possible time. She offered them large amounts of money,
which they gladly took. The promised results, however, had so far
not materialized.

“Isn’t it terrible?” Paul asked. “The poor
woman has aged a lifetime in just a year. And that it should happen
after she inherited all that money from her husband.”

Simon wasn’t listening. He was completely
breathless and unable to tear his eyes away from her face. He
stared at her, unbelieving.

“Edna lied to me!” he said to himself, but
aloud.

“What was that, Doctor?” the guard said,
bewildered.

Simon laid down the newspaper. “Oh, nothing,
nothing. Something occurred to me that has nothing to do with
this,” he said. “Yes, it really is horrible. The poor woman is
certain to snuff it very soon.”

Paul Tuttle was shocked. Simon Patterson was
usually a sensitive and compassionate man, but now his face
radiated a “you had it coming” sort of expression.

“Doctor,” Paul said, “what do you mean ‘snuff
it’?”

“The situation is quite clear. If she is
indeed suffering from Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome and she only has
a few more months to live.”

“How awful! It says this syndrome is usually
associated with young children, not people her age. Imagine if the
syndrome was contagious. Then no one would know if they are a
carrier or when it would be activated.”

“Come on, Paul. Quit fantasizing. That’s
impossible,” Simon said, waving his hand toward him.

Simon remained silent, merely nodding here
and there, and let Tuttle ramble on.

Simon’s thoughts were with her, as they lay
side by side and held each other, making love ….
You were so
beautiful, Christine. Why did you have to be so greedy?

Chapter 114

_______________________

His eyes rested on the shining semicircle
slowly slipping below the horizon. He stood there, still feeling
the last warm sun rays on his face. A light breeze carried the
scent of the pine trees his way.

“Nature is miraculous. I love the smell of
spring,” he said out loud.

Edna Weiss, who was making tea in the
kitchen, asked, “I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“I said it’s wonderful.” He lowered his gaze
to the roses and enjoyed their beauty.

“They are truly beautiful,” she said as she
came into the garden with two tea cups in her hands. “And you know
what’s most fascinating?”

Simon sat down on a bamboo chair, which
creaked under his weight. “What?”

“They have not been fertilized for more than
five years, but they are still flourishing and as beautiful as they
were. All the neighbors are still jealous of them.”

His smile exposed his shining teeth. “I can’t
help them being jealous.”

After that they spent some time sipping tea
and looking at the flowers.

Edna broke the silence. “I still can’t
believe they let you out yesterday.”

“Me neither. Imagine, my sentence being
reduced on account of good behavior. Still, ten years was more than
enough.”

“I really can’t believe it. Do you know what
you’ll do now?”

“I think that for a while I won’t do anything
much. I want to get used to my freedom.” Simon Patterson thought
about the bail money that Christine had sent to a special court
account via Edna Weiss and which the court later wanted to return.
Christine didn’t dare come for the money and so Simon, through his
lawyer Leonard Hopkins, had invested it into different
funds
.
A few months ago, their value
reached seven hundred thousand dollars.

At least I’ve got something from
Christine
, he thought.

“I’m so happy for you.” After a short while,
Edna’s expression turned serious. “Of course I’ll move out. I don’t
want to be a burden to you.”

“Don’t be silly, Edna,” he said. “You’re not
going anywhere. You’re staying here, with me. The house is big and
there is enough space for both of us—unless I’m in your way.”

“Oh no, Simon, quite the opposite.” A tear
slid from her right eye. “I don’t even know how to say this, but
I’ve gotten used to the house and besides …” She wanted to tell him
that she had gotten used to him as well, and could barely wait for
Thursdays when she could visit him, but it was hard to say out
loud.

He put his hand on top of hers and squeezed
it gently. “Don’t say anything, Edna, you’re staying and that’s
that.”

She sobbed and then nodded. “Thank you,
Simon. A thousand thanks.”

He gazed at the flowers again. “I’ve always
said that the most beautiful time of the year is—”

“When the roses bloom.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

* * * * *

About the Author

Ian Fox was born in Slovenia (EU), and has
also lived in the U.S.A., France, and Germany. He is fluent in
English, French, and German. Because of his extensive international
experience, his books are set in the U.S.A. or Europe. Ian’s books
have enjoyed great success in Europe. He has published three crime
(mystery) novels that have sold very well and been ranked among the
top 100 most borrowed library books in Slovenia. He is currently
working on two new novels. Enthusiastic readers write to him,
saying they can’t put his books down and read them in a few days.
Individual libraries have ranked his works among the top ten,
sometimes even the top five most-borrowed books.

Connect with me
online:

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ianfoxwriter

My blog:
http://ianfoxwriter.blogspot.com/

About other
books:

Only the Strongest
Survive

(Will be published in December 2011.)

The novel opens with a hair-tingling scene,
as two men kidnap Emely Donnovan, one of the wealthiest women in
America, and bury her alive. What is behind this horrific
crime?

Raised in a strict religious institution,
Emely never knew her parents. Fearing a life of poverty, she starts
up a small business that deals mainly with buying and selling
stocks. Thanks to her extreme dedication and knowledge, the company
grows over time into a major conglomerate. In her desire for ever
greater financial security, this beautiful, ambitious CEO has
accumulated a number of enemies.

But now she finds herself locked in the
basement of a remote house in the middle of a forest, watched over
by one of her captors who makes her buy and sell stocks for him so
he can get rich. Her challenge to survive becomes even more
complicated when Emely’s captor falls in love with her. …

Forget About the
Past

(Will be published after February 2012.)

Reporter Anya Horvat, who works at Clarice, a
weekly women’s magazine, has relationship problems with men. She is
thirty-five years old, yet has never had a single relationship that
lasted more than two months. This reality prompts her to consult
the well-known and successful psychiatrist, Patricia Bellows, who
is later found horribly murdered. Anya has never dealt with a
murder investigation before, but when her boss literally forces her
to take the assignment, she begins to uncover the murdered
psychiatrist’s intriguing past—and at the same time, the source of
her own problems. …