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 Daily news from the Canaries and the islands' biggest English language newspaper on-line PART II The Santa Slaying T.o their friends in the town and their neighbours in the apartment complex, Reggie and Agatha Grimshaw were typical ex-pats; both in their late 50’s, retired, reserved, friendly and seemingly content with their new easy-going lifestyle.  Agatha Grimshaw – slight, white-haired, bespectacled – answered the door of Apartment 419 to Detective Jimenez’ knock. “Ah! Detective! Please…come in. I’ve been expecting you.” Agatha Grimshaw’s voice was calm and assured; yet she wore a look that registered both relief and resignation. “I’m ready to accompany you to the police station. I’m ready to make a full confession.” She stated simply, extending her hands to the more than surprised Detective Jimenez to be handcuffed – which he declined so to do on this occasion. He may well have regretted that nicety when later, back at the Comisaria de Policia, Señora Grimshaw made her full, frank, no-details-spared statement; a statement that left the experienced detective slack-jawed, fairly speechless with shock. Since their arrival, Reggie and Agatha Grimshaw had busied themselves in settling in to their new home and establishing their new lives in the town of Puerto de la Cruz. Agatha took to decorating their new fourth floor apartment home while Reggie indulged his great passion - fishing. It was on the rugged coastline to the west of the town – following the ‘missing person’ report filed by Agatha a few days after Christmas Day – that Reggie’s clothing, along with his fishing tackle, was found strewn on the rocks by a local fisherman. With no physical body yet in evidence, it was officially assumed that Reggie Grimshaw was ‘missing, presumed drowned.’ The case file so remained on Detective Jimenez’ desk, awaiting the discovery of a body; awaiting closure. Agatha Grimshaw’s current statement was to close that ‘missing person’ file; open a murder file and trigger the local and international TV and newspapers into a full-scale media feeding frenzy; the like of which had not been witnessed before on the island. (You may well recall reading the details - over-reported and sensationalised by the sleaze tabloids – at the time.) It was Agatha who had long pressed for the taking of early retirement for Reggie and herself and the move away from England. They were, she had argued; reasonably well off and still in the prime of their life. They were also childless, with few family ties to stop them realising her ‘dream’. She was delighted when her husband finally went along with her suggestions and soon they found themselves happily making a fresh start on their ‘Paradise Island. ’For several months, all seemed perfect, until Reggie breezily informed Agatha – sipping her morning cup of Earl Grey tea - of the news that Penny Langley, an ex-colleague from his old University, was planning to purchase an apartment not a mile from where they now resided. In that moment, Agatha’s world collapsed, her dreams and plans shattered like the broken china cup now scattered about her feet. One of the driving forces for wanting both of them to make the move away from England, was she had long suspected (indeed had positive proof) that her husband and Penny Langley had been conducting a furtive affair for several years. Moving and living at some distance, she had reasoned, would surely put an end to her husband’s adulterous relationship with Penny. Now, to her horror, here was Reggie brazenly calmly informing her that his lover was about to join them on their paradise idyll. “It will be nice, dear,’ he glibly added, “ to have somebody we know from home living close by as a neighbour.” Agatha could hardly contain her fury. For too long she had nursed the searing heartache of the knowledge of Reggie and Penny’s liaison in pained silence, but this, she realised, was a bridge too far. It was - she now coldly realised - a bridge she would not allow to be crossed. An icy claw closed around her heart as she considered her next move. The first-aid kit she had brought with her from England contained a solution which she knew would solve her dilemma – a quantity of cyanide; a drop of which was capable of killing an adult human in the blink of an eye. This bitter solution she served as dessert to her unsuspecting husband at lunch on Christmas Eve. The effect was as swift as it was deadly. By midnight, Agatha had completed her grisly task. Reggie’s slight body had been sliced, diced and quartered, (I refrain here from relating the gory details to spare readers of a delicate disposition) and dispatched to the one hiding place she figured nobody would suspect – inside the red suit of the almost life-size ‘clambering Santa’ hanging from the balcony window. Her gruesome work completed, she was pleased to see that – though the now-bulky Santa’s suit had turned a darker shade of red and now hung heavy on his rope – it looked no different than did the many jolly old Santas, all dangling from ropes and ladders on her apartment block that Christmas Eve. Agatha’s next move was to create a diversionary tactic in the placing of Reggie’s clothes and fishing tackle on the shoreline (this she did as dawn broke that Christmas morning) before later filing a ‘missing person’ story with the local police department. In the quiet days that followed, Agatha began to feel more secure. All seemed to be going according to plan. Until, that is, this unplanned and unfortunate incident of Reggie’s remains tumbling from the bird-tattered hanging Santa to shower on the head of the hapless lad below and ultimately leading to her current situation. “I do hope the boy doesn’t suffer trauma in years to come.” Agatha seemed genuinely upset at the poor lad’s shocking experience. There was, she added - almost as an afterthought on completing her statement - one body-part she did not stuff into the Santa suit. “That part of him,” her eyes narrowed as she announced icily, “I was determined to be mine and mine alone.” When Detective Jimenez and his team duly revisited apartment 419, they found in the deep freeze compartment of the kitchen fridge – in a sealed jiffy-bag – an ice-covered, frozen human heart. The rest, as they say, is history and on record. Agatha Grimshaw - pleading guilty as charged - stood trial for the pre-meditated brutal and cold-blooded murder of her husband, Reginald, and was duly sentenced to life imprisonment, while Detective Carlos Jimenez (soon to be Detective Inspector Jimenez) became somewhat of a local hero-celebrity and is now engaged - so he informed Jack and I - in writing his memoirs. “Its sure to be a best-seller! And there is,” Carlos beamed broadly while dreamily blowing an especially contented series of smoke rings, “already talk of film-script rights!” One of the smoke rings settled for a moment as a halo about his head. This being Christmas Eve and the first anniversary of that event, I decided to take a stroll to view the Buena Vista Hotel block and the scene of this grisly, murder-most-foul. As the setting sun drowned in a blaze of colour in the Atlantic Ocean, I stood in the balmy glooming to gaze at the balcony of a fourth floor apartment. All, I noted, looked perfectly normal and at perfect peace in this bird-loud Christmas Eve Tenerife twilight. I also noted, there was not one apartment window, or balcony, from which hung a single, seasonal, decorational ‘Clambering Santa’. PJ Curtis.© 2007.
| Canary Islands - 08.02.2012 - Yesterday's ugly scenes at Bilbao airport, where Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary had to be given a police escort after his provocation of former Spanair employees, prompted a furious reaction against the head of the airline by Canarian MP Ana Oramas. more... Las Palmas - 08.02.2012 - The snags preventing the release of tickets for the concert by rock legend Bruce Springsteen in Gran Canaria have now been resolved and the gig has been confirmed 100%, say the organisers. more... La Laguna - 07.02.2012 - A well-known Tenerife lawyer is the focus of police attention in a money-laundering and fraud investigation ordered by a La Laguna judge. more... Canary Islands - 07.02.2012 - Relations between the Canarian government and the new Spanish government sank further yesterday when the region's tourism minister was apparently snubbed by his national counterpart. more... Canary Islands - 07.02.2012 - Two Britons who had to be rescued again after getting into trouble on their bid to cross the Atlantic in a pedal boat could face a hefty fine for the latest mobilisation of air and sea rescue resources. more...    Banish the blues They tell us that this is one of the most depressing times of the year more...   | Elektrische Zigarette Neue Geschmacksrichtungen als gefüllte Depots für die Elektrische Zigarette www.elektrische-zigarette.eu Rent a car Tenerife We have been in the rent a car business since 1976 in Tenerife. Our experience - your advantage. www.hermanns-cars.com Electronic Cigarette The Electronic Cigarette SLIM is recommended for smokers with few consume, occasional smokers and to go. www.liquid-shop.eu Real Estate Tenerife Tenerife Real Estate is your partner on Tenerife for penthouses, properties, fincas or business-pubs for the purchase and sale of villas, chalets, houses, appartements. www.teneriffa-immobilien.es ic media group |
