Getting Rid of Ria

Getting rid of Ria.

James Reed was a famous suspense fiction writer, the best in his field. He was suave , debonair and a natural playboy who had his name linked with a different young girl every month. He was a man who had all three G's - Girls, Glory and Gold. What torment could be haunting this man? It was a face from the past, a familiar form called Ria.

"Ria!" James exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yes, it's me," Ria said coolly. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"You know the answer."
"Do I?" said Ria Laughing.
"What are you doing here, Ria?"asked James through clenched teeth.

James soon found out and the answer wasn't pleasant. Ria had come to attach herself to him like a blood sucking-leech. He had no alternative but to tolerate her for if she told the police about his secret, it would be the end of him. James could not just sit there and let Ria ruin his life. And so, on the day of the party for the Mayor...

"Nice party, James," Ria said.
"Then it's my displeasure, Ria"
"Do you have it every year?"
"Yes! said James curtly. "Now leave me alone!"
"Over my dead body! You are too valuable to me."
"Over your dead body, eh?" James murmured under his breath.

James went upstairs. Then, after making a few arrangements, he leaned over the head of the stairs and called out to Ria. "Ria! Have you a moment to spare?"

"Sure coming right up!"
"Someone has dropped a gold chain down the bathtub drain," said James.
"Not me, for sure. Maybe one of your many girlfriends."
"Here. Take this flashlight. If you lean over, you can see it shining, down there."

Ria took the flashlight and leaned over, squinting into the drain. James then raised a short length of lead pipe and struck her two or three times with great precision. Blood splattered all over the bathtub and onto the bathroom walls.

Cold-bloodily and methodically, he washed and dressed Ria.
"Over your dead body, eh?"
"Over your dead body, eh?" James repeated.
Then he dragged her into the wine cellar. Triumphantly, he lowered the dead body into one of his wine barrels and sealed it. James then cynically marked it 'Grade One', the only barrel bearing this mark. James was about to ascend the stairs when the front door bell rang.

"Oh Lord! Why must they come now?" It was the Hudson's. They had arrived early from a game of Bridge. Ria had invited them over. James, thinking fast, brought a bottle of wine up the stairs and opened the door. Then he began his Oscar-winning performance. He brought Ross and Jacqueline Hudson into the living room and then he broke down in front of them. He said that Ria had left him after they had had a row. When the Hudsons left, he began to plan. A vacation in Hawaii - A few months or perhaps a year.

A year went by and Ria became just an image, a fading one next to the attractive blonde beside him. James was reading letters from home while lying in the sun. As he was reading the one from his brother, he turned pale and beads of cold sweat formed on his brow. He had read:
".....found your key under the door. The Mayor was upset to hear you would not be able to come to his party. So your dear brother made amends for you. I gave him the only 'Grade One' wine you had in your cellar. He was pleased and said that he will open it at his party. Wish you were here.