Glimpse

  Tom and she had slipped into a life of…boring normality. Like wearing comfy slippers, she would describe it as. Hardly exciting anymore, and it hadn’t been that for years. They lived together, shared a bed and holidays in equal proportion, yet what they hadn’t shared in a very long time was sex. She had lain awake in bed while Tom snored, on two or three occasions and wondered what it would be like with Rick. She found herself touching her most intimate place, and fantasized about him taking her, using her body to satisfy his lust, and by proxy; hers. She would never, ever admit that to anyone.

  She winced in pain and wondered how long before she would be permitted to have some more pain killers. As if by magic, a nurse who had earlier introduced herself as Irene, entered with a small tray that held the syringe, and Pat felt elated. She licked her lips knowing she would soon get some relief from the incessant burning from her stomach. The pain was growing, exponentially.

  “Patricia, you have a couple of visitors, do you feel like talking to them? It’s Juliet McCoy and Amy,” the nurse said quietly.

  She nodded, her eyes never leaving the nurse as she slipped the cap off the needle and inserted it into her drip line. “If you start to get drowsy and want rescuing from them, call for me and I will come straight in. I don’t want you over exerting yourself.”

  Almost immediately the drug took affect and she felt serene. She blinked rapidly, grateful. “Thank you, Irene, I needed that. Mmm, okay, you can send them in.”

  Juliet and Amy held hands as they entered, and both looked troubled. Amy is going to need a lot of help to get over this. She thought. “Hello Amy, we haven’t met before, but I’m so glad to see you.” She smiled her best smile.

  Juliet looked down at her daughter and nodded for her to speak. “Thank you for coming to save me. Mummy says the nasty man might have hurt me if you hadn’t come.”

  “You’re very welcome, Sweetheart. I’m glad I was there to help. He is a very bad man, but he’s gone now, you don’t ever have to worry about him again.”

  “Baby, you go and wait with Daddy outside now, Mummy wants to talk to Pat alone,” Juliet said.

  Amy nodded and turned around and walked back to the door. “Bye, bye,” she said and gave a little wave.

  “Bye, Amy. I hope I see you again soon.”

  Pat turned her head on her pillow. “Please come and sit, Juliet. I know why you’re here.”

  She shook her head. “I want to thank you for coming to Amy’s rescue, I guess you didn’t know he had me with him as well. Did you do it to save her, or get yourself made famous?”

  “I know you don’t know me, and I suppose no matter what I say, if you chose to, you could think I was lying. I promise you I went there because I wanted him to surrender and I thought I could make it happen and save Amy. I thought I had a chance of talking him into handing himself in, that if I put on an act and make him feel like I wanted to make him famous it would appeal to his narcissistic side. I knew his personality type would kill himself and anyone he could take with him or surrender if he thought he could become famous. All he wanted was recognition, for once in his miserable life, and for people to like him. Everything I said was to garner support and make him believe in me.”

  “Rick told me he tried to call you back, but your phone was turned off.”

  “It wasn’t turned off; the battery had died.”

  She nodded, still looking deeply upset. “I’m trying, I’m trying really hard, but I don’t trust him anymore.”

  Pat reached out and took her hand in hers. “Juliet, he never, and I do mean never, made a pass at me. I only said that he did because I knew Rankin hated anyone who was an adulterer. I needed him to think I wasn’t like that, so he would trust me. I also knew he hated Rick, so I deliberately made him sound bad. I’m sorry about that, but I had to do it. It wasn’t true. Juliet, Rick loves you. You know, there was one time, I asked him in one night for a coffee when he took me home. My husband was at a Rotary dinner, and Rick could easily have thought it was an invitation for something more. It wasn’t, it was just for a drink. But, do you know what he said?”

  She looked back at Pat, two tears welling in her eyes. “What?”

  “He said that if he left then he could get home in time to read Amy a story and be with you. He is a good man, and he loves you, don’t let the ravings of a lunatic turn you against him. He raced to that building, smashed in through a glass door to rescue you both with no thought for his own safety.”

  “But he admitted he had thoughts about you, isn’t that just as bad? After what we went through, for him to think about it says to me he isn’t satisfied.”

  He thought about seducing me? Wow.

  She slowly shook her head, determined to bury deep her innermost feelings. “You know what? If he were married to me, I’d be more worried if he didn’t think about sex with other women. It’s how middle-aged men are wired; they can’t help it. Trust me, I’m a psychologist. They are at heart hunter gatherers, but the difference between Rick and a lot of other men is that he learned from his mistake; you are the only woman he wants to be with.”

  “Am I being stupid?”

  “No. You’re not. Rankin tried to manipulate you, and he is very good at that. You showed incredible bravery in agreeing to sacrifice your life for Amy’s. I think you are an awesome woman, and so does Rick. Go and be happy, grant yourself that right, you both deserve it.”

  “What about you?”

  She smiled, “well if Tom has his way my days of working with the police are over.”

  “You don’t sound so sure though?”

  “Well, it’s not my choice, is it? Me getting stabbed has probably stopped any invitation to come back again, liability issues and all that. But I think Tom knows me well enough to know, that if I was asked to help again, and the case interested me? I’d say yes. I think I have a talent for this, and I totally get why people like Rick do what they do. Time will tell Juliet, we will see.”

  Afterword (Part 2)

  So, now I have two people to get even with. One day I will get my revenge, they have not heard the last of me.

  They took great delight in telling me that lying bitch lived, damn her. She’s like a cat with nine lives, I should have slit her throat. Next time she won’t be so lucky.

  I need to come up with a plan, lull her into a false sense of security, then, when she least expects it…

  Maybe I will let her write my book, get her to trust me, I could say sorry. Then, one day… She won’t see it coming. Yes, I can do that, I can apologize to her, tell her I was wrong, and beg her forgiveness. She can’t compete with me on a mental level; I’m much smarter.

  But Rick, he is the real culprit. Thanks to him, I’ve got a deformed shoulder, that will never heal. But, I will get even. The trick will be to make everyone think I’m harmless. If I’m smart, they will think: Paul Rankin? Oh, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

  I will be on my best behavior; I can fool them; I have lots of time. I’ll be back. Next time, they will suffer. Oh, God, how they will suffer. I will give them both a fate worse than death.

  The End

  Patricia Holmes and Rick McCoy will return, in: Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths. The second instalment of the Deadly Glimpses Trilogy.

  Stephen B King

  Perth, Western Australia.

  A word about the author…

  I was born in the UK, what seems like an epoch ago, and moved to Australia at age sixteen. I was a long haired rock guitarist and poet/songwriter, before real life got in the way, and I gave it all up for love.

  I’ve always felt I had tales to tell and won short story competitions and published poetry in my wilder, younger days. More recently, I’ve written and published five novels. While they have all been police procedural thrillers, mainly focusing on serial killers, they all have a love theme running through them.

  I believe love, and family are everything. Anything else you gain in life is a bonus.

  I live in Perth, in Wester
n Australia and am fiercely patriotic, and parochial. My wife is amazing in that she not only puts up with living with a writer but encourages it. I’ve been blessed with five children, and I adore them all.

  http://stephen-b-king.com

  Thank you for purchasing

  this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  For questions or more information

  contact us at

  [email protected].

  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

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