by Helen Phifer
Cathy arched an eyebrow at her. ‘Is this what I think it might be?’
Annie shrugged. ‘That depends on how bad you want to get shut of me.’
‘There is nothing I would want more. Don’t get me wrong; I love you, kid, but my stress levels are almost back to normal.’
Cathy ran her finger along the inside of the envelope and pulled out the letter. She read it and Annie was pleased to see a small tear form in the corner of her inspector’s eye. Annie blinked back her own tears, but they weren’t of sadness; they were of relief. She had a new adventure to concentrate on. She should be getting the keys for the shop near the Lakeside where she was going to set up a café and bookshop. Will and Kav had agreed to do the decorating once the keys were hers. Cathy stood up and walked around to where Annie was standing. She pulled her close and squeezed tight.
‘I accept your resignation. You’re a bloody good officer and I’ll be sad to see you go, but you’re an even better friend and I’d much rather see you living your life and not having to live in fear. You’re doing the right thing, kid. When I retire I’ll have a part-time job working for you.’
Cathy winked at her and Annie hugged her back. ‘You and Kav are always welcome; you know that.’
‘Always?’
‘Yes, always.’
Annie turned and walked out, the lump in her throat making it difficult to talk. As she stepped out into the fresh air she smiled. This was a beautiful place to live and she was going to start living her life with no regrets, but most importantly no fear.
__________________________
Will looked up from his computer as Adele walked into his office carrying two mugs of hot coffee. He pushed aside the printouts and files that covered the desk to make some space.
‘I’m confident the DNA evidence will come back and prove that Walter Lacey was responsible for the deaths of Pauline Cook and Billy Marks. Annie has been doing lots of research into Gordy Marshall aka Colin Lister. I believe it was Gordy Marshall who killed Walter Lacey; hopefully there will also be DNA evidence to prove this. He’d got away with murdering his parents, along with Colin’s mother and the little girl who Colin was hanged for. All this time he got to live out the rest of his life not caring that he let an innocent man die. Who knows how many more deaths he could have been responsible for over the years?’
Adele passed a mug to Will and sat down. ‘I’ve got a headache just trying to get my head around it all. I suppose we’ll never know how many people Gordy Marshall murdered. Were there any suspicious deaths at the nursing home?’
‘I’ve got Shona and Brad looking into it. I’m hoping there weren’t. This is a big enough mess without adding any more to it.’ He gestured at the papers. ‘There is one good thing, though. Guess what Annie was going to do this morning?’ He looked down at his watch and smiled. ‘In fact she should have already done it.’
Adele shrugged. ‘I don’t know; you’ll have to tell me.’
‘She was going to see Cathy and hand in her resignation.’
‘Really, that’s brilliant news. You must be so relieved.’
‘I already feel ten years younger; maybe now we can live a relatively normal life. No more looking over our shoulders, no more worrying about what she’s doing and who she might be getting involved with. You never know who the face behind the mask is, how many seemingly ordinary people have turned out to be sadistic killers. Well, no more. Today is a very good day, Adele.’
__________________________
Debs was the only CSI in the large office. After pulling on a pair of latex gloves, she opened the brown paper evidence bag with the clown costume inside. It needed to be dried out fully before it could be sent away to the Forensic Lab in Warrington for testing. She cut off the green tag from the drying cabinet door, writing down the information into the evidence book. Then she pulled out the costume to hang it inside.
Placing the evidence bags next to it for continuity, she couldn’t stop staring at it. There was something so mesmerising about it. She heard her name called from out in the corridor and snapped out of her daze, repulsion filling her mind as she released the bloodstained sleeve she’d been holding. She slammed the door shut and resealed it, this time with a yellow tag.
Tugging off her gloves, she turned to walk out of the office. As she reached the door a voice whispered, ‘I’ll be waiting for you.’ Turning around to see who had spoken she felt her heart miss a beat. There was no one except for her. Closing the door behind her, she heard the soft click as it locked, and she shivered.