A Mother Scorned

by Sam Fintz

  “Thank you, Rose,” he said as he lay next to her, still panting from the exertion. “I had better get going. Can I see you later?” he asked her as he got up.

  “I’ll call you. I have a few things to take care of and I am not sure when I will finish. I may see Pat later,” Rose lied. She had no intention of seeing anyone later. She had plans to make and needed to ensure nothing went wrong this time. Making love to Ben was her farewell gift to him.

  Ben showered, dressed and left. Rose got up as soon as she heard his car leave the parking area behind her flat. She went into the lounge and in the drawer under the TV she found her pack of Marlboro Lights. She lit one and took a long drag on it. The smoke burned her lungs, but it was delicious heaven. Once she finished smoking, she showered and dressed in a tracksuit and trainers. She wore a baseball cap that used to be Stefan’s and grabbing her bag and keys and the pack of cigarettes, she left the flat. She wasn’t hungry. She was excited and nervous. Her mind was racing. She started the engine of her little Peugeot 108 and quickly left the parking area. It wasn’t that far to Birmingham, but she knew there would be traffic that time of day. She decided she would stop on the way for refreshments if she needed them. For now, she just lit another cigarette as she headed towards the M6 and the next part of her plan.

  Chapter 82

  Rose got home at around 7. The traffic going and coming back was horrific thanks to a series of accidents on the motorway. Birmingham was also as busy as hell and took ages to get around, in spite of her satnav. Rose had never really liked driving and Jim was always the one who did the driving if they went out together.

  She took the bags from the boot of her car and brought them inside. There was a parcel for her that had been left with the nosey neighbour in flat B, so she went to get it. It was the wig that she had ordered. She was pleased it had arrived so soon. She put the bag with the acid and the small pump spray bottle in the tiny spare room. The spare room was empty apart from a small desk and a coat stand. She would prepare some of her things for her plan in there. Nobody could see in there as she kept the curtains closed.

  Rose went into the lounge and opened up the package with the wig. She tried the wig on and was amazed at how convincing it was. Once clothed and with her wig and a scarf, nobody would recognise her. Perfect!

  She put the wig in the spare room and closed the door. She was exhausted from her journey. She poured a whisky and lit a cigarette. She took her laptop and went to sit on the sofa. She clicked on the TV and turned the volume low. Eastenders was on and she didn’t need to hear it. Just then the buzzer went and when she answered it was Fat Pat paying her a surprise visit. She let her in and when she came inside, she had to be quick when Fat Pat almost went into the spare room to put her coat on the coat stand. Rose nearly blew it but luckily Fat Pat hadn’t noticed. She put the coat on her bed.

  They sat in the lounge for a bit and Rose just wished she would go. Eventually she feigned tiredness and another headache and Fat Pat left her to have an early night.

  Once she had left, Rose opened the laptop and logged on. She found a website and ordered the shoes. Next, she put ‘Aiden Harrington’ into the search bar. A long list of hits came up. She started working through them one by one. He had been a busy boy since the charges were dropped. There was a short article that dealt with the case where she lost everything. It wasn’t that newsworthy, it seemed.

  There was a theme running through the articles she was reading as she sipped her drink and lit another cigarette. Just as well she had picked up a couple more packs on the way home, she thought. Aiden took regular holidays every three weeks, mainly to the Harrington villa in Torremolinos. There were pictures of him and that friend of his that Rose was still convinced was his boyfriend. They always flew on his father’s airline and the Daily Mail reported in the showbiz column that he flew First-Class. Rose went and got a pen and a pad of paper and started to note his movements. He was a creature of habit it seemed. Every third weekend he went to Spain. Sometimes Jason travelled with him, but mostly he went with that Polish girl. Once, Ben had seen her pictured with Aiden and said that he was sure it was the same girl he had met at the cake shop a while back. She had a different name, so maybe it wasn’t the same person. Poor gullible Ben.

  Rose decided that she wouldn’t wait until his next trip to take a trial run. She wanted to get a feel for security, which she knew was lax at Manchester. She also wanted to check out the plane. She went onto the Harrington Air website and booked herself a flight to Spain on the next flight in two days. She booked a Business-Class seat as First-Class was double that price. She didn’t want to waste money. She ordered assistance for herself as she would be in the wheelchair. She would stay there two nights and then fly back. That would be enough for her to finalise her plan. Her wheelchair would arrive in the morning.

  Rose put the laptop away and went to the small kitchen. She pulled out a ready meal from the fridge and popped it into the microwave. She poured a glass of wine and when the food was ready, she sat down to eat.

  After her dinner Rose cleared away and went to sit on the sofa where she sat drinking and smoking and watching TV until 12 when she decided to go to bed. Tomorrow was another day and another step closer to her end plan.

  In the morning the wheelchair arrived. It was a large parcel and she was glad she had decided to stay in to receive it. Her nosey neighbour would definitely have asked a lot of questions.

  Chapter 83

  At Manchester Airport Rose cleared security without a hitch. It was chaotic, but they helped her through security quickly. They certainly didn’t go through the full body scan and when they tried to get close to her, she flinched and told them she hurt in that area, so they stayed away from her lower region. This pleased her no end. It meant that she would be able to get through without a worry. She had been nervous, but she soon calmed down when she realised that the Aviation Security Officers were just as nervous as she was when she had told them about the pain.

  They arranged a porter to wheel her through and she went straight to the Business-Class bar and ordered a glass of wine as she waited for her flight. She realised that she had worried for nothing, but it was scary how lax they were around disabled people. It was clearly a major security flaw.

  When she was on board the Harrington Air jet, Rose kept her sunglasses on. She wanted to be able to observe the goings on without anyone noticing. The flight wasn’t particularly full and luckily there was nobody next to her. She noticed that the crew weren’t particularly aware of their surroundings. When the plane was in the air and drinks were served Rose sat back and watched the crew intently from behind her glasses. About an hour into the flight one of the crew took coffee and something to eat to the flight deck. The door was open for a few minutes. That would need to be enough time. The First-Class seat on the aisle was really close to the flight deck door and the galley was at the rear of the plane. There was a small bar area where the First-Class passengers’ drinks were prepared. Rose would need to book a First-Class ticket and make sure she sat on the aisle on the right. Luckily the doors to the plane were just behind Business-Class, so there were none of the usual able-bodied requirements that some other airlines had.

  By the time they landed in Spain, Rose had seen all she needed to. She decided she would change her return ticket and get the next flight back with another airline. She didn’t need to stay there for any reason. Her flight was reconnaissance, nothing else. She just wanted to go home.

  When Rose was back home the next day she began planning in earnest. She booked her flight and got the seat she wanted. She knew there was no way she would be recognised by Aiden even if someone said her name. There were a lot of people with that surname in the world. She wouldn’t look anything like her normal self, and it was a year since that foolish boy had seen her.

  Since Aiden’s trial was dismissed, to Rose’s utter disgust he had become something of a celebrity. Like so many other famous people, he had employed an agent t
o handle his PR. When Rose got to her small flat she went online and found out that his agent was Mara Jefferies. Mara was a very experienced and talented agent who looked after a number of celebrities. She found her number and called her.

  Mara was a really rude and offhand person. She hardly gave Rose a chance to speak and kept interrupting her. Finally, she got her point across. Rose told Mara that she was a reporter. She said she was going to be in Spain soon and wanted to interview the great Aiden Harrington at his villa. Rose had done her intel and like clockwork Aiden flew to Torremolinos every three weeks and she was hoping that he would be on the same flight. Mara asked her when she was going to be there, so she could check dates as Aiden was flying out on the 12th. Bingo! It was the same date.

  Rose thanked the dreadful whiny woman and said she would call her back when her editor had firmed up dates. Mara asked her which publication she worked for and without answering Rose hung up. Rose was using Stefan’s old mobile. She had put another SIM card in. She pulled the SIM card out and broke it in two, feeling really pleased at her ingenuity. She inserted another SIM card into the phone.

  Rose sat there for a bit and she marvelled at how easy it was to get information out of people and how slack security was these days. Had people forgotten the terrorist atrocities that had happened before? Anyway, it made her mission a lot easier, that was for sure.

  Chapter 84

  Afew days before her flight Rose went and got everything ready that she would need. The wheelchair was in the spare room along with the wig. She would wear something comfortable and loose. She went into her bedroom and from under the bed she pulled out a small box. She opened the box and in there wrapped in a soft white cloth was Jim’s small handgun. He had bought it from a classic gun dealer when they had been burgled some years back and she had decided to keep it after he died. It was a Baby Browning that Jim had told her was a good gun for a woman to handle. She had kept it cleaned, oiled and loaded like he had shown her, especially when she had started her plan. The gun held six rounds and she had kept the magazine full. It was the perfect size for the job and would be concealed easily taped to her skin at the bottom of her belly. She had seen on her last trip that the customs officers didn’t go near there if you made a bit of a fuss.

  Rose laid out a plastic bag on the small table in the spare room. She took the small spray bottle and got a tiny funnel from the kitchen cupboard. She filled the small bottle with the acid and closed it. She pumped it a little to prime it, careful not to get any on her skin. She put the plastic lid on the bottle and made sure that it was secure. She wrapped it in cling film and put it to one side. She checked the gun again and made sure again that it was fully loaded. Jim had shown her how to use it, so she was confident she knew what to do. She got her outfit ready and the pair of comfortable shoes she had ordered for this. She would pack a small rucksack with a few clothes that could easily go on the back of the wheelchair. She had asked for assistance again at the airport. She got her passport and her ticket and put them in the front pouch of the rucksack. This was really happening, she thought. She was going to get justice for Jim and Stefan!

  The next thing Rose needed to make sure of was that the spray bottle of acid was going to fit where she was going to hide it. She went to the bathroom and got a tube of K-Y jelly. She picked up the spray bottle and covered it in gel. She took her pants down, sat down and spread her legs. She then inserted the bottle into her vagina, wincing at how cold it felt. She pushed it in until it wouldn’t go any further. She closed her legs, got up and tried to walk. So far so good. She then went and opened the wheelchair and sat down on the seat. She sat there for a while and moved the chair around the lounge a bit. When she was happy that the bottle would stay where it was, she got up and removed it. She wiped it down and set it back down on the table. That was the easy bit.

  When she was happy that everything was ready, Rose lit a cigarette and called Fat Pat. Guilt had got the better of Rose.

  “Hiya Rose. How are you? I haven’t heard from you in a while,” Fat Pat said when she answered.

  “I am ok thanks. Haven’t been up to much. Sorry I haven’t called. I am working through a few things and I haven’t been the best company. You don’t deserve that, so I stayed away,” Rose told her.

  “That’s ok love. I am glad you called. We should get together soon. Have you heard from Ben of late?” Fat Pat asked.

  “No. I saw him a little while back. We aren’t the same as we were,” Rose told her.

  “No, none of us are,” Fat Pat said.

  The two women chatted for a while and agreed to meet up soon. When Rose hung up, she went to sit at the table and wrote two letters. One of the letters was to Fat Pat. She didn’t mention it, but she would leave everything to Fat Pat and had arranged that in her will. The other letter was for Ben and in it she apologised for not telling him what she was doing. She told him her secret that only her, Jim and Stefan had known. She begged him to forgive her and told him that one day he would understand. She also told him that she loved him and that he must find himself the kind of woman he deserved. With that done, she poured another drink and sat on the sofa and lit up a cigarette. She knew she was smoking and drinking too much, but she didn’t care. She wouldn’t ever come back to this godforsaken flat and life, so she may as well enjoy her last days.

  Chapter 85

  On the morning of her flight, Rose woke up at 8 a.m. She had a lot to do before the flight at 6 that evening. The day was finally here, and she strangely did not know how she felt.

  She showered and made coffee and sat at the small table by the tiny kitchen. She lit a cigarette. She had made a list and she stared at it now trying to decide what to do first. She must have stared at the list for 15 minutes. She felt strange. She didn’t know if this was nerves, guilt or fear. She soon snapped out of it.

  She stubbed out yet another cigarette and went back to get her razor. She should have shaved her pubic area in the shower, but she hadn’t. She sat on the edge of the bath and hauled her legs over into the tub. She shaved herself carefully and put some talc on the area, so it wouldn’t itch. Whilst she was shaving, she thought about how Jim had preferred her not to shave. Personally, Rose did not know how women could wax down there. There was no way she was putting hot wax on that area. She thought it wasn’t natural.

  She went back into the lounge and lit another cigarette. She didn’t feel she had to worry about cancer. She fetched all her gear from the spare bedroom and laid it on the sofa. It was only 9 a.m. now so she had loads of time. Next, she called a taxi to collect her at 2 p.m. and she told them she would be in a wheelchair, so they needed to send an appropriate vehicle. The man on the phone told her that it was no problem, and he confirmed back the time and the address.

  Rose spent the rest of her time getting ready and at 1.30 she was done. She looked in the mirror in her bedroom and she was happy with what she saw. It had been easy getting into this disguise. The only thing she had struggled with a little was the spray bottle of acid. She hadn’t put enough gel on it so she had to try a couple of times. Eventually she got it in and when she tried to slide it out it came out with a little tug. She was happy that it would stay inside her until she needed it. She was glad she would be sitting in the wheelchair, because walking around with a spray bottle inserted in your vagina would be unpleasant, not to mention if the movement made the bottle leak! The gun was easy. She had taped it to her skin with some surgical tape. Nobody would pick up on it down there. Before taping the gun to her skin, she had kissed it and said, “Thanks Jim.” Having his gun with her made her feel like he was with her.

  If anyone had seen Rose on her way out or that nosey neighbour encountered her outside, she would pretend to be Rose’s cousin who was visiting from down South. She went to the small box under the bed once more and retrieved some cash that she kept there for emergencies. It wasn’t a huge amount, but she wouldn’t need that much. She wasn’t staying anywhere, and she had no intention of coming ba
ck.

  When Rose was loaded into the taxi with her wheelchair and rucksack, the driver pulled away and she was on her way. She looked out of the back window of the taxi and wondered if she would miss the place. She realised she would not. As much as it was her flat, without Jim and Stefan it was not a home.

  As the taxi drove up Princess Road, Rose felt sad when they passed the site of the accident. The place where her life went wrong. There wasn’t a sign of what had happened. Everyone was just going about their business. The jobsworths at the council had removed the flowers and candles she had put there for Health and Safety reasons. Or so they said.

  Chapter 86

  Rose sat at a table in the Harrington Air First-Class Lounge in Terminal One. Everyone had been so helpful to the lady in the wheelchair and dark glasses. They really could not have done more for her. Security had been busy and again as nervous as Rose was about getting caught, the Aviation Security Officers were once again just as nervous. When they asked Rose if there were any areas that hurt, she indicated her stomach and crotch area. Strangely, they just waved their hands over the area, not touching her at all. She laughed to herself, wondering if their hands had in-built scanners. As ridiculous as the security check was, she was equally grateful. If she had been caught with her concealed gun and bottle, it would all have been in vein. They had swabbed the chair for drugs, but that naturally came back clear. They got a porter to wheel her through to the Lounge. He was a small man with dark hair and he also had hair sprouting from the back of his collar. Rose could hardly understand a word he said. He swallowed his words when he spoke. She just managed to understand that he would collect her when the flight was ready to board.