‘I’m just thinking about Mum and Dad.’ she hated lying, but what other choice was there that she hadn’t already considered?
‘I understand. You take your time.’ Lillian nodded appropriately, and they walked the rest of the way in a gentle silence.
When it was early evening and black outside, Juliet asked her gran to join her for dinner again. After they’d eaten, she suggested that Lillian stay for a while with her, at least for the rest of the week. It would be nice to have someone in the house. She’d feel safer, maybe.
‘Are you sure, sweetheart? I don’t want to be in the way.’ Lillian replied, beaming a smile like she’d already got the answer she hoped for.
‘Yes, I’m sure, Gran. It’s a big house, there’s plenty of room. I think this house deserves to be used more.’
‘Thank you. I have my bag at the hotel. I’ve only packed a couple of days’ worth because I wasn’t even sure if you still lived in Chanton.’
Juliet smiled and said, ‘Don’t worry about that. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.’
Having slept a lot the night before, Juliet had difficulty getting to sleep. She must have lain awake for a long while; her sense of time was off, she found her mind going into dazes. The images of Aldrich’s gored body were out of reach. Maybe she blocked it out?
I don’t need to face it now. Again, it was the exhaustion that took her. Her restless mind kept her awake until it couldn’t do it any longer.
In the morning she remembered her nightmares this time. She’d dreamt of warm, sticky blood on her hands, and Aldrich with a terrified face, dragging himself along the floor away from her. Stab wounds were all over his body. Then the nightmare jumped ahead to her being incarcerated. In a filthy cell, she was startled by a noise. She turned to face the spirit of Aldrich. At that point, she woke up. Luckily it was morning and she didn’t have to try to sleep again.
After a pleasant breakfast with her gran, the day was spent shopping in Amiton. She took care to avoid Creaky Crystals. The last thing she wanted was to bump into Nicolas Crystan. She’d begun to relax by now. The police hadn’t visited her yet and there’d been no news of Aldrich’s murder in the media. Ryan seemed to have kept to his word so far.
She couldn’t stand the thought of her parents. She refused to think about them. A decision to not contact them was made. She would wait and leave it down to them. If they even cared enough to notice that their daughter hadn’t spoken to them in a long while, then they would make the effort to reach her.
She found volumes of clothes that she wanted to buy for her gran. Lillian protested at first but eventually came around to her granddaughter paying for her clothes. She seemed to have what Juliet considered an old-fashioned view about money; she almost cringed at the sight of it, as if it was the root of all evil, and like it was only honourable to spend money that was earned through a hard day’s work. Maybe it was the root of all evil. But Juliet didn’t think so; she appreciated money and everything it allowed her to enjoy. She also realised that with her wealth she could afford to help others on a regular basis. She donated large amounts to charity each month, and the only way she could afford to continue giving was to ensure that she stayed financially well-off.
While shopping in Amiton, she received a text from Roy. In the text, he asked her to come to Chanton Hillview tomorrow. The new décor was complete.
With the help of Lillian, Juliet scoured the shops in Amiton for ‘Thank You’ presents for her staff. For Roy and Sandra, she bought a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates each. For the underage Ashleigh, she bought a box of chocolates and a bracelet. As gifts to share, she purchased a cake and a variety of gift vouchers for popular brands. For presentation purposes, she hunted for a large wicker basket and some ribbon. The last bits she added were a bouquet of flowers and a few bags of sweets.
With their bags and bags of shopping, Juliet and her gran booked a taxi home. Juliet enjoyed getting the bus, but it wasn’t practical with so many items to hold.
Lillian helped her granddaughter label the gifts, and then they put it all into the large wicker basket with a ‘Thank You’ card and tied the ribbon into a fancy bow around the handle.
Juliet stayed up late that night, talking with her gran. It would help her sleep. When she retired to bed, she fell asleep excited for the next day.
Thursday morning, she stayed in bed to think.
Blocking out what she’d experienced wasn’t something she could do forever, and she knew that. Soon she’d have to face her emotions. She couldn’t see a dead body with a bloody knife sticking out and not be affected in some way; as much as she wanted to ignore it and get on with her life.
She knew the horror and the worry was still there inside of her, but if she could focus on her excitement about the café, then those problems would stay away for now.
She got up and ready to go to Chanton Hillview. She insisted that Lillian come with her to see it.
Roy, Sandra and Ashleigh were all stood outside when Juliet arrived with her gran.
‘Cover your eyes, Juliet!’ Roy shouted as she approached, he added a friendly rumble of a laugh.
Juliet turned away so that she couldn’t see into the café. She walked up to her staff, keeping her eyes drawn away, and then handed the heavy basket of gifts to Roy.
‘These are for you three. Thank you so much.’
Sandra’s face lit up, ‘Awh, Juliet. That’s so sweet. You didn’t have to.’
‘I wouldn’t thank us too soon. You haven’t yet seen the state we’ve left your café in.’ Roy teased.
Even though she knew he was joking, she panicked slightly in anticipation.
Ashleigh must have noticed because she chimed in, ‘Oi, Roy!’ she paused to laugh at her accidental rhyme then continued, ‘Don’t worry, Juliet, it’s not in a state. You are going to love it.’
Ashleigh jiggled on the spot and squealed giddily. She could cheer anyone up.
‘Who’s the beautiful young lady with you?’ Roy asked Juliet.
Lillian laughed instantly and replied, ‘Young? I think I like you.’
‘This is Lillian, my grandmother.’ answered Juliet.
All three staff members exchanged greetings with Lillian. Roy gave Juliet a confused stare when no one was looking. He’d spoken with Juliet about her family before and knew that all her grandparents were dead. Juliet leant closer and whispered in his ear, ‘I’ll explain another time.’
‘Okay.’ Roy nodded.
‘Juliet,’ Sandra said in her hard, brassy voice, ‘your hair looks fantastic. Have you had highlights put in?’
‘No, it’s the same as always…’ she answered. That was two people now who’d noticed a difference in her hair. She’d marked the change herself; it was brighter, more lustrous than ever. Another strange thing was that when she checked her shoulder a couple of nights ago, the bruising was gone. It was completely healed now, as if she’d never injured it.
‘Come on ladies,’ Roy addressed everyone, ‘let’s take her inside.’
Sandra reminded Juliet, ‘Cover your eyes.’
With her hands up over her closed eyes, she heard the café door open and then felt hands at her elbows and back. They guided her inside. She laughed at her own lack of coordination. Someone tugged at her to stop walking.
‘You can look now.’
She lowered her hands. Her eyes almost didn’t want to open, but she slowly forced them to.
The walls were painted a pale tan colour. Roy had purchased the exact furniture that she’d shown him: chrome coffee tables, and chairs a shade darker than the walls. Near the glass wall with the hill view there were low, square indoor benches with red tables that protruded from the walls. The floor stayed unchanged; it was a medium brown hardwood, and Juliet was pleased to see that it matched the new décor better than the previous furnishing.
She didn’t know how they’d managed to redecorate the whole place in just over a week… well actually, she did: Sandra was the hardest wo
rking person that she knew; if you gave her a list of tasks, she’d be done the first one and onto the second before you had time to blink. The only problem Juliet had with Sandra was that her diligent style sometimes transferred into bossiness when she spoke to others.
Roy could also be efficient and organised when he wanted to be, and he must have switched into that mode for the week of redecorating. The staff even managed to have new lighting fitted. There were warped square light shades when she looked up. They were red and the way they were positioned spilt the artificial light across the ceiling unobtrusively.
The daylight from the glass wall made electrical lighting less necessary. Towards the entrance where the natural sunlight couldn’t fully reach, there were a couple of red table lamps.
From the front door, the first thing Juliet’s eyes picked up on was the view of the hills. Exactly as she had wanted. She was drawn straight to it and knew the customers would be too. The neutral tan, brown and chrome scheme set the mood, and the dashes of red were optional distractions that weren’t officious enough to be jarring.
She hadn’t realised that while she took it all in, everyone else was waiting for her to say something. Her hands were drawn up together, partially covering her mouth with her fingertips gently on her lips.
‘It’s perfect.’
Roy and the others made various cheerful, jubilant sounds. ‘You had us worried there.’
Lillian put her hand against Juliet’s back, ‘Your café is beautiful. Sweetheart,’ she paused to come stand in front of her granddaughter, and then looked up at her, ‘I always knew you would do well for yourself.’
It was strange. Juliet suddenly saw how lonely she’d been before. She only noticed it in contrast to how much she enjoyed the company she was in now. It didn’t upset her to realise it; but instead, she decided to take it as a lesson.
She smiled then said, ‘Let’s put these shiny new tables to use. We have cake to eat.’
Chapter 25
Free At Last
Ryan Fraser watched Juliet walk out the large front door of Grendel Manor. The smile he’d pasted to his face was hard to maintain. But now she was finally out of sight.
Stuck up bitch.
‘You better treat Kim like royalty, meh, meh, meh!’ he mocked her last words aloud, all to himself.
He pivoted on the spot and looked down at the blood, the broken picture frame, the cracked Alexander the Great statue head, and Aldrich’s cane on the floor.
After a minute of blankly staring, he released a long, drawn-out sigh. He walked casually over to the cabinet that once held the Alexander the Great statue head on one of its shelves. He picked up a Greek-looking vase and then launched it across the entry hall.
The sound of it splitting against the wall and then smashing onto the floor sent a wave of pleasure down his spine. A triumphant laugh came out of his chest. The next ornament met an explosive end when he juggled it a few times, then purposefully missed the next catch.
Knowing Aldrich, these items were hundreds of years old, maybe thousands, but that made it all the more pleasurable to destroy them.
He became impatient, so he wedged his fingers behind the cabinet. He managed to topple it. It came down with a thwack of air. There were clanging, thudding, splitting noises and other sounds of destruction.
It had been harder to tip over than he’d expected. He stopped to breathe, and peered down at the mess of the entry hall. All the times he’d been angry around Aldrich and had wanted to kill him or at least break something to vent his anger, but he never could; but now, this was too sweet. The entire manor waited to be defiled.
He took out his penis and urinated on the floor, aiming widely. He added an exultant laugh to the display. The smelly yellow liquid spread out, and a trail of it mingled with the dried pool of blood.
When he was done, he thought about Aldrich’s dead body. He assumed that he must not have been dead for much more than half an hour. That was the impression he got from Juliet and the Crystan boys, seeing as they hadn’t even cleaned up Aldrich’s blood by the time Ryan arrived. That would have been the first thing most people would do, after hiding the body.
He supposed he ought to sort out Aldrich’s body before rigor mortis started to set in. He’d disposed of dead human bodies before; some of them his own doing, but most on Aldrich’s behalf. It was black outside, so he stepped around his puddle of piss and headed for the utility cupboard to grab a torch.
In the cupboard there were some spare roles of cling film. He took one with him. He also went to the bathroom where he stored the clean linen, towels and other laundry. He selected a white king-sized bed sheet, and carried it under his left arm.
As he walked down the hallway, he shouted at the walls, ‘I’m not your fucking housekeeper anymore!’
Aldrich was lazy when it came to housework. Ryan had maintained Grendel Manor by himself. Or mostly maintained it, at least; the back garden was untouched, overgrown field mostly, and Aldrich didn’t care for some rooms of the manor, so he locked them tight and let them dust.
For some reason, Aldrich never let Ryan out the back of the manor. Maybe he would find out that reason now?
Cleaning was what he’d spent most days doing; often while having to listen to Aldrich drone on about life stories. It was odd to walk freely around the house without being aware of Aldrich’s presence. Although Ryan would let himself into the manor, he’d always shout for Aldrich and wait for orders. He’d avoided exploring freely in case he somehow upset his master by doing so. If he’d seen something that he wasn’t supposed to, then Aldrich could have wiped his mind, and no harm would be done. But Aldrich always insisted that he would never use his ability on Ryan… apart from for the one time that they agreed upon.
‘Why don’t you like using it on me?’ Ryan would ask.
And his master’s response was always, ‘You are my friend. Yes. My trusted companion. Yes. You are like me, Ryan; you enjoy it.’
I enjoy it? Enjoy what? He’d never figured out what Aldrich had meant by that. If Ryan had been so trusted, then why had Aldrich watched over him in most tasks?
With the torch on bright, Ryan Fraser used it to follow the directions Tom had given him. The dark didn’t unsettle him; he hardly felt nervous at all. Even when he heard the occasional rustle, maybe rabbits, mice or rats, it never startled him.
The trees grouped around him as he walked into the woods. The moon was barely visible behind murky night-clouds; it offered minimal lighting, especially in the dark of the woods.
The body was nearby, buried under a pile of leaves. He spotted the shadowy heap against a tree, then the smell that hit him confirmed he’d found it. Mixed with the late afternoon air was the stench of faeces; it was pungent in comparison to the fresh, wintry breeze.
He placed the bed sheet and cling film down, then began to brush the leaves off of the body. At one point, his hand bumped against something metal and cold. He realised what it was and grabbed the haft. He yanked the knife out of Aldrich’s chest. It made a gloopy sound.
Using the torch to check, he recognised the knife as the one that had killed Samantha Crystan. He hadn’t been so honest when he told the Crystan boys earlier that he didn’t know much about their mother’s death. It seemed that Tommy had used the same weapon to end Aldrich’s life as Aldrich had used to kill Tommy’s mother. He sniggered at the coincidence; was it fated to happen that way?
When most the leaves were off, he pulled Dead-Aldrich by the feet, away from the tree. The body made a flatulent noise as he moved it. Even in the dark, he could see the wet patch around the body’s crotch. He looked further up the lifeless form; up to the face he knew and hated well.
Dead-Aldrich’s face looked different. It was swollen and smeared with dried blood, but it also seemed limp and relaxed. Although discerning colour in the dark was difficult, he could see that the lips were pale, and the rest of Aldrich’s features weren’t their usual shade either.
He scooped up
a handful of dirt and mud, and then forcefully pressed it into the dead body’s eyes. With clenched teethed, he pushed the clumps of earth deeper; Aldrich’s eyes seemed to sink into his skull. Ryan thought of urinating on the dead body to further defile it, but he’d already used up his supply.
He repeated the process with the dirt, but this time he forced the mud into Aldrich’s mouth and open chest wound. The sense of power overwhelmed him; he could have swum in it, danced in it, rolled in it, bathed in it!
‘Fuck you, Aldrich Grendel.’ he whispered to the body that had muck for eyes. ‘Immortal my ass. Look at you now.’
He searched all of Aldrich’s pockets. He found nothing; all pockets were completely empty. That wasn’t too strange in itself, as Ryan’s master used to always return to his bedroom to collect items. Everything was hidden away there. The odd part was that Aldrich kept the room locked. So where was the key? Ryan tried to remember if he’d ever seen Aldrich lock the door, and if he’d noticed where he placed the key afterwards; he couldn’t recall anything.
‘I need that key, Aldrich. Where is it?’
He wasn’t surprised when Aldrich didn’t reply.
‘I’ll find it. You can’t fool me now.’ he said hoarsely, and patted the corpse.
To the side of the body was a throw. He covered Dead-Aldrich with it, tucking it underneath and around him.
The cling film roll was behind him, so he reached for it and prepared it for use. He lifted Aldrich’s head off the ground. Then he started to wrap the cling film around it as tight as possible.
Once the head was done, he moved onto the neck. Wrapping the shoulders was where it became difficult. He laid the cling film out a few metres along the ground, and rolled the body over it, again and again. For some of the way, he had enough strength to hold Aldrich upright and wrap with the other hand, but it tired him.
Small twigs, leaves, the throw and various mess got wrapped up inside too. He worked his way down to Aldrich’s feet. There was just enough cling film to give it a tight finish. He was left with what looked like a shiny mummy.
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