Emma joined him and looked down at Jaz. ‘Should I get the chain?’
‘Yes princess, pass it to me. I’ll do this bit.’ Dan said.
Emma opened the second bag and pulled out the long length of chain. She passed it to Dan. He took it and dropped it onto the wriggling body inside the bag. A look of cold panic shot across Jaz’s eyes as he realised something worse was about to happen. He kicked out trying to break through the bag but Dan zipped the bag half closed leaving only his face visible.
‘Bring the lock and other bits please princess.’
Emma held the small Samsonite combination lock out to him, they had never bothered to change the entry numbers. In her other hand was a small zip lock bag containing Jaz’s fingers.
‘You lock it after you drop those in with him.’
Emma stepped forward and opened the bag dropping the fingers onto his face, he flinched and kicked harder when he recognised what they were. She leaned down and looked into the darkness and slowly zipped closed the bag.
‘Don’t close the zip completely princess, leave a little gap like I showed you.’ Dan said. ‘For the water.’
Emma remembered how he had shown her, she left the zip slightly open and slipped the lock through the holes at the end of the zip pull. It left a gap of around an inch. Dan hadn’t thought about this at first but then he watched a documentary on the Crime Channel where someone had tried to do something similar and had ended up with a floating coffin rather than a watery grave.
‘Can I push him in please?’ Emma said without turning her head to Dan.
‘Of course you can princess. Do you want me to lift it?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ Emma said.
Dan lifted the hand of the case and wheeled it close to the stern of the boat. ‘Here you go princess.’
Emma took the handle and held it in one hand. She stood looking out across the sea, tears welled in her eyes and then rolled down her face. Dan wanted to put his arm around her but sensed she needed to be alone. She pushed and the bag toppled into the water. It bobbed around, found its level and floated, listing like a sinking trawler. Dan put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him as they stood watching. The squirming inside picked up pace franticly and the case flipped and rolled in the water, the zip now in the sea. Slowly the case began to sink lower at one end until it stood up like a single passenger Titanic, then it slowly sunk lower and until the only trace was a spreading circle on the surface of the water and a handful of bubbles.
Emma turned into him now, his chest her comforter. He hugged her tight as they watched the spot where the case had gone under. They stood for minutes, neither wanting to move.
‘It’s over now isn’t it babe?’ Emma asked.
‘Yes princess, it’s just me and you now. Forever.’
‘Forever?’ She pulled her head away from his chest to look at his face.
He looked down into her eyes ‘Yes forever, I can get on one knee if you prefer but I want you to marry me.’
‘Seriously?’ Emma asked, her face lit up.
‘Seriously. I’ve wanted it for a while but this has sealed it for me. Will you marry me?’
‘Yes. Fucking hell yes. I love you babe.’ Emma said.
They kissed, their mouths exploring each other as if it was the first time. Dan pulled away ‘Do you want to go back to shore or are you ok here?’
‘I’d like to stay out here a little longer if that’s ok with you, we don’t want Alf thinking you’ve got no stamina.’ Emma’s smile was wide across her face.
‘There is one thing though.’
‘What’s that babe?’ Emma asked.
‘When people ask you how I proposed, you may have to lie a little.’
THE END
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