by CM Thompson
She needs to get rid of Derrick. He had been fun but now he is holding her back. Maybe another push will do it, another tragic accident. She starts practising her lies again, practising what she will say to her lover, to the police, to Derrick. It is with happiness she steps outside her house, noticing the police car parked in front of Daniel’s house, a small crowd of her neighbours gathered outside. She puts on her best friendly smile and goes over to investigate as any good neighbour would do.
She can see Lying Penny talking animatedly to the sour-faced Colvin. To Laura’s horror, Lying Penny points a finger in Laura’s direction. “I saw her leaving the house this morning. I knew she was up to no good,” she yells excitedly. Laura fights down the urge to smash her face in with another one of Ludmilla’s prized gnomes. She tries to facially indicate how crazy Lying Penny is but Colvin is looking at her in a way that she doesn’t like. “I saw her smashing the car!”
“Shut your lying face,” Laura finally manages to snarl. She hasn’t practiced for this, Lying Penny has caught her completely off guard. She starts to back away, noticing the shocked expressions on Gloria Hutchings’ and Ludmilla Bryski’s faces. They all heard. They all believed that stupid cow! She feels a hand on her shoulder, warning her not to go any further.
“I think you better come with us, Mrs Noble,” Grimm says quietly, trying to steer her towards the waiting police car. She shoves against him hard, catching him off guard. These fucking fools. She raises a foot, firmly intending to smash down onto Grimm’s cursing face. She is going to get Lying Penny for this. Make it so she can never open her lying face again. Her foot is just reaching Grimm’s nose as she is yanked backwards by Colvin. She tries to push against her, tries to hit, but feels the click of a handcuff against her wrist.
“Laura Noble, you are under arrest.” Whatever Colvin tries to say after this is lost beneath the sound of Laura’s angry screams. Something about attempted assault. She still has one hand free and she intends to use it. Colvin has to recall, very quickly, everything she has ever learned about restraining a violent offender, whilst Grimm curses and slowly manages to stagger upright. Together they drag Laura kicking and screaming to the car. As the car door slams shut behind her, as she hears the request for assistance echo over the radio, Laura finally realises where she is and that it is going to be very hard to talk her way out of this one.
How much do they know? What do they know? What else did that lying bitch say? If Laura is going down, she is taking all of them with her. Does Gloria think that she won’t talk? Their neighbourhood plots? Does Grimm not recall that kiss? No, she plots, as the car starts up, she has dirt on them all and she will use it.
They have nothing to link her to Anne-Marie’s death, she reassures herself, they can’t blame her for that. They have nothing, no idea whatsoever. No evidence, no clue, not so much as a skin flake.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Ah, Daniel!” Paul Bryski’s voice bellows out, just as Daniel is putting the last suitcase into the taxi. Daniel cringes, he had hoped to get in and out without seeing any of his neighbours. He knows that Laura Noble has been arrested, is still finding it hard to believe that they have found evidence linking her to his wife’s death. He can’t even start to comprehend what it meant or even why.
“I have something for you.” Daniel doesn’t want it, he doesn’t know what it is but he doesn’t want it. He wants to get in the taxi and leave, but Paul is already reaching him, a package clearly visible in his hands.
“It’s from your wife,” he says with a chuckle. “I forgot I had this until Luddy reminded me. Annie had asked me to hide it.” He thrusts it into Daniel’s hands.
“She was a nice gal, your Annie. Bit wild but her heart was in the right place.” He chuckles again. “Luddy won’t admit it but she was similar at that age.” He says this in what he thinks is a conspiratorial whisper but is actually a loud bellow.
“Well, aren’t you going to open it?” he asks impatiently, peering at the shocked Daniel through thick glasses. Daniel swallows hard, the present feels heavy in his hands. He doesn’t think he can take any more fuck you messages from Anne-Marie, but Paul is watching him expectantly and he feels forced to oblige.
He runs his fingers across the gold paper and decides just to get this over with. He pulls back the paper to find a large, hard-backed white book. Daniel shudders as he notes the elegant gold writing across the front of the book. Our Lovely Wedding. It is a very fancy wedding album, almost too fancy, Paul must have picked it out. Warily, Daniel flicks through the pages, expecting the worse, but sees only pristine, untainted photos. He had forgotten how beautiful Anne-Marie had looked that day. How happy they both were. How hideous Sherri’s outfit had been.
“She said she did something stupid to the first one and asked if I could hide this … I don’t know until when. I didn’t see her again after that and, well, then, |God rest her soul.” Paul is unaware that Daniel is barely listening.
Daniel smiles for the first time in months, flicking through the pages again and again. Paul says something else before shuffling off but Daniel doesn’t notice. It’s only when the taxi driver beeps his horn that he is brought back to reality. He slowly climbs into the back seat and is driven away from his old house for the last time. He doesn’t look at the house, or the street, his tear-filled eyes are staring at the inscription at the front of the album.
I am sor- had been written by a wobbly hand, then crossed out, followed by a second illegible scribble, but the words I love you are unmistakable, signed by A-squiggle M-squiggle finished with large XX X.
Acknowledgements
The Author would like to thank:
L. M. Bryski for continued support
K. Webborn for a character suggestion
Kate the Quiet Knitter for being a random name generator
Taylor Mali for the poems that inspired this novel
And a huge thank you to Yvonne and Hookline Books
And to you, for making it this far.
About the Author
CM Thompson lives in Nottingham, she has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Portsmouth. Her first novel, What Lies in the Dark, came out in 2014. She doesn’t have much to put in her bio because she spends too much time reading and playing Candy Crush. She can be found on Twitter @cmtwrites.
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Copyright © 2018 by CM Thompson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Book Layout © 2016 BookDesignTemplates.com
Who Killed Anne-Marie?, CM Thompson. – 1st ed.
Cover Design: Beti Bup
ISBN 9781916410329