by Margaux Fox
Filling the hole was more work and we ended up with loads of soil that wouldn’t fit. So we built a mound. Trying to make it look more like a little hill shape than a body shape. We compacted it best as we could and scraped up a load of wet leaves, little rocks and twigs to decorate it. By 6am it looked for all the world as if it had always been there. I hoped our night’s work would be enough to save us.
I looked across at her. Wet and muddy. Tired and bloody. Still beautiful. Unsure whether her whole relationship with me was just so that I would help her now. Help her escape her life. She’s a gifted actress but when she looked up at me I felt sure she was real. I wanted to trust in what we had. What I thought we had. With a deep breath, I realised just how much everything had changed and just how heavy the burden was that she had put upon my shoulders.
11
One Year Later
The investigation into the disappearance of Daniel Lorenzo ended up with our team despite it being our surveillance team that had managed to lose him from his own home. His colleagues were all interviewed. His enemies were all interviewed. Sarah Jones of course was interviewed. Her ties were directly with Daniel, and that is how she had remained undercover so successfully for so long, because the rest of his crew were unaware of her existence. Myself and Alice Jackson did Lyra’s interview. She was charming and glamorous and did a great confused act about where Lorenzo could possibly be. She was never really a suspect because the surveillance team on her confirmed that she hadn’t left her apartment all evening. Lyra had paid her neighbour who looked enough like her from a distance to wander around lit up in her windows a couple of times through the evening and then to turn the lights off and ‘go to bed’.
We didn’t find his body. We never got anywhere close. He had so many enemies with power and connections that literally the body could have been anywhere. There was no trace of him. His car had never left his house.
I visited the spot in the summer. Grass had grown over the mound and it looked as though it had always been there. I felt a sense of possibility and freedom looking at what his grave had become.
I didn’t think too much about how it happened. I knew she had planned it. That pub car park was their regular meeting and handover point. It was also her choice of first date location. I didn’t want to think too much about the pre-meditated murder aspect. That the woman I was in love with was a cold blooded killer.
But the Lyra I knew was not like that.
I left Simon soon after the whole thing. I moved out and rented a room in a house share initially while Operation Phoenix and the Missing Persons investigation into Daniel Lorenzo continued. I couldn’t continue to pretend that I was happy with our normal marriage. I’m sure he was right that it was a healthy marriage, that we were happy together and settled. But maybe, for me, settling just isn’t enough. I had realised a few things over the events of autumn and winter of 2018, mainly that a husband, a home and the police were not everything that I had hoped they would be. I wanted a change.
Instead of reapplying for promotion to Inspector, I decided to apply for a career break instead. I told them I needed some time to deal with the break up of my marriage. I had some money that my grandmother had left me when she died and I bought a cottage on the east coast of Scotland by the sea. The cottage had a big window in the living room that looked out across the wild sea.
I went to a dog rescue and adopted a dog. He is a big grey husky and his name is Zeus. He soon settled in his new home; he doesn’t like being left alone but that’s ok because I take him everywhere with me. He soon learned to love his freedom, running wild on the wide expanse of deserted beach right next to our home. He would come home sandy and smelling of the ocean and so would I. We would lie on the floor next to the log fire to warm through, the big wooly bear stretched out on his back.
And then, there’s Lyra. She had to wait until the heat surrounding the investigation died down before she could come and join us. She lives here with us now. She loves Zeus and I am sure she loves me too. I find myself looking over at her now in our little cottage by the sea. She is the kind of woman that everyone looks at. Dazzling and intense. She sits with her bare feet up on the sofa as she reads a book. I’ve decided to put the past behind us and focus on the future. I’m learning the real her, day by day. I think she is also learning the real her, day by day. She is still mysterious to me now. But I know I cannot be without her. I’ll never call her Sarah.
Lyra. Liar. She lied to me throughout our whole relationship and then she killed a man and wondered if I loved her enough to help her. And I did. I helped her bury the body and then I wondered if she loved me enough to run away with me. And she did. Partners in crime. Thelma and Louise.
Zeus climbs up onto the sofa and lies across her legs. My heart fills with love for them both. This is what happiness looks like.
THE END
About the Author
Margaux Fox
Hey everyone, I just want to thank you so much for reading my book. I would love for you to pop on Amazon and review it if you enjoyed it. As an indie author, reviews really do make a difference and get my books noticed and would be hugely appreciated.
I wrote this book as my first short foray into writing and publishing a completed work. Jen’s detective role came from a friend of mine who is a detective. I have always found police work fascinating. I have also always found forbidden love fascinating, which is what prompted Jen’s affair with Lyra. I loved writing this book and I would love for you to check out my longer work.
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Please also check out my other books. All my books are available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
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