Left You Dead

100

‘God, I love you!’ Rebecca said, bursting through the front door of Eden’s cottage and throwing herself into her lover’s arms.

Eden kissed her on the forehead, riffling her fingers through her hair, and kissed her on her lips. Then, staring into her eyes, she said, ‘I’m crazy for you.’

‘I’m crazy for you, too!’

They kissed again. Then, kicking the front door shut, Eden asked excitedly, almost breathlessly, ‘So? How did it go?’

‘He fell for it. Hook, line and sinker.’

‘For sure?’

‘For sure.’ Rebecca smiled. They kissed hard. As they reluctantly parted, she said, ‘Trust me, he fell for it. He’ll be there. You’ll surprise him. One hard push. Ooops! Plop! Bye-bye, Niall!’

‘And what if he pushes me, instead? Ooops, plop, bye-bye, Eden? No more Eden for real, this time?’

‘It won’t happen. You’ll be taking him by surprise. He’ll be gone in the darkness before he knows what’s happening. And no one will see him fall, not at that hour. It could be several days before they find his body. I’ve heard that because you can’t see the bottom of Beachy Head from up top, it can be some while before a body is found. Probably someone from the pub will report his car has been in the car park for several days — whatever. By then we’ll be long gone, sipping margaritas on our sun-loungers. Sound good?’

‘Sounds — I guess...’ Eden said, still a little hesitant. ‘Sounds a plan.’

Rebecca smiled. ‘An elegant solution for the police. Niall Paternoster murders his wife, after a history of domestic violence against her. Then, wracked with remorse and scared the cops are closing in on him, he drives to Beachy Head in the middle of the night and ends it all. Constrained by their tight budgets and their need to show results, the detectives are only too happy to get this off their desks. Result. Boxes ticked. Case closed. And you and I swan off into the sunset. Guilt-free because you know what a monstrous shit he was, right?’

‘Right,’ Eden said, but her heart didn’t sound in it. ‘I’m... I’m just not sure I can do it, Bex. Murdering him was never part of our plan.’

‘No, it wasn’t. But the plan to get him arrested and charged hasn’t worked out how we’d hoped. And, of course, my affair with him was only to get the inside track on what he was thinking and doing.’

‘I don’t know how you did it.’

‘I hated every minute, Eden, and I don’t know how you pretended to put up with him for so long. What we’re doing will keep us moving forward. Just remember, he was planning to kill you. You do know that, don’t you?’

Eden nodded, still fretful.

‘And don’t for a moment think he’s not capable of it. He knows you’re up to something, obviously, and he’s not going to forgive you for this.’

‘I know, you’re right.’

‘So you’re just playing him at his own game. You don’t have to feel guilty, you’re doing what you’re doing to save your life. That’s why you ran away, faked everything. That’s why you’re going to do what you do on Thursday night, to give yourself a future. OK?’

‘I suppose.’

‘Good, give me a high five!’

Eden gave her a reluctant high five. As their palms met, she felt a flicker of hope.

The start of her new life?

But still a nagging doubt. ‘I need a drink — a stiff one.’

‘I need you first,’ Rebecca said.

Eden shook her head. ‘A stiff drink first — then you! Then another stiff drink. And then?’ She gave a smile. ‘What time do you have to leave?’

Rebecca waved a dismissive hand and gave a smile back. ‘No rush at all, I have all the time in the world.’

They went through into the kitchen. ‘Just think, after Thursday,’ Rebecca said, slipping her arms around Eden’s back, pushing her hair aside and kissing her on the neck, ‘the rest of our lives together.’

Eden pulled out two cut-glass tumblers from the cupboard and poured a generous slug of Macallan into each. ‘To the future,’ she said, handing her lover a glass.

‘To our future,’ Rebecca corrected, downing a large amount of whisky in one gulp.

A short while later, they lay in the large bed, entwined around each other, with Elbow playing on the Sonos system. ‘There’s just one thing that’s still worrying me about the plan,’ Eden said.

Rebecca took her hand and kissed it. ‘My love, don’t let anything worry your pretty little head.’ For emphasis, she lifted herself up a little and kissed Eden’s forehead. ‘Has that made your worry go away? Is it better?’

Eden grinned. ‘Much.’

‘So what’s worrying you? Your cat — Reggie? We can figure a way to bring him to Cancun, or wherever we ultimately decide to settle.’

‘Not Reggie, no, Bex. It was when the police were questioning you — I just had the sense, from what you told me, they weren’t buying that Niall had murdered me. Not totally.’

‘You’re right. They’re not buying it totally. But my sense is nor are they discounting it, they still think it’s a strong possibility. That’s what I mean by this bringing our plan back on track. Cops are suspicious and cynical — that’s in their DNA, yes?’

‘I guess,’ Eden replied.

‘But, as I’ve said, they’re all under pressure to solve crimes, meet targets. When Niall’s body is recovered from the bottom of the Beachy Head cliffs, it’s going to be an easy tick-box exercise for them. He’s claimed his wife has gone missing. The evidence points to him lying, and to him having murdered her, even if they don’t have actual proof. All the stuff you did with his phone, our clever work making sure your car was in all the right places at the right times, all the evidence you planted in the house. And the master stroke of the shallow grave. It’s there on a plate for the plod. If they had concerns before, this deals with them. They’re going to be happy, you and I will be happy. It’s a win-win!’

‘Can’t we do this without killing him?’

Rebecca cocked her head. ‘You’d be taking a big personal risk. Think about it. You’ve faked your disappearance and in the process left a complex trail of evidence indicating that your husband’s murdered you and disposed of your body. Do you want to risk ending up in court and getting a criminal record? That would finish your career and prevent you from ever getting a decent job again. And leave your bastard, abusive husband out there biding his time for revenge?’

Eden was silent for a long while. Finally, she said gloomily, ‘What a sodding mess.’

Rebecca shook her head. ‘Nope, not at all. As I said, trust me. I have a plan.’