Here To Stay

by Mark Edwards

Taking another look at the high hedgerows and the empty space beyond, he made a decision. He walked up to the woman and grabbed her by the throat. ‘Sorry, love,’ he said, amused by the shock on her face. ‘Change of plan.’

broooooo

people kept coming up to me, trying to ask me what I’d seen, and Gemma formed a protective shield, telling them to leave me alone. She put her arm around me and rested her head on my shoulder as I sat there, staring at nothing, unable to push away the bloody images of George and Edith.

The uniformed cops had already identified me and asked me if I would wait up – as if I was going to trot off to bed with a nice cup of cocoa and a book

lol

‘I’ll be a suspect,’ I said to Gemma as the detective went back into the house next door. ‘What? Surely not.’ ‘That’s what happens on TV. The person who finds the body always needs to be eliminated from their inquiries.’

‘I think they’re going to be pissed off with me for messing up their crime scene,’ I said.

‘Heads bashed in, you say? What a way to go.’ I stared at him. It was as if he were describing something he’d seen in a movie.

...

That was one of the reasons why I had stayed awake. I knew nightmares were waiting for me.

‘Are you able to estimate what time they died?’

‘All I can tell you is that we’re following several lines of inquiry.’ Which was what the police always said when they didn’t have a clue.

bye that's so real

I was fully aware of the terrible things human beings do to each other. But the attack on George and Edith – it seemed unnecessarily brutal. Personal, even. Driven by anger or hatred.

And there was a dreadful thought, a suspicion, trying to push its way into my mind. One that was so awful I instinctively tried to push it away. But it kept coming back. And, as I made my way back to my car, I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I’d explored it, examined it, just as I would test a theory in the lab.

‘Speaking of property . . .’ ‘Yes, yes, we’ve arranged to see a few places. A bit further out than we’d have liked.’

That was good news. It would be great to have some distance from my in-laws. Though it could be even better.

He was trying to appear nonchalant but there was something there, a tension, and he wouldn’t meet my eye. He was lying. I was sure of it. Something had happened in France that had made them come back.

I sat down at my desk and immediately returned to the email I was writing. After a minute, I realised Jeff hadn’t left the room. He was looking over my shoulder at the screen. I minimised the email and glared at him. ‘Must be time for the football results,’ he said, and left the room.

fucking nutball.

And I had another question to ask her too. The question that had been burning a hole in my brain for days.

‘Can I come in?’ She peered behind me and said in a near-whisper, ‘Where are my mum and dad?’ ‘Lizzy’s gone shopping with Gemma and Jeff’s watching the football results.’ She hesitated for another moment, then said, ‘Okay, sure. Come in.’

It was strange to think that less than a week ago I had found her hiding in the cupboard, acting like someone who was having some kind of breakdown.

real

The furtive way she’d asked where they were before letting me into the room made me wonder if she was scared of them.

She seemed to be telling the truth.

Chloe must have pressed too hard on Charlie because he jumped up and ran from the room. ‘What have my parents told you?’ ‘Hardly anything.’

Again, it seemed strange. I could understand Chloe going to live in France because she’d met a French boy, but why would Jeff and Lizzy go with her?

Was this a pattern? Had they gone for a short holiday with Chloe’s boyfriend and ended up staying for five years? Was that what was going to happen here?

I’m just going to come out and say it. You seem afraid of them.’ ‘Afraid? No, I love them.’ But the way she was looking at me, with wide, fearful eyes, said something different. So did her nervous glance towards the door.

I got up and was about to leave the room when Chloe said something in a quiet voice. ‘I don’t need to be afraid of them.’ ‘What?’ But she jumped up and pushed past me without responding,

see bro

Was it a journal? Were the answers I sought in there? I could look now while they were all downstairs in the kitchen, unpacking the shopping. But I hesitated too long, because Gemma ran up the stairs, calling my name, and it was too late.

And that list of suspicions kept changing and growing.

Had they parked themselves at Chloe’s boyfriend’s place and refused to shift, and were they planning to do the same here?

And then there was her other utterance. I don’t need to be afraid of them. Meaning what? That I should be scared of them? The more the words repeated in my head, the more anxious I felt. Why should I be afraid of them? What were they capable of?

Had Jeff murdered George and Edith?

he was capable of – or was even prone to – violence.

He had been gone for just over twenty minutes, perhaps slightly more. It was a brisk ten-minute walk between my house and the restaurant. I was sure Jeff could have run each way in five minutes, maybe six. He had been out of breath when he got back and a little sweaty, though he claimed that was because he’d run back from the shop.

He could have stripped off the coverall before leaving the house and hidden it somewhere before disposing of it later.

And why would he have done it? What would Jeff’s motivation be? The only thing I could think was that Chloe was lying and had whispered something to George about her parents, something incriminating. Something Jeff would kill to keep secret.

mhm & edith was just collateral damage

One thing that was, incontrovertibly, going right.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad having the Robinsons here. Maybe they really could be the second family I had longed for.

pls dont piss me off

My stomach lurched. The slices of banana loaf George had brought round the day he was murdered were still in a tin in the cupboard, untouched. Jeff winked at me and all my positive thoughts evaporated. It was deliberate. It had to be deliberate.

‘I’ve got work on Monday,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Jeff said. ‘I’ve already spoken to that girl you work with. She said it’s no problem. She’s going to cover for you.’ ‘You spoke to Amira? She didn’t say anything.’ Jeff looked smug. ‘Of course she didn’t. I swore her to secrecy.’

bye that sounds like bs

‘And you don’t need to worry,’ Jeff said with a broad grin. ‘Your house will be in safe hands while you’re gone.’

aw hell nah

I should have asked her why she’d paused like that,

It had been a good day. It was the last good day we had.

shit rey get good

We’d drunk a lot of champagne and wine the night before, although that wasn’t unusual for Gemma at the moment.

‘A little horror. His poor dad.’

Gemma wasn’t having any of it. ‘What, lucky to have a grizzling brat?’ I stopped walking. ‘Oh my God. You sounded exactly like your mum then.’ ‘Don’t say that!’ ‘I’m sorry, Gemma, but you did.’ She glared at me and I realised I’d made a terrible faux pas. ‘I told you never to say that!’ In fact, she’d said she’d kill me if I ever compared her to her mum.

oop

Gemma started walking again, going at full speed. I dashed after her. ‘We need to talk about this,’ I said.

‘My parents were a disaster. You’ve seen how they talk to me. If I’m so like my mother, why the hell would you want to have children with me?’

oop

‘No, I said you sounded like her, but just that one sentence.’

I can feel it sometimes, when I hear myself say or think certain things.

me when im talking about my dad

‘You have been different though, since they arrived. You’ve been . . .’ ‘What? Spit it out.’ ‘Well, you’ve been drinking a lot.’ ‘No, I haven’t.’ I put my hands up. ‘Okay. If you say so.’

oop