When I walked into the house that evening; Miles and my aunt were laughing about something. That meant that my aunt was in hysterics and Miles was chuckling. They both turned their heads to look at me when I walked into the house. I stopped in the doorway and waited for someone to say something.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyafv4SHqWv
“Oh! Hi dear.” Aunt Poppy said, “Miles here dropped by to keep me company. It gets awfully quiet around here and Miles always comes over to…” She must have noticed that she had hurt my feelings. She stopped in the middle of her sentence and changed it altogether. “So, how was your day?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg7d7uihA4
“It was okay,” I said. “Hi Miles.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJHUQUR7N2
“Angie.” He stood up and grabbed his things to leave. “I need to be heading home now, Poppy. It was nice talking to you.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuYdGvJD2F
“Oh no! You can stay if you want to. We’ll be putting dinner on the table soon, might as well hang around and talk awhile.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6rVfr82vw
Miles looked at me for approval. “Sure. You can stay. It’ll be fun having you here.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEFByMsJiM
We sat down, had food, and then played some board games. My Aunt suggested games because she knew how horrid I was at them. It was fun, and I had a great time; until Miles spoke;212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkQNUhNtzi
“What are the detectives saying about the woman?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjUcFcTrgB
They both looked at me. My eyes widened. “I… I don’t know.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7sbvfQ36N
“But you’ve been talking to Lucas!” Aunt Poppy exclaimed. I cringed inwardly and shook my head;212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu70Qki1lET
“He hasn’t told me anything, and even if he had; I can’t talk about it.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBQtvsdJkK
“Why?” Miles inquired.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpQZ2RwDbr
“Because Police business is private. I can’t give out information that shouldn’t be made public.” I begged them to understand with my eyes. I prayed they wouldn’t pry into it anymore. “I mean… even if he told me things, he’d be telling me because he trusts me enough not to dish it all out.” And Aunt Poppy was a known gossip. She’d tell everyone what I’d said, and I was still trying to reel in Lucas.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTMA56wJF9
“Oh, okay.” Miles shrugged. I sighed with relief, but my Aunt wasn’t about to drop it.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZkgddML28
“Have they identified the woman?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39CdeXyHbw
“Aunt Poppy; if that was public information; then it would be in the news. I don’t know and watch for the paper tomorrow, it might please you.” I snapped and stood up; went to my room and lied on my bed to watch YouTube.
The next morning wasn’t as bright as the last morning. I got out of bed, cleaned up and went for a walk. I didn’t run, but I enjoyed exercise… sometimes. And today was one of those times. My thoughts were all over the place. The murder of Celine Ramroth occupied about 80 per cent of my brain, and then food occupied the rest.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BENS37H42
After walking for about twenty minutes, I spotted someone. My heart dropped, not because I hated the person; but because I didn’t want to see anyone this morning, especially not someone I was friends with, and I’d have to talk to. I almost turned around to walk home, but then it would be obvious that I was avoiding her.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cK4dVUquW
“Good morning, Angie.” Alison’s cheery voice said. She was way too cheery considering the time of day, still early.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOpf0Ira6i
“Hey, Alison. How are you?” I asked, faking glee. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMwEa0Jj3Q
“One day. It seems to be a long time, doesn’t it?” Alison gave a bitter laugh. “I heard they identified the woman; Celine Ramroth. I’ve heard of her, some high-end jewellery… person.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVpnQrXdcz
“Oh?” I said, questioningly. “Where did you hear that?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcCRaV1r5i
“I guess… I…” She stuttered. “I read the news this morning. They’ve identified the lady.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsdfihY74t
I knew she was lying. If she’d left the house when I did; then she wouldn’t have seen that because the news wasn’t out yet. This town only had two news channels, and both had said nothing; not even on the internet. Another thing was, she didn’t have her phone with her. If she did; then she could have seen the news while running. I kept this to myself.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TQ9hhDMuw
“Celine Ramroth.” I faked being deep in thought. “I’ve heard about her before. But I’m not sure.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtg7wtwGrY
“She’s everywhere on google. You can look her up; she was rich and supposed to be out on a holiday or something.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLFM4r1oS3
“And there was no media that followed her on her holiday?” I asked.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJ4o7mMx6t
“No. She wanted to keep on the down-low. She didn’t tell people who she was. And even her outfits screamed out, ‘I’m middle class.’ Even her outfit, when she died, was middle class.” She giggled. “Maybe that’s why we couldn’t identify her.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhz4zeGYf3
But how had she known what the woman was wearing when she died? As far as I knew, that information hadn’t been released into the media. The police were decent at keeping information to themselves; they hadn’t released a lot of the things they knew about the case.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAQjmy7Bd8
I nodded, absentmindedly. “Yeah. Maybe. Where are you headed?” I asked. The thing was, she’d turned around and joined me when she’d seen me. We’d been going opposite directions. Now I hoped she’d remember that and go where she was initially going. Or at least take the hint.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yXUwbfFuP
She stopped, laughed and then said; “Oh dear! Thank you. I was headed to… a friend. I thought I’d squeeze in a little workout.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VyED2uF29
“Oh. It was great talking to you, Alison. I’ll see you soon, yes?” But I hadn’t the pause between ‘to’ and ‘a friend’.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuUp8KlJsz
I was deep in thought for the rest of my walk. I came to once I was at home; I took a shower, made breakfast and hung out with my aunt. She said she was sorry for the night before and then started talking about my day and how she wanted to spend her time today. It shocked me that people planned out their day; they didn’t… go with the flow. Which is exactly what I did?212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Gnj9ErGW7
“Aunty…” I began tentatively. “Do you know Alison?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22RHCQtChz
“Alison who?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2RftuqSNr
“I don’t know. Alison, the girl that came here because of Asthma and cancer or something?” I tried to jog my Aunt’s memory. No spark of recognition came.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCWaiwiNog
“No. I don’t know anyone called Alison.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNaehCkzoh
“Aunty!” I said. “She says she’s been here for a long time already, like five years. How don’t you know her? You know everyone here.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABybsCvoYg
“Everyone except this Alison creature.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCS7vk31sgV
At mid-morning, I made tea and checked the news. And the news about the woman’s identity still wasn’t out; which meant Alison knew a bit too much; but how? And my Aunt’s staunch belief that she knew no one by the name ‘Alison’ in town made me uncomfortable.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8zRC4oMrv
I went for a walk like I seemed to do way too much these days. I hoped I could run into Lucas and convince him to tell me something, then let me tag along. I knew I could never walk up to the station and into his office. That would be creepy.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YQPcFtSvZ
No ideas entered my head for the first fifteen minutes of my walk, then I saw Tanya rushing in my direction. How could I avoid her? I wondered. I needed to get away; I needed a cover story. She was by my side in less than a minute, which wasn’t enough time to come up with a story that didn’t include my Aunt.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Vm9lLbDZd
“How are you today?” Tanya asked me. She had a soft voice today. Or I hadn’t noticed before.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhx8q1Pyztt
“I’m great,” I say and smile. “How are you?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfOJ8xLHA5
“Okay. Anything come up about the woman?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYx3az70faY
I remembered how she’d lied about not knowing Celine. I was positive she’d known something about her, even if it wasn’t her full name; but she’d seen her before.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgdAqsGRoh
“I don’t know. I’ll talk to the detective about it and try to get him to talk to me.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27z7gsFuzL
She nodded. “Oh. Please tell me what he says when you talk to him okay?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wmJl1hZgr
“Sure. How’s your husband? Is he back yet?” I asked.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfFZ8WKQSb
Tanya hesitated before slowly saying; “No. He’s not back, but he will be soon enough. I told him the Police wanted to talk to him, and because he’s- he was in the force; he wanted to help them as much as he could.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDZ8FDk49L
“I understand. It must be hard on you though, hearing everything that people are saying about your husband, and not being able to disprove the rumours?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4k1h4QjKOh
“Yes. But I know that I could cause more harm than good if I try to say anything.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLsThKR112
My phone rang then, and I silently thanked the caller because now I could get rid of Tanya. “Oh, I’m sorry I have to take this. I’ll see you after?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrUWbf0a4i
She nodded and walked away; I waved and then looked at the caller; mom.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFu8P81PtS
“Hello?” I said questioningly.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiulfNQX0TI
“Yes, dear.” She sounded concerned. “I heard.” That was all she said. She didn’t offer any more information and my heart clenched in my throat.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkmsbgViju
“Heard about what?” I asked, my voice came out choked. I hoped it wasn’t the murder. That would mean I have to explain everything to her, which I wasn’t keen on doing.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp1ZHgGDzu
“The woman you found on the beach.” She said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6pK7fxcyb
“I didn’t find her, mother. Someone else did.” I was suddenly exhausted, and I ignored her question about not telling her.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXrfXQpfUb
“That doesn’t matter!” My mother shrieked, and again; only fragments of my hearing remained. “I hope you’re staying out of it. I saw that she was murdered.” She gave an exaggerated gasp.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0N3zlyMXbb
“Yes, I haven’t involved myself in any of it, mother,” I drawled. “I wouldn’t dare, especially with such things. I don’t want to get murdered too.”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYJjyXMb5V
“Exactly!” She exclaimed. I figured she was relaxing more now that she thought I was on her side and agreed. “Imagine how I’d deal with that kind of loss.” I silently begged her not to mention my sister, I wasn’t in the mood to comfort myself and her.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuk017kVqc
“Yes,” I said.212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtqilIniTu
“If I hear anything about you from anyone, Angela, I promise you I will…”212Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rPtOImPmS
“Yes, mother. You won’t hear anything of the sort.” I didn’t know what she’d do if she found out, she enjoyed saying she’d disown me, but so far… she hadn’t. That should have counted as an accomplishment.
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