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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCoVSPTcDX9
“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?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4mLVNUmYN
“It was okay,” I said. “Hi Miles.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG3w2PU5ix
“Angie.” He stood up and grabbed his things to leave. “I need to be heading home now, Poppy. It was nice talking to you.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaESz2QkTM
“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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOr0H7YUodh
Miles looked at me for approval. “Sure. You can stay. It’ll be fun having you here.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiOpSCI5wy
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;200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxHLlIBeEj
“What are the detectives saying about the woman?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pHiqXil6X
They both looked at me. My eyes widened. “I… I don’t know.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5fb6WebWj
“But you’ve been talking to Lucas!” Aunt Poppy exclaimed. I cringed inwardly and shook my head;200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPw8YV96ZoQ
“He hasn’t told me anything, and even if he had; I can’t talk about it.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaVLtUONxQ
“Why?” Miles inquired.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhOXJn4NBU
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzrUTU54hq
“Oh, okay.” Miles shrugged. I sighed with relief, but my Aunt wasn’t about to drop it.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaSooMUUCw
“Have they identified the woman?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTpKj6wdH5
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqhYH35PPz
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4aL1B5MbY
“Good morning, Angie.” Alison’s cheery voice said. She was way too cheery considering the time of day, still early.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRd66qRcFpU
“Hey, Alison. How are you?” I asked, faking glee. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMRAjNFVpd
“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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojIHKZyhLm
“Oh?” I said, questioningly. “Where did you hear that?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0nYeUbKiv
“I guess… I…” She stuttered. “I read the news this morning. They’ve identified the lady.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrW3pBuDhVs
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4RRXQPMOQ
“Celine Ramroth.” I faked being deep in thought. “I’ve heard about her before. But I’m not sure.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVc4ek3eJHA
“She’s everywhere on google. You can look her up; she was rich and supposed to be out on a holiday or something.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvS2KyL9wPX
“And there was no media that followed her on her holiday?” I asked.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWR1LohFqIQ
“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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUC5Esop5f
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6dFCq2udi
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHCt7QDXSE
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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95UFz6dRdX
“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’.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUTjCOJfYS
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?200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2pUmNKuB8
“Aunty…” I began tentatively. “Do you know Alison?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQunN3GOpiF
“Alison who?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0Bwayceiw
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLyJwSlefa
“No. I don’t know anyone called Alison.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZe5PGYZve
“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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWlFUoilAM
“Everyone except this Alison creature.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAFXpLVu8t
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54OSNQgGyr
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ljl6MDrLQ
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aftuhaFvK
“How are you today?” Tanya asked me. She had a soft voice today. Or I hadn’t noticed before.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWUhUkpscP
“I’m great,” I say and smile. “How are you?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4UkitRZLm
“Okay. Anything come up about the woman?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPoGrED7ux
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMYGDtxfOz
“I don’t know. I’ll talk to the detective about it and try to get him to talk to me.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuRRr4tLi4
She nodded. “Oh. Please tell me what he says when you talk to him okay?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9W9IHlqxa
“Sure. How’s your husband? Is he back yet?” I asked.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbsXbVXQl9
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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BoZSbBNqu
“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?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0TrEWhbsE
“Yes. But I know that I could cause more harm than good if I try to say anything.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yDlowqfKu
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?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSV8FFOLjog
She nodded and walked away; I waved and then looked at the caller; mom.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tbaZH33R3
“Hello?” I said questioningly.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzGKmy07kZ
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfDNOKkVSb
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkoQxekdfP
“The woman you found on the beach.” She said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYTT8Qdaua
“I didn’t find her, mother. Someone else did.” I was suddenly exhausted, and I ignored her question about not telling her.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cWIQ00Jwj
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dCQdVaE9N
“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.”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4SpeFmyb7
“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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdXgwj0Q6z
“Yes,” I said.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JpyGn5Gd8
“If I hear anything about you from anyone, Angela, I promise you I will…”200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9S3vdCOdZ
“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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