Carruthers' Demise, Chapters forty two & forty three (standard:drama, 1440 words) [23/24] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Sep 18 2013	Views/Reads: 4359/1611	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
It seems to all and sundry that the kidnap and murder case has been solved. Now Inspector Manners realises he is wrong. But is he too late?

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


Carruthers jerked his head towards her. ‘I see – it's come down to that,
has it? Separate ways ...' 

‘I didn't say that.' Chelsey slapped a hand on her thigh, stared across
at him with heightened severity. ‘It's the trauma you know, well you 
wouldn't know. Nobody could unless they'd been through it. I need time 
to re-adjust, it'll take a while.' 

‘Where will you go?' Carruthers asked, letting out a slow breath.
Chelsey shook her head, scratched her scalp, gazed at the raised mound 
of Bolton's Bench that marked their arrival back in Lyndhurst – 

‘Wherever – but it won't seem any different to you than when I'm away
researching.' 

‘So you won't wash your hands of me completely then?' 

‘Chance would be a fine thing ...' Chelsey twisted her mouth into a
semi-smile, raised her eyes as they passed through the hotel archway. 

‘It seems a whole lot more than a mere few days since I was last here
...' 

Carruthers nodded, he knew the feeling, though perhaps not as acutely as
his wife. 

He held the passenger door open for Chelsey and then escorted her into
the hotel, his arm through hers, supporting her unsteady steps. The 
receptionist was in the process of relieving the night-porter, her eyes 
widening in recognition of Chelsey, who gave a quick smile by way of 
acknowledgement. 

Once in their room she made for the bathroom, while Carruthers headed
for the window and stared out at the street below. He saw Casey emerge 
from Higginbotham's vehicle and after a brief word ascend the hotel's 
front steps. He felt a twinge of regret at the way the incidents seemed 
to have impacted on her and wondered if she'd ever return to her 
effervescent self. They forged a friendship over the few years they'd 
known each other. Derived originally out of his becoming her agent, one 
however, that was also viewed with hostility, he knew, by Chelsey. This 
hostility had now spilled into the open and he doubted things would 
ever be the same. But what was worse for him, was not knowing whether 
his relationship with Chelsey would survive the aftermath of the 
trauma; they had been on unsound footing for some time before this ugly 
affair engulfed them with its tentacles. 

His musings disintegrated as Chelsey's voice rang across the room. 

‘Right, this is what I think turned Adrian ...' she slammed the bathroom
door and flung herself into a chair opposite Carruthers. 

‘I'll be the first to admit I've kept my family affairs close to my
chest, not something I'm proud of but sometimes memories prick a little 
...' she watched for Carruthers attentive nod. ‘Right here goes – what 
you do know is that my parents ran a horticultural business which 
became quite profitable for them, eventually enabling them to retire to 
Malta. What I probably haven't told you is that initially this business 
was more of a partnership – comprising of both my parents and Adrian's 
...' 

Carruthers shook his head, chin resting on the palm of a hand. ‘No – I
don't think you did.' 

‘Well, there was some kind of bust-up,' Chelsey resumed, irritability
bringing unevenness to her tone. ‘I was only a kid, don't forget – I 
was in a world of my own most of the time – but I remember mother and 
father took over the reins completely and I think Adrian's father took 
to drinking – perhaps he always was a drinker for all I know. Anyway 
things went downhill and eventually he committed suicide, leaving his 
mother to look after him.' Chelsey sighed, dried her hair on the towel 
she'd left limply on the chair arm. ‘His mother's health took a turn 
for the worse however, and it wasn't long before she was taken into 
care. Shortly afterwards she died too.' 

Chelsey finished towelling her hair, placed an elbow on her knee, her
fingers pensively caressing her chin. ‘Once she was in care my parents 
raised him so they'd carried out their duty, you might say. But I could 
tell he was alienated, or maybe perhaps they were alienating him. I 
guess though, that I treated him like a brother from then on, though 
when I think about it now he was always strangely possessive, I had 
more than once to stop him going too far – to put our relationship into 
context, and then he'd become sullen and moody, aggressive at times.' 

Chelsey turned her head slowly towards Carruthers, her blue eyes wide
and unblinking. ‘And that never really changed – although if anything 
it got worse. His demands on my time increased, started to affect my 
work – my writing – I should have ...' 

Carruthers reached out for her hand, he could see her eyes beginning to
well, but suddenly the door swung open and both heads turned in unison 
– 


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