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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: 4361/1614 | 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 – Tweet
This is part 23 of a total of 24 parts. | ||
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