Next to Disappear: Emily Swanson Book 1 by Malcolm Richards

Author:Malcolm Richards [Richards, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub

18

By the time Emily reached The Holmeswood, paranoia had set in. The lift was out of order again, so she took the stairs, the shoebox pinned firmly beneath her arm. Inside the apartment, she slid the bolt lock across the front door, then set the box down on the dining table.

She had texted Jerome on the way home, telling him to call as soon as he finished work, but so far she’d heard nothing back. She was desperate to see him. There was no way Emily was going to the police without a credible explanation of how she’d stumbled upon the incriminating contents of the shoebox. Who better than an actor to help her come up with a convincing story? Of course, there was the small matter of Jerome losing his mind when he learned how she’d found the evidence, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

Emily was about to head down to his apartment when her phone began to vibrate. Relief poured through her body.

But it wasn’t Jerome.

“Hello?” Emily said.

Silence. Followed by a long, steady exhalation as the caller blew out cigarette smoke.

“When people disappear,” the man said, his voice deep and rumbling, “the first hours are critical. Do you know why?”

Emily stopped in her tracks.

“Because it’s within those first few hours that bad things happen. Women are raped and murdered. Children are carved up like little pigs. Friends and family will waste weeks, months, even years of their lives, searching for their loved ones, hoping and praying they’re still alive, when their bodies are already rotting in the ground.”

“You murdered Alina,” Emily said, her voice low and trembling as she forced the words out. “How could you?”

“My wife,” Karl Henry said, “thought she was a clever bitch, acting all high and mighty, thinking she knew everything. She needed to learn to mind her own business, so I taught her a hard lesson. But I didn’t kill her. Who knows, maybe she’s back with her stinking family. Maybe not. People go missing all the time. Most of them don’t want to be found. Did you ever think about that?”

Fire and ice collided in Emily’s chest as she shook her head from side to side. “You’re a liar!”

“The police didn’t think so. They thought I was a lousy husband. Maybe even bit of a bastard. But they concluded I was no murderer. As far as they’re concerned, Alina’s off somewhere making a new life for herself, filling her sagging meat with someone else’s prick. Either way, I’m beyond caring. Either way, you need to stop behaving like a clever bitch. Breaking into people’s houses, taking things that don’t belong to you; that kind of behaviour will get you in trouble.”

Emily stopped breathing. How had he found out so soon? Had she left something behind? Or had someone told them? Rosa. No, she would never have gone to them, not when she was so afraid for her son’s safety. But perhaps they had been watching Rosa. Perhaps they’d known all along that she’d been colluding with Emily.

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