The Oxfordshire Murders by Dickson Diane M

Author:Dickson, Diane M
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: THE BOOK FOLKS bestselling mystery fiction
Published: 2022-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 36

Rain soaked his shoulders. He’d known a time when he’d cursed the sunshine and the heat. That was when he had a wife and a little girl waiting for him at home. Back when he didn’t jump at shadows and the sound of fireworks didn’t turn him into a snivelling wreck. Back when his life made some sort of sense, even if he was miles away sitting on a hill watching goats and scruffy kids running between concrete block houses.

There were some buildings nearby, boat houses, he could shelter there. But then the man might think he hadn’t come. Might just drive away. Wait by the bridge he’d said. There were rivercraft moored nearby – power boats and a couple of barges – all dark and quiet. Nobody here now in this rain. That was good, nobody to see him. He hated being seen, hated being pointed at, pitied, scorned, it wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.

After today he might buy a waterproof. A cheap one. The money was for Leanne, but maybe just a couple of pounds could buy a jacket and some new trainers from the market.

He should have made the bloke meet him in town. He’d become weak, maybe he’d always been weak and only wearing the uniform made him strong. Well, that was gone now; that and everything else.

Oh, did it matter? As long as he brought the money, that was the thing. Then he’d leave, he wasn’t going to bleed the bloke dry. Just this one payment, something to send to his ex for Leanne’s birthday, then he’d go back for his stuff and head off, or perhaps he wouldn’t go back. He didn’t need the stuff, he had lost track now of why he’d begun to collect it. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the picture of himself with Leanne when she was five, just starting school. He had that, he didn’t need the rest of it. He could just keep on walking.

He saw now that he had no choice. This bloke would always be around. Even if he moved away from the church and the car park, the man would be in the town. There would always be a risk. This had been a bad idea, this had put him in danger. Could it put Leanne in danger? The bloke didn’t know about her, did he? Suzanne had known, she could have told him when she met him, when they went to the warehouse together. She could have told him then. People said things then, when they were close. It was possible that she’d talked about him, and his daughter. The thoughts began to blur and run, panic came down on him.

His hands trembled, he was crying. Not loud, not sobbing, but just the constant flood of tears that always happened when he was upset – all part of his illness they had told him.

When he heard the swish of tyres, saw the headlights, heard the door, his gut clenched, his heart thundered, he leaned over and puked into the water; nothing but bile.

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