Beyond and Begone by Lois Cloarec Hart

Author:Lois Cloarec Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, paranormal, lesbian, shorts story
Publisher: Ylva Publishing

* * *

It was almost an hour later by the time they’d told the police their story. Zahra, her head wrapped in a blood-stained bandage courtesy of Tony’s Louisville Slugger, had been placed in handcuffs.

Tony had gotten a frantic call from Mariel, which led him to the cemetery. Because of Mariel’s fears, he had taken his bat with him and had seen the two women talking over Gwen’s grave. When he saw Zahra pull a gun, he used the cover of tombstones to get close. He’d heard enough in the still night air to corroborate Erin’s account of Zahra’s confession and intent to kill.

Zahra’s erratic demeanour and disjointed ramblings were enough to convince the police that whatever had happened, it bore further investigation.

They led Zahra away mumbling. “She’ll follow me, you know. She won’t leave me be. She never does. She never will.”

“Jesus.” Tony stared as Zahra was herded into the back of a police car. “She’s really gone off the deep end.”

Erin nodded. “Tell me about it.”

“Do you think it was just her guilty conscience?” Tony turned to Erin with a troubled expression. “Or do you think Gwen really was trying to get some sort of retribution?”

Erin shook her head. “Conscience—and an unbalanced mind. Alive or dead, Gwen would never torment anyone that way, you know that.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Of course she wouldn’t. Gwen was the biggest mush ball around.” They exchanged a grin. “So, you don’t think she was trying to contact you then?”

“I don’t know.” Erin couldn’t forget the sight of that inscription being emblazoned into the granite. She had snuck a peek at the headstone while standing in the shelter of Tony’s arm, and was relieved that it now stood devoid of any engraving other than the one she’d originally ordered. “If she was trying to contact me, I expect she was trying to warn me because she knew Zahra had reached the breaking point.”

Tony frowned. “I could kill Mariel for introducing you to that nut job.”

Erin winced. “Don’t blame Mariel. I was completely taken in too. Zahra was very, very believable.” They walked to Tony’s car. “Besides, maybe there was a good reason that it had to happen this way.” And given what Zahra said, I think I might know what that reason is. Ah, Mar, you and I are overdue for a long talk. “Now, I want you to tell me everything about how you came to be here tonight, and I do mean everything.”

They had almost reached Tony’s car when another car roared into the parking lot and, brakes shrieking, skidded to a stop in front of them. Erin smiled as Mariel leapt from the car, leaving the door wide open. She jumped both of them, and they staggered back under the impact of the sobbing woman.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. We’re okay. I’m okay.” Erin ended up with her arms around Mariel, looking over her shoulder at Tony.

Tony patted Mariel’s back. “Hey, sis, it really is okay. Thanks to you, I got here in time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.