The Wife and the Widow by Christian White

The Wife and the Widow by Christian White

Author:Christian White
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group


* * *

After hanging up with Mia, Kate couldn’t get back to sleep. A series of practical questions kept her mind buzzing. When should she begin planning the funeral? Who did she need to inform about John’s death? What was she going to do with the holiday house?

Feeling overwhelmed and light-headed, she got out of bed and took a shower. She sat down on the tiles and closed her eyes. She imagined her pain was sand and tried to visualise the hot water washing it all away. It didn’t work. She got out, dried herself and dressed. She brewed a cup of instant coffee – there was no milk in the minibar, so she had to take it black – and sat down on the spongy motel mattress.

She flicked through the channels on the TV for a while, then lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. As morning light filled the room, she thought of the manhole cover at the holiday house. She pictured the pencil-width opening and wondered what – if anything – lay beyond it.

Two coffees later she couldn’t stand being in the room a minute longer, grabbed her car keys and decided to take a drive. On her way to the Lexus, she paused outside Fisher’s room and looked through the window, half expecting to see a light on. The room beyond was dark. The night before, he’d had a bottle of Chivas even before she got to him, so she guessed he’d be sleeping it off for a few more hours. She knocked on the door gently, just in case.

Fisher emerged, faster than expected. Had he been sitting in the dark?

‘Did I wake you?’ she asked.

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t think I slept.’

‘I’m heading out. Need me to pick anything up for you?’

He held up an index finger as if to say, one moment please. He ducked back into the room and reappeared a second later. ‘I’m all out of cigarettes. Would you mind?’

‘Of course not.’

She climbed into the car and drove to Bay Street, easing to a crawl outside the Buy & Bye, where John had stopped for groceries, wearing a parka and an unreadable expression. The supermarket wasn’t open yet, so she headed to Neef Street.

She pulled onto the shoulder opposite the holiday house and scanned the property for police cars. She half expected to find the property teeming with police, crime scene photographers and forensic investigators, but it was quiet and still. Someone had been there though. There were multiple muddy tyre marks leading in and out of the driveway, and strapped across the front gate was yellow tape that said, over and over, DO NOT ENTER.

Kate hoisted herself up and over the front gate – had she opened it, the police tape might have snapped – and started up the driveway on foot.

She supposed that technically what she was doing was trespassing on a crime scene, but this was her house, and she couldn’t shake the image of that manhole cover, slightly ajar.



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