This is the fourteenth part of a fiction serial, in 757 words.
Graham worked hard alongside Joe to get the four cars finished for the Huttons. He looked completely exhausted by the time all four were ready, and as he sat in the old chair to ring George Hutton, Joe went off to make him a cup of tea using the workshop kettle. When he got back with the tea, Graham’s breathing was wheezy, but he seemed happy.
“They can’t get hold of the car transporter this week, so they are coming in numbers to drive the four cars away. With any luck we will get the whole family here, as well as a couple of goons. If I get all three Huttons here at the same time, I’m going to put my plan into operation. So not a word from you to Anna, as we both know she would only try to talk me out of it. Don’t worry that I’ve had no time to show you how to use the guns, I decided to keep you out of it. When they come, you stay in the house. Once it is all over I will give you time to get packed up and phone Anna to do the same. Then you can take her away before I ring the cops”.
Joe agreed to say nothing, but had some concerns.
“The police will charge you with murder, Graham. Self-defence won’t work if the Huttons are not carrying guns. Is that something you expect them to be doing?” Graham shook his head.
“No, they don’t use guns, at least they never have around me. It doesn’t matter anyway, I won’t be pleading self-defence. I will admit to killing them following years of intimidation and threats, and say I had just had enough of that. By the time I get to court I will be at death’s door, so I have absolutely nothing to lose by admitting it. The most prison I will see is when I am held on remand awaiting trial, and that will have to be on the hospital wing. By the time I am due in court to face trial, I am either going to be dead, or in a hospice”.
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On her third date with Shaun, Sarah had already started to have doubts. He had stayed at her house the second time, and was expecting to stay again tonight, she realised that. The sex had been pretty good, but they had little else in common, and nothing to talk about in between sessions.
Though Shaun raved about his supposedly wonderful daughter, he told Sarah he would not be introducing her to the girl until they had something solid, after a few months.
He had also said that he didn’t like the way she talked about Paula, her own daughter. He said that if she was bratty and spolied, then that was bad parenting, and not Paula’s fault. That didn’t sit well with Sarah, but she let it go at the time.
But she decided not to deprive herself of the sex on offer, and after three large glasses of wine at a nice Indian restaurant, she invited him back to her house again.
He had to get up early for work the next morning, and at first she thought his edgy mood was because he didn’t want to leave. But it soon became clear that he had sensed her reservations, and he started an argument with her when she was still naked, and half asleep.
Most of it was about how she treated Paula, and how he was not going to let her see his daughter because of that. It got out of control, and Sarah ended up standing naked on the landing outside her bedroom. She was screaming at him to leave her house, and telling him that they were over, and she was never going to see him again.
If she had expected him to just go, she was very wrong.
In a complete rage, he carried on screaming abuse at her for five minutes.
Deciding to get away from him, she pushed past him at the top of the stairs. She had not expected him to hit her so hard.
The stairs were trendy, with no carpet on them and open treads. Sarah fell down all of them, unprepared to protect herself, and halfway down she broke her neck.
Realising he could never just walk away and ignore what he had done, a tearful Shaun went and got his phone and rang for an ambulance.
They sent the police, along with the ambulance.
beetleypete