« Jeeesus, are you telling me you killed her? » Sally was watching Andrew with no further words.
It was 8 am and she was having her breakfast when Andrew had opened the front door. The news was on. He had slept over somewhere, though she had no idea where. What had made her suspicious of something murky was his scruffy look and blood spots on his OXFORD UNIVERSITY Tee-shirt. Sitting opposite Sally, he had started speaking easily. All went fast and it was no more than three minutes past eight when Sally asked the key question, “Are you telling me you killed her?”
« Yes, actually, I did, I killed my ex-girlfriend. You know, she looked for it. She said I was a complete looser. I didn’t like that, you see. » Andrew spoke with no sign of panic in his voice. He was simply telling a story, a bad story, a murder story. Oh my god, she thought. Where is all this leading to? She felt a shiver rippling across her body. Sally and Andrew had moved together in this suburban semi-detached just a couple of weeks ago.
“But, why did you go and see her?” Sally was now working out what had happened. She knew a single crude fact. Amy, Andrew’s ex-girlfriend was lying dead in her flat and all this would soon be splashed over on TV screens.
“She had my personal diary and I just wanted to have it back. So, I visited her, I asked for the diary and she started scoffing at me. I kept calm at first, I swear you, I didn’t budge, but she was still scorning me. She didn’t even let me enter until I asked her, no, until I begged her, if I could come in. She did, reluctantly, I mean, she let me in.” Andrew swallowed another gulp of coffee. He clasped his hands on the brand new IKEA kitchen table. Sally pondered shortly, cradling nervously her KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON mug. She still had a fuzzy idea of the chain of events.
“You killed her for a diary?” She looked dazed all through.
“What do you mean I killed her for a diary? Not a diary, MY diary, do you get that?” His voice grew louder. An ugly web of veins suddenly pulsed in his head. The food churned in Sally’s stomach. What was she supposed to do? Run to the police? Shout for help? She was facing a murderer. Her boyfriend, her husband-to-be was a killer. She was sharing her life with a man who had murdered his ex-girlfriend. That was a real strike of sheer bad luck. All kinds of thoughts rushed to her confused brittle mind.
“What’s next?” She managed to say despite the lump stuck in her throat. Sally was witnessing her happy future life crumble bits by bits.
“I …, you see Andrew, I don’t want to be meddled in all that.” The words came out clearly.
“That is very courageous Sally, but, that’s too late, I have told you everything. You’re in IT, as-much-as-ME.” He jabbed his forefinger on her. The expression on his face had tragically changed into a cynical tinge. The whole thing looked desperately fishy. He put his hands behind his head and tilted his chair back. How could he be so relaxed after what he had done? He didn’t seem to feel any pang of remorse.
Sally braced herself for figuring out what was overwhelming her. She scratched her head impulsively.
“Right, did ---- anybody --- see you?” Sally stammered.
“It was night, the street was a desert, I rang, she came at the door, I told her I wanted MY diary. That’s when I saw she was playing down the seriousness of the matter, you see. That diary had slipped out of my mind until yesterday. I just remembered I had left it upstairs under the mattress.”
“Under the mattress?” Sally blurted out.
“Yes, under the mattress.” Andrew grinned broadly from ear to ear.
“You killed your ex-girlfriend for a diary stuck under a mattress?” The question caught him off-guard.
“MY diary!” Andrew corrected through gritted teeth. A repressed fit of anger wavered across his face. Andrew was on the brink of bursting out.
“But, what was so important in that diary for you to kill her?” Sally felt helpless, straining to understand.
“My life.” He smirked wryly.
“Your life?” She looked stunned.
“Yes … That’s when she started blaring out that my life was useless. She should not have said that! That was nothing short of sheer arrogance. I just couldn’t stand that. I’ve always done my best, though at school I was always behind, but, still … she-had-no right-to-look-down-on me-like-a-good-for-nothing.” For a short anxious lapse, nobody spoke. Sally was weighing down the situation.
“She merely had to let me go upstairs and take my diary, but she would not. There would not have been any of that bloody mess if she had.” Andrew looked outside. A heavy rain was now rattling on the windows. Sally held an accusing gaze on him for a few long seconds.
“Please, don’t look at me that way, I am not guilty.” There was a nervous twitch at the right corner of his mouth.
“You have just murdered you ex-girlfriend and you are saying you are not guilty!” Sally said with a nagging determination.
“No, I’m not, I haven’t killed anybody, you see.”
“By the way, how did you kill her?”
“Sally, I haven’t killed anybody.”
“How did you do it?” Sally insisted with a no surrender look on her face.
“I stabbed her in the chest.” Andrew held up his right hand in clenched fist and made the fatal gesture. Sally watched him in horror, voiceless. She stood up and grasped some vegetables from the fridge. She grabbed a sharp knife near the sink. She sat down and started chopping carrots and onions frenetically.
“Andrew, you are scaring me, something needs to be done. This is definitely not my business.” Sally held out her hand dismissively, the knife pointing dangerously at Andrew. His face grew stiff and cold.
“Oh yes Sally, it is your business.”
“Are you now telling me I killed her?” Sally gaped in astonishment.
“Yes, actually, you did, do you know why?” Andrew asked in a defiant tone. Sally shook her head.
“Well, when the police is there, they will find a knife is missing on the stand next to the microwave. I mean … the murder weapon is in your hand, Sally! I’m afraid it’s too late to bring it back. I forgot to get rid of it. So sad I only thought of saving my diary,” Andrew said with a sorry shrug.
Sally felt an icy squirm of uneasiness wriggling through her. The digital clock read 8.45 am.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire