Nasty Bitch

by K Leitch

  When they had seen everything Tracy turned to him with glowing eyes.

  ‘Oh my god Simon it’s perfect, can’t you just imagine us here, the bedrooms are huge and there’s even enough room for you to have your own office inside the house, and this room leading off the kitchen would be a perfect playroom for the kids. Just look at that garden, Buster wouldn’t know where to begin there are so many trees.’

  Simon let her run on for a bit, but then he took her hands in his, ‘Tracy slow down…you know it’s way over our budget,’ he turned to Christine who had been smiling indulgently at Tracy while she had been rambling on.

  ‘I’m sorry Christine I feel like we’ve brought you here under false pretences, we knew this was too much but Tracy really wanted to see it anyway,’ he could see Tracy’s bottom lip beginning to tremble. ‘Come on love…bloody hell I knew this would happen…’

  Christine cleared her throat, ‘Um…how much over your budget is it?’ she asked looking a bit shifty, she looked over her shoulder as if she was worried about being overheard before she went on, ‘I probably shouldn’t say this, but what the heck, Jeremy is dealing with this sale but he was off on another golfing trip which is why he dumped it in my in-tray…anyway I do happen to know that the owners are really keen to sell, desperate in fact…and the house has been on the market for a while now so you never know…’ she let the sentence hang.

  Tracy looked at Simon pleadingly, ‘We simply must give it a try honey, if they say no then we will walk away, but you have to admit it’s a wonderful house and if there’s even the slightest chance that we could buy it…come on what have we got to lose?’

  ‘Nothing I suppose…but I know you Trace you’ll be so upset if we get rejected…’ Tracy made her eyes huge and blinked at him pleadingly, ‘and remember I would have to leave enough in our budget to deal with all the work that needs doing,’ he went on weakening all the time…‘that kitchen needs sorting out for one and the bathroom, but…I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try…’ he was cut off by Tracy throwing herself at him wrapping her arms round his neck and kissing him all over his face.

  ‘Oh thank you thank you…I just know this is going to be our house…I just know it.’

  Simon looked ruefully at Christine over Tracy’s head, he wasn’t quite so sure…he had a feeling this would all end in tears.

  After a long discussion back at the cottage and a realistic look at their finances, taking into account the work that would be urgently needed to make the house liveable; they eventually came up with a figure that was a hefty sixty five thousand under the asking price. Simon could almost hear Jeremy the estate agent’s snigger when he rang through the next day with the offer. ‘But,’ Jeremy had said condescendingly, ‘I will most certainly pass that offer to the owners and come back to you Mr Burton.’

  And so began the longest wait of Tracy’s life and it wasn’t until the evening of the next day that the agent got back to them. Amazingly, and against all the odds, their offer had been accepted, Tracy was ecstatic and threw herself into preparations for the move. They had just accepted an offer on their own little cottage that same day, so it was all systems go…and Tracy couldn’t wait.

  CHAPTER 13

  She carefully washed the bloody knife, making sure to put bleach in the water and then collected the pile of soiled, petrol soaked overalls, hat and gloves and took them outside where the garden incinerator was already throwing flames into the night sky. They burned quickly and she stood there watching for a while thinking of the events of the previous night.

  He had taken longer to plead for death this one…his anger had made him strong. Such an egotistical arrogant man, he couldn’t believe that a mere woman could bring him so low. She laughed as she remembered their first meeting, she had taken a lot of care with her appearance that night and she had known that she looked good, but even so he had acted as though he was conferring a great favour on her when he asked her out for a second time. She had been so good though, she thought smiling to herself, she had let him believe that she was so overwhelmed that a man as attractive as him could be interested in her…and he had of course fallen for it hook line and sinker…men, they really were simple creatures. Once she had drugged him and stripped him naked, well he didn’t look so sure of himself then…oh he was so angry, white hot anger, she could see the raw hatred in his eyes as she cut him…it surpassed his fear and made him strong, he very nearly died before he begged for the gun…only when she poured the petrol over him did start to show real terror, he begged then…oh yes he’d screamed for his death…she felt the excitement of it coursing through her as she remembered, filling her with an thrill like nothing else. She ran her hands over her erect nipples; just the memory of it could bring her to fulfilment. She loved it…every bit of it. Selecting the right candidate, the first contact, playing her role and reeling them in…oh the feeling of power that it gave her was like a drug to her, and she needed her next fix.

  She went back inside and excitedly opened her laptop, only to close it again with a sigh, she was eager to get started again but that pleasure would have to wait. It was imperative that she controlled herself, if she allowed her desires to control her she would get careless…patience, patience…hadn’t her father beaten that message into her enough times…no, better to bide her time, the anticipation would only increase the pleasure after all.

  CHAPTER 14 – MAGGIE

  ‘Oh my god darling that’s great news…yes I think I do know it, I drive past it most mornings on my way to work…I hadn’t realised things would happen so quickly for you…the end of the month that’s amazing…well of course I knew it was empty, they left ages ago so…oh I know very pretty, yes of course I can help, and I may have a few bits of furniture at the warehouse that might be going spare if you are short…no don’t be silly love, call it a house warming…ok yes I’ll see you Wednesday we can talk about it then.’ Maggie ended the call from Tracy with a smile on her face, how lovely to hear the excitement in her voice, and how lovely that they would almost be neighbours. The house Tracy was buying was only about a mile down the road from Maggie’s barn, in fact she seemed to remember the owners…weird looking couple…loads of dogs she remembered, all being loaded up into the back of an old jeep most days that she drove by, she couldn’t remember any children though, oh well that was just what that house needed a family to bring it alive again.

  All of these thoughts were going through her head as she got herself ready for a day in the office. Maggie ran the successful interior design company ‘Glory Interiors’ which she had set up years earlier after a rather nasty divorce. The company was going from strength to strength and they had just won a very large contract with one of the country’s largest building contractors which basically gave the business security for the next ten years. All of which was terribly exciting, but Maggie was feeling a bit tired of the whole thing, she felt like she was getting old, she had turned fifty last year and to be quite honest she was seriously thinking of handing the whole thing over to her two boys and retiring.

  She had much more fun with her other investment, three years ago Maggie had gone into partnership with Duncan McKinny to buy The Bull public house situated on the green in Kenley Village. Duncan was a man that she had only met a handful of times so it had been a bit of a risk, but it was one that had paid off big time. Duncan was now one of her closest friends, and between them they had restored the pub to its former glory. Poppy, the head chef, ran the kitchen like a military operation and Gabe, Poppy’s sort of adopted son, kept the gardens and the building in tip top shape. It was truly a family business, even Martha, Duncan’s elderly and increasingly dotty grandmother, played her part as she sat in state in her chair by the bar each evening and entertained the customers with her wicked Irish humour. There was such a lovely warm feeling about the place that it kept the customers coming back over and over again. It was almost impossible to believe now that it had once been the scene of a gruesome murder, and an attack that had
nearly killed Tracy and the then owner, Giles Poole, a few years ago.

  Maggie had been so wrapped up in her thoughts as she drove along that she suddenly realised that she had inadvertently driven to the pub instead of her office, she smiled wryly to herself, ‘Oh well, might as well pop in and say hello now I’m here,’ she thought as she parked the car.

  The place seemed pretty quiet, Hank, one of the latest recruits was behind the bar, flicking through a newspaper and Maggie could hear all the usual noises coming from the kitchens but Duncan was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Hi Hank,’ said Maggie making him jump and drop his newspaper; she laughed as he began to scrabble about under the bar to retrieve it. ‘Oh sorry honey I didn’t mean to startle you, I was just wondering where Duncan is?’

  Hank pulled himself together; he was a very good looking young Australian, all golden tan, blond hair and white teeth which he showed to full advantage to Maggie giving her a wide smile.

  ‘He’s upstairs I think Maggie, he said he had some paperwork to do.’

  ‘Ok thanks love, oh and I’m loving the T-shirt by the way,’ she added waggling her eyebrows appreciatively at his well defined abs that could be clearly seen through his damp white shirt, she laughed again as he looked down at his shirt in confusion before turning beetroot red when he realised to what she was referring.

  Maggie went through to the back of the bar and upstairs to the flat that Duncan shared with his grandmother.

  ‘Cooee anyone home?’ she called before going into the kitchen. Duncan was sitting at the kitchen table with an open laptop in front of him, which he hastily closed as Maggie came into the room. There was a bit of an embarrassed silence for about a second, as they were both aware that Maggie had seen him quickly close his laptop, and then Maggie laughed.

  ‘Oh my god Duncan you’re not looking at pretty sheep again are you, I’ve told you before you are selling yourself short, there are plenty of prostitutes out there that will take you on…for a special price of course, you don’t need to resort to animals!’

  Duncan laughed and tried to swat her with a tea towel, at nearly 6ft 7 and with the most beautiful piercing aquamarine eyes, there had been many hearts a flutter in Kenley when Duncan had taken over as landlord of the village pub.

  ‘Bloody cheeky cow,’ he said, ‘I’ll have you know I am literally fighting them off at the moment…no, no you may laugh but you just ask Hank. Last night Hetty Winthorpe and Paula Scrote nearly came to blows over who was going to provide me with a picnic at the pub trip to Goodwood, and I hear that they are drawing straws as to who has the privilege to sit next to me on the coach.’

  Since taking over the running of the pub almost three years ago Duncan had re-introduced a long running fixture that the previous owners had let drop, and that was an annual pub jolly to the racecourse at Goodwood. Many of the locals had remembered the outings with such pleasure that he had been sure it would be a winner and he was not wrong. No sooner did he put the notice up that tickets were available than they were gone, there was even a waiting list now for next year, so it looked like they might have to think about laying on an extra coach. The pub provided the transport and some champagne to drink on the journey and then everyone attending brought their own picnic. ‘You are still coming aren’t you Maggs, I mean I know it’s not quite your thing but…’

  ‘Of course I’m coming, and if you think that having the chance to get dressed up to the nines including a ridiculous hat, drinking champagne and betting on beautiful thoroughbred horses is not my thing then you need your head examined. Anyway your women fans are going to be disappointed I’m afraid, because I’m sitting next to you on the coach and that is a requirement of my attendance so no arguments…it’s either that or I’ll end up sitting next to Howard Humphreys and that I couldn’t tolerate, someone needs to drop a hint to that man about his personal hygiene.’

  Duncan was laughing but he said, ‘Ah poor fellow, you can’t blame him for trying though, he has obviously got it bad for you Maggs, even though it would scare the shit out of him if you ever gave him the green light…he just likes to admire you from afar.’

  ‘Well as long as he admires me downwind I don’t mind. Anyway enough of my admirers, have you got anybody in mind that you could take on the Goodwood trip? I was only joking about the coach you know if there was someone you would rather sit next to…someone special?’ Maggie fished.

  ‘Oh my god you are about as subtle as a bloody Zeppelin, no I haven’t got anyone I would like to take to Goodwood, although maybe…but…oh I don’t know…’

  ‘Who, what’s her name, do I know her?’ Maggie jumped in excitedly.

  ‘No you don’t know her; it was just someone I used to work with, years ago before I came here. She just got in touch with me on Facebook the other day, apparently she’s just split up with her husband and she lives not too far away so I was thinking I might ask her out one evening… maybe, I don’t know…’

  ‘What do you mean you don’t know, of course you should ask her out, unless of course there’s something wrong with her…fuck it, what am I saying, she’s a woman, she has a pulse…ask her out, she sounds perfect!’ Maggie ran away laughing as Duncan tried once more to get her with the tea towel, and for a couple of moments it was like a children’s playground as they chased each other round the kitchen, both of them giggling like a couple of kids. Maggie was the first to give in, collapsing into a chair.

  ‘Ok I give in…I’m too old for all this running around,’ she said breathlessly.

  Duncan slumped down opposite her, ‘What are you doing here today anyway?’ he said after a moment. ‘I thought you said you were going into ‘the fucking office’ today. Did you need to see me about something?’

  ‘No…not really, if you must know I drove here by mistake…oh you may well laugh matey but you are not that much younger than me…it comes to all of us eventually. And let’s face it if Martha’s mental capabilities are what are in store for you…well…’

  Duncan was still laughing but he reached over and took Maggie’s hands. ‘What’s really up Maggs?’ he asked kindly, ‘You’ve not been yourself for ages now. If it’s the design company…well bloody get rid of the thing, or let the boys run it, they’re both more than capable. And it’s not as if you need the money is it, you’ve got so much you could live comfortably for the rest of your life just on the interest…so what’s stopping you love?’

  Maggie felt her eyes welling up, she blinked the tears away irritated with herself, ‘I don’t fucking know what’s the matter if I’m honest, I mean what the hell have I got to be depressed about. I have a wonderful family, lovely friends and as you say more money than sense and on top of that a gorgeous fiancé who worships the ground I walk on…what more could a woman want?’ she finished flippantly.

  Duncan wasn’t fooled, he looked at her without saying anything for a moment then he squeezed her hand, ‘Well despite all that good fortune, you are desperately unhappy about something sweetheart I can see it in your eyes…and if you ever need to talk about it I’m here…ok?’

  Maggie hesitated, and for a moment the need to unload on Duncan was almost overwhelming, but she shrugged it off. She had realised just recently that despite being able to talk to Duncan about just about anything, where Thomas was concerned he had a bit of a blind spot. He tried hard to hide it, but he just didn’t like the man and he couldn’t understand why Maggie was marrying him. So Maggie kept her worries to herself, just squeezing his hand gratefully, and they both sat in awkward silence for a moment until Duncan said at last.

  ‘Oh fuck it you’re right…she’s a woman, and she’s breathing damn it, I’m going to ask her out!’

  ‘Yay,’ said Maggie, ‘ooh I know ask her here on Wednesday evening. I’ve got a cauldron meeting with the girls that night, that way we can look her over and give you the benefit of our years of experience in this field, you know just give you a few pointers about where you’re going wrong.’

  ‘Oh w
onderful,’ said Duncan as he put his head in his hands.

  CHAPTER 15 – CARLA

  Frank picked Carla up from her house the next morning; they were heading straight to the mortuary to see if Dorothy had been able to shed some light on the identity of the fourth body.

  ‘Question is,’ Frank was saying, ‘was he on the helicopter or just in the woods, I mean how do we know he hasn’t been rotting away in the woods for ages. It’ll be almost impossible for Dorothy to give us a time of death I shouldn’t wonder.’

  ‘Hmm,’ said Carla, who wasn’t really listening, she and James had been called into the school to talk about Harry’s ‘behaviour’ yesterday evening. James had gone mental over the ‘grieving for his granddad’ incident and Harry had been grounded and given a week’s computer ban which had left him thoroughly chastened. However it seemed that was the least of their worries. According to Mr Alexander (the head of year) Harry had started mixing with a very undesirable group of boys who were leading him into all sorts of mischief. He was giving in homework late, or not at all, and he had actually skipped a geography lesson last week and he and his ‘friends’ had gone to the common to mess around…whatever that meant, nothing good Carla suspected.

  She realised that Frank was still theorising next to her, ‘After all that could be a possibility couldn’t it?’ he asked looking at her intently.

  ‘Oh yes…I’m sure it could,’ faltered Carla uncertainly, having absolutely no idea what he had been talking about.

  ‘You haven’t heard a bloody word I’ve said have you?’ said Frank accusingly.

  ‘Yes I have,’ replied Carla, ‘…um you were talking about the crash…something about the body…’