Sweet Oblivion

by Rhiana Ramsey

  Despite the alcohol whirling round her brain, slightly distorting her judgment, Elizabeth was surprised by the quick transition in moods Louise was displaying. Just a moment before she’d been as metaphorically high as a kite, but now she had suddenly crashed back down to earth.

  ‘I bloody caught them at it in a romantic country retreat which had been booked for me and him. Fucking bitch had the nerve to suggest I wasn’t good enough for him. So I hit her and that’s why I was at the police station on Tuesday, for assaulting her. It’s a joke really. They can break my heart and they don’t get fucking arrested for that,’ Louise looked like she was about to cry.

  ‘Sorry Louise, I didn’t mean to upset you,’ Elizabeth said gently.

  ‘You haven’t upset me. It’s fucking men that upset me. They’re only happy when they’re sticking their dicks into something, especially when they’re sticking it somewhere they shouldn’t. It’s why they like to cheat so much, cos they know they shouldn’t be fucking doing it. They don’t care about the pain they’re causing or going to cause. The world would be a better place without men in it.’

  ‘I don’t know as I agree entirely with that statement, but I can see why you would think that after your boyfriend cheated on you. Sorry to hear that Louise. They’re not all bad though, there are some good ones,’ Elizabeth said.

  The atmosphere around the table had changed, it was now charged with tension and Elizabeth felt like leaving. She wasn’t quite sure how this had happened. They’d been merrily chatting away, happily talking rubbish, and now all she wanted to do was to get away from Louise as quickly as she could.

  ‘You’re wrong Elizabeth. They’re all bad, they all have a rotten core. All they want is to fuck you. Once they’ve done that, they get bored and they leave you for someone else,’ Louise was getting angrier with every statement.

  ‘Women cheat too; women can be cold, calculating bitches. Why do you feel so much hatred towards men?’

  ‘Because they’re fucking pigs!’ Louise almost shouted.

  ‘Whoa, ok. I think we should move on from this topic. It’s clearly upsetting you and this was just supposed to be a nice quiet drink,’ Elizabeth said calmly, trying to placate her. Louise looked at her angrily for a second and then her face changed as she broke into a sheepish smile.

  ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.’

  ‘No problem Louise, it’s probably the alcohol amplifying your feelings. Shall we call it a night?’ Elizabeth asked, hoping Louise would say yes.

  She no longer wanted to sit here with this man-hating woman, who clearly had deep seated issues regarding the male of the species.

  ‘Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I’ve had too much wine already.’ The women stood up and gave each other an awkward hug.

  ‘Was nice catching up with you Elizabeth. Sorry about getting worked up at the end there.’

  ‘Like I said, no problem. I understand why you feel that way in light of how your boyfriend treated you. You going to be alright getting home?’

  ‘Yes officer, I’ll be fine,’ Louise snickered and raised her hand in a fake salute.

  ‘Good. You take care of yourself ok?’

  The women parted company and walked off in opposite directions. Elizabeth glanced back over her shoulder to check on Louise, but she was already out of sight, lost amidst the Friday night crowds.

  Chapter XXXI

  Tony reached out his hand and felt Elizabeth’s warm body lying next to him. He groaned contentedly and rolled his body up against hers, enjoying the feeling of their skin touching, and wrapped an arm around her chest, pulling her close.

  Elizabeth was still sleeping a blissful, alcohol-induced slumber and Tony had no inclination to wake her, she looked so cute curled up on her side, her hair strewn across the pillow like octopus tentacles, her lips slightly parted.

  He was pleased she had come round to his flat last night, even if it had been after eleven thirty when she’d knocked on the door. She had forgiven him and that was the main thing.

  He’d answered the door in his boxer’s and as soon as he’d let her in, she’d pushed herself roughly against him, driving him back against the wall, her mouth pressing against his, her hands all over his body. She’d then grabbed his arms, spun herself around so that her back was to him, put both his hands between her legs and rubbed her arse against his already swollen penis.

  He’d bitten her ear and pulled her hair, jerking her head backwards exposing her neck so that he could bite that too. She’d gasped with pleasure and continued to writhe against him for a few moments longer.

  Then she’d moved away from him briefly to remove her suit jacket and blouse, revealing a sexy red lace bra, before dropping to her knees in front of him, one hand pushing his torso, keeping him against the wall, the other yanking down his pants and exposing his manhood.

  It had felt so good when she had taken him in her mouth he had had to concentrate hard on something non-sexual to prevent himself from coming there and then.

  She’d looked up at him, erotically licking his shaft, her eyes full of lust. ‘Elizabeth,’ he’d murmured, holding her face gently between his hands as she continued to pleasure him.

  She’d then stood up and removed her trousers, giving him a good view of her toned figure and the red lace underwear set, she looked hot as hell.

  ‘Get on the floor Tone,’ she’d said and he had happily obliged.

  She’d stood over him for just a second, giving him a glimpse of her femininity through her racy red thong and then she dropped down onto him, straddling his waist and rubbing herself against him.

  Finally, she had held her knickers aside and pushed him inside her; she had been so ready for him, that he had entered her easily. She’d begun moving up and down his shaft, slow then fast, slow then fast… not knowing her rhythm he hadn’t been able to match her motion so he had relinquished all control to her.

  She’d leant back, grinding her hips against him as she came and he’d stiffened inside her as he allowed himself release in unison with her. She had then lain on top of him for a while, her body hot and sweaty, and he had gently caressed her back.

  Finally, she had looked at him and smiled, and said: ‘Hi Tony. How are you?’

  They’d both laughed as they’d unraveled themselves from each other’s embrace and got into bed. And now it was 8am and here they were, snuggling together, not a care in the world.

  ‘Hmmmm,’ Elizabeth mumbled, taking hold of Tony’s arm and pulling it tighter around her. ‘That feels nice.’

  ‘How’s your head?’ Tony asked her softly, his face pressed into her hair.

  ‘Um…’ Elizabeth raised herself on one elbow and blinked sleepy dust from her eyes. ‘Fine, I think.’ She grinned at Tony. ‘Who was a naughty boy last night Mr Jessop?’

  ‘I think you’ll find you ravaged me, actually. You were in charge.’

  ‘You complaining?’ she teased.

  ‘Not at all. Feel free to come round here for a booty call anytime.’

  Tony pushed himself up, kissed her tenderly on the mouth and then pulled her back down into the duvet with him, rolling onto his back so that she could lay on his chest.

  ‘So, how did it go with your friend last night?’ he asked. Elizabeth chuckled.

  ‘It was a female friend Tony, actually it was the one you saw the other day outside the nick.’

  ‘What the super hot one? And you didn’t invite me!’ he asked feigning incredulity.

  Elizabeth smacked him on the side and said, ‘Oi! That is out of order. Besides she’s way out of your league,’ she drew out the ‘way’ to emphasize by just how far.

  ‘What would I want her for anyway, when I have you,’ he kissed the top of her head.

  ‘Who says you have me? I just needed a shag.’

  ‘Charming! So did you ladies have a good catch up? You knew her from school didn’t you?’

  ‘Yeah, feels like a life time ago. It was nice
reminiscing; we mainly talked about the past and what we are now doing in our adult lives; she’s an editor for some company or other, I can’t recall the name. Actually, I don’t think she gave me the name. She’s still as funny and smart as I remember her to have been back then. And she’s still got a way with the boys,’ Elizabeth raised her head to look at Tony and narrowed her eyes. ‘Don’t say anything,’ she warned.

  ‘What? I didn’t say a word,’ Tony replied defensively.

  ‘Hmmm… yes, well. Best you get her out of your mind. It was going great, we were having a laugh and just talking shit, you know how you do when you’re getting close to having one too many…’

  ‘Close? You may want to revise that statement!’ Tony interjected.

  Elizabeth ignored him and continued:

  ‘Shortly before we called it a night, we got onto the subject of men and Louise became really… I don’t know how to describe it really… aggressive, I guess. She totally snapped and the whole mood changed.’

  ‘Women and their mood swings.’

  ‘Don’t be so bloody sexist Tony. I know plenty of men who have mood swings... you want me to give you examples? Because I could always mention how weird you were when Ian came over from FHQ?’

  ‘Ok, ok, point made. Sorry. So what do you mean exactly about her manner changing?’ Tony replied

  ‘One minute she was absolutely fine, I asked her if she was single and then she did this weird stretching and head rolling thing and her manner totally changed, her voice, her mannerisms. She said that all men were bad to the core, were all cheats and were ‘only happy when they were sticking their dicks into something.’ Her words, not mine. She went from funny, laughing and joking to almost rage within a split second and without any sort of warning. I’m sure she only reacted like that because her break up is so recent and she found her ex in bed with an employee apparently.’

  ‘Ouch, that’s got to hurt,’ Tony agreed.

  ‘Yeah, but I dunno, it was just strange. Made me feel really uncomfortable, like I didn’t want to be near her. I felt as if I was talking to two different people. Does that sound crazy?’ Elizabeth raised her head to look at Tony.

  ‘Not really. It’s alcohol though isn’t it? It has the capacity to change even the sweetest person into a blubbering mess, or an irate pugilist, or a rampant nymphomaniac with an urgent booty call,’ Tony said, mischievously. Elizabeth laughed.

  ‘Guess so. Not sure I’ll meet up with her again though, think she’s a bit unpredictable. I’d be afraid of saying anything that might set her off.’

  They lay for a moment lost in thought, when Tony said: ‘Just thinking, your friend, didn’t you tell me the other day down the pub that she was fostered and used to live in London?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s what she told me at school. She was fostered out at age 8 or 9 and used to live in London, before that she lived on the outskirts somewhere, can’t remember where though. Why?’

  ‘You know why…’

  ‘Oh my god, of course, my list. She could be on it if she was sexually abused. Bloody hell Tony, can you imagine that?’

  ‘You could have been fraternizing with the enemy,’ Tony said, only half joking.

  ‘Right come on Tone, get up. We’ve got work to do.’

  Elizabeth threw back the bed covers and practically jumped from the bed, a flurry of legs and arms as she dashed across the room heading for the bathroom.

  ‘Elizabeth, seriously? Now? We don’t have to be in for ages yet!’ Tony called after her. He heard her phone ringing in her bag, ‘and you’re phone’s ringing,’ he added.

  ‘Ignore it! And yes, I mean now!’ He could hear that she was in the shower and the idea of her lathering up, covering her body in white, bubbly foam started to make him hard. Just as he was considering quitting the warmth of his bed for the warmth of the shower, his phone began to ring too. Tony took the call and then rushed into the bathroom to join Elizabeth, bumping her out of the water jet with his body, starling her.

  ‘What the…?’ she asked, soap bubbles, slithering down her body.

  ‘We’ve got to get to the office asap...’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ she interrupted grumpily, annoyed at Tony’s invasion of the shower cubicle.

  ‘No, I mean, the boss is asking us to go in. It’ll be him who called you just now. We’re now investigating four murders. We’ve got another body on our hands.’

  ************************************************

  There was a loud rip as Louise tore open the first item of post she had neglected to open for the past three days. It as a very unexciting generic letter from the bank offering her special rates on a credit card. She screwed it up and aimed it at the waste paper bin; the ball of paper bounced off the rim into the centre of the room. Louise ignored it and began opening the second letter which she was anticipating would share the same fate of the first.

  It was a beautiful day, the sun had full reign of a clear blue sky and a gentle breeze periodically blew through the open living room windows. When she had got up an hour or so earlier Louise had vowed that despite her wine headache, she was going to get on her running shoes and head down to the canal for a nice long jog in the sunshine.

  But first, once she’d finished with the post, she was going to call Ben. He had tried to call her five times last night and had left two voicemails asking her to call him as soon as she could. His missives hadn’t given her any indication as to what he wanted to talk about.

  Louise scrunched up the second letter and threw it at the bin, missing her target again. She picked up another envelope and turned it over; this was the one with the pretty handwriting. She ripped it open and extracted a piece of A4 paper that had been carefully folded in four. The letter was also handwritten, which surprised Louise. Who hand wrote letters these days? She read:

  Dear Louise,

  It’s taken me a few days to decide if I should get in touch with you, but after careful consideration and deliberation, I decided that I had to tell you what happened last week – I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t and besides, it was part of the post-mortem instructions I received.

  I hope this letter reaches you because I got this address off the internet on one of those people finder websites; it’s scary what you can find out online. I couldn’t find a

  complete postcode but hopefully the partial one I found will be sufficient to get this letter to you..

  I just wanted to let you know that our mother died last week of a heart attack. I was contacted by the prison she was remanded at and they told me she’d died in the prison hospital. Apparently she had put me down as her next of kin. They also sent me what I guess can best be described as her will. She didn’t own anything so her only instructions were that you and I had to be informed of her death. And that is why I am writing to you, to carry out her last wishes.

  I don’t know what you know about our mother, what you remember, so I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a shock for you. I did think that maybe I should just leave the past in the past and not write to you, but now that I have written this letter I feel a weight off my mind, so I know I have done the right thing.

  Your sister,

  Michelle Blackmoore

  Louise was dumbfounded, her hands started shaking. Was this a sick prank?

  Her mother had died years ago and she had been locked up in lunatic asylum, not a prison. She read the letter again, the words blurring on the page, tears brimming in her eyes, as she read each line over and over, a multitude of questions assailed her. If her mother hadn’t died when she was a girl, why had she been told that by her foster family? And why had they told her that her mother had been sectioned instead of sent to prison? It didn’t make any sense.

  Her mother had experienced a break down after her dad had left, that’s what she had always been led to believe. She hadn’t been sent to prison! What could she have done that would cause her to have been locked up for over two decades? Had her foster parents lied to her for all
those years? And if so why? To protect her? She couldn’t even ask them to find out as she had lost contact with them many years earlier.

  Louise’s head was reeling, she couldn’t think straight, she needed answers. Everything she thought she knew was in jeopardy, everything she had believed about her mother seemingly a lie. What was her past? Was there any truth in anything she had been told? Was this letter really from her sister, or was someone simply trying to make her life more tumultuous? Only one person could answer these questions; Louise needed to speak to Michelle.

  She picked up the envelope and studied the postmark; the letter had been posted four days ago from a post box in Kent. So, Michelle was living in the Garden of England, knowing which county she was in should make her easier to find. It was time for Louise to do some tracking of her own.

  ************************************************

  The briefing room was packed with officers working on the bondage killings after Robert had called a full briefing, telling everyone to get in ‘as fast as they fucking could.’ Everyone was now present, including Tony and Elizabeth who had arrived at the station 10 minutes apart to ensure they did not become fodder for the gossip mongerers. They didn’t want anyone to know they were sleeping together yet, and they didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to suggest their conduct was unprofessional.

  Robert was standing at the front of the room with his back to the waiting detectives, scribbling on the white board. He wrote the name Derek Cooper and then turned to face the room. Apparently, Meadows had also been invited to this briefing, or he had got wind of it and invited himself, because he sat close to where Robert was standing, reading a handful of documents and looking important.

  ‘Thank you all for coming,’ Robert began, ‘I know it was short notice and some of you were off for the weekend. There has been a development in our case… I think you all know by now that Ian identified a nickname for our killer? The name she uses when contacting victims online is Mina.’