34 Days: A gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist

by Anita Waller

  I suggest we never speak of this again, and we try to rebuild our own relationship. I will understand if you never want to see me again, but it will make me deeply unhappy.

  We must act our way through the funeral and support Mark, Tim, and Caro. After that, we will help you move back to Lindum Lodge, if that is what you want.

  The large brown envelope I gave you with the first letter is for you to now put all three letters in. Seal it with the sealing wax in the same way you have sealed the three white envelopes and hide it away. In twenty years’ time, you can burn it!

  I think, one day, you will see this all had to happen. That man could not be allowed to live. I love you, my Anna, now read my final letter, and get them locked away, hopefully forever.

  With love,

  Jenny

  P.S. Don’t forget to destroy this letter!!! xxx

  Jenny seemed to have thought of everything, and Anna shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, before spreading out the second sheet of paper on her bed. She really knew nothing of this third murder, because Jenny hadn’t even mentioned anything of it the night she had returned to her apartment from Lincoln. There had been no chance of talking since then; Anna’s entire family surrounded her with love and no time for herself. Maybe that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

  The letter started in exactly the same way as the other two, and it was with a small hysterical giggle Anna hoped Jenny hadn’t set up some sort of template for murder confessions on her laptop! Then she stopped giggling and began to read.

  To Whom It May Concern

  My name is Jennifer Carbrook, née March, and I was born on 10 October 1982 in Peterborough, Cambs.

  On Friday, 10 April 2015, I killed a man, who I now know to be James Oswoski, on Shenfield Drive in Lincoln at approximately 12.45am. He was simply walking along the road, leaning on a walking stick.

  I elbowed him as I went past and he fell on to the stone wall at the back of the flower bed, cracking his head. It was a twist of the knife in his neck which ultimately disabled him. He died on to the flower bed, and I was able to place the bag over his head, seal it with duct tape, and secure his hands and feet with plant ties.

  This is my final murder. There will be no more. I killed Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Oswoski to perpetuate the theory of a serial killer, but they were incidental murders. The only person I wanted dead was Ray Carbrook, and his was the easiest of all. He was virtually in an alcoholic coma when I stabbed him.

  I deeply regret the two murders that had to be; I do not regret the death of Ray Carbrook. I have no way of knowing if these letters will ever come to light. I suspect one day, if my death is an early one, they will, because I am telling Anna the envelope contains letters for Adam and Grace, and the envelope can be opened after my death. Hopefully, I will have been able to destroy the letters before that, so that my children never find out the truth, particularly Adam who shares the same genes as Carbrook. I will wait twenty years, and if the letters will no longer be required, I will ask Anna for them back, saying they are no longer relevant.

  I have to stress Anna is the unwitting pawn in all of this. She knows nothing, and I intend that it should stay that way.

  I acted entirely alone, the planning was all of my doing, and it happened because Anna walked away from an abusive marriage. I would not have done it if I had thought the Carbrooks were happily married.

  The world is now a better place.

  Jenny Carbrook

  11 April 2015

  The world is now a better place. Anna folded the piece of paper carefully, aware it needed to be kept as pristine as possible, and put it back in the “Murder Number Three” envelope. She then made sure that everything, including the letter she needed to shred, was safely back in the pocket of the suitcase.

  Then she sat and cried.

  Chapter 28

  Anna didn’t sleep much, and the morning arrived with a decision made. She needed to return to Sheffield.

  Breakfast was a quiet time; Tim and Steve were returning to Florida, and they would all miss them. She decided to break the news of her return to her apartment, but it didn’t go down too well.

  Everyone took out phones or notebooks as she filled them in on her address, and Caro asked if she could come back with her. She said of course she could, and they confirmed with Helen that it was indeed okay for them all to go their assorted separate ways. Helen gave them what information she could about the investigation, but it seemed to Anna they actually had no leads at all, and in a strange sort of way, they were almost waiting for the next murder in the hope it would yield more clues.

  ‘They will be releasing your husband’s body within the next couple of days,’ Helen informed her, and gently touched Anna’s arm. ‘I really am so sorry this has happened to all of you. You’re a lovely family, and it just seems to be some random killing, no rhyme or reason to it.’

  ‘You’ll keep us informed?’ Anna asked.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then we’ll all be on our way, as soon as we’ve said goodbye to Mrs. Williams. Thank you, Helen.’

  They packed what little they had with them and went back downstairs. Mark was settling the bill with Kathy, and Anna tried to intervene.

  ‘It’s okay, Mum,’ he said, without looking at her. ‘I’ve got it.’

  There was coldness in his tone that bothered her, and she looked at him.

  ‘Mark?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t speak to me like that.’ It was her turn to be frosty. ‘I’m your mother. Show respect, please.’

  ‘Why? You’re lying.’

  ‘What?’ Her stomach turned somersaults.

  The others moved away, aware that something was happening between the two of them.

  ‘I’m not lying,’ she said and tried to hide the quiver in her voice. What did he know?

  ‘I asked you about returning to Dad, and you said you would. You just needed a little more space, and you would go back to Lincoln. You said that quite clearly, Mum. And you meant me to pass that message on to Dad.’

  ‘And it was true.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t true the moment I saw Eric the bloody goldfish. There’s no way you could have gone back to Dad with a goldfish in tow! He would have killed it, just like he killed the last one! You had no intentions of ever returning home.’ His voice was getting louder and louder, and the others began to move back to them, led by Jenny.

  ‘Hey,’ Jenny said soothingly. She leaned her head against her husband’s chest. ‘You’re right. That’s why we were having Eric. When Anna bought him, it was in a mad moment, when she had no ideas about going back to your Dad, but that day we spent together in Sheffield she talked a lot about the return, and she asked me to take the fish. It’s no big issue, sweetheart, not at all.’

  ‘An apology will do nicely, Mark,’ Anna said icily; guiltily. Eric the Fish had a lot to answer for. She looked towards Jenny, and Jenny gave her a small smile.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Mark said, and extended his left arm to pull her towards him. ‘That’s been on my mind since that awful night.’

  ‘No problem,’ she said. ‘Any more issues just ask, for crying out loud.’

  Kathy hugged them all, and said they would be welcome back any time. They left her to all the work involved with such a mass exodus of all of them.

  They didn’t go back to Lindum Lodge; Mark drove Jenny off to pick up their children, and then Caro drove the two of them to Sheffield. In the end, it was Tim and Steve who were the last ones to leave, flying to Florida later that evening. Jenny said she would get to Sheffield for her car as soon as she could, and they parted with a hug.

  *****

  Lissy and Caro got on like a house on fire. Caro was very creative and loved to try anything crafty; all it took was a glimpse into Lissy’s workspace for her to become immersed in a conversation which seemed to go on forever. Anna chatted with Jon, telling him about the investigation, their time in Lincoln, and th
e support she had been given by both her family and the police; he kept all of them fed and watered until Anna called time, saying they needed to go home.

  She could see Caro wanted to argue, but she put on her stern face and said, ‘Home.’ Lissy laughed and escorted them to the door, but then insisted Caro return to continue with whatever they had planned for the following day.

  Caro was impressed with her mother’s apartment. She had bought a little two up, two down stone built terraced house in the heart of Lincoln, and had filled it with homemade items, just as Charlie had with her home. Anna’s apartment was modern but was slowly becoming homelier, the more she added to it. Anna found it a little strange both she and Caro had lived with the perfection that was Lindum Lodge, and yet had changed completely the moment they were away from its restrictive influences.

  They sat for an hour or so just chatting about things in general; they drank hot chocolate, ate far too many biscuits, and actually laughed.

  As they switched off the lights and went to their separate bedrooms, Caro turned to Anna.

  ‘I loved him, Mum, loved him very much, but I did understand why you left. And this,’ She waved her arm expansively, ‘This is so much more you than Lindum ever was. Lindum was Dad. Sell it; get it out of your life.’

  Anna felt shocked, but tried not to show it. She had grossly underestimated her children; they knew their father.

  *****

  Anna slept much better for being home in Sheffield. She was awake before seven, and lay for a while just thinking things through. She felt quite frustrated she had nobody to talk to about the things troubling her. How could she say to Charlie, or Lissy – Hey, my son’s wife murdered my husband!

  Anna took Caroline around the corner to the little café for breakfast, and she began to see her in a new light. She had always thought of her as a confident young woman, but she seemed different. She was beautiful for a start. She had clearly passed through the scruffy era of duffel coats and heavy eyeliner, combined with her passion for heavy metal music, and had developed a maturity reflected in the way she spoke, stood, and interacted with people.

  They enjoyed their meal, and then went shopping. They bought some summer clothes, but more importantly, they bought food. Caroline insisted they couldn’t live on beans on toast forever, so they did a pretty grand food shop. The fridge looked amazing after they’d finished filling it.

  ‘Right,’ she said. ‘Now I’ve done my chores, can I go see Lissy, please?’

  Anna nodded. ‘Of course you can.’ She handed her some muffins. ‘Take these with you; she likes them.’

  It was quiet after Caro had gone visiting; Anna went into Caro’s bedroom and lifted the mattress to get the first letter. She had emptied the main part of the suitcase just after they arrived home, but she had decided to leave the other two letters in the front pocket.

  Once again she put on the gloves, took out the letters, and placed them with the first one. They were dynamite in the wrong hands.

  Anna used the sealing wax to seal the two new envelopes, and then placed all three of them in the larger brown envelope. She then sealed that with wax, threw the wax and the seal into her kitchen waste bin, and put the envelope on the top shelf of the wardrobe in her own room so she wouldn’t damage the sealing wax by sleeping on it.

  It then occurred to Anna it was pretty stupid to leave something as unusual as sealing wax and a seal in the kitchen waste bin, so she took the half full bag down to the garbage room in the basement and breathed a sigh of relief when she got back to her own apartment without meeting anyone.

  Anna’s brain felt as though it was going to burst. She had been able to talk to the only person who really understood everything up to the final murder, and then she had lost Jenny. They couldn’t really talk now, either; Caro was with her, and Mark was with Jenny.

  Caro came home; they had a hot chocolate, and then went to bed. Anna heard Caroline’s phone ring, and she said she was fine to whoever was on the other end, and then said goodnight very softly. She didn’t know who the caller was, but she smiled. The tone of her daughter’s voice told Anna quite a lot.

  She slept. Not well but dreamlessly

  When she surfaced next morning, Anna knew what she was going to do.

  Chapter 29

  Caroline went out early, promising to bring back something nice for lunch. She said she wanted a walk around the city centre, wanted to clear her head, because she hadn’t had too good a night.

  ‘I miss Dad,’ she had said simply, and Anna had nodded.

  ‘I know you do, sweetheart, and it’s going to be difficult for quite some time. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?’

  ‘No thanks, Mum. I need to be on my own. I’m not good company anyway, at the moment. I’ll be back before lunch, don’t worry.’

  Anna went out on to the balcony and watched her daughter walk along the river side and head towards the town centre. It was only when Caro was completely out of sight did Anna come back indoors.

  Anna stared at her phone for a while; it occurred to her it had become a massive part of her life. In her pre-escape days, she had very rarely used it. Now it never seemed to be out of her hand.

  She scrolled down her list of contacts and pressed a name. She felt calm. She had spent too long thinking through this action to be dithering about it. She waited for the call to connect.

  When it did, it was answered almost immediately, and there was a couple of seconds before she heard, ‘Hello?’

  ‘I have a fish called Eric.’ Anna held her breath as she said the words.

  There was a further silence of around five seconds, a long time to wait. Then, she heard a gasp of breath and one word.

  ‘Anna.’

  Chapter 30

  They talked for an hour. Anna sobbed through the first five minutes and listened to the man she had given up all those years ago attempt to calm her, long distance.

  ‘Let me come to you,’ he repeatedly said, and she had to keep saying no. ‘I dared to hope you would call me when details of the murder began to filter through.’

  ‘I can’t. I have my family to think of; how do you think they would react to you turning up on my doorstep?’

  ‘Anna, I am a friend.’

  ‘I know, but you’re a friend they’ve never heard of, never mind met! I can’t see you; I just needed to hear your voice.’

  ‘And I’ve needed to hear yours since the day we agreed never to see each other again. I’ve always left my phone number out in the world, just in case... and thank God I did.’

  They finally ended the telephone call with Anna promising to call him the following day. She didn’t give a time; she had explained Caroline was staying with her, and she would have to wait until she wasn’t in the apartment. It all felt very clandestine; that was the way of Anna’s life at the moment.

  *****

  The funeral was arranged for 7 May, and Tim and Steve arrived three days earlier to make sure they were there to support Anna. She had opened up Lindum Lodge in the short term and knew decisions would have to be made about the place.

  Caroline had moved back to her own home in Lincoln, but for the period of the funeral had joined her brother and his partner at Lindum Lodge. Anna had spoken very little with Jenny; she knew they were coming over to Lincoln on the Wednesday to be available for the day after, but Anna was surprised when Mark said they would be staying with everyone else at Lindum Lodge. She couldn’t imagine how Jenny would be feeling about that.

  Anna had moved back into Lindum Lodge over the bank holiday weekend, and had spent one night on her own there. It hadn’t been a good night, and she had slept very little. Too many ghosts.

  She had spoken with Michael during the long evening, and had almost been tempted to ask him to come over, but resisted. She wanted no complications at this stage, needed to have Ray completely out of her life before the possibility of moving on could be anywhere in the picture.

  *****

  T
im and Steve arrived late the following day, and immediately, Anna’s spirits lifted. She had put them in Tim’s old room, and it felt good to have him back there. Mark and Jenny would take the master bedroom, Caroline her old room, and she, herself, was sleeping in the guest bedroom.

  Deep down, Anna wondered if putting Jenny in the room which used to be the exclusive domain of the Ray/Anna partnership was some sort of punishment, torture even, but she knew she could never sleep in it again.

  The day of the funeral was overcast; the previous night had been a sombre affair, with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Jenny looked different – she had cut her blonde hair much shorter, and she appeared so much more mature. Everyone else looked the same, and Anna realised life still had to go on; these children of hers would continue to live long after Ray had been despatched, and long after she had followed him.

  They were all clearly dreading the day to come, and when the cortege pulled up outside the gates of Lindum Lodge, they moved outside to get in the sleek black cars.

  There was a crowd of people. Anna felt quite taken aback by it; she hadn’t realised they knew so many. It was only later she came to realise it was because of the nature of the death, not the person who had died.

  The funeral went smoothly, and they all returned to Lindum Lodge for drinks and food. The caterers had cleared up and gone by seven o’clock, and finally, the family could settle down and talk.

  Anna began. ‘We need to talk about your father’s will. Although Simmonite’s are coming tomorrow to talk you through it, unless your Dad changed it over the last few weeks, I know what’s in it. He made the will after discussion with me, because he wanted to know what I wanted, should he die before me. What we decided was there would be immediate payments to all three of you of £50,000, and the rest will be mine. The business, at my request, will go to Mark, if he wants it. Your father was aware Tim and Caroline wouldn’t want any part of it. Mark, you don’t need to make any decisions now, you need to talk this through with Jenny and the children, because it will mean a move back to Lincoln.’