Time For You To Disappear

Inspector Pericon and his offsider, Detective Luke Farrier, knocked on the door.

“Good evening, Mrs Lockhart. Can we have a few minutes? It's about your husband’s disappearance.”

“Yes, come in; please call me Jennifer.” As she motioned them into the house.

She had not expected this. It had been a year since her husband, Michael, had disappeared, and they had their suspect.

Why were they visiting?

What did they want now?

“Jennifer, sorry, but it seems Michael did not just disappear ….”

She heard the words from the police inspector—time for the crocodile tears.

“What do you mean he didn’t disappear?”

“You found his car abandoned by the side of the highway.”

Jennifer started weeping, “Yes, we had dinner together the night before. He was going fishing in the country.”

“We have some new evidence,” Inspector Pericon interjected.

******

A year earlier:

Michael sat in a lounge chair facing the pool. In just a few hours, the pool lights would turn off. Then, he could slip through the back gate to the carport and drive away.

His wife, Jennifer, had gone over the instructions for disappearing so many times that he had no doubt he would remember them.

He tapped his foot nervously. If only there were some other way, but there was not. For weeks, he had racked his brain trying to think of a way out.

She was relentless and smart, very smart. Despite all his efforts, he was unable to get the police to take action against her. They said she hadn’t broken any laws. But when she began stalking his wife and kids, he realized it had gone too far.

He had tried to reason with her, but she would not have it. “You are with me or no one,” the words echoed in his brain.

How had I been so stupid to get involved in a sordid affair?

He knew the answer to his own question; he just didn’t want to accept it. Jennifer needed time to heal if she was ever going to forgive him. Even if she did, he knew that things would never be the same again. What they were doing was for the kids.

The pool lights went off, snapping him back to reality. “Time to move," he said to himself.

He crept out of the house. Jennifer would be upstairs watching out the window to make sure he was leaving. He was tempted to turn around and wave to her, but he decided it was best left alone.

He took his fishing gear from the carport and put it in the back of the SUV with his bags. Then, he quietly closed the door. He glanced around his house. The pool where he had had so much fun with the kids last summer. The same pool where he had made love to Jennifer one night after a wild party. The same pool where he had been intimate with her, not once but several times.

He shut down those thoughts; that is what had gotten him into trouble. Gotten his family into trouble, and now he had to go away. He didn’t know when he would be back. It would certainly be several months.

He pulled out of the driveway past Mrs. Hanson’s house. Her lights were still on.

“Silly old cow,” he muttered to himself. If she had not been such a busybody, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

He focused on the drive; it would take him about three hours to get to the next step. His mind turned to what he was going to do if he got away with this. He was worried it would not work. He worried about why Jennifer had been so keen to help him with his problem after what he had done to her. Everything came back to the children.

How would they cope without him being around?

They could never know the truth; no one could until he miraculously reappeared, if he reappeared. He told himself he just needed some time to get this out of his system: a couple of months.

****

“So let me get this straight,” asked the inspector, "did he leave to go fishing by himself, or was he with someone?”

“He was going to meet his brother at the lake where they were going.”

“Forgive me for asking, but do you know who Valerie DiComos is?”

"You know who she is," Jennifer snapped. "We've complained about her before. She's crazy and has threatened our family!"

“Yes, I have read the reports. We spoke to her a couple of weeks ago. Is it possible that your husband had a change of heart and was going to run off with her?” asked the inspector.

His question was met with an icy stare from Jennifer. The crocodile's teeth had gone, replaced by words of anger. She had to shift the focus.

“Get out, get out of my house. You know where the door is!”

“Go and do something useful, and find out what happened to my husband!”

“That’s why we are here. You know Valerie DiComos was charged with the murder of your husband last month.”

More crocodile tears. “I always knew she had something to do with it. She ruined our family. All because of that stupid affair Michael had with her.”

Jennifer wondered what was going to come next. She didn’t like where this was heading. How much did they really know?

Did they know that Michael was going to run away with her?

Did they know that she knew?

And then it came.

"Ms. DiComos produced some airline tickets. Two, in fact, both business class to Greece. Apparently, she had a villa there that her father had left her," the Inspector said, "Your husband didn’t go fishing. That was just a cover for what he really planned to do."

Jennifer was silent. She stared out the window, willing more tears to come, but all she could feel was anger. Anger and relief that the bastard she had married was gone.

“But here’s my problem,” the Inspector continued. “”

“She wouldn’t have any idea what was going on,” snapped Jennifer.

“That may be so,” continued the Inspector, but we went back and looked at the forensics from around your husband’s car. There was another set of tyre marks. We took them to be Ms DiComos' car. They didn’t match!”

Barbara felt the blood draining out of her body. She had an uneasy feeling about what was to come next.

“Can we look at your car, please?” asked the inspector.

Jennifer stood up and, to her amazement, did not fall over.

“Get out of my house!” as she moved toward the front door.

“Come back when you have a warrant; I am calling my lawyer. You can’t victimize me like this.”

The inspector and his offsider took a step toward the door as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

“I think we can, and here is the warrant. Let’s all go out the door and look at your car, shall we?”

Till next time,

Calvin

Submitted for the "Knock at the Door" challenge: