《Life happens》


 Missing couple

    Introduction


    Moving to the country was our dream, a house overlooking the river and be surrounded with trees. Our closest Neighbors were five kilometers away, it was so quiet and peaceful you could scream and no one would hear you. It was perfect.


    It was a beautiful sunny day, laying there on a sunbed, I could feel the warmth of the sun touching all parts of my naked skin. There were two magpies talking and singing in the cherry tree I was lying under. I was so relaxed and happy, I thought nothing could possibly change my mood until i heard noises coming from the woods.


    Chapter 1


    It was late afternoon, sun was still out but not for long, temperature was slowly cooling. The air smelt like flowers and cut grass, the perfect spring smell. I thought it would be a good idea to go lay outside with a glass of wine and read a book on the sunbed, just have some time to myself.


    I opened the back door, with glass of wine in one had and book in the other, walked across the wooden porch down the steps and onto the lawn. The grass under my feet felt cool and soft as I walked to the sunbed. I propped myself up on one of the many soft cushions and put my glass of wine on the side table.


    I opened my book and started reading, It was a beautiful sunny day, laying there on a sunbed, I could feel the warmth of the sun touching all parts of my naked skin. There were two magpies talking and singing in the cherry tree I was lying under. I was so relaxed and happy that I thought nothing could possibly change my mood until I heard sounds coming from the woods.


    I closed my book and looked around to try and figure out where the sound was coming from. It¡¯s coming from the woods, I thought, so I walked down to the edge of our property and tried to look through the trees. I couldn¡¯t see anything, it was getting darker now and the trees were looking dark and very tall so I walked back to the house, put my boots and grabbed a torch. I called out to Charlie, my husband, told him I was going to investigate a noise coming from the woods. Charlie looked at me and said ¡°Baby, I am coming with you and I am bringing Arthur¡± Arthur is our 4-year-old Doberman.


    Charlie put on his boots, grabbed Arthur and a torch. We walked across the lawn to the edge of the woods. I flashed my torch into the trees and couldn¡¯t really see much but Charlie looked at me and said ¡°what is that sound?¡± The Woods, Norman woods it is called, were three hundred aches i believe if not more but the sound was getting closer. Arthur was a little restless next to us and all of a sudden, he lifted his head up at me and came to sit between my legs. Charlie and I looked at each other and understood that something or someone was coming, Arthur was ready to protect.


    We heard footsteps, crunching of leaves, I pointed the torch to one side Charlie pointed to the other side and Arthur looked straight ahead and started growling. We both pointed our torches in the direction Arthur was looking and saw two figures walking towards us slowly. We heard talking but couldn¡¯t make out what they are saying so Charlie yelled out ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± silence¡­. No reply but the figures keep moving forward. Charlie yells out again ¡°If you don¡¯t tell me who you are, I will tell my dog to attack and believe me when I say he isn¡¯t friendly¡±. We waited a few seconds and hear ¡°Charlie, Isabella¡­. Is that you? It¡¯s Inspector Blossom don¡¯t let the dog go we need to talk to you both¡±.


    I calmed Arthur down and held onto him tightly while the inspectors walked towards us. Now we could see Inspector Blossom and his colleagues walking straight for us and we could see their refiles around their shoulder, like they were out hunting. We all shook hands and Charlie asked ¡°What are you boys doing out in the woods at this time of the day? What¡¯s going on? Who¡¯s in trouble?¡± Inspector Blossom laughed and said ¡°No-one yet but we have had a report that they may be a couple missing around the woods, they parked their car at the entrance of Norway Woods and never came back. It¡¯s now been 3 days. Have you heard or seen anyone walk around this way?¡±. I answered saying that we hadn¡¯t seen anyone since the weekend, we really keep to ourselves unless we need something from the store then we go into town, and that was 4 days ago.


    He looked at us and said ¡°If you see this couple¡± as he handed us a picture of the couple ¡°please call us immediately¡±. We said our goodbyes and they walked back threw the woods.


    Charlie looked at me and said, ¡°Now we know what the sound was, they really need to learn to identify themselves or someday it will cost them¡±.


    Woke up the next morning Charlie was already in the kitchen making us coffee which we took and drunk on the back porch. Arthur was playing at our feet with his ball and his weird elephant looking plush toy, he loved that thing. I took a sip of my coffee looked up at Charlie and said ¡°we should have breakfast and go for a walk in the woods this morning, it¡¯s nice out today¡±. Charlie nodded as he was drinking his coffee put his cup down and laughed. Arthur was trying to grab his tail and was getting angry that he couldn¡¯t, ah the simple life I thought, isn¡¯t it amazing the things we laugh at.


    After breakfast we had a shower and got dressed, jeans and t-shirt, boots and a hat. Arthur was getting excited he knew if we were putting our boots on it meant that we were going for a walk, he loved walks in the woods. Charlie grabbed the dog and we headed out the back door, across the lawn and started walking through the woods. A smell was there but it was very faint until we walked for about 10 mins down the hill and then it hit us like bus. A smell that you wouldn¡¯t forget in a hurry, rotten flesh. We have found many animal carcasses in the woods before it was probably the wolves again killed a deer and left what they didn¡¯t want for other animals but as we kept walking down the hill the smell got worse. I thought Charlie and I were going to be sick, Arthur was very quite next to us, all of a sudden, he lunges forward as we tried to keep up with him, all of a sudden, he stops. Arthur had found the source of the smell; it was a body. She looked like she had been beaten, limbs cut off and just pilled in a stack, just left there.


    Charlie and I looked at each other and couldn¡¯t say a word to each other, we couldn¡¯t move. I sat on the floor and Arthur sat next to me, I grabbed my mobile phone and called Inspector Blossom and told him what we had found.


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    The inspector arrived with a handful of deputies and couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing, it was like someone had been getting ready for a huge bonfire with body parts mixed in with the wood logs. It took the police a few couple of hours to gather all the body parts and sift through the area for evidence. They didn¡¯t come up with anything when the Inspector recognized the girl and said ¡°oh my god it¡¯s the girl from the missing couple, where is her husband?¡±. He turns around to everyone and tells them ¡°We need to find the husband¡±.


    Charlie and I were no longer working as we had come to some good money through some investments and decided we wanted to move somewhere remote and live our lives away from people, we weren¡¯t really people persons. We found this beautiful little house on a five-arch block, not to big but we had a creek running through our property and the woods all around us, it was so quiet. We didn¡¯t really have any real hobbies apart from hunting and kayaking, I also enjoyed reading mostly true crime books. I thought I would be a good investigator, I loved finding missing people and looking for clues, Charlie used to laugh at me but now he gets more into it. The next day Charlie walks into the kitchen and says, ¡°let¡¯s go for a walk in the woods and see if we can find anything that could help the investigation¡±. Oh my god I thought yes! I jumped up and told him I need to go put my boots on and find some bags for evidence he had the biggest smile on his face as he didn¡¯t think I would want to go back to the place we found the body but i was excited.


    We grabbed Arthur and made our way back through the woods where the body was found, there was still police tape and markers around. We started looking around for anything we could find like clues or anything that could help find who may have done it.


    About 20 feet away from where the body used to be Charlie found a single bloodied disposable glove under the bushes. He thought to himself¡­Oh my god I found a glove, I can¡¯t believe the police didn¡¯t find it. Charlie looked around to see where I was, noticed I wasn¡¯t looking and put the glove in the side pocket of his pants saying without saying a word. We kept looking for footprints or clues that would help police with their investigation or any sign of the husband of the poor girl but there was really nothing else we could see or find.


    Arthur was sniffing around as dogs do and got excited when he found a boot as we were walking back towards the house. The boot looked like a climbing boot; men size I thought as it looked big. Charlie grabbed a bag to put the boot in and noticed some blood on it. He shows it to me and we started looking round to see if we could find anything else. I thought how on earth did we miss that and turn to Charlie and said ¡°how did we miss that, we walked through he before didn¡¯t we?¡± He nodded. We kept looking around for a few hours and found nothing else of interest or anything we thought would help so happy with our findings we headed back home.


    When we got home Charlie took the boot we found and put it in a box so we wouldn¡¯t lose it and started cooking lunch. I loved when he cooked because it didn¡¯t matter what he cooked, it always tasted so good, he was a genius around the kitchen. After lunch we had a cup of tea on the back porch and read the paper, there was nothing yet about a body found or of the missing husband. It was surprising as news travelled fast around this area, it was only a small community, and everyone knew everyone plus the detective was a bit of a gossip king.


    The next morning, I thought I would go into town and get some supplies and restock our kitchen, make sure we had enough for the week, so I didn¡¯t have to keep coming back. As I walked into the store, I heard someone say ¡°hey Bella, I heard they found a body not far from your place¡±. I turned around and noticed it was the checkout chick and she continued ¡°I heard it was the husband and that he cut her body up and tried to burn it so no one could find it¡±. I just looked at her smiling and said, ¡°it looks like you know more than me, how do we know it¡¯s the husband, did the police find him?¡±. She seemed annoyed and replied ¡°well, no but that¡¯s the thing no one knows where he is, he is probably in hiding or something¡±. I just nodded and said, ¡°maybe you¡¯re right if he is hiding he better make sure he is hiding well because the police are looking everywhere¡± and I walked off and continued on with my shopping. As I got back to the tailor and started putting my items on the checkout belt I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw detective Blossom he says ¡°Hi Bella how are you? Have you guys heard or seen anything?¡± I just shook my head and said ¡°no Jack nothing at all, have you found the husband yet?¡± He shook and head and said ¡°nah, but we will find him, if he has done this he won''t get far¡±. He laughed and walked off. The nosy taller said ¡°so have you guys gone back to look for him, for the husband, have you seen him?¡± I thought oh my god did you just not hear our conversation, I smiled annoyed now and said, ¡°no nothing, you heard the conversation if I had found something I would have told detective Blossom¡±. She just smiled back and continued putting through my items.


    When I got home, I told Charlie about what was going around town and he laughed and said, ¡°they really have nothing better to talk about here Bella, it¡¯s exciting for them to have an actual crime in this town, let them gossip¡±. Well, it was true, I thought, nothing really happens around here except for a few missing people but they are usually found after a day or two, people always try to go off course in the woods and can never find their way back.


    That afternoon we get a knock on the door, it was Detective Jack Blossom. Charlie opens the door and lets him in ¡°Hi Charlie is Bella home too? We found the husband; he was killed too¡±. ¡°Oh no¡± Charlie said and calls for me to come to the front door ¡°Hey Bella, Jack is here, and he says they found the husband, he wants to talk to us¡±. I rushed over and Jack started explaining ¡°we found the husband¡¯s body about ten kilometers away from where the wife was found. His body was found near the creek by campers. It looks like he was shot in the back of the head with an arrow, his shoes were missing¡±. I said ¡°oh my god that¡¯s terrible, sounds like he was running away from someone. Where were his shoes?¡± Jack just shook his head and said, ¡°we looked everywhere and found nothing, no footprints of any kind, nothing, not even the victim¡¯s foot prints¡±. ¡°Wow how is that even possible?¡± Charlie says, ¡°and how can we help?¡±. ¡°Well,¡± says Jack ¡°I want to see if you had heard or seen anything at all before, we found the girl¡¯s body, like heard screams or saw anyone that wasn¡¯t from around here? We really don¡¯t know where to start¡±. Charlie and I looked at each other and just said ¡°no sorry, nothing. I mean we go in the woods with Arthur all the time sometimes we see campers and tell them they can¡¯t camp here but we haven¡¯t seen anyone in ages¡±. Jack rans his hand through his hair and said, ¡°well if you remember anything please call us¡±. He turned on his heels and left.


    Charlie turns to me and says, ¡°let¡¯s go check out the area where they found the second body, maybe we can find something¡±. I nodded, got my coat and boots on and Charlie called for Arthur who came running. We drove down to the area we thought the body was found and started looking around. The detective was right there is nothing no evidence and no footprints except for, what looked like, police boots. Arthur was running around, jumping in and out of the water, seriously we have a crazy dog I thought to myself it¡¯s bloody cold. After a few hours not finding anything, we got Arthur and went home. We didn¡¯t hear anymore from the detective for months after that.

 Scary memories

    It was getting colder the closer we got to winter, I was excited I loved winter. Lying in bed in the mornings, lighting the fire, playing cards, reading a book it was my favorite time of year. Charlie on the other hand didn¡¯t like the cold that much although he did like it when we sat in from of the fire listening to music with a nice glass of whiskey on the rocks. One cold morning we get ready to go into town and there is a knock at the door Charlie goes to the door and it¡¯s the mail man. He has a package for us, he looked at Charlie and said ¡°Mr. Smith? I have a package for you, please sign here¡± Charlie smiled signed the paperwork took the package and closed the door. He walked to the kitchen and said, ¡°honey our toys are here¡±. I looked at him and said with a little devilish smile ¡°oh nice let''s have a look¡±. Charlie opened the box and pulled out two leather pouches, he put them on the kitchen counter and unbelted one of them to show new beautiful arrow heads. He looked at me and said, ¡°well it looks like they will help go further and hopefully they will go through anything we shoot at, better than our last ones¡±. I laughed and opened the other one, i took a deep breath and thought oh my god they are so beautiful, they also looked very sharp. I took one out and touched the tip with my finger ¡°oh Yeap that is sharp, it would definitely go through a pig¡±. We both laughed and Charlie grabbed them and took them down to the cellar where we had a wine rack with a hidden door, behind the door was a keypad. Charlie put the pin in and the door opened, he walked in and placed our new arrow heads down on a shelf where all our other arrows were. He thought to himself I think I need to modify them a little, put some grooves on the blades make them a little meaner and laughed at himself. He closed the door and walked back up the stairs and looked happy with himself.


    We headed to town and decided to look for some new cameras, outdoor cameras we could put in the woods so we can keep track of wild animals. The wildlife in the woods are increasing we thought as we keep finding trails of feathers, dead birds and other little animals. We wanted to make sure whatever was killing these animals would not try to come on our property to get to out chickens. I am sure Arthur would protect them but it¡¯s nice to keep an eye out anyway. Charlie asked the store man for a specific brand of cameras, as he likes to google everything, he wants to buy you know make sure there are good reviews, and requested they have a range of fifty meters as in we can zoom in up to fifty meters. The guy knew exactly what Charlie wanted so we bought ten cameras, two monitors and a hard drive. We headed back to the car when we heard people yelling and crying near the grocery store, so we put everything in the car and went to see what was going on. Mrs. horseman was yelling at detective Blossom ¡°where is she? Why haven¡¯t you found her? She has to be found alive, why aren¡¯t you out there looking?¡± We got closer and asked one of the other people standing and watching ¡°hey what¡¯s going on, who¡¯s missing?¡± Mrs. Horseman turns around to everyone and says ¡°my daughter is missing; she went for a run 3 days ago and never came back. The detective isn¡¯t doing anything he says she probably ran away¡±. Detective Blossom looks around at everyone ¡°we are doing the best we can, we have officers looking everywhere, we haven¡¯t found anything to say something bad has happened to her, but we are looking¡±. Mrs. Horseman¡¯s daughter was the teller at the grocery store, she was a tall solid brunette girl, always wore her hair up, shorts and t-shirt with birds. Sandy was her name; she was always the one everyone went to for gossip she somehow knew everyone and everyone¡¯s business.


    We walked back to the car leaving all the drama and got Arthur out of the back sit. He didn¡¯t need a leash as Charlie, and I trained him to listen to all our commands for example he would stay by our side until we told him he could go. We walked to the corner coffee shop ordered coffee for us and a dog chino for Arthur, he loved them loved them so much that i swear he would have eaten the cup if he could. Arthur was a friendly dog of sorts, everyone knew him, kids could come up to pat him, play with him, get chased by him but if he didn¡¯t like someone he would growl and look at either Charlie and myself waiting for a command. It¡¯s only happened a couple of times. This one time a guy walked up to Arthur while he was playing with some kids and tried to grab or cuddle him, I don¡¯t really know what happened but Arthur didn¡¯t like it so he stepped away from the guy and started growling. He only growls at people to scare them and will only attack if we tell him to.


    After our walk through town we headed back to the car and back home so Charlie could install our new cameras. Charlie likes to plan everything so he took his time to decide exactly where to put them, walked around the property marking areas where he thought the cameras would best see every angle at all times. Took him a couple of days to have everything set up including the screens, one in our room and one in the kitchen.


    A few days later there was a knock on the door, Detective Blossom and 5 deputies. I open the door and say, ¡°Hi Detective is everything alright?¡± He simply looked at me and slowly said ¡°We found Sandy; she was killed.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say, I was in shock. I tried but nothing came out, Jack then said, ¡°Same place the first body was found.¡± I gasped and called out for Charlie ¡°Charlie¡­. They found Sandy¡­. They found her¡­. Same place as the first body¡­. Near our home¡­. Oh my god, are we safe here?¡± Charlie comes running and puts his arms around me, he looks at the detective ¡°How did this happen? Do we know who is doing it?¡± Detective Blossom looks at both of us. Looks like he has more bad news and hesitates. ¡°Umm, look guys I am really sorry, but I have a warrant to search your property¡±. I started to cry, oh my god I thought they think we killed these people. Jack handed the letter to Charlie and made us move a side while the deputies and detective Blossom went through the house, the garage, the cellar, the back yard and the shed. After at least what seemed like most of the day, Jack comes back to us to say he is sorry and hates doing this but he has to look at everyone around the surrounding areas.


    Charlie seemed very calm and unbothered by all this, he went and got me a cup of tea to try to calm me down and kept rubbing Arthur¡¯s belly. When everyone had finished, Charlie walked up to Jack ¡°Detective¡­ Found anything?¡± Jack smiled softly ¡°No, I knew we wouldn¡¯t have any issues here but unfortunately we have to follow protocol; I hope you two have a nice rest of the day¡± and left closing the door behind him.


    Charlie was watching them leave then turned to me ¡°Are you alright honey? Do you want anything?¡± I just looked at him and said ¡°What on earth did they think they were going to find? I mean honestly do they really thing we could have done anything like that?¡± Charlie smiled, came across to where I was sitting to hold my hand ¡°Honey they were just doing their jobs, we can¡¯t really be upset for that, I am sure we weren¡¯t the only house they have gone to look at plus we have nothing to hide¡±. He said it with a proud smile ¡°why don¡¯t you take Arthur and go for a walk, somewhere away from that murder site, clear your head¡±. I nodded went for a walk on the other side of the woods.


    Charlie watched me until I got to the woods, he was smiling and waving. Once he couldn¡¯t see me anymore, he walked down the cellar stairs and looked around to see if anything was moved near the wines. It looked like a few bottles were removed but that¡¯s it. Charlie walked up to the special wine rack/door opened it and put the pin to unlock the second door. He grabbed the box with the bloody glove and the boot and walked back upstairs to our fire pit outside and burned everything. He couldn¡¯t believe that I had forgotten about the boot we found and didn¡¯t want me to remember.


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    He cleaned the box and put it back in the safe room placed it under other things, walked out of the safe locked the door and walked back upstairs to start dinner. I came back a few hours later all refreshed to find he had set up a little table near the fire pit with our beautiful dinner and a couple of glasses of wine. ¡°I think you are a keeper darling; everything smells delicious¡±. He smiled as he always does with those loving eyes of his. He is my soulmate, and I am so happy that we found each other. We ate dinner next to the fire and enjoyed the warmth it was giving up. Arthur was on his back sleeping near the fire, he is a funny thing he is.


    A few weeks later we drove into town to do some shopping, parked the car near the grocery store leaving Arthur in the back sit with the windows down. It¡¯s starting to get cold now so there is no worry that he will get to hot in there. Walking the isles, we heard people talking about the murders and what the police are saying happened, apparently, they think we have a possible serial killer in town and are looking at all newcomers including any surrounding towns. Charlie and I walked to the checkout where Sandy¡¯s sister worked, she looked so sad, I smiled and said ¡°Are you ok Helen? Is there anything we can do for you or your family?¡± She put on a small smile ¡°Hi Mr. and Mrs. Smith, no thank you, there is really nothing to be done, we are just waiting for the sheriff¡¯s office to find the person who is doing this before they kill anyone else.¡± Poor thing, I thought, I hope they find who is doing this.


    Driving home I turn to Charlie ¡°Honey do you think we will be ok, is our home safe?¡± He looked at me with that smile ¡°Babe we are safe, there is nothing to worry about, you have Arthur and me to look after you. We won''t leave you¡±. He made me feel safe.


    Once we got home, I decided to put on a warm jacket and take Arthur for a walk before dinner. I headed toward the woods, Arthur followed closely, the smell of the grass, trees and flowers in the air made me so happy. Walking through the trees we could hear voices, laughter and yelling. Arthur and I walk closer to where the voices were to listen in, there was three men around a campfire. They were drinking and making fun of photos one of them had. I tried to get closer but the branches under me cracked and the men turned around and found me in the bushes. They grabbed me and wanted to know what I was doing; I could see Arthur looking at me from the other side of the bush and I just shook my head for him to stay put. I looked up at the men ¡°What are you doing here, this is private property, this is not a public area?¡± They laughed while imitating what I was saying then one of them grabbed my arm ¡°What are you doing here on your own, don¡¯t you know there is a murderer in town, or do you think you''re safe?¡± I got out of his grip and stood up ¡°you guys shouldn¡¯t be here, I told you this is private property, get off my property¡±. They laughed and started towards me, I yelled for Arthur, and he came running out of the bushes charging at the men. One of men hit me in the stomach and I went down passing out with the pain.


    I heard my name ¡°Bella? Are you ok?¡± I could feel Arthur licking my face too. I slowly opened my eyes, realizing I was in laying in my bed with Arthur next to me, looking up I saw Charlie smile at me and Detective Blossom next to him ¡°Are you ok Bella?¡± he said. Charlie said, ¡°Hi honey how are you feeling?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what had happened, why I was lying in bed, I couldn¡¯t remember anything ¡°I¡¯m ok I think, what happened, I don¡¯t remember anything?¡± Detective Blossom started with ¡°What is the last think you remember? How did you get away? Do you remember who did it?¡± I looked at them confused ¡°I am not sure what you are talking about, I went for a walk with Arthur, fell and passed out¡±. Detective replied, ¡°Bella you were found not far from a camp site¡± ¡°What?¡± I said confused ¡°what camp site? I was in the woods walking, there wasn''t any camp sites¡±. Charlie smiled ¡°Jack, I think we should let her rest and I will bring Bella to the office in the morning, is that ok?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± he said, ¡°Bella you need to rest and tomorrow we will go through what you remember, is that ok?¡± I nodded.


    The next morning Charlie drove me to the station so I could make a statement¡­ About my walk, I honestly don¡¯t know what is going on or what else I would possibly remember about my walk, I am sure I will find out what¡¯s going out soon.


    I was taken through to an interview room for questioning, I sat down across from Detective Blossom, and he started ¡°What do you remember from your walk?¡± I sighed ¡°We got home from the store and I decided to take Arthur for a walk before dinner, I remember walking through the woods and¡­. And¡­. I woke up in bed. Now is someone going to tell me what is going on?¡± Detective Blossom took in a deep breath and took out some photos, laid them in front of me. Oh my god I thought, what the hell am I looking up ¡°what is this? How many bodies? I was near that?¡± I started to cry when Charlie came running to me and put his arm around me. Detective Blossom looked at me with a gentle smile ¡°They were camping illegally on your property, looks like someone attacked them, cut up the bodies and burned them in the firepit. We found you a hundred meters from the scene, do you remember anything or those guys, anything at all?¡±. Charlie moved the pictures away from me, I couldn¡¯t stop my tears, I was horrified. ¡°I could have been one of those victims!¡± I said, ¡°I could have been killed¡±. Detective Blossom put the pictures away ¡°I am glad you are safe Bella but are you sure you don¡¯t remember seeing anything, anyone, at all?¡± I just shook my head. ¡°Jack¡± Charlie said, ¡°Can I take her home?¡± He nodded ¡°Please make sure you call me if you remember anything, we want to get this son of a bitch¡±.


    On the drive home Charlie asked ¡°are you ok Babe? Want me get you anything while we are out?¡±. I just looked out the window ¡°No, I just want to go home and have a look at our cameras. I want to see if we can see anyone or anything really that would help me remember something¡±. Charlie held my hand and smiled ¡°ok¡± he said, ¡°let¡¯s go home and look through some camera footage¡±. We got home and went straight to the computer, it was off. All the screens were black. Charlie Looked at me ¡°Oh shit there must have been an outage while we were out, let me see if I can restart it, hopefully nothing was deleted¡±. Charlie started up the computer, but everything was blank, nothing, footage was not there. ¡°Ok baby I am so sorry it looks like the footage is gone. Maybe a cut of tea will help you remember, what do you say?¡± I smiled and nodded; I would love a cup of tea I thought but still annoyed that there was nothing for us to look at.


    Next morning Charlie had breakfast ready for me while I was having a shower. I came down to the smell of banana pancakes with maple syrup, oh my god I thought, this man knows my weakness. Charlie started ¡°how did you sleep baby?¡± I looked up from my delicious pancakes ¡°okay I guess, kept remembering those photos Jack put in front of me¡±. ¡°Yes, they weren¡¯t the nicest thing, did you want to go for a walk this morning, see if we can find anything that will help you remember?¡± I thought for a second and agreed ¡°yes we really should, maybe I saw the killer before I blacked out or something in the area may trigger a memory¡±. Charlie and I finished our coffees and breakfast and dressed up for our walk.


    We walked around the area where the bodies were found, nothing¡­. I walked up to the firepit, memories flooded in¡­ ¡°I¡­. I¡­. Oh my god¡­. I remember something. I took their limbs off¡­. I don¡¯t understand¡­.¡± I sat on the ground looking at Charlie, he smiled and came to sit next to me ¡°It¡¯s going to be ok babe¡±.

 Secrets

    We walked home without saying a word, Arthur would run around us with no care in the world. I loved that dog I thought. When we got home, I looked at Charlie and told him I was going to have a rest, I felt so tired.  I went straight to bed; I didn''t wake up till the next day.


    Next morning, I got up and could smell fresh coffee, toast and bacon "MMmmm" I said "I would love a cup of coffee". Charlie smiled and pored me a cup "there you go, how did you sleep?" I took a sip and said "I slept like a baby, wow I don''t remember what we did last night but must have been something tiering" I said with a huge smile. He looked at me surprised and said "You don''t remember anything, us in the forest, looking at the site where the bodies were found?" I thought for a moment "I really don''t remember anything; did we find anything?" He just shook his head and put a plate of food in front of me. God I was so hungry. He asked "What would you like to do today? Go for a walk, gardening, reading or maybe do some shopping?" I told him I would stay in today and relax near the fire, maybe read a book. He nodded "Ok well if that''s the case I will go in town and get us some supplies and some wine, maybe?" "Oh yes please, can you see if you can get my favorite red?" He smiled as he walked out the door and said "I will and I am taking Arthur, ok?" "Ok darling, enjoy" I said and went to have a shower.


    After my shower, I put on some comfy pants and t-shirt and laid on the couch for a little bit and thought about Charlie, and how I really made him believe I had forgotten the previous night. I laughed to myself and thought well it''s not the first time I convinced him I had amnesia and laughed even louder. Those poor idiots in the forest, that was fun I thought, I loved it when there are a few of them. Not like that young couple who thought they could make me feel sorry for them, I mean honestly... Please don''t kill me I have a baby on the way, please let us go we won''t say anything, please kill me and not my wife.... What a bunch of weaklings did they honestly think any of it would work? That I would feel sorry for them, how pathetic. Then that stupid bitch Sandy, now that was the most satisfying thing ever, I mean she laughed, cried, screamed, tried to run away and broke her leg....... I started laughing so loud that I didn''t hear Charlie and Arthur come home "What''s so funny?" Arthur asked, "I was thinking of the time we watched Arthur trying to run after that rat and tripped over his feet, I love remembering all the silly things he does" He laughed, and I thought to myself what a great save that was, while giggling to myself.


    The next morning, we decided to take a drive to the next town, we wanted to see if we could find some new plants and vegetable seedlings to plant at home. I was walking down the seedling isle when I accidentally bumped into a really stocky guy, six foot tall, bold, muscular and as I was falling, I noticed his arms oh wow he had huge muscles, his jaw was so perfectly Chiseled. I realized he had caught me "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I looked up at him, embarrassed I pushed him away and apologised for bumping into him started walking away looking for Charlie when I turned a few corners that guy was there again, what was it with this guy I thought. "Hi, miss I just want to make sure you were ok" I looked and saw Charlie behind him walking towards us "Hi darling did you find any seedlings?" And he noticed the big man trying to talk to me "Can we help you?" the big, gorgeous man said, "Hi I''m Mikael, I accidentally bumped into your wife and just wanted to make sure she was alright". "Honey" Charlie said looking at me up and down "Are you ok?" I was so embarrassed I said very quickly "I''m fine, I was walking down the aisle in a hurry and didn''t notice the guy standing there I ran into him, I nearly fell but he caught me". Charlie turned to Mikael and thanked him "thank you so much for saving her, she can be a little clumsy" Mikael smiled and said "Anytime" shook Charlie''s hand and left. Charlie and I went back to the seedling isle and picked a few we liked, paid for them started walking towards the car when I noticed Mikael sitting in his car looking at us. I didn''t say anything to Charlie and kept walking to our ute where Arthur was waiting "Hi boy" I said "Want to go for a walk?" He looked so excited, we put all the plants in the back and took Arthur down the road to the nearby park. There I sat on the bench and watch Charlie and Arthur run around like two idiots.


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    As we are driving home, I noticed that Mikael''s car was following us in the distance. I kept an eye on the car, he was far enough that no normal person wouldn''t notice that they were being followed but I did, I noticed. As we drove down our street and then our long driveway Mikael''s car continued straight, he wasn''t following anymore. I thought to myself that maybe I was just being paranoid, maybe it wasn''t him at all, maybe it was just a stranger going the same way, we are not the only people that live in the area I laughed at myself.


    As Charlie was cooking us dinner, I went to take a shower, I turned the hot water on and stepped into the running water. All I could think about was Mikael, his strong hard body, the sweet smell of his cologne, his strong arms around me, I shook my head and thought nothing more of it that night. In the morning I got up before Charlie and took Arthur for an early walk, the sun was just picking through the clouds, the smell of morning dew, ah I thought, I love early mornings. Arthur was running so far that at one stage I couldn''t see him "Arthur, back" I yelled. I heard him running back to me, but he had someone with him, I couldn''t tell who it was at first, but I quickly realized it was him! It was Mikael. "What are you doing around here? Don''t you know this is private property?" He laughed "I was out exercising, well went out for a run and didn''t realised how far I had gone, I''m sorry". I grabbed Arthur "you are lucky he didn''t attack you; he doesn''t like creepy men". Mikael smiled "he isn''t that bad" as he kneeled down and started to pat Arthur "He is actually a beautiful and smart dog". I couldn''t believe it, Arthur was letting the man near him, he looked happy and excited. What the hell is going on, I thought. "Do you live around here; I don''t think I have ever seen you in town before" I said looking at him "Or are you just passing through?" He kept patting Arthur and said, "I just moved here a couple of weeks ago, down the road actually, the Brown''s house". I didn''t know they had sold their house, let alone had it for sale "Did the Brown''s move out of town? I didn''t know they were selling?" He stood up smiled at me and said, "They did it privately, I was looking for a house and a friend of mine told me he knew people that were looking to sell and move so I contacted them and bought the house". He smiled again and winked "I guess I will be your new Neighbour; I will see you around", and he ran off back in the direction he came. That night I had a real vivid dream about the gorgeous Mikael.


    Two days later we took a drive into town to grab a coffee and cake, we sat in the only cafe in town and did some people watched. As I am drinking my coffee, I see Inspector Blossom walking towards us like he was on a mission. "Hi Inspector, want to join us for a coffee". He stopped in front of us and said, "No thank you, I need to talk to you two regarding a couple of bodies we found in the river last night". Charlie looked at me and looked back at the inspector "bodies, not again, do we know who they are?" He shook his head "we have no idea; the bodies are in terrible condition". "Not again" I said with a surprised look, I thought to myself for a minute whether I really had forgotten that killed someone else, but I was certain I didn''t, it wasn''t me I thought. "Inspector how can we help?" Charlie said. "I am talking to everyone; I want to know if anyone is missing or if we have any new tourists in town that I don''t know off." Charlie shook his head "We don''t really talk to people much and we haven''t seen anyone new around, have we darling?" I thought for a second and shook my head "no, not that I can remember?" The inspector smiled and simply said "If you hear anything let me know" and he went to the next table asking the same questions. I looked at Charlie as he was looking at me "I love this cake" I said, "I should try to make it at home" and just kept eating my cake pretended I wasn''t thinking.


    All I could think about on our way home was that there was someone else out there like me, someone else was killing people, how can this be, how have I not...... And it hit me. Mikael! Oh my god could he be like me but who did he kill? There is no one missing in town! And I thought did the Browns really leave town? Were the bodies found in the river theirs? I started to get excited just the thought of having another one of me around.