When I stepped through the front door, I wasn’t expecting confrontation of any kind. No one knew what had occurred between me leaving the house and returning, so why would anyone question anything? Of course, as I confidently walked into the house, pretending that everything was fine, that nothing was different, or strange, I was unaware of the blood I had missed.
“Peter? Why is there blood on your cheek?” My wife, Rebecca, asked. When I frowned, and reached up to my face, she gestured towards the cheek the smear of blood must’ve been on.
“Um, I had a nosebleed. Must’ve missed a spot.”
“But you never get nosebleeds. What happened?” She asked, dampening a tea towel in the kitchen sink as I sat down at the table. She used the towel to gently wipe the blood from my face. If only she knew, she wouldn’t be as gentle, nor as caring.
“I don’t know, I was just leaving work and felt my nose running, and wiped it, and there was blood there.” My lie was terrible, but Rebecca had no reason not to trust me. That was the best part about the marriage. She loved me entirely, she had no reason not to believe I didn’t love her back. She would defend me with her whole heart. She was the greatest alibi I could ever ask for.
“That’s so strange.” She grabbed my chin gently, and moved my head to the side. “I think it’s all gone now. Do you want a drink? I was just putting dinner on, but it’ll be a while still.”
“No, thanks. I still have some work I need to finish up on the computer. I won’t be long.” I rose from the chair, and kissed her on the cheek, the kind of gesture a husband who loved his wife would do. It made her smile, so I presumed she suspected nothing. What did she have to suspect? I had given her no inkling that we weren’t just a regular couple, and I didn’t have a regular office job.
I shut the office door behind me, and turned on my computer. Rebecca used the office during the day, but I had never told her the password to my computer, never given her a way to unlock it. I had passwords on every file, every folder, and every single one of them was different. If she managed to get into anything, it would be either a miracle from God, or a devious intervention from the Devil.
I opened the file so cleverly titled ‘work projects’, and then double tapped on the file titled with today’s date. Another password, this time one I hadn’t personally set. I typed in the name ‘Daniel Gussier’, and the file popped open with a picture of Daniel, and a form. Forms were the bane of my existence. Sometimes, it felt like I really was working an office job.
First question – alive or deceased? Then method of death. Time of death. Body location. Body disposed of? Space for a write up report of the exact actions I took to remove Daniel Gussier from this world. Any witnesses? The questions went on and on.
“I know you said you didn’t want a drink, but I made you a hot chocolate anyway. You looked like you needed one,” Rebecca walked into the office, and leant over me to set a mug down on the desk next to me. I paused my typing, fully expecting the next question. “Any witnesses? What kind of form are you filling out?”
“It’s something to do with a deal we signed at work. The boss always wants to know who was present when it was signed in case the other company decides to try and lie about what was said when we signed.” She had never come into the office while I was doing the forms before. Why today, after I had already walked in with blood on my face?
“Oh. That seems like a waste of time, aren’t deals and things usually written out and signed? And everyone has a copy for future reference?”
“Yes, but my boss is paranoid. It’s easier just to fill in the form and be done with it than question it.” Why wouldn’t she just go away? She was a wonderful alibi, sure, but she was the most annoying one I had ever had. It would be so simple to shut her up, but I needed her still. There was a big job coming up, one that I had to collaborate with two others on, and I needed all the cover I could get. Time of death would be set up to happen at 5:43pm, by which time I would be home with Rebecca, probably eating dinner. I didn’t trust the other two I would be working with, so, for now, Rebecca had to remain.
“That sounds so annoying.” She kissed the top of my head. “I have to go and check on dinner, it shouldn’t be too much longer now.” She left the door open when she walked out of the room, and I instantly got up to close it. That was too close for comfort. Much too close. I would have to do something to get her to back off for a bit. Stage an argument, make it so she doesn’t want to talk to me for a few days. She would still cover for me if the police came sniffing around, even if we were having a ‘lover’s spat’.
I sat back down, and moved onto the next section of the form. The date, time, and place of where I had to go to collect payment had been listed, and I typed ‘agree’ in the appropriate box. The details for payment collection changed every time, most likely to make sure the entire operation remained undercover, but sometimes it seemed like they only did it to make sure we read and filled out the entire form. If it weren’t such good money, I might quit and move to an office job. The forms were probably easier, and took less time to fill out. The ones I had to do? You might go as far as to call them ‘deathly’ boring.
“Dinner’s ready!” Rebecca called from the other room, and I quickly finished typing in the last box, before saving the document. The boss had access to it, so the second I saved it, they would have a notification that another job had been carried out successfully. For me, though, I had to go and play the part of husband.
For the time being, that is.
Until Rebecca ceases to be any use to me.
And done!
I may or may not have written this entire thing mere minutes ago. I may be completely behind on Spooky Season Week, and am trying desperately to get every post done before they actually have to go out. Ahh!
Anyway, that's all for now...
Bye!
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