Chapter 41

6th October 2015: 13:00 pm.

“Okay, so we’re all packed and ready to go.”

Will nodded his head. “Yes, we’ve spent the last two days shopping because you refuse to get anything from the house.”

I didn’t want to get into that discussion with him again. I wanted to go quickly, hoping that he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Are you sure that you want to do this?”

I asked him, staring into his eyes hoping that this wouldn’t just be a fresh start for Barbara, but for us too.

He kissed me on the forehead as we were about to check-out of the hotel. My new home for the last few days was coming to an abrupt end. Now it was Belize. Somewhere that I had gone with Ted once and didn’t want to leave. Now, it felt like the right place to make a fresh start.

That’s as much as he had been doing the last couple of days, kissing me on the forehead, even on the hand. I craved more than that, but I knew why he was keeping his distance. I had broken his heart once; he was probably scared that I would do it again.

Once bitten, twice shy.

I pressed my lips against his, and I could tell that it had taken him by surprise.

“You really shouldn’t do that.”

He was still shy and embarrassed about any type of affection, just as he used to be at college. I didn’t want to take that away from him. It made me feel as if I still knew him, even though it had been years since we had properly been in touch.

“One step at a time, Emma, okay?”

I shook my head, because I didn’t really understand. I turned to make sure that Barbara’s hand was still in mine. It was something that I did all the time. Knowing that I could see her face and hand in mine gave me the security to know that she was with me.

“Ted’s just gone and this whole thing has been one nightmare.”

I nodded. “So, I thought that we were starting again together.”

He whispered, “You didn’t even shed a tear when I told you that he was dead.”

This time we both looked to make sure that Barbara wasn’t listening. We moved to the side until we had confirmation that we could check out formally.

“It was quite unnerving, some thing told me that you were smiling,” he confessed about when he told me that he was dead.

“Yes, because he’s out of our lives for good.”

“He was your husband.”

We were moving from a whisper to a heated discussion. Will sensed it as he held on to my arms and let go again.

“No matter what, you still need time to grieve. I don’t even know if me coming is a good idea. I just decided to come, but…”

“Will, you said that you would come and help us. Can we not take this one step at a time? Your business partner’s looking after things while you’re gone. You’ve rented out your apartment. There’s nothing to stop you coming with us and then in time, if you want to, come back.”

He shrugged and a chill ran down my spine at my words. Part of me wondered who was manipulating who.

“Mrs Rogers, thanks for staying with us and have a pleasant flight,” the receptionist said as she came over.

It was then that I remembered that I hadn’t done the most important thing, the thing that I was doing before everything went up in smoke.

“Shoot, I need to log on.” I paused before we headed outside.

“Okay, we’ll be outside. I’ll load up on the taxi, but be quick, the flight’s leaving soon.”

“Yes, yes…”

I ran to the side, making sure that no one was watching me. I should have done this in the hallway liked I’d planned. I couldn’t do it in the suite. I wanted to do it in public, but when no one was around. I quickly logged on and then I wrote the message, the one that I had replayed in my mind once most of the funds were out of Ted’s business account.

Guys, I need to close for now. You guys have been stars :)

It was then that I read the messages, the ones thanking me for the information. The ones saying that they were on holiday for a long time thanks to the account details. Ted was dead and so was his business. I closed the URL and deleted all traces of my IP address as I started to reformat my hard drive. I knew that once I got to the airport, then I’d have to wipe it down and dump it somewhere. Anywhere, just so that there wouldn’t be a trace back to me.

The police in time would find information leading them to drug dealers and other illegal businesses, and it would all lead to Ted. As for my money for giving hackers the information that they needed to do it, it was nicely tied up in my Belize account. I’d told Will a little white lie, one that I would think about revealing if he ever decided to stay with us in Belize. For now, I wanted to act as if I had no money. The only money I had was Will’s and I had no access to any funds until the probate was released and the police investigation was over. Will didn’t need to know. Besides I didn’t want to think of his place, not for now. I didn’t need to, because I was rich and I wasn’t going to let the one man that I should have married get out of my reach. Not this time. As the saying goes, ‘Once bitten twice shy.’ Will had to stay with us, financially and as an emotional carer. But I needed him to be more than that. I wasn’t married any more and I was more than ready to be his wife.

The End.