Page 36 of Then She Vanished

Her personal phone beeped. She felt her hands quiver as she unlocked her phone and clicked on her emails. There were twelve, all headed up with disgusting words that made her want to throw up, but the last one made her freeze. It was from Pete.

You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you, Gina? What the hell can of worms have you opened now????

TWENTY-TWO

RUTH

The stress headache had spread across her whole face. Leaving work early had been the best thing for everyone. The leisure centre could cope without her. As she pulled up outside her house, she glanced across the road at Gary’s. He was there, staring through his window at her, slowly shaking his head. Heart pounding, she knew she had to get out of her car and hurry inside the house. He vanished from the window, which meant one thing: he was going to try to catch her in the street to talk.

He ran out of his door, towards the road. She grabbed her bag from the passenger seat, but it got caught on the handbrake. Hands shaking, she fumbled with it, but the more she tried to free it the worse it tangled up.

She flinched as Gary tapped the window.

Releasing her bag, she stepped out. ‘Leave me alone.’ She went to walk off, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around.

‘That hurt, get off me.’ She shrugged him off and gripped her bag close to her chest.

‘Sorry, that’s the last thing I wanted.’ He held his hands up. ‘I wanted to apologise for last night. I got the decree absolute.’ He began to scratch his stubble.

‘We both knew it was due.’

‘But that doesn’t make it any easier. We were married for over forty years. You were my everything, my angel, and what we went through – no other person should have to go through that. I have no one, but you seem to have shacked up with him.’

‘Why are you doing this, Gary?’

He shrugged.

‘You moved into that house so you could spy on me all day long.’

‘I did not. I love it here as much as you do. This place is where we have all our memories.’ He swallowed. ‘Mymemories. I think of our daughter playing out on this street, riding her scooter up and down. I will never leave. This isn’t all about you.’

She bit her thumbnail. ‘So why are you always looking at me through that window?’

‘I’m not looking at you.’ He paused. ‘Okay, maybe I am, a bit. Sometimes I just want to talk to you, but I can’t because you’re always with him. When we split up, do you remember what we said?’

She didn’t want this conversation. People say what they have to when it comes to ending a relationship, and she had hoped Gary would move on.

‘You said we’d still be friends, and I miss you. You’re the only person I can talk to; the only person who understands what we’ve been through.’

A tear began to drizzle down the right side of her face. She blinked to try to stop any more from emerging. ‘I can’t keep going over this. It’s killing me and you can’t keep slashing our tyres. Eric wants to call the police and I don’t want the police to be involved.’

‘Wait.’ He held one of his huge hands up and dropped it to his side. ‘I did not slash any tyres. I saw the flat and told you, that was all.’

‘You’re lying. No one around here would do that to Eric.’

‘Well, they did because it wasn’t me.’

She stared into his eyes, wondering if he was lying. She knew he could lie. ‘I could never trust you and I can’t trust you now. You’re a great liar, Gary. I should know.’

He huffed and stepped back. ‘I never lied to you, not once. All those things you accused me of, they were in your head. I guess we’ll both find out who is doing all the damage now that you have a camera.’

She turned around to see the camera pointing towards her and Gary. ‘Oh, Eric said he was installing a camera for me.’

‘Do you really think I could be that petty?’

That was a question she couldn’t answer. She had no enemies, as far as she knew. Most people really liked her. The neighbours were friendly in their close-knit community.

‘I wanted to tell you something last night, but it kept going through my head and I’d convinced myself it was stupid.’

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