Page 51 of Then She Vanished

He tells me I’ve been here for over two years now. This capsule is my home, and since he’s started listening to me and my needs, life is easier.

I have my books. He gets lots and lots of books for me, and I love reading so much. It takes me to places I can only imagine.

Being in solitude has made me dig deep into myself. He told me it would, and I fought it for so long. Fighting was such a waste of time. I shudder as I remember the early months, the first time he kissed me, the moment our relationship changed.

He was my captor, the man who took me, but now I knew why: he loved me and I failed to see that for a long time.

I meditate, which is what he told me to do. Sometimes, we meditate together, and I feel it, like he said I would – the deep, spiritual connection that we have.

‘Look inside yourself. You have all the answers,’ he’d say. And I believe him.

We were always meant to be.

He told me a truth; one that took me a long time to comprehend. We were together in another life. I was his one true love and he was mine. He’s lived many more lives, and sohave I, and this is the one we met again in. Once he explained everything, I knew we could never part.

I hear his voice in my head, telling me our true love story. ‘It was during the plague. We lived in a castle and I did everything I could to protect you. The disease came for us in a chest of gowns that were my gift to you, and I am sorry, my darling, my angel. I regretted that moment throughout time. Then I found you again. Fate had played its hand. When I saw you on your own that night, I recognised you straight away, and after waiting for centuries, I knew I couldn’t just let you go. You do understand, don’t you? I didn’t want to take you off the street that day, but there was no other way. I had to get you here, with me, in solitude, so you could find those memories of us again.’

And I did find them. I remember them because I lived them. I’ve always felt broken, but now, after years in this capsule, I feel whole again.

His dreams are my dreams, too, because I feel them. As long as I have him, I don’t need anyone.

Back in our previous life, we had no children; he told me that and I saw it when he helped me with my past-life regressions.

I feel tears spilling down my cheeks. As I think about our story, our lives back then, it saddens me that we did not create a life, someone who could be alive now.

I glance at the pills on the worktop. I’ve religiously taken them since I’ve been here – well apart from our first time – but now, I want to do something for him that I couldn’t do back then. What we have is precious.

I throw the pills in the bin. It’s time to start showing him how grateful I am that he found me.

‘I love you,’ I whisper, at the camera above.

THIRTY-THREE

Wednesday, 4 September

The briefing back at the station had been frustrating. Gina had hoped they’d have an address for Marie Blaine by now, but her name wasn’t coming up in any of their searches. Nothing had so far been found in Colson’s van that proved he could have attempted to kidnap Keeley Moore, either. It had been stuffed with a mattress, a travel kettle and what Keith in forensics had described as a month’s supply of dried ramen, but they were still looking.

Colson had a connection to Marie, and also a connection to Keeley through Tristan Moore – was that too much of a coincidence? And where was Marie? Gina pondered the rest of the investigation. No more information had come to light with regards to the other men Marie had dated and the interviews with the company directors had also given them nothing. One of them had to be John Doe. It was frustrating that the leads were drying up.

It was almost one thirty in the morning when Gina pulled up on her drive and stepped out.

Her security light didn’t come on.

She glanced at the other houses on her small row in the middle of the countryside, and they were all in darkness. That was to be expected.

Maybe she needed a new security light. At least she had her CCTV camera. She shuddered at the thought of the back one not being online. She needed to fix it, and soon.

Her personal phone had remained quiet for the rest of the day, but she was still going to do a search for Pete Bloxwich as soon as she got in. The number he’d messaged her on had been withheld. She was going to tell him straight that, unless he stepped back out of her life, she would forward his messages along with the dirt she had on him.

It might mean the end of her and her career, but some of those messages had been vicious. Besides, she knew he wouldn’t want everything to get out. It would ruin him, too.

They both had too much to lose, and with him being a journalist, he could easily get his side of the story out there faster than she could blink. She needed to get on top of all this before it leaked into her professional life.

One threat, and Pete would soon crawl back into his box and leave her alone.

She pulled her keys from her bag and heard a thump coming from around the back of her house. Ebony meowed and ran out of the bushes along the side of her house and Gina laughed. It was just the cat.

‘Hello, you.’ She bent down and picked Ebony up. Her cat butted its head against Gina’s chin as she placed the key in the lock and turned it.

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