Danny: Part Five

~ beetleypete

This is the fifth part of a fiction serial, in 808 words.

I had to admit, granny’s confession had surprised me. So Eve had been up to something on Sundays? That might have explained why she wasn’t so interested in sex with me after such a short time of being married. Still, that made me feel even better about killing her. I might find out who she had been seeing, and if I did, they would pay for that infidelity.

On the drive home, it occurred to me that I could get time off work. After all, my wife was dead, and that would entitle me to some sort of absence. I pulled into the big McDonald’s on the ring road, and got a meal to eat in. I rang my boss at home, and told him the news. He sounded really upset, even though he didn’t really know Eve. Him and his wife had been invited to the evening reception when we got married, but had declined because of a previous commitment.

Tony was very good about things. “Take as much time as you need, Daniel. It won’t count against your leave, just let me know how you are, and come back when you feel up to it”.

Daniel again. I had given up telling him to call me Danny.

Delivery logistics wasn’t a very sexy career, but it paid well, and I was good at it. I had been at the same company since leaving school ten years earlier, and two years ago I had been promoted to departmental manager. I liked being good at it, and finding it easy to do. As far as I was concerned, I would stay there until I retired.

As I sat finishing my milkshake, I thought I should probably tell Eve’s friends. Most of them were just names I had never met, but a couple of them had come to the house when we moved in, and I remembered one was Fiona. They would all be on her phone, which was still in her handbag in the house. I knew her passcode, as I had been in the phone shop with her when she upgraded. It was her granny’s birthday.

Fiona screamed so loud when I told her, I thought my ear would explode. Then she started sobbing theatrically, so her boyfriend took the phone off of her. “Sorry mate, she’s too upset to talk now. She will let the others know, and don’t forget to let us know about the funeral”.

As I suspected, the cops were not finished with me. I had to go in and make a statement, answer the same questions all over again, and agree that I had no plans to leave the country. The po-faced female detective gave me a stare like a snake in a tank. “It’s not that we suspect you or anything, but you have to be aware that in most cases like this, the possibility of domestic violence has to be ruled out”. To show willing, I declined a solicitor, and agreed to both a DNA swab and fingerprints. That seemed to impress her.

“Thank you, we will be in touch”.

For the next couple of days, I boxed up all of Eve’s clothes, handbags, and shoes. Once the dust had settled, I would take them all to a charity shop. I rang the car company about her car, and they agreed to take it back for a finance settlement fee of five hundred quid. I paid over the phone, and they said they would be there the next day to collect it. I cancelled her car insurance while I was at it, and informed the mortgage company. We had both taken out life insurance when we bought the house, and both made wills leaving everything to each other. They said I would need to send in the death certificate when I had it, and then they would pay off the mortgage.

I tried cancelling her credit card and bank account, but they said I would have to come in with the death certificate and see someone.

Then I sat down one afternoon and went through her phone. Most of it was the usual stuff. Calls to the hairdresser, the gym, and various friends and colleagues. The text messages were more interesting though. A number with no name or identity, but full of arrangements and dates. I checked the calendar. They were all Sundays. Whoever was sending the replies signed off with a ‘J’, and three kisses. It only took me seconds to work out that was one of the partners at the law firm she worked for, Julian.

I had only met him once, at a company dinner. I reckoned he must have been at least sixty, but he was fit and tanned, with shiny white teeth and cropped grey hair.

He went straight in as my number one suspect.

35 thoughts on “Danny: Part Five”

    1. I never worked in Delivery Logistics, Elizabeth. I was a food and bread salesman for some years which involved merchandising and delivery, but mainly an EMT before working for the police. My stepson actually works in delivery logistics, (planning loads and locations for truck deliveries for a food company) and that gave me the idea. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. Julian “Don’t call Me Jules” meet Daniel “Don’t call me Danny.” Julian’s days are numbered. I wonder if he’ll make it to Eve’s funeral first.😉

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  12. (1) “I might find out who she had been seeing, and if I did, they would pay for that infidelity.” In Fidelity, Illinois? That’s a long way to travel to make a payment!
    (2a) “After all, my wife was dead, and that would entitle me to some sort of absence.” It also entitles Eve to some sort of absence.
    (2b) Sometimes, the dearly departed hang around as ghosts. So have they really departed?
    (3) Bad citation: “I rang my boss at home, and told him the news. He sounded really upset, even though he didn’t really know Eve, at least not in the biblical sense.”
    (4) Tony let Danny have some days off:
    ♬ But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
    ♬ Or all the valley’s hushed and white with snow
    ♬ ‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
    ♬ O Daniel boy, O Daniel boy, I love your full name so!
    (5) Bad citation: “Fiona screamed so loud when I told her, I thought my ear would explode. Then she started sobbing theatrically, so her boyfriend, Shrek, took the phone off of her.”
    (6) A snake in a tank once dared to stare at Brad Pitt. That made the tank commander Fury-ous.
    (7) Danny dusted off Eve’s clothes, handbags, and shoes. Once the dust had settled on the floor, he took everything to a charity shop.
    (8) Eve kept a Julian calendar to keep track of her Sunday outings.

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