My loss

As the garden became a cold white carpet and the trees battled with the ice wind, I stirred my hot chocolate grateful that today I’m at home. After all my stress headaches of the last month, things need to get better.  How can they though?  Things will never be the same ever again.  Losing Sophia was a tragedy, I can’t leave the house., my feeling of loss is too much.  Too tied up in my lake of tears, I can’t continue anymore.  Comfort eating, I’m getting chocolate delivered, my tyre is steadily growing around my waist, but doesn’t give me a headache like alcohol.

So, what happened? Sophia was my best friend, my confidant.  I’ve known her all thirty years of my life. It had always been Sophia and Emily, and now I’m alone. The night her mum phoned me sobbing, my world ended. We said we would be sisters forever, but now someone had killed her.  Seeing her face on the news was devastating but worse her killer is still out there.  How am I supposed to get through this?  The cold wet snow fits my mood.

Hearing my mobile buzz, I knew who it was, Weezley Wayne was not someone I want to talk to.  The day Sophia told me about him, she spoke as if he was the one.   I’d never trusted him, I thought she deserved better. The police had interviewed him as a suspect, but had then let him go.

Terry

With everything that has happened, he was struggling to focus on his work.  Fixing cars was all he wanted to do,  but the events of the last few weeks had changed things, maybe forever.  Sophia was dead, a special lady now gone.  Their small group was broken, Wayne was not taking calls and he didn’t want to see the others. A murdered girlfriend changes a man, Terry didn’t know how to help him.

Watching the news reports, Terry had his suspicions, tonight he would begin his own investigation and the Red Griffin would be the start.

The Red Griffin

Once a place for families, new ownership meant it was the roughest place in the city.  All the gangs meet there and fights are frequent. There is talk of the council closing it, but its just talk.

As Terry arrived, snow was falling thick and fast, a stabbing pain went through his chest, was the murderer in the pub?  Ordering a beer he gasped as it seared his throat on the way down. Needing courage, he ordered another.  Watching the ‘Blue Cobras’ arrive, he ordered a shot of whisky. Listening to them laughing he realised he needed to slow down on the drink.

The reputation of the ‘Cobras’ was that they were the toughest brutes in the city.  It was just a few weeks ago that Wayne angered their gang leader. He knew they were likely to be the murderer.  Stories about them, made others run away from them.  Wayne had instigated a fight, he had suffered threats and a broken arm.  Terry knew they had to be the perpetrators.

The bell ringing last orders signalled time to finish his drink and grab his jacket.  Watching the gang leave, he wondered what he was doing.  He had no fighting skills so if they caught him, things would not go well.

Following at a distance he could hear their screams and shouts.  Full of beer and confidence, nothing was getting in their way.  On reaching the deserted scrapyard Terry was surprised to see them climb over the high metal fence. This was surely not a meeting place but there they were. Deciding that following them would not be wise, he pulled out his phone and sent a message, hesitating, he heard a loud scream as his head suddenly hurt and the world went black.

Evening

It had been a long day of eating chocolate and depression.  As I was considering giving up and going to bed, I heard my phone. Checking my messages I saw it was Terry, it read,

“At Bridgeport scrap yard, followed the ‘Blue Cobra’ gang from the ‘Red Griffin’ pub, I think they know who killed Sophia.”

I messaged back,

“Terry be careful, don’t be stupid”.  I felt sick, what if they had killed Sophia? Terry could be next and now he was not responding.

Not sure what to do, I dialled 999.

The ‘Blue Cobra’ gang

Under the police radar, Detective Inspector Mills was desperate to find something to bring the ‘Cobra’s’ to justice.  They were wanted for crimes but there was never enough incriminating evidence.  As his police mobile rang, he took a deep breath, looking at his beautiful wife Miranda sleeping soundly, he knew she would be waking alone again.

News on the ‘Blue Cobra’s in the scrapyard filled him with excitement, then the news of something maybe happening to Terry, nausea swept over him. Holding his head, he hoped tonight they would finally be able to lock them away.

A while later he arrived at the yard, nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.  As the snow was steadily falling on the scene, it should have been calm.  Instead it was the shouting of police officers and gang members being handcuffed.  A tall brown-haired man lay outside in a lake of blood, he presumed this was Terry . He wasn’t prepared for the two further bodies, this was it they were going down for years.

As the officers investigated, they found Wayne, dead, linking the gang to Sophia. However, the evidence still didn’t add up.  Why was Sophia not found in the scrapyard? And who whacked Terry?  The gang were denying knowledge of killing Wayne, the other was a dead gang member found in the yard office, there was more to this case.

Emily

So here I am, a week later, the police have been here again.  I’m angry with myself for ignoring Wayne and now him and Terry are dead.  As the police and forensics further checked the yard more information came to light as it always did.

Sophia and I didn’t know much about Wayne and this now proved it.  It was found that the gang had killed a fellow “Cobra” but they were innocent of the other murders, Wayne we have learnt was married, and his wife has a psychotic brother called Mark.  The brother killed the lover Sophia, and then Wayne. Terry its assumed got in the way, Mark didn’t want him entering the scrapyard and finding Wayne.  He didn’t count on Terry messaging me before he was killed.

The snow is now clearing and my garden no longer looks like a picture postcard.  I’m never going to forget Sophia and one day things may seem better.  They say time heals, I’m not so sure, but I’m glad that her murderer is being brought to justice.  I regret not talking to Wayne, maybe he had already worked it out before he was killed, I will never know.  For now, I need to get myself off my settee, put on my warm coat, scarf and hat and go for a walk, I need to get on with my life, despite my loss, a day at a time which is all I can do.

Written for Writers Unite! photo prompt

For more see, My new old bike a murder and gratitude