Layers of Deceit, page 27
Rejoining Craig in the lounge, I said nervously, ‘Do you mind switching that off for a moment?’ My question triggered a sudden look of concern from Craig, and I tried to smile, but I knew my face probably looked strained.
‘What’s the matter? Are you OK? Have you got another bad headache?’ asked Craig. His mood had suddenly dipped, and I realised my body language was telegraphing my anxiety.
‘My head’s fine. I just want to chat to you about something. Fancy trying another one of our presents?’ Cyril had generously ordered a mixed case of wine for us, and such was my surprise, that I had initially argued with the delivery driver that he must have got the wrong house.
‘I thought you’d never ask!’ said Craig. ‘I know I’m almost tee-total, but I’ll make an exception tonight.’
I brought the drinks and sat opposite Craig. ‘So, what’s worrying you because something obviously is?’ he said.
‘Can we pretend it’s 2020?’ I said, observing his reaction.
Craig frowned. ‘You want to skip three months and pretend it’s next year?’
‘Yes. That’s right. What’s special about 2020?’
Craig thought for a few moments. ‘The Olympics?’
‘Well, yes, but what else?’
‘Euro 2020? Don’t tell me you’ve bought me tickets for the final?’ he exclaimed.
‘Er, sorry, no. I just mean what’s special about 2020? Oh, I’ve already said that. I mean the numbers 2020.’
‘I’m not doing very well on this quiz. Don’t sign me up for The Chase!’
‘Shall I tell you?’
‘You’ll have to,’ said Craig.
‘It’s a leap year.’
‘Oh, so it is!’ Craig replied, deep in thought.
I waited so see whether Craig could work out what I was about to ask and a smile started to play on his lips. Before I could lose what little courage I had, I blurted it out. ‘Craig, will you marry me?’
Craig smiled. ‘Oh, Sarah. What? Oh, my God!’ Craig rubbed his hand over his hair in his usual way. He jumped out of his seat and came over to hug me. ‘If you are sure, I’d be delighted to marry you. Now, will you please come and sit next to me, I feel awfully lonely.’
Epilogue
Three days later
After my shock proposal, we spent the weekend discussing how we wanted to tie the knot and possible dates. Summer was our preferred time, but we wanted to leave it until after Micky had sat his final exams. By then it would be eighteen months since David’s death, so I didn’t feel I was breaching etiquette by marrying again too soon. We planned to look for a local venue suitable for a small number of guests, probably around twenty to thirty.
So far, we hadn’t told anyone else. Craig wanted to tell Micky first, then his brother, Andy. I didn’t have any close relatives, and apart from Laura and Katy, I couldn’t think of anyone I wanted to invite. We hadn’t discussed whether to include Cyril in our celebrations.
I was writing an article on vaccines for Craig’s UnravelChem blog when Katy phoned.
‘Hi, Sarah? I hope I’m not disturbing you?’
‘No, of course, not. It’s nice to hear from you. How are things with you?’
‘Oh, it’s the usual depressing catalogue of violent and antisocial behaviour. No big drugs cases recently, which is a pleasant change. Thankfully, though we are managing to arrest a reasonable number of bastards.’
‘That’s good,’ I replied. It was unusual to hear Katy speak of criminals like that, and she sounded rather down.
‘Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’ve submitted all the information to the CPS for gross negligence manslaughter against Abigail. We are awaiting their decision.’
‘Oh, dear,’ I replied.
‘I keep changing my mind on whether a jury would convict Abigail. Today, I feel the case won’t be successful. There are mitigating circumstances, it was an unforeseen situation, and Hanson may well have died instantly. Although she acted foolishly and irresponsibly, a defence barrister would argue that she panicked, and her judgment was clouded because of Joshua’s hostility towards her.’
‘Well, I have to agree. I don’t believe Abigail pushed Joshua. It was just one of those freak incidents, but all the same, she didn’t act professionally, or compassionately.’ The memory of our emotional interview with Abigail was still very vivid, and when I wasn’t busy, sections of it kept replaying through my mind. I hoped that if I were ever in a similar situation, I would act responsibly.
‘There’s something else. I heard through the system that Hanson’s parents have decided to pursue a civil claim against Abigail for negligence because she didn’t call for an ambulance. I always thought this would be the most likely outcome,’ said Katy.
‘Oh, I see. Do you think it will be successful?’
‘I’ve no idea, but they must have a reasonable chance. Unless of course, they’ve had poor advice. I would hope that they’ve done some research on it.’
‘Oh, dear,’ I sighed. ‘Well, I suppose it’s their right. I don’t know what I would do under the circumstances.’
‘Nor me. It may help them to get closure. On the other hand, it just prolongs their agony.’
‘Well, thanks for letting me know. I don’t suppose you’ve spoken to Abigail recently. Are you allowed to?’ I added.
‘No, I’ve not spoken to Abigail since I interviewed her. She’s missing.’
‘Missing?’
‘Her husband reported her missing yesterday. She told him she was going to her parents on Saturday and staying overnight. She didn’t return home yesterday, nor did she visit her parents.’
‘Oh, God,’ I murmured.
‘Yes. It’s worrying,’ said Katy. ‘She’s an adult, so it’s not a priority until she’s been missing for a bit longer. Her husband has contacted everyone he can think of.’
‘It’s dreadful for him,’ I murmured.
‘Yes, she’s been under a lot of pressure, so perhaps she just wanted some time on her own to think things through. People often turn up after a few days, but sometimes they don’t, and well, you know what that can mean.’
THE END
Author’s note
Layers of Deceit is entirely a work of fiction, and a sequel to Waves of Guilt and is set around my home town of Broadstairs. I feel so lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful part of the UK, and I want to showcase its lovely features. Each day, I take a walk by the sea and never fail to appreciate the open space almost on my doorstep. The stretch of coastline between Ramsgate and Broadstairs is known as Dumpton Gap. In this book, some of the places, street names and businesses are real, but others are fictitious for the benefit of the story. QexChem is a fictitious pharmaceutical company, as are the events surrounding it. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
As in Waves of Guilt, one thread of the story concerns events at a pharmaceutical company. From working in that particular scientific field, I know that many published papers are often not reproducible. Such is the drive to publish that people may be tempted to embellish or fabricate results, resulting in a lot of wasted time and effort for the person trying to replicate the experiments, not to mention the danger in misleading the scientific community.
Once again, thanks to my sister-in-law Deborah for meticulous proofreading. As ever, thanks to my husband Jonathan for your love, support and encouragement and our frequent discussions about my fictional world. This story has changed so much and hopefully, for the better, from my initial ideas. You are so good at spotting flaws or inconsistencies. Like Sarah, you have an eye for detail, and I appreciate your help enormously.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to download my books and to read them. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
dawnmarsanne@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter @dawn_marsanne
Also by Dawn Marsanne
The Persford Series
Adverse Reaction
Lethal Reaction
Terminal Reaction
Captive Reaction
Radical Reaction
Heartless Reaction
Standalone
A Form of Justice
Relative Error
Waves of Guilt
Layers of Deceit
Watch for more at Dawn Marsanne’s site.
About the Author
Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for almost twenty-five years I wanted to write a novel which explored some of the serious issues in the field. The reproducibility of scientific data is a common problem which has recently been highlighted in the news and this forms the basis of my first book Adverse Reaction. I particularly enjoy reading thrillers and suspense novels and I have tried to create a fast paced story which holds the reader's attention. Many of the themes of the book occur in everyday life and I have used the backdrop of research to illustrate them. There are relatively few novels which are set in the laboratory environment so I saw this as an undeveloped area but at the same time scientific details are kept to a minimum to allow the work to be accessible to readers of a non-technical background. As I finished the novel I became sufficiently interested in the characters I had created to develop them further and the six book Persford Reaction Series was born.
Since then I have written to standalone novels, A Form of Justice and Relative Error.
Waves of Guilt is the first in a new series and is now joined by a sequel, Layers of Deceit. Follow me on twitter @dawn_marsanne
Read more at Dawn Marsanne’s site.
Dawn Marsanne, Layers of Deceit
