“Sorry Andrew, I don’t have much time but I would love to meet your brother another day. How long is he in town for?” I said nervously, peering over to my house looking for any excuse to leave.
“No problem, honestly I hope he won’t be sticking around too long. My brother and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye. He has always been…troubled. I worry about him sometimes so it is nice that he came down to visit. Have not seen him for a little while. Marianne doesn’t like him very much either.” Andrew replied.
“Ah.. see, that is a shame. I am really sorry I must be going, I am meant to have the next chapter of my new book finished ready for the upcoming publishing date.”
“Oh, you’re publishing a new book soon? When? If you’re hosting a party or something we would love to join you in the celebration.” Andrew smiled. It almost felt like he was being genuinely supportive, It made me uncomfortable but I tried my best not to let that show.
“I’ll send you and Marianne the details. I appreciate the gesture, I will see you later yeah?” I smiled awkwardly back, trying to be polite.
I turned and walked back down his driveway and over the road to my house, staring forward and trying not to show how fucking scared I was, I am not even sure if I am convinced that Andrew’s brother was a person at all. Those eyes of glass that pierced right through me felt so intense.. Maybe Andrew isn’t the dangerous one after all.
-
I gave myself some time to ponder over what I was feeling and tried to process it all, I didn’t really know what to do. I had nothing to link Sean Smith’s disappearance to Andrew at all.. that’s if he actually did anything. Maybe he was covering for his brother this whole time or something?
I decided I needed to invite them over like Andrew suggested. A little celebration of the publication of my new novel, get a couple drinks in us and see if I can get him to slip up. We’ll keep it small so he isn’t intimidated by all of the people I’ll invite his brother and Marianne for support.. Maybe, just maybe, I could I get some sort of confession? At least find out where he moved all of his random little trinkets and knick-knacks.
I spent the passing days observing their house, I watched Andrew come and go and kept and eye out to see any sign of another person in the house, which was incredibly strange as today Marianne came back home from her trip and I never once saw Andrew with his brother.
-
I managed to time it pretty well as only a few days after Marianne had come back from her trip, I finished my novel. I couldn’t really wait too much longer as I was unsure if Andrew’s brother was still in town or not but I didn’t want to get suspiciously close to them to hint anything further to Andrew that I was still onto him.
I went around the neighbourhood to a select few people and handed out invitations, I posted 3 of them through Andrew and Marianne’s letterbox.. I was going to try and narrow down the amount of attendees as much as possible and I knew there was only one way to do that which wasn’t going to be obvious I was pinpointing my evening towards Andrew.
Kat’s Pre-Publication Celebration! Lunch and Drinks at 28 Lowe Blvd - 13th May 2022Celebrating Kat finishing her latest novel.13:00pm to 18:00pm - No Children
No kids. No kids, no parents. Most parents get pretty upset when they find out their children aren’t included and don’t attend.. I know you get the odd few who will take advantage of it and drop them off at their grandparents or get a babysitter so they can have a good night but I wasn’t betting on that happening and it turns out, I was right.
-
An elderly couple from a few doors down were the first to arrive, they came in and greeted Harry and I and congratulated me on my work. We had a quick chat about the actual publication date and I offered to make them a cup of tea. They both agreed and went to sit outside when the doorbell rang.
“Harry can you get that for me please?” I said, looking over my shoulder at him as I boiled some water. Harry nodded and opened the door.
“Howdy Neighbour!” Marianne yelled in some kind of attempt at a Southern USA accent.
I could hear Harry laugh a little and welcome them inside followed by some inaudible nattering. I turned and headed out the back towards the elderly couple sitting on one of my outdoor sofa’s and gave them their drinks, they thanked me and sat, visibly enjoying the suns rays on their faces.
I felt a comforting arm wrap around my waist. I peered over and Harry kissed me on the cheek. “Marianne has just popped back home to grab something that she forgot. Come say Hi, she won’t be a minute.” he said.
I walked through the kitchen to the front section of the house, Andrew standing there with a bottle of champagne and a small but beautiful bouquet of flowers.
“Hello Andrew” I said
“Hey Kat, I hope you are well. Congratulations.. Here, we got you these.” He smiled, handing me the items he was holding in his hands.
“Oh, thankyou. This is very sweet. You didn’t have to do this, It hasn’t even been published yet.” I said, trying to sound grateful.
“Did your brother not want to come?” I continued, looking around the entryway area to see if I could spot anyone else around.
“No. He is a bit of an introvert and doesn’t want to be around Marianne when she has been drinking, but he said for me to tell you congratulations also.” Andrew said.
Marianne pranced her way back in through the front door looking like she had already consumed half a bottle of alcohol before she got here.
“Hellooooo beautiful, it’s so good to see you!” she said, announcing her presence like she was centre stage, not really listening to the fact we were mid-conversation.
“Oh dear, okay well tell him I said thankyou. And thankyou again for the thoughtful gifts.” I paused for a second and smiled at her. “And hello to you Marianne! I hope you are well. Now that you’re here. Let’s eat, I am starving.” I continued, walking over to the kitchen with Harry, Andrew and Marianne following closely behind.
We all sat outside eating and chatting to the lovely elderly couple for some time. I actively went out of my way to continuously top-up Andrew and Marianne’s drinks. I didn’t want to make it super obvious I was trying to get them drunk but at the same time, part of me didn’t really mind because Andrew seemed to be drinking enough without my help anyway.
I thought to myself for a second. Should I really try my luck now? I should wait until the other two leave before bringing anything sensitive up, after all, I didn’t know how Andrew would react to my questions, especially since he was already aware that I suspected him for Sean’s abduction.
We continued some general chit-chat across the table for a while before the elderly couple announced their departure, they were absolutely lovely, they thanked me for having them over and made their way home.
“So, Andrew. I heard you cleaned out your room of “knick-knacks” How long did that take you?” I said with a little giggle.
“Ah, Marianne telling you everything already huh?” he replied.
“Unfortunately for you! We’re neighbours, we may as well be friends too! Come on, tell us about the collection you had. Was there any special history to any of them? You had some very interesting things in there.” I said trying to play off how nervous I was.
“Meh. Some of them did, some didn’t. Nothing too interesting.” He replied in a stern and blunt tone.
“Ah, I see… hey, now that it is just us, would you like to see if your brother wants to join us?” I responded.
Marianne turned and looked extremely confused. “Brother? What are you on about?”
Seemed like Andrew was not prepared for this at all.. his face turned white, eyes fixed forward, locked onto mine. He said nothing.
Marianne turned to Andrew and started questioning him, shouting and confused, she was quite obviously very drunk. Andrew slowly turned his head towards his wife and stood up “I’ll see if he wants to come.. I will be back soon.”
Marianne chased after him and we followed closely behind.
“Andrew!” Marianne shouted. “What is Kat talking about? You have brother?!”
He turned around and with as much force as he could, he slapped Marianne and shoved her against my car that was parked in our driveway.
“SHUT UP YOU STUPID BITCH, FUCK! YOU HAVE SUCH A LOUD MOUTH! JUST SHUT UP FOR ONCE!” Andrew screamed.
I stood there, jaw on the floor. “Harry! Call the police now!” I shouted as my husband approached to restrain Andrew. I had no words, I could not believe what I was seeing.
I was right.. Harry knew I was right. The look he gave me told me so.
Marianne, still pinned up against the car, sobbing and crying to be let go. Andrew stood and quickly realised the mistake he had just made as he watched Harry dial 911.
Andrew let Marianne go and took off across the street towards his house, leaving his wife on the floor of our driveway sobbing, gasping for air.
“We got you, you son of a bitch!” I shouted towards the house as he ran inside.“YOU ARE DONE YOU FUCKING MONSTER! YOU HEAR ME? DONE!” I continued.
I don’t know why I did that, the fear my body felt immediately after those words came out of my mouth.. I could not stop shaking.
Harry and I helped Marianne up from the ground and ushered her inside as we waited for the police to arrive. What an awful turn of events, I knew the topic would have caused some tenseness between us but I did not expect this at all..
The sirens, red and blue lights approached and pulled up across the road. ~I stood up and made my way towards the door, as I reached for the handle, I hear Harry’s blood curdling scream from the other room.