Animal Instinct (25 page)

“Twenty four seven…always on call. When I married Helen, I thought that it would be a perfect match…two professionals serving the local community. Unfortunately, because of the unpredictable hours that we both face, we are sometimes like ‘ships that pass in the night’. She is desperate to start a family, but that would cause even more stress unless we had a live-in nanny. But how unfair is that on the child?”

“I'm afraid that family life for the majority of working couples is heading that way these days.”

“Have you never been married?”

Caroline smiled. “I did once get very close. He was smart, intelligent and he adored me, but it would never have worked. He could not understand my involvement with the customers, the repartee and smalltalk that is part and parcel of a licensee's role. I was here trying to extract as much spending from my customers, whilst he was more concerned about their liquidity. He was an assistant bank manager. Perhaps I should have looked for an out-of-work toyboy!”

Massey laughed. “And I should have married a work-shy bimbo!”

“Maybe people in our professions should stay single.”

“Casual flings…that must be the answer!”

“Agreed, but then the years catch up. One day, you glance at the mirror and realise that life has passed you by. I think that is why I was so devoted to Lara. She was so vibrant. It was as though I was living my life through her. I miss her terribly.”

Massey patted her hand. “I'm only sorry that we were unable to bring her killer to the justice that he deserved. In one way, I feel guilty that I allowed him to cheat the system.”

“It was a difficult case. Who could possibly have imagined that her own father was the perpetrator? How on earth did you even begin to fathom that? It must have been a nightmare.”

Massey sipped the Armagnac. “In a strange way, your niece pointed me in the right direction. If she had ignored her birth mother, we may never have met Suzanne Ridley. As it was, her presence at the funeral and her comments to O’Malley became the final pieces of the puzzle. It was as though Lara herself had completed the picture for us.

In a similar way, her death also opened the door to a possible terrorist threat. Those involved are now under interrogation and at least one will be charged with the murder of the cleaner at the Barleycorn. Besides completing the puzzle, the whole Lara affair caused a domino effect affecting the lives of many other individuals.”

“It's obvious now that meeting her birth mother was the exciting news that she promised me. I can't stop thinking about that poor woman. To give birth to your daughter and witness her burial with no contact during those intervening years…she must be utterly distraught. Fortunately, I have fond memories that I will cherish forever; she has only a tragic void to contemplate.”

“I imagine that the revelations took Suzanne Ridley to hell and back. Her mind was in turmoil with the revolting nature of the crime. It is said that time heals, but in her case, I believe those scars will be embedded for the rest of her life.”

Though Massey realised that his chosen career would frequently lead him down similar tortuous paths, he was unaware of the personal grief that he would have to endure in the near future. At this moment, he could only empathise. It was time to move on.

He raised his glass. “To the memory of Lara.”

James R. Vance

January 2010

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