Night Before the Swing

Acquiring Mason's Dirty Money

CHAPTER 27

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The cheese and ham sandwiches went down well with a cappuccino at the now familiar coffee shop. Long chose to sit down this time and look at the busy shopping complex from the café's glass walls. He thought about his now miserable life and wondered how he got himself in such a sticky mess. He was spending hours inside a bush daily trying to locate Mason for the police. He also realised then that he has not seen police actively look for Mason in the days he spent at the mountain. Only one police van came to chase a reporter away, but not to investigate. Long became so angry and frustrated he started to smell his unwashed body. He'd been brushing his teeth in bathrooms inside the mall and now he just felt disgusted at himself. He got up and headed straight for his truck. He drove to the hotel and mentally coached himself to not say anything to Gwen and Nala about his investigation.

*****

He kissed Gwen on her chick and walked to the bathroom while asking if she and Nala were okay. He doesn't remember how they responded to that. He was already closed inside the bathroom and rushing for the shower. The water felt amazing and he stayed longer than he usually would. He could've stayed even longer but he was missing out on even more action at Danver because of this unplanned shower. His clothes were neatly packed where he left them and the feel of clean clothes greatly improved his mood. He drank water then left Gwen with no answers to the questions she was asking him.

The plan was to go straight to the mountain but he missed the meal he had earlier. The craving had him standing in line for more than five minutes. The couple in front of him couldn't decide if they wanted to sit or take the food to go. Long could see himself missing Mason's secret visit at Danver by a minute because of this couple. He wouldn't even know he'd missed him because no one would tell him; not the trees and stones. When the happy and annoying twosome finished working on his nerves and turned around to start making their way to their table; Long moved three steps back to make way for them. Annoyed, he rolled his eyes in the direction of the window to avoid being seen and his eyes landed on Neaty. She was holding her little boy's hand and walking past the coffee shop. Long followed her completely forgetting his caffeine craving. Neaty walked inside a clothing store and started pulling items from the kiddies section. Long walked around the store acting interested till Neaty moved to the adult section. Long couldn't believe Neaty was shopping for clothes with all the chaos surrounding her man. He felt a smile creep up when he thought about Mason's misfortune. He's running for his life and Neaty is enjoying his money. When she was paying for the many items in the basket, Long ran ahead so he would see her going back to her house from the mountain's view.

*****

The only thing out of the ordinary Long picked up that night, was Neaty spending an hour at a different apartment. It stood right in front of their kitchen door and Long wondered why they owned two flats. When Neaty went back to her house, Long left and planned to return early the next day. As he sat in his car that evening, he realised he might be wasting his time. Neaty seemed okay with the disappearance of Mason, which meant she and Christian weren't communicating any more. Mason might not return to Neaty at all and Long wanted to kick himself thinking he might've spent many uncomfortable nights for nothing. He decided that the following day would be his last in Ref-town. He missed sleeping in a bed. His leave days were almost over and he wasn't looking forward to going back to school without Gwen. They hadn't discussed this but Long knew that his lover wasn't going back to work for a long time.

*****

Gloria didn't even know what twitter was up until her colleague showed her a trend. The girl who started the now much talked about topic is barely fifteen years old. She wrote an open letter to her sister, Gwen, which made her seem like a victim of Gwen's desire to get whatever she wants at any cost.