Chenford Story

13

Tim's POV

Sirens were blaring. Doctors running to the bedside. I saw shoved aside. Machines were blaring and beeping. Then it was silent. "I'm so sorry. Lucy is dead".
I woke up with a jolt. Instantly I looked over to Lucy's bed, all the machines said she was stable. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. It was just a dream.... fine it was a nightmare. I had never had a nightmare, at least never that...... Real.

Lucy was ok. She was out of her surgery. It had gone as well as I could have. No difficulties. Lucy was healing, slowly. Almost her entire body was covered in stitches, casts or bandages. No where did she look like she did before. The bruises had come out in their rainbow array. Purples, greens and browns. All in various places. This was only on her arms. The rest of Lucy has hidden under the thin duvet.
And then there were the scars.... hundreds spanning up and down both arms. I knew she had self harmed, but not this much. She must have been... felt so helpless.

I grabbed one of Lucy's shirts and just sat with it. Recalling it's smell, Lucy's perfume, lavender and vanilla. The smell reminded me of her. I never imagined it would be so heartbreaking to have to smell it. I sobbed silently in the corner. If Lucy could hear, I didn't want her to hear me cry over her. She wasn't even dead for fucks sake? Why was I crying? I left soon after. Walking downtown to the shopping centre.

If Lucy wasn't awake, at least I could give her something to be happy about when she was. I walked into a jewellery shop, spotting a hundred or more rings of all shapes and sizes. No not a ring. Not yet at least.....
I spotted a necklace, it was perfect.
A small amethyst sat in the middle, surrounded by silver prongs. Lucy would love it, I hoped.
I brought it instantly, paying no attention to the fact that it probably cost more than my rent.
When I later checked my bank statements I was right. It cost just over 1k.

I made a decision right there. Lucy wasn't going back to Emmet or that appartment once she woke up. I wouldn't let her. Anyway, he was in jail.

I would move. Lucy would need somewhere to stay, my apartment was hardly big enough for me and Kojo alone.
Anyway if I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend then maybe we would move into together permanently. I would need a bigger house. Maybe I would actually buy one this time.
I called Wesley. Surely he had a good realtor?
"Hey Wes, I was wondering if you could put me in touch with your realtor?"
"Um hi Tim sure, I'll text you her number. Also how's Lucy?"
"Thanks Wes, she's good. No improvement but also she's not flat lined so good.... I guess."
Wesley's silence spoke more than either of us wanted to. Any conversation after talking about Lucy seemed forbidden, like it was some cruel topic neer to be spoken about. I understood. "Thanks again Wes, bye"
"Wait one sec."
"Yeah..."
"Why do you need my realtors number? Are you moving?"
"Um yeah.... Im going to ask Lucy to move in with me while she's healing and I need some more space"
"Oh cool, your a great friends to her Tim"
"Anyway bye"
"Bye"
Friend. I don't know why but Wesley saying that hurt just a little. I wanted to be anything more than that with Lucy.
I would take anything more than friends.
Maybe that was everything Lucy saw us as.
Friends.
I was spiralling.
No. I knew Lucy liked me as more than that. She wrote it in her letter.

Yeah, what was up with that letter anyway?
What plan did Emmet have? Was that plan what finally drive Lucy of the edge. That was a bad metaphor Tim. Terrible given the circumstances.

I went back to the letter, looking at it. Lucy's car was still at the station. No one has moved it. We all hoped the one to move it somewhere else would be Lucy.

I

looked over the letter almost psychotically the next few hours. Soon it was almost midnight and I was still pouring over this letter that likely had no hidden depth of meaning. Lucy wrote it hours before trying to kill herself.  Clearly she wasn't in a sane mental state. I walked into Grey's office.

"Officer Bradford?, we weren't expecting you back for a few days?"
"Ah yes sir, I'm just exploring a lead on Lucy's mental state. I would like a warrant to search Emmet Lang's phone"
"Granted"
Grey had no idea why I needed the warrant. Only that it was for Lucy. At this point most of the station would be willing to loose their jobs to ensure she was ok.
"Thank you. Sir."
An hour later I was scrolling through Emmets phone. Looking for anything.
I scrolled through his contacts. Lucy, Mr Chen, mrs Chen, dad, mum, a few friends. Rosa.

I didn't know why but that stood out to me.
Rosa.. Rosa....... Rosa. Oh. Rosalind.
Surely not. No. It couldn't be. Really? No. Nope. I called the number.
"Hey babe, is the bitch pregnant yet? I can't bear for her to be alive any longer"
I hung up instantly. It was really Rosalind. Shit.
I didn't know what I expected.
A serial killer calling my best friends husband 'babe' was not one of the options.

Great. Not only did Emmet know Rosalind. Not only were they dating. They were planning to kill Lucy. Or get her pregnant?
I wasn't really sure with the last bit.
Shit. I noted down the number and practically ran to Sargent Grey's officer.
"Sir!"
"Yes Officer Bradford?"
I placed down the piece of paper with Rosalind's number on it
"What is this?"
"Rosalind's number"
Grey stopped for a second.
"Rosalind, the serial killer who tried to have Lucy killed?!"
"Yeah"
"How the-"
I interrupted him
"Emmet and her are dating"
I saw the cogs in Grey's mind turning.
"Oh......um...... Good work Bradford."