Ghost of Joshua

Outing

It had been Alaina's idea to go out to where Joshua had been spat out by the Thames. This had come about after she had realised that they hadn't done much after the body had been buried, the note had triggered something inside of him that made him want to visit the site. Her betrothed, Josh, had come along too, along as Aaron who just wanted to get some air away from Imogen's apartment. Although he was getting feelings of third wheeling sitting on the backseat of her cramped car.

"So whats the situation with your apartment currently?" Alaina was chewing on some gum as she wove through the swelling streets. "Didn't you get tazered or something?" She asked with a slight giggle.

Aaron sighed, "Yes in the stomach, it hurt a lot", he drawled sarcastically. "I literally cant go back until the police have finished their forensics stuff".

"Forensics? Whats that all about" Joshua was sitting next to Alaina, after turning around he fixed Aaron with a straight stare. 

"Dude seriously watch your face its a picture" Aaron tried to laugh the look off but he knew that Josh wasn't in a laughing mood for the last couple of weeks. "Yeah, well from what i heard my taxi driver was murdered or something, but since they cant really lay anything on me I'm free for the time being."

The car drew to a sharp halt as Alaina slammed onto a red light. "For the time being, you sound like you aren't sure". She peered at him through the rear view mirror, Josh joined her fixing him with a blank stare.

"Uh, cut out the freaky looks guys" Aaron stuttered nervously, they always had a way of flipping the conversation quickly. "I said i'm not sure since my hair and shit is probably all over his cab... That's hopefully the only thing they can..." The red light flipped into green "Hey Alaina watch the traffic!"

There was a periodic moment of silence as Alaina focused on the tricky roundabout circling Nelson's Column. The tourists were too busy flocking round his lions to notice the bustling London traffic.

"Uh Alaina" Josh broke the silence, startling them both.

Alaina grinned "yes dear". When they spoke like this made it slightly awkward for Aaron on the backseat, he tried to fold himself further into his coat to hide his awkward expression.

Josh glanced back at Aaron but carried on un-fazed "Where are we parking? We didn't really think this part through" Alaina sighed deeply.

"Ah, well i could park at ours since its only a short walk to the river side" Josh noticed her sly expression and realised his mistake.

"Oh of course, we live really close to...." His expression drooped when he remembered where they had found the body. Aaron noticed that they were about to slip into another sadness episode so quickly spoke up.

"Hey uh why don't you stick the radio on, its getting close to the news, they might feature something about me" Alaina clicked onto the radio just as the beeps were ending.

'You're listening to BBC Radio Two, my name is Steve Wright and this is the four o'clock News with top stories. 

"Oh its sooo tense" Alaina added sarcastically

'We open with news that the continuing investigation on the murder of London taxi driver, Alan Soanes, who was found dead in his cab last Saturday. Police have arrested who they believe committed the crime, the trial will commence in two weeks in the high court of London's borough of  Islington.  There was some initial confusion with other suspects but the Police issued a statement apologising for any inconveniences...."

"INCONVENIENT" Aaron exclaimed "I've been sleeping on Brighton's bloody floor for the past few days and they don't have the bloody nerve to talk to my face, why i'm going to..." 

"Okay okay calm down" Josh had his hands in a steadying motion "we're not the ones to be mad at right now"

"I know sorry" Aaron tried thinking of calm thoughts "Its just so....ugh. Let me sleep forever right here..." Aaron lay flat out on the backseat, at least he tried, his legs were mainly in the foot well.

"Well we're actually quite close to your apartment Aaron, would you like us to drop you off?" Alaina was looking at him bemused through the mirror again.

Aaron smiled and tried to sit up, "Yeah i can always cycle down to join you in a bit, thanks guys!"