Beggars Banquet [The Rolling Stones]

4. Parachute Woman

New Scotland Yard, Westminster, London
Thursday, the 4th July
4:32 p.m.
*

"After you saw the Brian like figure you run outside to be sure?"

Keith shook his head. He wasn't sure who the Detective had interviewed earlier, but obviously they had got something wrong, because after Keith had seen the Brian shadow, he had needed another drink before doing anything else. Furthermore neither of the girls had exactly been in a mood to chase after a ghost. Both had been present the night 20 years ago when Brian had meet his demise and to say they were on edge would have been an understatement.  They had been a mess and it took Keith far longer than he would have liked to calm them down again... especially when the shadow appeared again with every thunder. After his second drink he then decided to go outside and have a look. Keith had no idea how long that had taken though, well long enough for Charlie to return... Keith sighed, instead of just going through everything in his head, he probably should tell the whole story to the detective and finally get this over with. He really wanted to get home, have shower and a long nap...

"Not right away,  the girls were a mess and I couldn't just leave... Charlie returned and we decided to go investigate then," he summed up.

The detective leaned on the table, his face coming closer to Keith, who could nearly smell his cheap perfume. "Why did Mr. Watts return without Mr. Keylock?"

Keith shrugged. He wasn't a 100& sure- of course he had asked Charlie about that too, but in the end he had just been so thankful to see the drummer that he didn't care where Tom had ended up. "Charlie lost him or something, how should I know? I wasn't there obviously."

The detective eyes narrowed. "And you didn't ask?"

Keith sighed. "No, man, I was just happy to see him. Do you want to know what happened when we went outside or do you prefer to ask me questions instead I have no answers too?"

*

Cotchford farm, Hartfield, East Sussex.
Tuesday, the 2nd July
8.50 p.m
*

It was dark outside and due to the raining they couldn't even take a candle with them. The darkness bothered Keith less than the rain though, and if he hadn't been so damn curious at what was going on he surely would have stayed inside with the girls. But the Brian silhouette didn't leave him at ease. This evening got weirder and weirder by the minute and further and further away from the harmless dinner invitation it original seemed to be...

Keith could only hope 12 o'clock came around soon and somebody would pick them up before this evening ended up being a- well even worse than it already was. 

"I don't see anything... It all looks perfectly fine to me."

Charlie was right. The little they saw seemed fine, nothing unusual or strange- and certainly no Brian, just a normal garden... The only thing Keith noticed was that propriety had changed a bit since Brian had owned it, which wasn't really a surprise. The house had been sold after Brian's death and since then a few people had lived here, as far as Keith knew. Though most of the house still looked very familiar, which only added to the ominous mood.  And Keith hoped that Mr. Lewis hadn't exactly staged everything to- he had no idea for what purpose exactly -to perhaps get somebody to confess a murder? 

If that really was his goal, why was Charlie invited then? Or Anita? Keith knew that there were rumors that Mick and he had killed Brian, but as far as he knew he had never heard one with Anita or Charlie... No matter how he twisted and turned it, it didn't make any sense. 

Keith sighed. Maybe he only was thinking too much into this and it really had only been planned as a dinner to talk about Mr. Lewis theories and Brian's life... It still left some questions, but seemed out of all the things still the most believable. 

"Did you hear that?" Charlie nearly whispered and brought Keith finally out of his own thoughts. They had nearly walked completely around the house and he had already looked forward to getting back inside, when the drummer had stopped in the middle of a step, forcing Keith to do the same.

"I-" Keith started, but didn't get any  further, when Charlie punched his stomach to tell him to be quiet at least Keith hoped that was what it meant.

There only was silence at first though, beside for the rain and thunder in the distance. Keith was about to open his mouth when he heard it- too. A rustling not too far from them, which could only mean one thing. There was somebody out here with them...

"It's coming from over there..."

Keith had no idea where Charlie had pointed at in the dark, which the drummer seemed to realise too. He soon felt a hand around his arm that guided him through the dark. Silently they stepped closer to the noise, which at first increased and then disappeared in a roaring thunder. 

Keith nearly yelled out, of course only out of surprise, not because he was scared... It had just caught him off guard as did the next thing that happened. 

A bright light flooded their eyes as the electricity turned back on and illuminated the garden. Whatever had been in the bushes earlier though, was gone now as well. The only people in the garden were Keith and Charlie.

"Thank goodness..." mumbled the drummer next to him. "Seems like Mick and Frank were at least successful..."

"What a surprise though," commented Keith. "Let's go back inside and check with the others... I'm wet enough and there's nothing here..."

Charlie nodded and they moved back in to the direction of the house as Keith caught sight of something that he hadn't noticed earlier. "Have the lights by the pool already been turned on when we arrived? I could swear they were turned off..."

Charlie seemed to ponder Keith's words for a minute before replying. " You don't think someone is...?"

Keith wasn't sure what he was supposed to think anymore. This whole evening had been up until now a fucking weird ... experience, so would it really surprise him if they found something floating in the pool? Probably not. Though he preferred it not to be the case and that everything up until now had just been a case of very bad luck and nothing more...

"I hope not, but shouldn't we make sure?" Keith said and nearly hated himself for it.

Charlie nodded and with every step they got closer to the pool Keith's stomach felt worse and worse. The anticipation was horrible, but the certitude was even worse.

"Fuck..."

A man with light hair floated in the middle of the pool. 

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