Yarrow: The Smiley Killer

11th November 17:00

"Come in Dougy," Christine said as she opened the door in her pyjamas, a shorts and t-shirt combination with Minnie Mouse on the front.

"Thanks, I brought Chinese."

"Oh yum, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style? Chow mien?"

"And crispy chilli beef, of course."

"Good choice."

She led the way through the foyer and took a left in to the kitchen, it looked more like an orangery, pure white with a beautiful island in the middle upon which she sprawled the take always boxes and loaded them in to two, square bowls.

"When'd you get out of hospital?" Doug asked, looking as scrappy as ever in a forest green cotton t-shirt, sporting the logo of some long forgotten sports brand, so faded you couldn't make it out and a pair of beaten jeans.

"I discharged myself this morning, it was just a concussion and a few bruises. Just need to stay awake for a few more hours and am supposed to be under supervision but oh well."

There was a silence as Doug, probably for the first time, felt a loneliness in Christines house. It had always been a lovely place, either with a party going on or just because of Christine's energetic personality. He felt sorry for her.

"I'll stay if you want, make sure you're not sick or anything."

"That's kind of you Dougy, but don't..."

"No I insist, not like I've got anything to go home to anyway, may as well enjoy that big old cinema room, I assume you've got some Westerns on DVD?"

"DVD? Doug I've got Netflix."

"What?"

"I'll show you."

She put a little bit of each Chinese dish in to a bowl for her with a set of chopsticks and a fair bit more for Doug with a fork. Patting him on the shoulder she lead him to the cinema room.

"When did you get up this morning then? All that excitement yesterday. Your ticket must have gone in to overdrive?"

Doug scooped a mix of Chinese on his fork in to his mouth and sat on one of the leather seats.

"I was up at six, just like everyday."

The Netflix logo appeared on the wall the projector shone on. Christine flicked through the menu, looking for anything the at Doug may be interested in. She found a film that looked like a western, looked at him and smiled.

Curling up with her bowl on a separate seat they began to watch, "seen this one before?"

"Not for a while," he said, "so this Netflix thing has all those programs? And what, it's free?"

"Well you have to pay monthly but it's not that pricey, I'll just give you access to my account, that is as long as you have the internet?"

Doug couldn't tell if she was taking the Mick or not so just smiled back and they returned to a silence. He knew what she wanted to know but didn't want to ask...

"I didn't have to shoot him," his gaze not leaving the screen.

"Taser."

"Fine, I didn't have to taser him."

"You should have."

" I wish you had told me about you two. You could have really got yourself in trouble. I keep playing it over and over, if you'd have said something the alarm bells ma..."

"Doug I don't want to talk about it. I promise you, if this happens again I will one hundred percent tell you. He is the only person that broke my heart and I didn't deal with it well. I did things I'm not proud of and don't want to be that person again. Can we leave it there please?"

"You'll have to go through it all with the courts when it gets to it."

The movie rolled on with them both there in silence.

"I know," she whispered, "and there is every chance the stuff I did to that girl will get me in trouble. Whatever happens I deserve it but they need to be locked up."

"Either that or she claims plausible deniability, just means she would also get off... plus you know most the judges, you'll be fine"

"I don't know, don't want to think about it right now. Just enjoy the movie."

The last of the Chinese was slurred up and her bowl put on the table next to her seat, she walked over to Doug. Her head rested on his shoulder and she drifted off to sleep.