Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (free e novels TXT) 📗

baby is a boy and we have agreed on a name. Samuel. But that is all we are agreed on. Laura thinks that we are going to be one big happy family, and while I pretend the same, I know the truth.

Soon, Laura, Bradley and the baby they made will be gone, then Gemma and I will be together, and I will be free from all the pain that has come my way over this past year.

‘Not long now,’ I say as Gemma lifts her head and gives me a kiss before settling back down again.

I can tell how eager she is to move forward with our plan, not just for me, but for herself too. Gemma has made it clear that it has long been a fantasy of hers to get away with murder, and for the majority of the time we have been together, we have been plotting the perfect crime. As soon as Gemma explained to me that I would never be able to move on with my life until my cheating wife was dead, we have been discussing ways of making that happen that wouldn’t end up with either of us going to prison.

We’ve come up with many schemes over the last few months, but through Gemma’s knowledge of policework, and a little creativity from myself, we have now settled on the one that we are sure will work. I know Gemma is eager to get on with it, and I am too, but we both know that acting in haste is one of the many ways a criminal can get caught. Therefore, we are both ensuring that we exercise patience right now. We don’t want emotion to cloud our behaviour. We want to be cold, clinical and calculated. We want to give Laura and Bradley no chance to avoid their fate.

Most of all, we want to get away with it.

‘I should probably be getting back to the office,’ I say before I risk closing my eyes and drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

‘Five more minutes,’ the policewoman on my chest replies, and I don’t put up an argument.

In the end, we stay in that bed for another thirty minutes, although it’s not sleep that keeps us occupied in that time. Gemma gets turned on by the thought of what we are about to do together, and I have to say that I do too. We are lovers. We are accomplices. We are partners in crime. Best of all, we are in love, and that is something that Laura and Bradley can never say.

Too bad for them. They’ve thrown away their chance of living for a meaningless fling. Gemma and I on the other hand, feel as if we have been reborn.

Isn’t life wonderful?

39

LAURA

‘I want to go to the village now.’

I can see that Adam is surprised by my sudden request as I walk downstairs and find him finishing a beer in the kitchen.

‘Why?’

‘I want to see the news. There’s no Wi-Fi, no TV, nothing. I have to see the news, right now.’

‘What’s the rush?’

Adam watches me putting on my coat, but he doesn’t seem too concerned because he continues to swig his beer from his position leaning against the kitchen counter.

‘I’ll drive myself into town if you won’t take me,’ I tell him, and I mean it. I am determined to get out of this cottage and go into the village to see the newspapers.

What’s happening with the hit and run investigation? What’s happening with Bradley’s disappearance? What’s happening outside of these damn four walls?

I need answers, and I need them now.

‘Don’t be silly. I’ll drive you,’ Adam replies. ‘But I don’t know what you are expecting to see.’

I don’t reply to that. Instead, I just stand by the door with my coat and make it clear that I am ready to go.

‘I guess we’re going now then,’ Adam says, finishing his beer and picking up his own coat.

I wait for him to put on his shoes and join me by the door and then we are finally ready.

‘You do understand this is very risky,’ Adam tells me as he opens the door and I feel the cold air blowing in from outside.

‘I don’t care. I have to know what’s going on.’

‘Fair enough.’

I step out onto the wet grass as Adam locks the door behind us and we make our way to the car quickly before the wind and rain return to batter this part of the world again.

I get into the front passenger seat as Adam hops behind the wheel beside me and we slam our doors shut quickly, not that it’s any warmer inside the car than it is out there.

‘Get the heating on,’ I tell my husband.

‘Alright, give me a chance,’ he replies as he fiddles with his keys before he slots them into the engine and gives them a twist.

I make sure all the vents are open and facing towards us as Adam turns a few dials on the dashboard until I feel the warm air rushing out.

‘Are you sure about this? I still think it’s a bad idea if we get seen together. Then the police will know you were in on this plan too.’

‘Just drive,’ I reply, and my tone of voice is firm enough to let him know that he isn’t to ask me if I’m sure one more time until we are down in the damn village.

As Adam reverses away from the cottage, I tap the pocket of my coat and feel my mobile phone in there where I just placed it. I’m hoping not to need it. The newspapers should tell me what I need to know. But I’m carrying it as a contingency. I’ll only turn it on if I need to get online.

Adam drives us along the dirt track towards the main road as I stare out at the hills in the distance. They look particularly ominous right now underneath the moody sky. It’s hard not to feel like I will