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Extended Work
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| The Girl In the Lake - 1: The Body | |
| By guitarchick1383 | ||||||
| 10 June 2008 | ||||||
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Chapter One of a work in progress. April, 1959 The body hung limply as it was dragged from the water. Small and seemingly shrunken in death, it looked more like a child’s rag doll than the decomposed body of a young woman. In truth it was little more than a skeleton with only partial bits of skin still remaining. What did remain was discolured and bloated. Waterweed clung in the thin strands of the once blonde hair, there was mud between the exposed bones, and it seemed to Detective David Sinclair, as he stood on the bank of the lake, such a waste of a life. Spring sunshine shimmered over the surface of the lake, and the newly sprouting blossoms that covered the Lake Walk, the winding pathway that spanned the periphery of the lake, waved in the mild breeze. It would have been idyllic if not for the remains of the swollen corpse being pulled over the gravelled shore. Sinclair turned away, leaving the men to it, there was nothing else to do just now, his time would come. He took a final drag of his Marlboro cigarette before dropping it onto the gravel and grinding it beneath his foot. A little way from him, Grace Farraday stood, eyes fixed on the body, arms wrapped around herself as her husband spoke to two local policemen. She was not crying or hysterical as might have been expected, but merely stood quietly waiting for her husband. As he approached, she turned cool blue eyes to regard him carefully, almost warily. She could only have been a few inches taller than him, but she held herself high, seeming to tower over him. ‘Was it a drowning?’ Her voice was calm, hushed, but by no means weak. Standing there on the shore of the lake, metres away from a dead body, there was no sign of distress on her face, or anywhere about her. Looking at her flushed cheeks, Sinclair thought that she almost looked...excited. He pulled out another cigarette and lit it. ‘Probably,’ he said, answering the question. ‘We will know more after the autopsy.’ She did not flinch at the word, as most women would have. Even in these more enlightened days, such things were still considered too gruesome for females. ‘You discovered the body, I take it? I’m David Sinclair, local detective.’ ‘Yes, I...we found her.’ She inclined her head towards her husband and shook Sinclair’s proffered hand. ‘My husband and I were walking beside the lake when I thought I saw something. Theo went to help thinking she was drowning...’ She cleared her throat. ‘Do you have any idea who she was?’ Sinclair shook his head. ‘No, but I’d say she had been down there for a while.’ ‘Yes...her dress...’ Only now did her voice catch a little and die away. Her eyes stole a glance towards the corpse, now being wrapped in blankets, and the remnants of the old-fashioned dress covering the remains of pale and bloated flesh and ivory bone. She appeared to suppress a shudder before turning back to him. He could feel something coming; there was a slight hesitation, perhaps more that she wanted to say. Before she could say anything, however, they were joined by the husband, and the moment passed. Sinclair introduced himself again and the husband nodded in greeting. ‘Theo Farraday. I’ve just given a full report to your officers. I am sure you can get all the information you need from them.’ His manner was brusque and business-like. Sinclair smiled inwardly, he had heard about Farraday. New to the area, he was already becoming known for a tendency to like to take charge and a refusal to follow local customs. He had already made as many enemies as he had friends, and while his voice was making an effort at being polite, his brown eyes held the promise of a threat should there be any attempt at upsetting his wife. ‘Certainly,’ Sinclair said, nodding cordially and keeping things deliberately casual. ‘A bad business all round, I hope you haven’t been too disturbed by it Mrs Farraday.’ Again he sensed the urge to confide coming from the woman, and he didn’t miss the slight squeeze her husband gave her shoulder in apparent warning. Grace Farraday shook her head. ‘No, thank you Detective. I am sure I shall be quite alright.’ Sensing there was nothing more to be gained, Sinclair made his goodbyes and left for the station. He wanted to file his report before teatime; Mabel was expecting him home at 6.30 sharp tonight, and there could be no excuses. *** Grace was silent on the drive home, staring out at the endless countryside passing by in a blur. ‘Are you alright darling? I know it wasn’t the pleasant afternoon we had in mind, and all a very upsetting business, but we can forget about it now.’ Theo seemed maddeningly intent on being calm and brushing over everything as if it had been nothing at all. He reached out to squeeze her shoulder and seemed stupidly perplexed to find it rigid under his hand. ‘Darling?’ ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ She stared fixedly at her hands in her lap, at the lilac patterned flowers on her dress, anything that wasn’t Theo. There was a brief silence in which all that could be heard was the rumble of the engine, the wheels on the hot tarmac, and the rush of air outside. ‘I told them everything that happened.’ Theo answered stiffly. He removed his hand from her shoulder and scratched the back of his head. ‘About what I saw Theo!’ She could almost see the shutters go down over his face as she said it. ‘Really Grace, what did you expect me to say?’ He was blustering, nervous and clearly unwilling to discuss it. ‘Did you really want me to tell them that you thought you saw a woman drowning in the middle of the lake? You saw the body, it was old, darling. You must have just dreamt it, or seen a trick of the light.’ Grace felt like screaming in frustration, but she kept her composure, lifting her head to look at him square in the face. She loved Theo, but sometimes he had this maddening habit of being logical. ‘You saw it too, you jumped in,’ she said quietly, pushing down the urge to scream. Theo changed gear with a frustrated jerk. ‘No, I jumped in because you said you saw someone drowning. I didn’t see anything. Be reasonable Grace, you couldn’t have really see anyone there.’ She stared out of the window again, not even bothering to respond. He was too intent on burying his head in the sand so he wouldn’t have to think about it. There was no point in discussing it, he would only continue to patronise her. The landscape passed by in a gentle rush. The fields were a beautiful green, the hedges alive with animals and birds. As she looked at the soothing country, she felt her anger dissipate. She couldn’t find the energy to argue. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ She acquiesced. The sun was warm on her face and it was easier to just give in. ‘It doesn’t matter now; I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the truth anyway.’ Beside her, Theo gave an audible sigh of relief. He put his arm back around her shoulders and she rested her head on his shoulder. It was all over with anyway, it really didn’t matter that for a few moments besides the lake, she had seen a girl drowning.
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