Chapter 12
Thirty minutes after the police had left Libby was still sitting in her chair in stunned silence unable to believe what she had just been told. The seemingly decent man that the Harry wright she knew, or at least thought she knew, didn’t seem capable of insurance fraud let along murder. But there it was laid bare before her and without further explanation Libby didn’t know what to think.
The apparent disappearance of Harry seemed to confirm that he was potentially on the run from something, or at least was afraid of something. Maybe that was he had reacted as he had done when she had tried to kiss him. Perhaps he was afraid of getting too close to her as he had done to this Emily Baxter, who he had apparently killed or was responsible for her death somehow. It didn’t seem to unlikely that either she had reacted him and he had killed her or he had been swindling her and she had confronted him. The result of that confrontation was that Emily Baxter was now dead and that this Harry Wright, the man she knew, was responsible for her death.
The ringing of the doorbell tugged Libby back to reality from her thoughts with a sudden jerk as if someone had grabbed hold of her arm by the wrist and yanked it hard in an unnatural direction. She then sat bolt upright in her chair, suddenly aware of every little detail of her surroundings. Then the doorbell rang again and again, and the fourth ring was followed by a loud knocking on the door. The first though that Libby had was that the police had forgotten some little they had intended to ask her about and had returned to grill her again. But then she realized that the knocking had a far more urgent quality about than someone who had just forgotten to ask a trivial question. It sounded more like someone who was in dire trouble and needed urgent help.
Prompted by this apparent urgency Libby all but sprang from her seat and dashed quickly toward the door. “Who is it?” She said, her hand paused by the lock as if stayed by some sudden premonition of the danger that could lie on the other side of the door, which stood as the only barrier between her and whatever, or whoever, was now banging on her door to be allowed entry into her flat.
“It's me, Harry,” came the familiar if slightly panicky voice from the other side of the wooden barrier. “Please let me in Libby,” he said and there was something in his voice that sounded to Libby that he was in real trouble. Not believing that this good man could possibly do her nay harm, and through the concern she had for his wellbeing, Libby then turned the lock on the door and opened it.
There was Harry dressed in not much more than a t-shirt and jeans, the first time Libby had ever seen him dressed so casually, and visibly shaking with what Libby assumed was outright fear. Harry then all but fell through the doorway and swung the door shut absently with one swift movement of his hand. He then dashed past her leaving Libby standing in stunned silence, rooted to the spot from where she had opened the door. In no more than what seemed like a couple of hurried steps Harry had closed the gap between the door and the sofa.
“Why don’t you come in,” Libby said only just recovering from his whirlwind entrance as Harry plonked himself down on the sofa. He was sitting with is legs spread wide, elbows resting on his knees and holding his head in his hands. Libby thought that she must’ve been mistaken as she thought that there were even tear tracks running down Harry’s face as if he had been crying for quite some time.
“Are you ok? Would you like something to drink?” Libby asked concern for his wellbeing now overriding any sense of foreboding that she may have had and she now found herself crossing over to the sofa where Harry was sitting. Libby then sat down next to him and started to pay Harry on the back in an effort to comfort him. Harry didn’t seem to initially notice Libby’s caresses and when he did he first flinched from her touch and the pulled away from her, placing himself in the far corner of the sofa and leaving a gap between them.
“I-I-I'm sorry,” Harry said when he saw the confused look on Libby’s face. “I really didn’t know where else to go,” he then added by way of explanation.
“Where have you been? I've been worried about you,” Libby said when she thought Harry looked a little more composed.
“I just needed to get away for a bit,” Harry said as his eyes darted around the room as if looking for something or someone.
“Why’d you react like that, after that meal?” Libby asked referring to when she had tried to kiss Harry and he had dashed off. “I mean, do you find me that repulsive?” Libby asked, desperately wanting an explanation for his actions and not having a chance to ask him before now.
“No, no it's not that,” Harry said as he flicked a stray strand of hair from her face affectionately.
“You're very attractive,” Harry then added as Libby closed her eyes at the feeling of his soft touch and realizing that she hadn't noticed before how soft and gentle his hands were. At that moment she could just about imagine how they would feel caressing the rest of her body. Harry could see the look on her face and then suddenly pulled his hand away from the side of her face and inched further away from her.
“So what is it then?” Libby asked as she returned to her senses.
“I-I-I can’t tell you,” Harry said as he looked down at his hands resting on his lap in what looked like to Libby shame, as if he had done something or could do something terrible.
“What is it?” Libby cooed sympathetically as she took his hand in hers so to both comfort him and as if she could pass on some of her strength to him through this simple gesture. Harry looked Libby in the eyes and then looked down to see her holding his hand in hers and just for a moment he felt reassured. Then as the reality of the situation filtered through his mind Harry pulled is hand away from her grasp and again the shameful look spread across Harry’s face.
“Well, I can’t help you if you won't tell me,” Libby said pulling and twisting back so that her back now rested against the arm of the sofa.
“You wouldn’t understand, no one would understand,” Harry began to say as he looked Libby right in the eyes and just for a moment Libby thought he was going to tell her. “I don’t even understand at times,” Harry then said more to himself than anything.
“What is it?” Libby then cooed just as sympathetically as she had down a couple of minutes ago.
“What did they want?” Harry then asked changing the subject.
“Who?” Libby asked now getting confused again and a little annoyed that Harry was changing the subject.
“The police,” Harry said, “I saw them leave as I arrived.”
“Oh,” Libby said in reply. “Don’t change the subject Harry,” Libby then added before Harry could say anything else.
“No seriously, what did they want?” Harry said pushing the question.
“They wanted to know where you were,” Libby said as she started to remember what that DI Peters had said which had been temporarily pushed out of her mind by Harry’s arrival. “If you saw them why didn’t you speak to them?” Libby then asked as the question popped into her head.
“I wasn’t sure what they wanted,” Harry lied knowing perfectly well what they wanted; well he thought that he probably did. “So what did they want?” Harry asked pressing Libby on the matter.
“Something about some insurance fraud?” Libby asked more than a little confused about what DI Peters had said about that and then it suddenly hit her. “Harry, they said you were dead. Or someone called Harry Wright had died,” she then added growing very concerned.
“Oh, “Harry said, trying to think on his feet. “So that’s what happened to him,” Harry said a little surprised at the news himself, but more relived that this man wouldn’t now be looking for him. “I sort of err stole his identity,” Harry said looking as guilty as a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Eh?” Was all that Libby managed to say.
“Yes, well, I met him a couple of years ago and walked off with his jacket,” Harry said now visibly blushing. “I've err been living unde
r an assumed name ever since,” he then added rather embarrassed to have to admit his misdeed.
“And then you killed him?” Libby asked feeling a knot forming in her stomach as the realization that she was potentially in the same room as a killer.
“No, I have no idea what happened to him,” Harry said a lot more calmly than he felt and certain a lot more calmly than Libby was beginning to feel. “No honestly that’s the truth,” Harry said as he gestured toward Libby in such a way that he hoped conveyed his sincerity.
“And he just happened to die?” Libby asked and it was her turn to now rapidly gaze around the room and that knot in her stomach began to change into full blown panic as it started to dawn on her that Harry, or whatever his name was, was now sitting between her and her only means of escape. Oh god, he's planned this from the very start, Libby thought to herself as she considered the possibility that he had sat on that side of the sofa to deliberately block her escape.
“Yes I suppose so,” Harry said trying to make his voice sound as convincing as possible, which he didn’t think would be too hard as it was the truth; regardless of how improbable it might have sounded.
“O-o-ok,” Libby said as she could feel the panic start to rise up within her, but she tried to push down any fear that she might so that as not to spook Harry into making rash decisions and in the hope that if she remained calm, even if it were just on the outside, then she might be able to reason with Harry. Libby also hoped then so would Harry, and she could then somehow work out a way of getting out of this mess or even getting a message to that DI Peters, or some kind of call for help to any else for that matter.
“So, so what's your real name?” Libby said trying to engage Harry in conversation in order buy herself sometime.
“Oh well, I went by John before Harry, but I prefer Harry,” Harry said hoping that there was still someway that that he could get out of this mess without having to tell Libby the truth. But at this point Harry couldn’t see that there was much chance of that. Maybe it would be best if the truth did come out, Harry thought to himself, and maybe I could make her understand why I did it.
“Harry,” Libby started almost too scared of finding out, but knowing that she had to know either way. “Harry, who is Emily Baxter?” She then managed to ask with more conviction than she actually felt.
“I was afraid you were going to ask me that,” Harry said not having been able to think about Emily, except in the briefest of moments, for a long time.
“Who is she, Harry? Did you kill her?” Libby asked as she reached out her hand toward Harry as a comforting gesture. “It's ok Harry, we can sort this out if you did,” she then said in the softest of tones as if to a small child who had been caught doing something very bad.
“Oh god no, no don’t be silly,” Harry said and a broad smile spread across his lips as Harry tried to defuse the tension that had become clearly palpable between the two of them. “She’s very much alive,” Harry added as he felt the comforting caress of Libby’s hand on his knee. He looked at her for a moment with fond eyes and then pulled himself away from her again.
“Eh? I don’t get it then,” Libby said looking very confused. “Where is she? Why does this DI Peters think she’s dead?” Libby added as questions poured out of her mouth almost as soon as she thought of them.
“I don’t know, because it's his job to be suspicious?” Harry said and his eyes light up with a bright humor that matched his smile, but that Harry hadn't felt for a while. “It is true that I've let things get out of hand, and should have said something earlier,” Harry said with much more somber tone of voice, and expression, as he could see that Libby hadn't appreciated his bright mood. “I don’t know, certainly at the start I was having too much fun and then things just started to get out of hand,” Harry added in a confessional tone of voice.
“And you what? Hurt this Emily Baxter by mistake?” Libby asked not sure that she wanted to know the truth. “If that’s the case Harry, then I'm sure that the police will understand,” Libby said sincerely in a tone of voice that she hoped would garner his trust and enable him to open up to her.
“That’s just it, I'm not sure I understand myself,” Harry said now looking more confused that Libby had all evening. “I can tell you that Emily Baxter is alive and well,” Harry said still hoping that he could avoid the truth.
“And you have her locked up somewhere?” Libby said maintaining the same tone of voice as it seemed to be working.
“Oh god no,” Harry said and screwed up his face as if the very idea repulsed him.
“Then where is she?” Libby said starting to feel confused and frustrated by Harry avoidance of her questions.
“Ok,” Harry said and pulled himself as far away from Libby as he could while remaining in the sofa. He then braced himself to admit he truth for the first time in a long time.
“I am Emily Baxter,” Harry, or rather Emily sighed with relief.
“Eh? You what?” Libby asked with an expression that was at the same time a mixture of disbelief, confusion and repulsion all at the same time. “How do you mean?” Libby asked as the implications of what Harry, Emily, had just said started to dawn on her.
“It's true,” Emily said as she turned her eyes down toward her lap as barely able to face looking Libby in the eye.
“B-b-but I kissed you,” Libby said disgusted at the thought of being almost tricked into kissing another woman as she had never in the slightest bit ever even considered herself to be curious about such things let alone even attracted to other women. “When were you going to tell me?” She then asked as she recoiled further away from Emily on the sofa.
“I was hoping that it wouldn’t be an issue,” Emily replied now holding her head in her hands.
“What you thought that you could just trick me into bed? Is that it?” Libby demanded of her guest as she stood up from the sofa and simply brimmed with anger.
“No, no that wasn’t it at all,” Emily started to say as she felt tears start to trickle down her cheeks. “I'm not even attracted to you like that,” she then added trying to make a mends.
“What now you're saying that I'm not attractive?” Libby asked as she felt her upper body start to quack with fury and in that moment she just wanted to lash out at this freak who was sitting was in her living room and who had lied to her form the first moment they had met.
“No, I mean I'm not,” Emily said barely able to say the words herself as she mouth quivered as h started to sob with shame. “I never met things to get this far,” she then pleaded with Libby who looked as though she was about to bust.
“Couldn’t you handle being a lesbian then?” Libby spat accusatorily at Emily who then looked up at Libby in shock as the tears started to split into little tributary rivers that streamed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin.
“Oh god no, I was married for 10 years,” Emily said trying to hold back the tears and stop herself from crying even more. But the harder she tried the more Emily seemed to sob as if she had been holding it all in behind a damn that had now suddenly been breached by Emily being confronted by the truth and there was nothing she could do to stop herself.
“Married? Does he know about all,” Libby then paused unable to find the words as she gestured with her arm towards Emily, “all this?” Eventually Libby was able to finish the sentence that she had started, but had left hanging half way through.
“No, no way,” Emily spluttered as more tears all but gushed down her face. “He's DEAD,” Emily couldn’t stop the words from escaping her mouth and they just exploding out of her like a bullet being fired from a gun. While the admission didn’t stop her from sobbing, she did feel a certain degree of relief that she had finally been able to tell someone, even though she had probably never really dealt with it herself.
“Oh I'm sorry,” Libby said as the admission of her loss stopped the fury that had been building in Libby for the last few minutes dead in its tra
cks as if she had been running at full speed and had then suddenly hit a wall that had appeared from nowhere.
“Where you together long? Did you love him very much?” Libby asked not being able to imagine the pain that Emily must have felt in losing someone that close to her.
“Yes, very much,” Emily said smiling at the thought of the good times she had spent with her husband. “Yes, we had been married for about 10 years, had dated for almost 2 years before that,” Emily then added.
“Is that why you?” Libby then asked, but was unable to find the words to express what Emily had been doing and she sat down next to the other woman on the sofa as she felt a wave of sympathy for Emily flow into her. After all there must have been something of this woman in that nice kind man she had met a few months earlier and had started to feel something for.
Maybe it was the sense of betrayal more than anything that had caused Libby to fly off the handle a little, after when she had tried to make the first move, it was Harry who had backed away. And now, with what had been revealed, it sort of made sense to Libby why he had reacted like that.
“Dress as a man you mean?” Emily said as her sobbing had eased off a bit and she was able to look Libby in the eyes for the first time.
“Well yes,” Libby said not sure how she should feel about this.
“No, I don’t think so anyway,” Emily said sniffling back the last of tears away. “I don’t know, at first it was kind of fun, being able to walk around town and no one know,” Emily said, smiling as she thought back to those early days when she had first down go out in her new look. “And then later, I don’t know, I guess it gave me a sense of strength or something,” she then added and rubbed her eyes dry.
“I did it more often after I’d been made redundant,” Emily said with a slightly embarrassed smile. “And sometimes bump into the odd person I used to know from work,” she then added looking rather pleased with herself.
“Didn’t they recognize you at all?” Libby asked now feeling her former fury starting to subside.
“No, not really,” Emily said. “The odd ‘do I know you from somewhere?’ but nothing more than that.”
“So where did you think this was going?” Libby asked getting confused a little confused again and wondering what she expected to gain from all this.
“I have no idea,” Emily replied shrugging her shoulders honestly. “It was just meant to be a bit of fun,” Emily then added the words she had been telling herself for the last couple of years.
“So what happened?” Libby asked and looked as if the confused expression she wore was a permanent feature of her face.
“I went on holiday for a couple of weeks, and came back to see the police outside of my house,” Emily said. “I later found out that someone had reported me missing, and at the time I just kind of panicked,” she then added remembering the fear that she had felt when she had seen the police car outside of her house that day.
“So what's this insurance fraud all about?” Libby asked recalling what DI Peters had said earlier.
“A few months after that I went back to my house and the police seemed to have gone,” Emily started to say. “So I let myself in and managed to pick up my mail, which included a letter relating to the life insurance policy on Adam, my husband, and got that redirected to another address,” Emily said in a matter-of-fact way.
“Oh, and Harry Wright?” Libby asked glad that the other woman seemed to be being honest with her.
“Just some guy I met in a café, and then stole his identity,” Emily replied telling Libby the truth. “I guess him dying was just some kind of coincidence,” she then added sighing with relief that it was finally all out in the open.
“So why didn’t you just tell that DI Peters all this?” Libby asked wondering where she had put that business card he had left her.
“I don’t know,” Emily said trying to find a reason that actually made sense and failing, so decided to just be honest. “Sometimes, when you start with a lie it's hard to stop,” Emily added.
“A-a-are you going to tell the police?” Emily then stuttered not sure if she could face having to explain this all again.
“Well you really should tell them yourself,” Libby said not sure how she actually felt about all this. And while her initially anger had all but dissipated now, she did still feel a sense of betray that Emily, or Harry or whatever her name was, had lied to her from the first time they had met. “Oh and I don’t think that the bank will be too happy either,” she then added as a smile spread across her lips at the thought of how some of her colleagues were going to react.
***
To be Concluded
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