Chapter 6: The Taste of Revenge
Ah, Appleby Street; The perfect street. Everyone was so polite and well-mannered. Or so they appeared. But their private lives were far from perfect. They were troubled with guilt, or jealously, or secrets. And as the residents of Appleby Street woke to a new day, so did their troubles. Appleby Street was far from perfect. Behind every door was a secret, and if you looked closely, you could find them out. And Secrets tend to come out, when you least expect them.
Florence Smith had always been the perfect wife. On her wedding day, everything went to plan and the wedding was like a pleasant dream. When she was pregnant with Bobby, she had the 'pregnant glow' and always seemed radiant, kind and selfless. When her father had died, she had been the perfect daughter and organized the funeral with help from no one.
So when Sam Smith had told his wife she was not allowed to leave the house, Florence decided she had to do something to remove her troublesome husband. Nothing had ever stopped her getting her way, but she would have to make Sam pay for years of merciless beatings.
Florence knew her husband had a heart condition called 'cardiac arrhythmias', which made his heart pump less effectively. The doctor had said he wasn't allowed an overdose of Niacin in his body or he could die. And Florence knew there were sufficient amounts of Niacin in mushrooms for her plan.
Florence did not feel regret as she began to chop the mushrooms into tiny pieces, and mix them in with his porridge. She did not shake when she handed him his breakfast. In fact, Mrs. Smith showed no signs of anything been different. But inside, she was happy. Finally, the tables had turned.
---
Mr Andrew Dale had always been a quiet man. He was used to living in the countryside, with his faithful cat, Tibbles. But when he arrived on Appleby Street, the usual suburban situation did not apply. Neighbours were quiet and polite and Mr Dale had realised that he wasn't really away from the countryside, but rather in an urban version of it.
As he read the morning newspaper, he noticed the story of Terri Wilkinson's horrible attack was plastered over the front page. He took his time to absorb the biased media before him, and acknowledged who had written it. He made a small note on his hand with a biro lying on the table then returned to reading the newspaper.
---
If you listened carefully, you could hear whispers when you passed each house on Appleby Street. But if you listened closely outside Charlene Gates house, you would have heard a lot more.
"Help!" cried a small voice from within the Gates family household. But no body could hear the voice, and life went on as usual, ignoring the small, delicate details of life. Not one neighbour even paused for a moment and thought "Where was Erin Gates?"
---
Amy Bourne was making toast for her family when she noticed some strange things. For one, the change box; a small box where she stored loose change; was on it's side and empty. She also noticed her husband's car keys were missing from the Key Rack. She could smell, above the smell of burning toast, a faint, sickly smell of smoke. And she noticed the bin lid wouldn't close.
Edging slowly towards the bin, Amy couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't noticed these small details earlier. Amy pressed her bare foot on the cool metal of the pedal to open the bin, and she gasped at what she saw. Inside were an empty cigarette packet and a broken wine bottle. She suddenly shivered, noticing how cold the kitchen had gotten.
"Mom?" She turned around and saw her teenage son was stood there.
"Oh…morning honey," she said, a fake smile over her face.
Life had been perfect for Amy. But she knew that Matt Bourne was hiding something from her.
---
Back at number 12, the Wilkinson children were encountering the major disadvantages of their mother being in hospital.
"Dad, I have netball practise today, could you take me?" Mary Wilkinson asked her father that morning.
"I can't. I have work to do," Brad snapped, as he rummaged through the fridge for some food. "You'll have to walk,"
"But Mum always takes me in the car…" Mary protested.
"Well, your mum's not with us, is she?" Brad snapped, finding the glass bottle of milk at the back of the refrigerator.
"It's a two mile walk!" Mary said, raising her voice slightly.
"Well you'll just have to walk it then!" Brad said. He placed the milk on the table and started looked for something to eat.
"I won't make it there in time!" Mary argued.
"Shut up and do as your damn told!" Brad Wilkinson smacked his fist on the table, causing the bottle of milk to fall to the floor and shatter.
"Just go," Brad growled, and Mary and Stewart obeyed without hesitation. Their father had never been an aggressive man.
But they were wrong.
Yes, Brad Wilkinson had a past he wanted no one to find out. But nothing stays secret on Appleby Street.
---
Terri lay in bed, wondering and waiting. She knew her husband wasn't coping well and she knew her death would send shockwaves throughout the community. But she wasn't ready to die; At least, not yet.
---
Emily Thomas knocked on the door of Mr. Dale's house. She wondered about the mysterious man, who seemed to fit the fulfilments of being tall, dark and handsome. But Emily wondered if there was more to him than a smooth face and bright blue eyes.
Andrew opened the door, smiling. "Hello,"
"Hi, I'm Emily. I live at number 18 and I just wanted to say welcome to the street…"
Andrew Dale stared at her.
"…So, welcome," Emily finished lamely.
"Thanks," Andrew said, about to close the door.
Emily put a foot in the doorway. "If you need anything, just come and ask," she said, seductively.
"Right. I'll bare that in mind." Andrew said.
The two stared at each other for a moment.
"If you wouldn't mind, could you move your foot?" Andrew finally said.
Emily obliged, moving her foot out of the door frame. Andrew grinned then closed the door, leaving Mrs. Thomas alone on the doorstep.
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Ben Jones and his wife, Ellie, were sat in the kitchen drinking tea when they heard the letterbox go. It was unusual to receive post at one in the afternoon, but Ben got to his feet, retrieved their post and returned to the kitchen.
"This is odd…" Ben began.
"What is?" Ellie said, sipping her tea.
"It's not in an envelope. It's not even addressed to us. It's just a scrap of paper." Ben told his wife, who nodded.
"What does it say?" she inquired, curiously.
Ben unfolded the paper. "It says 'I know what you did, Terri. I know all about what you did. You disgust me. If you don't confess, I will kill you.'"
Ellie clamped a hand over her mouth. "This means…"
"She
wasn't the harmless victim of that attack. She was the target"
Ben finished gravely.
"Why though?" Ellie thought aloud.
"Why?"
---
It was late afternoon, and Ben and Ellie had decided to visit the Bournes, regarding the letter.
"And the letter said: 'I know what you did, Terri. I know all about what you did. You disgust me. If you don't confess, I will kill you.'" Ben finished his retelling of their eventful afternoon.
"That's awful." Amy said.
"As awful as it is, we now can guess their motive was something Terri did" Ellie concluded.
"But what did Terri do? She's a nice person, and she'd never do anything like kill somebody" Amy said, desperately re-reading the letter as if it were a joke.
"Well, I don't know what she did, but Brad's been acting real strange lately," Matt told them.
"He has?" Ellie asked, curiously.
"Yeah," Matt replied, telling them what he'd saw the previous afternoon.
"Peculiar. I saw him trying to wash away Terri's blood on the morning she was shot." Ben added.
The four friends looked at the letter before them, and thought of their fifth friend. Only Terri knew who shot her, but it was clear that Brad knew something. And more than he was letting on.