Chapter Thirty-Five: Crime Uncovered

By the time the trio got to Gabrielle's home in Milan. It was already nearly eight o clock at night. Gabrielle lived in a nice apartment on her own which overlooked some of the city. Stephen helped Audrey up as she gripped onto his arm again and walked slowly into the familiar apartment. She has been here before as Gabrielle and Stephen use to live here together for a good ten years or so. Only the decor has changed since then. Gabrielle unlocked her door and invited them into the nice looking apartment.

"Well you can have my room for night, Audrey. I will take the spare and Stephen can take the couch. I think that's fair" Gabrielle spoke up as she switched on the light in her Italian apartment.

Audrey just nodded but she looked rather sad. She really have just left 'Grasmere Drive' and almost everybody at home. Though she wasn't changing her mind, it was just different for her. Nobody expects to move countries at her age, especially in these circumstances. Stephen placed the bags down and went to the kitchen to pour himself a much-needed drink. Gabrielle tapping away on her phone as she had emails and whatnot to respond to. Audrey walking to the couch as she sat down and held herself.

"Do you want the heating on?" Stephen asked her.

"Yes please. I'm quite hungry as well...Is there anything in?"

"I'll just order us a takeaway or something. Is Indian okay for you?" Gabrielle answered as began going on her ordering app.

"Yes but only mild please" Audrey responded as she began to rest her feet on the pouffe.

Gabrielle clicked away some more on her phone. Ordering three korma meals with poppadoms. Stephen walked back over to his mother once the heating was on, wrapping his coat around the back of the couch. Sitting by his mother and placing his shoes on the other pouffe. Well he seemed remarkably calmer back in familar territory. He lived in Italy a lot longer then he lived in England. He wishes he never went back there in the first place.

"I ordered now. Hopefully it comes soon...As for you two, you're out at 4am. The plane leaves at 5am and that be it. We won't be able to contact each other for a good while" Gabrielle explained as they were on a time crunch.

"Where are we going?" Audrey asked her.

"Toronto"

"Oh. That's where I first went in 1988...After that awful car crash. I quite enjoyed looking after you though. You were quite quick to recover" Audrey reminisced with a sad smile.

"You don't have to do this again. Gabrielle could take you back home if you really wanted tomorrow. It's me they will be after, not you" Stephen tried to tell her as he gave her another chance to dip out.

"No. I said I would come and I will...I'm sure there's plenty for me to do. I won't lie to you and say I'm not going to miss them all because I will. But I don't want to leave you again. That was the worst mistake I ever made. I didn't even want to do it at the time, never mind now" Audrey responded as she grabbed onto his hand.

"Mom said you wanted to stay away"

"Joyce said that? I don't want to insult her or anything but she kept you away from me. I didn't want to be kept away. But I'm not getting into that, okay? It's old news"

"I will be able to see her grave again" Stephen remarked.

Audrey keeping her mouth shut about Joyce. She didn't want to get into that old feud but she did wonder what Joyce would say nowadays. Probably would defend him like she is except she would do it better and louder. She recalled the final days of her spending time with Stephen before Malcolm and Joyce took him to Toronto. How Joyce dared gloat to her about it. How she said she was happy she wouldn't have her popping in all the time. Audrey went spare that day for the first and only time as her digs got too much. Maybe this was a form of revenge on the deceased Joyce Reid, whatever it was; Audrey was sticking with it.

...

"Audrey...It's 4am. You got to go" Gabrielle spoke that morning as she woke Audrey up.

They all went to bed not long after the takeaway. Audrey giving a nod as she began getting up. Gabrielle passing her one of her thick jumpers before leaving her to get dressed. Stephen nervously waiting with his black coat and shoes already on, he knew this was the final hurdle. But they had to leave before they are found to be missing at home.

"I feel awful doing this to mom. I really do but I feel like I would go crazy if I don't have somebody with me up there" Stephen admitted

.

"You already gone crazy. Hence why you're up at 4am and going to Toronto. Your family will hate you forever for this"

"Like they ever needed an excuse for that. Thank you though"

Gabrielle was about to reply until Audrey came out with her coat and shoes on. Ready for that final move. Hence the move was on, Stephen grabbed onto his mother's bag again along with his own. The trio leaving the apartment and getting into Gabrielle's car. The one she had in England was a hire, this one was her actual one. She got onto the road and found the journey quite silent as the nerves were all around. Didn't help that all three of them were still quite weary from all the travelling that took place last night. She was speeding through the city streets as she wanted to get to the airport and get Stephen away from her. She didn't want to be in any more trouble because she was now starting to worry for herself

"I paid for business class this time. You will have to change at Warsaw" Gabrielle began to explain.

"Where's that?" Audrey asked with disbelief at the thought of another change.

"Poland" Gabrielle answered.

"Oh. Poland is where my friends use to go get their hips replaced...But what time will we get to Poland? What if they already know we are gone?"

"You will get there at 6am. Give or take...I have thought about this, Audrey. Even at 6am, your family won't be up and over at yours. Then half an hour or so later, you will have a nine hour flight to Toronto"

"Oh gosh...Stephen. You will let me sleep on you, won't you? I can't sleep on planes and I might need a nap. It's business class, that's modern for third-class. Isn't it?" Audrey questioned.

"Second class" Stephen corrected her.

"Oh. That makes me feel a bit better...I will be able to sleep on you if I need it though, won't I?"

"Yes. You can sleep on me" Stephen replied; half-annoyed at her asking these stupid questions.

They were going on the run and she was acting as if she was going on holiday. Not being able to sleep on the plane was the least of his problems. Making it past security was his main concern. Gabrielle was counting down the minutes for when she could drop them at the airport and go home for a nap. Every siren made her worry as she kept on driving and driving. Audrey had kept quiet for the twenty or so minutes that it took to get them there. Gabrielle parking as close as she could to the entrance as she was concerned for Audrey and wanted to make easier on her. Even if she didn't really express it in words as she took one last look at them...

"Okay. This is it...Listen, here are the tickets. I printed them off...All you have to do is go the boarding station. Good luck" Gabrielle began as she passed Stephen the tickets.

"Thanks. Mom, I'm going to ask you one last time. Do you want to come or do you want Gabrielle to take you back home?" Stephen asked one last time.

"I'm going. I made my mind up a while ago" Audrey repeated again.

"Okay then. I would get out but I don't want to be on the CCTV. It's harder to identify my car than it is my face" Gabrielle retorted.

The trio thus became two. Audrey giving her daughter-in-law a hug goodbye before leaving the car. Stephen grabbed both bags as he led his mother inside, not daring to give his wife a second look as that would make this even more difficult. The duo entered the airport and nervously kept an eye on the security. Nothing was going on however. Audrey locked arms with him as he passed her the tickets to give to the boarding officer. The qeue wasn't as long as the one in Manchester which was a relief really. Audrey was shaking slightly as she kept a tight grip on the tickets and approached the boarding ticket office. She passed them over and a pin could have dropped as the boarding ticket officer checked them and looked both up and down. He just gave a nod and passed over the boarding tickets...

"Thank you" Audrey managed to speak out as she grabbed them from him.

She looked at Stephen with a look of relief. Stephen lifted up the bags to show they only had hand luggage and thus they were free to move on. They seemed to be getting away with this for now. Stephen never had any doubt really as he knew how early it still was. The final airport was the one he couldn't stop thinking about, he thus led his mother through the airport. A very nice airport actually but they didn't have the mind to enjoy it. All they could do was wait at the boarding area and sit there nervously.

"Just two more planes, mom. Once we get to Toronto and into that hotel Gabrielle booked. We can relax. You can have a nice shower and I can order us some nice proper food. Gabrielle will ring the hotel for us when she's got that condo...Which will be under a different name" Stephen explained quietly.

"What name?"

"Well. When we go to the hotel, we will be Lawrence Gregson and Hannah Tanner. Okay? That's the plan" Stephen answered.

"Hannah Tanner? Well I never...What about Gail? Will she know about any of this? I will miss her dreadfully, my sweetheart. I'll be heartless not to" Audrey spoke up with some tears falling down.

"No but she will know we ran away, won't she? So there's not much else to say"

"Okay. I understand...I guess I just never thought I would have to leave any of you ever again" Audrey cried.

"You can go right now. I can call you a cab-"

"No. No...Don't be daft. I'm not going anywhere, I just got emotions. I may cry but I would cry even more if I had to leave you my darling. Gail has her own children and grandchildren to look after her. I know she will be fine" Audrey responded quickly while grabbing onto his hands again.

...

The final part of the journey came about just as suddenly. It was now 6am and a lot lighter outside. Warsaw airport was busy and the flight to Toronto even more so as they both reached the final boarding pass qeue. This went down the same as the one in Milan. Stephen had actually done it as he even put a smile on his face as he took the final boarding pass ticket. They were going to Toronto as he grabbed the ticket with a thank you. Audrey was surprised herself as she locked arms again and began walking to the final boarding pass waiting area. The duo had just about managed as back in Weatherfield. Almost as soon as the duo got onto the plane half an hour or so later. Stephen's fingerprints were found to be a match to Leo Thompkins and Geoff Master's crime scene.

...

TBC