AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kit could only give Stephanie a limited existence, but she wasn’t one to accept such compromises. He couldn’t give her marriage or children, or a husband devoted to her. He had his love to offer and his devotion, but that’s all he’d ever be able to provide. And Stephanie deserved it all… what was the saying? The white picket fence and happy family? Something like that.
Kit was dead.
His body long turned to dust.
All that was left was this reality, and Kit would never offer that to anyone.
Stephanie
“No, officer, I honestly don’t know what happened. I have CCTV, and we can look at that. Still, it’s incredibly weird,” Stephanie said to the policeman, who was gazing at her vehicle in horror.
“It looks like it’s been torn up by an animal,” his partner muttered.
It was midday the next day, and Stephanie was dealing with PC Owens and PC Dancroft. She had reported the incident involving her car, and the local station had sent the two officers out.
“What type of beastie would do damage like that?” PC Owens asked in disbelief as he gazed at his partner.
“Be a freaking big one,” PC Dancroft replied.
“Yeah, the Cotswolds are famous for its lions and elephants roaming,” PC Owens jeered.
Stephanie hid a smile. She couldn’t fault him.
“You called this in late. Why?” PC Dancroft inquired.
“Because I couldn’t understand what the recordings were showing me. It took a couple of days to get my head around it,” Stephanie replied honestly.
“Let’s look at this weird footage you have,” PC Owens said, turning to her.
Stephanie led them into the small security office where all the cameras were linked to and brought up the video.
It was dimly lit, and the recording was of poor quality, but you could see the car rocking and then gashes and windows being smashed. Both officers stood with their mouths open as invisible forces tore the car apart. Once it finished, both individuals gazed at the monitor briefly before locking eyes.
“Could you replay that, miss?” PC Dancroft asked, scratching his chin.
Stephanie nodded and hit the button. Both men crowded the screen this time, and PC Dancroft clicked the button to slow the replay down.
“There, I see a shadow of someone,” he murmured.
Stephanie peered and frowned. Not a single dark shape hinted at the presence of a person.
“Yeah, I spot it. Seems to know where to hide,” PC Owens replied.
They continued watching, pausing when they believed they saw a figure, although Stephanie knew there was nothing there. She allowed the officers to continue their train of thought, finally printed them a copy, and took the crime reference number they gave her.
“Unfortunately, miss, it seems there were two of them. All our trained eyes could see were their shadows. With no close-ups or a glimpse of their faces, we’ll do what we can, but don’t hold out much hope,” PC Owens said.
Stephanie noticed the discomfort in his gaze. He was spouting platitudes. The three of them realised the camera didn’t capture the culprit.
Stephanie reached out and took the piece of paper he offered her and nodded. “Thank you. This is so distressing,” she murmured.
“Not a warm welcome to the village, is it, Ma’am? Yet, we have itinerant vandals. It’s more than likely they were driving past and saw a chance for mischief. It’s unlikely to be a local. But we’ll do our best, and should you get any other disturbances, call nine-nine-nine, and we’ll send a car out immediately,” PC Dancroft announced, all officiously.
Stephanie nodded as she showed them out and shut the door behind them.
“What a pair of buffoons,” Kit said, appearing instantly.
“I can’t believe they were trying to convince me there were individuals on that footage!”
