5PM (20 page)

5 Years Later

There are still
times when I shut my eyes and think of that day five years ago when my brother, father, and two of the women I had sex with in that crazy week all lost their lives, and my wife was arrested for murder. The ambulance did eventually arrive for me, but due to my body going into shock, I missed everything in between climaxing inside Kate and waking up two days later in a hospital with my mother, sister, children, and Detective Hannah Hall watching as I open my eyes. My sister had been hit by a bullet in the shoulder that day and passed out for some time, and when she woke, she grabbed a shotgun and blew Kate’s head off her shoulders once she eventually found where I was.

Talissa had been charged with twenty-one counts of first-degree murder, enough to sentence her to death by lethal injection. But due to her being pregnant, another outcome of that crazy week, her sentence had been reduced to life imprisonment. She had a baby girl, who was placed into my care at seven days of age.

Talissa gave me naming rights, and I went with the name Sarah. I take the kids to see their mother once a month, and although we are civil with each other, we agreed to a divorce. But she wasn’t the only woman I impregnated that week.

In a weird turn of events, the sweet detective Hannah and I became a romantic item a few weeks after I had been released from the hospital. We welcomed our son Ryan into the world a few days after Talissa gave birth to Sarah. We haven’t married yet, but that suits us fine as we live happily in a log cabin far away from the bustling city life we used to endure. When I had been discharged from the hospital after that day five years ago, she told me she hadn’t been a regular cop for some time, but ironically, worked undercover as one to investigate Ed’s possible involvement in the deadly Praying Mantassassins organisation. Cleverly, she tricked Ed into believing she wanted to get into the squad too, but intentionally, left clues that she alone had been investigating them, so she knew he would betray her on the day they stormed the farm.

As for the Phelps Brothers Real Estate Empire, they went into involuntary dissolution, and as the sole surviving employee at the branch, Geoff soon found himself out of work. Good for him, I started my own real estate business and asked him to be a partner. Part of our new approach to real estate is to get in and help the sellers as best as we can by lending money to them to renovate their homes, which they can pay back interest free when we sell their property. We also source quality tradesmen to do any of the jobs required to help improve the property for a quick and profitable sale. Our business does very well for itself and we donate ten percent of our net profits to help fund local schools and the women and children’s hospital. It’s the least I can do to make me feel like I’m giving back after many years of being a ruthless agent and for what I did to Kate’s sister many years ago.

Hannah did a lot of digging on the members of the Praying Mantassassins and found their real names and backgrounds, and matched up many unsolved murders with some help from DNA samples taken from the bodies of Emily, Lauren, and Ed. But even with the fear there are more out there, the financier of the team hired to go after me is dead. Brittany didn’t fare as well as Talissa and remains on death row for her involvement in multiple homicides

Hannah even dug up what she could on Kate, which although wasn’t a lot, it brought a hard truth home to me. Before I worked for Phelps, I met a woman in a club one night who took me home to her place for a night of passion. It turned out she worked for the city’s biggest property developer and just one property owner stood between the developer and the multi-million dollar project. She asked me to entice the owner, Leonie, to sell to a particular buyer who had registered through Phelps Real Estate to find them a quaint little country cottage. Leonie didn’t know the buyer had been put in as a decoy in order to move the property from them to the developer. So they sold at a much cheaper price than the developer had offered to buy the place to demolish it—also thanks to her alcohol and cocaine-induced state.

Kate took it really hard when her sister committed suicide, which is completely understandable. She never dated and rarely went out. Upon inspection of her computer, records found a string of notes typed up with names and methods to kill said people, as well as short stories of working as an assassin for hire. She also kept an online journal, which confirmed that she fantasised about joining a well-known killer for hire organisation. She knew her looks and lack of sexual experience would keep her from ever becoming one of them. Her chat history also brought up her strange conversations on 3DDreamchat and threats of murder to multiple chat users, but none of them had been killed in real life.

She also had a number of prescription medicine bottles in her premises, including anti-depressants, uppers, and downers. And unlike the assumed stereotype given to women who live alone, she didn’t own a single cat. Overall, the knowledge of her uninspired existence saddened me, but realistically, I couldn’t have done a thing to help her.

Out here, we have everything we need, and the children of our blended family have been given the chance to grow close to nature. There’s a great fishing lake a couple hundred metres down a hiking track, and forests of pine trees as tall as city skyscrapers surround our home. The snowfalls during winter make this place we call home a photographer’s dream, but we get to live it. We have electricity and running water, but no internet and mobile phone coverage, and we intend to keep it that way. The landline phone is sufficient to keep us in touch with those we want to stay in touch with, and we have two phone lines just in case Hannah needs to be contacted by the precinct where she now works.

Love and laughter flow through our home, and Isaac and Matilda have taken to Hannah really well, along with their new brother and sister. But if I thought having a sex life was hard when I was with Talissa and having two kids, double the kids have really pushed the challenge to a new level. Saying that though, we get to do it two to three times a week, and, for the most part, it is still incredible.

Life is good.

I walk to the mailbox. Today I’m working from home while co-ordinating a new property development for a company who works with one hundred percent clean energy. Yes, I’ve become a Mr Do Right, but I can sleep at night now, and my sex addiction has been curbed, thanks to the monthly meetings I still attend.

Opening the hatch to the mailbox, I see a number of envelopes, junk mail, and a postcard. One envelope looks suspiciously like a power bill, another one an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win a mansion in a city I don’t want to live in, and a letter addressed to Isaac from a pen pal. The junk mail goes straight to the recycling bin, and then I stare at the postcard. The front of it a full-colour photo of a band playing to a small crowd with writing at the bottom saying,
‘Greetings from House of Blues, Las Vegas.’
I can’t think of anyone I know who lives or is visiting Las Vegas, so I flip the card over to read who it might be from.

My head spins and my stomach feels as though it is rising to my throat as I read the words.

Miss me, Terry?

Love, BluesGirl xxx.

THE END

Writing has been
a labour of love for me for some years now, a passion that started in school, but went into hibernation until a few years ago. The journey to get my first book completed and out into the world has been long, but the love of my good wife Glenda, as well as her support, has been a big factor in getting me to this point. I also thank Glenda for the three beautiful children we have made together—Ethan, Krystal, and Siobhan.

As great parents often do, my mother and father, Barbara and Noel Heinicke, have been a great support, as well as my sister Rachel, who’s always encouraged me to persue my dreams.

This book wouldn’t have been what it is without the editing skills of Rogena Mitchell Jones, a lady who has managed to fix my jumbled words, but leave my writing voice intact. Thanks Rogena. I can’t wait to work with you again.

The cover is a combination of a stock photo taken by my photographer friend Mark Holzigal and a designer by the name of Rebecca Berto. Thanks so much for the beautiful work you have both contributed to my book’s eye—a catching cover.

Two ladies have helped out in a big way in reading the early drafts of this story, their feedback invaluable and should they now read this copy, may notice a few changes. Thank-you to both Bianca Lloyd and Leesa Barrell. And there’s been a great guy who has followed and cheered on my progress for a long time now, so much so, I named my main character after him—Cooper DMselector. Thanks for your support, my friend.

Along my journey, I’ve made many online friends through Facebook writing groups, some of them successful authors. They’ve always been there to offer advice, answer questions, and help cheer me on and even help promote me. Thank-you to Laura, Lili, Jacinta, Hayley, Stephen, Greg, Jenn, Melissa, Carol, Dawn, David, Fiona, Jen, Jan, Kate, Rebecca, Earl, and Bryan. Sorry if I’ve left anyone out—it’s not intentional.

And then last, but certainly not least, I have so many regular friends and relatives to thank for their encouragement. There are too many to mention by name, but if you’re reading this and you know me in real life, then you’re most probably one of them.

Thank you once again, everyone. I hope you’ve enjoyed my book and will read my upcoming works, too.

Chris was born
in the town of Port Pire, South Australia in a non-disclosed year. Growing up in a family who moved a lot, Chris was able to see a lot of Australia as a child and teenager, meeting a wide variety of people. Although working as a baker, writing has been a passion for some time, starting in high school and reigniting again in 2006. Since then, he has worked on the first part of a science fiction series, which is slated for a 2015 release, as well as a short story, which culminated into a 2014 NaNoWriMo project called 5PM.

Apart from writing, Chris enjoys travelling, reading, and watching movies. He resides in the New South Wales beachside town of Coffs Harbour with his wife and three children.