Free Run Run as Fast as You Can by Willow Rose

helping people really made you feel better. It also helped her get rid of the last remains of that annoying no-good plumber, so, in that sense, she was killing two birds with one stone, now wasn't she?
    "There," she said. "It's all in there and ready for you when you need it." She turned to look at Tim again. It hurt her to see him this sad. She grabbed a chair next to him and sat down.
    "The worst part is that we ended with a fight you know?" he said. "I can't bear the fact that I never got to tell her how much I loved her."
    "I'm sure she knew."
    "How? How could she know? I hardly ever told her. I was too damn proud. If only I had apologized that night. I hate all this guilt."
    Lisa nodded pensively. "Why did you have to apologize?"
    "It was my fault. It was all my fault that we were fighting the night before." He said and sniffled.
    "What was your fault?"
    "I should never have told her. I should have kept my big fat mouth shut," he continued.
    Lisa put her hand on top of his to comfort him. "I'm sure it doesn't matter anymore. Now you have to focus on your children. They need you, Tim."
    "There was this girl," Tim continued, without looking at Lisa.
    Lisa froze. She pulled her hand away from his. "What girl?" she asked, slightly anxious for what he was going to tell her. "Tim. What girl?"
    "Nothing ever happened. I swear Lisa. It started at a summer party a couple of months ago. She came on to me."
    "Is she an officer?"
    "No, one of the secretaries. I never told Simone who she was, though. She really wanted me to, but I couldn't. She would have killed her."
    "Aha. And what exactly happened between you and this secretary?"
    "I was in the small kitchen at the station when she came in there to me and started kissing me. I didn't stop her. I know I should have, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't." Tim hid his face in his hands and shook his head. "She kept telling me how badly she wanted me and I … I kissed her back. But nothing else. I swear, Lisa. Nothing else. But ever since that day, she kept coming on to me and grabbing me whenever we were alone, trying to kiss me. It was a nightmare in the end. She kept writing things on Facebook and in e-mails and I had no idea how to get it to stop. I told her I wasn't interested, but that didn't make her stop. Then she started calling me in the middle of the night. She kept saying she would tell Simone that I had slept with her if I avoided her. I … I had no idea what to do. So, I told Simone about her. That's why she got so mad at me. She didn't even speak to me all morning … on the day when … the last time I saw her. If I had only apologized and not been so stubborn. I kept telling her that I had no part in it and she kept arguing that I did since I didn't fight the girl off when she kissed me. Am I such a bad person, Lisa? Am I?"
    Lisa snorted, then put her hand on Tim's shoulder. "No, Tim. No, you're not. Tell me again which one of those two secretaries at the station was it?"
     

21
    November 2013
    I WORKED ON my book most of the day. Around three o'clock, Sophia popped over with baby Alma in her arms. She looked exhausted.
    "What's going on?" I asked when she sat down in my kitchen.
    "I can't sleep," she said. "I hardly closed an eye last night."
    I shrugged. "Well you have a baby, that's pretty normal."
    She shook her head. Alma played on the floor. "No not because of her. I'm used to her waking me up, no I simply can't fall asleep. I keep thinking about Simone. I really liked her. I did, Emma. She was the nicest in our group. I can't believe she's gone. Today someone in my group suggested that her husband could have killed her. Now I can't stop thinking that he might have. Maybe he fooled all of us? I have known my share of psychopaths in my life and I know how they fool the people around them."
    I scoffed. "You know better than to believe stupid rumors and speculations like that. Is there anything that indicates he could have done it?" I asked. "What would his motive