Free Miss Murder by Jenny Cosgrove Page B

so difficult?
     
    She heard a knock on the edge of the kitchen door frame. She ignored him.
     
    He walked up behind her and hugged her. “Come on sweetie, don't be like that.”
     
    She sighed. “What is it with you and commitment?”
     
    She felt him shrug as he held her. “Do you want me to be honest?”
     
    “Of course, always.”
     
    “I've never been a one-chick man. I've never had to commit to one person. And I don't like the idea of promising anyone forever.”
     
    “But we're making all these plans together... I get the marriage thing, with divorce stats and all, but...” Anna sighed. It was awkward to put her thoughts into words.
     
    She felt Jake sigh as well. “Anna, I can't promise you commitment. It's not what I do. You've been my only girl most of the time, and always been my main girl, but I can't say there isn't anyone else, that there will never be anyone else or that they're just one night things, I...”
     
    Anna turned in his arms and pushed him back. “You what ?”
     
    “Sweetie, I figured you knew. I mean, everyone knows, right? My brain likes you and my heart knows you're the one, but my dick, he...”
     
    “Who is she?” Anna asked. She couldn't believe it. He was seeing another girl? “How long?”
     
    “Well, them... pretty much from the start. I mean, you didn't expect me to go for months without, did you? I figured that was what you wanted... you got the relationship, I got the sex.”
     
    Anna moved forward and shoved him hard. He fell over on his back. “You're a worthless, lying cunt. I can't believe I trusted you for so long. I can't believe I didn't notice...” She stopped. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed the look on his face. The blood. She looked down at her hand. The knife was in it, dripping red. The blood pooled under him and around the tear in his belly. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. His chest was still.
     
    Anna let out a choked, squeaky gasp and dropped the knife, backing herself up against the counter, trying to get away from that horrible scene. She had killed him. She had killed Jake. She hadn't meant to. But she had.
     
    She looked at the flecks of blood on her hands and, edging her way around the body, ran to the bathroom to wash them. She scrubbed until her skin was grazed and her hands were pink and swollen. She then collapsed next to the sink. What next? What next? Her mind raced. She'd just killed someone. She'd go to jail. No holidays around the world, no home together, nothing. Not to mention that without Jake it would all seem hollow and meaningless...
     
    But for now she had to hide the evidence. Reluctantly looking at her freshly cleaned hands, she gazed out the door. She had to do something. But what? She contemplated a story she read online a few weeks back about a man who killed his wife and, rather than dispose of the body, ate the flesh. But her stomach turned. She couldn't eat Jake. And throwing him in the bin would be obvious. They would probably be able to track him back to her eventually. For now... for now he had to stay in the flat.
     
    Carefully avoiding looking into the kitchen, Anna made her way to the bedroom and dug out a large suitcase. It was the one they had planned on using for their round-the-world trip. They were going to share it. She smiled a little. Oh well, it was all for him now. She threw out the few items in the bottom of it and made her way to the kitchen, half expecting him to be stood there, finishing making dinner. But the onions were still half chopped and Jake still lay there, paler than before, with the knife by his foot. Anna swallowed hard. This would take some doing.
     
    She opened the suitcase on the floor beside Jake and tried to lift him. His cold body was much heavier than she ever remembered him being. Blood smeared down her arms and front. He was too heavy. Too heavy. She dropped him again and he splattered his own blood across the tiles. She resisted the urge to run back to