Switchback Stories by Iain Edward Henn Read Free Book Online Page A

she wanted to reach out and embrace him, she knew she could never take even the slightest risk of endangering him.
    She turned and began a brisk walk along the street, back the way she had come, suppressing her emotions.
    At the far end of that long street, she reached the spot where she’d parked her car.
    Her hands shook slightly. Tears stung the corners of her eyes.
    This was the man she could never get to know better. This was the news scoop of the year, the story that could never be told.
    She turned the key in the ignition, pulled out, drove back toward the centre of DC and the television station.
    Leaving the secret behind.
    Leaving the chameleon to his new and very different life.

DEADLY BY DESIGN
    I make the money and my wife spends it. It’s a great partnership. So it seemed only fitting that my profession should provide the means for me to get rid of her. Once and for all.
    It began the day Ruth told me about Riverview Acres. ‘It’s a new housing development on the coast,’ she said, peering at me over those dreadful horn-rimmed glasses that she delighted in wearing. ‘An up and coming area. We’re getting in now, before the boom. I’ve bought two luxury homes. We’ll live in one and rent out the other.’
    ‘What about this place?’
    ‘I put it on the market last week. Alicia tells me she’s already found a buyer. We’ll get a good price.’
    ‘But I like it here!’ I cast my Sunday paper aside and glared at her across the sun-drenched balcony. ‘You didn’t ask me. You had no right.’
    ‘Oh for goodness sake, Ronnie. I’ve always done the buying and selling. You know that. I’m good at it.’
    ‘Yes. With the money I earn as your springboard.’
    ‘You’re not going to start that again. Surely. The same old tired argument. Think of it this way, Ronnie. You’ll have two brand new homes to decorate. A nice little challenge for you.’
    ‘Maybe I don’t want to keep moving around. Perhaps I’d like to settle in one place.’
    ‘For crying out loud, Ronnie, don’t be so bloody boring.’
    But I am boring, you see. I’m not one of these dynamic, prima donna interior designers that grace the social pages of the weekend tabloids. I’m just an ordinary, everyday person who happens to be good at designing décor for flamboyant people. The kind that pay very well. The kind of people that Ruth likes to spend her time with.
    Frankly, I don’t like them.
    I stormed off and sulked for the rest of the day. Later on I calmed down and grudgingly accepted that Ruth would get her way. She always did.
    A week later she confirmed that the sale on our current home was going through. No hitches. She showed me the area plans for Riverview Acres. ‘Alicia has already organised a family to rent the corner block, number 23 Clarion Close. We’ll move into number 40, just down the street on the other side. Alicia says we’ll have a better view from there.’
    Alicia Morrison was the elegant, ambitious property consultant that Ruth insisted on employing as an advisor.
    ‘Looks interesting,’ I admitted, surveying the plan.
    ‘Everything will be completed in four weeks,’ Ruth continued, ‘around the same time that Alicia and I will be on our trip down south, to Victoria. Could you be a darling, Ronnie, and organise the move and the new décor while I’m gone. That way it’ll all be ready for me to walk straight into when I get back.’
    I nodded. As usual, the hard work had been left to me. I’d forgotten that Ruth and Alicia were spending a few days looking at new land releases and development proposals in the Victorian countryside, near Ballarat.
    Ruth and I had been married for ten years. Over that time she’d formed an idea of herself as some kind of real estate wheeler dealer. Well, she wasn’t. The notion was ridiculous because she knew practically nothing about it at all.
    Alicia advised her on the paperwork and proceedings. My high income made it possible. Ruth bought and sold all over