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The rest of the afternoon passed quickly as they visited the Pleasure Beach and Therese even persuaded Colin on to a couple of the scarier rides. In the evening they found a cabaret with a female impersonator and a DJ who favoured seventies and eighties dance tracks.

“Terrific” thought Colin “if I had a chance to explore this town on my own, I bet I could find a place with a live band playing hard rock. This stuff just doesn’t do it for me!”

It did it for Therese of course! She wanted Colin to dance with her all bloody night. He joined in as best he could, but his heart wasn’t in it; no matter how long she was on her feet he knew damn well her appetite for more exercise in the hotel bedroom when they got back wouldn’t be affected.

As he was being dragged to his feet for yet another disco track that he hated, he imagined himself falling asleep during his first meeting with Erebus when he got back to Larcombe.

“Thought you were recharging the batteries old chap?” he could hear him saying as Donna Summer let it rip.

When they got back to the hotel after another late night, drifting from bar to bar, they fell into bed; Therese was insatiable as Colin had forecast. She fell asleep on top of him just as the sun was coming up. He was too shattered to try to move her. The best day of their holiday and he was in no position to enjoy it.

Colin woke Therese up with his laughter; he had realised that what he had been thinking was ludicrous given his current situation and he cracked up. He laughed until the tears were rolling down his cheeks.

“What’s so funny?” asked Therese annoyed at having her sleep disturbed.

“Sorry; it wasn’t your fault; I just thought of something and it set me off. You get back to sleep Therese; I’ll have a shower and take a walk, get some fresh air.”

“I sometimes wonder if all you want from me is the sex” she said, throwing a pillow at his back as he walked away from the bed.

“You get as good as you give sweetheart” chided Colin “we both came into this with our eyes wide open.”

Therese sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor.

“Look, I don’t really know who you are, not really. I don’t understand how you were dead, but now you’re not. How did that happen? You said you had a couple of days holiday owed you; who do you work for? Do they know who you are? How come you’re entitled to holiday when you can’t have been working with them for more than a couple of months? What sort of job is it anyway?”

“That’s a lot of questions Therese” said Colin “just give me five minutes and I’ll be back. I’ll try to explain as much as I can.”

As he stood in the shower Colin knew this was the turning point. Either he walked back into that bedroom and told Therese some of the truth and they moved on with their relationship for as long as it lasted; or he went back, told her there was nothing to tell and he took her somewhere quiet, killed her and disposed of her body. By the time he had showered, dried himself and dressed he needed to have come to a decision. No pressure then!

Colin found Therese exactly where he had left her sat on the bed; she looked up at him with those beautiful dark brown eyes looking unusually sad, almost on the verge of tears. She stood up and he studied her naked body; those breasts were still the best he’d ever seen! What was he thinking? She linked her hands behind his neck and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Talk to me” she said.

“When you look as incredible as this, the last thing I want to do is talk” Colin replied. Their lovemaking was more tender and sensual than ever before. Later that morning as they lay in each other’s arms Colin began to tell her a story.

“Things went wrong in Bath back in July” he said “I got careless. I’d taken the wife of that copper you met as hostage, to try to keep him off my back long enough to let me finish the jobs I had planned. They found her while I was away in London for the day.

On my way back to Bath I took a quick detour to visit my daughter’s grave, for the first time in almost ten years. I’d returned to England earlier in the year after living abroad for all that time. Going to the grave was a mistake. It delayed me; I could have been at the house when the coppers turned up and maybe used his wife to work out a deal.

They were closing in and I hadn’t a clue. All my plans were falling apart. I had to get out of the city and as far away from the West Country as possible. I was running back to the car park where I’d left my van and suddenly there were police everywhere.

The next thing I know is the bloody copper bundles me over a wall and into the river; he’s trying to overpower me and no way am I going down without a fight. We both reckoned without the strength of the waters around the weir. How either of us escaped heaven only knows; it was a miracle. I thought I was a goner.

As darkness fell I made my way downstream and escaped. They had given up on me making it out alive and had gone home for the night; I guess they dragged the weir and the surrounding area first thing in the morning. Even though they didn’t find me they always believed my body would turn up eventually somewhere along the river. It’s been four months and hopefully they’ll stop looking sometime soon.”

“Where did you hide out though?” asked Therese.

Colin was tap dancing, thinking on his feet.

“There’s a lot of countryside out there Therese; I roughed it for a while. It was the summer after all. A few weeks ago I was in a pub and heard some blokes chatting about this organization that was looking for people. I got in touch and after an interview they took me on. They wanted people who liked hard work, didn’t mind getting their hands dirty and were prepared to travel around the country chasing up clients. They weren’t interested in my background; they just offered me the job no questions asked.

As you can imagine it suited me; the money’s good and as long as I hit my quotas I think they’ll keep employing me.”

Colin was quite pleased with that explanation; it was close to the truth in many ways. He just omitted to tell Therese what sort of employers he had and where they were based.

It seemed to have done the trick at least. Therese had only one more question.

“This lovely holiday is nearly over, when will I see you again?”

“I need to get back and find out where my next job is” said Colin truthfully “you said you still have the same mobile number, so I’ll put it in my new phone now and I can ring you as soon as I get some more time free. I lost all my numbers when my old phone ended in the river along with yours truly!”

After grabbing a bite to eat they checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the station. By mid afternoon Colin was seeing Therese back to her place in Runcorn. She wanted him to spend the night there but he told her he had to get back; his bosses might need him to travel over the weekend ready to start a new job first thing Monday morning.

“It’s been great” he said with a smile as he left her “we must do this again sometime!”

“Can’t wait!” shouted Therese as he got into the waiting taxi and headed back to the station. It was a slower cross country train that delivered him back to Bath Spa after a couple of changes and he had ample time to get the minicab out from the Manor to pick him up from the station. It was just after seven in the evening when he was dropped off outside his quarters.

Colin unpacked his things and walked over to the canteen to get a quick snack; no sooner had he returned to his room and started to get stuck into a bacon roll than there was a light knock on his door.

It was Athena.

“Hi; you’re back I see” she said and came in and sat on the bed.

Colin kept munching.

“We were pleased with the outcome in Dunfermline; it was expertly handled.”