Bloodshed - A Dark Star Tale Pt. 04

"Sasha," she called back over her shoulder to her Duty Manager. "We need four more bottles of oh..."

As Ari turned, she cut herself short. Sasha stood with a slender mousy-haired women in a navy two-piece suit and a very well physically proportioned handsome male in a dark suit over a dark shirt.

"Police are here to see you," Sasha offered bluntly.

Ari's first reaction being 'what now?' She recognised neither of the Detectives, they were new to her, and she saw plenty, so what were they attempting to shake the tree for? Whatever it was they wouldn't find it here Ari worked hard to keep Marco's shadow of illegality out of this place, she was determined to honour the simple promise that she'd made to the former owner.

"Timing is everything," Ari said aloud as she rolled her eyes but extended a hand towards the female first.

"Pardon" the genuinely off guard and surprised expression Ari received in return from the female who shook her hand without introduction.

"Timing is everything" Ari repeated "Just something someone I once knew used to say."

"Me too... " the female Detective offered, "...Sorry I'm Detective Inspector Rose Callaghan this is Detective Constable Aaron Chambers."

"Well Detective Callaghan" Ari offered with a wink and a smile "If the same person who said it to me said it to you ... you have my sympathy's."

The Detective fell silent almost pensively so on the fractured opening exchange while looking around the venue. Ari cast a measured look over her then focussed more so on the visual aesthetic of her colleague, younger than her normal type, none the less attractive though and she'd hardly be cradle snatching would she, she thought to herself.

"Can I get you a drink?" Ari offered averting her gaze back to the woman who'd introduced herself as Detective Callaghan.

"We're fine thanks," Callaghan collectively offered, "Do you have somewhere a little more private we can go ... it's about your Fiancé."

Ari took a deep breath, turning around with the room seemingly spinning she placed her hand against the bar as she processed the next words she heard from the Detective. Words she heard on an attempt at sincerity as the Detective informed her that Marco Mancini was dead.

**

Sarah Myers cast her eye across the sunset through the Venetian Blinds of the private hospital room, the room not paid for by the budget of the Police Force, the room she'd been transferred to and that was being paid for by her Mother and Father.

She took in the glow of the sunset contemplating the last time she looked into the deep reds and oranges of the late summer sky. To the minute almost that had been forty-eight hours ago. A different lifetime ago now.

Her anxiety rising yet again, she felt her breath uncontrollably quicken, attempted to take deep breaths to calm herself but she found no solace. Not least every time she closed her eyes, she relived her torment; she could recall near enough every minute of her time held captive before being tortured and mutilated at the hand of her unseen assailant.

"There we are ...we are all done," the kindly West Indian accent of the staff nurse stated from her right-hand side while stepping away.

"Thank you," Sarah found it in her heart to say as the nurse diligently tidied up, having applied fresh sterile dressing to the burns across her chest. Burns the specialist had told her earlier that day that she'd have to wait to fully heal before any cosmetic surgery could even be considered. Burns that constituted just one of the constant physical reminders of her ordeal.

Warm tears silently ran back down Sarah Myers cheek, which she hurriedly wiped away with the back of her hand. Tears that did not go unnoticed by the nurse.

"There there sweetness ... I don't want no tears ...no tears because everything you know ...everything is going to be just fine you'll see."

Sarah nodded at the reassurance she was offered but didn't believe a single word of it as she looked down across her broken body. The protective screen preventing her from seeing the full extent of the horror of her injuries. Just considering what lay beyond the screen brought back further tears of anguish to her bloodshot eyes. Leaning back the dull pain in her shoulders from the deep lacerations cut through the pain relief of the morphine the nurse had administered only minutes ago.

On instinct Sarah attempted to move her right leg, her mind confused, certain she could feel the leg she knew they'd not been able to save. 'Phantom pains' the Surgeon had informed her, confused signals from her body's nervous system making the sensation fee all too real.

Fresh tears welled in her eyes once again forcing their predecessors further down her cheeks.

Despite the reassurance of the nurse as she lay there scared and alone Sarah Myers knew that nothing would ever be 'just fine.'

Knowing things would never be the same again.

Chapter Eighteen - Shadows

"Of course, I want you to keep fighting" Ari Walker-Smith stated bluntly as cautiously she headed down the stairway from the Office into the main Club. Treading with caution in the exceptionally high heel of the black leather thigh boots zipped up her legs.

"How the fuck would you propose we split everything literally fifty fifty ...do you know any good builders ...and should I give the stuck up bitch the left or the right-hand side of the house?"

She heard the words offered back to her, but she was too angry, a little confused if she was being honest with herself not that she would admit it. Biting her tongue on the argument she shouldn't be having with Claire Jacobs her Solicitor but still using her as a verbal punch bag in retaliation to the legal speak coming back at her.

"Of course, I can't fucking buy her out you know that ...can she buy me out?"

It had been three months since he died, and Marco Mancini was still causing her more problems than he'd ever been worth.

"Yeah, you keep looking ... you keep exploring the options... you make this fucking issue go away," Ari snarled as she walked into the darkness of the main room, only lights above the bar provided any illumination through the vast room.

"I'll tell you one thing if I'd have foreseen this coming then I'd have married the fucker sooner."

Taking on board reassurance she didn't believe it was all Ari could do to wish Claire Jacobs goodbye at the end of their call.

She stepped behind the bar only then noticing the open bottle of brandy and the tumbler sat within a wet ring of condensation on top of the bar.

"Problems?"

The deep gravelly voice made her jump. Although she recognised the voice immediately, would recognise the voice anywhere even though she couldn't see him. The bright lights above the bar dazzling her from what lay beyond in the darkness.

"How did you get in here?" Ari took a deep breath with her hand across the chest of her dark red body con dress.

"Someone never changed the code on back door."

"What are you doing here then?" Ari offered not unperturbed to be unable to see him.

"I was looking for revenge... seems someone has denied me that opportunity."

He stepped to the bar, Ari cast her eye across the deep lines of his face trying to ascertain if it was a trick of the light or if he looked that rough. Even on the scowl he wore his face seemed more creased than she remembered. He sported the signs of a recently healed split lip and there was a cut under his left eye. His hair was shaved short, shorter than she'd ever known, his beard thick by comparison. His eyes as dark and brooding as ever, she couldn't help but be drawn into them.

She took a moment, a moment to contemplate all that he had come to mean and all that he had ever meant to her.

"How are you, Logan?"

*****

To be continued in

Lockdown; A Dark Star Story

*****