In Virginia Deep

The body in the bedroom

I closed my eyes for a minute wondering if this was one of my many dreams. It could possibly be. I'd had dreams of friends getting into car accidents when I was younger but they all were fine and I'd had one where my mum was on a sinking ship but I woke up she was in the kitchen making hot chocolate with my step-father Dan.

I slowly opened my eyes, reassured that it was only a dream. 

Ruari's head had lolled to the side his feet were pressed inside the box and were now at a 90-degree angle. His eyes were as blue as ever and if it wasn't for the dried blood all over him, I could have thought that he was playing hide and seek. 

My breath caught in my chest as I strived to get off the floor. I managed it somehow gripping onto the side of the bed. 

What do I do? There's a dead body in my house. My mouth opened but no sound came out. Phone someone. That's right. 999.

I patted my pockets for my phone, strategically avoiding Ruari's dead gaze. My phone wasn't there, I had left it upstairs. 

I turned to the bedroom door and went back up the stairs. My legs had turned to jelly, it felt like I was climbing a mountain. When I finally got a hold of my phone, it took three tries before I could dial the number, my fingers shook rapidly as a female operator came on the line. 

"Ambulance, Police, or Fire Department?"

I blanched. Which one do I pick?

"Ambulance?"

"What's your situation?"

"Uhm, there's a dead body in my house."

Silence. 

"A dead body?"

I stupidly nodded.

"What's the address?"

I told her the address and she said the ambulance would be on its way and that I shouldn't touch it or move it. Well, that was obvious. 

When we got off, I placed my head in my hands. All I could do was wait and how could I do that? It wasn't like I could make a cup of tea while Ruari's dead body was in the downstairs bedroom. 

Ruari. Funny, loud, and bright. Could he really be dead? Did his family know where he was? He had another small house that he rented in the village and that was where he was staying until he got sorted out to go to Spain with his daughter. 

I took hold of my phone to see if maybe he had left some messages. 

Nothing. 

The only ones there were from my mum wishing me a good move. Oh, mum. If she only knew. 

I scrolled randomly for a minute until I came across Michael's name in my contacts. I had him listed as 'Shady Solicitor'. I gave a bitter laugh. 

I couldn't call him. Could I? What could he do? In a brazen mixture of fear, panic, and desperation, I pressed the call button.

He picked up on the second ring. 

"Hello? Audrey?"

"Michael, something's had."

"What is it?", his normally indifferent tone took on a worried edge.

I paused to get myself together. 

"Audrey."

"Ruari's dead."

"What? What are you talking about?"

I repeated myself. "Ruari's body is in the downstairs bedroom."

There was something like static on the line.

"Michael?"

"Audrey, stay where you are, I'm coming." He dropped the line and I put my phone back on the nightstand. I drew my knees up to my chin as tears started to warm my face. I couldn't go back down there not one my own, not knowing that Ruari's there dead and cold. Then a strange feeling came into my chest. How did he get in here? As far as I knew he had given the key and it's spare to me. Maybe he had others. 

I flopped back onto my bed and sent a text message to my mum that was doing okay. I know, a huge lie but what else could I do?

I stayed that way for about twenty minutes until I hear frantic knocking on the door. I rushed downstairs bare-foot to answer it. There stood Michael, in the same clothes I last saw him in but his hair now looked lightly tussled by the evening air. 

"Audrey, are you okay?"

I nodded and then promptly shook my head facing towards the foreboding bedroom door.

"He's in there."

Michael moved past me as if he owned the place and into the bedroom.

"Oh my God", he yelled. I rushed in after him as he stared blankly at Ruari as I did. Seeing him the second time around didn't make it any easier.

"Did you...?"

"I called an ambulance, they should be here soon", I said lamely. 

Michael's normally red cheeks were paling by the second as he moved forward towards the box. 

"Don't touch him", I said but still knelt down at Ruari's side studying him as if he was a fly on the window sill.

"No", I heard him whisper softly before getting back up. Sirens blared in the distance. 

"That's them", we both said in unison. We both looked again at Ruari and then at each other before we went out into the hall to meet the ambulance. 

The ambulance had come in what seemed like some messed version of a Paddy's Day parade. There was an ambulance and three police cars with flashing lights. Red, white blue. Repeat. Red, white, blue. Repeat. 

A couple of paramedics went into the house to get Ruari while I stood by the main door, answering questions asked by a policeman. I barely heard him as I nodded or shook my head when I thought it appropriate. Michael stood a little ways off from me undergoing his own mini-trial. 

The policeman left me, thank goodness. I felt I was going to faint. I wrapped my arms around myself as I stared at Lough Ramor. I wasn't wearing a jacket and even though it was Summer, it was like I would freeze.

A shadow appeared beside me. Michael. 

"How are you keeping?", he asked. I pursed my lips to hold back the tears and inelegant babbling that wasn't threatening to come out of me. 

"I'm fine", I said. But was instantly proved wrong when Ruari's body is brought out. He was paler if that was even possible with a mask over his mouth and nose but I knew it must have been a formality. He was long dead. They moved to put him in the back of the ambulance. 

"Excuse me", a voice said behind me. I turned to see a middle-aged policeman near me, "Do you live here now?"

"Yes", I choked out, "I found him in the bedroom."

"I'll have to ask to come down to the station to make a statement", he said.]

"What?"

"It's just procedure."

"She's just found a dead body, can't you just leave her alone?", Michael snapped. The police ignored him.

I took a deep shaky breath.

"It's fine", I replied, "I'll go."

"Not on your own", Michael said,  "I'm coming with you."

"There's no need", the police officer began.

"I am", Michael reiterated, "I'm coming as her lawyer."