(Chapter 1: https://saragawde.com/chapter-1/)
Asher
Asher sat by the lake, plucking grass. He rested his head onto his hand, his elbow on his lap. The lake sparkled beautifully, like a rippling mirror of the night sky. But he didn’t notice it, not with what he was hearing. A drifting whisper. He’d only ever heard that voice once before: “Oh thank you so much! You have been inspiration for so many of my characters Asher! Its a pleasure to know you love what i write, truly!”
“God, i hate this! How long will i be here on this wretched planet? First, the betrayal, and i’m still held down. I loved her, that CHILD!” It wailed, highpitched and breaking. Nothing like how excited and gleeful it had seemed alive. “Who?” Asher asked, instantly regretting the question that had sliped in his mind.
“Olivia, my sweet little baby. She killed me. That bitch.” Rebecca’s ghost whispered in spite.
Asher rolled his eyes, his grey eyes glowing like the moon now. “Tell them all. Tell them all she killed me. How COULD SH-”
Asher cut her off. A soundproof wall forming between him and the ghost he’d contacted. It was weird how they were always like this, a few days after they’d died, people were always screaming and wailing. Wild.
He looked at the place where they’d found her body, a bloody track still vaguely translucent there. The lake had cleared up its own murder.
When they’d found the gun at the rooftop, sunken in the pool, him and the police had had the same first assumption. Rebecca thinking about killing herself, but jumping off of the building instead. She must have landed on a rock which split her back and unable to breathe, she’d forced herself to swim up, onto a nearby rock where she’d breathed her last and succumbed to her injury. What didn’t add up was the bruise on her wrist, fresh and red. The body was still in autopsy and they wouldn’t find out about her physical conditions at the time of her death until the funeral back in London.
Goddamn procedure.
Asher got up, straightening his back and hearing it click. He twisted and turned, roughly stretching, looking back at the dark lakehouse. He’d left it untouched since he’d arrived, bringing his own ketttle for tea and a whole ton of plastic cups. He didn’t want to ruin the crime scene in any way unless it was for research that was urgently required. Like the search for unrecognizable DNA they’d done. Although that had got them nothing. He’d told them not to rush it but no, the English police have to keep up the heroic reputation of ‘chasing the truth’ and ‘avenging those that couldn’t defend themselves’.
Asher got into the boat by the shore, a private he’d rented. He picked up the paddles and the boat shook under him, he began rowing. He tried to ignore what Rebecca had told him. He didn’t like listening to ghosts in the middle of an investigation. Because all they ever wanted to do was scream the answers of a puzzle he was entranced in solving. It was annoying. Maybe it was a bad decision, calling on Rebecca because his curiosity right then had got the better of him. He’d lost a part of the thrill now. Like ignoring ‘Olivia’ was going to not make her the killer.
Asher sighed. “Shame. You try to have some fun, but some angry ghoul decides to mess up the party, again.” Ironically, an angry ghoul is what had got him into investigative work. After a detective had given a false result to a case and Asher had heard the ghoul complaining, he’d decided to start investigating himself, at the age of 17. And 3 years later, the truth had never hidden from him, and if he listened hard enough, it had come to him like a present being unwrapped. A pandora’s box that ALWAYS ruined the powerplay if it came to early.
He reached the shore leading to the village in a few minutes. There was still some thicket of the forest to cross, and it took him another ten minutes to begin to see the lights of civilisation. Tomorrow, he’d have interviews with the people that lived here. See if they’d heard anything, about this Olivia woman, because neither he, nor the rest of the world had.
I
(Chapter 2.5: https://saragawde.com/chapter-1-5/)