'Witness' - The White Bridge Crime Series 3 - LGBT, manXman

24

(Two Weeks Later)

The body of the local man found in a burnt-out car after an accident on Friday has been identified as that of Mr Freddie Glover, 31, from Laurel Gardens.

Mr Glover had worked at a local restaurant, The Dinner Table, for ten years. His employer and close friend, Mr Adrian Sloan, said in a statement that Mr Glover was 'the life and soul of a party, a truly loyal friend, and a beautiful person'.

Mr Glover is survived by his long-term partner Mr Thomas Harwood, who also works at The Dinner Table.

Police believe that the brakes on Mr Glover's car failed, causing his car to slide off the road and catch fire.

A post-mortem examination confirmed that Mr Glover was killed in the initial impact.

The death is not being treated as suspicious by local police officers.

Tom re-read the clipping of Freddie's 'death' for what felt like the thousandth time. He skimmed his fingers lightly over the black ink, feeling as though touching Freddie's name enough would somehow bring him back home.

"Tom?" Justin, the barman, knocked on the office door and peered cautiously inside.

"What?" Tom asked, more brusquely than he'd intended.

He softened his works with a forced smile.

"Could you add another bottle of gin to the stock list, please. And we need some more of those plain water glasses; the new waiter just dropped a tray and broke four of them."

Tom rolled his eyes, trying to supress his anger, and made a note.

"Tell that waiter on your way out to sort himself out, otherwise I'll fire him. He's been here ten days."

Justin nodded and backed out of the office.

Tom skimmed the article once more, before he folded it carefully along the well-creased lines, and put it back into his diary; the black notebook that Freddie had bought him for Christmas.

He felt tears well up in his eyes and brushed them away angrily.

He rose from behind his desk and went out to the main restaurant; he watched Justin mixing cocktails for a couple of young business women at the end of the bar, the new waiter diligently taking the order of a large table, two of the cleaning women talking and laughing together as they came out of the ladies toilets, pulling mop buckets and carrying cleaning cloths.

Everyone was going about their lives as normal; it was like nothing had changed.

Which, Tom supposed, was almost true.

Although the workers at The Dinner Table had been upset about Freddie, their lives continued.

The customers, aside from the regulars, had probably never met Fred, and if they had they likely wouldn't remember him.

Tom could remember him.

He remembered the fights they'd had, and the laughs they'd shared, and the times they'd made love.

He remembered the touch of Fred's fingers, the scent of his shampoo, the type of jeans he preferred to wear, his favourite meal.

And he couldn't forget.

Turning to do to the kitchens, Tom looked back when Justin called to him. He went across to the barman, who handed him a tall, thin glass with a lemon slice and an ice cube bobbing in it.