FEEL IT TWICE

chapter 17 - blameless & being together

Detective Henderson shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"I received an email from the owner, Mrs Margaret Unger, which included the surveillance footage from the two hidden security cameras in the barn, as they apparently upload to an app accessible from the mobile device she has with her in Spain." Detective Sergeant Henderson began. "Have you seen it?"

"Yes," they both said.

"Remarkable. So it appears that from the footage, and this is substantiated by the evidence collected by us on our last visit, and the coroner's findings, that after entering the barn, Mr McEwan was confronted by the locked door into the house. He found the axe by the firewood stack and began hacking at the door. During this exercise, he slipped in the melted snow he had tracked in and dropped the axe which landed on the butt end with blade facing up, and then tragically fell onto it, slicing open his head and slamming his arm and leg into the concrete. This would have caused a degree of brain damage and he was unaware of his injury, so he replaced his hat and continued hacking at the door, entering the walkway. At this point, the camera videoed through the open doorway the victim advancing holding the axe aloft, and the dog attacking his arm, and then the final fall which ended in the man's death. Taking into account this evidence, the coroner has ruled it an accidental death, and you are both cleared of any wrongdoing."

Camila turned to Shawn and he embraced her, squeezing her hard. She whispered "Thank God" in his ear and then they let go and Shawn accepted the paper from the policewoman and signed it, and Camila witnessed it.

"Well, that's that then, I'm sorry for any inconvenience," the Detective said stiffly. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Shropshire."

"Just a minute," Camila called. "Can you tell us, did you make any statement to the media or did any word of what happened get released do you know?"

Henderson's face was suddenly diffused with colour, he looked awkward and guilty. Oh my goodness, what had the man done?

"I'm afraid I jumped the gun a bit and released a statement before the coroner's finding and the video came into my possession, it contained quite a bit of detail, I do apologise. I will be releasing an amendment to that, and an official apology, this afternoon."

Shawn looked at her with horror. What did 'quite a bit of detail' mean? They watched the cars leave the property and Shawn went and closed the gate, re-setting the electric closing mechanism that was linked to mains power only. When he made it back, they entered the house and then made sure all the doors were locked and the windows still boarded on the ground floor. If reporters were going to find them, they didn't want them to be able to see anything.

As it was, the Big Freeze decided it had one last blow in him, and that night the storm hit hard. Camila cuddled up to Shawn in the big bed, glad he had shuttered the windows up here as well as she could hear the glass panes rattling. They were watching a movie on his laptop, but she was having trouble concentrating. She was glad the storm hadn't finished, she wasn't ready to leave their little love nest and head back out into the real world. There was a lot to be done to reset her life, and on one hand she was eager to get to it and have it done, but on the other she dreaded the chore. She felt the same about how things with Shawn would proceed as well. They had a rough plan, but was this a bit like a holiday romance? How would they hold up once the pressures of their lives, the industry, the travel, all conspired to tear them apart? In that regard, it was both better and worse than the last time they dated. They were older now, so they could just hop on a plane any time they felt like it and go visit each other, but they were even busier now than when they were kids and everything was much bigger. Bigger crowds, bigger venues, bigger fame, bigger pressure. The one thing she did know, was that they loved each other, real love that had lasted five years, had been battered and bruised and had survived to become an even stronger version than before. They just had to work at it. She had found a pile of relationship advice books and had been reading through them, much to Shawn's indulgent amusement. She was determined to keep their relationship healthy and strong.