Once A Crook

...always a crook.   Stan had paid his debt to society and gone straight ever since.   At least that's what Zoe thought...

    As Stan stared at the policemen his face was a white mask, the small muscles in his jaw working furiously as he clenched his teeth together.  Outside the panda car was waiting, another policeman leaning carelessly against it.
    “Get your coat, Mr. Harris,” the policeman said wearily.   “We’ll finish this off down the station.   There’s a lot of enquiries to make and we’re still waiting to hear if the caretaker will recover.”
    “Look, I was nowhere near that warehouse, and I didn’t beat up that old man!” Stan told him for the umpteenth time.   “I was here - at home.”
    “Maybe you were,” the policeman replied.   “But your wife can’t verify that.   If she was out till midnight and the robbery was just after eleven - that gives you time to do the job and get home.   Which means you haven’t got an alibi.”
    Stan glared at him, his eyes cold.


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Demands Of Love

My sister had always been bossy, but this time she seemed determined to put my whole future in jeopardy...

    The phone call from my sister, Jenny, came just as I was leaving work.   Her voice sounded harsh and over loud,yet there was pain in it, too.
    “Angela, I’ve got something awful to tell you,” she began.   My heart started to beat furiously at the tone in her voice.   “Mum died this afternoon, just after three...”
    Her voice broke on a sob, and there was silence for a moment.
    “Jenny, what happened?”   I gasped into the phone.
    Mum had been fine last time I went home to see my parents, just six weeks ago.   Surely death couldn’t come so quickly - without me knowing, being aware of it.
    “They said there was nothing they could do,” Jenny went on tearfully   “She’d been ill a long time and didn’t know - then it was too late.   Angie, you must come home...now.   You must!”
    “Of course I will, Jenny,” I told her quickly.   “I’ll take time off...   Catch the first train tomorrow...”

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For Export Only

My past was nothing to be proud of and I’d done everything I could to bury it good and deep.   But it refused to stay buried and now it was threatening to ruin my new life...

    I was about halfway along the alley when I heard soft footsteps behind me.   I forced myself to keep walking, not to look back.   It wasn’t much further to the main road, then I’d be safe.   I could just make out the reflection of the street lights beyond the growing shadows.
    Suddenly the lights weren’t there any longer.   The black silhouette of a man was standing in the archway, blocking the light.
    The footsteps behind me came closer, and then I heard a voice that made my blood run cold.
    “Hello, Janine.”
    I spun around, fear knotted like a hard ball inside me as I looked into Rod Brookman’s darkly handsome face.
    “Rod...” I gasped.   “I thought...”

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