The Black Widow (3 page)

Dave had to die.

Cheryl laughed out loud as the two men suddenly stumbled and fell to the floor, Richard on top of Dave. Giggling like two schoolgirls', they struggled their feet as Ella jumped up and the three began to dance together.

For the next forty minutes or so, Cheryl drank and laughed at her husband's antics, feeling more and more anxious.

What if I make a stupid mistake and go to prison for the rest of my life?

She pictured a life behind bars. She pictured her father coming to visit her and in her mind, she played out a scenario of herself, seated behind glass with one of those phones to her ear as her father took a seat and lifted his own phone. She pictured the smug look in his eyes as he told her of her mother's breakdown and the shame she had brought on the family.

Do they even have those types of phones in this country?

She pictured her face all over the newspapers, the words 'Murderer' in bold letters under her stricken face.

I've planned everything out. There's no way they'll link me to his death.

Cheryl relaxed a little as she ran through her kill list once more. She knew in order to convict, cops needed evidence. Well, by the time she was finished with Dave, there wouldn't be that much left to look at.

Confident that her plan would work and that there was no way the police would be able to prove murder, Cheryl relaxed a little.

Dave was playing his part well, drinking way too much and mixing his alcohol. Pretty soon he would take himself upstairs to bed.

As Dave became more unsteady on his legs, Cheryl made sure to make constant references to how unbearable his snoring would be, which was bad enough when he was sober.

Having made a point about the snoring, she then went to the next part of the plan. She announced numerous times that she was seriously considering sleeping on the sofa since she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep through the snoring that Dave would be doing sleeping beside her.

Nicole was sat by Cheryl's side and had not stopped talking about babies. It was beginning to get to Cheryl. She wished that Dave would hurry up and do exactly what she knew he would do. Anything to get away from Nicole, who was even planning day trips with the baby on the occasions that she would baby-sit it.

Becoming more and more anxious as she willed Dave to hurry, she wondered if she'd have some sort of a meltdown before he played his role in his murder. Indeed, her heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest and she looked around her to see if anyone had noticed.

Dave, Richard and Ella were still dancing, Tom and his wife seemed to be having a serious conversation based on their hard facial expressions and James looked as if he was willing himself to stay awake.

Not for the first time in her life, Cheryl noted the feeling of being in company, yet having the sensation of being completely alone

It wasn't a pleasant notion.

Then, it happened. Dave suddenly mumbled something incoherent, placed his empty pint glass on the mantelpiece and began to stagger towards the door.

Cheryl rushed forward and took the half-smoked cigarette from Dave's limp fingers and grinned at everyone.

Richard and Ella cheered loudly as James and Nicole laughed.

"I guess that's his lot then," James commented.

"C'mon Dave, just one more" Ella shouted, but Dave turned away as if he hadn't heard and stumbled from the room.

Standing in the doorway, Cheryl watched Dave stumble his way up the stairs then turned and grinned. "I think that's his lot, folks," she told everyone as she stubbed out the cigarette in the nearest ashtray.

As she expected, the guests immediately took that as their cue to leave. No-one ever stayed long after Dave went to bed, but instead of feeling insulted as she usually did, tonight it was required.

As murmured conversations between the couples began, Cheryl said that she was going to check on Dave and excused herself.

Rushing upstairs, she dashed into the spare room and pulled off the duvet and pillows from the guest bed. Bundling them in her arms, she then went to check on Dave.

He lay sprawled on his back, one leg hanging off the side of the bed and his arms splayed out at his sides. He had got as far as to unbutton his jeans and remove his belt, but otherwise he remained dressed.

Cheryl's throat tightened as she heard Dave's voice in her mind. "I'm starfishing," he's say playfully when Cheryl complained about his hogging the bed. Once more, affection came rushing over her, affection for her husband whom she loved very much.

I can't do this. I just can't.

Cheryl gazed at him, almost smiling—when she suddenly wondered if Dave had 'starfished' in his secretary's bed. The moment of weakness passed as quickly as it came.

There's no backing out
, Cheryl told herself harshly.
You either do this and secure your future, or you sit back and wait for him to leave you for another woman.

Cheryl turned and went back downstairs into the living room, the affection she'd suddenly felt within her once again turning into heavy darkness. She found the three couples on their feet preparing to leave.

"Making your bed?" Nicole asked grinning.

"Yep. There's no way I'm going to bed tonight. It'd be like trying to sleep on the airport runway."

Hearing Ella's animated voice, Cheryl turned and saw her talking to Tom, the man smiling and nodding as Karen stood by his side glaring— at
Cheryl.

An jolt ran through Cheryl as she met the woman's gaze. Karen maintained eye contact before looking away, neither smiling nor concerned at having been caught staring.

There was no mistaking the animosity in the woman's eyes; she clearly despised Cheryl.

What the hell is her problem?

Probably just jealous because I'm younger and prettier than her,
she thought nastily, though she knew that wasn't it.

She'd had jealous looks from women before; a strange mixture of desire and envy that immediately dissolved into a forced smile when Cheryl turned and caught them staring, but this wasn't what she'd seen in Karen's eyes. She had looked at Cheryl as if she were a snake.

Along with the dislike and utter contempt in the woman's eyes, Cheryl had also seen suspicion.

Just what had the woman seen to make her suspicious
? Cheryl wondered as bile rose from her chest to her throat.

Someone already suspects me and I haven't done anything yet!

It was almost like the woman had realised that tonight was a charade and that Cheryl planned to do something terrible. She had seen straight through Cheryl's act and realised she was being manipulated.

Cheryl swallowed continuously as she fussed with the pillows and duvet on the sofa. She assured herself that the woman quite simply didn't like her; it was nothing more ominous than that. Even had Cheryl not have been planning to kill Dave, the woman probably would have behaved the same way.

Feeling a little better, she straightened and faced her guests. Relaxing when she noticed Karen wasn't looking her way, she began the goodbye routine and walked everyone to the front door.

The couples lined up single file down the hallway as Cheryl opened the front door, Tom first and Karen second.

"Thank you for the invite Cheryl, it was lovely meeting you," Tom told her.

"Thank you for coming."

Tom walked outside and Karen followed him without even looking at Cheryl, stunning her even though she had noticed the woman's dislike of her.

Tom and Karen immediately began talking in hushed voices as they walked to their house across the street.

"How rude," Nicole declared as she stood next to Cheryl. "Not the most sociable of people, are they?"

"I guess we wont be inviting them again."

James chuckled as he shrugged his coat on after helping Nicole with hers. "I guess they're not the party animal types, like we are."

He yawned and everyone laughed.

"Party animal my foot," Nicole told him.

Cheryl hugged each person at the door and wished them all good night. She closed the door and leaned against it, suddenly out of breath.

This is it. This is it.

She listened to Dave's snoring, so loud she could hear it clearly from down here.

She smiled slowly.

This is it.

Chapter Two

Cheryl stood at the foot of the bed watching Dave sleep.

His snoring was indeed terrible as he lay sprawled on his back, his arms and legs thrown outwards.

Ever since learning of Dave's affair and planning to kill him, Cheryl had experienced moments of panic as she wondered whether she'd be able to go through with it.

Now, as she stood watching Dave sleep, knowing this would be the last time she saw him, she felt nothing.

All the good memories she'd had of Dave had been ruined by the pictures of he and his secretary. The pleasure on his face as he made love to her over his desk still had the power to send a numbing cold stab through Cheryl's heart.

She looked at Dave and felt nothing. No feelings for the man she had loved dearly until one week ago crippled her as she ran the plan through her dark mind.

This really was the only way. Even if this affair wasn't serious, what about the next one? And the one after that?

Obviously no longer interested in meaningless one night stands, Dave was now indulging in affairs with women he saw on a daily basis. Cheryl refused to live her life in fear, fear that her husband could leave her at any moment for his latest fling.

No. She would consider this a lesson, a very tough lesson, but one that would benefit her in the long run.

She was only 25, plenty of time to remarry and have the life she deserved. She would just have to be careful in her next choice of husband. Dave was handsome, that made him appealing to other women.

Certainly something to keep in mind when she was on the hunt for a new husband.

Cheryl ran her hands down her body, loving the feel of the silky negligee against her skin.

The tight clingy garment was all she wore, and she smiled as she thought of her grief-stricken performance for the neighbours and the emergency crews that would soon be swarming the house.

The stunning young wife, near enough naked as she screamed her husband's name, her sexy negligee leaving nothing to the imagination.

Cheryl smirked.
Who knows,
she thought,
maybe I'll meet husband number two tonight.

Stepping around the bed to Dave's side, Cheryl reached for the bottle of vodka that sat on Dave's bedside table.

He had a shot of neat vodka every single night, had done since Cheryl had known him. An insomniac, Dave swore by it to ensure a peaceful sleep.

There were currently two bottles; one was almost empty, the other unopened. Dave's glass was also empty.

Cheryl uncapped the bottle that was almost empty and glanced at Dave. In no danger of having him wake up and demand what she was doing, Cheryl smiled humourlessly. She filled the glass completely and kept pouring as the glass overflowed, spilling and puddling on the cabinet. She then tipped the glass on its side and watched the vodka spill down the side of the bed into the mattress and onto the floor.

Then she opened the new bottle and again filled the glass. This time she poured it half full and placed the bottle beside it.

Then she tipped the full bottle over and watched the vodka spill in front of the cabinet, forming a large puddle on the carpet and creating a waterfall effect as it ran down the front of the dark oak unit.

She stepped back and observed the scene with a critical eye. She nodded.

It looked perfect, like a very drunk Dave had poured himself a vodka and carelessly spilled it all.

Cheryl opened the bedroom windows to allow oxygen to circulate the room. She had planted some flammables in Dave's side table to make sure the fire that consumed him was a greedy one.

The scene was set.

Dave lay in the same position, not having moved a muscle as Cheryl set the scene of his death.

It was almost too easy.

No,
she thought.
Don't get too cocky.

She had known when she formed this plan that there was a chance that Dave wouldn't die, so she would have to prepare herself for that also. But, at the very least, he would be seriously injured and in no position to ever cheat on her again.

Cheryl shook a cigarette from the pack she had brought upstairs with her. Another of Dave's rituals; a cigarette in bed after vodka.

Cheryl despised the smell, how it clung to her hair and the bed sheets, but Dave had refused to stop smoking in bed and Cheryl had let it go.

All his bad habits would end up being the death of him tonight.

Placing the foul cigarette between her lips, Cheryl hesitated.

This was it. If she lit this cigarette, there was no going back. A roaring filled her head and she gasped, panting for breath as a panic attack gripped her. Finding herself suddenly overwhelmed with horror, she wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered violently.

I have no choice
, she told herself.
Dave is making me do this, he's leaving me with no other options.

Cheryl once again brought up the image of Dave making love to his secretary. She had lived with the image popping into her mind unwelcome for the past week, now she called on the image because she needed it. She pictured Dave coming home one day and stating that he didn't love her anymore and was leaving her for someone else.

As horrifying as this was, that scenario was much worse.

Glaring at Dave for what he was making her do and for the monster she was becoming, Cheryl flicked the lighter and lit the cigarette. She puffed a few times without inhaling it then held in between her thumb and index finger. Moving towards Dave, she grabbed his arm and draped in over the side of the bed and threw the lighter down on the floor.

Moving towards the doorway, she took a deep breath and threw the cigarette on the floor beside Dave and backed up quickly.