The Plan

"Now, let me tell you what really happened." I said to the reporter, my fingers tented up. She barely suppressed a yawn and an eye roll. I couldn’t blame her for her nonchalance about the story. “Mr. Robinson was standing over the dead girl but ran off when the police were called. I don’t know if he killed her or not but I know that I didn’t.”

“Yea, yea. So you keep saying. You’ve been saying the same thing for longer than I’ve been alive. The evidence against you was pretty strong though, strong enough to get you life in prison. The only reason you were released is because Mr. Robinson and Emily Emmerson were caught on tape joking about the girl you killed in a jealous rage.” It was true, after the tape went viral, the powers that be were compelled to release me from prison. The sheer crudeness of the language that they used and the insinuation that I might not be the guilty party, forced their hands. “Just get on with your peace and love crap, so I can get to the bar already.”

There's no story in tranquility, now is there? No I'm not all about peace but these idiots need to think I am. I was thirsty for revenge; with every breath I could taste it on my tongue. There were many people I wanted to take down but my focus was on Mr. Robinson and his former wife. The history between the three of us was complicated to say the least. What with me being the mistress and Sally being the wife. “Well in prison I did find peace and I have forgiven those that have transgressed against me.”

Forgiven them? Ha! My original plan was to have them thrown in jail but that wasn’t good enough. No, one of them would pay with their life and the other would be sent away for the crime. Since they divorced a few years back, it would not be odd for one of them to snap. Mr. Robinson would have seemed to be the logical choice to be killed. He had new fiancée that could have made his ex jealous. Sally had her own secret though, she had secretly been trying to undermine Robinson Industries, which was how the hot mic tapes that got me sprung had made their way onto the internet.

The bored reporter left, without even saying goodbye. It was too bad she took the corporate card with her, I needed another shot of tequila. The three I had already worked their way through my system. I signaled the bartender that I wanted another, running out on a bar tab wasn’t the worst thing I was contemplating.

Blackness seeped over my brain. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was something else, who can say? But when I came to, there was a gun in my gloved hand and I was standing over the body of the bored reporter. There were so many questions that I needed to think about, but the most pressing matter was getting out of the area and calling the police.

“He loved me, you know.” I was startled to see The dead, bored reporter talking to me. That bartender must have spiked the last drink he gave me. He must have known that I was going to skip out on him. “I was sent to cover you because I wanted to see what kind of woman, my fiancée cheated on his first wife with. You might have been a looker back in the day but now you would be hard pressed to find a trucker to make a pass at you.”

“Is this some sort of karmic joke? I kill one person and I’m stuck with the most boring ghost since Poltergeist?”

After taking a few deep breaths I got away from the scene of the crime. Was the reporter really his fiancée? It made sense, men seemed to like women who were born after their children were already adults. From the Dead Girls cell phone, I called the police and informed them that a body had been uncovered. The sirens broke the stillness of the night and I took a deep breath. Someone was about to pay for me losing so many years of my life.

“Mr. Robinson, the tech billionaire was arrested last night for the murder of his fiancée.” The morning anchor read the teleprompter with the kind of chirpiness that could only be found with a snort or four of cocaine. “The police found a gun with his fingerprints on it and took him in for questioning. His spokesperson said there would be no comment from the family at this time.”

I did it! My plan worked as beautifully as I had hoped it would. Sure, Sally was out there still laughing and carrying on as if she had done nothing wrong but one day I would exact my revenge against her. “Boo! Bet I’m not so boring now, am I? You’ve been a bad girl; you know that right?”

“We have more breaking news,” The Chirpy Anchor announced, she tried to make her voice solemn but she still sounded as if she should be singing “It’s Raining Men” on a Broadway stage. “Sally Robinson has died. Her eldest son found her body this morning hanging from a ceiling beam…”

“Sally’s dead? How did that happen?”

“You killed her. I’m not even talking in metaphor either. You are a cold blooded killer.”

“I killed you not her.” Why was Bored Reporter Ghost bothering me? I had other things to worry about. Whatever this mental break down was, it needed to stop. “She was supposed to be arrested for your murder.”

“You really are bad at scheming. Mr. Robinson killed me, had your drink spiked. He didn’t count on you wearing gloves to kill Sally. He really messed up.”

Maybe my plan didn’t work out quite like I wanted but everything still fell into place.