Instead of hanging his jacket on the back of the kitchen door as usual, Jake let it fall from his fingers to the dusty floor.
There was that smell again. Lavender,the unmistakable smell of lavender.
He had always been repulsed by the smell whenever he had entered his Aunt Peggy’s home.
She, on the other hand, loved the smell, and had bags of it hung in all of her cupboards and drawers.
She even had the damned stuff secreted within the pillows of her bed.
He vividly remembered that nauseous smell the night he had suffocated her with her own pillow.
The stench had filled his nostrils, and every fibre of his being shrank in revulsion from the strong flowery smell.
His Aunt had been quite well-off, and Jake, being her only surviving relative, would inherit her entire estate on her passing.
Of course he had already known this long before he had murdered her.
He’d often asked her for money to finance his lifestyle, that is if you considered not having held down a job for the last five years, and sleeping half of the day away in an alcoholic haze, a lifestyle.
How tired he had been of hearing his aunt whine on about him getting a regular job.
Work was for folk who had no alternative in his opinion.
Of course he had always assured his aunt that he was doing his utmost to find a job, any job, when he was asking her for even more money.
She was a gentle soul, and she was always gave in to his pleas.
He was so very like her late brother, except for his apparent dislike of work.
He was alarmed when she told him, quite firmly, that this was the very last time she would be giving him any more money.
He just had to show some initiative and find a job to support himself. She couldn’t go on supporting him on her pension.
Naturally he had agreed, only too keen to get his hands on the money he needed, but inside he was raging. Damn it! She had plenty, and at her age she had little opportunity to spend it. She may as well give it to him, but no, he always had to go through this charade every time he needed a few quid.
Last time was it? We’ll see about that!
Some nights later he had let himself into her house with the spare key she had given him months before.
Quietly he climbed the stairs and listened at the door of her bedroom.
He smiled as he heard the sound of her gentle snoring.
Silently he pushed open her door and walked ever so slowly across to her sleeping form.
The moonlight was streaming across her room.
She lay on her back seemingly smiling at whatever she was dreaming about.
He took her spare pillow and gently placed it above her face, and then he put the whole of his weight onto the pillow and pressed it to her mouth and nose.
She opened her eyes and looked deeply into his.
She didn’t struggle. There was no resistance from her. She simply looked straight at him, and her eyes were filled with resignation and disappointment.
After a few moments he removed the pillow and he was relieved to see that she was indeed dead.
He sat on the bed for a few minutes and allowed his racing heart to slow down.
There, it was done, and all of his financial problems would soon be resolved.
The house should bring a couple of hundred thousand pounds he reckoned.
Now he only had to wait for his aunt’s will to be read.
The days turned into weeks, and still he had heard nothing from his aunt’s solicitors.
Frustrated by the delay he finally summoned the courage to phone the solicitors office.
“Ah, good morning Jake. What can I do for you this morning,?” asked Mr. Duke, his aunt’s solicitor.
“Er, I was only wondering when auntie Peggy’s will would be read,” Jake answered.
“Well, bless my soul,I thought you knew Jake. Your aunt sold her house two years ago and stayed on as a tenant.
She gave all of her money to the Dog and Cat Foundation.
She was such a lovely caring soul.
I just wish there were more people in the world like her.” replied Mr.Duke.
“Yes, she was,” said Jake as he gently placed the phone back onto the receiver.
The smell of lavender filled the phone box and Jake staggered into the road vomiting violently.
Kitos.