Can you keep a secret?

7 months earlier1

As she looked out her window and saw him walk towards the house, her heart began pumping so hard she could feel it shaking inside her chest. In front of her was Daniel Acosta - her boss, her friend, her lover - and the man she was just about to kidnap for as much money as she could get.  2

This was no spur of the moment decision. She had been planning it carefully for months. Flirting with him until he finally gave in to her advances, despite having a wife and children at home. They had become firm friends over the four years she had worked for his firm as his P.A. and he trusted her with some very valuable information about his company.  She knew he was in the middle of a huge advertising deal which would earn him millions, just as soon as the papers were signed. It was one of the most exciting things to happen at Acosta Ltd since she had worked there.3

Daniel thought he knew her so well. They talked about everything and anything - work, personal life, all of it. But the one thing he didn't know was that his trusted P.A.  Andrea Owen had a long secret history of addiction. It had started with prescription pain killers just to numb the frustrations that lived in her head. Both of her parents had died several years before; then when she was at her most weak and vulnerable, she entered a rocky relationship with a bully named Jason. Jason was a man who gave her a slap when he wanted too; destroyed her self confidence, then took off with another woman and left her almost one hundred thousand dollars in debt from his gambling addiction. 4

With her own addiction spiralling out of control she needed pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to appear normal in everyday life. Anything that could be swallowed, crushed or snorted would do. To everyone else she still seemed so normal; her secret was completely hidden. But every dollar she had went on pills, and the debts just got larger and larger until they were crippling her. With the threat of losing her home hanging over her head like a dark cloud, she knew she had to do something drastic for a lot of cash. That's when it came to her - make Daniel fall lustfully head over heels for her, make him think he had the perfect life - a wife and two kids, and a wonderful mistress on the side who he could trust 100% and have so much fun with.5

There had been moments where she had debated telling him the truth about the debt collectors who waited on her doorstep each night; the threats they made to her each time they took away another of her possessions; the constant fear that she was living in. Maybe he could have helped her get out of the mess. But she had created a plan that she was so sure was faultless. Hold Daniel hostage - make his family pay enough money to clear her debts - then flee to somewhere completely new where no one knew her, with enough money to live comfortably for the foreseeable future.6

Everything was in place now, and as usual he arrived ready for another afternoon of passion. He smiled at her with a knowing look in his eye that his play time was coming soon. She told him to make himself comfortable while she fixed them some drinks, as she headed off to the kitchen. When she reappeared, she had a tray in her hands with two glasses of scotch on the rocks. Next to the glasses was a soft pink satin scarf. She lifted his glass and the scarf and walked over to where he was sitting on the sofa, he took a sip then placed it on the side table. 7

"Come here gorgeous," he said in a deep husky tone, grinning at her.8

She sat over his knees, straddling him, and let her lips meet his. She felt him melt into her kiss. Teasingly she wrapped the soft scarf around his wrists and whispered in his ear, "close your eyes and lie back, we're going to have some fun".9

His face lit up, loving the excitement she had put back into his life. He lay back against the sofa and did as she asked, waiting for whatever surprise was coming next. He felt the soft satin brush against his wrists making goose bumps tingle all over his body. 10

Standing behind the sofa she reached down for the metal cuffs she had left there that morning. She continued to whisper sweetly in his ear as she held his hands above his head. He was laughing quietly with excitement. 11

Suddenly his wrists were being pulled at with rough force, and he felt the cold metal tightly against them. He opened his eyes, not sure if he liked this and not sure if this was part of her games. 12

He immediately knew something was wrong when his eyes were met with her icy cold stare. 13

"Now Daniel, we are going to do things my way from now on OK?," she said in a harsh tone. "Lets play my little game and do things my way. I think you have already had enough fun with having your cake and eating it." She paused for a moment and sighed, knowing she had been the one who had led him on, but quickly ignored that thought in her mind. "So, I'll get straight to the point. There is only one thing I want from you and that is the advertising deal profits. I want exactly $750,000, not one cent more or less. I don't want to hear any questions, that is not important. You will just do as I say. You will stay here until I have every dollar in my hands." 14

She rolled her eyes at him as he sat there with a stunned look on his face. 15

"You will phone Kris Openshaw at the bank and direct him to organise a large cash withdrawal for you. You will tell him you want it ready for collection in 2 days time. If he asks any questions you will tell him it is for investment purposes in a new business venture. Are you following me Daniel?" 16

Her voice rolled off for a second as she turned her back to walk away, then she turned back to face him and calmly said, "Oh and Daniel, if you refuse to do this for me then your wife and little Lily and Joshua will all be told about your infidelities, before they are killed. I hope we have an understanding." She smirked before sitting on the sofa opposite him. "You can call Kris now, and get the ball rolling; I'll put it on speakerphone for you. Try any funny business Daniel and I will go straight round to your family and kill them all. You don't even want to find out if I am capable of that."17

As he sat there still stunned and speechless, he couldn't get a single word to come out of his mouth. Was this really happening? Was it all one big joke? He knew deep down it wasn't. She was threatening to hurt his kids - that just wasn't funny. He might not have been the best husband by betraying his wife, but his kids didn't deserve to be hurt. He knew he wasn't perfect, he knew that cheating on his wife was a terrible thing to do. He suddenly became aware of the only reason why he had done it. He hadn't been able to say no. She had offered it to him on a plate and he had been so pathetic he had given in to temptation. But for his faults, did he deserve this? How had the day turned out like this? Was she being serious? The look on her face said yes. But $750,000 was a hell of a lot of money. He sat there silently for a moment just thinking.18

"Daniel, I am going to phone Kris now; are you ready?" she asked him sternly.19

"No, I'm not", he mumbled. "Andrea how can you do this to me? I mean, why? What have I done to you to deserve this? I've always thought of myself as your friend, we have shared so much! My god; I treat you well don't I?" He asked, pleadingly.20

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel..." she said in an almost patronizing tone. "It's got a lot to do with betrayal. You know, you thought it was ok to betray your wife and kids without a second thought, and in the same sort of way I've decided it's ok to betray you. You betrayed your wife's trust, I'm betraying yours. You wanted me because I could give you the fun, excitement and passion back in your life that she wasn't giving you. Well you got all that from me. And now you have the one thing that I want - money. All I want from you is some cold, hard cash. Now make the call, you are starting to annoy me."21

She reached over and pressed the speaker-phone button, then punched in the number. The sound of the ringing tone filled the room. She was nervous that he might do something stupid, so she sat with her finger hovering; ready to hang up if he tried anything. 22

A few seconds later a young sounding girl answered. "Good afternoon, this is Chantelle; how may I help you today?"23

She shot Daniel a look as he began to speak. "Good afternoon Chantelle, this is Daniel Acosta here. May I speak with my banker, Kris Openshaw please?". He sounded surprisingly cheerful.24

"One moment Sir", the telephonist replied.25

The line played some soppy love song whilst waiting to connect. A minute passed, then two. She was starting to feel even more nervous.26

"Daniel, hi how are you?". Kris finally answered.27

"I'm very well thank you my friend and how are you?" Daniel replied.28

"Oh, you know, I'm good. Waiting to become a father again - should be any day now! And this is some great weather we've been having, don't you think?" His voice trailed off. 29

She rolled her eyes again, completely uninterested in the small talk. "Get on with it Daniel" she whispered.30

"Congratulations Kris, all the best for the new arrival. Now, what I called for is to arrange a large cash withdrawal. I'm planning on investing in some new business, can't say too much at the moment, you know it's all top secret stuff", he laughed. "But yeah, I'd, er, I'd like to arrange a withdrawal in cash for $750,000 to be collected as soon as possible please." He had finally said it and saw her smiling back at him.31

The voice on the end of the line began speaking again. "We can certainly arrange that for you Daniel and we can have it ready in the next couple of days. Obviously both you and Mr Elliott will both have to sign for the money when you collect it. That will be ok won't it?"32

She saw Daniel's eyes roll. Then without a word having to be said, it became clear her plan had one huge flaw. She had completely forgot about Mr Elliott - the silent partner in Daniel's business who owned 30% of it. No large financial decisions like this could be made without him there. It seemed Daniel had read her mind as he quickly said, "Ah shoot, I forgot you would need us both. Mr Elliott is currently on vacation. Um, I tell you what, leave it for just now and I will arrange with him a business appointment for next week sometime and we will do the transaction then. Thanks for your help Kris, have a good day now." 33

She hit the button to hang up the line and saw him starting to squirm on the seat. She felt the anger boil inside her as she started to scream. "You knew he would have to be there didn't you? That's why you didn't put up any sort of fight when I told you to call. You tried to trick me didn't you Daniel? Do you remember what I said if you tried any funny business, do you?" She was really yelling now.34

"Andrea, please calm down. I didn't even think about him. I didn't put up a fight because money means nothing when you are going to threaten my children. I don't know why you need it so badly but you are really scaring me. They are my babies, I can't stand the thought of anyone saying they would hurt them. So if the money means so much to you I will get it. I will get the money ok! I will get it, I promise." His voice was becoming shaky and his eyes were starting to fill up with tears, the thought of any harm coming to his kids terrified him.35

He didn't see her next move coming and he didn't think that she did either. It certainly didn't seem like one she had pre-planned. She paced the room back and forth mumbling to herself that this wasn't working out, it wasn't going the way it should. Asking herself what she should do next. 36

"Daniel there is no way for you to explain it to him. If you tell Mr Elliott that you need that sort of money he will want to know every detail why. You will have to have a meeting and I won't be able to be there. I can't trust you not to open your mouth. If I let you go now like nothing has happened I don't believe that you will stay quiet about this. The second you are out of here you will probably have me arrested." She was speaking too fast to even take a breath. "I can't take that risk Daniel surely you can understand that? So what am I supposed to do with you now?"37

He didn't even get the chance to reply before she stormed through to the kitchen. She came back with a roll of trash can liners and started layering them all over her floor. He was watching her every move, wondering what the hell she was doing now. She went back into the kitchen and reappeared with a knife. Fear that he had never felt in his life before washed through every part of his body. What was she going to do to him? Kill him? Torture him? All because she was scared he would go to the police? He would keep his mouth shut about this forever if it meant getting out alive. 38

"Lie down on the floor Daniel!" She shouted, her voice shaking. 39

"God, Andrea. Have you lost your mind? What are you doing? I don't deserve this." He was crying now. "Please Andrea, I'm begging you, please think about what you're doing. If you hurt me you are hurting my kids too, they don't deserve to lose their Daddy. What have I even done to you to make you hate me so much?"40

"Just lie down on the damn floor!" She screamed, waving the knife in front of his face.
41

He did as he was told trying not to anger her anymore. He shuffled across the room in his handcuffs and lay down on top of the liners. Lying there with his heart palpitating, tears rolling down his cheeks, exposing himself in his weakest state. He wasn't a bad man, he didn't deserve this torture, did he?42

She knelt down next to him on the floor and one single tear rolled down her cheek as she whispered to him, "I'm sorry Daniel, I'm so sorry, I don't know what else to do though. I love you." Before she could think about the situation any more, she left those words hanging in the air; then with no warning at all she used all her strength to stab the knife right through his neck. As soon as she felt it piercing through his skin she closed her eyes on the point of impact, and she sobbed uncontrollably in disbelief at what she had just done.43

She lived about half a mile from her nearest neighbours. After she wrapped his body in all the trash can liners and taped them closed, she struggled to drag his body along her floor and out into the woods which led off from her garden. She dragged him as far as she could physically manage, inches at a time, sweat pouring down her tear stained face. When she finally found a suitable place for him she ran back to the house and grabbed 2 full petrol canisters from the garage, then made her way back to him. Covering his body in petrol she didn't even have a pause of hesitation before setting it alight; she just wanted to get all of this over with now. She needed it all to go away so she could pretend it never happened. 44

As the sickening stench of burning flesh filled the evening air her stomach heaved and she vomited all over the ground. 45

She stayed there until the early hours of the morning letting the flames go out until there was practically nothing left of him. When the fire finally went out she kicked what was left of him down a hole she had made in the ground then kicked the earth back over it, filling it in. She went home and took a shower, bleached her house from top to bottom, and left her house at 5am again. She had to get rid of his car now; so making sure she wore gloves she got behind the wheel and drove it 80 miles north of their town to a quiet secluded beach area. She stopped the car just a few metres from the edge of the hilltop and got out, then leaving the handbrake off she used all her strength to make it roll forwards, over the cliff top and down onto the beach hundreds of feet below. It burst into flames upon impact as it hit the ground.46

It was now 6.30am and she headed back towards their town, she had a long walk ahead of her before she would reach the nearest village to catch a bus into town. But if all went to plan she would be in work for 9am as normal and be just as shocked as everyone else when Daniel failed to turn up.47

________________________________________________________48

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7 months later50

Andrea and Terri were laughing uncontrollably at the movie they had rented. Lying on the sofas and eating Pringles and dip; drinking wine - it was great to be having some girly fun again.51

"It's so good to see you laugh Andi", Terri said with her face grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You've been so down since Daniel's suicide, I know you were so fond of him. It's really great to see you smile." She leaned towards her friend and wrapped her into a warm hug.52

Andrea pulled back and took a sip of her wine. "No one really understands the bond Daniel and I had; it was more than just friends..." Her voice trailed off... "Oh Terri, there's something I wish I could get off of my chest. Can you keep a secret?"53

"You know I can Andi, we've been friends for like our whole lives, there's nothing you could tell me that would shock me or anything. Whatever it is, your secret is safe with me, I promise."54

Andrea felt reassured as she took a deep breath. She was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, with a cushion on her lap and began to tell her best friend all about the affair she had with Daniel. She knew Terri was shocked, even though she was doing her best not to show it. Terri was pretty good friends with Daniel's wife; their kids went to the same daycare centre. 55

Terri sipped her wine and thought for a moment. She had been friends with Andrea all her life but she thought highly of Daniel's wife. Although the thought of telling her briefly crossed her mind, she knew Daniel was gone now and no good would come of it. It would only cause their family even more heartbreak. So she listened to Andrea and promised she would keep her secret before giving her another hug to seal the promise.56

The conversation about Daniel continued for the rest of the night, and as more and more wine was drunk, Andrea started to become extremely tense.57

"I don't believe he committed suicide Terri", she said, slightly slurring her words. "He had a good life, he had his wife and his kids and a successful company. Plus he had me on the side, I took away any extra stresses he had. He didn't kill himself I know he didn't."58

There was something in the way that Andrea said that last line which made Terri know she was hiding something. She knew more about Daniel's death than she was letting on. So she started trying to ask subtle questions about it, had Daniel told her he was planning to do it? Did she think he had faked his death to get away from here? 59

Andrea took a deep breath. Her eyes rolled slightly to the back of her head. "Terri, can you keep a secret?" She asked again.60

"Andi, we've been through this, you know I can."61

Andrea stood up and told Terri to follow her, she wanted to show her something. She walked into the kitchen and went into the top drawer. She lifted out the pink satin scarf. 62

"What is that?" Terri asked, "Is that something he bought for you?"63

Wrapped inside the scarf were the metal handcuffs.64

"Touch it", said Andrea. "Feel how soft it is. Yes he bought it for me. It's so beautiful." Her eyes started to look like she might cry. 65

She wasn't making much sense, infact she was acting a little weird, but Terri went along with her anyways, blaming her sudden mood on the wine, and reached out to stroke her hand along the scarf. 66

"Close your eyes", Andrea whispered. "Just feel it."67

The second Terri's eyes closed over, Andrea pulled out the handcuffs and quickly jammed them around Terri's wrists. 68

"What the hell are you doing Andi?", her friend screamed. But Andrea stayed silent and marched her into the bathroom. 69

"Sit in the bath Terri and shut up, there's stuff I need to tell you. Let's see if you can keep this secret!"70

Terri sat down in the empty bath wondering what the hell was going on. Andrea disappeared for a few minutes then came back with her own wine glass. She sat down on the toilet seat then started to calmly tell the whole story of Daniel's death. She told her everything about the money, and how her plan had fallen through, how she didn't trust him not to call the police. She kept going and told Terri all about the way she had brutally stabbed him, before she burnt his body in the woods, and then drove his car out to the coast before sending it down a cliff. Terri actually started laughing in disbelief.71

"I don't believe you Andi, this is a joke, there's no way you would do that to someone. Your creeping me out though. Please take off the cuffs, this isn't funny anymore. I think we've both had too much to drink."72

"Terri. It is the truth. I can take you to the exact spot where his bones are buried in the yard. I can show you the gloves I wore when I drove his car. So, I'll ask you again, can you keep a secret? A secret as big as this?"73

Looking into Andrea's eyes which were wide open with a demonic look in them, Terri's face fell into an expression Andi had never seen before. She looked down at the bottom of the bath and began to cry. She wished she hadn't drank so much now. None of this was making any sense. Was Andi telling the truth? This was all going a bit far now for a wind-up. 74

"Yes Andi - I can keep your secret. I promise." She would have said anything to try and calm Andrea down and get out of this situation. The cuffs were so tight and digging deep into her wrists. She just wanted to get out the house and go home to her husband and little daughter and try and make sense of all of this.75

Andrea stood up and leaned into the bath. She turned on the hot tap and let it run, soaking Terri's clothes. 76

"Oh my God Andrea what are you doing? Are you trying to burn me alive? Turn that off please!! I beg you". She was really screaming now. Andrea smiled.77

"Sorry Terri", she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, and turned on the cold tap as well. The bath was starting to fill up nicely now. It was time to say their goodbyes.78

"I needed to tell someone my secret but I don't think that you would really be able to keep it, not if I were to let you out of here. You are my best friend Terri, god we have been through so much together. I wish I could have your word on this and believe it Terri I really do, but we both know there is no way you would be able to keep your mouth closed. Secrets always come out in the end. No, the only way I can ensure I have your silence is for you to take my secret to your grave. I love you Terri, I really do. I'm so sorry."79

Before her friend could say another word Andrea grabbed hold of her hair and pushed her head under the water. She kept her hands firmly pressing down on Terri's head as her friend kicked water everywhere, struggling to take a breath. Andrea couldn't bear to watch so she just held tight and looked at the ceiling. Within minutes Terri's body became limp and had stopped struggling. She was unconscious. 80

Andrea dragged her lifeless body into the living room where she had the trash liners ready and waiting on the floor. She looked at her friend, her soft lips already tinged with blue, otherwise looking like she was asleep.81

Her secret would be safe now. Terri would take it to her grave; her grave which would be in Andrea's back yard, buried next to Daniel. It was the only way things could turn out. She had told her secret now and it was safe. She didn't really think about this being another secret that she might need to tell someone one day and how she would keep their silence. 82

She was satisfied that she had done the right thing. The only way for two to keep a secret, is if one of them is dead. 83

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