Do you remember that writing prompt experiment I was trying in April? I only managed to get a few prompts written, for various reasons. I tried again this month, and failed miserably, but I have managed to make something decent out of the prompt from 28th May, ‘bloody footprints’.
D.S. Lucie Burns pushed open her kitchen door.
“Sam? Sam where are you?” There was no reply.
Lucie dropped her shopping bags and fumbled for the light switch on the wall by the door, finally managing to flick the light on.
“Sam! Sami, are you okay?” Lucie’s voice rose slightly in panic as she scanned the kitchen. The bloody knife on the work surface. The smashed glass, glittering on the kitchen tiles. The half laid table. The red footprints marring the bright white tiles.
“Sam!” Lucie screamed. She rushed across the kitchen, following the trail of blood.
In the hallway she skidded in pooled blood, and noticed hand prints on the door to the under stairs cupboard. A scarf was missing from the hooks.
Lucie followed the blood trail up the stairs. Blood was smeared on the balustrade where a hand had gripped it.
“Sam, are you up here?”
Lucie heard a groan.
“Sweetheart, where are you?”
Another groan.
Lucie ran up the stairs, fleetingly wishing she’d put on a sports bra that morning. At the top of the stairs she pushed open the bathroom door.
The bathroom was a mess; first aid supplies were scattered over the floor, and a blood-soaked scarf soaked in the bath. A towel covering the toilet seat had spots of blood marking it.
“Sam, are you in your room?” Lucie pushed open her bedroom door, looking for her partner. The unmade bed held the towel from her morning shower and yesterday’s clothes, but no Sam.
Further along the landing, Lucie pushed open the door to Sam’s room,
“Sami, can I come in?”
A pile of bloodied clothes lay on the bed. But no Sam.
There was only one room left, the study. If Sami was still in the house, they’d be in there. Lucie pushed open the door, her heart in her mouth.
Sam paused their game and took off the headphones, turning their chair round to face Lucie. Sami was wearing their favourite fluffy sheep pyjamas, a glass of wine on the desk in front of the PC. They grinned.
“You’re home. Sorry about making such a mess, we should probably just order Chinese.”
“What have you done?”
“It’s only a little cut.” Sam held up their hands.
“Cuts, Sami, cuts. And not so little. We should go to the hospital.”
Sam shrugged, “I dropped a glass and cut my hand picking the bits up, then the knife slipped while I was cutting up the pork and I cut my leg. Also, the cat ate the pork when I came upstairs to clean up.”
“Oh Sami!” Her partner was a walking disaster zone on a normal day but trying to cook them tea, while a sweet gesture, wasn’t a good plan.
“I’m fine now.”
“Sam, the kitchen looks like a murder scene, you ruined your favourite scarf and you nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“It’ll clean up, and you didn’t have a heart attack. SO what’s the problem? Shall I order Chinese.”
Exasperated at Sam’s refusal to take the situation seriously, Lucie sighed and gave in, “Of course Sami, I’ll go and clean up.”.
The End
I should explain who D.S. Lucie Burns and her partner Sam Ross are.
A few months ago I filed away an idea I’d had for a crime novel. A woman living in a sheltered housing complex murders anyone who she dislikes or disapproves of. She’s an ex-army wife and has been killing people for years, usually with medication. One day she kills a new resident, a relatively young and healthy man, and his dog. The police are called in because medication the man hadn’t been prescribed was found during the autopsy. Eventually, the police – D.S. Lucie Burns – put together the details, and arrest the woman.
It was just an idea until the other night when I sat down to do another assignment for the Writer’s Bureau creative writing course I’ve been working on for over two years now. While I was busy with my MA the course got ignored, but now I’m free for a few months I thought I’d make some progress on the course. I’m waiting for my previous assignment, a short story I wrote ages ago, to be returned, so I got on with the next assignment. I had to outline a novel, give some details like overall length, and POV, and then write the first 2000 words. So I have.
While I was writing it D.S. Lucie Burns of the Lincolnshire Police, was born. She’s separated from her husband and lives with her partner Sam, or Sami. Lucie is originally from Manchester, forty years old and plump, mostly because she posses hips and breasts. Lucie, and her Trainee-Investigator Constable Robbie Francis, solve the case, obviously. I’m planning to write the novel at some point, when I get time. Each chapter, in the plan so far, alternates between the investigation and events leading up to the murder. I’ve sent it to a couple of people to read through and there’s been some good feedback so far.