Filed To Story: The Lingering Kiss of Farewell Novel
He wanted two large arrangements to be placed inside the room, and told the florist he wanted one next to the bed on the window side and the other on the counter across from the bed. He knew what colours to send as well, because he had flowers sent to lots of people all the time, for birthdays and anniversaries, from congratulations on achieving something or sympathy for a funeral for the loss of a loved one.
Get??ell flowers were also among those on the list, for people that ran in his circle that had family members or they themselves were in the hospital, a mark of respect from him to them. They, he knew, should be yellow, white and orange, those three colours were considered to be the most appropriate colour for a get??ell??oon bunch of flowers from a stranger or acquaintance.
Veronica, his florist, had suggested if he wanted to send two separate flower arrangements, that one should be all orange and the other yellow and white. She’d sent him several options over the course of the evening on what she could make up at her store, and he picked an all??range arrangement that was bright, and he thought cheerful and then a yellow and white arrangement of tulips as well.
She promised to have them delivered to the VIP within an hour of being notified of when he wanted them sent over. The card would simply read
“My apologies, get well soon. Calvin Reeves.”
??
He’d managed to get some information on Marilyn Riddley. He’d talked to one of the doctors that he himself knew at the hospital where Marilyn was staying. He had managed to find out a little bit about this woman, that he now believed was going to be Marrin. He’d made sure not to have them breach any actual patient doctor confidentiality.
Only asked two questions: Where had she gotten all the scars on her body from and how long ago had they occurred. He’d not asked anything personal about her previous medical treatments or any procedures she’d ever had. Nothing about the children either, nothing that would be seen as breaching that confidentiality.
He was certain it was an accident that had caused all her scars. They were all down her left side, so if she’d been driving a car, and it had rolled over, as he’d suspected all them years ago, but Calvin had dismissed in his anger. She’d have been injured all down her left side, and an accident like that would be public knowledge.
It would have been in the papers of the state of where it had happened, so that was all he was asking of his friend, so that he could look into it himself, after he found out the when and where. He knew from the answers to just those two questions he could figure everything else out on his own.
He’d been told after his friend had skimmed through her medical file, that she’d been admitted to a hospital in Virginia, back in 2017. He’d nodded and thanked his friend, and walked away after that. He didn’t want them to get into any trouble for divulging information.
Wil knew as he walked away that 2017 was also the year that Marrin had gone missing. He’d left the hospital to go and research into car accidents in Virginia around the time Marrin had gone missing, and attached Marilyn Riddley’s name to the search as well.
It didn’t take long for it to pop up. There was a car accident and looking at that car in the photo, it was upside down and crumpled; a complete ride??ff, its driver’s side door had been removed by the jaws of life, so they could get the victim out, the article read. He could also see the Texas number plates on that vehicle.
He read the date of the accident, and it was the very day that Marrin bad called Calvin’s apartment and stated his name before they’d heard her screaming and the sounds of an accident. There was only one person seriously injured in the accident, that being Marilyn Riddley. All other cars involved had minor damage and their drivers had minor injuries.
Wil now had a real connection between the two women, and he was certain that his theory all those years ago was going to be correct, and that Marilyn was in fact Marrin. As he sat at his desk and thought about that, all she’d really done was add an L and a Y to the middle of her name. If one took them out, the word
Marin was right there to be seen.
He leaned back in his chair and sighed a little, as he thought about that. Marrin, as Marilyn, she’d been an author before leaving Calvin. She’d had a secret life of her own, and a pen name to go with it. He was curious about that. But then she had also let it out of the bag, at his own engagement party.
She had given that book to Anabell and had even signed it, told everyone in that room she actually knew Marilyn Riddley, had gone to college with her even. He was so blind, Marrin had told them all they needed to actually find her after she left, She’d already made the plans, he now realised, to move on with her life.
She had actually gone and legally changed her name to her pen name, something that many famous people did. It would have been granted without much issue, because she already had books published under her pen name, and so no judge would have said no it was a valid reason for changing one’s name. Though she’d have had to wait until after the divorce was officially finalised.
He thought about that. She was supposed to get on the plane the day after everything was official but hadn’t. She’d walked from that airport and gotten in a cab. He wondered now if she had never actually planned on getting on that plane at all? It was entirely possible; Calvin couldn’t follow her through the airport, nothing past security checks..
Marin, he now thought, had made her own plans. She’d believed that Calvin was trying to get rid of her permanently. Send her from the country and not let her come back. She’d told him as much, and Wil had actually thought she’d truly believed it too.
She had made plans for herself based off of what she thought Calvin was trying to do to her. So she had planned for herself to disappear; her own way. A full name change and been seen to get on the plane. That would if Calvin hadn’t been at the other end in Italy, have them all think she’d left and not come back.
She’d pre??rranged it all; he just knew it, but then she’d likely heard about that plane crash and had a feeling Calvin would have guilt or freak out over him putting her on that flight, and called him only to get into an accident herself at that very moment.
Wil sighed as it all came together inside his mind. He was writing down all his thoughts and connecting all the dots of what had happened to not only Calvin but Marrin herself. He tracked down the Detective in charge of her car accident, Detective Bennett, to ask a few more questions about what went on that fateful day. He explained to him the current situation going on here in Texas with Calvin and Marilyn and who Calvin’s ex??ife was, that she’d disappeared around the time of Marilyn’s accident.
That Marilyn and Marrin were identical in appearance, and he even sent a photo of Marrin and Calvin to the man and then one of Marilyn from her recent book signing. So, Detective Bennett could see what he was talking about. The man was quiet for a long moment and then told him to go on.
Wil did just that, explaining that he was trying to get confirmation of whether Marilyn was actually Marrin, to try and help resolve the issues that his client was currently faced with. That officer had thought about it himself and then stated,
“It could be possible. Marilyn Riddley’s accident was horrible, and she suffered from a head trauma, and was diagnosed with amnesia by her doctors. She didn’t even recall having the accident, let alone anything before it.”
“Do you think she lied to you, to anyone about that, put on an act of amnesia?”
Wil had to ask the question, because it was important. Calvin hated women who did that, and it could be a major problem for Calvin to deal with
“No, if you talk to her neurosurgeon or read his report, they were concerned about it happening even before she woke up due to the seriousness of her injuries and I do believe they cracked her skull open in surgery. I had to wait to talk to her myself until she regained consciousness and was moved to a ward.
“She was questioned by myself and more than once over her recovery period, and the nurses and doctors did. multiple memory tests on her hoping she’d eventually recall something, but there was nothing. Not once did she make a mistake or trip up on her own words. She simply just didn’t recall, was all.
“Then there was also that no one came to the hospital looking for either. She had no next of kin to be contacted, it was all a little bit weird to be honest, like she just didn’t exist before that accident. The
2:0 conclusion was made by myself and those around me that she’d likely changed her name, and she didn’t argue or fight the charges laid against her, accepted them all.”
What charges? Wil asked with a frown.
The accident was her fault, because she was using her phone to call someone while driving. Thankfully, no one else was injured, only she was. That’s rare in itself.”
“Do you recall who the hire car was attached to?”
he asked.
“Yes, I checked into all of that. It was under Marilyn Riddley. She also had a Virginia driver’s license with her name on it. Do you really think she’s this Marrin Reeves woman?”
1 do,”
Wil told him honestly.
“Calvin actually got a call the day of the accident, but he was away in Italy at the time. It was from Marrin. All she stated was his name ‘Calvin’ and then there was screaming and the sounds of an accident.”
He sighed.
“Hmm. Well, the dashcam in her car caught her calling someone, and she spoke the name Calvin. I dare say you’ve found your missing person. A simple DNA test would let you know the truth of that.”
“We don’t have Marrin’s to compare it to,”
he sighed.
“Compare it to a family member of hers then,”
Detective Bennett stated simply.
“She’s an orphan and has none.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.