There’s been a murder

It was a crisp February morning and Samuel was out walking his dog, Barney in the woodland behind his house. Samuel allowed Barney to run free into woodland, 5 minutes later he heard a loud bark. Samuel followed the bark to make sure Barney was ok, what followed would scar him for life. Barney was sat next to a dead woman’s body, by the looks of it, it had been there for a while. Samuel immediately threw up, he gave himself afew minutes before phoning the police.

Detective PC Devlin arrived at the scene an hour later, he was able to confirm within minutes that it was a suspected murder. The murderer was clearly a novice as they had left the victims belongings with her, including her wallet. The victims driving license confirmed her name as Liv Marshall.

It was confirmed on the police’s records that Liv had been reported missing a month prior. Liv’s next of Kin was her sister, Mary. PC Devlin phoned Mary to break the news to her and to ask if she was able to formally identify the body.

Mary felt sick to her stomach, she decided not to let her Mum and brother know about the phone call, she wanted to do identify Liv by herself.

Mary burst into tears as she saw her sister lying in the morgue.

‘What happened’ Mary asked PC Devlin with tears running down her face.

‘We don’t know yet, but we are treating this as a murder!’ PC Devlin replied.

‘Oh my god, my baby sister!’ Mary screamed.

The night of the murder

It was the night of Mary’s 60th and she was hosting a family get together. She usually loved these gatherings but she wasn’t looking forward to this one. There was only one reason why Mary was dreading her big day….. Liv was going to be there!

Liv, Mary’s sister seemed to have drama follow her wherever she went. Mary would always turn a blind eye to her sister’s shenanigans so long as it didn’t impact her life. Liv’s most recent escapade however had a massive impact on Mary. It was revealed last year that Liv had been having an affair with Mary’s husband, Steve. Mary was heartbroken and it ended a 30 year marriage, Mary also refused to speak to Liv, making any family event near impossible. The affair not only broke Mary’s heart, it broke her Mums too as her family would never be the same again. For the sake of her Mum, Mary had decided to invite Liv to her 60th.

Mary was not the only family member Liv had drama with. Liv had a gambling addiction and ended up racking up 5 thousand pounds worth of debt, this was reluctantly cleared by their brother Mike.

The final fallout came between Liv and her Mum, Andrea. Liv’s gambling addiction and continued financial struggles meant she had no morals when it came to money. This resulted in a massive argument on the day her Dad died; within minutes of his passing Liv demanded to see the will to find out how much money she was entitled to. A number of years had passed since the death and Andrea had started to forgive Liv for her outburst, however the news about the affair last year had brought alot of those feelings back to the surface.

Mary was frantically tidying up to make sure the house was spotless for her guests arriving. With Steve no longer in the picture it was only Mary and her 14 year old son, Ross living in the house. Mary had a minor OCD condition and needed everything to be spotless. Despite Ross trying his hardest to help her she would end up redoing most of his tasks as she needed it to be done ‘her way’.

Guests were arriving at 7 o’clock and Mary decided her house was ‘ready’ at 6.44, leaving her 16 minutes to get dressed for the evening. It was a stressful 16 minutes but she managed. Within those 16 minute she had a mini breakdown in-front of Ross

‘I just don’t know how I can have Aunt Liv in this house again, she has broken me!’, she sobbed.

‘It’s ok Mum we will get through this together.’ Ross responded who had been a rock throughout the last year, he felt the same resentment towards Liv as his Mum, but he had never truly expressed it.

Mary didn’t have many friends so her party consisted of just family; her Mum , Mike, Mike’s wife Sandra and their two kids Connor and Niamh and of course Liv.

Liv was the last to arrive, when she did she acted as though nothing had happened, a narcissistic trait that Mary had seen far too often.

‘Oh my big sister is 60, let’s get the drinks on the go it’s time to party!’ Liv yelled with excitement.

Mary’s favourite T.V show was two doors down and having watched it for years she couldn’t help but think Liv’s personality resembled the character Cathy.

It was 10 o’clock and the evening was going well, the family had managed to stay civilised so far. This was a Scottish party though and the guests continued to drink, especially Liv. By midnight Liv was steaming and burst into tears.

‘Why am I even here? None of you even like me.’ She cried.

‘We love you Liv, but after the last few years it’s going to take time for us to trust you again.’ Mike replied, who was always seen as the voice of reason in the family.

‘Mike’s right Liv, you are my sister and I will always love you but surely you understand why thing’s have been different between us?’ Maggie added.

Liv struggled to take criticism and rather than acknowledge what she had done was wrong she reacted angrily. There were multiple wine glasses sitting on top of the coffee table, Liv smashed all of them and ran out the room in tears.

‘Well I guess it’s time to call it a night then.’ Andrea quipped trying to make light of the situation.

Mary lived on an old farm, quite a distance out from the rest of her family, for that reason everyone was staying at Mary’s. With Liv now asleep in Mary’s spare bedroom the others decided it was best to call it a night as well.

The following morning Mary woke up early to cook everyone breakfast. Everyone but Liv were sat at the table.

‘Do you think she’s too embarrassed to come downstairs?’ Mike laughed.

‘Knowing Liv she will no doubt act as though nothing happened, but I’ll go upstairs and get her.’ Mary replied.

When Mary went into the spare room to wake up Liv she wasn’t there. She checked the rest of the house and couldn’t find her but her car was still parked in the driveway.

‘That’s weird, I I can’t find Liv and her car is still in the driveway.’ Mary addressed the family.

‘Maybe she was so embarrassed she called a taxi and went home last night.’ Andrea suggested.

‘Hmm maybe, but we all know she drives drunk all the time, so what would have changed last night’ Mary replied

‘Yeah that is a bit weird, I’ll give her a call.’

Mike said.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get in contact with Liv with no results. The family decided something wasn’t right and that if they didn’t hear from her in the next 24 hours they would contact the police. 24 hours passed and there was no sign of her so they contacted the police.

The following weeks were horrible as the police probed the family to get answers on why she had disappeared.

A month had passed when Mary’s phone rang, the police had found a body in a nearby woodland and they suspected it was Liv. The police needed Mary to identify the body.

Mary felt sick to her stomach, she decided not to let her Mum and Brother know about the phone call from the police she wanted to do it herself.

Mary burst into tears as she saw her sister lying in the morgue.

‘What happened?’ Mary asked PC Devlin with tears running down her face.

‘We don’t know yet , but we are treating this as a murder!’ PC Devlin replied.

‘Oh my god , my baby sister!’ Mary screamed.

Still coming to terms with the news she wanted to go home to compose herself before telling her Mum and brother.

She went to Ross’s room to break the news to him. When she entered his room he was on sitting on his bed crying.

‘I’m sorry Mum I had to do it, she was a burden to this family.’