Chapter 7

The police arrived soon not long after Greg calling them. Questions were asked and they were led to Mr. Winter's body lying at the edge of the sea. An ambulance came too with paramedics. They made their way down to where his body lay and picked him up and put him on a stretcher. Then they took him away to the local coroners. After, Greg escorted the police and the Lieutenant into the large house. They asked many questions and wanted to know the timeline of events leading to the man's death. Then the Lieutenant asked to see Mrs. Winters.

"And where is the new widow?" he asked Greg with suspicion all over his face.

"She's upstairs resting. She was soaked to the bone when it all happened and I was afraid she'd catch pneumonia so I insisted she get out of those wet clothes and warm up. Let me show you up to her room." Greg told him.

"Ah, yes. Please do," the man said with raised eyebrows and they walked up the huge staircase together. Greg knocked gently on the bedroom door and then opened it. Mrs. Winters was still fast asleep. He walked up to the bed with the detective following him closely behind.

"Mrs. Winters," he gently shook her arm to wake her.

She opened her eyes and saw Greg standing next to the bed. She was confused at first then she saw the strange man standing near the door looking at her very seriously. A concerned look came across her face and she looked up into Greg's blue eyes.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine," he whispered to her with a wink, that didn't do much to allay her fears. Then he left her with the detective for questioning. She looked anxious when Greg left the room. She propped up her pillows and sat up, still feeling quite drowsy from the affects of the pill.

The detective pulled up a sturdy chair and sat down next to the bed, his pencil and paper in hand. A young cop knocked on the door and came in. He was tall and skinny and had a clipboard with him. Later she would have to sign the papers attached to it. But now she was busy answering all the Lieutenant's questions. She was very worried and tried to answer all the questions as best she could and as truthfully as she could. She knew things looked awful, very suspicious. She just hoped her story would meld with Greg's. They would have to believe them! They were innocent of any wrong -doing. It was a terrible accident under horrible circumstances.

"Well, thank you Mrs. Winters," the detective got up from the chair. "Just sign here for your statement." And he took the clipboard from the young officer who stood silently staring at her. He thought her quite beautiful and wondered if her statement was true. His Lieutenant seemed to buy it. He wasn't so sure. Then they said their thank you s and left the room and made their way down to the first floor.

They found Greg and the Lieutenant said," Well, I think we're all through here, for now. She will be hearing from the coroner's office soon. We don't want to upset her any more than we have to." He turned to the young cop. "It's time we go." And they both left the big house and drove off. "Pretty place this is," the older man said to the younger one "and a pretty widow too." as they drove by the ocean's edge and back towards the town.

After they had gone, Greg ran up the stairs and knocked on her door. He walked in and could tell she had been crying. He walked up to her and sat on the bed. He took her in his arms and wiped her tears away with a brush of his hand then he kissed her gently on the mouth. She responded to his kiss.

"Love, I have to get next door and see Mrs. Blanche. I'm sure she's sick with worry. I've been so busy with the cops and all I haven't even given her a moment's thought. Gee, it's almost 3am! I'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere." And he kissed her nose and winked to her as he left the room. "I'll be right back!" and he closed the door.

Greg had been gone for about forty -five minutes after explaining all the ruckus to Mrs. Blanche next door. She had heard all the fuss and saw the lights from the emergency vehicles and policemen and was sick with worry. When she had gone into Greg's room and hadn't found him there, she became very concerned. But then she surmised he was next door and she suspected it had something to do with the lovely Mrs. Winters.

After he got through telling her of the entire incident, he rest assured her everything was okay and he brought her back to her room and told her to get some sleep. He'd be back later so he tucked her in and made his way back to the other house. It was getting close to daylight now. The seagulls were out flying around and the waves looked choppy. It was foggy and overcast and on the cool side. It looked like it would stay stormy through out the day ahead. A good day to spend in bed, he thought.

He walked into Mrs. Winter's house and locked the big oak door behind him. He went into the kitchen and found the coffee and the pot and made some for the both of them. He fixed it all on a tray and walked up the big staircase to bring it to her.

When he opened the bedroom door, he saw the bed was empty. He looked about the large room and started to panic. Where could she be? He quickly put the tray down on the dresser. Then noticed the adjoining door to the bathroom was shut and he heard water running. Silly him! He thought. She's just taking a bath.

"Love, I made you some coffee," he told her as he knocked on the bathroom door.

"Oh, thank you Greg," she called out" I'm almost through in here. I needed a hot bath. I was still chilled to the bone!"

He straightened up the bed and put the tray of coffee on it and waited till she came out. He felt completely drained and sat on the bed and thought of everything that had occurred that night. It really was like a bad dream. Well, it looked like it was going to have a happy ending though, thank god. He was deep in thought when the door opened.

He looked up to see her standing there. She took his breath away. The light behind her shown through her night gown. She had changed into a deep lavender lace one. It fell gracefully down to the floor. It hugged her every curve. He sat there staring at her from the bed as she slowly, silently walked toward him. The closer she got, he could smell her sweet clean scent. Her hair looked like lustrous ebony and hung long around her shoulders and over her breasts. He looked at her cleavage as she sat down next to him on the bed. He could see big rosy nipples peeking from beneath the lace. She looked up to see him looking. Embarrassed he turned away.

"Oh, this looks wonderful!" she exclaimed as she poured them each a cup. They sipped their coffee silently for a few minutes, both deep in thought at the recent turn of events.

"Is Mrs. Blanche okay?" she asked.

"Yes, I explained it all to her. She went back to bed and is resting now."