[ 40 ] 1972

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"Its Con. He's--he's obsessed with me. Ever since Ashton and I started dating he made it his objective to break us up, and he would harass me constantly."

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It had been three years since Ann-Sophie died in the house where she had been living with her husband and their small son, poisoned in her own house by the woman she thought was her friend--her best friend--just as Ashton had thought of Con. The investigation by the police that followed the French woman's death concluded that she had been poisoned by someone, but no other clues gave them any leads as to who had committed the crime.

Through a series of interviews and loads of manipulation from Claire Feeney, the police had been thoroughly convinced that the criminal had been none other than the house cook, a woman in her sixties, who prepared every meal for the family each day. No one else was known to have touched the food besides her. There were no witnesses of her doing anything to the food, but the police deduced that since she had been one of the last--and only--people to handle the food Ann-Sophie would be eating that day, it had to have been the cook.

For that reason, Con and Claire had to continue their love affair in secret, to keep the police from suspecting them. For the time being, they would pretend to have nothing more than a mere friendship that came from years of knowing each other and living in the same neighborhood.

But Bobby Vega was onto Con Hood. The now twenty five year old police detective didn't buy the story that the cook had planned and executed the murder all on her own. Most people who committed crimes like that had motives, and definitely had the means. The cook had neither of the two. She wouldn't gain anything from her boss's death. And they couldn't even go on the motive that she was being treated badly, because none of the workers said Ann-Sophie was a bad person. The French woman was known to be very sweet and compassionate towards all her friends and workers of the house. But all of them had little to nothing to say about her husband. The ones who did speak said that he was cold, and selfish, and that they wouldn't have been surprised if he had planned the whole thing. None of them did anything to outright accuse him, out of fear of losing their job.

When Bobby thought about it, he came to the conclusion that Con had everything to gain.

His wife was a sickly person, which would serve to steer suspicion away from himself, and she was a young woman who came from a very wealthy French family. It was also known through private notary records that Ann-Sophie even had a will made just weeks before her tragic end. In it, she said she was leaving her entire fortune to her son Richard Caine Hood, and her husband Con Hood. Their son Richard was only six years old when she died, which left her husband as the prime suspect.

Con already suspected that Bobby was onto him, and he asked Claire to take care of it, since the two of them had become close friends over the years. He didn't exactly like Claire talking to Bobby because the police detective had just broken up with his previous girlfriend a few years prior, and was still hurting over her. He thought that sentimentally, he would be on the rebound, and as much as Con knew that Claire was in love with him, he knew how she was.

Claire liked to mess with men.

She liked the attention she got from them, it was what she always craved, and it was the reason why she led them on, until she was bored and didn't want them anymore. Even so, he asked her to keep the police detective busy, so that he would halt in his investigations on Ann-Sophie's murder.

The Irwin family's case had long been closed, despite Bobby's efforts to keep the case open.

Over the course of months, Claire kept Bobby busy by any means necessary, and soon he stopped having the murder case of Ann-Sophie Fontaine Hood as his top priority. Before he knew it, the cook of the house was convicted for the murder and the case was closed, and all because he had been distracted by a pretty face. Their relationship, which had been one of close friends, soon turned into something more. To Bobby and everyone else in town, Claire Feeney was single and available ever since Ashton died. No one knew that she had been seeing Con Hood in secret long before the Irwin residence murders.

But Claire continued seeing the police detective long after the cases were closed. Claire loved Con, but she didn't like the way he treated her. He treated her as nothing more than a mere servant who was supposed to be at his beck and call, while Bobby was different. He had fallen in love with her and showered her with compliments and presents every chance he got.

He was a good man who genuinely loved her, and someone she was using when she needed someone to love her unconditionally.

-

Bobby had gotten out of work early one afternoon after getting a call from Claire, who he had been going out with for months. She had said to him that she had important news and that it couldn't wait any longer. The police detective then clocked out of work about an hour before his shift ended, with the excuse that his sister was in town and he needed to pick her up at the airport.

Instead he went to the usual hotel where he met up with Claire at least once a week. She didn't like to go out in public much, and he had yet to understand why. But he liked it that was for the time being. He was twenty five and his parents would want to meet her, wondering when they would get married when all they had was a short relationship. He was afraid they would scare her off. He also wanted to keep the news of his new relationship from Hayley. 

She had long since moved to Perth, and married a man named Thomas Davis, but he just knew that if Hayley found out he was with Claire now, she would make  a big deal of it. She would probably claim that she knew it all along and that he had probably been cheating on her the entire time they dated. But that didn't hold even the smallest bit of truth. It had been years after he and Hayley broke up that he was dating Claire now. He didn't want his ex-girlfriend doing anything to pester Claire when they were doing so well as a couple.

When Bobby opened the door to the hotel room--he already had his own key--she was sat on the bed, her expression wracked with nervousness. She looked up relieved when her blue eyes met with Bobby's and she shot up from where she sat, closing the gap to meet him. He surrounded her in his arms and pulled her close. He could feel her trembling, and he could feel her worry.

"What's wrong?" He asked her, pulling away just enough so that he could see her face. 

"I have something important to tell you." She began, biting down on her lower lip nervously as she debated whether to tell him or not.

He was immediately filled with concerned. He knew Claire well and he knew that many things didn't scare her as they did other people, and at that moment she was terrified. The detective pulled her back in his embrace and her arms slinked around his waist as she placed her head on his chest.

"You're scaring me." He confessed, letting out a shaky breath.

"We should be afraid." She told him.

"Tell me what's got you so scared, vida." He encouraged, his own heart beating madly against his chest. Every second that passed was another second in the dark about what was happening. He needed to know.

"Bobby," She started, swallowing the lump in her throat that was threatening to prevent her from getting the words out. "...I'm pregnant."

He heaved a sigh of relief. "That's it, vida?" A chuckle escaped his lips as he added with a grin present on his lips, "That's wonderful news!" Pulling away from her completely, the next thing he did was to lift her up in his arms, high above his head. Claire placed her hands on his shoulders for support and only looked down at him, the terror still clear in her blue eyes. "We can get married, have loads of kids, and have a perfect life together!" He told her happily.

When he set her back down on her feet, she gave a slow shake of her head. It only took his smile one second to fall off his lips. "We can't, Bobby."

"Well, why not?" He wondered, taking both of her hands in his. 

Locking her fingers with his, she explained, in words that were full of deceit, but he believed every bit of it. "Its Con. He's--he's obsessed with me. Ever since Ashton and I started dating he made it his objective to break us up, and he would harass me constantly." Now there were tears flooding down her face as she said, "If he finds out that you and I are seeing each other, he would go berserk. I don't want him to hurt you." It was her best performance yet, making herself seem like the victim and being able to convince a cop that she was telling the truth. Claire had done so much lying that it came as a second nature to her and she didn't mind throwing Con under the bus after the way he was treating her.

All the while that she spoke, Bobby watched her in horror. He always suspected that Con was a bad person, but never that he would be capable of doing terrible things to Claire. She always seemed so comfortable around him. Now he was finding out that she was afraid of him. 

"I'll talk to him." Bobby assured the twenty eight year old with a determined look on his face, "I'll ask him to back off. We'll file a restraining order and he'll never get close to you again."

"No!" Claire looked at him wide eyed, shaking her head frantically, "Why don't we just run away together? Run away with me, and we can be happy somewhere else with our child, away from Con." Claire welcomed the idea of starting a new life with someone who was willing to do so much for her, someone who truly loved her. But she would need to go back for her other son, Cole, and she would need to tell Bobby about him as well. She would have been lying if she said she loved that baby, but she also thought he didn't deserve to be left with Con. Neither did Richard, but, she thought, that wasn't her problem.

The twenty five year old police detective wracked his mind for ideas until one finally came to him. "Just last week I was offered a promotion to join the Melbourne police department. I'll accept the offer and we can get out of here first thing tomorrow." He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her on the lips while he gave her instructions, "Go back to your apartment and pack your things. Don't open the door for anyone, pretend you're not home, and don't answer your phone. Stay in your apartment all day."

She nodded her head placing her hands over his. "I'll do that."

"Meet me here at five in the afternoon tomorrow." He finished, his thoughts all jumbled and rushed as he tried to come up with the best escape plan. Five in the afternoon was the time he got out of work each day. But he wouldn't be working the next day. He would be packing his own things and preparing to leave Sydney with Claire. "If he tries to stop you, give me a call at the office and I'll hurry to your rescue."

Claire nodded her head once more. "I'll be here, don't worry." She promised.

The fear of losing her life was making her see things differently now, and she wanted a fresh start, away from Con. 

Bobby could do that for her.

And if pretending to actually love him was the price, then she would pay it.

-

E N D  O F  P A R T  T W O

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damn what do you all think of claire now, using bobby for her own selfish gain? that's fucked up, isn't it? do you think bobby's gonna die soon (like very soon)? let me know what you thought about this chapter. only about twenty more to go before this book is wrapped up.

at the top i included a collage with the characters that were mentioned in this chapter. i normally just do one per chapter, but since we dont get to see much of these characters, i thought i would show you how they look in my mind. on the left we have taylor momsen portraying ann-sophie fontaine hood, second we have blake lively portraying claire feeney, third is isaac brizuela (my boo) portraying bobby vega, and last on the right is carolina gaitan (hermosa colombiana) portraying hayley reid who ends up marrying thomas davis (i always imagine thomas davis looking like thomas muller from germany nt lol).

qotd: will bobby and claire ACTUALLY be able to run away together? i think many of us know the answer to that tale. but i want to hear your hypothesis'.

thank you loads for reading, and have an amazing week!

-clary xx