The police had the building cordoned off. Rohan walked up and stood beside Penny Macy. "What's going on, Miss Macy?"

Penny looked up at him. Her lips twitched into a smile. "I believe there's been an accident." She pointed at Jack Benny. "Apparently Sally tripped down the car park stairs last night and broke her neck. Jack found her this morning. She's dead."

"What!" Rohan was stunned. "Are you sure she's dead?"

"Dead as a crushed cockroach." Penny tittered and murmured, "Isn't it wonderful?"

"What was that?"

Penny pulled herself together. "Ah... I didn't mean that to sound the way it came out." She touched Rohan's sleeve. "You should have soaked this jumper. The stain will be harder to get out the longer you leave it."

"I... I... didn't have time last night."

"Tut, tut, Rohan. What would your mother say?"

Rohan watched as she moved off and stood with one of the technicians. He wondered what she meant when she said, "Isn't it wonderful?" He couldn't help but grin. People thought he was strange but he was sure he had nothing on Penny Macy, at least not anymore.

Annie was changing everything. Just thinking about her sent a shard of pleasure throughout his body. Rohan hung his head so people wouldn't see him smile. It wouldn't be right to smile when a person laid dead just metres away, even if that person deserved to be dead. He sighed. Alive or dead he wasn't going to let thoughts of Sally Parks ruin his day. Not after the wonderful moment he'd had with Annie. He couldn't stop thinking about her.

Rohan looked back at Penny Macy and thought about what she'd said. "Isn't it wonderful?" Those words made Rohan wonder what Sally Parks had done to Miss Macy to make her say them.

"No...! Tell me it's not true!" Mercer Kennedy pushed against one of the police officers.

Rohan watched as another grabbed her by the arm. She struggled against him. "Tell me it's not true!"

"I'm sorry, Miss. We need you to stand quietly. It won't take long and we'll let you all in and have a chat."

"Come on now, Mercer dear." Penny put her arm around Mercer's shoulders. "It's okay, officer. They were very close. I'll take care of her."

Mercer sobbed into Penny's neck. "It can't be true. Not after what happened yesterday. I wanted to say sorry." She looked up with sheer grief and dismay on her face. "I can't now, can I, Penny? I'll never be able to say sorry, will I?"

"No, dear. I'm sure she would have known you didn't mean it. You didn't, did you, Mercer? You didn't mean it."

Rohan frowned. What had happened yesterday for Penny to ask Mercer that? Mercer had acted funny when Sally made a fuss of him. There had definitely been tension and Sally had said everyone hated her and that Mercer had hit her. Perhaps things had been worse and hadn't been so rosy between Sally and Mercer like he thought they were and it had been more than a hit that had upset Sally.

"You're kidding me, right?"

Rohan looked up to see Bill Peters scratching his head. Jack was patting him on the back. Rohan heard him say, "I'm not."

"So, she was dead when you came in?"

"Yeah. All twisted up at the bottom of the stairs with her hot pink underpants exposed. I pulled her dress down. Poor girl, I didn't want anyone to see her like that."

"She wouldn't have cared." Bill chuckled. "Sally loved to show off her pink panties."

"Bill. The girl is dead. I would have thought you'd show a bit more respect since you had a thing going on with her."

Bill turned up the side of his mouth. "That was over. Couldn't have happened to a better bitch I'd say."

"You need to watch your mouth. Anyone hear you talk like that and questions might be asked."

"What are you trying to say?" Bill peered at Jack. "You said she tripped. I'm just saying I don't particularly care."

"And I'm saying don't talk ill of the dead. You never know who is listening." They both looked over at Rohan.

He hung his head. So, Bill's issues with Sally Parks were more than just sex and an argument.

It seemed like the day would never end. The police said it appeared Sally had tripped down the stairs and broken her neck. They needed to speak to everyone in the office. Rohan had been the third person questioned. He had to hand over his jumper and give them a DNA sample. The officers said they wanted to confirm his story and needed the jumper when they spoke to Penny and Mercer. By the end of the day, they still hadn't returned it. Rohan didn't care. It was old anyway and Annie had said she'd go with him to buy new clothes if he wanted her to. He smiled at the thought of Annie and wondered if he should ask her to go shopping with him.

"How we going, Rohan? You almost finished?"

Rohan jerked and smiled up at Jack Benny. "Yeah. Just two more tests to go, and then I'm done."

"This has been a shit of a day." Jack ran his hand through his hair. "Sally had to die at work, didn't she? Mondays and Tuesdays have always been our busiest days without having hold ups." He screwed up his face and grinned shamefully. "That wasn't nice of me. Poor girl, no one deserves to be found dead like that." He patted Rohan on the back. "You better hurry up. It's almost seven thirty."  

Not many people seem to be sad about Sally's death.

Photo - theguardian.