3.12 Violent Death

PETER’S MEMOIRS 3: “OUR BERNIE” (PART 12)

VIOLENT DEATH

It was 23rd May 2003. It was just five weeks before our Silver Wedding. Unknown to me, Bernie and Angie had arranged to drive over to Abingdon to visit the jeweller’s where we bought our wedding rings with the intention of choosing something special for me to mark the occasion. But none of those things happened, because something else interrupted the smooth running of our lives. Something that changed them forever.

I went into work as usual, leaving Angie at home, because it was one of her off-duty days that week. Everything was just as usual until suddenly I was aware that Chief Superintendent Adrian Fuller had walked into the room and was trying to attract my attention. His face looked grim and I somehow knew that there was something very wrong. I suppose he had the look that policemen put on when they are about to break bad news. I must have seen it dozens of times, but it had never applied to me before.

‘Your friend, Bernadette, telephoned,’ he began, and I immediately thought of Lucy. Had she had an accident? Why had Bernie called the Chief Super instead of speaking to me direct?

‘I’m afraid it’s your wife,’ he went on. I don’t remember what he said next, everything is a blur from that point onwards. I vaguely recollect being driven home to find the street full of emergency vehicles and then going inside and seeing Angie’s body lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. And then someone led me out again and put me into a car. I remember sitting on the back seat, with Lucy next to me, stroking my face with her hand and trying to comfort me. And then, one thing I remember quite clearly was her asking whether Angie was dead and Bernie answering her, very matter-of-fact.

You can read more about this part of Bernie's story in this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Despise-not-thy-Mother-widows-ebook/dp/B015FUZJGE,

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/despise-not-thy-mother

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