She felt bad for Adam, but she needed to do this. Walking purposefully down the street, everything reminded her of Jay. Why would anyone want to hurt him? He was perfect. As she spied the familiar shutters, her stomach clenched. She didn’t want to, but she knew she had to do this; there was no backing out now. Hands shaking, Hannah pulled out her keys. The police had done a good job of tidying; the shop looked ready for opening. She could almost call Steph to begin a shift. Other than the boards on the window, there was no evidence of the horrors that had happened here.
Picking up piles of post, wading through leaflets for the fair and local takeaways, Hannah made her way to the office to make a start on the mountain of letters. Opening one envelope after another, she began sorting the letters from bills; marking certain ones for Jay’s accountant. She could almost do the shop accounts herself; she’d had loads of practice. Jay preferred to pay an accountant though; he had a lot of businesses. Opening the next letter, she scanned the contents looking for finances or bills. One word unexpectedly jumped out at her. Clenbuterol. She had learned about Clenbuterol in one of her modules at university. It was a drug usually used to treat asthma, to help regulate breathing, but it was often traded on the black market as a weight-loss drug. She carried on reading. Nolvadex. Danabol. Tren 75. She didn’t know the others, but was certain they were similar to Clenbuterol. Illegal steroids. Why was Jay receiving invoices for those? She checked the address; it was definitely to the shop. What was going on?
Oh God, Alfie. With a start, Hannah realised this must have something to do with Alfie. He asked for Jay the day he died; she had noticed Alfie was getting steadily bigger. With a sickening feeling, she realised he must have been buying steroids from Jay. Hannah recalled feeling so impressed he lost weight and gained muscle so quickly. It couldn’t just be Alfie. She thought back to all the strangers that came in, vanishing when meeting her eyes. They were all massive. It never happened to smaller, weedy guys or girls. Jay was a drug dealer. He was dealing illegal steroids to people. Hannah didn’t know her boyfriend at all. It seemed so obvious now; how he always vanished to do paperwork, but actually sent it all off. How he seemed to know all her male school friends, despite being older and from a different area. How he always had cash and didn’t mind closing early sometimes. He was making his money from the drugs, not the shop. The shop must have been a cover; he must have been using the shop to hide his dirty money! With a sick feeling, Hannah realised he was probably using Kupcake to hide his money too. She had been dating a drug-dealing, money-laundering murderer. But he was still a nice person. Why would someone stab him?
Feeling curious, Hannah grabbed as many papers and documents relating to the steroids as she could; the Kupcake invoices and the letters to the accountant could wait. This was far more important. Her senses heightened as she stuffed stolen papers into her bag, Hannah decided to turn detective; she had learned more in 5 minutes than the police had in weeks. If she could catch where all the drugs were coming from, maybe she could prevent another death like Alfie’s or Jay’s. Perhaps she could even find out who killed Jay; despite her discoveries, she still loved him and was devastated by the loss of his life. She could fix this, she knew it. Maybe she was completely wrong about the drugs and money-laundering. There was only one way to find out.
*** ***
The next day, Hannah dressed in her most inconspicuous clothing; she would be talking to some dangerous people and didn’t want anyone to recognise her. Grabbing her rucksack, armed with a photo of Jay, Hannah ran out of the house. Not knowing the names of the people she wanted to speak to, but knowing where they would be, Hannah headed to the
Picking up piles of post, wading through leaflets for the fair and local takeaways, Hannah made her way to the office to make a start on the mountain of letters. Opening one envelope after another, she began sorting the letters from bills; marking certain ones for Jay’s accountant. She could almost do the shop accounts herself; she’d had loads of practice. Jay preferred to pay an accountant though; he had a lot of businesses. Opening the next letter, she scanned the contents looking for finances or bills. One word unexpectedly jumped out at her. Clenbuterol. She had learned about Clenbuterol in one of her modules at university. It was a drug usually used to treat asthma, to help regulate breathing, but it was often traded on the black market as a weight-loss drug. She carried on reading. Nolvadex. Danabol. Tren 75. She didn’t know the others, but was certain they were similar to Clenbuterol. Illegal steroids. Why was Jay receiving invoices for those? She checked the address; it was definitely to the shop. What was going on?
Oh God, Alfie. With a start, Hannah realised this must have something to do with Alfie. He asked for Jay the day he died; she had noticed Alfie was getting steadily bigger. With a sickening feeling, she realised he must have been buying steroids from Jay. Hannah recalled feeling so impressed he lost weight and gained muscle so quickly. It couldn’t just be Alfie. She thought back to all the strangers that came in, vanishing when meeting her eyes. They were all massive. It never happened to smaller, weedy guys or girls. Jay was a drug dealer. He was dealing illegal steroids to people. Hannah didn’t know her boyfriend at all. It seemed so obvious now; how he always vanished to do paperwork, but actually sent it all off. How he seemed to know all her male school friends, despite being older and from a different area. How he always had cash and didn’t mind closing early sometimes. He was making his money from the drugs, not the shop. The shop must have been a cover; he must have been using the shop to hide his dirty money! With a sick feeling, Hannah realised he was probably using Kupcake to hide his money too. She had been dating a drug-dealing, money-laundering murderer. But he was still a nice person. Why would someone stab him?
Feeling curious, Hannah grabbed as many papers and documents relating to the steroids as she could; the Kupcake invoices and the letters to the accountant could wait. This was far more important. Her senses heightened as she stuffed stolen papers into her bag, Hannah decided to turn detective; she had learned more in 5 minutes than the police had in weeks. If she could catch where all the drugs were coming from, maybe she could prevent another death like Alfie’s or Jay’s. Perhaps she could even find out who killed Jay; despite her discoveries, she still loved him and was devastated by the loss of his life. She could fix this, she knew it. Maybe she was completely wrong about the drugs and money-laundering. There was only one way to find out.
*** ***
The next day, Hannah dressed in her most inconspicuous clothing; she would be talking to some dangerous people and didn’t want anyone to recognise her. Grabbing her rucksack, armed with a photo of Jay, Hannah ran out of the house. Not knowing the names of the people she wanted to speak to, but knowing where they would be, Hannah headed to the
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