Lure Of The Praying Mantis

Anne-Marie De Wynter, both hands over her mouth and her eyes wide open, stood in apparent shock beside the mock open log fire. Sat in the reclining chair in front of her was Pat Conway, tears rolling freely down her cheeks as she told Anne-Marie of the previous day's events. ‘But why, Jack?’ Anne-Marie blurted. ‘He wouldn’t have harmed a fly.’ Pat Conway did not answer immediately; she was obviously still in shock and seemed to struggle to comprehend anything that had happened yesterday. But Anne-Marie knew what had happened, although she was not going to admit to anything. ‘They took his coin collection.’ Pat said slowly, the tone of her voice tinged with sadness and regret, ‘even a charm bracelet with little value. Why take that?’ Anne-Marie looked at Pat. She felt sorry for her, in a way, but she supposed this was what was meant by ‘collateral damage’. Only Jack was to be physically hurt, but Jack’s family was being mentally hurt. That was unfortunate, thought Anne-Marie, but it could not be avoided. ‘I asked John to check the display cabinet.’ Pat added, referring to her husband. ‘I just could not do it. But all they took were his coins and a bracelet belonging to Cathy. Nothing else was taken, not even those silver goblets and they must be worth a small fortune. Why leave them?’ ‘Could they have been disturbed do you think?’ Anne-Marie offered, slowly walking the length of the modestly furnished lounge of her nineteen thirties style semi-detached home in the Belmont district of town. ‘Otherwise, those items would’ve been taken as well, wouldn’t they?’ Pat nervously shrugged her shoulders as though she could not be bothered to even think about the question let alone answer it. Slumped in the recliner, eyes red from continuous crying, Pat Conway was a vision of utter despair, struggling to come to terms with the murder of her younger brother. Her husband had told most of the family members what had happened to Jack, but she had to tell Anne-Marie herself. This was exactly what Anne-Marie had expected. She was not a relative, of course, but Jack had known her from childhood; indeed, she had called him Uncle Jack from the time that she could begin speaking. He had been her father’s best friend, and when he had died in a road accident almost twenty years ago, Jack, naturally, took over the role of substitute father to Ann; a role that Ann had been happy for him to do; At least until she had established herself as an independent person with a mind of her own and knew where she wanted to go in life. That destiny would not include Jack Manning. ‘I’m grateful you came to tell me yourself.’ Anne-Marie told Pat, looking out of the spacious bay window overlooking the throng of people hurrying back and forth doing; well, whatever they chose to do on a fine Saturday morning. ‘I know it cannot have been easy for you.’ Pat did not reply. Another flood of tears, suddenly and without warning, cascaded down her cheeks. Anne-Marie went to her with words of comfort and compassion, the image of the family friend filled with sympathy and love for her Uncle Jack. But as she embraced Pat, the distraught sister could not possibly see the ends of Anne-Marie’s full lipped mouth curl up into a slight sinister smile of satisfaction. What had made Anne-Marie so callous and deceitful? Maybe Anne-Marie herself could not be sure of the reason. The Walker family had not been poor; working class certainly, but never poor. Her father had always tried to better himself although with limited success. He had taught Ann the value of ambition; to always strive to be the best in everything that she did. She had tried, using honesty as her main weapon, to be the best, first at school and then at the athletics track, but Ann had also met with only limited success. But she had one advantage over her father, Ann was a girl. Those days behind the bike shed had brought her some rewards, like Tommy Spence doing her geography homework in exchange for a ‘feel’; Joshua Anderson stealing the France holiday trip money from Miss Jepson’s desk because Ann wanted to buy the latest single from Oasis; a task which Joshua did for only a kiss; a reward which Ann did not give because she found Joshua Anderson so repulsive. Anne-Marie always smiled when she thought of Joshua Anderson; she not only bought the Oasis single but had money left over for a hundred more singles. And as for poor Joshua, he not only did not get a kiss from Ann, but he was also eventually unmasked as the thief and excluded from school. His hoped-for career as a doctor lay in ruins; he never went to university, never studied medicine, and ended his education in one of her majesty’s prisons after a betting shop fraud went wrong. Poor Joshua Anderson, Anne-Marie would often think to herself, Poor bloody fool!!!! It was a thought which Anne-Marie always followed with a sarcastic laugh.