Autumn’s Hesitant Arrival

立秋 [4] / [9]

As the funeral, which was as lonely as her life itself, ended, they went back to the house together, not speaking to each other very much. For these few days, Cynthia looked gaunt, tired and sad. Alexander just enveloped her with his arms around her shoulders. She had soundly slept against his shoulder and left arm during the flight back.

With Cynthia's coming back and Violet's leaving, Alexander's life seemed to find its own proper place again. His life was peaceful with Cynthia. They made love almost every moment when they were together at home. A few days after they came back, Alexander flew at Cynthia rather aggressively and went into her as much as he wanted.

He wanted to delete the last night with Violet, by Cynthia's love. Even though Cynthia looked tired, she accepted him without complaint. She even embraced him into her chest, almost like a child. He didn't detach from her after they had sex, but kept her in his embrace, touching her hair, cheeks, lips and her breasts and nipples, as if to check if she was really there.

For her part, she welcomed it too. She missed him so much and was hungry for his love. And after so much time apart, she was horny for him in body as well. She wanted to feel him inside of her, to feel his touch on her body, and he didn't disappoint. Things were starting to feel normal again, for both of them, and, slowly but surely, the pace of day-to-day life started to return to its typical pace and the emotions tied to certain past events dulled, eroded, and faded away with the passage of time.

But not all ghosts lie easy in their graves. Alexander knew, in the back of his mind, that, while Violet may well be out of his life romantically, she was far from gone entirely. He still had an active case open, in which she was the victim, and there were so many unanswered questions yet to be explored; chief among them being the nature and extent of Ed's involvement and just how reliable the evidence even was to support Violet's version of events. He fully intended to pass this case onto another officer at the first available opportunity, but, until that time came, he still needed to keep chipping away at it.

To that end, he resolved not to talk to Violet face-to-face anymore. That was going to be a challenge. She had yet to give a full statement regarding her version of how things unfolded. He was stuck. If he had any lingering questions vital to the investigation, he'd have to reach out to her. There was no other option, unless he could outsource the job to someone else. He couldn't afford to worry about this now, he knew, but at the same time, he also couldn't afford to put this case on the back burner. Evidence and narratives had a tendency to degrade in quality over time. So what was he to do? He decided to focus on Ed for the time being. Sure, he would have to talk to Violet again at some point, but for now at least, there were other avenues open to him.