Chapter One
Bill and Mary Cooper were happily cuddled up on the couch together, watching Netflix with a giant bowl of popcorn wedged in between them.
“You are just going to have to keep guessing because I’m never going to tell you what your Christmas present is this year. You can open it in the morning,” Mary laughed at her husband.
“I just wanna know. Is it a gift card for that grill you saw me checking out at Home Depot last month?” Bill teased. “It could be,” she smiled at her husband. They both jumped when the knock came from their front door. Bill sat up and looked over at his wife. Mary stared back at him in confusion and shrugged.
“It’s Christmas Eve. Who could be knocking on our door at this hour. It’s past 10,” Mary fearfully whispered. Bill shuffled his feet across their living room and down the hall toward the front door. Bill checked the peep hole, but he didn’t see anyone there. He opened the door to find a red Christmas present sitting on their green holiday rug.
The Christmas box was red, but was neatly wrapped around all four edges of the box with a shiny, gold bow. The box was no bigger than a shoe box, but no smaller than a jewelry box.
“Bill! Who is there?” Mary asked from down the hall. She was impatiently leaning over the back of the couch, trying to see who was at their door.
“It’s a Christmas box,” Bill said, looking around the yard and street for anyone. But he didn’t see anyone walking or parked near their house. Bill shut their door bringing the Christmas present inside.
By the time Bill had set the box on the kitchen counter, Mary had curiously joined him in the kitchen, peering over Bill’s shoulder to peek at the Christmas box.
“Does it say who it’s from?” she whispered. Bill shook his head.
“No. There doesn’t seem to be any card or writing on it to indicate who it’s from,” Bill replied.
“ Well, you should be the one to open it,” Mary said to him. Bill glanced back at her, then stepped toward the counter top. “Why me? Because I’m the husband?” Bill joked.
“Noooo, because you’re the one who wanted a Christmas present early. Well, here ya go. Also, I’m going to grab my wine, real quick,” she said with a smile.
Bill reached out for a knife on the knife block and cut the gold ribbon around the box. He pulled it off and lifted the top of the gift to see what was inside. Bill loudly gasped, his feet jumping backward on the kitchen tile.
Inside the Christmas box was a folded letter with a pale, severed, bloody hand on top of it.
Chapter Two
Bill could hear Mary walking back down the hall, sipping her wine loudly from her glass. Quickly shoving the lid back over the top of the box before she reached the kitchen, Bill glanced up at her, clutching her glass of wine. The smile disappeared from her face when she saw her husband’s.
“Bill? Are you okay? You are white as a sheet!” Mary asked, stepping toward him and setting her glass down. Bill wrapped his arms around his wife.
“Mary, go get your phone and call the police. It’s-” Bill said with his arms still around his wife. “It’s a bloody hand. A-a-a woman’s. I don’t know,” he trailed off and looked away. Mary could feel Bill’s hands shaking on her shoulder.
“WHAT?! A hand? Like a dead one?” Mary shrieked. Her hand flew to her mouth. She looked like she was going to be sick to her stomach.
“Go!” Bill urged his wife. “Go call the police! Hurry!” he ordered. Mary darted out of the room to do as he’d said. Bill walked back over to the red Christmas box still on the counter. He opened the lid again, this time more prepared with the contents inside. Bill quickly looked up toward the hall hearing Mary’s voice faintly on the phone with the police. He looked back down at the red box.
Carefully, Bill slid the decaying hand to the side and pulled at the edge of the folded paper. His fingers shook as he unfolded the letter to see what it said. Inside, the letter read:
Mrs. Cooper,
I’m so sorry for you to find out this way, but I couldn’t live with the guilt any longer. Your husband, Bill Cooper has been having an affair with a woman named Nicole for over a year now.
I know you don’t want to believe your husband would ever betray you, but I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. And I know this because I’m the woman he’s been having an affair with all this time. We ran into each other one day, he knocked all of my things out of hands. He bent down and asked if he could give me a hand. He was just so nice to me. He told me you died of cancer when we met, and I naively believed him.
But about a month ago, I found his wedding ring in his pocket. He told me about his wife, Mary and how he’d been lying to both of us this entire time. I hope you can one day forgive me. I’m sorry.
-Nicole
Chapter THREE
The unfolded sheet of notebook paper trembled inside Bill’s hand. He peered inside of the red box once again to look at his dead woman’s hand. Slowly, his mind began to recognize the slender, delicate fingers in the box.
Ever since that first day he’d run into her in the thriller book section at the local book shop, she’d had chipped polish on her worn down fingernails. Nicole was always chewing on her nails while typing, reading or after sex. She was a very predictable person. Unlike his wife. And that’s what he loved about her.
Bill was caught off guard. His mind spun with questions that danced inside his head.
Who sentthe box? Nicole? No,that wouldn’t make any sense? But she sentthe letter?
Bill heard Mary ending the phone call in the other room. Her footsteps quickly filled the hallway.
“Honey?” she asked, peering around the kitchen at him. “The police are on the way to get that body part out of our kitchen,” Mary said, setting her phone down on the counter next to the red box. “Bill, hon? You need a hand?” Mary asked her husband with a sweet smile.
THE END
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About
I’m Jill, mom, wife, pet lover, and recently published murder mystery author. I am a very low-key person. I stay at home with my toddler and write when she’s asleep. I love reading other thriller/mystery books and doing yoga at home 2-3 times a day when I’m not playing with my daughter. Every morning we begin our day getting an energy tea, do our daily errands, and sometimes go to the library for story-time. Been happily married to my husband for going on 5 years now. We are truly meant for each other. We like to have date nights with each other, sometimes that’s just us staying up and playing Rummy together after the toddler is asleep or staying overnight with my brother.
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