While My Back Was Turned: A Gripping Mystery Thriller With a Twist You Won't see Coming

By R.M Blackwell

IN FOUR MINUTES HIS LIFE CHANGED FOREVER...

A family day out is brought to an abrupt end when Clayton Bentham's wife and teenage daughter disappear. He leaves them for several, short minutes to make a secret phone call to his ex-mistress. When he returns, they have vanished without a trace. Their abandoned drinks are set upon their seats, right next to his wife's phone.

He is forced to admit that they have gone, and calls the police for help. An investigation is launched, but it's immediately obvious to Clayton that the chief detective is determined to find him guilty...

With no one to turn to and with the police case drawing focus around him, he is forced to start his own investigation.

Clayton has been keeping secrets, but it soon becomes apparent that his wife has some disturbing secrets of her own...And the more he digs, the more he discovers that these secrets may just be the cause of her mysterious disappearance...

While My Back Was Turned is a page-turning mystery thriller with a twist you won't see coming. Perfect for fans of Rachel Abbott, Mark Edwards, Sue Fortin, Lisa Hall & Linwood Barclay

What people are saying about While My Back Was Turned:

“...A very gripping mystery thriller, five stars...”

“...I read this book in two sittings I couldn't wait to get back to it...”

“...I could not put it down. I kept telling myself “just another chapter”, but just kept on going! Great read...”

“...The suspense and many twists and turns kept me guessing until the end...highly enjoyed this book...”

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.M Blackwell
• Release date: Feb 17, 2021

R.M Blackwell

R.M Blackwell always knew that he wanted to be a writer. As a result, he drafted his first novel at the age of nine. Throughout the years, countless ideas for stories came to him, but he never did anything more than fill various notebooks and diaries with their plot outlines. He first had the idea for his debut novel, While My Back Was Turned, whilst still at University. However, after he finished his studies he ignored his true ambition to be a published author.In more recent times, R.M Blackwell knew that the time was right to put just one of his many ideas into words in the form of the mystery thriller, While My Back Was Turned.

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Copyright

© Copyright 2016 R.M. Blackwell

The author, R.M. Blackwell, has asserted their right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

ISBN-13: 978-1540578822

ISBN-10: 1540578828

Contents

Copyright

Prologue

Fixed

Broken

Gone

Frantic

24 Hours

Exposed

The Other Detective

Paranoid

Isolation

Doubt

Abuse

Prime Suspect

Found

Mystery

Dialogue

Red

Deliverance

Entrapment

Trapped

Without a Trace

Fear

Nightmare

Sinister

Anonymous

Ambush

Dawn

Lies

Blood-Red Kittens

DNA

Followed

Run

Helpless

Intruder

Cryptic

Confession

Escape

'Confidentiel'

Ghetto

Deal

Intercepted

Surrounded

Shock

Dragged

East

Cold

Tragic

The Manor

Too Late

Awake

Emergency

Involuntary

Siege

Dead Gone

Without a Doubt

The Black River

Nothing But Black

The Other House

Back

Approach

Gun

Horror

Blood Strains

Prey

Unforeseen

Revelations

Charge

Winston

Disappear

Trap

Mistake

Vertical

Trigger

Empty

Rock

Fire

Horizon

New

The Man With Three Lives

Author's Note

Prologue

Saturday 13th February

From:   Helen Bentham ([e-mail])

To:   [e-mail] ([e-mail])

Cc:

Subject:   Photograph

Hi,

I haven't heard from you for a while. I'm not sure if you got my last email or not? The one with the photograph of me and my daughter? Did you like it? I just wondered, because I haven't had a reply. I can send you some more pictures if you like, just let me know. I would love to hear back from you again. I so miss your messages. It's so nice to have someone to talk to. My husband doesn't talk to me much any more. I'm sorry, I realise I haven't mentioned him before. I hope you are not upset? But it doesn't matter all that much anyway, since he's never here.

Anyway, maybe you have just been too busy to email me recently, I know how hectic things can get sometimes. Maybe you could send me a picture of yourself? I would really love to see who I have been talking to all this time! There's no reason to be shy. Maybe you could send one with a message back when you get a chance?

All my love,

Helen xx

Fixed

Saturday 5th March

Herne Bay, Kent

On the outside everything must have looked perfect. A perfect family, that drove in a perfect car and lived in a perfect house. But in truth everything wasn’t perfect, far from it. And none of the three people walking along the promenade of the little seaside town knew that it was to be their final outing together, for their seemingly-wonderful life was about to be shattered.

Rain had been threatening all day, but now the sun seemed to be finally winning the battle for dominance over the stormy weather. The dim spring day was being interrupted by a break in the clouds over the sea in the distance. Gold rays were now breaking through the dense, grey sky, suddenly making the scene around the trio look a little more hopeful.

Clayton Bentham thought this was only appropriate as he walked along the grey-stone seafront walkway beside his wife, Helen, and his fourteen-year-old daughter, Lily. To him, the dramatic weather seemed an apt metaphor for the state of his marriage. The gold against the grey. Grey like how his marriage had been recently, gold like how it was going to be from now on.

Clayton took a deep breath of fresh, salty air as he walked along the seafront, looking out at the ominously dark, but now glittering water. As he walked, he considered how relieved he was to be participating in something as simple as a family stroll, considering the potentially devastating nature of his actions over the past six months.

He felt the familiar pang of guilt and anxiety as he thought of how everything could have so easily been destroyed by his foolish behaviour. His selfish actions had come so close to tearing his family apart.

Things weren't great in his marriage, in truth they hadn't been for a while. He had become distant with Helen, or rather, she had become distant with him. They rarely talked any more, and whenever they found that they both had spare time, they spent it apart.

Clayton had thrown himself into work as a result of the distance and emptiness that resided at home in his respectably-sized, detached, four-bedroom house in Canterbury. He had found himself finding all sorts of excuses to stay later at the office, where he ran his own successful business as an insurance-broker.

Late-nights and working weekends had become commonplace over the course of the last half-a-year, although if anyone had chosen to look any deeper at the situation, they would have noticed that sales hadn't increased at all as a result of all these extra hours. In fact, monetary gains had stayed exactly the same as they always had for Clayton's business: respectable, and the sole source of funding for a comfortable family-lifestyle in the affluent town suburbs.

The business income had remained the same, despite the fact that Clayton had been accompanied during all of these long-hours by his personal assistant, Lucy.

His marriage had been slowly disintegrating for no apparent reason, and he had grown lonely with the lack of interaction and affection from his wife. He knew there was no excusing what he had done and it was his most shameful secret; one that made his insides burn with guilt every time he returned to his house he shared with his wife and daughter. For a long while he had been in a dark place, and he hadn't been there alone...

Now however, things were going to be different. He had severed that particular tie, the one that made his insides squirm uncomfortably every time he turned to face Helen, or Lily. In fact, he had done so just last week.

Neither of the two women beside him need ever know what he had done, especially since Clayton had fixed things. Now he was wholeheartedly dedicated to repairing his marriage. His heart ached when he thought of how much he missed how things with Helen used to be. They had been happy. They had lived a good life, Clayton had always made sure of it. Through his own business, he had provided a comfortable lifestyle for him and his family. The house wasn't huge, but it was above average, respectable. The same went for their car too; a family four-wheel drive, always replaced before the number on the licence plate became too distant from the current offering in the showroom, less than a mile away from their home.

Clayton had used to think that this seemed like a flimsy way to judge a person's respectability, a car and a house, but that was the way it was. He wasn't going to argue, nor was he about to become a hippy and go and build himself a modest log-cabin in the woods any time soon. For one thing, he would miss the acknowledging nod of respect he got every time he saw his counterpart next door over the neatly-trimmed hedge as they both slid into their cars on the way to work every morning, no matter how slight it may be.

Clayton had built his business into a highly successful venture over the last seventeen years. He had built it from scratch with just a small loan from his parents back in his early twenties. He'd had to really work hard back in the early days. Sixteen-hour stretches of actual, genuine work hadn't been uncommon, although Clayton had mostly forgotten about these now. He had worked his way up, earned the respect of everyone in his world and then so easily forgotten how he had got there. These days, his three staff members handled most of the tedious, day-to-day tasks. Clayton mainly supervised and handled larger contracts himself.

Yes, Clayton had always worked hard to provide the best for his family. Although admittedly, much of the time he had spent in his office in the last six months hadn't had much to do with earning money; neither had it benefited his family much, even threatening to turn it to dust.

But luckily, Clayton had seen sense and ended things with Lucy before it had become too detrimental to his perfect life. All right, so things hadn't been perfect, not for a while, but they were going to be; Clayton was going to make sure of it. Today was a start. Today was the first day of the rest of his life. Wasn't that what people said when they made a positive change? It sounded positive to think it anyway.

Today was a family day out. No work calls. No interruptions. Just the three of them out for the day like it used to be when Lily was younger. Clayton couldn't remember the last time that they had all had a day out together, and thought that this weekend was a great opportunity to do so. Even if the weather wasn't great, spring was in the air and Clayton had awoken feeling lighter and happier than he had remembered feeling for years.

He had managed to arrange this day trip to the seaside, a twenty-minute drive away. 'Managed' seemed like the appropriate word, since neither Helen, nor Lily, had been keen on dragging themselves away from their prior plans; not that Clayton could see that they consisted of much, however.

Lily had been glued to her computer in her bedroom talking to friends she had never even met, and even Helen had seemed deeply involved in something on the desktop computer in the spare-room-office too, although what she was actually doing was something of a mystery.

Clayton had been aware of a flurry of frantic clicks and hurried minimising of windows as he had opened the door behind her this morning. From her overly light and casual tone upon the sight of him in the doorway, he knew she would have been unwilling to divulge any details however. Although her secrecy aroused his curiosity, Clayton knew from experience she wouldn't open up, so he didn't press any further. They hadn't had a meaningful conversation about anything for a long while and he had known one hadn't been on the cards at that moment. Instead, he had skimmed over it and gone ahead and proposed a family outing to the seaside.

Helen had been slightly taken aback, but the slight surprise her beautifully-symmetrical features had registered seemed to be of the pleasant variety, and so she had agreed, after requesting a few minutes to finish whatever she was doing.

Lily had been far less cooperative. She had started off by outright refusing to leave her laptop. When she had realised that wasn't going to work, she had stormed around the upper-floor of the house, noisily getting ready for over half-an-hour, keeping her parents waiting.

Luckily, Lily's tantrum hadn't lasted long. She quietened quickly after getting into the car. Perhaps by this point, she had resigned herself to the fact that she was faced with a day out with her parents.

Clayton hadn't minded however, he was just so happy that he had managed to avert disaster by making the right decision regarding Lucy, that nothing could quash his good mood. Even the fact that several houses away, the neighbours would probably have been aware that his daughter was raising her voice to him didn't bother Clayton today.

His suspicion that they were audible had been confirmed, when the three of them walked down the driveway. He noticed that the occupant of the delivery van parked outside next-door seemed to be aware that they were arguing a little; it had appeared to earn them an overly-inquisitive stare anyway.

They seemed to be getting a lot of things delivered next-door lately. Clayton had thought this slightly odd as he had seated himself behind the driver's wheel. He had thought that their elderly neighbour was supposed to be away for a few weeks in the Cayman islands. He had dismissed this thought almost immediately, as he realised his lack of knowledge on the comings-and-goings of the street was testament to the lack of information coming from Helen.

Shortly before arriving at their nearest seaside town, the reason for the sudden disappearance of Lily's discontentment was discovered, when Clayton had realised that she had simply continued her online exploits on her smartphone in the back of the car.

Clayton hadn't had any qualms when he decided to confiscate her phone. After all, it was in the name of the three of them managing to participate properly in the first family day out they'd had for more than a year.

Lily had protested, but her vehement arguing had eventually turned into a quiet sulk.

He had thought that this was probably the best he could hope for from his daughter as he slipped her phone into his coat pocket and zipped it up securely.

The afternoon sun was shining on everything now. The light made the worn, grey walkway the three of them were strolling along almost gleam. All of a sudden, Clayton could see how the place resembled a tourist resort.

He looked across to Helen who was walking on the other side of Lily. She looked so distant and thoughtful as she gazed across the sea as they walked. Her bright green eyes seemed to glow with even more pigment than usual in the glinting light of the eerily-gentle waves. Her dark-blonde, shoulder-length hair fluttered in the cool, breeze as she walked with her hands in her pockets. Despite having turned forty recently, Clayton thought that Helen was just as beautiful as ever, he even felt that she was more so. He couldn't explain why, perhaps he had just missed her too much. She had felt so far-away for so very long.

At times he put down the distance between them to Helen searching for deeper meaning in life. She had mentioned it once or twice in the last few years, but Clayton frustratingly hadn't had known how to help her. He had always known that she had wanted to know more about her past, but didn't know what to suggest. He hadn't had the answers.

Her mother had always been vague and secretive about Helen's father, in addition to the rest of her family. Helen had never even met her father, nor had she seen any pictures. Helen had speculated that he was perhaps of European origin, since her mother had worked as a family-maid in Europe somewhere when she was younger. Clayton had thought this likely, since Helen had a more unusual look about her and she didn't seem to bear much resemblance to her mother.

Clayton was sure that this was possibly the source of her unrest, he hoped it was anyway. He was quite confident it wasn't because she had found out about his cheating. He was confident that she knew nothing of it. Anyway, the distance had started before his affair. Hadn't that been the reason he had sought solace in the arms of another woman? Not that there was any excusing it. He was thoroughly ashamed that he had done such a thing, but he had only begun seeing Lucy because he was lonely, no other reason. It wasn't like Lucy was overwhelmingly attractive.

Helen was far more beautiful, far more charming, far more intelligent, far superior in every way. Had she not drifted away from him over the past few years, he never would have even considered Lucy at all. He had just been lonely, having a particularly bad day and Lucy had just been there. There harbouring a crush on Clayton that he had always ignored; and to his detriment it had seemed. He sincerely wished that she had not been so in-tune to his emotions, his strained home life, but she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that was all behind him now...

Clayton's gaze stayed upon Helen as he sincerely hoped that he could pull her out of her semi-permanent reverie. He was going to dedicate all of his energy to it, no matter what it took. Helen would come back around to him eventually, she just had to.

The buzzing of a phone call from his coat pocket snapped Clayton from his thoughts and back into the real world where he, his wife and daughter had just started walking along the somewhat windier pier. He waited until the vibrations against his chest stopped. He wasn't going to be interrupted today. This was a family day out, he had no interest in anything else.

Beside him, Lily folded her arms tightly across her chest, her hands retreating further up the sleeves of her white, hooded jacket that had pink-kittens on the front. 'Dad, it's freezing!' she whined. 'How much further do we have to walk?'

Clayton smiled at his daughter, 'I bet you wish you hadn't put style over warmth, now?' he asked amusedly, reflecting on how she had insisted she would be fine without a proper coat.

Lily did nothing more than scoff and fold her arms more tightly. She looked a little paler than usual, making her freckles more obvious. The dark hair she inherited from her father was blowing around her shoulders in the gentle breeze just like her mother's was. Other than her pointed chin, Lily mostly resembled her father, sharing his square-jaw, straight nose and blue eyes.

'I'll tell you what-' Clayton said as he glanced over his shoulder at the row of seafront kiosks that lined the street on the other side of the road, '-I think we've taken in enough sea air for the moment, why don't we go and get some hot chocolate?'

Lily seemed further dismayed by this, 'Hot chocolate?' she asked with a hint of a further scoff. 'I'm not five!'

Helen shook her head with a slight smile that made her look much more like the woman Clayton had married. 'Maybe we should make it coffees all round?' she said pointedly at her husband, who realised his mistake.

'Right, erm, I didn't realise that you drank coffee,' Clayton said distractedly, as his phone started buzzing with the arrival of another phone call, which he again ignored.

'Everyone at school drinks it.' his daughter replied, as though this told him everything he needed to know.

Several minutes later the trio had their hands wrapped around a warm, takeaway paper cup each and were finding a more sheltered area along the seafront where they could drink the hot liquid.

They settled on a spot not far from the pier, which acted almost as a windbreak.

Clayton sat himself down on the low-wall beside Lily. He was caught slightly off-guard when Helen took her seat on the other side of their daughter. He had been expecting her to sit directly beside him for some reason. Perhaps she hadn't really given it that much thought, he mused to himself.

He didn't have much time to analyse what his wife had potentially meant by this seemingly-unconscious act, when his phone started buzzing again. This time he actually pulled his coat out away from his body to help him ignore the incessant rumbling. Whoever it was, they were determined to take his attention away from quality time with Helen and Lily, but he wouldn't let them. It wouldn't be anything urgent or important, it never was. And besides, the only people he cared about were right here with him and they were both fine.

The caller was probably just some desperate telemarketer trying to achieve his daily sales targets. They would surely give up after three missed calls. He sipped the coffee. It was bitter, but the warmth that seeped down his throat made him realise that the sun that was still fighting to shine wasn't providing much heat after all.

Clayton looked at Lily. Even though the drink seemed to have cheered her up slightly, she still looked a little cold. 'You know, if you want you can have my jacket?' he asked her. Although he guessed what her answer would be.

'I'm not wearing that, Dad. It'll look massive on me.'

'So? Isn't that better than being cold?'

'No.'

He sighed. He knew she would much rather get hypothermia than sacrifice an ounce of style.

The three of them sat there for a few minutes, taking sips of drink in between looking out at the seascape before them. The sun was now glittering upon the waves, although it seemed unwilling to give out any more heat. Every few minutes, other families of various sizes passed. Sometimes they had two kids, sometimes three or four. They made Clayton more relieved than ever that he was with his own, and they were all together.

On the outside the other families all looked happy and cheerful as they went on by. Clayton realised that he and his own family probably looked happy, idealistic, like a model family. From a stranger's perspective, they looked perfect. They were living the middle-class dream. And why not? Now that he had fixed things, ended the affair, why shouldn't things be perfect? Everything would be fine from now on.

Clayton was annoyed when his phone buzzed for a fourth time against his chest. This time it was just two-short buzzes that were the source of his irritation, signifying that the frustratingly-persistent person had sent a text. Good, he thought. Maybe now they'll give up and he can go back to focusing on his family outing.

He took his phone out of his pocket, almost automatically, intending to dismiss the missed call and text notifications. When he looked at them however, finger poised to swipe them away, he found that he froze as he stared at the name of the caller. Damn - it was Lucy.

Broken

Clayton felt a jolt of panic in his stomach as he stared at his phone. He felt the heat of shame rising in his cheeks too, despite the cool air around him. The text simply said:

Please call me. I need to speak to you. Lucy.

He couldn't decipher what she could possibly mean by that. One thing was immediately apparent, however,