Suzy by Gary L Beer (easy books to read in english txt) 📕

the car too long parked in the dark I will get robbed.”
“Sorry Lewis this is hard work.” puffs Suzy. Standing a few seconds more Suzy controls her breathing and starts to walk again.
Saying nothing to preserve their breath they make their way to the corner of the field, as a stream three metres wide blocks their way; “We will have to use the bridge, it's only up there.” says Lewis pointing to a wooden bridge made of old railway sleepers about fifty metres away.
Wearily they make their way to the bridge, the water beneath only looks to be about fifty millimetres deep and Lewis looks down at the flowing water; “Should have brought our wellies and we could have waded across.”
Suzy follows him across the bridge too tired to answer as they must have walked nearly a kilometre with their heavy loads. Lewis follows a faint trail through the grass that leads into the trees. The trail as it enters the trees becomes waterlogged and they find themselves in thick gooey mud about one hundred millimetres thick in places. The mud sticks to their trainers and makes them heavy and awkward to walk in.
Lewis steps off the muddy trail and starts to make his way deeper into the trees as Suzy follows, not sure where he is going. After about five minutes weaving themselves amongst the twisted trees Lewis lets out a laugh; “Here it is, even got a new fence around it.”
Suzy looks towards Lewis and the new shiny barbed wire fence that forms a square of about two metres a side; “You're joking, there is no Well there?”
“Yes there is, come and have a look.” invites Lewis waving his hand towards the wire.
Suzy un-shoulders the coat of arms and legs and lays it gently on the ground. Walking slowly forward she approaches the fencing and can see several planks of very old wood lying across a circle of bricks. Leaning forward against the fence she looks down and can see the circular formed bricks disappearing into the darkness.
“I do not believe it, how on earth did you find this?”
“Went up here for a pee must be twenty years ago now, there was no fence around it then just them bits of wood laid on top; and they look like they are the same ones.” Lewis says in surprise.
Putting Doug down onto the ground he steps over the barbed wire fence and moves the moss covered wood out of the way. Taking a torch out of his pocket he turns it on and shines it down the Well; “Here come and have a look at this, you will be amazed.”
Suzy steps over the fence and looks down the Well; she can easily see the bottom of the Well in the light of the torch beam shining down. The Well has to be ten metres deep and is very narrow, hardly enough room for a man to turn around; let alone lay bricks. The light from the torch shows that the bottom of the Well is dry, which does not make any sense. The stream, about two metres wide and half a metre deep, flows slowly past about three metres away! Suzy looks around in confusion at the marshy surroundings and in the distance about thirty metres away she can see a large pond hiding in the shadow of the hawthorn bushes.
“This is insane,” she laughs “why is the Well dry when it is surrounded by water?”
“Not a clue, will you go and gather up as much sticks and branches and whatever else you can find to chuck on top of him?” asks Lewis as he starts to untie the coat containing Doug's torso and head.
Suzy wipes the smile off her face and looks around for old branches and twigs. Grim faced, Lewis unties the coat and slides Doug's body out of the plastic dustbin sacks. Picking up the naked body he throws it down the Well. Untying the other coat he throws the bare arms and legs down after the body and using a plastic sack puts the coats, string and plastic sacks into one. Tying it tightly he puts it to one side as he helps Suzy throw branches, clumps of grass and even some old bricks down the Well onto Doug's remains.

Darkness closes in fast making it difficult to search amongst the trees and after shining his torch down the Well, Lewis is finally satisfied that the body is covered; “That will have to do we will come back tomorrow just to make sure.” he tells Suzy as he puts the old planks of wood on top of the Well.
“Be taking a chance coming back?” says Suzy with fear in her voice.
“Better to be sure or I will not sleep, anyway I need to go to the fishing shop and get some maggots.”
“Maggots, what on earth for; you are not going fishing are you?”
“No,” Lewis laughs “going to throw them down the Well on top of Doug, they'll help destroy the body.”
Suzy shudders at the thought of hundreds of maggots eating their way into Doug's body, feeling sick she follows the trail away from the Well and waits for Lewis when she reaches the field. Lewis takes his time and after what appears to be five minutes later he finally emerges from the trees carrying the black dustbin sack.
“You took your time; I was getting worried, thought you might have fallen down the Well after him?”
“No such luck, I have been trying to cover up our footprints and is this yours?” Lewis asks passing Suzy a small white handkerchief.
Suzy feels her face go pale; “Yes that is mine, where did you find it?”
“About ten metres away from the Well, you must have dropped it when you were collecting wood, now you can see why we need to come back in the morning. It was lucky your handkerchief is white or I would not have seen it.”
Suzy puts the handkerchief in her pocket and starts to walk with Lewis as they make their way back to the car.

Lewis comes out of his flat carrying a bag of spare clothes and a stack of newspapers. Opening the back door of his car he throws them on the back seat and goes back inside. Suzy looks at the pile of newspapers in confusion as Lewis reappears carrying an old hardback chair which he also puts on the back seat. Slamming the door shut he gets in behind the wheel and turns the engine on. Putting on he his seatbelt Lewis puts the car into gear and drives slowly along the road.
Curiosity gets the better of Suzy and she cannot resist asking; “Why the newspapers and chair?”
“We need to burn those coats and bloody dustbin sacks; and your fire the other night did not completely burn everything. Have you got any old wood or cardboard we can burn?”
“Not sure if I want to burn my furniture.” answers Suzy looking round at the chair on the back seat.
“Be in a good cause, we will have a look round when we get back to yours.” Lewis tells her.

“Do not put too much on, we need to keep it small in case the neighbours think your shed is alight.” advise Lewis as Suzy attempts to throw her coffee table onto the fire.
The fire has been burning well for about half an hour and Lewis is pleased that everything is burning, hopefully by the morning all that will remain will be a fine ash.
Suzy had done well in finding wood for the fire; apart from the coffee table she had supplied two badly painted stools, the wicker laundry basket and about a dozen wooden tomato boxes from the shed. Along with the newspapers and clothes they had kept the fire burning well and the paint on the stools had helped. They stay with the fire until everything is burnt; raking the edge into the centre of the hot flames to ensure all the evidence is burnt.

Cold, hungry, and wishing she had drunk an extra cup of coffee, Suzy trudges through the wet grass behind Lewis as they make their way back to the Well. The grass is soaking wet from the early morning dew and Suzy's trainers are soaked down to her socks. There is no one about this early in the morning as they had arrived just before the dawn. As they reach the end of the field the sun starts to shine weakly. Suzy looks up at the cloudless sky; it sure is going to be a wonderful day!
Lewis crosses the bridge of old railway sleepers and looks down at the flowing stream; “It is amazing don't you think? There has not been any rain for over a week, makes you wonder where all the water comes from?”
“Shows how much the woodland holds onto, but it still doesn't explain why the Well is dry?” answers Suzy looking around at the surrounding trees.
“I do not know the answer to that one, but it is weird with all this water surrounding it.”
They follow the faint trail into the trees and approach the Well cautiously. All looks the same as it was last night and Lewis looks around in dismay at the amount of footprints they had left behind. Stepping over the barbed wire fence that surrounds the Well Lewis removes the old planks of wood and looks inside. Darkness shows about three metres down and Lewis takes his torch out of his pocket. Switching it on, he shines the beam down into the darkness. The torch beam is powerful and shines all the way to the bottom showing the twigs, branches and clods of grass they had thrown down.
Lewis can see below the rubbish Doug's arm; seeming to point upwards towards him. He can also see a part of his leg and the hair on his head.
“We did a bad job of covering him up last night, lucky we did come back this morning.” he tells Suzy in a despairing voice.
“I will go and find some more wood and stuff.” Suzy replies walking past the Well into the trees beyond.
Lewis reaches into his deep coat pocket and pulls out a plastic sandwich box container. Opening it, he looks at the thousands of white maggots wriggling in the box he had bought from the fishing shop early this morning. The smell of rotting meat drifts up into his nostrils from the maggots and in disgust he holds the container over the Well and tips the maggots in. Stepping back over the fence he joins Suzy in looking for anything to throw down the Well to cover Doug's remains.
Suzy soon returns with an armload of moss covered branches and drops them down besides the barbed wire fencing. Walking in another direction she heads deep into the trees looking for more. Lewis gathers several arm loads of branches and puts them beside Suzy's pile.
Hearing Suzy coming