She checked herself over in the bedroom mirror for the last time.
As she opened the front door, she looked back and called out, “We need milk. Won’t be long…” She giggled at the silliness of it. There was no ‘we’, and no milk was needed, and she certainly would be gone for the longest time. The rest of her life in fact. It was all part of her radical plan.
Had there been anyone around they wouldn’t have noticed that she didn’t use the car. Instead, wheeling her case, she walked idly for a few minutes then caught a bus into town.
Who would really miss her? Her few remaining relations that she hardly ever saw; her boss and her workmates, her nearby neighbours, the man who serviced her car, her hairdresser, the checkout ladies in the supermarket…? No. Nobody really. She would just disappear. The rent was paid up for a month. She would become just another woman in her late twenties slipping through the cracks; just one more missing person. She had never been bothered about romantic attachments; a quiet, private life had always suited her.
In the high street she walked straight past the supermarket. No milk required. She grinned again. She entered the railway station and went directly to the ladies toilet and found an empty cubicle. There, she opened the case, and with the aid of a small mirror went about changing her appearance. Clothes, wig and makeup. She had decided to do this to lessen the chance of recognition, although she knew it wasn’t necessary, just something to spice up the drama of it all. This done she went to the departure board and checked the times.
First the train to the city, then a cab to the airport. Everything pre-booked, prepaid, pre-everything. There was no real need for her to pay for a very expensive false passport, but she did it anyway. Money was not an issue. Even the apartment on Paradise Island in the Bahamas had been purchased more than a year ago.
Splayed out comfortably in her first class seat, watching cloud formations move gradually below, she thought back to where it all began. An auntie she hardly knew. She had passed away leaving her money. Not a lot. It was nice to receive it, but she didn’t need it at the time. So, she invested it. Wow! Did she ever invest it! All of that was a mere dozen years ago. From the third year of watching her account shoot skywards, she started planning. Her deliberations were as private as her investment was anonymous.
As she finished her Pina Colada she whispered into her empty glass, “Ah! Cryptocurrency!”