This week’s prompt:

An ex-spouse, Toronto, a plan gone wrong

“What do you mean he’s alive?” Teresa asked. She remembered to lower her voice at the last second. The quiet cafe around here did not need to be privy to this conversation.

“I mean, what a surprise,” She hoped that no one was making a mental note. Last thing she needed was someone telling the police they overheard her.

The voice on the other end was distorted, as it always was. She had never even seen the person. She assumed it was a man, but had no proof. She always thought of them as “he” anyway.

“The doctors say he will make a substantial recovery.”

“How did that happen?” she was trying to keep her tone light and conversational, and had a slight smile on her face. Nothing to see here, fellow diners. Nothing at all.

Her food sat untouched on the plate in front of her, the late afternoon light fading and taking the warmth from the city as fast as her food was cooling. Toronto city lights were winking on around her.

“You told me you were a professional and there would be no problems.”

“We did not anticipate that he would be so resistant,” the voice said. The reports show that he had what should have been lethal amounts of arsenic in his system months before our contract began.”

“You mean someone beat me to it?” Teresa asked.

“I am afraid so, but they did it too slowly and he built up a resistance instead of dying.”

“That son of a bitch,” she hissed. “Leave it to him to be such an ass that more than one person is trying to end him.”

“So it would seem,” he agreed. “His current ‘not girlfriend’ is their prime suspect right now.” Teresa could not help but smile at that. That was unexpectedly good news. She was not happy that the slime ball was still alive, but if someone had to go down for it, it was better that the woman he cheated on her with take the fall.

“So they are not looking at me at all?” She confirmed.

“No,” he reassured her. “But they may contact you just because you are his ex-wife. So do not panic if that happens.”

“No, no, I understand,” She said. “Thank you for your help. The money is already in your account. It may not have gone entirely to plan, but this works for me just fine.”

Paul may not be dead, but he would think twice before cheating ever again. That made her happy, at least.

It felt like someone had lifted a weight from her shoulders. The years of anger and hurt melting like ice in the sun. It would take a while, but it would eventually happen.