AIBU to think he's bumped her off?

[Thunderwing]

He probably hasn’t (a bit tongue in cheek)

I live in a block of flats, many of which are rented properties so the turnover of tenants can be quite high. About a year ago a middle aged couple move in, did the usual introductions blah blah blah. The woman (henceforth known as ‘the victim’) is a foreign lady from outwith the EU. (Don’t want to say which country in case it outs me or her, but think from the other side of the world with relatively good spoken English). The victim was very talkative, friendly and quite bubbly.

The man (henceforth known as ‘the perpetrator’) was quite closed off in comparison, not really giving much away and very reserved. That’s fine, some people are like that. Plus I caught them on moving day which I know can be very stressful.

We were exchanging pleasantries and observations about the area, when the victim mentioned something about one of the perpetrator’s family members. He shut her down immediately with “We don’t talk about that”, and gave her the evil eye, she looks totally abashed and they make their excuses to finish our chat. I make up my mind at this point he’s a bit of a dick.

Fast forward several months, I’ve barely seen hide nor hair of the victim, but the smells coming from her flat suggest she’s a great cook. The perpetrator on the other hand, I see quite a bit, he has never said more than a dozen words to me in this time.

More recently, about six weeks ago, I bump into him on the stairs. He tells me that the victim is back in her own country so that’s why I won’t have seen her for some time but that she’s flying back home tomorrow and he can’t wait to see her. Fair enough methinks, I wondered why she hadn’t been cooking so much. Sure enough the next day there are ‘Welcome Home’ banners on their door. Aww, maybe he’s not a complete dick. The lovely smells start coming back into the hall within days.

Yesterday, I bump into him again. He tells me that the victim is not yet back from her home country. She’s been away for 2 months, she’s having problems getting a visa, he may well have to go out to her country himself…..(and yes, the smell of cooking is gone again) When I told my DH the story he said ‘yeah, he’s killed her, he looks the sort’.

I can’t get my head around the fact that she was coming home ‘the next day’ and then all of a sudden she’s stuck because she can’t get a visa. Surely they would have known that the day before she’s booked on a flight?

Talk some sense into me good people of mumsnet….

This is like Rear Window. And Jimmy Stewart was right.

Definitely not subletting - it's a one bedroom flat, and the old lady in the flat next door is a total busy body always home and knows pretty much everything that goes on in the building. She is constantly asking me if I've seen the victim because she never sees her either.

She's either dead or chained to the kitchen units.

This smell of delicious cooking - are we talking sweet or savoury? Cakes or meat pies? I feel the answer must be significant.

being a one bedroom flat would IMO make it more likely not less that they'ld hide any longer term guests/relatives staying with them from neighbours/landlord..

When I did my time in a teeny horrid studiobedsit there was a whole family living in the one across the hall.

Wait outside the flat, when the postman comes, look at the letters to gather name information, then frantically google!

Defo need some more info about the cooking smell, is it meat like smell, or what?

Personally my money is on her LTB.

My next door neighbours wife left him. I knew it had happened, I had insomnia and heard their whole final row and watched her pack a bag and go at 3am. But for weeks after he told everyone she had gone to visit family. Eventually I told him I had heard the row and he said he just wanted to save face while he tried to reconcile with her. Its probably something like that.

But you could set up a rear window style surveillance to be sure.

Scarydragons, you are why we can't have nice things and every thread has to be prefaced with lightsoddinghearted

Realistic boring scenario
The cooking smells were him cooking a welcome home meal for her. He cooked more than once because she kept thinking she would get her visa in a day or two but it kept being delayed.

Option 1
They are another Mr & Mrs Rancadore and she is in hiding
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31555353

Option 2
He and she are actually the same person so you never see both of them at the same time. The one time you saw them together she was a hired performer.

Has nothing to add to the conversation alas. (But needs to know!)

I'd go and knock on they're door when the car's not parked outside.

That way if she is in there and there's anything wrong hopefully she'll be able to answer the door whilst he's not in.

Chaz - option 2 had crossed my mind.

If the nicecooking smells suddenly turn rancid id start to worry...

IRT Cooking smells:
I have to state now that I only catch a whiff as I’m passing their front door on my way up the stairs to my flat so it’s only ever a quick sniff. I don't hang around like some deranged Greg Wallace type. I would say that it’s always savoury in nature, sometimes a meat pie, or a Thai Curry, other times like a delicious Italian dish (lots of onion-y, garlic-y, tomato deliciousness). She/He seem to be quite versatile and I have decided that she (or he) makes everything from scratch because she’s tied to the kitchen and has all day, obvs

Usually goes like this

• come in from car park
• trudge up the stairs
• think to myself ‘jesus that smells amazing, wish I was having that instead of spag bol for the billionth time’ *trudge up more stairs

End.

I also feel that I need to reiterate that the cooking smells came back for a couple of days after he told me she would be coming home, and have now stopped again.

Either he's already cooked her whole body or he's eating her raw now

place marking because OP is hilarious

There is obv going to be a really boring explanation for all this, but sod it. You've pulled me in.

I keep hearing Bernard Herrmann music stating up. (Yes, I know he didn't do Rear Window, film fans).

He has a bit on the side who has to leave when it looks like his wife is coming home, or a very loyal sister / mum to pop round and cook / clean for him whilst she's away.

Her cell kitchen window overlooks the car park, WIBU to try and get some ladders from the local window cleaner to try and peer inside?

Perhaps the whole thing is a complex hallucination on your part?

crazyduchess I was thinking the same

No its the family member she wasn't to mention who is actually living there too and doing all the cooking!

She came home.
Realised he was a dick.
Dumped him....
and he can't admit this to you, as he is a Dick.

Fantastic thread - agree about witty OP!

Do hope nothing actually happened to her, obviously...

Hazel - you could be right. Said family member is a small person though of primary age.

That's it then; my downstairs neighbour is running some sort of cookery based sweatshop whilst engaging in debauched activity with the reams of OW he is hiding from the rest of the building.

I knew this was the place to come for clarity

beer, yes, definitely a dick. You have the measure of the man I see.