The Poisonous Biscuit

by Paul Edwards

  They were on it, finally. This was the time for it, a positive change to their lifestyles. The grass was as long as a standard twelve-inch ruler, not that they'd measured it. Consequently, this meant walking forwards and backwards to the bin, in the heat of the hot sun. Each time he walked to one end of the garden, and back, it was time to empty the lawn mower, again. While all this was happening, in the house they found some children’s toys in the corner of the room. Tears started falling from the eyes of Helen, that was it.

  "I can't do it. What can we do with these? Oh Gosh."

  "Maybe we could give them for Josephine's children?"

  "Good idea Sally, the sooner they go the better. I can't stand it."

  In came Kwiatoslaw.

  "Why is there a river in here?"

  "Mums been crying again, because of the toys."

  "Oh, I'm fine don't worry, it was just a little moment of mine."

  Standing in front of them, he was full of sweat, with no shirt on.

  "Time for a bath" she asserted. "Sally, go and run a bath for your father. Not too hot." While she was away, they talked about what to do with all the toys, after she mentioned what Sally had suggested. Also, they talked about what colours to paint the walls, whether or not to bother with the ceiling and where to start first and finish. A big job was ahead of them, one which might take weeks.

  After rummaging through the house junk, they sat outside together, they could see the airplanes above, going over their heads. Some in the direction of America no doubt, others in the other direction.

  "We should go on a holiday again soon, maybe to Florida, if we can stump up the cash? One thing we never do is go on holiday, that’s something that might solve some of our problems, bring us closer together” Helen suggested.

  Hugging each other on the doorstep, they got closer together, no longer at each other’s throats.

  "This is much better than before, should we even bother this counselling? On second thoughts, let’s not upset Father. No harm in giving it a try, it could improve things."

  "Yes, it will teach you to be nice to me, not bully me" he said in a joking voice. She nudged him in the stomach. "Oy!" This was the closest they had been in days.

  "I live for you Kwiatoslaw."

  "I live for you Helen, my only love."

  Hannah and John were sitting their frozen in the airport, wondering what to say or do, or why these police were standing there. Her heart was pounding, blood pumping through her veins, her brow full of sweat and her legs shaking.

  "Who's asking?" John said, in response to the question he had asked.

  "I am, Pc Number 76821 of this airport and this is Pc Number 83245. We are protecting our names for reasons of security. There are many terror attacks in these airports, and you can never be too careful."

  Pc 76821 as he called himself looked about 6ft and looked down at her from a distancing as if he were standing on a chair. Though it ought to be considered that Helen was sitting, but no doubt he was tall as she would find out when standing. Pc Number 83245 was a little smaller in height, but still looked strong and had what looked like a long gun around his shoulder. This officer kept his hands on his waist while looking around the room, as if he were casually ready to pounce on the next available fly, or whoever the other officer asked him to, which ever came first.

  "Hannah Adersall, please follow us." John followed behind as they walked her through a corridor, a long corridor, then down some steps which seemed to descend under the airport. Next there was a room which they went in, which had a table and four chairs, and which was opened by the officer placing a fob card around his neck on the door.

  "You two wait in here, we'll be back soon. We have a few questions to ask you."

  "But I'll miss my plane" Hannah protested.

  "Believe me, if you name is Hannah Adersall, and you are the person on that passport, then you will not be flying today, that's for certain. That reminds me, may I have your passport."

  Handing him the passport in fear, she walked over to the table and sat down, along with John.

  "Looks like they’ve got me."

  "Nice try though."

  "Be quiet John......Thanks for your help though, help which might get you banged up for assisting me. Oh well, I'm looking forward to not having to cook my own meals anymore."

  "Porridge for breakfast tomorrow for you it seems?" They had a good laugh and then Hannah decided to try her look one more time. Standing up she tried to open the door, but there was no handle. It seemed to be an automatic door, which only opened with a special fob card.

  "Brilliant! Just brilliant!"

  "What's wrong?"

  "I can't open the door. Now what? Looks like your jokes might be coming true."

  They waited another half an hour so, twiddling their thumbs, after which, the door started opening. In came Pc McDermott. Hannah stood up to greet him.

  "Well, aren't I glad to see you."

  "I wish I could say the same Hannah, but I don't like these circumstances at all. How could you do something like this? I warned you. You are going to have to come with us. I am sorry. Your friend can collect all your items and take them home for you."

  "See you later John."

  "Bye Hannah, hope everything goes well."

  In the police car they had a long chat, which couldn't be too friendly as with him there was another officer.

  "I can't believe this is happening. What do you think will happen to me now?"

  "Well, seen as you attempted to use your passport, upon suspect of murder, you could end up in prison until the trial. This is not just on our records; this is all now on the formal database. It involved an airport, and when something involves an airport, it's recorded on a high-level national database. It's not in my hands I'm afraid."

  "So will there be a mini trial?"

  "Yes, there will be a mini trial tomorrow likely. We just have to do as we are told now. Our local police station cannot make any decisions any more about this case. Before we could stall things a little, we released you on bail for example, but now we have lost the little control that we did have."

  Arriving at the police station, in they went, through those doors once again. With the police phone, Helen called her lawyer, who agreed to be there the next morning, to try and argue to keep her on bail until the trial. In the cell, there was only a bench with some kind of padded thing on it, so it did seem. There was no real bed, certainly no canopy around it, and nor would there be one in prison no doubt. There was a toilet and a sink, but that was pretty much it. That was her place until the next morning, and goodness knew where she would be next.

  Chapter Twenty

  John was at Hannah's house, rummaging through her phone book to let her grandparents know what had happened and any other relevant people. He phoned all his brothers, his two sisters and her friend Andria who was there before. He even managed to find her lawyers number, who revealed that he had already been called. The court case was going to be 2pm, so it was not possible to know who would make it. Of course, this was hopefully only a temporary court until more evidence had been established, but it was still a major day for Hannah. Phoning the police station, John made his desire to see Hannah known.

  "Can I speak to Hannah before the trial?" A grumpy receptionist voice replied.

  "No, no visitors aloud. That's the rules."

  “Thanks for nothing."

  They had no compassion, to them it seemed like people’s lives did not matter, as if it were all just one big game. Just a job, that is what it was for them. When they all went home in the evening from their jobs, Hannah was still suffering whilst they were watching the soaps and eating apple crumble.

  At the police station, Hannah was about to have her breakfast, in her small little cell.

  "Is there a menu?" she joked. In response, she got a serious look by the officer who asked if she had any dietary requirements. Porridge was indeed the food they had brought her, as John had joked about. It was in a
horrible plastic bowl, with a plastic spoon. Hannah had always despised plastic cutlery. There was nothing worse than plastic cutlery as far as she was concerned, apart from plastic crockery perhaps.

  "Do you think I'm going to kill myself with a real spoon or something?" she said to the officer collecting the plate, after eating her horrible weak porridge that looked like water.

  "Perhaps, or some prisoners have even smashed the bowl and stuck the sharp bit in their neck. If your unattended, then that is how it has to be. We get all sorts of people in here."

  Well of course, Hannah did not feel like one of all sorts, certainly not of that sort anyway, who would kill themself in a cell. Hannah was not completely prideful, but she thought of herself as way above that.

  Next came lunch, this time a bit of a decent meal. Beef potatoes and vegetables. It was in a plastic tray and clearly was a microwavable meal, but it was better than porridge that was for sure. It had gravy and to top it off there was a Yorkshire pudding on top, although it was a hard Yorkshire pudding. Afterwards the cell door was opened, the meal tray collected, and the officer said her lawyer was there.

  "Come through to the interview room, if you want to speak to him." This was probably just procedure. No doubt she would be going to prison.

  "Hannah, nice to see you."

  "Nice to see you too." They shook hands and sat down together at the table, as he got out his paperwork.

  "I must be honest Hannah, things are not looking good, you were told not to travel, was suspected of murder and then tried to leave the country."

  "To be honest I didn't feel like there was an alternative."

  "Well, we'll try our best but things are not looking good. Even if the murder is at some point proven to be by someone else, you attempted to flee midway through investigation."

  They chatted for half an hour, before having a break and agreeing to see each other in the court room. After this, into the courtroom she stepped, up into the dock. Standing behind a glass screen like a criminal, she felt like the whole world was looking at her. Looking into the dock she noticed her grandparents were standing there, which made her have a confused look on her face. She was wondering how they could possibly know about it. Looking next to them, she saw John, which made the answer more obvious. Sitting next to them there was some other random people who were unknown faces, and next to them was Samuel and Alan, two of Johns brothers. Perhaps the others were at work and could not make it. That wasn't everyone in the dock, there was also two others, two who arguably hated Hannah with a passion. Judy and Jane were sitting there, with smug faces, looking at her like she was a bug that needed standing on, or a piece of dirt on the bottom of their shoe. Judy had a spot on her face, which added to the fact that she always acted like a witch, so the additional look was welcome.

  Among everything at this trial, the one thing which would annoy her the most is the idea of the judge pleasing those two, when sending her down, which she expected anyway. The judge entered and everyone went silent.

  Judge: You have been accused of trying to leave the country when you were told not to, is that correct Hannah Adersall.

  Hannah: Yes, but...

  Judge: Just answer the question!

  Graham: Your Honour, may I speak? Please do consider these facts. Hannah was not told that her passport had been effectively suspended by the police, nor has she been proven guilty of any crime so far, so she acted while thinking she was still a free woman. My client acted under a lot of emotional stress and had just suffered the loss of her husband. As well as that, she is being held responsible for the death of two children, two who she certainly had no intention of killing. Because of the pressure she was under, and because she will have to organise her husband’s funeral, I would appreciate it if she could have some compassion used in her favour.

  Judge: Mrs Adersall has committed a serious offence. Although she is not proven guilty of any crime as of now, the police clearly told her not to travel, and she ignored that request. Mrs Adersall, was you aware that you were a suspect of murder?

  Hannah: Yes.

  Judge: And as you said at the beginning, you had been told not to travel. Surely the indications of violating that request were pretty obvious. As a consequence of this, you will be put in prison for two months as of this date. This should give the police enough time to investigate the crime. Either before or after your release, depending upon the results of the investigation, there will be another court case. I sentence you to prison until June 6th of the year of Our Lord 2020.

  Now upon the face of Judy and Jane there was an excessively big smile. It's as if they were trying to say, "justice at last". They would enjoy nothing more than seeing Hannah behind bars, their worst enemy as it would seem. Hannah's Grandma was crying, and her husband gave her a hug in the dock.

  "I love you Hannah" she shouted across the room.

  "I love you" she said back in a quieter voice, as they blew kisses at each other from across the courtroom.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After having dropped Sally at school, and gone back to clear a few things out, Helen and her husband went down to the store to buy some mixed plaster. As they were entering, the man at the door spoke to her.

  "Cash only, our online systems are down at the moment."

  "Thanks for letting us know."

  Back in the car they got, driving to the nearest supermarket where there was a cash machine outside. After entering her pin number, zero six one two, she withdrew three hundred pounds as she normally did when at the machine, then they headed back towards the store. Her pin number was after the year Sally was born 2006 and the year Ben was born 2012, the last two digits only put together. Since Ann had not been born, she had not yet been incorporated into the pin number.

  At the cash machine, a few tears had come to her eyes, and this was the reason, namely that she was thinking of Ben.

  "I think we better find a way of putting Ann in that pin number, maybe one two one six in honour of Ben and Ann, after all we have our Sally with us anyway?"

  "I don't think our Sally would appreciate that Helen."

  "Maybe not, then how about we keep the alarm number the same but just change the pin number without telling her, after all she has no reason to know our pin number anyway."

  Arriving back at the store, they entered once again. It was not usual for Helen to be without cash, but they had no idea how much they would buy in this place and hence would have happily settled for card in this case. Entering, they walked down one section and picked up some plaster mix after spending a good while wondering which was the right one. Next, they picked up some gloss for the doors, skirting boards and window ledges. Finally, they were about to que up and they looked at each other. "Paint brushes!!" they said simultaneously, walking back and getting them.

  While at the till, the lady sat there seemed to be familiar. It was Andria, Hannah's friend.

  "Hello, I remember you from the party. Your also friends with Hannah, aren't you?" Helen asked.

  "Hey, yes I am right. You know her court case was today? Sadly, I couldn't get it of work."

  "Court case?"

  "Yes, just a small one. It was a last-minute decision really. It was because she tried to leave the country and got caught."

  "Thanks for letting us know, nice to see you again." After leaving the shop, they headed towards the school on the way home to pick Sally up in the car. Sally was clearly old enough to walk home herself, but her mum just would not stop wrapping her in cotton wool, and it was not likely this would change anytime soon, especially now that Sally was her only child.

  "Leaving the country? That sounds suspicious doesn't it Helen?" Kwiatoslaw asserted.

  "We can't be sure though, can we? Maybe we'd do the same if we were wrongly suspected of something? Who knows until it happens to them?”

  "I'm not one hundred percent about Hannah. As you yourself just said, we can't be sure."

  Helen was not happy that her friend of years was be
ing viewed under such a light, she could not accept that such a close friend was the cause of her children’s death.

  Into the back of a van Hannah stepped, feeling like a horse getting into one of those horse vans. Stepping up, it just did not feel natural, sitting in the back of a van. Never in her life had anything like this ever happened, sitting in the back of a car was bad enough, but this was unbearable. Bump, bump, bump, the road ahead must've been full of potholes. Up and down she went on the bench. It was certainly not a smooth ride, that was for sure. Was a van even necessary? Why not a police car instead? Why did they have to be so official about everything? One of the worst things for Hannah was the fact that she loved her freedom and wasn't planning on taking this lying down. Suddenly the van stopped, the doors opened, and a man in uniform appeared in front of her.

  "Out of the van" he said.

  Stepping out, she was greeted by a woman who had her hair tied in a bun.

  "Hannah Adersall, come with me."

  Walking her through a corridor, and what appeared to be like a rundown reception desk, she greeted her.

  "Hello, I am Mrs Trafford. Here is your wash gear, evening meal will be at 6 o clock today. Lights out by ten o clock and breakfast the next morning is at eight o clock, then there is work from nine. I will give you more details tomorrow don't worry, have a good evening."

  "Good evening Mrs Trafford. Where is my room may I ask?"

  "Mrs Elliot will escort you to you cell."

  "Hello, I'm Helen, nice to meet you," Helen said as they were walking. No response was given from Mrs Elliott. With a stern face, she looked forward, as if Hannah didn't even exist. She unlocked the cell door, Hannah walked in, and then Mrs Elliot banged the door behind her shut and locked it.

  "She's rood, isn't she?" this voice suddenly uttered which seemed to be coming from within Hannah's new supposed bedroom. Looking across the room, Hannah noticed there was a woman sat down.