Sibling Rivalry

by E A Harvey

"After you realized you could not get my sister back was that when you turned to me? Was it because I look like her; remind you of her. Are you in love with me or are you using me as a substitute for Penny”?

  He stopped putting coffee in the filter and turned to face her. He climbed back into the bed and pulled her close.

  "Darling after we had sex that first night we made love. You may not admit it but we did. Afterwards I told you that, deep down inside, you were a caring, loving person. Do you remember"?

  "Yes I do Bob".

  "Well I meant it. But after you left that night I thought that was it; the end. I was sure you had used me to get back at your sister over something which had happened between you and I was just a casualty of war"

  "Yes I suppose I understand how you might have felt that”

  "I felt that I had to try to get to Penny to explain. To tell the truth, that I had thought you were her, I thought I owed her that much at least. But after making love with you I was not sure it was still her I wanted, I knew I had strong feelings for you. Don’t you realise that if I had wanted Penny that much I would have tried a lot harder than I did to get her back. Don't get me wrong. Your sister is a lovely caring person and will make some lucky guy a wonderful wife. But she's not you, you’re fiery and passionate in love and everything I could ever want. When I saw you at the club that night I so wanted you to stay and when we kissed I thought for a moment your kiss had feelings. But then you were gone. I must say your call was unexpected and so very welcome darling. I am very much in love with you; everything which happened with your sister seems so long ago now”

  "Now I have poured out my feelings for you darling it's your turn. Are we in a long-term relationship or am I just a fling. If it’s just a fling that's okay, as long as it’s a long lasting one, or is there a chance that you could fall in love with me one day”?

  "Bob, I understand now why my sister was in love with you, you’re easy to fall in love with. You wear your heart on your sleeve and when you love you love with all your heart. No I am not falling in love with you. I have already done that. You know me, the real me, you bring out feelings I never knew I had, you make me feel like a real woman. With you I feel safe, we have had fun together. But most of all you make me feel loved. And we are pretty good in bed" she added with a laugh.

  “Angel you have no idea how wonderful that was to hear. I have loved you from the minute you seduced me. Now do it again”

  "On your bike Mr Heath I want my croissants and coffee"

  Chapter 18 Clark

  "Good morning Ma'am. How was your trip to France? Did you come up with anything new? Was it worth the trip”?

  "No sergeant absolutely nothing, it was not worth the time and effort other than to renew old acquaintances”

  "Acquaintances, I did not know you had visited Paris before”

  "It's a long story and one which I am sure would not interest you Sergeant. Right let's get on. Have we had any contact with" Sarah opened her notebook, "Robert Heath the ex-boyfriend of Ms Scott”

  "Nothing as yet Ma’am, will try the number again, but there is a possible witness who thinks he saw a girl leave the dead man's flat the weekend he died. All CCTV cameras have been checked and there is a possible sighting of the girl matching the witness’s description entering a pub nearby. We have a copy of the photo when she was going in, but she never came out again, which is strange. It does, however, double up as a hotel, so she might have stayed the night, and I will follow up on that today”

  "Well done sergeant. Now is there any chance of a proper cup of tea. The French have no idea how to make tea it seems. You see to that and I will make the phone call”

  "Hello Mr Heath it's DI Sarah Daniels again. Could you please call me back at this number as soon as possible? It's now rather urgent”

  "Okay if we have no reply from Robert Heath by tomorrow we will pay him a visit. Also, do we have an address for the witness? Let's take another look at the CCTV pictures and then we will call in at the pub in question. That should take up most of the day don't you think”?

  Later that day

  "Mr Clark, thank you for seeing us. I hope we will not take up to much of your time. I am DI Sarah Daniels and this is Detective George Wentworth". Take up his time she thought. This guy has nothing but time. Judging by the state of the living room, I imagine he does nothing all day but sit by the window looking out.

  "Mr Clark, if you wouldn’t mind, can you please tell me what you told my officer previously".

  "Well I just happened to look out of my window and I saw police cars outside the house opposite. So I walked over and asked what was going on".

  "No Mr Clark. I was thinking about what you saw over the weekend" Sarah said interrupting him.

  "I was coming to that Mrs if you just hang on a bit".

  "I am sorry, please continue" said Sarah raising her eyebrows towards her colleague.

  "Anyway, your policeman would not tell me what had happened but he did ask me had I seen anyone enter or leave the building over the weekend. Well I had, so I told him that I had only seen one of the young men who lived there coming and going, It was Friday evening and I had seen him arrive in a car, I think it was a minicab because it drove off after they got out”

  "They “asked the Sergeant

  "Yes I was coming to that, just hang on”.

  Sarah and George Wentworth exchanged smiles.

  "Yes they, the shy one and a blond girl. I could not see her face properly but she seemed very pretty; nice legs as well, and she was wearing white gloves, I think”

  “Would you mind looking at this photograph please? Is this her”? Sarah showed him the photo which Gabrielle DuPont had given her.

  “Could you see what she was wearing”?

  "I had just happened to look out of my window and saw her. She was wearing a short coat with a hood which she had pulled up as she left so I only got a quick look at her face. Yes. That could be her, but I did not see her face clearly"

  "Thank you, Mr Clark, you have been very helpful if we need to ask you any more questions would it be okay if we contact you again”?

  "Yes that would be fine Mrs, so what happened, was there a murder or a robbery"?

  “I am sorry Mr Clark we are not at liberty to discuss the case at the moment, but I am sure you will know in time. Thank you once again for your help”.

  They drove the short distance to the nearby pub.

  "Good afternoon. Could we speak to the owner or manager please”.

  Sergeant Wentworth went through the usual formalities and flashed his warrant card.

  "Yes, what can I do for you officers? I am sure our license is up to date and our pipes are clean" "And you are sir”?

  "Sorry Mr Robinson, Tony Robinson, I am the owner. This place has been in the family just about forever, and we have never been in trouble with the police".

  "No Mr Robinson, we are not here about your pipes. Would you mind telling us if you were on duty last Saturday night, and, if so, did you see this woman enter the bar”?

  Sarah showed him the photo.

  "Yes I believe I did, I didn’t get a good look at her face, the hood of her coat was pulled down over her face. If I remember correctly, she came through the front door and went straight into the toilets, but strangely I never saw her again, I did look for her later as she looked rather tasty and I wanted to check her out, if you know what I mean. She could have left without me noticing, there is a private entrance at the back so she could have gone out that way".

  "Did you happen to notice what else she was wearing Mr Robinson” asked Sarah

  "A short hooded coat as I said, but she was looking down downwards so really all I could see was long blond hair and she had nice legs. Oh, and I think she was wearing gloves. Why what has she been up to can I ask”?

  "I am sorry Mr Robinson I am sure you understand that we cannot discuss on-going inquiries. If you remember anything else which you think might be important or if you see the
young lady again perhaps you would give me a call. Here is my card. Thank you for your assistance Mr Robinson, have a nice day”

  Back in the car, they headed back to the police station.

  “We still haven't heard from Mr Heath, so if we don't hear by tomorrow we will call at his home.”

  "What do you think Ma'am? Could this be one of the Scott girls, long blond hair, and nice legs? We know that one of them is in Paris”

  "At this point, I haven’t the faintest idea. No one seems to know Brian Peters. Janet Scott, I would bet my life on, had never met him, other than when Mr Scott took him to their home. The DuPont's I am also sure of. The only one the evidence points to is Penny Scott and she is in France, so unless Mr Heath can throw some light on this case I am stumped"

  Later sitting at her office desk she realized she had really slipped up while interviewing the Scott family. She picked up the telephone.

  "Mrs Scott, Justine hello again, it’s DI Daniels. How are you? So sorry to disturb you and I hope you understand I must ask this question. Where was your daughter Janet last weekend”

  "Please apologies are not necessary I understand perfectly, Janet was at home the whole weekend, she was supposed to go out with friends but she was not at all well, a bad case of flu.. She stayed in her bed most of the weekend and certainly never left the house Inspector”

  "That's fine. Thank you, Justine. It was nice talking to you once more. Have a nice evening”.

  Sarah sat back in her seat

  “I can't believe I did not ask that question while we were with the family, I must be slipping, and maybe it really is time I retired” she thought to herself.

  “Rene would like that, I could move in with him” she sighed at the thought.

  “Would it really be that bad, he is a great lover but a typical bachelor? Mind you his flat could be really nice with a woman's touch. And Paris is a lovely place to live. But would I really want to live with another policeman? Dear oh dear. I have talked myself in and out of a situation which does not exist.

  Walking into the living room she looked around

  “I don't think of this as a spinster flat. It has feminine touches, it's clean it's tidy. Who am I trying to kid? It’s definitely a spinster flat”

  Reaching into the fridge she found what she was looking for, an unopened bottle of white wine. She unscrewed the top, poured a large glass, sat down and took a large drink.

  “What have I missed in this case? Is there something blatantly obvious? Am I any closer to solving it than I was yesterday or the day before” she thought to herself.

  “Could it be Penny Scott? Is it Janet Scott? Or, am I barking up the wrong tree? Perhaps it has nothing to do with either of them. The only lead in the whole case is that the victim called a girl by her sister's name, not really a great lead; maybe I should be looking elsewhere, but where is elsewhere? I wish I had a clue what was going on. You’re such a shit copper Daniels” she thought to herself.

  Chapter 19 Ring

  This was like a fairy-tale which was coming true. Isn't it every girl's dream to meet a very handsome rich man who falls in love with her in the most romantic city in the world?

  Her dreams had been smashed into a thousand pieces, and she thought her broken heart would never mend, but so much good had happened to her almost as if by accident. If Janet had not been such an awful bitch, then she may have ended up marrying Bob – who she genuinely thought that she was in love with. But when love comes to you, it hits you at 100 miles an hour like a steam train out of control, you cannot stop it, in fact, you don't want to.

  So, here she was back in the UK with her family. At least it took the ache away from missing Pierre so much. She had thought about taking everyone out for a meal to celebrate and afterwards look for wedding shoes and honeymoon outfits.

  Mirabel's, in Curzon Street, was where her father used to take them when they were shopping in the West End. It was very exclusive and the food was always good. At that time it had been owned by Marco Pierre White. Dining there might rekindle happy memories.

  She rang the restaurant to make a booking but, unfortunately, she was told that that the restaurant was closed for refurbishment.

  So much for the best-laid plans of mice and men she thought.

  "Mother where else could we try”?

  "What about the Dorchester darling

  “Oh yes Mommy, give them a call and book for lunch tomorrow and I will invite Patrick and Paula”.

  The Dorchester is always a very imposing building which seems to have been there forever. Many of the older generation of film stars used to stay there, probably for prestigious reasons, but it was all very opulent, ideal for the rich and famous.

  As the taxi dropped them off Penny felt a moment of sadness knowing that her dear Father and even her sister could not with them on this occasion.

  After a nice lunch where they discussed the wedding in great lengths it was time for some more serious shopping.

  They had just got into the taxi taking them to Bond Street to look for wedding shoes when Penny's mobile rang.

  "Hello, my gorgeous Angel, how are you, still loving me as much I hope”?

  "Of course, my darling, even more, why wouldn’t I” Penny answered dreamily.

  "Oh that’s good because I have some slightly bad news for you. I hope that you will not be too disappointed in me. This deal here in Singapore is taking a bit longer than expected. It may take another three or four weeks on top of what we originally thought. No more than that I hope. Planning is a bit more awkward than expected; it’s a much bigger area than we first thought. The land which was thought to be wasteland is on the deeds, so as it’s a much bigger area so we now need the architect to revise the plans. Then once I return home we can make plans to raise our four children

  "Four children, oh dear I honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. But, I have to admit, four seems a magical number. Do you have names for them already" she giggled.

  "Not yet. But I will work on it. There is something more which I hope you will like. I have seen a gorgeous Azure diamond which I am having set into an engagement ring, it’s a real showstopper. I am sure you will love it”.

  “Darling, that’s wonderful I am sure I will. Just hurry home please, as soon as possible, bye for now darling".

  "Hang on, everyone here sends their love"

  They all shouted hello

  "Love to them all"

  “Bye my Darling I will call you soon”

  Penny was almost reeling with happiness and feeling very heady. Nothing and no one could ever spoil what she was feeling right now.

  "As you guessed", she laughed "that was Pierre. He is going to be in Singapore longer than was expected, and he is buying, in his words, ‘a showstopper’ engagement ring. And he wants us to have four children"

  They all laughed,

  “Four is that all" said Justine.

  Chapter 20 George

  "Right Sergeant let's take a look at what forensics have come up with from the murder site. Only one set of prints on the whisky bottle and they belong to the victim. Only one glass so we can assume the killer either did not share the scotch or cleaned the glass afterwards and put it away” "The biggest problem we have Ma'am is eliminating all the other fingerprints. The two flat mates’ prints are, of course, everywhere but there are half a dozen or so more sets a party or maybe just casual visitors. I think we will need to speak to Mr Scott again and get a list of anyone who has visited them both over the last month or so"

  "Forensics has also come up with evidence that Mr Peters was, at one point, tied to the bed. There are marks on his wrists and also on the bed"

  Sarah turned a page of the report

  "Before he was hoisted on the hook, at the back of the door, he had already been strangled using one of the neck-ties which we found on him. Everything points to sex. Why else would he let himself be tied to a bed without a struggle? Whoever did this made a mess of making it look like suicide, despi
te of Mr Scott's help in destroying the evidence. So who are our suspects"?

  "The only suspects are a blond girl with nice legs. She fits the description of thousands of girls. Then there is Janet Scott whose mother says she was in bed with the flu, plus her twin sister who we know was in France at the time of the murder. So where do we go from here, Ma’am"?

  "I really am not sure Sergeant but there's one thing of which I am certain. Somehow, but I don’t know how at present, the Scott family are involved. But is that involvement in the murder? "Let's get that list of visitors from Patrick Scott but, first, let's pay Robert Heath a visit. I have tried his number again earlier but there is still no answer".

  Later that morning

  Repeated knocking on Bob Heath's door did not bring the required result.

  "Just a moment Ma'am I will try at one of the neighbours. Maybe we might get lucky there”.

  "Yes who is it” came a voice from behind one of the apartment doors.