by Kay Leitch
The rest of the day was spent organising her team, door to door enquiries, checking out any of the CCTV cameras in the village, and generally just trying to find out who this unfortunate young girl was, what she was doing in Kenly village and most importantly why she had ended up murdered and dumped in the Glory Woods.
By the time 7pm arrived Carla was no nearer discovering any of these things, so she sent her team home, telling them to get a good night's sleep and come in bright and early tomorrow, hopefully with a few good ideas.
She went to the locker room and changed into some jeans and an old sweatshirt that had seen better days but was cosy and comfortable. Then tried to fix her makeup, this would take more time to accomplish, she smoothed foundation around the dark shadows under her eyes then added soft brown eye shadow and spiked her eyelashes with mascara. Like magic her eyes sparkled and shone like headlights in her face, she brushed on a pale pink lip gloss and stood back to see the full effect. Hmm not bad, she took the pins out of her functional work hair-do and her blond tresses fell about her collar, in the matter of a few minutes she had gone from ma’am to yummy mummy. Satisfied with her look Carla made her way down to the staff car park and set off to pick Maggie up.
Maggie lived about ten minutes outside the village. Carla had first met her through her husband James. Maggie's ex-husband Greg had donated a substantial amount of money to the charity that James worked for and the two of them had got on like a house on fire. On finding out that James was a keen footballer, Greg had invited him to join the Sunday league team that he played for and Carla had met Maggie on the touch line one rainy afternoon whilst they were both cheering on their men. That was many years ago, and their friendship had gone from strength to strength. Carla had been there to support Maggie during her awful marriage break up, and Maggie had raced to the hospital, breaking all the speed limits when Carla had gone into labour with Harry, only just making it in time to see him being delivered. Their lives were intertwined and along with Helen and Tracy, Carla counted these three women as her most trusted confidants.
Maggie was waiting at the front door of her house, when Carla pulled up half an hour later; she shooed away Dom and Jed, who had come out to talk to Carla and got into the car.
'Hi Hun am I glad to see you, I have had a pig of a day, thank you sooo much for picking me up I need a very large G&T. How are you babes?'
Carla smiled over to her. 'All the better for seeing you love; I too have had a day from hell. It started at 5am this morning with the discovery of a body in the Glory Woods and it's just gone downhill from there.'
'Shit, I can't top that, how awful, who is it? Do you know yet?'
'No, all we know is that it's a young girl, not from around here. We don't know how she got here, we don't know why she was here, we don't know anything as yet. We're waiting to see if forensics have anything, but it's a tough one, and if you don't mind I don't want to talk about it, I just want to chill.'
'Sure thing hun, although it's a bit creepy isn't it, I mean so close to home.'
Carla didn't answer, she was happy just to listen to Maggie's chatter until they arrived at the pub where she concentrated on trying to negotiate the crammed car park outside The Bull. As usual at this time of night it was rammed, and it took some seriously skilful driving to get parked, but Carla managed it and the two women made their way into the pub. The Bull had been on the green at Kenley since records began, it was old and bent with low ceilings and a real fire which burnt in the vast old inglenook fireplace whatever the weather outside. The latest owners, Giles and Vanessa Poole, had added an enormous conservatory extension to the back, which was now used for fine dining and had made The Bull one of the most popular eating places in the Surrey Hills, they had also turned it into a luxury B&B, which was great for the Poole's but not so good if all you wanted was a quiet drink.
Helen, however, had made sure that she had saved their usual table, which was well away from all the waiters rushing around flapping napkins and flambéing things. She called to Carla and Maggie and they pushed their way through to her.
'Oh well done Helen, I wasn't sure we'd even get seated it's so packed tonight, how are you love?' said Maggie as she gave Helen a big hug.
'Oh you know the usual,' said Helen as she leaned over to give Carla a kiss. 'Actually today hasn't been too bad I've been so busy, what with flowers for Lucy's wedding, that's big Lucy, you know Carla, red hair, always got a cold?'
Carla nodded, 'So she finally got herself a man did she?'
'Oh she's had Gordon for ages; she just couldn't get him to take her up the aisle, if you know what I mean.'
Maggie burst out laughing, 'Well let's hope she's overcome that little problem, what with them getting married and all.'
'Oh Maggie, trust you to make it smutty,' Helen cried and then joined in the laughter, and they were off, gossiping mercilessly, passing awful judgements on strangers in the pub, and swopping stories. It was the same every time they met, and it did them all good.
Tracy turned up about half an hour later, in a rush as always, babbling her apologies and making them all laugh with her descriptions of her confrontation with a large lady in tweeds, over a space in the car park.
'Silly mare, anyway I ended up telling her that it was gay night in here tonight, that got rid of her quick enough, she looked like she'd sucked on a lemon, awful old bat. Anyway, what have I missed? Did you notice that rather tall woman standing near the bar...no don't all look at once, do it discreetly, well I reckon that's Kevin Gould in drag, do you remember him Maggs, always used to ask you where you got your clothes from, well now I think I know why...what do you reckon?'
The Witches all dutifully looked and simultaneously burst out laughing.
'Tracy you silly cow, that's Rebecca Drew, the new Chief Inspector, my new boss!' said Carla when she could get her breath back, 'I know she's a bit masculine, but she's never Kevin Gould!'
Helen sat back and watched her friends, how would she be coping if she didn't have them to talk to, she wondered if she would ever be brave enough to tell them about the sleepless nights, the awful fears that were so relentless, and her very real worry that she may be losing her mind. Carla, sensing her preoccupation reached over and squeezed her hand.
'How are you really love, what did you need to talk about that was so important?'
Three pairs of eyes turned to her, waiting with words of comfort and wisdom, Helen felt her eyes welling up. 'I think Wills is having an affair,' she blurted out and then collapsed in tears.
'Oh god sweetheart,' said Carla, 'why did you let us go on about such rubbishy things when you were wanting to talk about this? Start from the beginning, what makes you think this?'
'Well I don't just think it, I know actually. I found a letter written to him by some woman called Sarah, thanking him for the wonderful night that they'd shared about 3 weeks ago, (you might remember Wills had a work thing in Scotland at about that time) and hoping that they could meet up again, telling him what an amazing lover he was and that his wife must be mad not to want to sleep with him.'
'The utter, utter bastard,' said Maggie quietly, 'oh Helen love get rid as quickly as possible and make him pay through the nose, he's not worth one tear from your lovely eyes.'
'But it's not that simple Maggie, I'm not you, I'm not going to have men falling over themselves to take Wills place. I'm not a gorgeous millionaire, I'm just a stupid middle aged frump, who enjoys flower arranging and painting. I would have to sell the house if Wills left me, I could never afford to keep it up, he knows all this, that's why he's not even being careful about me finding out, he knows I can't leave,' she ended on a wail of misery, the girls all crowded round her as if they could give her their strength.
Carla was the first one to speak, 'Helen you must stop thinking in this negative way, you are NOT a middle aged frump, you are a beautiful talented woman and he is the one with the problem, not you! What you have to decide now is what you want to do about it, do you s
till love him?'
Helen thought for a moment. 'I think I must because I can't stand the thought of losing him, I can't believe he would tell her that we don't sleep together, I have always enjoyed sex and I've never thought we had any problems in that department.'
Maggie snorted, 'Oh believe me love, the number of men who want you to think that they're not getting it at home just to get inside your knickers, I've been told that one sooo many times.'
'Not helpful Maggs,' said Tracy under her breath, 'Helen, you know what I think you should do is to even the playing field a bit, I'm sure Wills loves you, I've seen you together and you are a good team, if I were you I would let him know what he is in danger of losing.'
'You, my girl, are not just a pretty face are you?' said Maggie. 'That's a brilliant idea, I bet if Wills thought for one moment that Helen was interested in someone else he would come running back with his tail between his legs.'
'Yes that's a lovely idea, but how the hell do I pull it off,' interrupted Helen, 'as I have already said I'm not like you Maggs. For one thing where the hell would I find any men around here, the only single men in Kenley are Reverend Sinclair, and before you even go there NO! I could make rugs out of his nose hair! And Kevin Gould and he's got more designer dresses than you!'
'Well that's where my handy little laptop comes in,' said Tracy with a look of glee on her face. 'I have been working all day on the profile page of the latest match making website www.getmeaman.com. It's fab, all you have to do is load up a recent photo, write a few words about your likes and dislikes and a brief description and hey presto they sort out men in your area who match your profile, we'll get you a date in no time Helen love, scrummy girl like you they'll be queuing round the block!'
Helen's eyes began to shine, 'Do you really think Wills would come running back if he thought he was losing me, do you really think I could get a date?'
Carla took both of her hands and looked into her eyes. 'When we've finished with you my darling, men will be fighting for the chance to take you out, and when you have charmed the pants off all the men you meet, then it will be up to you to decide if you want to take back that poor excuse of a husband.'
They spent until nearly midnight sorting out Helen's profile.
Carla never got to mention the body on the common, Maggie forgot to recount blow by blow her fantastic sexual experience with Charles (or Dave) and Tracy never got to tell them about the most irritating and totally smug man she had ever met!
That would have to wait until the next meeting of the cauldron.
CHAPTER 8 - 2013
He woke up with a start, sweat dripping down his face; he switched on the bedside lamp and looked with relief at the familiar surroundings, the big pine wardrobe, the gorgeous French style dressing table, but he couldn't shake off his feelings of terror or the visions that came to him night after night, couldn't forget glassy eyes staring up at him, the soft thuds over and over again and the crack of a skull breaking, the sharp musty smell of blood sinking into the floor of the damp woods and the desperately faint pleas for help.
He heard a whimpering sound and realized it was coming from him…would he ever be able to sleep again…had they found her yet…how long before they found out?
CHAPTER 9 - TRACY
Swearing under her breath Tracy managed to park her car into the tinniest of spaces in the school car park. She was late again, today of all days; no doubt Mr Smartypants was already here. She had hoped to get in early so that she could make sure that all was set up in the hall before he arrived, but after last night's cauldron session she had slept in, and despite horrifying Buster with a quick run round the block instead of his usual leisurely morning walk, and only having a quick scrub with a soapy flannel instead of a long hot shower she was still the last one to arrive at school.
She could see Simon already in the hall, moving tables and chairs around. His talk in yesterday's assembly had captured the imagination of the kids and Tracy had reluctantly found herself admiring the way he had answered all their questions and inspired them to take part in his project. It was a clever idea, the kids would basically contribute to the comic with stories and pictures of their own, they would also help with the layout, and then the comic would be sold in the local shops, and Simon would move on to the next school. So far the comic was proving to be a major success, most of the kids in school had already started buying it regularly, even before they had taken part.
Simon looked up and gave her a grin as she walked in.
'Afternoon, so glad you could join us,' he quipped sarcastically.
'Look don't give me a hard time,' snapped Tracy. 'I'm not in the mood, by the way is that your van that's taking up nearly three spaces in the car park?' at his nod, 'I might have known,' she muttered under her breath, the man had obviously been sent to drive her mad.
She busied herself with setting out paper and glue on each of the big trestle tables trying desperately to ignore the low rumbling of his voice as he went from group to group giving the kids their tasks for the day.
She knew she was far too aware of him; he was definitely not her type. For one thing he was far too big, and not at all handsome. He had a very lived in face, his nose was too big and had obviously been broken at some point (probably annoyed someone once too often), Tracy though with a smile, and what's more he was extremely irritating!!
'So stop thinking about him you silly cow,' she told herself, 'you don't even know if he's single, and even if he is you're not interested ok?' Happy that she had put things into perspective she gave herself a decisive nod and continued to think about him for the rest of the morning.
Apart from a few dramas (Daniel Sprogg falling against the edge of a table and knocking out both his front teeth, and Lucy Parrot managing to upset a whole canister of white glue, onto which the lid had not been properly put back, resulting in a prolonged cleanup operation and a whole variety of suppressed swear words), the day had passed much more pleasantly than Tracy had expected. Simon was undoubtedly very committed to the work he was doing and had a definite rapport with the kids. They loved him and were soon bubbling and bouncing with excitement about their pictures and stories, he would have made a wonderful teacher Tracy thought, and wondered if he had kids of his own.
'Oh for god's sake will you stop thinking about him you desperate cow!' she said to herself crossly and worked out her frustration by mopping up the hall very aggressively on her hands and knees. Her anger must have shown because Simon called, 'Everything alright Tracy? Only you seem to be trying to rub the varnish off the floor in that spot.'
'I'm fine,' clipped Tracy through gritted teeth. 'Absolutely tickety boo, 100% oki doki.'
'Okay, if you're sure, I'll be off then, see you tomorrow …oh I might need you to move your car; at least I think that's yours…the battered old mini that's blocking me in?'
Tracy took a deep breath, how had she ever though this man had any redeeming features.
'Yes that's mine, be with you in a mo, I'll just get my coat,' she went to stand up.
'No hurry,' said the irritating bastard with a grin, as he sat down to watch her.
Tracy stood up as quickly as she could, there was no way that purve was going to get an eye full of her wiggling around on all fours, she headed for the cloakroom.
'I'm leaving now anyway,' she said as casually as she could and, after performing an excruciatingly embarrassing, gear crunching 8 point turn in the car park in front of Mr patronizing bastard, she drove home angrily muttering under her breath all the way.
Buster greeted her like a long lost relative when she arrived home, running round and round her feet, and licking any part of her that he could reach.
'Alright…yes yes I'm pleased to see you too…I'd rather you didn't lick my new shoes though thank you very much.'
After opening the back door so that Buster could take care of his more urgent needs, Tracy put on the kettle and opened up her laptop, it would be interesting to see what, if any, response
she might have had to her uploaded profile.
Oooh 7 people had looked at her since this morning, 2 of them had given her a thumbs up of approval and, yes miracles do happen, one had actually emailed her.
She settled down with her tea and opened the email, it was from a guy called Ben aged 38, not bad looking if his picture was anything to go by, quite a nice face actually even though he was not her usual type. He was very fair with a goatee beard, but he had nice blue eyes and a friendly smile, and best of all he seemed quite taken by her profile.
It seemed he lived not far from Kenley in the small town of Redbank, he was an assistant bank manager, divorced (weren't they all) and he had 2 children who lived with their mother.
He was interested in meeting up, for a drink anywhere Tracy could recommend maybe one evening this week.
'Wow, looks like I've got a date!' thought Tracy with glee as she sent back an encouraging email, 'I wonder if Helen's had any luck yet?'
After successfully arranging to meet Ben at The Bull the following Thursday, Tracy took the totally over excited Buster out for a good long walk through the common and towards the Glory Woods, one of her favourite walks. Even in the cold of winter the woods always made her feel better, especially this evening when the sun was setting spectacularly over the trees, and the ground felt crunchy beneath her feet. Buster ran on ahead sniffing constantly for evidence of other dogs and rabbits, he would occasionally look back just to make sure Tracy was still there but he and his nose were on a mission and he couldn't be slowed down.