by Sam Speed
Snowball tore past me at full speed. She jumped onto the sofa and leapt from there to the curtains before clawing her way up to the curtain pole to sit there peeking down innocently at us.
'See,' said Jean, 'she's been doing this ever since I came in. I don't know what's wrong.'
I laughed.
'That is what we cat slaves call a "mad turn",' I said. 'This is why I don't replace my tattered curtains.'
'Ok,' she said. She didn't sound convinced.
Snowball stuck her backside in the air, ready to jump down. I ran over and opened the front door and watched as she shot out at top speed. Look out neighbourhood.
I grabbed the briefcase and settled down on the sofa beside Jean.
'Wendy said I should ask you about the minister,' she said.
I'd rather have left it until later but Jean looked so concerned I told her what had happened. I didn't mention Suzy but told her how Sheila had admitted her husband had forced himself on several young women.
'From what she said it seems to have been in some sort of effort to have a child and she actually helped him.'
Jean's lips were thin and tight as she held me.
'Those people are going to suffer for this someday,' she said through gritted teeth.
'Right,' I said changing the subject, 'I can't wait to see what's in this briefcase.'
'Give me the keys,' said Jean, 'and I'll get started while you have a shower.'
'That's ok,' I said, 'I'll have a shower later before I go to work. Make me a cuppa while I slip on some clothes and get the key.'
Jean hesitated, but then she smiled and went through to the kitchen.
I should have waited for Jean, but I was dying to see what was in the briefcase. The contents looked disappointing at first. A sheet of paper and a small notebook.
On the sheet of paper, Christine had written a list of the people she thought Yvette was blackmailing along with her guess at why. There wasn't anything much we didn't already know. Wendy's name was at the end of the list with the word lesbian beside it. This was no surprise to me because Wendy had already told me. And it wasn't something you would kill over.
I opened the notebook. It was a journal of Christine's thoughts. I flicked through pages of rants against her fellow humans. And she had always seemed so nice. On one page in large letters, she wrote Mum and Dad are dead. Good riddance. On another Robert was finally shot today. He'll never hit me again. The guy took his time. I flicked to the end. On the last page, she had written. I need to find out who killed her. If the police look at blackmail they might find out about me. She must have been murdered because of her blackmail. But who? I spoke to Wendy but she genuinely didn't seem to know anything about it. Yet I saw amounts by Wendy's name when Yvette made a note of my payment. Who would have paid blackmail to protect Wendy?
It didn't take me long to work out who would protect Wendy. Now I understood. The missing bike spoke. The attacks. With this, I could prove my innocence. I was going to take so much pleasure in telling Detective Black. I could imagine the shattered look on his supercilious face. A smile played on my lips. Then I heard a sound behind me.
'There's your cuppa,' said Jean. 'I made you some toast as well. Oh, you've opened it already.'
'I couldn't resist it. I knew you'd be right through.'
I looked at Jean not sure what to say.
'You know, don't you?' she said.
'You killed them.'
'It sounds so brutal when you say it like that.'
'Generally speaking, murder is brutal.'
'I prefer to think of it as putting them down, like a rabid dog.'
'What?'
'Think about it, Lisa. Did Yvette deserve to live? She made people's lives a misery with her blackmail. I paid her to protect Wendy because I still love her in my own way. But not everyone had the money. She drove poor Sheena George to suicide. And how many more of her victims might have done the same? I killed her to protect innocent people. My only regret is that I didn't know she was pregnant. I'm sorry I took the life of her baby as well.'
'But we save lives, not end them.'
'You've said yourself you'd love to kill Detective Black.'
'But I didn't mean it.'
'Oh, you meant it. You just couldn't justify it enough to overcome your inhibitions. Tell me can you honestly say you've never helped one of your patients slip away a little early to save them pain at the end.'
'But why? You didn't know how many people Yvette was blackmailing until we investigated.'
'I had a good idea. She tried to blackmail Wendy. You remember I took Sheena George to the hospital when she killed herself? She was still conscious in the ambulance and told me what Yvette had done. It was heart breaking Lisa. She wanted to live but she couldn't keep paying blackmail and didn't see any other way out. By the time we got to the hospital it was too late.'
'But what if someone else had eaten the berries?'
'Yvette was the only one greedy enough to help herself before the class. If the call hadn't come in, I'd have made some excuse to stop at the centre before the class ended and I'd have "accidentally" brushed against the dish and knocked it over.'
'But why kill Christine?'
'Christine was too nosy for her own good. She suspected me. Besides she was no better than Yvette. She murdered her aunt and uncle and her parents and hired a hit man to kill her husband. Do you think she would have stopped there? Again, I saved lives by putting her down.'
'If you believe that, why didn't you tell me?'
'I was still getting to know you then and didn't think you would understand if you found out.'
'You think I understand now?' I said.
'I think you will,' she said. 'You have a strong sense of right and wrong. You get as frustrated as me when people guilty of horrendous crimes go free. All because of the inefficiency of the justice system and the lack of support for the victims. How often have we patched up women then sent them home to be beaten by their husbands again and again until they finally die.'
I couldn't argue with that. It's one of the reasons I'd asked for a transfer up to the geriatric ward. Jean was sitting beside me by now and when she put her arms on my shoulders I stiffened. It was one small step to my neck. I gulped.
'Are you going to kill me?'
I tried not to let my voice tremble.
'Of course not. I could never hurt you.'
Jean sat watching me her eyes wide. She chewed her bottom lip.
What had I been thinking? If I told Mike about Jean, I would not win. Quite the opposite. He would take great pleasure in sending Jean to prison. I gazed at Jean and my chest hurt at the thought.
She wasn't a bad person. She did so much good in her job. How many lives had she saved? How many people would die because Jean wasn't there to save them?
When I thought about it, she was a vigilante. She only killed people who deserved it. People who would have gone on to kill again like Christine or driven others to suicide like Yvette.
'Think what a team we would be,' she said. 'We could stop people like the minister ever hurting a woman again.'
For a moment I was speechless. Then I said, 'and stop people like Sheila helping him to do it.'
'See, I knew you would understand.'
'But you were attacked.'
'I got my brother to beat me up a bit. Typical man, he wouldn't do enough so I banged my own head on the wall. You know my injuries were superficial.'
'But why would he do that and why would you?'
'I told him I was a suspect.'
'But you weren't.'
'No, but you were. I'd do anything for the people I love.'
'Like me and Wendy.'
'Yes. You would do the same for Dawn and I hope,' Jean lifted my chin and gazed into my eyes, 'for me.'
'Yes, I think I would.'
Then I had a thought,'Was it your brother who beat up that nosy old man you told us about?'
'Oh no. That wasn't Colin.'
> I relaxed. I was getting paranoid.
But then she continued, 'I didn't need Colin to help me give that old git the justice he deserved.'
She saw me flinch and asked in a whisper, 'What are you going to do?'
What was I going to do? I tried not to think of Mike's smug face when he put Jean away for a very long time. I tried not to think of what the other prisoners would do to Jean's delightful body. I tried not to think of Jean's dainty lady muscles wasting away to fat in prison. It was not about Mike or even Jean. It was about justice. The right thing to do.
I thought of Suzy's ravaged face as she told me her story, innocence gone forever, trying to hold herself together after the rape. Only for someone who should have helped her, to blackmail her.
I thought of all the other young women whose lives were destroyed by the minister and his wife.
I thought of Christine arranging the murders of her parents and her husband. And her hard attitude in the notebook. She showed no remorse and I doubted if she would have stopped there.
I thought of young Sheena George driven to suicide by Yvette.
I thought of Snowball losing her favourite aunt.
And I thought of what I would do to Detective Mike if he hurt Dawn.
I held Jean's arms and looked into her eyes.
'We can never tell Dawn or Wendy what you've done.'
'Suppose not.'
'But there's something to be said for making life a bit fairer.'
'I knew you'd see it my way. Lisa and Jean, defenders of justice.'
Snowball bumped my hand with her head. She purred at top volume as I lifted her into my arms.
'Jean and Lisa,' I murmured, 'protectors of the innocent.'
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* * *
[1] 1 stramash: anuproar;tumult;brawl
[2] 2 smir: light drizzle
[3] 3 dreich: dreary; bleak weather
[4] 4 glaikit: foolish, thoughtless
Afterword
I hope you have enjoyed this book. The second in the series will be out later this year.
If you want to contact me please do so at
[email protected]
or via my blog
https://samspeedsite.wordpress.com/
or my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Sam-Speed-112921143785733/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Dawn's Dinosaur Detectives
Follow the adventures of Lisa Cameron, a sassy nurse, and her friends as they solve murders.
Dinosaur Diet
Lisa will do anything for her bff Dawn, but would that include murder. Her nemeses DI Michael Black thinks so. With the help of her friends, Lisa has to investigate to clear her name.
The Things We do...
It seems like Lisa is losing her bff Dawn but she is saved by the bell, well to be exact by a murder. Despite having several reasons to keep out of this investigation, Lisa can't resist the chance to beat DI Black to the answer.
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