by K Leitch
‘What if he comes back asking for more?’ he said after a few minutes, ‘what then Susan? Do we spend the rest of our lives worrying that he might turn up again and demand more money… we can’t live like that, it doesn’t bear thinking about,’ he put his head in his hands.
Susan shook her head in disgust, ‘Well what do you suggest we do…call his bluff, sit back and wait for our world to crumble around us? You might be able to do that Gordon but I can’t…for god’s sake we’ve only just got Owen back. I am not going to lose him again!’ and with that she went back into the living room to play with her son.
Gordon stayed where he was and went through his options in his head. He could only see one solution, he just didn’t know if he was brave enough to do it.
CHAPTER 40 - MAGGIE
Maggie smiled wryly as she read a letter that had come in that day’s post, it was from Charles.
Charles had been conspicuous by his absence over the last few weeks. At a time when Maggie could really have done with having his broad shoulders to lean on, he had been very difficult to get hold of. And even when he had called, his flirty humour and dirty innuendos had been sadly lacking. In fact he had been seriously distracted and non-communicative, and now Maggie knew the reason why. It seemed that he had met someone whilst in New York and things were looking “pretty serious” so he didn’t think it would be fair to keep Maggie hanging on a string.
Maggie felt a little sad when she remembered some of the fun times that she had had with him. But to be honest she had hardly given him a thought for the last week or so, and certainly not when she had been worrying about Jed.
‘So I can’t have been madly in love with him can I?’ she said to herself. Although she couldn’t help admitting that she did feel a bit bitter that he had met someone else whilst he was meant to be with her (she conveniently forgot about her romantic evening with Thomas). ‘What a complete bastard,’ she thought getting angrier and angrier the more she thought about it. ‘Who the fuck does he think he is, cheating on me…what a tosser.’ She ripped his letter into tiny pieces and threw it into the bin, and then kicked the bin for good measure.
She soon put him out of her mind; she had much more important things to think about. After a great deal of soul searching, Maggie had agreed to meet Thomas tonight for a meal. Because, despite the fact that her strong attraction to him scared her, she had decided that she owed it to herself to give it a try. So she went up stairs to get herself glammed up; Charles’s rejection of her added a little frisson to her preparations, and so by the time she was ready even she had to admit she looked drop dead gorgeous. The slinky black dress may have been a little over the top for a village restaurant, but from the way Thomas’s eyes roamed over her with appreciation when he picked her up a little while later, the effort had been worth it.
They settled down to an evening of good food and easy conversation. Filling in the gaps of the years when they had been apart. Thomas had never married surprisingly, but he had suffered the breakup of a long term relationship and he seemed to have had quite a few girlfriends over the years, some of whom Maggie knew.
‘Yolanda Hume! I can’t believe you went out with yodelling Yolanda. Oh my god we went to school together; although she was never one of my closest friends…way too posh for me. And messy Nessie…bloody hell shorty you have really put it about a bit haven’t you?’ said Maggie laughing
‘Oh come on Maggie, everyone went out with Messy Nessie…it was the law! But I’m surprised you knew Yolanda…yes we went out for a couple of years actually, nice girl apart from the yodelling obviously which was a bit off putting when in the throes of sex.’
‘Oh my god do you mean to tell me the rumours were true…I mean we always called her Yodelling Yolanda… someone started a rumour that she made a funny yodelling sound when she had an orgasm…but I never thought it was true,’ said Maggie collapsing with laughter, ‘oh how funny. What happened… why did you split up?’
‘What you mean apart from the yodelling?’ he laughed. ‘Oh she met someone richer than me; remember I was just a struggling medical student at that time. Yolanda had ambition; she was after someone who could keep her in the life she thought she deserved, and that wasn’t me. I heard she married some French hotelier, worth a fortune apparently.’
‘Well that was her loss and womanhood’s gain,’ said Maggie smiling into his eyes, ‘funny the twists and turns that life takes to get you to this point,’ she mused.
Looking back at her, Thomas took her hands, ‘I know,’ he said his voice low and seductive, ‘if Jed hadn’t been hurt, and you hadn’t been at the hospital that day, I never would have met you again.’ He brought his mouth close to hers, ‘And that would have been a tragedy,’ he whispered as his lips touched hers. It was the lightest of kisses but Maggie felt it from her head to her toes and every place in between. She closed her eyes as he kissed her again…wow…oh my god what was it about this man, that he could turn her on so badly, fully clothed with only their lips touching… her nipples had peaked and she was on the verge of an orgasm…in the middle of a packed restaurant as well! She pulled away and tried to get some air back in her lungs. Thomas seemed to be having the same trouble; he kept crossing and uncrossing his legs. Maggie smiled at him knowingly.
‘I think it might be a good idea if we skipped coffee...in any case I have a fabulous coffee machine back at my house…if you’re interested that is.’
Thomas called loudly to the waiter for the bill, and within a few minutes they were racing back to Maggie’s house.
They barely made it through the front door; Maggie’s slinky black dress ended up in a pile on the stairs next to Thomas’s shirt. They made love with an urgency that fuelled their passion and left them spent and exhausted. Maggie couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so sated and content after making love, and as she listened to Thomas’s quiet breathing beside her, she was filled with a terrible longing that scared the shit out of her…she wanted him to stay!
CHAPTER 41 - CARLA
Carla met Ted at the mortuary early next morning; they were there to observe the autopsy on the body of the young girl found in the house. Once again Carla noticed Ted was looking very dapper in yet another new jacket; and when Dorothy Smiles came to meet them in her office, she realised why.
‘Morning Carla,’ said Dorothy with her usual smile… and then, ‘morning Ted,’ she said in a low seductive voice, giving him an intimate smile, which had him turning bright red as he spluttered his response. Carla suppressed a smile and followed Dorothy into the autopsy suite.
Dorothy confirmed that it was indeed Mary O’Bruin’s body that had been found in the house; and also that the cubby hole in the bedroom was definitely where Owen Marshall had been held. From the forensic evidence found at the house, she had been able to put together a picture of what she thought had happened leading up to Mary’s death and Owen’s escape.
‘There was evidence of a struggle that had taken place in the kitchen; pretty nasty one by the amount of blood we found,’ said Dorothy as she busily set up the equipment she needed to perform the autopsy. Mary’s body was under a sheet on the metal table in the centre of the room; Dorothy put on a protective apron over her clothes and pulled on some latex gloves and began to set up the tape machine and microphone that she used to record her findings. Then she drew back the sheet and revealed the body. Mary O’Bruin had been a tiny young woman, with not an ounce of spare flesh. She would have been very pretty with her black hair and green eyes, but it was hard to see that now. Her face was swollen, and covered with bruises; her nose was bent at a strange angle, it had obviously been knocked sideways. As Dorothy pulled the sheet further down, Carla took in a sharp breath when she saw the state of Mary’s arms; long thin scars covered them from elbow to wrist on both arms, some of them were so recent, that they hadn’t had time to heal properly before she was killed.
‘These,’ said Dorothy indicating the scars, ‘I believe to have been self inflicted
, almost certainly by the razor that you found Carla. This was one seriously disturbed young woman; the cuts aren’t deep enough to do any serious damage, but they must have bloody hurt… also you will see the cuts to her hands, seems like she’s been punching something solid over and over.’
‘Like the kitchen wall?’ interrupted Ted, remembering the bloody patch that they had spotted on the kitchen wall.
‘Exactly like that,’ confirmed Dorothy sadly, ‘I am constantly horrified at the damage people will do to themselves,’ she mused.
She began to examine the injuries that were found on her arms and legs and a couple of nasty dark bruises on her lower back. ‘She was kicked very hard when she was on the floor by the looks of things, you can see the imprints from a shoe here,’ she pointed to the darkened area, ‘so that gives you an idea of how hard she was kicked, probably caused a lot of damage internally which I won’t know till I open her up.’ Dorothy took lots of photos and made a few notes before making the ‘Y’ incision on her chest and opening her up. One by one all her organs were removed, weighed and examined; her stomach contents examined and fluids taken from her body.
‘There’s some skin under her fingernails, might be able to get some DNA from that, also I can confirm that the tooth we found near Terry Dobson’s body came from this mouth, it was her blood on his fists also…so we can assume that she was at the scene some time when he was killed, but more curiously is the fact that she has firearms residue on her hands and her clothes…she had fired a gun not long before she was killed…make of that what you will,’ she finished with a smile for Carla.
‘My guess from the many injuries found on Mary’s body, is that she took an awful beating in the kitchen and then, for some reason and with what must have been great difficulty, she followed her assailant upstairs…maybe she tried to stab him only to end up with the knife in her own chest,’ said Dorothy finally as she finished her examination.
Carla had a good idea why she had followed him upstairs, rather than trying to flee, most likely she was trying to stop him from finding Owen. Carla could only be grateful that he had never managed to get to Owen, the evidence of Mary’s injuries and her subsequent struggle to save the boy spoke volumes. From the footprints in the blood surrounding Mary’s body it was quite clear that at some point Hattie, Terry’s spaniel, had found her way into the room. And somehow that had given Owen the courage to escape at last. The blood found on Owen’s clothes had belonged to Mary; presumably he had been forced to climb over her dead body to get out of the cupboard. But it was anyone’s guess as to how long he had hidden there after he had heard the violence and mayhem that was taking place outside his little prison, too scared to move a muscle in case he was to be next.
Thank goodness the dog found him when she did, and thank goodness she stayed with him until Maggie spotted him at the bottom of her garden.
The fingerprints found at the house had been matched to those of Craig O’Bruin; so now they knew for sure who they were looking for, and his picture had been circulated to various forces throughout the Surrey region and to all the airports and ports. But for some reason Carla had a feeling that he was still nearby, either in Kenley or at least not too far away, she could only hope that they would find him before he hurt anyone else. Forensics had also found a plastic container, inside which was a syringe full of a morphine like drug. Carla could only assume it had been used to sedate Owen, which would explain how he had been taken out of his bed without waking the rest of the household.
Dorothy and Ted were talking in hushed tones near the door of the autopsy suite. Ted was laughing at something she was saying, and Carla realised that it had been a long time since she had heard Ted laughing spontaneously like that. She hung back a little, to give them a bit of time, her mobile rang, it was Frank with the news that the shotgun had been found in the woods not far from the house.
She bustled over to the two lovebirds.
‘Murder weapons been found Ted, we’d better be getting back,’ she turned to Dorothy, ‘Thanks for your help this morning, could you let me know what you find on the shotgun as soon as possible, it’s on its way here as we speak?’
‘Of course Carla, I’ll make it a priority,’ she turned to Ted with that melting smile. ‘Shall I see you tonight Ted…say about 7 does that suit you?’
Once again Ted turned tomato red, ‘Er… um…yes that would be fine…um see you then,’ he said as he bustled out of the door, Carla raised questioning eyebrows to Dorothy who gave her a smug smile and waved as she went to her office.
Once outside Carla caught up with Ted, who was obviously trying to get away from the inquisition that he knew was inevitable, and was hurriedly getting into his car.
‘Not so fast matey,’ said Carla grinning through the window of the car, ‘so what’s the deal with you and Miss Smiley in there, the sexual tension was so thick I could have cut it with a knife.’
‘Oh I knew you’d get the wrong idea,’ said Ted irritably, ‘it’s nothing like that; just a couple of colleagues having dinner together that’s all. And I would prefer if you didn’t tell the whole station Carla, you know they’ll make a meal of it,’ he finished giving Carla a hard look.
Carla pretended to think about it for a minute, and then let him off. ‘Don’t worry your secret’s safe with me, and for what it worth I think you make a lovely couple,’ she said laughing at his sigh of exasperation as she walked to her car.
CHAPTER 42 - HELEN
She woke in the middle of the night bathed in sweat; the pain that was spreading from her lower back to the tops of her legs, was so strong that it took her breath away.
Helen breathed through the pain as she had been taught at the anti-natal classes that she had attended; and sure enough it subsided after a few moments, only to return again about 5 minutes later. Giving up all thoughts of sleep; Helen switched on her bedside lamp and once again breathed through the pain. She started to time the interval between pains, and after an hour or so it was clear to her that she was in labour. The pains were getting ever stronger and the time in between each one shorter. She waited until the next contraction had past, and then got out of bed and made her way along the landing to the room that Maya was using, she knocked on the door. Maya must have been awake because she opened the door almost immediately.
‘It’s time yes?’ she said at once, taking Helen's arm and walking her back to her own room, ‘I know it is tonight…I had…um…premonition…is that right?’
‘Premonition, yes that’s right…I’ve been timing them, they seem to be coming about every 3 minutes now and they are definitely getting stronger…ooooow here comes another one…oh god it hurts so much Maya.’ Helen collapsed on the bed and started breathing very slowly in through her nose and shushhing it out through her mouth, Maya breathed with her and rubbed her back until the pain subsided.
‘I think we need hospital, I will call…are you ok for a minute?’ Maya asked as she busied herself getting all Helen's prepared baby stuff together.
‘Do you think? Or should I wait a bit longer…maybe the pains will die away. I have heard…ooooow oh god another one what was that Maya, I don’t even think that was a minute…ooooooh shhhiiiitt! God that hurts.’
‘I am calling hospital,’ said Maya and she ran to get the phone.
Helen’s baby girl was born at 10.35 the next morning. She weighed in at 6lbs 6oz and was the most beautiful thing Helen had ever seen, with her mop of dark hair and the most enormous eyes that looked seriously up at Helen as she guzzled greedily at her breast. Helen named her Abigail Maya; after her mother, and the young woman who had become more important to her than she ever could have imagined anyone could.
The two women spent the first day cooing over the little girl, marvelling in her perfections. Tiny hands and feet, the softest skin and hair, the way she seemed to recognise them both, calming at their touch.
But there was one thing that was casting a shadow over Helen's happiness, and she knew that until sh
e dealt with it she wouldn’t be able to enjoy her baby to the full. She needed to tell her friends, especially Maggie…and soon.
Whilst she had been carrying the baby, it had been easy to imagine that her friends would just laugh at her amazing deception and join with her in her happiness. But now the moment was upon her she was beginning to worry that in actual fact they might be terribly hurt that she had kept such exciting news from them. What if they didn’t understand? What if they were so hurt that it damaged their friendship beyond repair? Helen was scared; she talked to Maya about it and Maya in her usual blunt way, didn’t tell her that it would be ok and that “of course her friends would be fine that she had been effectively lying to them for the last nine months” she just gave her a hug and passed her the phone.
‘Do it now…Maggie first,’ and then left her on her own.
Maggie answered after a couple of rings.
‘Helen darling… I was just about to call you and see if you needed a lift to the cauldron tomorrow. I can’t wait to have a good catch up, things are really hotting up between Thomas and me…oh I know I said I wasn’t sure but honestly sweetie the sex was sooo….’
‘Maggie!’ interrupted Helen, ‘I have something I need to tell you.’
‘Oh sorry darling I know I’m such a fucking idiot, talking ten to the dozen…oh god I’m doing it again aren’t I…right shutting up. What was it you wanted to say love?’
Helen took a deep breath, ‘Um…I’m at the hospital…’
‘Oh god what’s wrong, are you ill?’ said Maggie anxiously
‘No Maggie…I’m fine, I’m in the maternity ward. Maggie I’ve just given birth to a baby girl.’ There was silence at the other end of the phone, ‘Maggie...are you still there, did you hear what I said?’