by K Leitch
She could hear Lena, Maya’s mother, talking to the two little ones upstairs in her lovely sing song voice, and the excited high pitched chatter as Abby and Benjamin both vied for her attention. Lena was an absolute godsend since Maya, Helen’s Polish girlfriend, had gone back to college to take a teacher training course. It had been something that she had always wanted to do and Helen had been more than happy to encourage her, especially as Lena had already taken over the role of house keeper and nanny. The children absolutely adored her and even the stroppy Sophie listened when ‘Nonna Lena’ told her to do something, although to be fair to Sophie she was getting so much better these days.
It had taken Helen and Sophie some time to get used to each other in the beginning. Helen had no experience with teenage girls and she had found herself jumping to Maya’s defence whenever Sophie was disrespectful or hurtful towards her. Which had done nothing to ease the tension between them, but then Helen had discovered that they shared a mutual interest in photography, and that Sophie was actually a very talented and creative photographer. So she invited her to tag along one day when she was taking some landscape pictures for a canvas that she had been commissioned to do. The day had been a great success, not just because they had managed to capture some wonderful images, but because they had really enjoyed each other’s company and had gained a good deal of respect for each other’s particular talent. Of course they still went head to head occasionally but usually Helen kept her mouth shut and let Lena and Maya deal with any discipline that was needed.
The voices upstairs were getting louder and Helen judged that it was time to go up and give Lena a hand. The kitchen was full of lovely smells and all the evidence of two toddlers making jam tarts. Both Abby and Benji were covered in flour from head to toe; Benji was making swirling patterns in jam on the kitchen table while Abby was happily spooning jam into her teddy’s mouths and then licking it off.
‘Sorry Helen…sorry, I will clean…don’t worry,’ said Lena with an apologetic smile, Helen couldn’t help noticing that Lena was almost as floury as the children and she had a good deal of jam around her mouth as well.
‘That’s ok Lena,’ she said with grin, ‘you all seem to be having fun.’ She sat down next to Abby, who offered her mum her sticky fingers to lick.
‘Mmm strawberry,’ said Helen and then tried to gobble up the rest of Abby’s hand making her squeal with laughter, Benji decided he wanted to join in the fun and so she turned on him as well and soon the four of them were chasing each other round the kitchen table with sticky jammy fingers.
Into this chaos walked Wills, Helen’s ex-husband, and his snobby, obnoxious wife Sarah.
‘Oh sorry,’ said Sarah smirking, ‘seems we may have come at an inopportune moment, we did ring the door bell but obviously…’ she trailed off looking round in disgust at the messy kitchen.
‘Yes sorry Hels,’ said Wills, following his wife into the bombsite that used to be Helen’s kitchen. ‘I meant to ring you last night to let you know I would be in the area, I was thinking that I might be able to take Abby to the zoo…I’ve got a few days off and I just thought…’
Helen swore under her breath, how bloody, bloody typical, why couldn’t they have turned up when the kitchen was spotless and Abby was neat and tidy, instead of looking like a motherless orphan from a Charles Dickens novel…in a nuclear explosion?
She tried to muster up some dignity and smiled, ‘Well I don’t see why not, I’m sure she’d love the zoo…um I’ll have to clean her up though, Lena was just doing some baking with the children and as you can see they were having a lot of fun. Why don’t you find a seat and I’ll take her upstairs for a quick bath?’ Sarah tutted impatiently and pulled out a chair. ‘Oh sorry Sarah not that one,’ said Helen urgently as Sarah sat down, ‘aarrggh…too late…I’m so sorry I think you might have a little something on the back of your skirt.’ Helen looked in horror at the large jam stain that was spreading over Sarah’s bum.
Sarah jumped up and began swivelling round trying to see the damage, ‘WILLS…do something …oh god all over my new Nichol Farhi,’ she turned on Helen, ‘do you know how much this cost me? Seven hundred and fifty pounds…it’s pure silk and now it’s ruined!’
Helen tried to apologise again but Sarah was incandescent with rage, ‘NO!’ she shouted at the hapless Will who was trying to dab off the stain with a wet cloth, ‘don’t put water on it you fool…god everybody knows that surely?’ she turned to Helen angrily.
‘It will have to be professionally cleaned, and I will be sending you the bill!’ Helen nodded her agreement.
‘Of course, of course I am sorry, they were making jam tarts you see and I’m afraid it got everywhere. Would you like to borrow one of my skirts until you get home, I’m not that much bigger than you if you’d like to come and choose one?’ Helen offered weakly.
Sarah looked at Helen almost in shock, she let her eyes trail up and down Helen’s outfit, a multicoloured patchwork maxi-skirt teamed up with a faded blue long sleeved T shirt, that was currently covered in an attractive paint and jam combination. She looked just long enough to make Helen aware of her every bump and bulge, her jammy matted hair and her shiny makeup free face.
‘No thank you Helen,’ she said oh so condescendingly as she turned to her husband, ‘Wills I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone the zoo.’ Sarah held up her hand as Wills began to protest, ‘You cannot expect me to be seen in public with a soiled skirt surely?’ she asked in horror, Wills shook his head in defeat; he turned to little Abby who had been watching the drama unfold with serious eyes.
‘Sorry pumpkin, we’ll go to the zoo another day…um maybe Friday…’ his voice trailed off as Sarah shook her head again impatiently.
‘No Wills of course not Friday…remember I get my nails done on Friday and then Callista Berkley-Hume is meeting me for lunch…I did tell you, you can be so stupid sometimes…I’m sorry Abigail sweety, but maybe next time mummy will have you all ready for us.’
Helen was speechless with indignation at the woman’s cheek, ’Well maybe next time you could give me a bit of warning before you come,’ she said but Sarah, after giving another look of disgust that somehow seemed to encompass the messy kitchen, Lena, Helen and the two children…was already out of the door, Wills just gave Helen a weak smile and followed on after her.
‘Well!’ said Lena after they had gone. ‘She is bad woman that one…no time for child…just, ‘oh no my skirt is dirty’…what sort of woman is that? Pah! He should get rid of her…that Wills…she not make him happy I think.’
‘No, I think you’re right Lena,’ said Helen thoughtfully, ‘I don’t think she’s made him happy at all,’ she looked around her war zone of a kitchen and smiled smugly to herself, she may live in a messy house, and never be a size ten again but she was definitely happy.
She went over and gave Lena a kiss on the cheek, surprising the old lady, ‘Thank you for giving the children such a happy day Lena…would you like a cup of tea?’
Lena squeezed her hand, ‘Ooh yes please…is lovely when you make it.’
CHAPTER 11 – CARLA
‘Look we don’t know nuffin abart it ok? We ain’t been anywhere near them fucking old cows, they’ve ‘ad it in for us for ages…ask anyone.’
Carla looked at Frank and he raised his eyebrows, they had managed to find Daniel Rushton and Larry Pincher just as they were about to do a bunk from their lessons by climbing out of the chemistry laboratory window. As luck would have it Carla and Frank were just heading in that direction at the same time and had dragged the two young hooligans back inside the school where Mr Glee (the head) had very obligingly allowed them the use of his office to question the boys.
‘That’s enough Pincher,’ admonished Glee who was observing the proceedings, ‘show some respect to the Detective Inspector…and watch your language boy.’
Carla smiled her thanks, and turned to the other boy. Daniel hadn’t said a word since the boys had been brought into the office
; he seemed to be totally led by Larry Pincher, ‘You haven’t said much Daniel, can you tell me where you were on that night?’
‘I told you ‘e was wiv me,’ shouted Larry before Daniel got a chance to speak, ‘we was hanging around on ‘Buttercup’ wasn’t we, we was going to meet a couple of girls.’
‘Buttercup’ was the name given to the sprawling council estate situated just beyond Redbank. When it was first built in the 1970’s it was held up as a model estate, the architect had decided on the use of distinctive yellowish bricks for the flats and houses, hence the nick name, and it was an example of modern architecture that had been copied several times since. As time went on though, it became obvious that the dark walkways created a perfect environment for anyone dealing in activities outside the law. Drug dealers and muggers made the most of the badly lit corners and hooligans on bikes terrorised the residents, as they rushed through the narrow passages between the buildings. Basically it was a thorn in the side of the Redbank and Kenley police force.
Carla looked again at Daniel, ‘Is that true Daniel, is that where you were?’ Daniel raised scared eyes to hers and nodded.
‘Really?’ said Frank taking over, ‘Only we’ve got witnesses who saw you in Kenley that evening. They are saying that you two were boasting about shoving dog shit through Mrs Binworthy’s letter box, and not only that but that you, Larry, had said that you were going to ‘get back’ at Mrs Binworthy and Ms Goss…that you were going to teach them a lesson, did you say that Larry?’
Larry began to squirm a bit, ‘Look I might ‘ave been shouting my mouf off a bit, but I weren’t going to do nuffin, I was just going to scare ‘em a bit like…nuffin to do wiv no cats though…I love cats me, I wouldn’t do them no ‘arm.’
‘So when you say you were going to scare them, what did you have in mind? Dog shit, slashed tyres?’ Frank went on angrily, ‘Why would you stop there? It’s a bit of a coincidence isn’t it that Mrs Binworthy’s cat ends up with its head smashed in just after you’ve decided you are going to ‘teach the old cow a lesson’. Nah, I don’t believe you, I think you killed that cat and I think you left it there on her doorstep just so that she would get the fright of her life. Oh yes you really taught her a lesson, the poor old lady hasn’t slept since and has had to be prescribed medication to help her get over the shock.’ Frank finished giving the boys a look of disgust; both boys were looking a bit shaken now, most of their initial bravado had disappeared and Daniel was actually in tears.
‘We didn’t hurt her cat…I promise you we didn’t,’ he cried, ‘ok we did do the dog shit, and pulled up some plants, but that was it…I promise you I’m telling the truth.’
‘Shut the fuck up Danny, you stupid wanker,’ shouted Larry giving Daniel a look that promised retribution later, he turned back to Carla.
‘Yeh ok we done the dog shit alright…but I ain’t neva ‘urt no cat, nor slashed no tyres neva. We was on ‘Buttercup’ Saturday night, you can ask Eddie Finklar…’e seen us,’ he said to Frank.
Carla was pretty sure they were telling the truth, they were just a couple of stupid boys that were playing at being tough guys…but they didn’t seem cruel, you would have to be a really nasty twisted individual to kill an animal in such a cruel way. However, it wouldn’t do them any harm to suffer for a little while.
‘Well I don’t know about you Frank but I think we will need to take these two to the station to be formally questioned.’ She turned to the now subdued boys, ‘We will let your parents know and they can meet you there,’ she said, and then left it to Frank to get the boys outside into the car as her mobile had just started ringing. It was Dorothy Smiles.
‘Hi Dorothy what can I do for you?’ she asked as she followed the grumbling, sniffling boys down and outside into the school car park.
‘Carla, Frank did say that there were three passengers travelling in the helicopter?’ said Dorothy coming straight to the point.
‘Yes that’s right, some business man and his secretary and the pilot of course…why?’
‘Well I think you’d better check with the charter company again, because we have definitely got four bodies here.’
What!...Bloody hell, ok Dorothy I’ll get on to them again, and Frank and I will head on up to you as soon as we can,’ Carla rang off and went over to Frank.
‘I think we’ll have to let uniform deal with these two Frank, looks like all is not as it seems at the crash site.’ Frank raised his eyes in enquiry. ‘Dorothy’s found a fourth body…we’ll need to double check with the charter company, maybe someone else cadged a ride at the last minute, can you get on to that while I call the station for a car for these two?’ And with that Carla got the two boys back out of the car, she arranged for an officer to come and pick them up asking the head to keep them with him until then. Then she turned the car round and waited for Frank to finish his call.
‘No the charter company are certain of the passengers,’ he said as he got into the car, ‘in fact the girl I spoke to was there when the helicopter took off last night, she is absolutely certain that it was only the pilot and two others that boarded the helicopter.’
‘Ok well let’s get up to the crash site and see what Dorothy’s got, maybe she can shed some light on what’s going on.’
The smell of wet, burnt wood was almost overpowering the closer they got to the site of the crash. Carla was not prepared for the enormous tangled mess of the burnt out helicopter and the utter devastation of the woods. The fire team were still examining the wreck and at first Carla couldn’t spot Dorothy and her team, there seemed to be so many people wandering round.
‘Over here Carla,’ Dorothy appeared from behind a tree and beckoned her over. ‘Watch your head as you come round this way,’ she said as Carla and Frank had to duck right down under a huge piece of wreckage that was clinging to the tree.
Dorothy and her team were working on the remains of the passengers, getting them ready to be transported to the mortuary. With any type of explosion this was a particularly gruesome task, parts of bodies were strewn everywhere and trying to piece together individuals was a time consuming job. Carla could already see three black body bags lying to one side of them; it was the fourth body that Dorothy was working on now. Surprisingly this body seemed intact, it was burnt beyond recognition obviously but it was all in one piece…maybe it had been thrown from the helicopter before it exploded.
‘Is this the fourth?’ asked Frank kneeling down next to where the body was laying, ‘what do you reckon doc, man or woman?’
‘I can’t be sure at this stage, although if I had to make a guess I would say man…seems a bit tall for a woman. Very different from the other bodies though, despite the extent of the burns it seems obvious to me that this person was dead before the helicopter crashed…come round to this side Carla and I’m sure you’ll see why I say that.’
Carla edged her way round to where Dorothy was standing, and she looked carefully at the charred remains. Very little flesh was left on the skeleton, Carla carefully examined the gruesome sight trying to see what Dorothy could see, as she got to the head though it became obvious and she turned to Dorothy in surprise because there in the blackened skull was what appeared to be a large bullet hole right between where his eyes would have been.
CHAPTER 12 – TRACY
Tracy sat in the car and waited for Simon to arrive. She could barely suppress her excitement; the house on the edge of the woods was everything she had hoped for and more. Ok it needed a bit of TLC that was obvious, the paint on the window frames was flaking and the front garden was more like a jungle, thick with brambles and weeds, but Tracy could already see that with a bit of hard work it would be beautiful. Set in vast gardens, the large double fronted Edwardian house had huge bay windows and a gabled porch. Stained glass windows gleamed like jewels in the massive front door, and from where Tracy was parked she could see a variety of fruit trees to the back of the house.
She began to get a sinking feeling; it was just too goo
d, they would never get away with a low offer, the owners would be mad to let it go for much less than the asking price…bloody hell maybe Simon had been right, it might have been better not to have seen it at all. Too late now though, the rumbling of a diesel engine heralded Simon’s arrival and sure enough his Land Rover came into the drive, pulling up behind her tiny Mini. A young woman was in the passenger seat, Tracy recognised her as one of the agents that they had been dealing with. She got out of the car and went round to get the baby car seat out of the front, giving Simon a wave as she did so.
‘Tracy you remember Christine, from the estate agents,’ said Simon coming over; Tracy smiled her hello, and Christine came rushing over to coo at baby Tilly fast asleep in her car seat.
‘Oh how cute is she! She’s so tiny…how old is she?’ she said stroking Tilly’s hand gently.
Tracy beamed, it didn’t take much to get her to talk about her pride and joy. ‘She’s just nine weeks, I’m so relieved she gone to sleep she’s been a little madam this morning I can tell you,’ she said, her fond smile belying her words.
Christine cooed a bit more, until Simon cleared his throat noisily and reminded her what she was here for and she went and opened up the house.
Although it was very cobwebby and musty, the inside of the house was even more impressive, if that was possible. A large tiled entrance hall was flanked on either side by two enormous reception rooms both with large wooden fireplaces. The wide staircase was at the end of the hall just before the kitchen, which was a bit of a wreck, but was a huge square room with a large window that overlooked the garden. Tracy ran from room to room, and Simon followed with feelings of misgiving, he could feel her excitement and he knew she was going to be terribly disappointed when it finally hit her that there was no way they could afford this house.