Ugly Duckling

by Malcolm Allen

  Chapter 26

  At 11am Jenni finally woke and got out of her bed, still angry that any man would rather go to work than spend the night with her, she stood naked in front of her full length mirror and remembered how she had offered herself to him on a plate, but he would rather go to work, she studied her own image carefully, looking for flaws in her skin or spots, signs of cellulite or just plain fat, she could see none, she could see an almost perfect looking woman in her mirror, firm breasts, tight backside, good long legs and a pretty face with long flowing hair. So why did that bastard turn me down! Going to the lounge she noticed the table, still with the dinner plates and the remains of the meal on it, with one swipe of her arm she cleared the table into a pile of broken glass and crockery on the floor. Collapsing onto the sofa she started to cry, how could any man not want her? Where had she gone wrong? After her time of self pity and still naked, she went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of juice, it was going to take some time to clear up the mess she had made, both in the apartment and with John, She liked John and surely he couldn't keep rejecting her, the sex last night had been good until he got that damn phone call, next time the phone was going down the toilet. She opened her laptop and taking it to the lounge, settled down to do some browsing. The Skype Alarm sounded, it was Wheeler49.

  'Hello, how are you?' Jenni asked trying to sound cheerful

  'All the better for seeing you my dear' the smarmy-ness of the reply sent a shiver down Jenni's back 'You must have known I was going to call, you're already undressed' Jenni realised she was still naked and wheeler could see her top half clearly. She cupped her breasts with her hands

  'And do you like what you see?' she was gently playing with her nipples and could tell wheeler liked what he saw by the expression on his face.

  'Ooh you are such a beautiful little tool teaser aren’t you?'

  'I could do so much more with your tool if you were here,' she sucked the tip of her finger 'but I'm glad you like it, I could do with some appreciation' Jenni could feel herself becoming aroused.

  'Oh dear, are things not going so well with D.I Dick?' sneered wheeler 'I'm so glad' He started to laugh.

  'They were going fine until his bloody phone rang at 1:30 this morning, it woke me up but he didn't want to play any more.'

  'What do you mean, it woke you up? Wheelers tone had suddenly become agitated 'where you sleeping with him?'

  'Yes' Jenni could tell it was disturbing Wheeler, but she wanted to relive it. 'We had a nice meal and a can of spray cream for dessert; do you want me to show you?'

  'I told you I didn't want you seeing him, you're mine and I'm not going to share you with anybody, least of all D.I Dick!'

  Jenni smiled 'Don't worry, I'm still yours, I was thinking of you the whole time, but I need some practice for when we meet. Let me demonstrate' Jenni put the laptop on the coffee table and adjusted the screen so Wheeler could get a full view of her naked body as she played with herself. Wheelers tone softened a little as he watched eagerly.

  'You are such a beautiful creation it's so difficult to stay angry with you for long, but I did tell you to stay away from D.I Dick. He’s scum, believe me, it’s just a shame the little accident I arranged didn’t have a better effect.'

  Jenni listened to wheelers words very carefully, taking in what he had said and storing it for later; she could see wheelers head beginning to bob and knew what he was doing.

  'But I've asked you time and again to meet me face to face' she paused 'or body to body,' her hands run over the full length of her body coming to rest between her legs 'do you want to know what we did with the cream last night? I sprayed it all over here and here' she stroked her breasts and between her legs bringing one leg up onto the sofa 'and then John slowly licked it all off me. It took ages for him to get it all off, especially in my naughty places, his tongue just kept licking and flicking till it had all gone, I wish it had been you' Jenni's fingers were now probing and stroking as she started to fake the beginning of orgasm, Wheelers head was bobbing faster now his face contorting into something resembling a grotesque goofy 'then I sprayed it onto his rock hard weapon and sucked and licked until I'd got it all, I even put some right on the tip and took it deep into my throat.' Jenni could tell wheeler was reaching climax 'then we just fucked and fucked, him on top, me on top, doggy style, feeling him deep inside me, imagining all the time it was you, till we were eventually so exhausted all we could do was sleep, God how good it felt!' she finished her fake orgasm with a flourish, jerking her body and arching her back in pure fake pleasure.

  'Oooh God! Yes, yes I want you to do that to me, god yes!' something hit his web cam lens and slid down, leaving his image on Jenni's computer blurry

  Jenni took her time to cover herself with a cushion then said 'So we'll have to meet won’t we?'

  There was a long pause while wheeler composed himself, and lit his customary cigarette, eventually he spoke 'Yes we will meet, soon. But I have to tell you that questions are being asked about you'

  'What do you mean?'

  'D.S Cripp has been asking questions about you my little chicken, and unless you stop seeing Dickie I may have to tell him your little secret, the same as I did with the others'

  'What others?' it was Jenni who now felt anger beginning to rise inside her, she had had her suspicions but could never actually tie Wheeler to the break up of her other relationships.

  'Why your other boyfriends of course,' Wheeler grinned 'why do you think they turned against you and your lifestyle so suddenly? I've told you, I want you all to myself, I don't want to share you with anyone, so unless you stop seeing Dickie I may have to have a little word or two with him.'

  Jenni felt a sense of panic sweep through her body 'No, Please don't do that! I'll tell him myself.'

  'And finish with him?' the sneer of pleasure and control on wheelers face was sickening. Jenni thought for a moment, considering all that Wheeler had said, about John's accident and how her ex boyfriends had turned on her and her life, she knew something had to be done, then with tears in her eyes she said.

  'Yes, and finish with him. But I'll need some time. I like John and don't want to hurt his feelings.'

  'Of course my loveliness, I wouldn’t be so cruel that I made you do it today. You can have a week, then if you've not done it I'll have a little chat with him. I'll leave you to have a little think, Bye for now my sweat pea.' the connection was dropped.

  Jenni closed the lid of her laptop, she didn't have any intention of finishing with John but she had to find a way of stopping Wheeler. She decided the best thing to do was to tell John the secret herself, then Wheeler would have no hold on her, but just to make sure she also needed to meet Wheeler, She was angry that he had finally admitted he was to blame for John's accident and the departure of her ex lovers. She started to plan her revenge.

  Chapter 27

  Later that evening John and Ian were back in the station, John had found Ian at the usual place earlier and they had shared a cup of tea together chatting about football, women, holidays, in fact anything that wasn't work related. It was a ritual they had followed since their time at university together, when Ian felt the pressure they would go for tea and a chat, it always seemed to put things back into perspective. Afterwards Ian felt more able to focus on the task ahead, which is what he and John needed to do now.

  'You said he was off with the Flu' John was thumbing through the crime scene photos 'So why did he come here? Who did he meet? And how did he know how to contact them.'

  'And why didn't he tell us' Ian rubbed his eyes, it had been a long day since 1:30am and he was beginning to feel fatigued.

  'That's a very good question Ian; I wish I knew the answer. With a bit of luck Liz will come up with something tomorrow. What's happening with the Americans?'

  'Apparently they are going to reopen the case but they are waiting for permission to exhume the bodies, or what's left of them.'

  'I still don't understand why they didn
't check properly before.'

  'They're the same as us J.D. Time and financial constraints, it seemed open and shut at the time, no suspicious circumstances, fire chief put it down to a faulty gas regulator. What more did they need to close the file?'

  'But we would have still investigated deaths like that Ian'

  'Yes, I suppose it shouldn't have happened but its just one of those things, there was nothing suspicious until recently.'

  'Do you think it'll be the son?'

  John thought for a second 'It might help us if its not. Anyway it’s been a long day, fancy a pizza at my place?'

  'If you don't mind J.D I'll take a rain check, just want to get home to see Jane and get an early night.'

  Ian left the office while John had one last look through the case files. John started to think about the night before and Jenni, how she had reacted to him being called out, the dinner she had “cooked” even though he'd found the foil containers in the morning. The sex and how good that had been, how it had made him feel. but the argument about being called out was fierce, having things thrown at his head wasn't his idea of fun, perhaps she would get used to his work, but John decided to leave it for now, he was too tired to try to explain to Jenni that it was his duty to go if he got the call and it was something she would have to accept, neither he or his job was going to change in the near future. He had another glance around the office and his eyes rested on the white board, the three victims, Jeremy Green, William Broom and P.C Daniel Barnett displayed on the board along with Patch, the dog. The words Bournemouth Butcher scrawled across the top of the board followed by a large question mark. John really wanted to replace that stupid name with something more meaningful but as it stood he didn't even have any clear suspects. He let out a long sigh and switched off the lights ready to leave for the night but was stopped by his mobile phone ringing, it was Jenni. looking at her name on the screen he decided just to let it go to voice mail, he didn't have the energy for sex and an argument tonight, he realised that's all the relationship was at the moment, perhaps it was all it would ever be. Tonight though he was just looking forward to putting his feet up with a takeaway pizza and an early night, he switched his phone to silent mode and put it in his pocket. Just as he was about to leave he noticed Ian and Liz walking at a brisk pace back towards the office, Ian was grinning from ear to ear, the office lights went back on.

  'J.D you've got to hear this!' Ian was clearly excited, all trace of tiredness gone. 'Liz has some really fantastic news!' John moved wearily to his chair on the other side of the desk while Liz and Ian breezed into the office and sat facing him; John looked at the two grinning faces opposite.

  'Well? What is it?'

  'J.D you're going to love this, Liz tell him!' Liz looked at John, she could see he was tired but still thought she might just tease him a little bit,

  'You look tired John' she began, 'Perhaps I should come back tomorrow.'

  'Just get on with it!' John snapped.

  'Well John, I've cross matched the DNA from the hair with the DNA we found on the knife' She paused waiting for John to speak, When he didn't she continued 'It’s a Match! Both sets of DNA came from the same person!' again she paused, there was more to tell but she wanted to wait for Johns reaction.

  'Is that it?' John grunted 'we already knew it would be the same murderer didn't we?

  'No J.D there's more, come on Liz stop dragging it out, tell him'

  'Oh yes please tell me, the suspense is killing me.' John performed a huge yawn.

  'Well John I then looked at the DNA of our victims' Liz was trying to build the suspense. John wasn't in a suspense type of mood

  'Don't tell me, I think I've guessed, one of our dead victims is actually the murderer.' sarcasm was beginning to flow from John.

  'Not quite' Liz could see John wasn't in the mood so decided just to tell him 'But He is related to Jeremy Green, and the only relation Jeremy has that is unaccounted for is'

  'His son! Roger Green!' Ian could contain himself no more and had to just blurt it out interrupting Liz.

  'Really? Is that right?' smiling John stood and walked round the table to Liz, his mood had suddenly lifted and the sparkle had returned to his eyes, the smile was broadening, 'So, we have a name for the Bournemouth Butcher, is that what you're telling me Liz? And that name is Roger Green.'

  'I believe so' there was a slight edge of nervousness in Liz's voice as she spoke.

  'Well then Liz, Stand up would you' John stood behind her chair 'and face me.' Liz stood, and moved around the chair wondering what John was going to do. John placed one hand on her hip and one on her shoulder. He pulled her close and kissed her firmly and squarely on the lips, the spark that flew between them almost lit up the room. They pulled away from each other quickly.

  'Fucking nylon carpets!' Cursed John 'I've told them a thousand times! That nearly blew my fucking lips off!'

  Liz was laughing at the same time as rubbing her face 'And it spoilt what could have been such a beautiful moment'

  John stood with his back to the others facing the white board taking the board rubber he erased the words Bournemouth Butcher and replaced them with the name Roger Green, 'That's who we're looking for! That's our Killer! Roger Green. We're finally on your fucking trail!'

  Chapter 28

  6:50 am and the alarm screamed into action telling John it was time to get up. The news from the night before still rolling around his head. it had only taken two hours, half a pizza and three large scotch for him to get to sleep but it had been a good sleep, thoughts of cracking the case filtering into his dreams and after the case was solved perhaps a holiday to Corfu with his friends, Ian, his wife Jane and Liz altogether for two weeks of sun, crystal clear seas and powdery sand. He showered and made his customary coffee; switching his mobile from silent mode he noticed three missed calls and two text messages. The three calls were all from Jenni, but she hadn't left any voice mail messages, one of the text messages was also from Jenni, it simply read “John I'm really sorry please call me :-(. “ feeling that he ought to reply he typed, “Jenni, Don't worry about it, really busy at the moment, had a breakthrough, I'll call Soon. J. XXX” The other message was from Ian “see you in the office, don't forget Liz's Birthday. L.P 2nite“. 'Shit Liz's birthday! Thank fuck Ian sent the reminder' John thought, 'I'll pop out and get her present later'.

  The team were already assembling ready for the morning briefing by the time John arrived at the station, Ian had moved the board from Johns office into the larger briefing room and had arranged for coffee for himself and John, as he entered the team quietened down waiting for his first words anticipating what the breakthrough that Ian had mentioned was going to be. None of them noticing the words Roger Green at the top of the board.

  'OK' John began 'I'm sure D.S Cripp has already mentioned to you that we have had some very good news, from our point of view. So I'm just going to quickly fill you in on the details. Elizabeth Collingsworth.' wolf whistles and cheers went up around the room at the mention of Liz's name as they remembered John and Liz's night that wasn't. 'Alright settle down.' John waited until the noise had subsided 'Elizabeth Collingsworth and her team have identified the DNA traces from the hair of the third incident and the knife of the second as the same person, furthermore she has linked that DNA to the DNA from Jeremy Green, our first victim in Bournemouth, it shows that our murderer is a male relative of Jeremy's. As he only has one male relative that could possibly be living, we now know that the person we are looking for is his son, Roger Green. This picture of Roger was found in amongst Jeremy's possessions,' he held up a picture of Roger which he blue tacked to the white board as Ian passed copies around to everybody present 'The Media Relations Office are going to release this picture in a press statement saying we would like to talk to Roger regarding the death of his father. I must stress that at this moment in time we must not state or intimate in any way that Roger is the murderer or that he is connected in any way to any other incident. We may
believe he is our man but we cannot state that without proof, so just be careful what you say to people.' John paused and took a sip from his coffee. 'Its possible, even probable that Roger Green will go to ground when he sees this, it is also possible that it might spur him on to more activity, so we need to be quick, he is obviously in this area, so somebody must know him, he has to buy food from somewhere so Shops, Bars, Clubs, Pubs we need to ask everybody everywhere if they have seen him. Now before the press release is seen he may just be wandering around, so keep your eyes peeled and if you spot him call for back up, don't try to handle it by yourselves, we already have one dead copper, we don't want any more. We must assume that he is armed and dangerous, so caution in everything we do is the keyword, Do I make myself understood?' a few half hearted 'yes', 'yes sir' and nod’s went around the room. It was time for John to wake this bunch of morons up, he slammed his hand hard on the desk and shouted 'Listen you bunch of twats, I'm being fucking serious! and when I ask a question I expect you to answer in the proper manner, so I'll ask again, Do I make myself understood?' this time the whole team replied 'Yes Sir!' in unison 'That's better, now Any questions?' a hand went up at the back of the group 'Thompson, you have a question, fire away.'

  'Well sir, it’s about Roger Green, weren’t we informed he died in a house fire accident in Florida?' a few groans echoed around the room from the other officers.

  'What’s the matter with you lot?' John asked 'it’s a bloody good question. The rest of you should be ashamed you didn't think to ask it, at least I've got one person that's up to date with what's happening.' he took another sip from his now cold coffee 'Yes D.C Thompson, we were originally led to believe that Roger had died in a house fire in America, however since then doubt has been thrown on this assumption by the Americans themselves who are now in the process of re-opening the file. We will be contacting them shortly to politely inform them that they were totally fucking wrong, because Roger appears to be alive and well and murdering people in Bournemouth, having arrived here from Brighton. God knows how he got there. With a bit of luck our colleagues in America will be able to shed some light on his movements and may even have a more recent photo, we'll have to wait and see. Any other questions?' he scanned the room 'Right then that appears to have wrapped it up for today, you should all have you're tasks but if you haven't come and see me or D.S Cripp and we'll give you something to do.' he took one final sip from his stone cold coffee 'in fact. You!' he pointed at Walsh who had dropped his pencil on the floor and was scurrying around under his chair trying to find it 'Walsh!' Walsh lifted his head quickly banging it on the arm of the chair