by Anita Waller
It turned out to be very passable indeed, so she looked forward to her evening and hoped Lissy would be able to come.
She did, complete with some hand-stitching she needed to do on a jacket. ‘Hope you don’t mind,’ she said, waving the garment around. ‘’I need to have this finished for tomorrow evening.’
They chatted all night, and Anna watched with awe as Lissy’s needle flew in and out of the fabric. She was really good company, and by the time she left for home, they had demolished most of the cake; she took the last small slice with her for Jon. Lissy had been thrilled by the quilt, and asked if Charlie would be coming over any time soon. She wanted her own version of a Charlie Lewis quilt.
Anna felt strangely reluctant to go to bed. It was as if she was waiting for something to happen, and yet had no idea what. She finally closed her eyes around two o’clock and slept fitfully. The quilt, and most of the bedding, ended up on the floor, and she felt completely out of sorts by the time morning arrived.
Jenny had a lot to answer for.
Chapter 15
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Day Eighteen
Jenny walked into Hartsholme Park feeling as if her brain was on hold. She moved with a stride completely unlike her normal gait. Her coat flapped around her jean clad legs, and it felt so strange because a long coat was not her normal clothing. The woman in the charity shop had said it suited her, but it felt uncomfortable. Her long hair was tucked up into a woolly bobble hat, and her face was devoid of make-up. She had bought some very plain reading glasses and sported them, although she would be glad when she could take them off; her vision was slightly out of kilter. She hoped she looked suitably non-descript; that had been her aim. The coat was a beige shade, and the hat matched it. People would remember red, or blue; she hoped they wouldn’t remember beige.
The overlarge bag she carried held a clear, plastic bag, long, black, plant ties, duct tape, a new, ultra-sharp knife, a short jacket, and a stuffed dog. The dog was realistic, and she had smeared it with blood from a piece of liver.
Jenny wandered off the path and into the trees. She chose the densest part, and put the dog half buried in a pile of leaves. She pulled on some very thin leather gloves and waited.
Less than five minutes later, a woman walked down the path; she had a Yorkshire terrier on a lead, talking to the dog as she walked.
Jenny called out to her. ‘Excuse me, can you help me please? My dog...’ She pointed helplessly at the stuffed dog in the leaves.
The woman immediately left the path and spoke to her dog. ‘Come on, Twinkie. This lady needs our help.’
She reached Jenny, looked at the dog, and bent down. Jenny slipped the knife out of her coat pocket and brought it down into the back of the woman’s neck. Twinkie began to bark, and Jenny pulled out the knife before plunging it into the dog. He was silenced. The woman had had no time to scream; she made a gurgling sound as she overbalanced, and blood began to pulse out of her mouth. Jenny glanced quickly around her and took out the plant ties. Working in automatic mode because she daren’t stop to think, she swiftly secured the woman’s feet, then dragged her hands behind her. The lead was still attached to her right wrist, and Jenny left it there as she secured the ties. She slipped the plastic bag over the woman’s head and wasted a few seconds sorting out the duct tape. She hurriedly sealed the base of the bag, but she knew it hadn’t been a necessary part of the act. She was now scene setting. The woman was dead.
With her mind in overdrive Jenny frantically scanned the area around her. She saw no one. Just for a moment she couldn’t move; the blood was congealing in the grasses and weeds and she began to feel sick.
She repacked her bag with everything and moved away from the path area, heading deeper into the woods. Her hands were shaking and she could feel sweat running down her back. She walked for five minutes and then took off the long coat and gloves. There was blood down the front of the coat and on the cuff of her right sleeve, but not as much as she had expected there to be. She put on her own short jacket, put the long coat and gloves into the bag, and stepped on to the path bordering the south side of the wooded area. She had seen nobody at all during the entire operation; her relief was palpable.
She headed back for the train station, had a brief wash in the ladies toilets and went home. As a form of punishment, she made herself walk home from Leicester railway station; in some twisted way she felt it was what she deserved. Part one was completed. She had set the scene for parts two and three.
Her brain was no longer on hold, it felt disconnected.
Chapter 16
Friday, 27 March 2015
Day Nineteen
Anna heard nothing from Jenny until Friday night. When the phone rang she jumped. She was engrossed in counting spaces on the aida fabric, and it took her by surprise.
‘Jenny?’
‘I’m fine. I’m back now.’
‘Back from where? Jenny…?’
‘I’m back from Lincoln, and no-one knows I’ve been anywhere. I arrived home last night about ten o’clock.’
‘Lincoln?’ Anna could hear the steadily rising panic in her own voice.
Jenny laughed. To Anna, it sounded almost maniacal. ‘Don’t worry. He’s still alive. For the moment.’
She exhaled slowly. ‘So...’
‘Tomorrow, I’m posting a parcel to you. There will be two letters, an empty envelope, and a stick of sealing wax in it. One is addressed to you, and you need to read that first, before deciding whether you want to read the other one or not. Either way, use the sealing wax to seal the second one. Destroy the one addressed to you. Before you touch the second letter in any way, you must wear gloves of some sort. I don’t want your fingerprints either on the letter or the envelope. It’s fine for your fingerprints to be on the empty envelope because that is the envelope I need you to put the letter in. Gloves, Anna,’ she repeated.
‘I don’t understand. What have you done?’
‘It would be better if I didn’t say anything out loud. Just trust me.’
They said their goodbyes, but Anna felt as though some line had been crossed without her knowing what was on either side.
*****
She bumped into Jon in the hallway, and he said that Lissy wasn’t feeling too well. They both went back to number 83, and he let Anna in; he then went off to the pharmacy to get Lissy some medication.
She looked dreadful. ‘It came on very suddenly last night.’
Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her voice bore no resemblance to her normal timbre.
‘Poor you,’ Anna said with a smile. ‘Wouldn’t you be better in bed?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, but I’ve too much to do. Jon is getting me something for through the night. I hardly slept last night, which, in turn, keeps him awake, so he’s basically gone to get something to knock me out.’ She began to cough, and her slender body shook with the ferocity of the attack.
‘And that,’ she said, when she could eventually speak again, ‘is why Jon is off to the pharmacy.’
Anna moved to the kitchen. ‘You have honey?’
‘Cupboard to the right of the cooker.’
She moved things around until she found it, and then made Lissy a honey and lemon drink in warm water. She sipped at it gratefully.
‘It does nothing to cure it,’ Anna said, ‘but it soothes. Get Jon to make you one, if tonight is bad. Is there anything I can do for you?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Just sit and keep me company.’ She pulled the dress she had laid to one side towards her while she sipped at her drink and located the needle secured in the hem.
They sat and chatted until Jon returned, and then she left them to each other. He was clearly concerned by her health, and as he walked Anna to her door, he said, ‘If I need you, is it okay to ring you?’
‘Of course. Do you have my number?’
‘I know you gave it Lissy, so I’ll find it and put it in my contacts when I go back in. Last time
she was like this she had to go into hospital, and it was scary. Thank you, Anna,’ he said, and kissed the top of her head. His concern was profound.
Anna closed her door and leaned against it. It seemed everything in her life at the moment was beset by worry.
Chapter 17
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Day Twenty
The parcel arrived Saturday morning and Anna’s world disintegrated. It looked so innocent; a small box measuring around ten inches square, wrapped in ordinary brown paper with her name and address on it. No return address on the reverse.
She placed it on the coffee table and went to get the coffee she’d left on the side in the kitchen when the postman rang the intercom. She took a long drink of it and inspected the package with trepidation. Two letters, Jenny had said. And sealing wax. Sealing wax? Who on Earth used sealing wax these days? And can you still buy the stuff?
Anna pulled the package towards her and then pushed it away again. She would open it later. She needed to go to Lissy, make sure there was some improvement. Jon and Anna had both threatened her with A & E the previous evening, and she had said she would go if she was still as bad this morning.
It was a relief to see her smiling face. She hadn’t smiled much for two days. ‘I’m feeling much better. I’ve still got the cough, but I can breathe properly now, and I don’t feel nearly as bunged up as I was. Thank you so much for all you’ve done, Anna. We’re both so grateful.’
She grinned at her. ‘You’re welcome. You look tons better. Sleep well?’
‘In comparison to the night before, I was in heaven.’
‘Good. I’ll leave you to rest. That’s what you need now. Has Jon gone out? I’ll stay, if you need me, but you really should sleep.’
‘He’ll only be two minutes. Go.’ She made a shooing motion with her hands, and Anna laughed.
‘I’m going. Call if you need me.’
Anna let herself back into her own apartment, and knew she couldn’t put off the package any longer.
*****
Jenny had used lots of sticky tape and parcel tape. It took a while to actually open it, and when she did it was to see two white envelopes, a large brown envelope, a stick of red sealing wax, and a seal to press into the wax. Clearly, she thought, you could still buy it!
Carefully avoiding touching the second white envelope in any way, she opened the one marked “Anna” and began to read the handwritten letter.
My lovely Anna,
My quest for justice for my family, and for you, has started. My plan is to steer the police away from us and the rest of our family by making Ray’s death look like a serial murder. To this end, I have to kill two people apart from Ray.
What was left of her cold coffee went all over the rug as Anna knocked the cup on to the floor. She started to ineffectually mop it up with a tissue, and then gave in and went to dampen a sponge. Anything to take her mind off finishing that letter.
But, she had no choice.
Today (Thursday), I killed a woman in Hartsholme Park. Of course, there may be something of me at the scene, and so, to protect you, the other letter spells out in minute detail everything I have done, and completely exonerates you and everyone else in the family. However, I have no connection at all to the lady I have killed (and, unfortunately, her little dog), so I think this murder will be completely detached from me.
This was a dreadful thing I had to do. Ray will die, but I need to be with Mark, Grace, and Adam, so my plan has to work. You now need to choose whether to read the details in the other letter, or not. If you read them and decide you have to go to the police, please give me warning. Ray will die. If, for all our sakes, you remain quiet, then please seal the letter and put it somewhere very secure, just in case you need to produce it at some point in the future. There will be two more letters; one detailing Ray’s death, and one detailing the third death, which is necessary to promote the theory of a serial murderer. When you have all three letters, please make sure they are all sealed, put them in the large brown envelope, and seal that. Then, I will stop, and hopefully, live a happy life.
Anna, I know this is a lot to take in but I have to do this. Ray Carbrook is an evil man, who cares nothing for anyone. You deserve happiness, and on the day you finally came to your senses and left him, you made that achievable. I waited for that day.
I love you very much, Anna. Please destroy this letter immediately, but keep the other one. The decision now is yours as to what happens next.
Jenny
Anna ran to the toilet. She really didn’t think she had that much in her stomach. She finally slumped on the floor, her head resting on the toilet bowl, and tried to dry her tears.
She was all too aware she hadn’t read the second letter, and she didn’t think she could. But, of one thing she was sure. She would never go to the police. She loved her daughter-in-law so much more than she had ever loved Ray.
Jenny had been quite smart. If she had discussed her plan with her, Anna thought she could probably have talked her out of it – or at least talked her out of the serial murder bit! Why on Earth did someone else have to die first, someone with no connection to Ray at all?
Anna scrambled to her feet and switched on the television. She frantically tried to find the news channels, but only national news was airing, not local. There was nothing on any of them about a body having been found in Hartsholme Park, but it was a well-used place, and Anna knew it was a matter of a very short time before the death hit the headlines.
She couldn’t open the other letter. Not yet. She hid it in the oven, along with the rest of the stuff from the parcel. She didn’t destroy the first letter, but she knew she would have to. She couldn’t burn it, so a trip to W H Smith’s was called for to get a shredder. She also felt she needed the walk.
It was quite cool outside, so Anna walked quickly. She bought several things in Smith’s, including some thin latex gloves, paying cash for everything. It was only when Anna got outside the shop did she realise how criminal her thoughts had become. She paid cash, so there was no proof, and she had bought a shredder – a perfectly normal thing to do for anyone! Although, normal people didn’t buy them to destroy murder confessions.
A cup of coffee helped her feel a little more normal, but only marginally. The letter had left her reeling, and she needed to see Jenny.
Anna returned home at the same pace. The day hadn’t warmed at all, and she was relieved to get through her own door. She cranked up the heating and went through to the lounge. Sorting out the bits and pieces she had bought took her no time, and she set up the shredder in the small bedroom. It was doubling as office space at the moment, and she sat at her laptop, now with its own desk, and clicked on to the internet.
Anna surfed through various news outlets and still found nothing. She once more cleared her history and reflected how habits change when it becomes necessary. She had never cleared her search history in all her years of using the computer for the business, and now she was clearing it immediately once she had finished on the laptop.
Anna quickly made a sandwich and a glass of water, and tried to eat lunch, but all she could think about was the other letter. She pulled on the latex gloves, picked it up, and held it for a moment. It was unsealed, so Jenny obviously wanted her to read it, but actually taking that step of removing the letter from the envelope was another matter altogether. On the front, Jenny had handwritten Murder Number One.
Anna took out the sheet of paper and opened it. It was typed.
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Jennifer Carbrook, née March, and I was born on 10 October 1982 in Peterborough, Cambs.
On Thursday, 26 March 2015, I killed a lady. The death occurred in Hartsholme Park, Lincoln.
The victim has no connection to me; she is the first part of the plan I have formulated to kill Raymond Carbrook. My wish is this murder will be linked to his murder (and to a third murder), with the obvious decision being reached that it is a serial killer
committing the acts. All three victims will be completely unconnected, other than by the manner of their deaths. After these three deaths, there will be no more.
My main concern is to steer suspicion away from Carbrook’s immediate family, and I must stress I am doing this alone. Here are my reasons for committing these crimes, leading to the murder of Raymond Carbrook:
He violently raped me on Friday, 16 January 2004.
He is my father-in-law, and he showed no remorse.
He fathered my son, Adam Carbrook.
He has never spoken of it.
He has caused me to live in constant fear.
He has affected my marital relationship.
He beats his wife, Anna Carbrook, regularly.
I fear for Anna’s life.
I intend leaving this sealed letter with Anna Carbrook, along with two further letters detailing the second and third murders. They will all be in a large envelope, so she will have no sight of anything. She will believe they are letters for my children, should I die whilst they are still young. If the seal is broken, it means she will have read it, and is therefore in full knowledge of the plan. If it remains sealed, she knows nothing. The police must act accordingly, and I pray she does not open the seal. I will use Anna as an alibi when I kill Carbrook, but she will not know this.
Now, to the details which will prove I killed the lady in Hartsholme Park…
Anna stopped reading at this point, unable to go on. She went out on to the balcony and stared down at the city she was growing to love. She had absolutely no idea what to do.
Nothing could be done to change anything; Jenny had murdered someone already and talking to her wouldn’t help at all. She had committed the crime, and whatever happened from now on was already pre-ordained..