In between coughs she managed to say, ‘You what?!’
‘I fancy you. Have done for ages.’
She pushed his arm away and looked into his eyes to see if he was winding her up again. ‘Are you serious?’
‘I wouldn’t joke about something like this.’
‘Knowing you, you would.’
‘But that’s just it Sarah, you don’t know me.’
Sarah looked at him more closely, smiled drunkenly at him, and said, ‘I suppose I don’t. You’re a lot nicer when you are not with your friends. What are you going to do about it?’
‘About what?’
‘Fancying me. If you are so confident that I fancy you then surely you should do something about it?’
‘I think I may do just that.’
He leaned closer to her, and she leaned into him. Their mouths touched and his tongue parted her lips and slid deep into her mouth. She pushed his tongue out with her tongue and slid it into his mouth and they sank deeper into a passionate kiss, the kiss that was going to change both their lives.
The thoughts raced through their minds as they kissed. Peter hoping his breath did not smell, Sarah the same. Peter hoping the bulge in his pants would not be too noticeable, Sarah happy she worn a small jacket, happy because it covered her now erect nipples. Peter hoping that he was going to be lying in between her legs that night, Sarah hoping the same. They broke off the kiss and looked deeply into each other’s eyes.
‘This is an unexpected turn of events. From hating me to kissing me in the space of a few minutes.’
‘I’ve fancied you for ages. I’ve never tried to kiss you before because I thought you were a tosser. Now I think differently about you after talking properly to you.’
‘In that case, I only have one more question to ask. My place or yours?’
‘Hotel room?’
‘My parents are away.’
‘Yours.’
They both simultaneously stood up and Peter said, ‘One minute. I need the toilet.’
‘Me too.’
There were toilets attached to the room and they parted with a brief kiss as they went into the respective toilets. Peter looked into the mirror that was above the urinal as he relieved himself. ‘Now, that was not too difficult. Had no idea she fancied me. That was just a joke. See her reaction though…’ he said to himself. ‘Glad she is drunk too. Makes it easier.’ When he had finished he went over to the condom machine, but it was empty.
With a shrug of his shoulders he exited the toilet and waited a few minutes outside in the room. She eventually came out and linked arms with him. He looked at her and smiled, she returned his smile with a smile of her own. They did not say anything as they left the chill out room and proceeded into the main section of the club. They walked around the dance floor holding hands to the exit and left the club.
*
Michelle saw them leave the club and she said to herself, ‘Oh no, Sarah. Anyone but him!’
Chapter 8
‘I don’t believe it! Now my phone is working!’
‘I guess it wasn’t before?’
‘You guessed right David, you guessed right.’
They had returned to the shelter of the truck’s cab and they were all set upon returning to the garage to contact the police. Sally then remembered her phone and more optimistically than anything else, she took it from her bag. The signal bar was full. ‘Piece of shit crap phone!’
David did not know what to do or say. Sally was obviously very angry, even more so after she had been sick, which she was obviously embarrassed about, a show of weakness that had made her even angrier. She had recovered from the bout of nausea quickly and David saw the determination return to her eyes. She thanked him for holding her hair out of her face while she was vomiting and it was then that David suggested the shelter of the cab.
Sally dialled 999 after a quick enquiry with David as to who would be best to phone. He had replied with the simple answer of 999. When the call connected, at first Sally did not know what to say as the reason she was calling. It took an intervention by David to state the obvious reason, she had been attacked. The operator then professionally asked her whether she was physically fine, did she need an ambulance? Of course, Sally replied negatively and the operator took her details, name, date of birth and where she was now, this location she obtained from David. She did know where she was, just not the proper name of the road. This information she gave to the female operator who re-confirmed it, plus she also stated Sally’s mobile number, which surprised Sally at first. She then realized the operator would have technology that would enable her to see the caller’s number. Sally confirmed this detail too and the operator concluded the call by stating a police car would be with them in fifteen to twenty minutes. The conversation ended and Sally roughly thrust her phone back into her bag seemingly even angrier than before the call. ‘Fifteen to twenty minutes she said! Fifteen to twenty minutes!’
David was a little puzzled. ‘Until what?’
She snapped her head round to the right and glared at him. ‘Until doomsday! Until pigs fly! Fifteen or twenty minutes until the police arrive!’
‘Oh, okay.’
‘Just as well I’m not dying, hey?’
‘Yes, true.’
‘Rhetorical question, David.’
‘Oh, sorry.’
David look out of the driver’s side window for a few moments feeling a little bewildered as to why Sally was venting her anger at him. He turned his face back towards Sally and said, ‘Yes, it is a slow response…’
‘Slow?! That’s an understatement!’ She glared at him again.
David mentally bit his tongue, now getting annoyed with Sally’s attitude, released his tongue, bit it again and then managed to calmly continue with what he was initially saying. ‘It is a slow response, but, we are quite a way out of town here and it is Friday night. They will be busy.’
‘Well, like I said, I’m glad I’m not injured.’
‘An ambulance would maybe come quicker.’
‘Maybe.’
For a few minutes there was silence. Sally was furiously angry, more than she had ever been before and she knew she was taking it out on David. She glanced across at him and saw him looking glum and very soggy, staring out of the window. She could not help smiling to herself as she realized the situation in which she had met the man who for the first time in her life she could feel herself already falling for. She thought how handsome he was and this was indeed true. David was effortlessly handsome and his personality was shining through in his willingness to help her as much as he possibly could do. Sally struggled to compose herself, not let her feelings show and also to control her anger. She felt sorry that she had been angry towards David and obviously upset him. She reached across and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘David?’
He turned and looked at her, his eyes noticeably brighter, enjoying her touch. ‘Yes?’
‘I’m sorry. You’ve been so good to me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be angry at you. It is just that, well, I am so damn angry! My poor car!’
‘It’s okay.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘It is. I understand. I’d be full on mad too.’
‘Thank you for understanding.’
‘It is not difficult for me to understand why you are angry.’
He smiled at her, his bright blue eyes gazing into her brighter, emerald green eyes. For a few moments they both drowned in each others’ eyes then came the distinctive sound of a police siren. They both jumped and they moved away from each other.
At first they could not tell from which direction the car was coming from, but then in the rear view mirror, above the rise, David saw a flashing light heading away from the garage towards them. They both turned to look out of the recovery vehicle’s rear window and watched the police car drive quickly along the road. ‘Only took them about ten minutes anyway Sally.’
‘Yeah. It is alright now.’
‘And
look at that. The rain has stopped.’
They turned away from the window and looked at each other, deeply into each other’s eyes.
‘Isn’t that the way it always goes?’
*
There were two policemen in the car and after taking one look at the scene they decided to call in a forensic team to take samples and search the car. It took half an hour for these specialists to arrive and in the meantime one of the policemen interviewed Sally while another asked David some questions, Sally in the police car, David outside.
After David had spent five minutes talking to the constable the conversation finished. He then walked around the Mini again, studying the damage, and then returned to the truck. Sally, after another ten minutes came and stood next to him. She had a blanket around her shoulders and joined David in leaning on the front of the truck looking at the car. ‘That was pretty painless,’ she said.
‘Nice guys.’
‘Yes. I have to go to the police station sometime next week and look at some pictures.’
‘He has attacked other women then? They have an idea who it is or they wouldn’t want you to look at pictures right?’
‘I don’t think they have any idea. The pictures are just a measure they have to go through. They have said that there is no record of any other attacks in this area.’
Sally said all this matter of factly, without a trace of panic or fright in her voice. David was more impressed with her strength with every passing second. He envisioned most women in this situation would be crying and being hysterical. Sally was just cool and calm. He then thought it could be shock, that how lucky she had been had not registered on her yet.
As they were talking a car approached, but this one was unmarked and was driven by a middle-aged man and his partner was a young, pretty woman. They both exited the car, walked round to the rear and each got a silver briefcase out of the trunk. They had a brief word with the two policemen and introduced themselves to Sally and David.
The two police scientists worked quickly and methodically in the lights of the truck and their car, almost too quickly for Sally’s liking. The woman took samples of the semen and excretion and Sally thought surely the man should have volunteered to do that gruesome task, and then took photographs while the male dusted for fingerprints. The male quickly came and took Sally’s fingerprints to compare with the ones found in the car to Sally’s. He found no new fingerprints, which, the male scientist stated was surprising.
‘Surprising?’ said Sally, as both scientists came over after they had finished with the car. ‘Why?’
‘Simple really,’ said the male forensics expert as he removed his gloves. ‘If he’s gone to so much trouble to leave as much D.N.A. in the car as possible then I would have expected him not to have bothered wearing gloves.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘All I can say is that he probably has a criminal record from before we used D.N.A. as evidence and, therefore, we could have his fingerprints on record but not his D.N.A.’
‘But you have D.N.A. from other cases don’t you?’ asked David.
‘Yes, that will enable us to match this incident to previous incidents, if he has any previous incidents on file. Doesn’t mean we know who he is though. D.N.A. is only useful if you have a human to match it to. We don’t. That is why a national D.N.A. database would be good. If we had fingerprints then we would probably be able to trace him. Until the day the government introduces a national D.N.A. database… Anyway, have to go. Jim, Robert,’ he said to the two policemen, ‘I’ll have the results and report on your desks a.s.a.p. Bye and goodnight.’
With that, the scientists got into their car, this time the woman driving and she executed a quick U-turn and sped away into the night.
‘That was quick,’ said Sally.
‘Yep. Very. They know their job. What now?’ In apparent answer to his question one of the policemen came over.
‘That is it. The car can stay here until morning.’
‘No, I will take it to the garage.’
‘Erm, not too sure about leaving you here alone sir. But then again, he’ll be long gone. Okay, take it, just be quick. We’ve finished with it. I feel sorry for the person who has to clean it up.’
‘Me too,’ said Sally.
David did not say anything.
‘Miss, we will give you a ride home.’
‘Thank you officer.’
‘None of that needed young lady. I’m Jim, he’s, well, you already know. Say your goodbyes. We have to go.’ The policeman walked to his car and joined his partner inside the vehicle.
Sally turned to look at David. ‘Thank you so much David for helping me tonight. I will give you the keys to the car just in case you need them.’
‘Thanks, I might need them. My pleasure to help you. I’ll take your car to the garage. You can come by whenever next week to collect it.’
‘Thanks again David. I don’t know how to repay you but I’m sure I’ll think of a way. Here is my mobile number.’ She took a card from her purse. ‘Call me if you need to speak to me before picking up the car.’
He accepted the card and said, ‘Thank you. I will call you if I need to. You be careful from now on.’
‘I will be. I have to go. They are waiting.’
‘Okay. Goodbye Sally.’
‘Bye David.’
She turned to go but then turned round and quickly kissed him on his cheek then quickly pulled away and stepped speedily over to the car. Sally smiled at him and gave a little wave as she put one leg into the car and he smiled and waved back.
She knew she had fallen for him. He knew he had fallen for her. After the smiles she put the rest of herself into the car and almost before the door had closed the vehicle turned around and quickly sped away from David.
He briefly touched his cheek where she had kissed him and then went to his truck to start to make the preparations to take the car to the garage. Throughout all the time he was preparing, to when he closed his eyes that night to sleep, he had images of Sally playing through his mind, her beauty, her dazzling, mesmerizing emerald green eyes, her full lips, her long legs and the image of the last smile she had given him as she turned to look at him as the police car drove away.
Chapter 9
Michelle’s night dragged on. She wandered round the club, stopping occasionally to talk to her friends who had started the night with her and also to people that she knew. She went occasionally for a dance but dancing on her own turned out to be not much fun. She spotted a few attractive young men but they were so drunk and so lecherous that she soon gave up trying to talk to them. Her friends that she encountered did not seem to mind being molested and groped by these drunks but Michelle could not stand it. All her friends seemed to have their tongues thrust down some guy’s throat whenever Michelle encountered them and they did not appreciate being interrupted. Later on in the evening she walked into part of the club where Simon was.
He was still sat at the bar, but at a different place to where he was the last time she had seen him. Michelle was surprised to see him at this bar as it was in a quieter corner of the club and he also seemed a lot more sober than the last time Michelle had seen him. He was actually sat up and did not appear to be drooling anymore.
She nearly approached him to speak last time she saw him, but as she was just about to start a conversation she realized there would not be much point. She saw his mouth moving and she realized that he was talking to himself and also that he definitely was drooling. This time though he was sat up straight and was sipping what looked like water.
Michelle liked Simon. Of course, one of the most attractive guys in college appealed to her physically, but she also liked him liked him. He was funny, intelligent and he always had time for anybody. He was in her English class and he had gone out of his way to help her one day when she was stuck on part of the course. She had never forgotten this and since then she realized that she would never, ever be able to date someone like him. They were
playing different sports, never mind in different leagues. As she approached him she had no intention of trying to get with him, she just wanted someone to talk to. ‘Still on the vodkas Simon?’
Simon jumped as he felt the breath on his ear and then turned to look to see who was speaking to him. He was pleasantly surprised to see it was Michelle and Michelle was happy to see that his eyes were not too badly glazed over. ‘Oh, hey Michelle. No, I’m trying to sober up; I’m on the white wine!’
Michelle could not help laughing at this. ‘Okaaay. I don’t think that is going to work Simon.’
‘Hey, you’d be surprised! Half an hour ago I couldn’t see never mind speak, and now I can!’
Michelle laughed again. ‘Mind if I join you?’
‘Of course not! Always got a few words to say to my favourite Shakespearian!’
‘I don’t think that is a word Simon.’
‘It is now! Pull up a pew and let’s talk the night away!’
‘Okay then, I will.’
Michelle reached round and tried to pull a bar stool closer to him but it would not budge. She tried again and it still would not move. Simon then jumped down from his stool and said, ‘Bloody heavy these things. So people can’t smash them over each others’ heads!’
‘Right, okay.’
‘Sit down, sit down.’
‘You can’t move me and the stool! Don’t be silly Simon!’
‘How dare you! I’m as strong as a bull!’
‘I’m sure you are, but not after a gallon of vodka you aren’t!’
‘I’ll prove it to you! Sit down!’
Michelle reluctantly lowered herself onto the stool and Simon promptly tried to move the stool closer to his. He was putting that much effort in that the stool started rocking and so did Michelle on top of it.
Everything to Nothing Page 4