Blood on the Marsh

by Peter Tickler

  Bella picked up the plastic cup in front of her, realized it was empty, and crumpled it in her fist, before tossing it onto the floor.

  ‘So I decided to do two things. To teach the vicious old cow a lesson, and somehow to make it up to David. To get to know him. To show him that I wasn’t bad. To get him to understand that I’d been through a rough time then, but that now I was OK. I wanted to be his mother. Do you understand?’

  ‘So you put morphine in her whisky flask?’

  ‘It seemed like a good way to do it.’

  ‘And how did you get the morphine?’

  ‘From my flat.’ Holden made a face, indicating that this was hardly an answer. ‘It wasn’t difficult. I often used to nick the odd pill or capsule. In case it came in useful. Occasionally, I’d give them to friends.’

  ‘But stuff like morphine is under lock and key and carefully monitored.’

  Bella gave a snort of derision. ‘Sleight of hand! I’d help hand the drugs out sometimes. Fran or someone else would hand them to me, and I’d administer them, but if she gave me two, it was easy enough to slip one into my pocket and give the patient only one. They were so dopey they didn’t notice. Anyway, my next shift I brought some in, and when I was tidying her bed and stuff, I opened some of the capsules into her flask. To be honest, I didn’t think it would kill her. But it was a very nice surprise when it did.’

  ‘Even though it put David in the frame?’

  ‘That was unfortunate.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I hadn’t realized that he was the one he who filled the flask for her at home.’

  ‘So, just for the record, you admit that you wilfully murdered Nanette Wright?’

  Ms Potter stretched her hand across her client, motioning her to silence. ‘Please don’t try and put words into the mouth of my client, Inspector. What she actually said was that she wanted to teach the vicious old cow a lesson. I am fairly sure those were her words. She has also stated that she did not believe that the dosage of morphine she put in the hip flask would kill Nanette. That is all she is going to say for now.’

  ‘I merely wanted to establish—’

  But the not so fragile Ms Althea Potter had had enough. ‘My client has said all she is going to say until we have had a chance to discuss the matter further. I suggest you formally charge her, or release her.’

  It is 7.45 p.m. on 21 December. Mrs Jane Holden and her daughter sit in the dining room of the Shillingford Bridge Hotel and watch in silence as the waitress removes their plates. The dining room is quiet, too, the other occupants are speaking in hushed, intimate tones. Several tables have been placed together for, presumably, an office party, but if the staff attending have arrived, they are still lubricating themselves in the bar. Apart from the Holdens, there are five other couples of various sorts taking advantage of the last Monday before Christmas, treating themselves to a restful meal out before the frantic assault of last-minute shopping, demented cooking and dreaded relatives overwhelms them. Not that this is the type of festive season that awaits Jane and Susan. There is no family beyond themselves, and a quiet, even lonely Christmas awaits them.

  ‘I do miss Karen,’ Susan says. Christmas has that effect, making you miss those who will not be there. She looks down, not able to look at her mother, but she yearns to be comforted by her, to be hugged and told that it will be all right.

  Jane merely nods. ‘I know.’

  Susan’s eyes grow moist. A tear runs down her right cheek, but she makes no attempt to rub it.

  ‘You do know that Karen would want you to move on.’ It is not a hug, but advice that Mrs Holden gives.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We are not designed to live alone.’ Susan looks up, and finds her mother looking at her with a glare of such intensity that she flinches. ‘Believe me. I know.’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Perhaps you should join a dating agency.’

  ‘Mother!’

  ‘Or take out a small ad. Get yourself out there.’

  This time DI Holden is speechless.

  ‘It would make me happy. If you would just find someone. Then I would die happy.’

  ‘Die happy? We’re meant to be having a nice evening out….’

  ‘And I would live happy too, for however much longer I’ve got.’

  ‘God!’ Holden picks up her glass and lifts it to her mouth, but there is only a dribble of white wine left.

  The waitress appears at the side of the table, bearing coffee and chocolates. They relapse into silence until she is out of earshot, and then Mrs Holden tactfully changes the subject.

  ‘So what do you think will happen to Bella?’

  This is more comfortable ground for her daughter – violent death. ‘I expect she will plead involuntary manslaughter. Throw herself on the mercy of the judge. Play the mother card – how David will need her now that Jim is dead and Maureen is likely to be in prison for a long stretch.’

  ‘Poor Maureen. She was only protecting her family.’

  ‘She killed two people. And she knew what she was doing.’

  ‘But who will look after David and Vickie?’

  ‘Christ, Mother. I’m a detective, not a social worker. I’m paid to solve crimes, not save the world.’

  ‘I know. But I can’t help feeling—’

  ‘Feeling?’ The word explodes across the room. Several pairs of eyes turn involuntarily, and then turn away as Susan Holden sweeps the room with a ferocious scowl. Then she focuses her baleful gaze on her mother. ‘Feeling is a luxury I can’t afford. Not as long as I’m doing this job.’

  Mrs Holden says nothing for half a minute. She has too much experience in dealing with emotional fury. Not just recently from her daughter, but long before that, from her husband. Eventually, she speaks softly, so softly that her daughter is barely able hear what she says. ‘To feel is to be alive.’

  Detective Inspector Susan Holden is briefly tempted to make a dismissive remark about people who read too many fortune cookies, but instead she looks across at her mother and bursts into tears.

  THE END

  ALSO BY PETER TICKLER

  DETECTIVE SUSAN HOLDEN

  Book 1: Blood on the Cowley Road

  Book 2: Blood in Grandpont

  Book 3: Blood on the Marsh

  DOUG MULLEN

  Dead in the Water

  White Lies, Deadly Lies

  The Girl Who Stole The Apple

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  GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH SLANG FOR US READERS

  A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital

  Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression

  Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets

  Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetable or flowers

  Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)

  Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings

  A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18

  Auld Reekie: Edinburgh

  Au pair: live-in childcare helper. Often a young woman.

  Barm: bread roll

  Barney: argument

  Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids

  Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle

  Benefits: social security

  Bent: corrupt

  Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)

  Biscuit: cookie

  Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in seaside town

  Bloke: guy

  Blow: cocaine

  Blower: telephone

  Blues and twos: emergency vehicles

  Bob: money

  Bobby: policeman

  Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)

  Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead

  Bun: small cake

  Bunk: do a bunk means escape

  Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant

  Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit

  Charity Shop: thrift store

  Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket

  Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for

  Car park: parking lot

  CBeebies: kids TV

  Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments

  Chemist: pharmacy

  Chinwag: conversation

  Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food

  Chips: French fries but thicker

  CID: Criminal Investigation Department

  Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)

  Clock: punch

  Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake

  Cockney: a native of East London

  Common: an area of park land/ or lower class

  Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school

  Cop hold of: grab

  Copper: police officer

  Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit

  CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward

  Childminder: someone who looks after children for money

  Council: local government

  Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic

  DC: detective constable

  Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block

  Deck: hit (verb)

  Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character

  DI: detective inspector

  Digestive biscuit: plain cookie

  Digs: student lodgings

  Do a runner: disappear

  Do one: go away

  Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole

  Donkey’s years: long time

  Drum: house

  DS: detective sergeant

  ED: accident and emergency department of hospital

  Eagle: boys’ comic

  Early dart: to leave work early

  Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg

  Enforcer: police battering ram

  Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)

  Estate agent: realtor (US)

  Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982

  Fag: cigarette

  Father Christmas: Santa Claus

  Filth: police (insulting)

  Forces: army, navy, and air force

  FMO: force medical officer

  Fried slice: fried bread

  Fuzz: police

  Garda: Irish police

  Gendarmerie: French national police force

  Geordie: from Newcastle

  Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold

  Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit

  GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community

  Graft: hard work

  Gran: grandmother

  Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s

  Hard nut: tough person

  HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck

  HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents

  Home: care home for elderly or sick people

  Hoover: vacuum cleaner

  I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise

  Inne: isn’t he

  Interpol: international police organisation

  Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services

  Iron Lady: Marg
aret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman

  ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital

  Jane Doe: a person whose identity is unknown/anonymous

  JCB: a mechanical excavator

  Jerry-built: badly made

  Jungle: nickname given to migrant camp near Calais

  Lad: young man

  Lass: young woman

  Lift: elevator

  Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.

  Lorry: a truck

  Lovely jubbly: said when someone is pleased

  Luftwaffe: German air force

  M&S: Marks and Spencer, a food and clothes shop

  Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie

  MOD: ministry of defence

  Mobile phone: cell phone

  MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area

  MRSA: A strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

  Myra Hindley: famous British serial killer

  Naff: lame, not good

  Naff all: none

  National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s

  Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain

  NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK

  Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)

  Nowt: nothing

  Nutter: insane person

  Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)

  Old bag: old woman (insulting)

  Old Bill: police

  OTT: over the top

  Owt: anything

  Pants: noun: underwear adjective: bad/rubbish/terrible

  Para: paratrooper

  Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance

  PC: police constable

  Pear-shaped: go wrong

  Petrol: gasoline

  Pictures: movie

  Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence

  Pillock: fool

  Pips: police insignia indicating rank

  Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.