by Sara Dalton
“Sir, I wanted to be the one to interview Michael Ray,” Addison admitted. Robert didn’t say anything. He moved past her and stepped directly in front of her.
“You did.”
“Eventually,” she replied. Robert sucked in lips trying to remain calm with her. He watched her poker face as she answered him.
“Me and you are going to head over to Carl’s and bring him in. I want to know the ins and outs of this woman’s life.” Robert ordered. Addison didn’t know if he was letting her off from her mishap from earlier, but at least he was now accompanying her.
“Yes sir,” Addison replied.
“Get your coat, I’ll be waiting for you in the car park.”
Addison left the office and grabbed her jacket that was flung over the back of her chair at the desk. When she glanced back Robert had already left his office. As she headed out the main department she bumped into Fletcher who was on his way back up.
“He’s finally recognised you as his partner then,” Fletcher greeted her with a smile.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing. He probably just wants to keep an eye on me. To him, I’m a liability.”
“Don’t be silly, I think he was impressed with your interviewing skills. You managed to get a lot from Michael, so be proud. It’s one step closer to getting who did this. Now we know some things about Wendy’s past. It gives us a starting point.”
“Thanks, Fletcher.”
“Whatever you need I’m just one call away.” Fletcher winked at her and headed back inside the department. She felt her cheeks flush hot as she watched him walk away. She carried on down the hallway and out of the back entrance. Robert was leaning against the railings with a cigarette in his mouth. He let out a long last puff of smoke before stepping it out on the ground. He rustled his hands into his pocket jacket and pulled out his car keys.
“I want to get one thing straight.” He started. Addison nodded for him to carry on.
“I will be the one who does all the talking from now on.” Robert warned. Addison gulped and nodded. She didn’t want to get on his bad side now he’s starting to consider as a partner.
“Yes, sir,”
“Good, let’s go and get ourselves a suspect.” He smiled. It’s the first time she saw his smile and it was a genuine one. Addison liked it. As he turned his back on her, she let out a little smile, tucking her hair behind her ear as she followed.
Chapter Thirteen
8th April 2016
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Robert knocked firmly on the front door and waited. Addison glanced around the front porch, brick-layered drive with two fancy cars sitting in front of the house. The house was big and also detached. Finally, a young woman answered the door, she had taken Addison by surprise. She was well dressed, manicured fingertips and long blonde hair. Addison was judging a book by its cover, the woman was well nourished so she guessed Carl left Wendy for someone richer.
“I’m DCI Robert Arrows and this is my partner DS McCain. Is Mr. Willis here?” Robert showed his badge and placed it back into his inside jacket pocket. The woman didn’t say a word but she nodded for them to follow her. She closed the door once they were inside and guided them to the kitchen. Addison saw Anna and Jake at the kitchen counter both eating their breakfast. Anna and Jake both waved at Addison as she came into the room, big smiles on their faces. Carl glanced at his wife behind us and she gave him a fleeting look. He turned his attention to the officers in his house.
“What can I do for you officers?” He greeted with a forced smile. Addison went towards the children but Carl gave her a daring look. She ignored him and continued to sit beside them. Anna gave Addison a smile.
“Hi,” Anna whispered. Jake shovelled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
“Hi,” Addison replied.
“We’ve come to speak to you about Wendy. There have been some allegations made about you.” Robert told the man.
“Let me guess, Michael Ray has put you up to this.” Carl suspected. He crossed his arms over his chest in a matter of factly fashion. Robert watched as the woman moved towards Addison and sat down opposite her at the counter.
“I would like to talk to you in private. It’s not something I’d like to mention in front of your children Mr. Willis.” Robert put his arm out giving Carl no choice but to be guided out of his own kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Addison still sitting at the counter. He gave his wife another a nod, warning her to keep an eye on Addison while he wasn’t in the room.
“What’s your name?” Addison asked the woman once the men left the room. She glanced up surprised, Addison saw she was expecting her to speak to her. But everyone is a suspect in a murder case.
“My name is Stacy Maine Willis.” She replied. Her voice was very high pitched and shy, Addison almost struggled to hear her.
“How are you, Anna?” Addison asked the young girl in sign language. Anna nodded her head as she quickly finished the spoonful of Shreddies in her mouth. She put the spoon down to sign back.
“I’m fine. I’m glad to be out of the hospital.”
“Are you settling in your dad’s house?” Addison asked without signing this time.
“He’s not my real dad.” Anna’s eyes flicked up to Addison. She saw the realisation on Anna’s face that she already knew that Carl wasn’t her father.
“Do you know who your real dad is, Anna?” Addison asked her. Anna knew more about her family affairs than she let on. She glanced over at Stacy and she shuffled Jake out of the kitchen to let them speak privately.
“I know who he is, but Carl or Michael didn’t kill her.” Anna admitted.
“Did you see who killed her?” Addison asked. She knew Anna wouldn’t have seen the killer, but she may have remembered small parts of that night that she couldn’t remember before. It took her a few moments before she replied.
“When he cut my wrists, there was one thing I do remember. He whispered to me “by your blood, this is our obligation”.” Anna looked down at her covered wrists. Addison quickly pulled out her notebook and written down those precise words. They were familiar, something she had heard before. “His voice, I’ve heard it before.” Anna finally admitted. She knew it was dangerous to say anything, but she couldn’t hold it in.
“Do you know whose voice it was? Would you recognise it again?” Addison pushed. Anna shook her head as she tried to remember, but she couldn’t. “Don’t worry, if you do think of anything you remember from that night you can contact me. Here is my card with my number on it.” Anna took the card from Addison and shoved it into her pocket before anyone else could see it. “There is one more question I wanted to ask you,” Anna nodded for her to continue. “Did Carl ever hit you?”
Anna’s eyes were wide with surprise. They both sat in silence as Addison waited for her to answer. She slowly nodded her head, holding back tears as if it suddenly hit her that her mother had been murdered and she was now left with Carl.
“He hit me because I got involved with the argument. He tried to take Jake from mum and I said there is no way we would let him do that. So he hit me, hard. I fell to the floor and mum attacked him. She was throwing punches and kicking him. He picked up his keys and left. We hadn’t seen him again until now.” Anna said as the tears started to rush down her face. Addison moved around the counter and put her arms around, Anna. She nestled into her side and she hugged her tightly as she let the young girl cry.
After minutes had passed Carl and Robert entered the kitchen again. Carl noticed that Anna and Addison were by themselves but Stacy and Jake re-entered a few moments after them. Addison noticed Anna’s eyes widen as Carl glanced over at her, realising that Anna has told her things. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, he had already told Robert about that night but Anna’s version could be different.
“Thank you for your time Mr. Willis, we will be back with any information about who did this. If you have anything else that you remember
that could help us with this investigation, don’t hesitate to give us a call.” Robert shook Carl’s hand and guided Addison out the front door. He put his hands into his pockets as they both went back to the car. Carl was still standing at the door, waiting for them to be gone.
Robert unlocked the car and they both got in. As they closed the doors, Robert broke the silence first.
“What did the children say?”
“Anna confirmed Michael’s story. She said Carl hit her and her mum attacked him so he left. He hasn’t stuck around at all. But she did say something interesting,” Addison paused.
“Go on,”
“She said she recognised the killer's voice but she couldn’t remember whose voice it belonged to,” Addison told him.
“His? That’s a good start. Now we know he’s male.”
“That’s a good point.” Addison agreed. She didn’t even notice that little bit of information, but part of her felt that this was done by a male.
“Carl is adamant that Michael is the one who did it. So we will talk to him again.” Robert mentioned.
“Anna said to me that she knows for sure that Carl or Michael are not responsible for what happened to Wendy.”
“We still need to speak with Michael. He never gave us an alibi, so we still treat him like a suspect.”
“Yes sir,” Addison responded. Robert’s phone started ringing and he quickly fished it out of his pocket.
“Arrows?” He answered.
“Sir, it’s Fletcher. You might want to come back to the station. Nora has something for you.” Fletcher said over the receiver. Addison could hear the whole conversation. She waited as Robert finished talking and put his phone away back into his pocket.
“Nora has something from Wendy’s clothes. We’re going to go back.” Addison nodded and Robert drove back to the station. They sat in silence the whole way back.
Once they arrived Addison saw Fletcher outside having a cigarette. Robert and Addison both got out of the car and headed in Fletcher’s direction. He quickly stubbed his fag out with his foot on the ground and straightened himself up as Robert walked up to him.
“This better be a break in the case,” Robert said.
“It somewhat could be,” Fletcher didn’t sound convincing. Robert raised an eyebrow as he walked into the back entrance of the station. Fletcher followed suit and Addison was behind him.
“I didn’t know you smoke,” Addison whispered to him.
“Only once or twice a day,” Fletcher said over his shoulder to her. They all headed up the stairs and into their department. Robert saw Nora sitting in his office waiting for them to arrive. He went inside with Fletcher and Addison behind him. Nora stood up and shook his hand.
“Good to see you, Rob, I’ve got something for you that you might want to know,” Nora said. Robert nodded for her to continue. “On Wendy’s clothes, it was all covered in her blood. But when I tested the blood - there were two blood types. Blood type O positive which was Wendy’s blood but the other was AB positive.” She explained.
“So you’re saying she had someone else’s blood on her too?” Addison jumped in.
“Not only that, it could be the killer's blood.” Fletcher also joined in.
“Could you run the second blood type against our database and see if it comes up with any matches. AB is a rare blood type so it can narrow down our search. Also, run it against Carl Willis and Michael Ray, if it’s a match, I want to know as soon as you do.” Robert said. Nora nodded and left the office.
Chapter Fourteen
8th April 2016
Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Rebecca Charles was in her mother's bedroom picking out a film that they could watch together. Her mother, Joan, was dishing out the Chinese food that they had ordered for their dinner. It was their Chinese and movie night. When Rebecca came back down the stairs her mother had all of the food placed out on the coffee table.
“What did you choose?” Joan asked as she placed the plates at the end of the table with knives and forks. She picked up a prawn cracker and crunched on it. Rebecca showed her mum the film she had chosen, it was called Final Destination. Rebecca and Joan were both big fans of thriller and horror films.
“That food smells so good,” Rebecca said. She put the CD into the DVD player and then she got up, sat next to her mother on the sofa. As the film started, Rebecca and Joan started dishing out the food onto their plates. Rebecca loved a chicken curry with egg fried rice and Joan had lemon chicken with sweet and sour pork balls. Joan poured their drinks with the bottle of Cola that came free with the order because it was over a certain amount of money.
“Oh, did you have to choose this film? We’ve seen it so many times.” Joan chuckled. She should have known that Rebecca would choose one of her favourite films of all time. She’s probably watched this film over twenty times.
“This food is so yummy,” Rebecca replied, changing the subject slightly. She shoved in spoonfuls of rice into her mouth followed by a bit of chicken in sauce. “So how did your date go yesterday? Are you going to finally tell me who this mysterious man is?” Rebecca chuckled. She saw her mother blush.
“The date was fine and you will meet him soon enough. I don’t want to rush things by introducing you just yet. I want to be sure that I know him first before he knows you. He may not want to see me again, you never know. We will see what happens in the future.” Joan smiled.
“I doubt that mum, he will see you again. It seems that he liked you, so I hope he will see you again. He seems to make you happy and it makes me happy to see that.” Rebecca smiled. Joan put her plate on the table and wrapped her arms around her daughter, embracing her.
“You are a very mature girl for your age, I’m proud of the way you have become,” Joan told her.
Once they had finished their dinner, Joan had taken out the dirty plates and started to wash them up. She left Rebecca to watch the rest of the film, although she was probably asleep now. Everyone hated washing the dishes but not Joan, she enjoyed doing them. To her, it was peaceful and therapeutic. She wiped her hands clean on her tea towel and glanced at the time. It was getting late and she needed to get Rebecca into bed for school tomorrow. She walked into the living room and Rebecca was indeed asleep as she’d guessed. She put a blanket over her and let her sleep a little longer on the sofa. Joan started to pick up the rubbish that was left over from the Chinese food.
She threw it all into a black bag and headed for the front door to put it in the black bins. It was raining again. She glanced around outside, it was pitch black and the rain poured down heavily. She quickly shut the front door behind her and locked it with the chain. She still couldn’t believe that Wendy was murdered only a few days ago. It was only a few days ago when she saw her at the school and now she’s gone. Joan kept thinking about the children that someone had taken their mother from. Who could do such a thing?
She looked back at Rebecca on the sofa and decided to leave her a little longer. She headed upstairs to her daughter's room, getting out her school uniform for tomorrow and placed it on the ottoman at the end of her bed. Joan went into her bedroom next and saw that one of her windows was wide open, she quickly closed it to stop the cold breeze that was coming inside. As she turned around, the last thing she saw was a masked figure hitting her over the head? She fell to the floor unconscious.
Rebecca had suddenly awoken and panicked when all she could see was darkness. All the lights were out which she thought her mother turned off. She sat up and noticed the blanket that was placed on top of her. She rubbed her eyes and flipped the blanket off. She got up and headed out into the kitchen looking for her mother.
“Mum,” she called. Joan didn’t answer. Rebecca headed down the hallway and noticed that the front door was wide open. She went over and closed it quickly and then she heard a sudden creak coming from upstairs.
“Mum?” She called. But there was still no response. “Mum, are you up there?” She called ag
ain. She heard another creak, so she started up the stairs. Rebecca noticed blood as she neared the top. Her heart was hammering in her chest, knowing something was wrong. As she got to the top, she saw her mother's bedroom door was closed. She stood outside for a couple of seconds, listening, and waiting. She went to put her hand on the handle but the door opened suddenly. Rebecca saw a man standing with a ski mask over his face in front of her, she could only see his green eyes. She looked behind him and saw her mum lying in the middle of the bed with a knife sticking out from her chest. Her hands instantly covered her mouth, letting out a squeak seeing her mother dead.
She ran. She ran as fast as she could to the stairs. The man grabbed her hair from behind and yanked her back. She could smell him, familiar. She hit her elbow out past her waist, hitting him in his stomach. He bent over as he grunted from her sudden impact. She rushed back down the stairs with him hot on her heels and she went straight into the kitchen. She reached for the biggest knife from their knife block on the counter. She turned to face him but it was too late. The knife was knocked out of her hand. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her onto the counter. She started to scream and kick her legs but he pulled out his own knife and she stopped instantly.
“Please don’t kill me.” She cried. He leaned forward almost on top of her. He whispered into her ear.
“Shh,”
The tears were falling down her face as she looked into his eyes. He was familiar, but she just couldn’t think where from. She closed her eyes tight, accepting that this was the end. She waited for the pain, the blood, the darkness. But nothing came. She opened her eyes and he was still looking at her. He moved the knife towards her wrist and sliced it, blood started to drip slowly down her hand and onto the floor.
She winced in pain, but she was expecting worse. He stepped away from her, moving back towards the kitchen door. She watched him leave the room and heard the front door slam behind him. Rebecca grabbed a tea towel and wrapped it around her wrist, she ran for the stairs jumping up three at a time. She got to her mother's room and she ran inside. She was dead, she couldn’t save her. It was too late. Her mother's blood had soaked into the bed sheets and dripped onto the floor. Rebecca’s cries echo throughout the house.