Mother Be The Judge

by O'Brien, Sally

  "Have you found her then Guv?" enquired Mary.

  "Well no I haven't yet." Todd said, exasperated at the question. "But she's here Mary, I know she is; just get them down here. Oh and bring me a coffee please."

  Todd pressed the button to end his call before Mary had a chance to respond to him. He walked over to where the officer from the dog unit was releasing a large German Shepherd from its cage in the back of the van. The dog could only be described as a beast. It was a magnificent example of a German Shepherd with the familiar sloping back and shortened back legged look akin with the bread. It was a very tall dog, its head reaching the hip of the officer who restrained the dog on its leash. A large pink tongue lolled around the dog's mouth and its eyes bulged with excitement. The German Shepherd pulled at the leash, obviously eager to do the job he was trained to do. All twelve stones of the dog put its handler's strength to the test.

  "Rocky, pack up," The officer chastised him. The dog settled back and started to pant heavily waiting further instruction.

  "Hi," Todd came forward. The dog lunged at Todd and was pulled back by its handler. Todd hadn't flinched; he was used to the energetic enthusiasm of police dogs and had complete faith in its handler's abilities.

  "Hello is D.I. Turnbull here?" enquired the officer.

  "Yeah, that's me." Todd rubbed his dirty hands down his even dirtier trousers in an attempt to offer a clean hand to shake.

  "Sorry," said Todd, "It's real dirty and wet out here."

  "That's alright sir," the officer said, obviously used to these kind of situations. "Where do you want me to start?"

  Todd pointed towards the narrow dirt path which led away from the allotments and towards the stream which ran under the dual carriageway that ran above it.

  "Can you take him over there first, we found a girl there a few years ago, and it's possible she is over there."

  The dog handler looked towards where Todd was pointing and nodded ascent then made his way, dog on leash, to the stream. Todd returned to the search team which by now had reached the square plots of the allotments. He got back into his position in the middle of their line and began once again with his search for clues.

  -x-

  18:30 hours

  Todd was aware of the sound of a car pulling up in the alleyway. Thinking it must be Mary Webb; Todd stood up once again and took a long stretch, shaking out his legs to relieve the pressure on his knees. His team had covered all the plots on the allotment in the pouring rain and the search so far had come to nothing. Todd hoped there would be some news from the cadaver dog soon, but was getting the feeling his police senses may have been wrong.

  Instead of Mary appearing at the gates of the allotment, Todd saw that Jogesh Singh a local news reporter; stood in her stead. He grimaced and began to walk towards the reporter noticing the familiar cameraman who always followed him around.

  "What are you doing here?" Todd asked him.

  Jogesh grinned, "I heard through the grapevine that another girl has gone missing." He said, "Have you found her yet?"

  Todd was angry, it annoyed him that someone from the police had had the gall to call the Press. He made a vow to find out who it was and to give them a well-deserved bollocking.

  "You know I can't tell you anything." Todd said to him, "You have to wait for a press release or speak to our press office. Now don't come any closer, you will be trespassing on a potential crime scene."

  Smelling an exclusive, Jogesh inched closer to where Todd was standing. "So you have got a missing child? You should talk to me, we could maybe help you to find her," he offered.

  "No," said Todd, "You know the rules; when I've got something to tell you then I will. Now I can't make you leave but you step one foot on this allotment and I will nick you for obstructing a police investigation."

  "Alright, don't worry." Jogesh ran his hands through his thick black hair. "We will wait here, Greg, set up the camera." He turned to his cameraman who began to set up a tripod where they were standing, Todd, now seemingly dismissed as they went about their business of snooping for monetary gain.

  Todd was always saddened at the way reporters saw any opportunity as a money maker and were probably the only people in the world, apart from the perpetrators, who were excited by death; the more gruesome the better. Everything had its price it seemed and even death and destruction were an opportunity for the vultures that chose to report on it. Todd had actually had a heated debate in the past with a reporter friend over copious amounts of beer. Todd had given the friend his viewpoint and had listened to his friend telling him that reporting the news was a public service and that people had a right to learn what was going on in the world. He had pointed out the many times the Press had exposed wrongdoing and helped to bring people to justice and explained monetary gain was just a happy side effect of being a reporter. His friend maintained that he would be a reporter regardless of the finances as he had a nose for a story and enjoyed a feeling of achievement when he delivered a good report. Todd had grudgingly accepted his friend's explanation and they had both agreed crime and journalism would always go hand in hand. That didn't stop Todd feeling pissed off every time a reporter turned up at one of his investigations.

  -x-

  The heavy panting heralded the return of Rocky the cadaver dog and his handler. Todd knew the search had been fruitless otherwise it would be him going to them rather them the other way around.

  "Nothing?" he asked the question which didn't require an answer.

  "It's very wet up there," the handler said, his drenched hair and clothes bearing testament to that. Rocky gave a vigorous shake, pink tongue swinging furiously with every sideways movement of the head.

  "Ok," said Todd, "Can you go over the allotment plots?"

  "Yes sir, no problem." The handler pulled at Rocky's neck and pointed him in the direction of the plots of land. The handler allowed the dog's leash to get longer and followed Rocky as his nose made its way across the wet terrain.

  DS Mary Webb finally arrived in the passenger seat of the Scenes of Crime Officer's van. The alleyway was already chock a block with cars, a dog van and a reporter so she instructed Jan the SOCO to park on the road outside. Mary slipped and slided her way up the dirt path and then went over to the group which had been created by Todd and his search officers. Jan followed, carrying a tray of paper cups holding lukewarm coffee that had been hot when purchased from the coffee shop fifteen minutes earlier.

  Mary and Jan were met with low level cheers of approval when the cold and wet officers saw them with their tray of coffee and each officer grabbed a cup; some to refresh themselves and others to make use of the warmth the coffee cups offered their freezing hands. The officers, Todd, Mary and Jan huddled like penguins, keeping close together, sharing their body warmth whilst they awaited news from Rocky and his handler.

  "Sir." a shout came from the dog handler in the distance. "Sir, please come over here."

  Todd broke away from the group and ran over to the rear of the allotments, where plots were uncultivated and largely deserted. He saw Rocky sitting in the middle of a plot of land, happily panting and looking pleased with himself.

  "We've got something sir." The handler told Todd.

  "Could it be a fox or anything else?" Todd asked him.

  "No sir, the dog is trained to smell human flesh," he told Todd. "Whatever is under there, it comes from a human and a dead one at that."

  Todd knew that they had found Tiffany. His gut instinct had let him right once again. He thanked the handler who threw Rocky a tennis ball which the dog caught in his mouth before returning to his handler's side.

  Todd walked over to the officers who waited patiently in their huddle for the news he was bringing to them.

  "Did you get the tent?" he asked Mary.

  "Yes Guv. It's in Jan's van." Mary affirmed.

  "Ok, get it, get the shovels, call the photographer again and make sure that fucking cameraman is nowhere near here when the body comes out." T
odd pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket so he could ring the Borough Commander and let him know that very soon there would be one more murder statistic to add to their figures.

  -x-

  20:00 hours

  It took two police officers about twenty minutes to fight their way through the wet ground. The rainwater had caused the mud to compact and it was like sticky clay as they dug down with their shovels. Eventually they uncovered a green tarpaulin and immediately stopped digging for fear of causing damage to what lay beneath it. Jan the SOCO took over along with the now present photographer, who documented every aspect of Jan's investigations; capturing each moment eternally on a digital file.

  Jan used a brush to dust off the mud around the tarpaulin, no easy feat as the bush caused the wet mud to smear. She put anything she considered of significance into a plastic evidence bag; hairs, small bits of paper rubbish and sometimes almost invisible specks which she knew from experience may offer some evidence when scrutinised under a microscope.

  Eventually, once Jan was happy she had scraped clean every possible scrap of evidence surrounding the tarpaulin, she gave the go ahead for two officers to retrieve the body length package from its hole. They took an end each then gently lifted the tightly rolled tarpaulin; it was so tightly ravelled that nothing escaped its embrace.

  The tarp was laid on the floor and Todd watched from the side of the tented area whilst the officers slowly unravelled the green plastic. It was obvious that the contents of the tarpaulin were not featherweight; it took a real effort for the officers to turn it over and over until eventually a terrible smell began to emanate from the confines of the plastic. Dribbles of red liquid started to roll down from the creases of the tarp as it unravelled; Todd, Jan and the two officers all gave gasps of disgust as the smell of rotting flesh assaulted their noses. The liquid secretions became larger and darker in colour, browns and yellows mixed in with the reds and the last turn of the plastic revealed why. A rotten corpse, naked and torn was exposed to the air. Obviously female and a redhead, her body was a multitude of colours; purple being the main one where blood had settled and began to rot inside her. Todd knew this was Tiffany. The absence of formed breasts and the bare pubis showed this was a very young girl and the bright red hair screamed Tiffany at him. Looking closer, hand over mouth and nose in an attempt to block the smell, Todd could see the same raggedy bite marks in Tiffany's skin that had been present on Savannah's body.

  One of the officers who had been unravelling the tarpaulin made a hasty exit from the tent and Todd could hear him evacuating the contents of his stomach outside the tent.

  "Get away from the scene," he shouted out to the officer, although Todd knew that vomit would wait for no man.

  "Oh the poor child," Jan said as she continued her constant picking of evidence from the tarpaulin and started moving towards Tiffany's body.

  "Right, get the Coroner down here now." Todd said into the air knowing that Mary stood outside the tent. He walked out to where she stood. "We better tell the parents before them bastards go live." He said, gesturing to where Jogesh Singh was talking animatedly into the camera now pointed at him.

  "Is it bad Guv?" Mary asked, having no desire to see for herself the devastation that lay inside the tent.

  "It's the same person, I can tell you that much," Todd said, telling Mary about the bite marks, "I hope the bastard left some DNA because this time I'm going to nail that fucker."

  "Well we'll know soon enough." Mary reassured him. "Jan will get those samples to the lab and we will know by the morning. Let's just hope he's on our database."

  "Oh he's on it alright," Todd grimaced. "I know that Adrian Brown is responsible for doing this and I will be knocking on his door the minute the lab results confirm it."

  Mary nodded in agreement and both she and Todd made their way to Todd's car in order to go and complete the unenviable task of letting Tiffany's parents know she would never be going home again.

  Chapter 28

  'Killing is not as easy as the innocent believe.'

  J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

  24th May 2012

  22:00 hours

  Jocasta lolled on her sofa with one eye on the Ten o'clock News and one eye shut. She was in a dozing state but still slightly aware of what was being reported on the television. When a picture of Twockford Rugby Ground flashed up onto the screen, Jocasta immediately came to full attention, sitting up on the sofa and turning up the volume on the television so she could better hear the forthcoming report.

  A serious presenter began to speak with the tickertape headline below proclaiming, 'Body found in Elisworth.' Footage was put up on the screen and Jocasta immediately recognised the alleyway which led to some allotments near Migdon Lane, the same allotments she realised, as where Savannah had been found.

  Jocasta hoped beyond all hopes that the body was that of an adult or a person who had met their fate at the hands of an aggrieved loved one, but as the newsreader told the story, Jocasta soon had those hopes crushed.

  'The body of a young girl known as Tiffany Jones was discovered by police earlier in the evening.' The newscaster reported. 'Her parents had gone to the police earlier in the day to report Tiffany as missing; police quickly deployed search teams and a police sniffer dog discovered her remains buried on an allotment situated near to Twockford Rugby Ground.'

  Remains; Jocasta flinched at the word as it was uttered by the reporter. The unfurling news report stuck a pin into Jocasta's heart with each word that came. She knew that Adrian had committed the crime that was being explained to the nation on the News. Once again Adrian had lied and manipulated her by making her believe that he had committed only one crime. When they had spoken in the kitchen and Adrian had screamed his crime at Jocasta, he had still been astute enough to withhold the knowledge he had of what he had done. Jocasta was absolutely devastated. She didn't know what to do with Adrian, she was now petrified that there could be other girls buried in those allotments awaiting discovery. Jocasta consoled herself that at least Adrian was safely tucked away in the prison she had created for him.

  The next footage was like a lightning bolt to Jocasta's heart. She recognised the face of the handsome police officer who had visited her flat after Savannah had been killed. He spoke now, looking down the lens of the camera, his eyes were looking directly at her and boring a hole in her heart.

  "We have today recovered the body of Tiffany Jones. She was an eleven year old girl who has been missing from her home for eight days. Tiffany has been taken to the Coroner's office and a full investigation is taking place."

  The officer's eyes burned with emotion. Jocasta sat entranced by his piercing stare. "We will get the evidence we need and bring the perpetrator of this crime to justice. Thank you."

  The officer began to turn away from the camera when one of the unseen reporters shouted out to him, "Have you a message for the killer Detective Inspector?" the question stopped him in his tracks and an obvious struggle fought its way across his facial features. He was obviously torn between his professionalism as a police officer and his emotional battle as a human being. He looked back at the camera and Jocasta felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Goose pimples prickled all over her body and blackness started to creep into her eyes. Her lips started to go numb and the last thing she heard before she fainted was, "I'm coming to get you."

  -x-

  Jocasta came around still lying on the sofa. The News was now finished and looking at the clock, she found that she had been unconscious for about ten minutes. Jocasta had never fainted before, she thought she must have stopped breathing whilst watching the news report; it was such a shocking revelation to her that her whole body had just shut down. Jocasta now knew that it would not be long until the officer on the television would come knocking on her door to take away her only son.

  Jocasta was sickened by Adrian's actions. There was nothing inside her that could excuse what Adrian had done but she co
uld not find the strength to hate him. Her love for Adrian was so overwhelmingly strong, he was her flesh and blood and she had borne the physical pain of bringing him into the world. The pain and heartache Adrian had given Savannah and her family and now Tiffany and her family, were devastating, but it was only something which Jocasta could imagine as she had not physically suffered that pain for herself. Whilst Jocasta had great sympathy for the girls and their families, her feelings for Adrian were greater and her emotions played a game of tug of war inside her head.

  Jocasta's most burning issue was the fact Adrian would be taken away from her. He would be thrown into prison and the key would be well and truly thrown away. The sins of Adrian would surely follow him into the prison and he would be open to terrible abuse at the hands of either monsters or even the possibility of death at the hands of gangsters who considered themselves avenging angels.

  Whilst Jocasta knew that Adrian probably deserved the fate which lay before him, she could not imagine her own life without Adrian there. Imagining her daily struggle knowing that Adrian was being tormented, would be the worst way for Jocasta to live, but there still remained the need for justice. Savannah and Tiffany's parents deserved closure and compensation for the children that had been so cruelly taken from them. Jocasta felt guilty that she still had her child when they spent every day mourning the loss of theirs.

  Jocasta also wrestled with an overwhelming feeling of culpability. She had created Adrian; every organ inside him, every part of his skin, every finger, toe and nail on his body. She was his mother and had been responsible for both the nature and nurture of Adrian.

  Any thought Adrian had and every deed he had done must surely have come from Jocasta. She felt ultimately responsible for everything Adrian had ever done as it was her blackened womb which had produced this wicked monster of a man.

  Knowing that she could not live with the thought of Adrian being tormented in a prison cell and now accepting her part in the whole sordid situation; Jocasta made the decision to pay the price for Adrian's sins. Before she was able to do that, Jocasta needed to cleanse Adrian's soul and put her baby to rest.