Where Is She?

by Roger Rapel

  Sumner was getting more and more agitated as the interview went on; he started to lose his rag. Langton then interrupted the appeal before Sumner totally lost control and it became a circus, which would have lost the impact of the appeal to the public.

  Sumner was really angry at Jim and Langton ‘why did you let that go on like that? They’re making out I have killed her well I haven’t.’ He then stormed off and went on the piss.

  Langton the psychologist and Jim sat in Langton’s office where they discussed the implications of the interview. The psychologist said ‘well I don’t think you need me to tell you that he is lying through his teeth.’ Jim said ‘he’s guilty as sin; I just need something; a witness, something other than suspicion. I think we should tear his house apart.’ Langton nodded, get a warrant and I’ll organise the works including his garden to be dug.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jim arrived home to find Jackie lying on the floor; it looked as though she had fallen. He felt her pulse which was just about there, he tried to wake her, but she was out cold. He called an ambulance which arrived in minutes, she was rushed to hospital. Jim travelled behind in his car, but he couldn’t keep up with the blue lights as the ambulance went through red lights as traffic pulled out of the way.

  He arrived at A&E where he was shown to a side cubical where Jackie was lying looking as white as sheet with an oxygen mask on and a saline drip in the back of her hand.

  The on duty doctor came in and shook Jims hand, he made enquires as to her general health and her eating habits; all he could say was, that they had been away on spa week-end and they had both eaten much the same during their stay. The consultant ordered an x-ray; Jackie was pushed down to the radiology dept. by a porter as Jim walked along-side her. She was still out like a light completely sparked out.

  The radiologist was very attentive and before long she was heading back to the A&E. The consultant pushed the x-ray negatives into the holders and looked at the results, he then stated she had a broken leg as a result of her fall and had banged her head and was severely concussed; your partner needs an operation as the break is close to a major artery and she needs to go under now as matter of urgency. With that Jim signed the consent form for Jackie as she was rushed down to theatre.

  Jim could do nothing as he paced up and down. He went outside where he called Langton informing him of the situation. ‘Right Jim don’t you dare come to work till this is sorted, I mean that, I don’t want to hear about you working, look after Jackie. I’ll sort matters out here, don’t worry about your time I’ll book you on and off. Right bugger off Jim, just update me when you can.’ Jim thanked Langton as he was almost in tears as the emotion of the situation was hitting him.

  Jim stayed the night just pacing up and down then sitting on a bench seat. He was just about to nod off when a drunken yobbo came in slurring his speech demanding to see a doctor now. One of the nurses told him to calm down. He grabbed hold of her and slapped her in the face. That was enough for Jim, he stood up and grabbed hold of the yobbo and took him outside by the scruff of the neck; on the way out he asked the nurse to call the police on 999.

  Once outside Jim gave him a crunching blow to the guts which made yobbo curl up on the floor and spew up. Jim just stood beside him as he could hear the sound of police two tones in the distance. He knew the difference between the services sirens. Within a few minutes a police area car arrived; the driver acknowledged Jim, he informed him had taken the yob outside after he had slapped a nurse then he collapsed. The officer nodded he looked at the yobbo and indicated with spew and piss all over him he wasn’t going to take him in his car so called for a police transit. When it arrived the yobbo was dragged inside and taken to the drunk cell.

  Jim went back inside and saw the nurse who was grateful to Jim for intervening. He looked at her face which was glowing red having received a full-force slap. He said ‘you’re in the right placed to get that seen too,’ as he laughed. The nurse nodded and tried to smile then went back to work holding a hand to her face.

  The remainder of the night was uneventful as he drifted in and out of sleep. The nurse that had been slapped came to Jim and said ‘Jackie is out of theatre she is doing fine and was in the recovery ward, I can sneak you in for five minutes then you better go home, she will be out of it for some time yet.’ Jim nodded as he was sneaked into the ward; he looked at Jackie with all different tubes and devices coming out of her mouth and nose. She looked so peaceful. Jim held her hand for five minutes then his time was up.

  Jim arrived home where he crashed setting his phone alarm for 4 hours. No sooner had he crashed when the alarm went off. He got up and called Jackie’s D/I informing him of the emergency; stating he would update him later on her condition and visiting hours.

  He grabbed a bite to eat then went back to the hospital; by this time Jackie had been moved to a normal ward. Jim took the lift to the top floor. He spoke with the ward sister who smiled and said ‘ah Sir Galahad I heard how you helped out last night.’ He smiled ‘how’s the patient?’ ‘She’s fine she’s in room number 5, just take as long as you want, but don’t let her move too much she’s had a big operation and needs all the rest she can get.’ Jim thanked the ward sister and went into the room. Jackie looked so peaceful; there were fewer tubes than before so her face was more visible.

  He sat on a chair next to her bed and held her hand then stroked her forehead. After about 20 minutes the tea trolley came around, he winked at the assistant and said ‘I’d love a coffee sweetheart.’ ‘Shhh, I’m not supposed to; here you are my love and one for your wife.’ That struck a chord with Jim as he looked at Jackie. Then thought; she could be my wife.

  Jackie began to stir as she tried to lick her lips which were so dry, she tried to say something, but her tongue was so swollen from lack of moisture. Jim picked up one of the plastic cups with a bendy straw in; he placed the end in her mouth as she drew the moisture up. She only took in a little sip; it was just enough to enable her to put a couple of words together. As she looked at Jim; ‘what am I doing here? Where am I Jim? Why am I in bed?’ Jim stroked her head and said ‘shhh babes you’re in hospital, you’ve had an operation, but you’re okay now, just rest.’ Jackie smacked her lips together as she frowned; Jim knew she was trying to form some kind of questions, she continued to smack her lips which were still so dry from the lack of moisture. Jim held the plastic cup and placed the end of the straw in her mouth again as she took another sip.

  Jackie’s head was still fuzzy as she continued frowning; then said in a half awake husky voice ‘the last thing I remember was being in the flat; what am I doing here?’ As if saved by the bell one of the nursing staff came in to take her pulse and blood pressure and give Jackie her medication. Jim stepped outside for five minutes where he took in copious amounts of air breathing deeply. He rubbed his hands over his eyes feeling the tiredness creeping up on him. The nurse came out and said ‘she needs to rest as she is tired.’ Jim nodded as he went back in the room; Jackie by this time had drifted back to sleep he stroked her head then kissed her on the forehead and went home.

  Once he arrived home he called Langton to update him; then rang Jackie’s D/I who enquired when she could receive visitors. Jim stated in a day or so, but would let him know.

  Jim then undressed and collapsed on the bed and slept for a few hours catching up on much needed sleep. When he woke up he quickly showered then went back to the hospital. When he entered the room the he saw a completely different Jackie; the anaesthetic had worn off and she had colour in her cheeks; this was a complete contrast to earlier. Although still tired she was not as groggy as she had been in the morning.

  ‘Oh Jim what happened I can’t seem to find out?’ ‘It appears you must have fallen awkwardly and broke you’re leg.’ Jackie smiled ‘Oh Jim I was so tired I just wanted to get home I must have tripped over that bloody door mat, that’s the last thing I remember.’ ‘Well you’re okay now that’ll teach you to get pissed’ as he smiled.
Jackie slapped his arm as she laughed.

  The anaesthetic having worn off brought the pain on; as a result she was administered pain killers.

  The doctor examined Jackie then confirmed she would be okay to go home in a day or so the plaster cast was fully set. It was all the way up above the knee; it was the concussion that was worrying them; they wanted to monitor her for another 24 hours.

  Jim then let everyone know she was okay for visitors, but not all to arrive at once, suggesting that someone chart the numbers and times. Slowly the visitors arrived which cheered her up with flowers and chocolates.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The warrant obtained for Sumner’s address the workforce went about a full house search but nothing was found. State of the art heat seeking and x-ray devices were used to walk the garden, but disappointingly it turned out to be a negative search.

  The search of the common was the last resort. Langton nodded as he looked at Jim saying ‘it’s a massive area it will take weeks to search; okay let’s do it.’ Langton called the special unit which dealt with searching and asked the head to issue a press release for volunteers.

  The day of the search came as hundreds of volunteer’s turned up wearing an array of bright coloured clothing; most were ramblers; although there were others underdressed for the occasion, but nonetheless willing people.

  The head of the search unit had been involved in many searches and knew that refreshments would be needed. He had arranged a tea wagon and enlisted the Women’s Royal Volunteer Service (WRVS) to help. This group of women loved this kind of occasion, as it beat the cream cake competitions and jumble sales.

  The teams were divided so volunteers were spaced between officers as some people could get over enthusiastic and race ahead; a straight line was necessary to achieve the best search pattern.

  The multi-coloured line began the walk through the woods. The bracken was hard work as the thick stems were entwined with brambles causing unbreakable trip hazards; but slowly and methodically the search continued until midday when the tea wagon arrived; the WRVS served tea and coffee; on a separate table ready-made sandwiches were handed out. Once fed and foddered the search continued; in total it took 3 weeks to complete, but nothing was found. Jim was so disappointed; it had been a long shot which had to be completed; although he had hoped for a better result.

  Jim continued to work half days until Jackie could get up and about, although then he never worked beyond his eight hours till she was strong enough. Slowly Jackie was getting sturdier on her feet aided by crutches. The concussion had left her with a few balance problems which was not ideal while trying to walk on crutches.

  The physio treatment after the plaster came off was slowly helping, although that too came to an end after six weeks, so it was down to Jim to encourage her and then join in with the exercises, much to the laughter of Jackie. Slowly she was back to work, then back to full time.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jim could do nothing else; albeit he was convinced Sumner was Janet’s killer. His arrogance and the way he had reacted at the press conference made him think he was the one; he had nothing to go on other than his intuition. He had to leave it until something else came to light; as a result the incident inquiry was being scaled down.

  Jim had suggested some kind of surveillance on Sumner to see who he was meeting, but that was knocked on the head. The force unit that conducted surveillance was under pressure and had to provide the top cases with their service. They used a graph of importance; all the jobs that didn’t fit the criteria were not even considered; those that were then underwent another means test till finally the top 3 were chosen, so as soon as one was completed, they moved onto the next.

  Jim decided now that Jackie was better he would do some observations on Sumner himself to try and establish some kind of intelligence against him. He would sit in his car just monitoring his movements and tried to undertake a one car follow, but that was near impossible without showing out.

  He eventually had to give up it was too time consuming, plus Jackie was asking questions about his late nights out.

  He just needed that one piece of information or evidence that would give him the ammunition to get Sumner to the interview room. He couldn’t interview him as a suspect without something concrete; well not the hard type of questioning he wanted to put him through.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jim sat at his desk contemplating where and how to move the investigation forward. He opened his A4 book and began re-reading all his notes; no matter how much he read and re-read his notes nothing came to light no spark.

  He sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his neck interlocking his fingers and closing his eyes just hoping that something, some spark of inspiration would spring from somewhere; but nothing did. He looked around the office seeing no one was in, said out loud ‘fuck it, I know it’s him,’ then he slammed the desk.

  That didn’t make him feel any better he just needed the relief from the deep frustration he was feeling. He continued to sit at his desk still hoping for the spark to ignite from somewhere; when Langton called him into his office. ‘Yes guv?’ ‘Close the door Jim.’ Jim closed the door as Langton poured two fingers of scotch handing Jim one. ‘How’s Jackie?’ ‘She’s fine thanks nearly back to full fitness.’ ‘That’s good news, must have been a shock to find her that way.’ ‘Yeah it was; that bloody door mat, you know we had discussed changing it a number of times, but never got around to it.’ Jim finished his scotch as he put his hand over his glass as Langton went to refill it. ‘Need a clear head. This enquiry has got my senses going again, Sumner definitely is the murderer, we need a body or some other information; I know he is her killer.’

  Jim thought he would re contact Sandra Rose to go over the places they went, and anything else that might give him a clue as to where Janet maybe.

  Having made arrangements he knocked on Sandra’s door, she opened it, he thought wow! As she stepped back so Jim could enter the hallway. She was wearing a short skirt and low cut top. ‘Would you like coffee?’ ‘Yes please.’ He watched her as she walked to the kettle and put coffee in the mugs making no effort to hide her figure as she over emphasized her motions. She could feel Jim’s eyes on her and was relishing the attention.

  She bought the cups to the table and leaned forward purposely as her top opened she put one cup down as she smiled and attempted to cover up her ample cleavage. Jim nodded and smiled.

  Sandra sat down and cupped her hands around her mug and smiled at Jim. ‘Okay Sandra I want you to think about the places you went to with Sumner, anywhere, lonely spots somewhere special, somewhere just you and him went?’ ‘That’s quite difficult as he never took me anywhere nice. Oh just a minute we did go sometimes to a spot near some woods he liked playing games and pretending, you know play-acting, pretending he was the game keeper and me Lady Chatterley.’ He saw her smile and colour up as she drank some more coffee. Her eyes were bright and glistening as she peered over her mug. ‘Which woods were they?’ ‘Near that big estate, you know the big shooting estate.’ ‘Did you agree to those play acting games?’ She smirked as she nodded and coloured up again. She changed the subject; ‘more coffee?’ Jim nodded as he smiled at her. She was inwardly enjoying his attention on her as she got up allowing her top to billow open again, but this time she made no attempt to cover up. Jim was fixated by the sight of her well-endowed breasts. She then went to the sink. She washed up the mugs; Jim got up and stood next to her as he dried the mugs.

  He had to fight the thought of grabbing her but, instead he returned to the table. He picked his pen as he opened his A4 book. ‘Could that be the Larches Estate?’ ‘Yes that’s the one, now you’ve mentioned the name, I remember it.’ ‘Any chance of showing me the place you went? Was it always the same place each time?’ ‘No problem; finish our coffee and I’ll show you.’ ‘Yes mam.’ As Jim mocked her jokingly, she responded ‘now Mellor’s behave. Although I think I will have to change, on the other hand I won
’t.’ They finished their coffee as Jim went to the toilet; then they set off.

  Jim couldn’t take his eyes off her long legs as she tried to pull down what little material there was of her skirt. Jim laughed ‘perhaps you should have changed.’ ‘He used to like me in short skirts.’ ‘Well I Can see why, you have a lovely figure, very nice mam.’ ‘Well thank you Mellor’s.’ ‘You better be careful I might turn into Mellor’s.’ ‘I bet you could.’ She was now openly flirting with him; as they sent comments back and forth laughing as they went. Jim thought, no I can’t; but what gorgeous legs she has; no fuck off Jim, down boy.

  As they approached the estate Sandra directed Jim to a narrow entrance, ‘this is it, in there.’ Jim carefully drove into the secluded entrance track. ‘He would stop about here; then well you know.’ Jim smiled ‘yes Mrs Chatterley.’ They laughed as Jim got out of the car and thought; could Janet be buried in here somewhere. He began walking a short way into woods, but couldn’t see anything obvious. He needed to seek the help of the game keeper.

  Sandra sat in the car as she watched Jim walk into the woods, as she thought he is so nice, and tall with it. She liked tall men and a nice bum. Her mind went to the games in the woods that she had played; then thought, it would be nice with Jim; she smiled to herself thinking of how she would like him to make a move on her. Then she thought of Sumner, as sadness came across her face.

  Jim returned to the car to see Sandra smiling at him, he got into the car as he looked at her and said ‘what?’ ‘Oh just imagining you as Mellor’s.’ ‘Now, now behave.’ ‘I suppose I must you being a copper.’ ‘Mmm; perhaps another time.’ ‘You promise.’ ‘When this is over, I’ll pop around for a coffee.’ ‘That would be very nice.’ Jim started the car as he drove back to Sandra’s house dropping her off. He thought fuck me she’s a right little raver, what a body.