What She Saw

by Diane Saxon

  ‘Shit.’ Mason rubbed his chest as he let out a deep grunt.

  Oblivious of her near-death experience, the deer danced with grace and finesse into the embankment on the right-hand side and disappeared into the undergrowth.

  Before Jenna had time to suck in the breath she desperately needed, a small fawn high-stepped across the road in front of the car, a new-born with legs still gangly and thin, unlike the beast who’d come before it.

  The bright band of headlights coming from beyond the curves in the road from the opposite direction had Jenna’s heart lodging in her throat. She slapped her hand on the hazard light button and hoped to hell the other driver saw her as a third deer trotted with unfounded casualness in front of the car, then a fourth, fifth and sixth. In a desperate bid to slow the oncoming driver down without further spooking the herd, Jenna flashed her headlights at the approaching car.

  Almost too late, the driver slammed on its brakes. The advancing car kangaroo-hopped straight at them so Jenna gripped the steering wheel and braced herself. At the last moment, the car slewed into the middle of the road and jerked to a standstill. Orange hazard lights blazed within a split second of it coming to a halt, bright flashes illuminating the darkness.

  Jenna released a slow breath as another three deer pranced across the road on spring-assisted legs. She clawed her short hair back from her face, gasped out a breath and sat in silence waiting for the next member of the herd to pop out of the trees while the pulse in the base of her neck stammered.

  When nothing further emerged, Jenna depressed the clutch and shoved the car in first gear to let it crawl alongside the other vehicle which displayed the green ‘P’ sticker on its bonnet to indicate a newly qualified driver.

  7

  Sunday 19 April 0115 hours

  Jenna stabbed the button to wind down her window. She pulled her warrant card from where it was attached to her waistband on a bungee cord. She’d given up wearing it on a lanyard around her neck ever since Fliss had almost been strangled by an attacker with the dog lead she’d had looped around her neck. It was a lesson she’d determined not to ignore.

  She peered through the dark at the other driver, who’d wound down their window. ‘Hi. I’m DS Jenna Morgan and this is DC Mason Ellis. Everyone okay in there?’

  Fear glazed the young driver’s eyes as they almost popped out of her head while her lips trembled into a vacant smile. ‘I wasn’t going too fast. I was only going fifty.’

  Jenna inclined her head and, with one eye on the burning sky, lowered her voice to soothe rather than terrify. After all, she’d been going fifty too and with all the experience in the world and an advanced grade one driving certificate, she’d almost taken the damned deer out. If she hadn’t been distracted by the fire in the sky, it probably would have made no difference, wildlife was just that. Wild and unpredictable. At around forty-five kilograms and almost the height of the car, the first female had been no lightweight. Hitting an animal that size wouldn’t have resulted in a small dint in the car but a complete wreck.

  With a reassurance she didn’t quite feel herself, she forced her lips to curve into a gentle smile. ‘Fifty is the speed limit along here, and you stopped in good time, but just be careful along this road. The deer frequently bolt across and if you hit one at fifty, at best you’ll kill a deer and write off your car, at worst you’ll kill a deer and yourself.’ She’d been so close herself, the shock of it still ran cold through her veins.

  The wide eyes blinked, and the baby-faced girl jerked her head three times in acknowledgement, the smooth plumpness of her young cheeks wobbled while her mouth worked to say something, but no sound came from her lips.

  Jenna glanced beyond the girl to the other two wide-eyed passengers and understood their inability to catch their breath. The tight band around her own chest still squeezed, but she had a job to do.

  ‘Where are you off to?’ The distinct scent of alcohol drifted from the over-warm interior of the other car and Jenna’s heart sank as she narrowed her eyes to take in the occupants again before she centred her attention on the driver.

  The young woman’s eyes cleared in an instant and she sat bolt upright as awareness of the situation hit her. ‘We’re on our way home. I haven’t been drinking. My friends have. We went for a quick one down at the local. But I didn’t drink. I wouldn’t. My mum would kill me. I’ve only just passed my test. Mum doesn’t want us out late. She said she’d be awake until we got home. She’d kill me if she thought I was drink-driving.’ Words spilled over themselves as she tried to get them out in some semblance of an order and Jenna’s lips twitched with amusement.

  ‘Like, she bloody would kill ’er. ’Er mum’s like a dragon. Terrifies the frickin’ life ou’ of me. But Sophie hasn’t been drinking. We did, like, but she’s just passed her test and ’er mum would kill ’er. It’s the first time, like, we’ve come out since she passed last week.’ Jenna’s brain fogged as the passenger leaned over and almost blew her head off. Vodka, with fumes like that, it had to be vodka.

  ‘Have a good time, did we?’ Jenna barely acknowledged their quick giggles and nudges as they chorused their approval. Concerned, she glanced at the road ahead and behind her, the kick of urgency to clear the route uppermost in her mind. She needed to get the kids off the road, but knowing what she knew, there was no way she could let them go. She glanced up at the burnished sky. PC Walker was at the site. It would have to wait. The more pressing matter was right in front of her. Her number one priority was to get the girls to a place of safety. Protect. Always protect.

  Aware of Mason in the passenger seat finishing up his call for assistance she ducked her head back inside the car and cruised a searching gaze over him. ‘You want to drive our car, or the one with the three potentially drunk women?’

  He ducked his head, moving closer to Jenna so he could take a good long look in through the windows of the car at the three girls, their twittering voices raised in panicked whispers. The blink and slow pull of his breath told her everything she needed to know even before he spoke. ‘This one.’ He’d happily step into the path of a charging psychopath for her, but he’d rather not get involved with teenage girls.

  ‘Wise decision.’

  Aware she needed to get a move on in case any other traffic pulled up, Jenna turned back to the driver. ‘Sophie, I can smell alcohol, so I’m obliged to get you breathalysed. I can’t do it myself, so we’ve sent for a uniformed officer to come out. They won’t be long, but we need to get off this road before any other vehicles come along. Hop out of the driver’s seat and I’ll drive your car just down to the pull-off where it’s safe.’

  Sophie’s bottom lip quivered.

  ‘Do you understand?’ Jenna sent her a long, searching look as she checked her over for signs of inebriation. None that she could tell, but the moment she’d smelled the alcoholic fumes, she’d been under an obligation to call it in.

  Sophie nodded.

  With her hazards still flashing, Jenna left the engine running while she unclipped her seat belt and slipped out of the driver’s door just as Mason flopped himself from the passenger seat into the driver’s with long drawn-out grunts as he caught himself up on the central console.

  ‘Bugger. Ahhh, bugger.’

  Jenna ducked her head into the car. ‘You should have walked around.’

  He shot her a pained grin as he grabbed at his thigh and rubbed. ‘Too easy. I like the bruises. Shows I’ve been working.’

  ‘Shows you’re an idiot.’ She slammed the door and turned towards the other car as all three girls opened their doors. The tiny front-seat passenger tottered around the bonnet of the car, her own skewed logic dictating her direction, on heels high enough to scaffold The Wrekin. She weaved past Sophie, who strode in the opposite direction in sensible, flat shoes obviously specific for driving. Sophie leaped into the front passenger seat while the diminutive figure with an enormous bosom shimmied her way into the vacant back seat next to the shadowy image of the third
passenger. All the time, their desperate dramatic twitter carried on the quiet night air.

  Dear God! Save me from teenage girls.

  Jenna heaved out a sigh and slipped into the driver’s seat of the brand new, cute little Fiat Panda Pop in a bright tango red.

  After a speedy check in both directions for oncoming traffic, she whipped the seat back to accommodate her long legs, adjusted the mirrors, strapped herself in and put the idling engine into first gear. She let it kangaroo-hop along for a moment before flooring the accelerator just to get a little poke out of it. With a full house, the small 1.2 litre engine would struggle with the weight and loading. But with a surprising whoosh, it kicked in and careered them along the road, within seconds reaching the 50 mph speed limit.

  The fresh smell of new car was almost overpowered by the alcohol.

  Impossible to tune out their voices, Jenna allowed them to free-range around her.

  ‘Sophie, you should ring your mum. Let her know. She’ll be out here quick as a flash.’ Surprised at the enthusiasm of the girl in the back who so far Jenna hadn’t heard from, she opened her mouth to reply, but the little one jumped in first.

  ‘You have got to be frickin’ kidding, Chanel, if Sophie’s mum comes out, she’ll be ripping tits and balls off every frickin’ copper in sight.’

  More amused than offended, Jenna slowed the car down.

  Sophie turned in her seat to engage the others. ‘Mum wouldn’t do that. She’d be very respectful, Olivia, as should you be.’

  Olivia snorted and collapsed back against the seat just as Jenna flung the car into a driveway on the left, circled it around and made her way back the way they’d come, knowing there was a good length of driveway further along the road at Farley where the old Rock House Inn nestled between two sweeping bends. No longer a public house, it nevertheless had good enough access for Jenna to pull in behind where Mason waited for them, leaving enough room for a response vehicle to come alongside.

  ‘What the hell is that red bubble in the sky?’ Chanel hitched herself forward to lean in the gap between the two front seats. ‘Shit. That looks like something’s on fire.’ With a quick stab, she poked one long, acrylic nail into Jenna’s shoulder. ‘Shouldn’t you call the fire brigade? There’s a fucking fire over there. We could be in danger. Do you think we should move?’ The drama queen stabbed her in the shoulder again. Jenna whipped around to face her and, with her patience starting to wear threadbare, she cast the girl a strained but reassuring smile.

  ‘We don’t need to move. We’re in no danger. The fire isn’t anywhere near us. I don’t need to call the fire brigade. They’re already there. We would be too if you and your…’ She flicked her gaze down at the purple can of Shake Baby Shake vodka cocktail Chanel grasped to her chest and sighed. Four per cent. They would have had to have drunk a hell of a lot to get wasted. ‘…Alcohol consumption hadn’t detained us.’

  Not to be distracted, Chanel continued to gaze up out of the front windscreen. ‘Where’s it coming from?’

  They’d know soon enough in the morning, there was no point trying to hide it now. ‘Kimble Hall.’

  ‘What?’ Sophie whipped around in her seat, huge blue eyes almost bursting out of her head. ‘Poppy Lawrence lives there.’

  Dammit. Jenna’s heart sank, perhaps she should have kept it to herself. ‘Poppy Lawrence?’

  ‘Yeah, she’s a friend.’ Chanel and Olivia both vied for the middle position on the back seat so they could squeeze themselves into the gap. The sweet smell of chemical colouring, sugar syrup and alcohol wafted into the front. ‘She was supposed to be with us tonight, but she had some kind of family do she had to go to.’

  ‘Okay. So, she wasn’t allowed out?’

  The girls exchanged uneasy glances as Sophie shook her head, lowered her voice. ‘No.’ She shrugged. ‘What her dad says, goes.’ She chewed on her bottom lip and Jenna gave her the time while the girl contemplated whether to say more. And there was more, there always would be with family dynamics. ‘She’s a bit scared of him.’

  ‘Fuckin’ A she is. He’s terrifying. Some big-shot estate agent. My dad can’t stand him. Says he a fuckin’…’ Olivia nudged Chanel in the ribs. ‘Well, he is. Poppy’s brother, Joshua, is always in trouble at school cos his dad keeps telling him he’s better than everyone else and he can have anything he wants. Poppy’s not like that. She’s nice, but her brother’s turning out to be a right little git.’

  Jenna made a mental note to check out the good Mr Lawrence when she got to the scene.

  Bright headlights cut through the dark as the approaching car rounded the bend and flashed on its blues to strobe around, bouncing off the warm white walls of the old converted pub.

  The squad car slowed down and pulled alongside them to effectively block them in.

  Aware of time slipping by, Jenna needed to stop the constant jabbering, if only for her own sanity. If she could have slammed her hands against her ears and yelled for them to shut up, she quite happily would have. But she was a police officer. She needed to show professionalism.

  She raised her voice, pitched it with authority. ‘Right.’ Jenna glanced around at them. ‘Sophie, you’ll need to take a breathalyser.’

  Back to terrified, Sophie jerked a nod at Jenna.

  ‘I don’t think you have anything to worry about,’ Jenna reassured her with a soft smile. She’d bet her badge the young woman hadn’t been drinking, she was too proud of her newly acquired driving licence to be so stupid, and by the sound of her mother, she’d be jerked right back on those rails if she threatened to go off them. ‘You other two, Olivia, Chanel…’ Jenna turned in her seat and the blue lights illuminated their faces in quick flashes. ‘You’ll need to let the officer know you’re old enough to drink.’ At the quick intake of breath from Olivia, Jenna closed her eyes. Give her strength, someone else needed to deal with all this crap. ‘Do yourselves a favour? Lose the fake IDs, tell the truth and take the punishment, because quite honestly the officer is just going to want to pack you off home to your mums.’

  She unstrapped her seatbelt and let herself out of the door, hoping she knew the officers who had arrived.

  As PC Donna McGuire stepped from the vehicle to greet her, Jenna couldn’t help but grin. She couldn’t have found herself a better officer to deal with these three, if she’d put in a personal request. Donna’s experience, judgement and empathy were next to none.

  ‘Hey, Donna.’

  ‘Sarge.’

  Mason stepped up alongside her as Jenna glanced at the young police officer with Donna. New to the force, Jenna recognised her but couldn’t for the life of her pull the woman’s name from her overtaxed brain.

  As usual, Donna never hesitated to keep things smooth. ‘This is Natalie Kempson. She’s shadowing me until she gets her feet under her.’

  ‘Natalie. Hi.’ Aware of time slipping by, Jenna shot the newbie a fast smile and a perfunctory nod, anxious to get off. ‘Donna,’ she took the PC by the elbow, more than comfortable with their familiarity, and stepped her away from the little Fiat Panda Pop. ‘Look, we had a little issue with deer leaping out in front of us. Nothing happened, nobody got hurt, we all just pulled to a standstill. When they wound down the window, I smelled alcohol so couldn’t let it go.’

  Jenna’s lips twitched as Donna grimaced. ‘Great.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I don’t think the driver, Sophie, has been drinking and the other two are hardly on the hardcore stuff. Bloody four per cent vodka cocktail, smells far worse than it is, I think, because of the bloody chemical flavourings. Anyway, could you breathalyse the driver and send them on their way if she’s negative. Take their details and just zap them over for me to pick up later?’

  ‘Sure, no problem.’ Donna fished in her pocket for her notepad and pen. ‘Do I need to put the fear of God into them, or is it softly-softly?’

  This time Jenna grinned. ‘Definitely the soft approach. I think they’re nice girls.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I just wi
sh they’d stop twittering like overexcited brainless birds.’

  Donna let out a soft snort. ‘That’s teenage girls for you.’

  ‘I don’t for one moment think they’re brainless.’ Jenna let out a soft shudder.

  ‘I know. Their mouths just don’t stop.’

  Jenna cast a quick glance back at them. ‘Yeah.’ She drew Donna a step further away. ‘Turns out they’re friends with the girl that lives at Kimble Hall.’ She jerked her head in the general direction of the lit-up sky.

  ‘The house fire?’ Donna sucked air in through her teeth. ‘We’ve just come from there. It doesn’t look good.’

  Mason edged in closer, effectively cutting off the girls behind with his broad shoulders.

  Even so, Jenna lowered her voice so the girls in the car couldn’t catch what she said. ‘Tell them nothing.’

  Donna’s thick black hair fell forward in a curtain and the blue lights bounced off it as she shook her head, throwing a soft blue satin halo around her head.

  ‘Do me a favour, Donna?’

  Donna lifted her head, her liquid eyes gleamed in the myriad of illumination. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Presuming young Sophie blows a negative, which I suspect she will, hang around to make sure they get off home. They’re all a little overexcited.’ At Donna’s nod, Jenna leaned in. ‘And make sure our little drama queen, Chanel, doesn’t get a hare-brained idea to shoot off and check on the fire situation. We don’t need any rubberneckers at the scene.’

  ‘Right, Sarge.’

  Jenna patted Donna’s shoulder, knowing from her own experience with the woman how gentle and empathetic she would be. There was no one better at assessing a situation than PC McGuire.

  Jenna turned away, strode back to the Fiat Panda and leaned in through the front window. She gave them a moment for the excited twitter to fall into a breathless silence. ‘Good to meet you, ladies, I’m leaving you in the competent care of PCs McGuire and Kempson.’ Jenna ran her gaze over Sophie. ‘Drive carefully and keep safe. Goodnight.’