What She Saw

by Diane Saxon

  ‘We don’t know anything yet, Ethel.’ Jenna conjured up a weak smile for the sake of the old woman. ‘Mr Crawford has a cup of tea made for you.’

  Sandy looped her hand under Ethel’s arm as the old lady made her way to the steps and raised her chin in acknowledgement. ‘Ethel insists she can walk her way up the path to her own home.’

  Ethel’s rusty laughter jiggled as she took one cautious step at a time. ‘Can’t have Mr Crawford thinking there’s something wrong with me. He’ll only worry.’

  Warmth at the affection the couple showed for each other spread through Jenna’s chest and moved her concern along, so it became secondary. This time when she smiled, it came from the heart. ‘Bye, now.’

  As she slipped inside the car and fastened her seat belt, Jenna blew out a breath.

  ‘She’s probably right, you know. Poor babies. Poor everyone. It sounds as though they were in the house.’

  Mason stretched a wide yawn, letting out a loud groan. ‘Yep. What a shit night.’ He shot her a narrow-eyed stare. ‘Lawrence doesn’t exactly come across as an exemplary character. Bit trigger-happy. You don’t think he…?’

  ‘I don’t think anything yet.’ Nothing she was willing to voice.

  She nudged the start button and put the car in gear.

  ‘Are we off home now?’ His voice hopeful, Mason gave her a pleading smile.

  Jenna checked the time on the dashboard. She’d love to go home. ‘Sorry, Mason, we need to check that we’ve covered everything first. We’ll drop back to the site, check on Ted Walker. It’s not his area, officially, but I’m assuming he was the closest when the shout came up.’ The location was equidistant between Ted’s patch of Ironbridge and the area of Much Wenlock.

  Mason slipped down in his seat and wrapped his arms around his middle in a petulant shrug. ‘Just as long as you follow the road back. I’m not sure my spine can take any more if you try and cut across the fields.’

  Jenna pulled off the dirt track and onto the main road. ‘I’d never find my way back.’

  ‘Yeah. We’d probably die out there in the wilderness.’

  Jenna snorted out a laugh.

  11

  Sunday 19 April 0330 hours

  Poppy scrubbed shaky hands over her sweat-filmed face as she collapsed into the thick, dirty straw in the old barn, sending up a cloud of dust.

  Forthefuckoffucksake!

  She sucked in breath after breath of filthy air and puffed it out through her nostrils.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid of her. She’d taken a diversion out of the woodland once she considered herself far enough away from the house not to be seen. It had proved too hard to push her way through the undergrowth, but she’d been halfway across the farmer’s fields before she’d thought to turn her phone off.

  Forthefuckoffucksake!

  She should have known better, reacted faster, but she’d been too panic-stricken to think straight.

  She had bloody Find-a-Friend on her phone.

  Mum liked to know where she was. A safety net, she insisted. Daddy kept track of her – she’d had no say in that matter as he paid the bill. The twins thought it was fun to know where she was, they got a thrill out of checking up on her. She never minded. If they needed her it was okay. They were her babies too, she’d virtually raised them herself while Mum was too comatose to care.

  Her heart gave a painful hitch as a mewling sob broke free. They’d never need her again.

  She never allowed her younger brother to track her. That was just weird. But he was dead too. She’d heard the boom of her dad’s shotgun.

  The hot scald of tears tracked down her face as her heart contracted.

  Aside from direct family, Olivia and Sophie were connected to Find-a-Friend, although she’d never trusted Chanel. Chanel was a bitch, always vying for the position of top dog. A drama queen, always ready to diss someone else to get ahead.

  Poppy allowed her head to sink into the sharp prickle of straw while she clutched at the side of her chest, exerting a firm pressure to get the bleeding to stop.

  Pain sent a rhythmic, pulsing throb to radiate outwards from the wound.

  It was too dirty in the barn for her to risk a look and too dark without the light from her phone to see in any case. Another thing she didn’t dare risk. To switch it on, to have a look, even for a moment, would be madness.

  She did need to look though. To check for infection, bleeding, evidence of a lung wound.

  She wasn’t squeamish. She wanted to be a vet. She’d had her hands inside a cow’s heart, her sensitive fingertips delicately investigating the heart strings while the other girls stood by pulling faces.

  ‘Eeeewww, Poppy, how could you?’

  She could. She’d spent her work experience at a vet’s practice and loved every moment of it.

  Another snivel escaped her as she pushed aside her memories.

  Once she could move, she’d inspect it. If she could wash her hands, she’d have a good poke. It would hurt like crazy, but she needed to know how bad it was.

  An airy, light-headed disassociation swept over her. For the first time since Daddy shot her, she had a chance to think about more than just escape.

  She calmed her breathing.

  The police would be looking for her. It was her fault. They wouldn’t listen. They’d arrest her and she’d spend the rest of her life in prison.

  Tears leaked from her eyes to roll down her temples into her matted hair.

  She sucked in her breath.

  Relax.

  It was always better if you could relax.

  She blew out a long, controlled breath. There was no rattle to her breathing. Her chest remained tight, but the pain was external, and she wasn’t coughing up blood. Surely, she’d cough up blood if the bullet had pierced her lung?

  She blew out another breath, her limbs going to liquid as exhaustion insisted on pressing down.

  If it had been a lung shot, she’d have been dead by now.

  She was safe. The old, black, dilapidated barn was a safe haven. No one could find her here. No one apart from Aiden knew she came here. And he was dead.

  Daddy shot him.

  Daddy shot everyone and then he set the house on fire.

  She closed her eyes and fell. Down, down into the dark abyss.

  12

  Sunday 19 April 0415 hours

  Blue flashing lights competed with amber and gold from the raging fire as Jenna pulled the car up in front of the outer cordon and climbed out, leaving Mason to follow as he dragged his feet in a childish protest at not being allowed home. She was tired too, but for her own peace of mind, she needed to ensure that all the ends were tied up. For tonight at least. Because until they could establish the facts, there wasn’t a whole lot more they could do.

  Ted Walker raised his head, lines of weariness etched deep into his face as he huddled with a small group of uniformed officers.

  Mason jerked his chin at the group as Jenna and he approached. ‘Donna McGuire’s back with Natalie Kempson.’

  Relieved, Jenna smiled at the other women. The density of Donna’s black hair bounced the bright lights around her head while the glow of the fire reflected in the liquid brown of her eyes.

  ‘Ted, Donna,’ Jenna stretched her smile further to include the new recruit, ‘Natalie. How’s it going?’

  Natalie snapped to attention, eyes bright and intelligent. ‘Good, Sarge. PC Walker was giving us a debrief as you arrived.’

  ‘Excellent. Then PC Walker can continue.’ She turned her attention to Ted Walker and gave him a moment to take his notepad from his pocket.

  ‘The cordons are all set up, Sarge. We have a register for anyone coming in and out of the area. SOCO have arrived and they’re setting up in sector two.’

  She peered over to where tarpaulins were being laid out and a large tent erected to shield the public from seeing anything. Her heart quickened as she gazed at the site where the bodies would be removed to once they’d located them.r />
  ‘So far, there are no witnesses, other than Mr and Mrs Crawford who called it in.’ Ted pointed the end of his pen at her, smiled. ‘I saw you talking to them, but I have their details. Address, et cetera.’

  At her hum of approval, he continued. ‘I kept our favourite reporter away from Mr and Mrs Crawford, shuffled him over there while we had the paramedics look at Mrs Crawford. I didn’t want Stafford taking advantage of anyone in a weak moment.’ He inclined his head to indicate Kim Stafford in a small group with two others. ‘Express and Star photographer and a freelancer. I’ve segregated them. Don’t need them sneaking under the cordon to get a closer look.’

  ‘Indeed, we don’t.’ The man stuck around like a bad smell. The last thing she needed was Kim Stafford shooting one of his inaccurate reports out.

  Mason grumbled in her ear. ‘If you want me to go over and sort him…’

  ‘No. It’s okay, Ted has it all in hand.’ Aware Mason would love to give Kim a good, hard punch for the trouble he’d caused when Fliss had disappeared, Jenna preferred to defuse the situation and not allow the reporter to take any more time, energy and resources than he already did.

  With a twitch of his lips – Jenna suspected because most of the PCs had a desire to take the local reporter into a corner and give him a good hiding – Ted nodded. ‘I have. I’ve marked off tyre marks and put down markers of a couple of things for SOCO to look at. Nothing of any relevance at this stage, apart from one hell of a lot of empty shells from a shotgun over there.’ He raised his arm to indicate an area on the far right of the property bordered by a wide stretch of fields. ‘Looks like a target practice area. Difficult to tell because I can’t get too close, but I’ll get SOCO to check it out once it gets lighter.’

  It gelled with what they’d already heard about Gordon Lawrence. The slide of discomfort deepened.

  Mason looked up. ‘It won’t be long now before the sun comes up.’

  Jenna sent him a sharp look to check if he was bemoaning his lack of sleep, but there was no hint as he gazed up at the night sky and a wave of sadness crossed his features.

  With a collective sigh, the group paused, the weight of the atmosphere pressing down.

  Not wishing to dwell on the matter until they had cold, hard facts in front of them, Jenna turned to PC Walker. ‘Are you happy to continue as scene guard?’

  Ted’s face scrunched up. ‘I should have been off at 2:00 a.m., Sarge. I’ve already worked over.’

  Jenna shrugged. It was the way of things, she couldn’t expect him to work through after a long shift. As she turned to Donna, the other officer shook her head too. ‘We’re off back to the station, Sarge. Off at 6:00 a.m. Got a lot of writing up before we go.’

  Jenna nodded her understanding. Nobody particularly liked scene guard duty. Most boring job invented, but PC Walker had a handle on it.

  ‘Can you give me another few minutes, Ted, while I get someone set up?’

  ‘Sure. No problem. It’ll take me that long to do handover notes.’ He flipped his notebook closed and headed back towards SOCO.

  Jenna turned to Donna and Natalie. ‘I take it from the speed at which you’ve got back here, Sophie blew a negative.’

  Natalie nodded while Donna patted her pocket, then flipped out her notebook. ‘Yeah, she did. Nice girls.’

  ‘Chatty.’ Natalie’s eyes glazed over and Jenna snorted.

  ‘Enthusiastic. Good to know they were okay.’ Jenna glanced over at the burning building and then back again. ‘I’m going to have to question them all. We need to build up a profile. So far, I’m not all that keen on what I’ve heard about Mr Lawrence.’

  13

  Sunday 19 April 0435 hours

  Charlie Cartwright hovered on the far side of the inner cordon, but when he caught sight of Jenna, he made his way over, one large hand cupping his chest as though he was about to have a heart attack. A blast of heat whipped ahead of the wind, bringing with it fiery sparks and the scent of woodsmoke.

  With a backdrop of burnished orange and the blackened shell of the house, Charlie moved closer. The hand holding his heart wriggled with a life of its own.

  ‘Hey, Charlie, what’s going on?’ Jenna nodded her head at the hand on his broad chest. ‘Are you okay?’ They had a second ambulance on standby, but there was nothing about Charlie that indicated he was unwell apart from the fist clutched to his heart.

  As his hand unclenched and moved again, a sheepish grin spread across his face and he ducked his head to peer down the front of his partially open jacket. Two tiny tufts of fur popped out from behind the zip followed by two chocolate-drop button eyes bulging with terror.

  Mason leaned in, horror streaking over his features. ‘Dear God, what the hell is it?’

  Jenna smiled as she reached out a tentative hand to touch the fine chestnut hair on the miniscule dog’s face. Its cold, wet nose quivered as the dog buried it in her hand to snuffle at the scent of her. ‘Where did she come from? How come you’ve got her?’

  Charlie grinned and shot Mason a quick wink. ‘Babe magnet.’ He jerked his head in the direction of the building. ‘One of the lads found her under the oil tank. He almost booted her.’ He raised his hand to scratch the top of her head. ‘Poor baby. She was about to become toast, instead she was a drowned rat where we soaked the area down to keep it from combusting.’

  Mason’s lip curled. ‘She looks like a rat.’

  Charlie covered her head with one large hand. ‘Don’t let her hear you say that. She’s a sensitive Sally. Poor bugger. I don’t know how she survived.’

  The dog’s entire body trembled as her ears flickered back with uncertainty. Anxiety filled her bulbous eyes until they almost popped from her head and Jenna’s heart melted. She reached out and dipped both hands into the top of Charlie’s jacket to draw the little pooch out. Jenna snuggled her into her much thicker, warmer and more inviting coat while she felt rather than heard the dog’s anxious whimpers, her tremors vibrating through to Jenna’s heart.

  ‘How come you ended up with her?’

  ‘Because I’m the soft shit on the watch.’ He shrugged. ‘Other than that, I’m the one not actually hosing down the fire.’

  Jenna stared up at the raging inferno as the dog snuggled in. ‘Do we have an update?’

  Charlie shifted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jenna, snaking his hand around to scratch the top of the dog’s head again and offer her some comfort, proving his words that he was a soft shit. ‘Our further two tenders arrived a while back. NILO are coming from Worcester. He’s on his way. Be here in another half hour.’

  ‘Good.’ It meant any information gleaned would be shared between all the forces involved; police, fire, ambulance. In the meantime, it was a case of Mason and her waiting for a building to cool down before SOCO could enter and tell them what the hell went on. ‘Is there anything we can do while we wait?’

  Charlie shook his head and pointed to the flames still licking out of the top-storey windows. ‘Nothing anyone can do. We have the fire contained. We’ve managed to keep it to within the main house, the outbuilding on the left caught a few sparks, but we’ve controlled that, and we’ve got the hoses on the oil tank keeping the temperature down. With the ferocity of temperatures in there and the spread of it, we won’t have this out for a good few hours. Hard to predict exactly how long.’

  ‘If there was anyone in there…?’

  He puffed out his cheeks as he shook his head. ‘They didn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘Okay. We’re going to get off in a minute. Get some sleep before we’re needed again. PC Walker has everything under control by the look of things, but I’m about to relieve him and leave you a scene guard who will keep an eye on things until SOCO can gain entry into the building. Until then, we’ll know nothing.’

  ‘You take advantage of the opportunity to sleep. It may not come around too quickly again if this proves to be as big a job as we think. Me, I’m here for another two hours, then we’ll have another crew
relieve us. It’s been a long night.’ Eyes bleak, they met hers. ‘This is a hard one.’

  He reached out and cupped the top of the little dog’s head in the palm of his hand, taking comfort from the living.

  All jobs were challenging, but some hit home harder than others, especially those where children were involved..

  Jenna’s fingers bumped Charlie’s as she dipped her hand into the front of her jacket to smooth the dog’s fluffy ears. ‘What do you want me to do with this one?’

  Charlie held out both hands and wiggled his fingers in an invitation for her to hand the chihuahua back.

  Jenna fished inside her coat and lifted the dog out. The tiny body quivered all over with powerful shudders enough to shake its tiny frame apart. The dog’s pitiful whimpers grabbed her heart and squeezed. She nestled it back in and shook her head at Charlie. ‘Ah, poor baby. She’s too scared.’

  His lips kicked up in a wry smile. ‘We couldn’t get hold of the dog warden. He’s not picking up. You want to take care of her?’

  She flicked a quick glance at Mason to catch the eye-roll. It didn’t matter, a little princess like this needed cosseting in the bosom of a loved one, not putting in a holding cell until someone claimed her. Her gaze met Charlie’s spry one. She’d been conned. Definitely. It wouldn’t have mattered. She wasn’t about to let the little sweetheart go.

  Jenna gave the dog’s head a gentle scratch as she snuggled back in, the shudders coming in little waves. ‘See you tomorrow, Charlie.’

  ‘Yeah, see you tomorrow, Jenna.’

  Weary, Jenna dragged her feet as she made her way through the outer cordon. She scanned the area for a uniformed police officer to assign as scene guard. Her heart sank as she spotted PC Lee Gardner. ‘Shit.’ Her breath puffed out on a sigh. ‘Why does it have to be him?’ She’d been obliged to put in a complaint against him a few months previously when she’d suspected him of passing on information to Kim Stafford. Despite internal investigations, nothing had come of her complaint. No evidence had been produced. The only accusation he had faced was from Detective Inspector Taylor for insubordination. He held a grudge and she preferred not to deal with him. On this occasion she didn’t have a choice in the matter.