Everything to Nothing (5 page)

‘You fancy me
don’t you?’

‘I beg your
pardon? Exactly! Exactly what I mean!’ Arrogant and delusional! My
perfect guy!’

Sarah seemed
flustered and was struggling for words. She took a sip of her drink
and tried to compose herself. She did fancy Peter, physically, but
what she knew of his personality repulsed her.

‘I think you
do.’

She rolled her
eyes again and said, ‘This conversation is going nowhere. Thank you
for the drink and goodbye.’

She made to
stand up but he reached across and stopped her by placing a hand on
her shoulder. ‘You look very cute, you know, when you roll your
eyes.’

‘Cute?! That’s
it, I’m going!’ She then noticed the light in his eyes and the
smirk on his face. ‘You are an arse. You know that don’t you?’

‘I know I am.
Just playing with you, winding you up.’

She relaxed and
started to see the funny side of his comments and said, ‘Why are
you such a tosser when you are with your friends?’

‘I didn’t know
I was.’

‘You seem
different now. More, well, normal.’

‘As opposed to
being abnormal usually?’

‘You see, I
would never have expected you to say a sentence like that. I
thought you only knew lewd and childish vocabulary.’

‘Then you don’t
know me then do you?’

‘No, I guess I
don’t.’

They stopped
talking and both drunk a little of their drinks. He kept on
glancing discreetly at her legs, knowing that he was going to
explore what lay in between them later that night. As this thought
was racing through his mind he decided to put his eggs in one
basket and said, ‘I fancy you. Have done for ages.’

It was
perfectly timed. She was mid-drink and the surprise of what he said
made her splurt out of her mouth the liquid she had partly drunk
back into her glass. She started to cough, attracting the solitary
security person’s attention who thought it was someone being sick,
but on seeing it was just someone coughing returned to talking to a
member of the bar staff. Peter moved a little closer so he was
right next to her and started patting her back.

In between
coughs she managed to say, ‘You what?!’

‘I fancy you.
Have done for ages.’

She pushed his
arm away and looked into his eyes to see if he was winding her up
again. ‘Are you serious?’

‘I wouldn’t
joke about something like this.’

‘Knowing you,
you would.’

‘But that’s
just it Sarah, you don’t know me.’

Sarah looked at
him more closely, smiled drunkenly at him, and said, ‘I suppose I
don’t. You’re a lot nicer when you are not with your friends. What
are you going to do about it?’

‘About
what?’

‘Fancying me.
If you are so confident that I fancy you then surely you should do
something about it?’

‘I think I may
do just that.’

He leaned
closer to her, and she leaned into him. Their mouths touched and
his tongue parted her lips and slid deep into her mouth. She pushed
his tongue out with her tongue and slid it into his mouth and they
sank deeper into a passionate kiss, the kiss that was going to
change both their lives.

The thoughts
raced through their minds as they kissed. Peter hoping his breath
did not smell, Sarah the same. Peter hoping the bulge in his pants
would not be too noticeable, Sarah happy she worn a small jacket,
happy because it covered her now erect nipples. Peter hoping that
he was going to be lying in between her legs that night, Sarah
hoping the same. They broke off the kiss and looked deeply into
each other’s eyes.

‘This is an
unexpected turn of events. From hating me to kissing me in the
space of a few minutes.’

‘I’ve fancied
you for ages. I’ve never tried to kiss you before because I thought
you were a tosser. Now I think differently about you after talking
properly to you.’

‘In that case,
I only have one more question to ask. My place or yours?’

‘Hotel
room?’

‘My parents are
away.’

‘Yours.’

They both
simultaneously stood up and Peter said, ‘One minute. I need the
toilet.’

‘Me too.’

There were
toilets attached to the room and they parted with a brief kiss as
they went into the respective toilets. Peter looked into the mirror
that was above the urinal as he relieved himself. ‘Now, that was
not too difficult. Had no idea she fancied me. That was just a
joke. See her reaction though…’ he said to himself. ‘Glad she is
drunk too. Makes it easier.’ When he had finished he went over to
the condom machine, but it was empty.

With a shrug of
his shoulders he exited the toilet and waited a few minutes outside
in the room. She eventually came out and linked arms with him. He
looked at her and smiled, she returned his smile with a smile of
her own. They did not say anything as they left the chill out room
and proceeded into the main section of the club. They walked around
the dance floor holding hands to the exit and left the club.

*

Michelle saw
them leave the club and she said to herself, ‘Oh no, Sarah. Anyone
but him!’

Chapter 8

‘I don’t
believe it! Now my phone is working!’

‘I guess it
wasn’t before?’

‘You guessed
right David, you guessed right.’

They had
returned to the shelter of the truck’s cab and they were all set
upon returning to the garage to contact the police. Sally then
remembered her phone and more optimistically than anything else,
she took it from her bag. The signal bar was full. ‘Piece of shit
crap phone!’

David did not
know what to do or say. Sally was obviously very angry, even more
so after she had been sick, which she was obviously embarrassed
about, a show of weakness that had made her even angrier. She had
recovered from the bout of nausea quickly and David saw the
determination return to her eyes. She thanked him for holding her
hair out of her face while she was vomiting and it was then that
David suggested the shelter of the cab.

Sally dialled
999 after a quick enquiry with David as to who would be best to
phone. He had replied with the simple answer of 999. When the call
connected, at first Sally did not know what to say as the reason
she was calling. It took an intervention by David to state the
obvious reason, she had been attacked. The operator then
professionally asked her whether she was physically fine, did she
need an ambulance? Of course, Sally replied negatively and the
operator took her details, name, date of birth and where she was
now, this location she obtained from David. She did know where she
was, just not the proper name of the road. This information she
gave to the female operator who re-confirmed it, plus she also
stated Sally’s mobile number, which surprised Sally at first. She
then realized the operator would have technology that would enable
her to see the caller’s number. Sally confirmed this detail too and
the operator concluded the call by stating a police car would be
with them in fifteen to twenty minutes. The conversation ended and
Sally roughly thrust her phone back into her bag seemingly even
angrier than before the call. ‘Fifteen to twenty minutes she said!
Fifteen to twenty minutes!’

David was a
little puzzled. ‘Until what?’

She snapped her
head round to the right and glared at him. ‘Until doomsday! Until
pigs fly! Fifteen or twenty minutes until the police arrive!’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘Just as well
I’m not dying, hey?’

‘Yes,
true.’

‘Rhetorical
question, David.’

‘Oh,
sorry.’

David look out
of the driver’s side window for a few moments feeling a little
bewildered as to why Sally was venting her anger at him. He turned
his face back towards Sally and said, ‘Yes, it is a slow
response…’

‘Slow?! That’s
an understatement!’ She glared at him again.

David mentally
bit his tongue, now getting annoyed with Sally’s attitude, released
his tongue, bit it again and then managed to calmly continue with
what he was initially saying. ‘It is a slow response, but, we are
quite a way out of town here and it is Friday night. They will be
busy.’

‘Well, like I
said, I’m glad I’m not injured.’

‘An ambulance
would maybe come quicker.’

‘Maybe.’

For a few
minutes there was silence. Sally was furiously angry, more than she
had ever been before and she knew she was taking it out on David.
She glanced across at him and saw him looking glum and very soggy,
staring out of the window. She could not help smiling to herself as
she realized the situation in which she had met the man who for the
first time in her life she could feel herself already falling for.
She thought how handsome he was and this was indeed true. David was
effortlessly handsome and his personality was shining through in
his willingness to help her as much as he possibly could do. Sally
struggled to compose herself, not let her feelings show and also to
control her anger. She felt sorry that she had been angry towards
David and obviously upset him. She reached across and placed a hand
on his shoulder. ‘David?’

He turned and
looked at her, his eyes noticeably brighter, enjoying her touch.
‘Yes?’

‘I’m sorry.
You’ve been so good to me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be angry at
you. It is just that, well, I am so damn angry! My poor car!’

‘It’s
okay.’

‘No, it’s
not.’

‘It is. I
understand. I’d be full on mad too.’

‘Thank you for
understanding.’

‘It is not
difficult for me to understand why you are angry.’

He smiled at
her, his bright blue eyes gazing into her brighter, emerald green
eyes. For a few moments they both drowned in each others’ eyes then
came the distinctive sound of a police siren. They both jumped and
they moved away from each other.

At first they
could not tell from which direction the car was coming from, but
then in the rear view mirror, above the rise, David saw a flashing
light heading away from the garage towards them. They both turned
to look out of the recovery vehicle’s rear window and watched the
police car drive quickly along the road. ‘Only took them about ten
minutes anyway Sally.’

‘Yeah. It is
alright now.’

‘And look at
that. The rain has stopped.’

They turned
away from the window and looked at each other, deeply into each
other’s eyes.

‘Isn’t that the
way it always goes?’

*

There were two
policemen in the car and after taking one look at the scene they
decided to call in a forensic team to take samples and search the
car. It took half an hour for these specialists to arrive and in
the meantime one of the policemen interviewed Sally while another
asked David some questions, Sally in the police car, David
outside.

After David had
spent five minutes talking to the constable the conversation
finished. He then walked around the Mini again, studying the
damage, and then returned to the truck. Sally, after another ten
minutes came and stood next to him. She had a blanket around her
shoulders and joined David in leaning on the front of the truck
looking at the car. ‘That was pretty painless,’ she said.

‘Nice
guys.’

‘Yes. I have to
go to the police station sometime next week and look at some
pictures.’

‘He has
attacked other women then? They have an idea who it is or they
wouldn’t want you to look at pictures right?’

‘I don’t think
they have any idea. The pictures are just a measure they have to go
through. They have said that there is no record of any other
attacks in this area.’

Sally said all
this matter of factly, without a trace of panic or fright in her
voice. David was more impressed with her strength with every
passing second. He envisioned most women in this situation would be
crying and being hysterical. Sally was just cool and calm. He then
thought it could be shock, that how lucky she had been had not
registered on her yet.

As they were
talking a car approached, but this one was unmarked and was driven
by a middle-aged man and his partner was a young, pretty woman.
They both exited the car, walked round to the rear and each got a
silver briefcase out of the trunk. They had a brief word with the
two policemen and introduced themselves to Sally and David.

The two police
scientists worked quickly and methodically in the lights of the
truck and their car, almost too quickly for Sally’s liking. The
woman took samples of the semen and excretion and Sally thought
surely the man should have volunteered to do that gruesome task,
and then took photographs while the male dusted for fingerprints.
The male quickly came and took Sally’s fingerprints to compare with
the ones found in the car to Sally’s. He found no new fingerprints,
which, the male scientist stated was surprising.

‘Surprising?’
said Sally, as both scientists came over after they had finished
with the car. ‘Why?’

‘Simple
really,’ said the male forensics expert as he removed his gloves.
‘If he’s gone to so much trouble to leave as much D.N.A. in the car
as possible then I would have expected him not to have bothered
wearing gloves.’

‘Fair
enough.’

‘All I can say
is that he probably has a criminal record from before we used
D.N.A. as evidence and, therefore, we could have his fingerprints
on record but not his D.N.A.’

‘But you have
D.N.A. from other cases don’t you?’ asked David.

‘Yes, that will
enable us to match this incident to previous incidents, if he has
any previous incidents on file. Doesn’t mean we know who he is
though. D.N.A. is only useful if you have a human to match it to.
We don’t. That is why a national D.N.A. database would be good. If
we had fingerprints then we would probably be able to trace him.
Until the day the government introduces a national D.N.A. database…
Anyway, have to go. Jim, Robert,’ he said to the two policemen,
‘I’ll have the results and report on your desks a.s.a.p. Bye and
goodnight.’