Sleepwalk (23 page)

‘Look, no one uses this road much so I’m going to cut through the wasteland and get some help from someone at Sainsbury’s, ok? Just hang in there.’

‘Oh just go and leave me to die.’ Vanessa Gordon turned her head away from him and began to cry. She had never felt so humiliated in all her life. To have suffered at the hands of this waster who had been stealing from her for so long and now……. to find herself at his mercy was too degrading for her to contemplate. She watched as he skipped blithely under the bridge and through the hole in the fence, his little dog bounding along behind him. She watched the long grass swaying gently in the breeze and she heard the thud as the traffic sped past above her on the by pass. She heard the little dog barking in the distance and the sounds became more and more distant and now all she could hear was the wind rustling through the trees and the long grass and the constant irregular thud of the traffic passing over the viaduct. Wait! …… a new sound………. a car behind her; coming toward her along the lane. If she could only stand up they just might see her.

‘Ow! Ouch bloody leg……. Oh where is that stupid boy?’

The engine sound became louder and was so close, but it was no use. She could not move her leg. It was just too painful to move. She had no choice but to sit still and wait. What if he didn’t come back? Supposing he just left her there? She had told him to. Her exact words were
Go and leave me to die
……….. Supposing he did just that? Vanessa thought for a minute. She couldn’t rely on this boy to get help. And why should he help her? She’d done nothing but threaten him from the day she first saw him stealing from her log pile. What was the matter with kids today? How could they live like they did? Why didn’t they go and get a job and conform to the system? The wind was gradually getting stronger and then it began to rain. Vanessa pulled her thin cotton jacket around her shoulders and the movement made her flinch as she jarred her leg. Somewhere nearby, a dog was barking………. a deep, gruff bark. It was a big dog; not that silly little black thing of Williams’.

‘Help!’ She screamed as loud as she could. ‘Help!..... Someone help me! Please!’ but the only sound was the wind rushing through the trees and the long grass; then the rain began to get heavier and heavier and she began to shiver spasmodically at first, and then uncontrollably and her voice became weaker and weaker until all that remained was the pounding of the rain against her thin jacket and trousers which were by now saturated and were clinging to her cold wet skin and as the rain poured down on her the wind whistled under the bridge and the long grass rushed and swayed and the trees shook and creaked to the rhythm and called out to her …..
Vanguard
…….
Vanguard
………
Vanguard
……….

Felicity woke up in the spare room shivering. It was the beginning of July but because it had been raining and there hadn’t been any sunshine for the past two days the house felt colder in the mornings. She hadn’t slept well. They had spent a short time together in David’s room last night and she had lain in his arms for a while but he had been snoring and she had been so tired she had made her excuses and gone to the spare room. Then she kept hearing noises; creaking and banging; distant noises, but enough to disturb her sleep. With the house being so close to the woods it was one disadvantage of being in
Rose Lane
. When the weather was bad the trees would moan and creak and the spare room was at the back of the house so it was even louder here than in David’s room which was at the front. She checked her little travel alarm on the bedside cabinet; 7.50am. She could hear the familiar sound of crockery rattling downstairs in the kitchen and Ollie’s cheery little voice. She got up and went to join them for breakfast. As soon as he saw her the child’s face lit up.

‘Vic! I got Eddie!’

‘Eggie? Mmm….. you are such a lucky boy Ollie.’

‘Morning Flick. Did you sleep well love?’ David automatically placed an egg into the little koala bear egg cup that was sitting on a plate at a third table setting waiting for her.

‘Thank you…… not brilliantly at first. The forest kind of talks to you when it’s windy like it was last night; but I think after a while you become accustomed to it and then I must have slept like a log and obviously didn’t wake up when I should have.’

‘You should think of this time as a little holiday babe. You don’t have to get up early for work. You should make the most of it and have a lie in.’

‘Yes you’re right; but I think we kind of program ourselves to get up at a particular time when we’re working and then it feels wrong if you’re not awake at the usual time.’

‘Yes. I know what you mean. I couldn’t lie in if I wanted to; body clock wouldn’t allow it. Help yourself to soldiers.’

In the centre of the table David had arranged a plate stacked with bread and butter fingers and both he and Ollie were dunking them into their eggs.

‘I haven’t heard them called that in years’ Felicity smiled as she took one and dunked it in to the top of her egg and felt it melt in her mouth; another childhood memory now rekindled. After breakfast David drove Oliver to his mothers while Felicity had a shower and then they set off for Knapp in their old clothes. Bob Croft was there to meet them with his drawings and estimate for the loft conversion, which wasn’t as much as either of them had expected. He said he would need a decision before work could continue upstairs and would have to put a hold on the re-wiring for which he had contracted in an electrical team. The two went into the garden to discuss the matter.

‘Flick, you’d be daft not to go ahead at this price. It’s much less than I thought.’

‘Hmm… me too. I was expecting at least a thousand pounds more. Are you sure though David? About putting up the money? I ……. I haven’t had a chance to speak to my parents yet but I’m sure they would help.’

‘Your mother’s got enough to worry about Flick with your dad. I’ll be glad to help; really, I will. That’s it then; decision made. Come on ……. Let’s tell Bob to go ahead.’

‘As long as it doesn’t affect my insurance claim.’

‘It won’t do babe; stop being so negative. As long as everything is kept separate and they know this is at your own expense it’s not going to affect your claim. Trust me.’

It was with some trepidation that Felicity told her builder; ‘I’d like to go ahead with the loft project Bob. How much longer do you think it will take?’

‘Ah …… well……. I should say we’re looking at an extra two weeks work but hang on a minute. I have other jobs planned you see and I had the plasterers booked for Monday. I’ll have to cancel them now you see until we’re ready for the second fix. I’ll try to do some re-shuffling but I can’t make any promises. We’re booked solid for the next six months you see. I’ll make some enquiries and come back to you.’ With that he sent his men away to other jobs. Materials had to be ordered he’d said and that would take time. She’d be hearing from him in due course. Bob Croft jumped into his dirty white pick up truck which refused to start until the fourth attempt and then as he pulled away and a cloud of blue smoke shot from its exhaust pipe Felicity looked at David and he looked at her and they both burst out laughing.

‘First fix, second fix …….. booked solid. How come he’s driving that old truck if he’s so busy?’

‘We must be in the wrong business Flick.’ David sighed and they both looked around the cottage.

‘At least they’ve got the stairs in eh? We can get the bathroom and the spare room cleaned up and painted if nothing else.’

‘DC Peters is here Sir’

‘Thank you Steve, send her in will you?’

Within a few minutes she was knocking at the door and then it opened.

‘Ah. The elusive DC Claire Peters. Sit down Claire. What have you got on the Breen case?’

‘Nothing. I can’t find anything Sir. It’s like I’m banging my head against a brick wall. Forensics haven’t come up with anything. Our
Miss
Breen is squeaky clean. Everyone loves her. No one has a bad word to say about her. Works hard but doesn’t play hard. Hasn’t had a steady relationship since a guy she went out with at school and he emigrated to Oz. The only guy I haven’t had chance to interview is the neighbour’s son, Tom Baines but I’ve arranged to meet him tonight when he gets back from work. I do have an expert opinion of suspected arson according to this report but there’s no concrete proof of it; or of the person responsible.’ She placed the final report from the fire investigating officer on his desk. ‘Dead end Sir but I’ll keep trying.’

‘And
Wilson
?’

‘
Wilson
is also squeaky clean Sir. Make a bloody good pair. No form; good family. Good education; a pillar of society. The bank speaks highly of him; and a first class single parent according to his neighbours. Wife left him last year; ran off with her gay lover.’

‘And the cat? Who gave orders to exhume the bloody cat?’

‘Exhume the cat? …….. you mean? ……someone’s dug the cat up? I don’t know anything about that Sir.’

‘Miss Breen seems to think we’ve got it on a slab in our forensics department.’

‘I’ll go and talk to her again. And I’ll double check the garden Sir.’

‘Wise move Detective. Just as well she doesn’t own a bloody horse eh?’

‘Let’s hope she doesn’t Sir.’

As Claire Peters left the room DI Carter was still making notes in the Breen file.

She had followed the correct procedures of investigation and had already put hours into this case and had come up with a big fat zero. Now she would have to put in even more hours……. wonderful. There must be something she had missed. She would check out the building firm. She’d heard of cases where cowboy builders were creating work for themselves using the most unorthodox methods and she couldn’t afford to write off any lead or suspicion however small or extreme. That afternoon she pulled up in the lay by at Knapp with a colleague, Brian Miller. The front door was open to the cottage and both Felicity Breen and her boyfriend were there painting and cleaning.

‘Hello?’ she called from the open doorway.

Felicity appeared at the top of a shiny new open wooden staircase; a paintbrush in her hand.

‘Hi. DC Peters isn’t it?’ Felicity came down the stairs closely followed by David Wilson.

‘How is it coming along?’

‘Hard work ……. but we’re getting there slowly. Have you got some news?’

‘No. I just came to have a look around the garden. There seems to be a misunderstanding about the, er…….. the exhumation of your little cat.’

‘Misunderstanding?’

‘Yes. Look Flick; there’s no easy way to say this but no one gave any orders to exhume the body. So, er …….. whoever did that; well it wasn’t us.’

She watched as Felicity’s legs seemed to collapse under her and it was just as well there was a new staircase in position for her to fall back onto because that was what she did. She sat down with a bump and dropped her paint brush on the floor splashing white gloss paint in every direction. David was there beside her in an instant and had his arm around her. Claire Peters shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

‘Look …….. It’s a bit of a shock, I know. I’m going to take a look around the garden. I’ll come and see you again tomorrow and we’ll talk some more about it ok?’

Felicity nodded her approval. Her face was white with shock. David Wilson also looked quite shocked which convinced Claire Peters that neither of these two really knew what the hell was going on here any more than she did. She surveyed the garden and the little tool shed and Brian covered the garden fork and spade carefully with plastic bags and took them for evidence. There was no lock on the garden shed. Anyone could have used these implements at any time. She watched as, a few minutes later David led Felicity down the path to his silver Audi parked in the lay by then he came back to explain.

‘I’m taking her home. She’s staying with me at the moment you know until…… all this is sorted. Do you need access to the house or shall I lock up?’

‘No it’s fine Mr Wilson thank you. We’ll need to talk to her again though, soon.’

‘Yes of course. I’m sure she’ll be fine once she…….. you know. This is all such a mess.

Are you no further forward with your enquiries DC Peters? What kind of person would do this to her? Someone must know something surely?’

‘That’s exactly what we’re trying to find out Sir. I assure you we’re doing everything we can.’

‘Yes. Yes I’m sorry I…… I’ll leave you to your enquiries.
Goodbye
DC
Peters.’

‘Thank you Mr Wilson.’

They waited in her car at Knapp for the boy to get home from work. She’d missed him the last couple of nights. His mother had told her he was hay-making and was working some evenings and when he did manage to get home early he ate his dinner, showered and went to the pub which seemed quite normal for most single twenty-something males these days. At
six twenty-five
a white escort van slowed outside Mill cottages and reversed in to the space in front of them with a little too much speed and precision for Claire’s liking. A young lad with long brown hair dressed rather scruffily jumped out and slammed the drivers door closed; then opened it and slammed it harder, pushed the key into the drivers door lock and turned it. He glanced at the two of them sitting in her blue Ford Sierra and turned to go up the steps. Claire got out of the car and called to him,