Sleepwalk (43 page)

‘Oh wonderful; thanks Steve; we’re on our way.’

The lay by was almost eight miles out of town and when they arrived there they found two patrol cars parked either side of it and PC Hamden was standing at the back of the car talking to Ellie who was leaning against the boot brushing back her long golden hair, her eye make up smudged and her clothes dishevelled looking the worse for wear.

‘Well well; Eleanor Wilson. We meet again’ grinned Carter. ‘Had a good nights sleep?’

‘Oh cut the crap Detective Inspector’ she snapped, ‘Can we just get on with it please?’

Back at the station Ellie had refused a solicitor and had refused to comment when questioned. She had appeared quite shocked though when told about the Hit and Run; In fact, her only comment had been to enquire after the old man in which her concern appeared genuine. It had been a long night.

‘Is he going to be all right?’ she asked.

Claire Peters came forward and sat down next to Carter.

‘He’s hanging in there’ she said kindly. ‘He’s broken a lot of bones; has cracked ribs and of course is still suffering from shock. He’s very old Ellie; in his seventies. It’s unlikely he’ll survive.’

Ellie hung her head and covered her face in her hands. ‘This has to stop.’ She murmured quietly.

‘Damned right it has to stop!’ yelled Carter and he banged his fist down hard on the desk. ‘And stop; it will lady! You won’t be walking away from this one!’

Carter stood up, slammed his chair into the table and walked to the window. He was sick of this
softly softly
approach with mamby pamby women. Mamby pamby women who were guilty as hell and couldn’t face up to the consequences of their actions.

‘Ellie?’ Claire Peters reached across the table and nudged her hand.

‘Is there something you want to tell us?’

‘It wasn’t me………. ‘ Ellie began, ‘I………..’

‘Yes?’ The softness and sorrow in Ellie’s blue eyes were enough to melt the heart of a statue. ‘Ellie ……… If there’s something else or someone else responsible you must tell us. Help us to stop this happening again…… please?’ Claire Peters pleaded with her. Ellie raised her head and opened her mouth to speak………….

‘Ellie what is it? There’s something you’re not telling us isn’t there? Look …….. we may be able to help you ………….. we may have other information that may help to prove you are innocent.’

Ellie’s expression changed suddenly and then she looked blankly at DC Peters.

‘It must have been me, mustn’t it? …… I don’t remember, so it must have been me.’

Carter checked his watch. It was
ten past five
in the morning and he’d had enough. He went back to the table.

‘Eleanor Wilson I hereby charge you with grievous bodily harm as a result of dangerous driving and with the attempted murder of John Tressel. Do you have anything to say?’

Ellie shook her head and looked away.

‘Take her down.’ He ordered to the PC at the door. ‘Come on Claire. We both need to get some sleep. We can look at this again tomorrow.’

Ellie followed the officer down the steps to the cold little room that was now familiar to her. She sat on the bunk, drew her knees up, laid her head back on the folded blanket and closed her eyes. The door slammed closed and the walls shook and Ellie didn’t flinch as the sound echoed once more through the empty corridors of time…………….

Slim and Molly were at the hospital. A uniformed officer was outside the room where John Tressel lay; still unconscious after his ordeal.

‘He looks kind of…….. peaceful.’

‘Well he must be out of it then’ Slim remarked, ‘because if he was with it even a bit he’d be sat up asking for his clothes so’s he can get down the club for a pint.’

‘You’re quite fond of him aren’t you Slim?’

‘He’s all right; don’t know him that well.’

‘But you’re here with him.’

‘He aint got no family; no one to care. Only seems right really.’

‘Stephen Williams, you’re like ………. an angel watching over him.’

Or a rainbow
………. thought Slim.

‘You’re such a nice person.’
And I think I’m falling a little bit in love with you
………….

‘Wasn’t very nice to him was I?’

‘What? What do you mean?’

‘Should have realised when I heard that car coming ………just a few seconds too late. They’ll probably put that on my gravestone……….
Here lies Slim. He was just a few seconds too late
………’

‘Don’t you talk like that Stephen Williams! How were you to know? How was either of us to know?’

‘Yeah ………. I know; poor old bugger eh?’

‘Yeah. Come on………. Let’s go down the club and have one for him eh?’

As they turned to leave Slim saw the old mans lips moving; his mouth trying to open and his fingers moving erratically. He dashed to the door.

‘Nurse; quick! He’s coming round!’

The policeman came into the room behind Slim, closely followed by two nurses.

‘Mate!’ Slim took the old mans hand in his as his eyes flickered open, ‘John, mate. You ok?’

A male nurse rushed to the bed and removed the tube that had been helping him to breathe from his throat and replaced it with an oxygen mask.

‘Can you hear me John?’ he asked. The old man nodded and began to breathe quite loudly through the plastic shield. The police officer moved in to his side.

‘John! Good to see you’re back with us! My name is Police Constable Coles. Do you remember what happened John? Who was driving?’

The old man panicked and began to cough; his breathing erratic and out of control.

‘Jesus mate, give it a rest.’ Slim looked at the male nurse, ‘Are you going to allow this?’

‘No.’ The male nurse shook his head in agreement. ‘You’ll have to leave please officer; Now! This patient needs to rest.’

PC Coles backed away from the bed. ‘I’ll talk to you later John.’ He said quite loudly.

Slim and Molly stayed by the old mans side for some time. Molly sat in the comfortable high backed chair by his bedside and Slim, in a little plastic chair that reminded him of being at school. John Tressel drifted in and out of sleep; as did Molly. Eventually Slim got to his feet, picked up his chair and carried it out into the corridor. PC Coles was still there, waiting in the hall.

‘Has he come around yet Williams?’

‘No.’

The Police Constable looked at his watch. ‘I’ll come back tomorrow.’

‘You do that’ said Slim.

He watched as the young PC gazed through the glass pane at the top of the door into John Tressel’s room and then set off along the corridor.

‘Come on Mol.’ Slim touched her shoulder and she opened her eyes. ‘Let’s get some chips and then go have a pint for the old boy eh?’

Molly smiled at him; a big beaming smile that showed her perfect white teeth. ‘Ok.’

‘Hang in there John mate.’ Slim put his hand on the old mans shoulder and his eyes opened momentarily. ‘We’ll look in on you tomorrow night.’

‘Boy!’ It was only a whisper but it made both Slim and Molly stop in their tracks. Slim went to his side and Molly darted out into the corridor.

‘Nurse! Nurse!.’ She cried, ‘He’s talking! Quickly!’

The little dark haired nurse left her station and made toward her. She gently lifted the oxygen mask away from John’s mouth and as he began to breathe for himself the three of them saw the terror in his eyes and heard his hoarse whisper, ‘Rest…… like ……. Woman………’

John Tressel was rambling beneath the plastic mask; his long thin fingers trying desperately to remove it.

‘That’s it John,’ the nurse smiled, ‘Rest; that’s what you need now.’

‘No!’ the old man murmured and his lips moved again,

‘Rest ……….. like….. a ………wo….man.’

‘If that’s how you like to rest John, that’s fine with us as long as you do rest!’ laughed the nurse. She tried to replace the oxygen mask over his mouth but John Tressel grabbed her arm. He was struggling to speak and his will was strong.

‘Wait!’ Slim briefly touched the arm that held the mask, ‘Dressed!’

‘Dressed ……… like a woman …….. the driver? …… It was a man ……. Dressed as a woman!’

The old man nodded; breathed a sigh of relief and his eyes seemed to smile at Slim momentarily then they closed and John Tressel laid his head peacefully back on his pillow and drifted off to sleep…………..

It was common practise for the hospital to contact the police with any information relevant to the case so when Carter was informed he sent Claire Peters straight there.
John Tressel was sleeping so she took a statement from the nurse on duty and asked her to call her as soon as he woke then she set off in search of Slim and Molly Birchell. She found them in the beer garden at the conservative club. Slim looked up as Claire approached and gave her a wide smile and she returned it much to Molly’s dismay. Claire liked Slim. She saw him as a loveable rogue.

‘Hello Stephen……. Hello Molly. Do you mind if I join you for a minute or two?’

Slim shuffled sideways on the bench and Molly looked away.

‘No. Come and sit down Detective.’ He stood up. ‘What are you drinking?’

‘Thank you Stephen. Much as I could do with one right now I can only stay a few minutes. I’ve just come from the hospital.’

‘Old John; is he ………..?’

‘He’s fine, bless him; still hanging in there. He was sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb him.’

Slim smiled warmly at her and sat down next to her. ‘Not like that other copper. Sorry …. the er ….. policeman that was there earlier.’

‘Tonight?’

‘Yeah; well me and Molly went there after work and he was sat outside the room the whole time we was there. Then, when the old boy came round he was right in there firing questions at him, then Old John had a coughing fit and couldn’t breathe. Wonder he didn’t give him a heart attack and finish him off completely.’

‘Was he in uniform, this policeman?’

‘Yeah; said his name, now what was it …….?’

‘Coles’ said Molly. His name was PC Coles.’

‘Yeah that’s right; said he’d be back tomorrow. I tell you Detective I don’t like his attitude. Old John went off to sleep then and this Coles, he left.’

‘Right. I’ll have a word. So you stayed until John woke up? Tell me Stephen what it was he said when he came round?’

Slim told her and she made notes of the conversation which matched exactly what the nurse had told her.

‘Stephen, when we talked to you at the station you seemed convinced that it wasn’t Mrs Wilson driving the car that hit John Tressel. Is it possible, Stephen that the driver was a man? You said you caught a glimpse.’

‘Yeah; look Detective; it was dark and I’d had a few, but when something like that happens it kind of sobers you up pretty quick. It wasn’t Mrs Wilson; I’d stake my life on it. They had the long blonde hair all right, but it was kind of tangled and the shape of it was all wrong like …….. well, like it was a wig. And when the car pulled over the edge of the pavement they turned to look back and I only saw a kind of side profile but the jaw line was too bulky; the cheeks were like, flatter. It definitely wasn’t her. It did look like the shape of a bloke’s face; not a woman’s.’

‘Thank you Stephen.’

Claire closed her note book and stood up. None of this made sense. If a man was driving the red Fiesta that hit John Tressel why was Ellie found in the driver’s seat just a few hours later?

‘Have a good evening you two. I’ll be in touch.’

‘No worries. I hope you find him Detective.’

‘So do I Stephen……… So do I.’

Felicity hadn’t slept so well. The baby had woken several times in the night. David had taken Oliver to the park quite early so that she could go back to bed for a couple of hours while little Charlie slept but she was woken by the doorbell ringing. She reached for her dressing gown and rushed downstairs.

‘Felicity?’ The woman at the door had dark hair, wore no make up and looked kind of important.

‘Yes?’

‘I’m Mary; Mary Darch. I’m a friend of Ellie’s.’

‘Yes I know. We spoke very late the other night.’

‘Yes, I’m sorry about that. Look …… can we talk? Are you on your own?’

‘Yes. David’s popped out but he’ll be back any time.’

‘I won’t keep you long, I promise but you need to know the truth about your husband.’

‘You’d better come in.’ Felicity showed the woman into the sitting room, curiosity over-riding fear of confrontation.

‘The other night, I was meeting Ellie for dinner.’

Felicity nodded. ‘I know.’

‘Well we’d arranged to meet at that new place in town at
eight o’clock
. Well Ellie didn’t show. I waited outside until quarter past and then I went inside. The table was booked at eight for eight-thirty you see and the place looked busy; well I didn’t want us to lose our table simply because Ellie was running late you see?’