Faraday 02 Network Virus (22 page)

“
I think we need to ask Greg exactly what part he had in all this.”

“
Can we wait a bit?” asked Stafford. “I recognised one of the attackers - the one who kicked me in the head when I was on the ground. He’s a nasty piece of work called Sean Hendon. I think we should bring him in first and see what he has to say for himself.”

She nodded. “All right. I’ll go along with that.” She put a hand on his arm. “I’m no more anxious than you to accuse Greg of something like this unless there’s good evidence that he’s done something wrong.”

One of the paramedics tapped her on the shoulder. “OK, we’ve given the chap a check over. There’s a couple of suspected broken ribs, a damaged upper arm or shoulder and some possible problems in the region of the abdomen. I don’t think there are any ruptured organs but I can’t be sure without a scan. So we’re ready to get him in the ambulance if you’re happy to let him go.”

“
Certainly. He’s all yours. Do you want a hand with lifting him?”

“
No. We’ve got all the gear and we’re used to it.”

“
What about you, Stafford?” To the paramedic she said, “Inspector Paulson was kicked in the head a couple of times.”

“
I’m OK,” said Stafford. “I’ve just got a bit of a headache.”

“
Let me look at the cut on your cheek.” He carefully felt around the damaged area. “I don’t think there’s a problem there. It looks like a glancing blow resulting in simple bruising. There’s nothing broken. Where was the other impact?”

Paulson indicated the location at the back of his head. The paramedic carefully felt round the area. “Do you feel any dizziness?” he asked.

The inspector shook his head.

“
And that head-shake doesn’t make you feel nauseous or disorientated?”

“
No. There’s just a bit of a headache.”

“
I don’t think you’ve got concussion but you need to be careful.” To Charlotte he said, “Will you drive the inspector home after this?”

“
Of course.”

“
Take a couple of aspirin when you go to bed. If you feel funny when you get up in the morning, make sure you get taken to hospital for a check-up. Explain to them what happened and ask for a scan.” He wagged a finger at the policeman. “Concussion’s a funny thing. It can show up later and can be quite dangerous. So be careful.”

He went back to help his colleague get Sidney Pullman loaded into the ambulance. Then they departed for the hospital. His sister was advised to leave him with them for the night. She could get in touch with the hospital in the morning when they would be able to give her more information about his condition.

Charlotte rang the station and was told the glazing company would be there within half an hour. A woman PC was being sent to the house to see if Daisy Spender needed any additional protection. And a couple of neighbours who had ventured out to see what the fuss was about had offered Sidney’s sister help.

So the detectives left with the promise that the attack would be fully investigated and they would contact her when they had more news.

Of course nobody noticed Greg Mallinson, when he left his vantage point further up the hill. He got into his car, reversed away from the main road, did a three-point turn and departed up the side street away from the scene.

- 27 -

When Marion went to answer the ring at the doorbell early on Tuesday morning she was astonished to see James Fisher standing there.

“
I’ve come to apologise before I hand myself in to the police,” he announced.

“
Oh.” She was taken aback. “Oh dear. I suppose you’d better come in.”

“
Is your husband here?”

“
No. Don’t worry about that.”

“
I wanted to apologise to him as well. He’d be entitled to give me a good beating if he chose.”

“
That won’t be necessary.” She almost pulled at his arm. “Please come in.”

He followed her as she closed the front door and led him into the sitting room.

“
I promise you I have never done anything like that before in my
life
. I know what I did was unforgiveable and I’m not
asking
you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know how thoroughly ashamed I am of myself. My mother telephoned me to tell me that the police wanted to interview me about what happened the Sunday before last. I came here first because they may decide to put me in the cells when I report to them.”

“
I don’t know what to say.” Marion experienced a most strange sensation of almost maternal consideration towards the young man.

“
I can only offer as the reasons for my behaviour that I had drunk too much and you seemed so attractive and so - well, yes - so sexy and at first I thought you were going to let me and then I realised that you wouldn’t and I - I felt as though you were trying to cheat me like that Taliban woman did to my mate. Not that I had any right to think like that,” he said hurriedly.

He put up his hand. “I realise now that it was nothing like that. You had every right to push me away. I’m not offering that as an excuse. I know my treatment of you was inexcusable. But it’s a sort of reason for how I felt towards you.” He smiled weakly. “My mother has made it clear to me that I must accept my punishment for the way I behaved and I agree with that.”

“
Well, I suppose -.” She stopped herself. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”

“
No thanks. I promise not to stay long. I don’t want you to feel threatened by me.” He took a breath. “I also promise you that I’ll make sure you won’t be dragged through the humiliation of being questioned in court by the defence lawyer. My mother said she’d read that was one of the worse things for a woman and was the reason why many of them don’t take proceedings against their attackers.”

Marion found it difficult to believe that this man who had been so violent on that awful night could now be so considerate. But everything about him suggested he was telling the truth.

“
My mother also told me what an awful experience it must have been for you. She told me some women are so traumatised by being - er - by being raped that they are never able to let a man touch them again.” He coughed. “I hope that won’t happen to you.”

There was a long silence. It seemed to Marion that James was hoping to get some sort of reassurance from her.

“
Well,” she said, “all sorts of things have happened since you - since you raped me.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
The most important thing is that my daughter has gone missing. Tracey’s only twelve years old.” She shook her head. “As far as I’m concerned she’s much more important than what you did to me.”

“
What’s happened to her?”

“
We don’t know. The police are searching everywhere for her but they haven’t had any luck yet.” Her voice broke. “She’s been missing for five days now.”

“
God, how awful. Is your husband out looking for her?”

“
No, he’s disappeared as well.” Why did she feel the need to explain to this man? “He came back from the Far East on Wednesday night. He’s the one who made me report the rape to the police. We did that early on Thursday morning. Tracey disappeared while we were at the police station. Afterwards we had an awful row and he accused me of encouraging you. Then he walked out and I haven’t seen him since.”

She suddenly burst into tears. She didn’t know why she did it at that particular moment. Then this man - this man who had assaulted her - had his arms round her and was comforting her and she wanted him to do it.

“
I’m so sorry,” he said. “It’s all been caused by me.”

“
No,” she sniffed, “it’s not your fault.”

“
Yes it is. If I hadn’t treated you like I did, you wouldn’t have been at the police station and Tracey wouldn’t have disappeared and you wouldn’t have rowed with your husband.” He let go of her. “You don’t know what you start when you behave with violence.”

She was disappointed he had let go of her but she understood. She must look ugly with her tear-stained face without any make-up on. She was dressed in tatty old clothes which she had dragged on when she got out of bed. She hadn’t even had a shower. She thought she must look like a proper old hag.

James said, “I wish there was something I could do to help to make up in a little way for what I did last week.”

And then the doorbell rang.

Marion crossed to the window and peered out through the net curtains. “Oh, it’s Charlotte.”

“
Who’s Charlotte?”

“
She’s the police lady who’s been arranging the search for Tracey.”

“
Oh, I can tell her I’m giving myself up.”

“
No, you can’t.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because I don’t want her to find you in my house. Go into the kitchen,” And when he still stood there. “Go on. I’ve got to let her in.”

Reluctantly he went towards the door to the kitchen.

“
Go on,” she urged, “and make sure you keep quiet.”

He disappeared as Marion went to open the front door.

“
Good morning, Marion.” Charlotte leaned forward. “Have you been crying?”

She nodded.

“
I understand. It’s very upsetting that it’s taking so long, but I promise you we are doing everything we can to find Tracey and I think we may have a new lead.” She told her about Hawardine. “We haven’t been able to get anything out of him yet, and I think she may have had some nasty experiences for a twelve-year-old, but I don’t think the old sod will have actually harmed her.”

“
Why don’t you just arrest him?”

“
We haven’t got enough evidence yet but I think we’ll be able to do that later today.” She laid a hand on her arm. “But I warn you it doesn’t mean we’ll automatically find Tracey as well. These buggers make sure they’re protected by very sharp lawyers.”

Marion shook her head. “It’s so awful being shut up here on my own waiting for a telephone call that never comes. I’m desperate to get out there and try looking for myself.”

“
Whose car is that outside the gate?”

“
Oh.” Marion could see it now. She had a sudden brainwave. “That’s my brother’s. Jimmy’s come down from London to help. I don’t often see him but I rang him because I was feeling so alone. He agreed to come down today and take me out to see if we can see Tracey anywhere. That’s all right, isn’t it?”

“
Of course it is.” The inspector beamed at her. “You’ll take your mobile with you, won’t you, so that you can be contacted? A bit of a change will do you good. But I warn you that you’re unlikely to see her anywhere.”

“
Oh, I know that, but I thought I at least wanted to try.”

“
That’s all right. Shall I get your home phone calls redirected to the station?”

Marion shook her head. “I don’t think that’s necessary. The phone hasn’t rung for five days and nights. It’s never going to ring now, is it?”

“
Very well. As you wish. Can I meet this brother of yours?”

“
Oh, he drove down overnight. He’s having a rest for a couple of hours before we go out and start our search. Do you want me to go up and wake him?”

“
No, said Charlotte. “It’s not important. Well, I hope you find it hopeful to get out. Keep in touch, won’t you, and let me know if you think of anything which might be helpful to our searches.” She patted her arm. “Don’t let the apparent lack of progress get you down. I’m sure we’ll find her soon.”

She departed with a wave. Marion closed the door and went back into the sitting room as James emerged from the kitchen.

“
Did you hear that?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’ve decided,” said Marion, “that, as part of your penance, you can be my non-existent brother Jimmy for the day and drive me round in your car to all the places where I think I might find Tracey. Do you understand?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, but you’ll have to be careful not to tell the police lady about it because, when I give myself up, she may find it more difficult to charge me if she thinks you’ve let me help you.”

“
I’m not worried about that. I’m going to withdraw the complaint anyway. I only made it because Gary dragged me along there. In any case Charlotte told me it was going to be very difficult to prove because it took me four days before I made the complaint. She said the delay would be seized on by the defence as evidence of consent.”

“
What will your husband say about that?”

She shrugged. “He’ll have to accept it. After all, he hasn’t been here to help me through the most difficult five days of my life, so he doesn’t have any right to complain.”

“
Wow!”

“
But I’m going to make sure you keep apologising.” She wagged a finger at him. “Don’t think that you’re forgiven or that you can take advantage of my generosity.”

“
OK.” He looked suitably humble. “I know I’m in your debt. You’re the one who makes the decisions from now on.”

“
Right. You go into the kitchen and make yourself a cup of tea or coffee. I’m going to have a shower and change and then you can spend the day acting as my chauffeur in your car and escorting me round the places I want to look at.”

She went upstairs feeling a lightness of heart that she hadn’t experienced for more than a week - in fact, for a lot longer than that,

- 28 -

Charlotte left Marion Bostock with a strange thought in her mind. The woman looked a mess, which was hardly surprising, considering what she had been through. However she seemed to have gained an inner strength from somewhere which Charlotte hadn’t noticed before. Where had that come from?