‘Hold her arms Billy,’ Danny said, ‘she’s a right bloody wriggler this one.'
Pam screamed the loud shriek of a frightened animal. Danny put a hand over her mouth. Billy held her shoulders down so tightly that she had no chance of breaking free. Seconds later she was being raped. Pam whimpered for her mum, for her dad, for anyone who could help her, but her muffled screams fell unheard on the miles of countryside that surrounded them.
‘I’m thirteen,’ she sobbed, turning her head into the grass. She heard a groan and the weight of Danny fall upon her. He rolled off and she lifted her head and wretched to the side but before she had chance to get up Billy pushed her onto her onto her back and was raping her too.
‘It’s your own fucking fault,’ Danny told her as he caught his breath. Billy bit her nipple hard and she screamed out in pain but once again a hand was put over her mouth. Billy quickly let out a moan and after a few seconds got off her. Pam turned and curled instinctively into a ball and held her stomach as if in excruciating pain.
From her place on the ground she saw Danny pick up a can of beer and throw it into the water. They both walked to the lakeside and sat drinking, talking and laughing as if nothing had happened.
She sobbed uncontrollably. Bile rose in her throat as she tried to heave herself onto her elbow. Her body ached, her stomach swirled and finally getting up onto all fours she was violently sick. Danny looked back, stood, walked towards her and picking up her clothes he hurled them at her.
‘For God sake, you silly cow, get dressed. What did you expect? he shrieked. ‘Get dressed.’ Pam stood. Blood ran down her legs and she wiped it best she could with the thong.
‘Dirty fucking bitch,’ Billy sneered. ‘Perhaps you should get a wash in the lake,’ he cooed. ‘Oh, but…’ he said. ‘We don’t have a towel.’
‘You, you raped me…’ she sobbed. ‘You raped me.’ She screamed at them. ‘How could you? I thought you liked me?’
Dylan held the facsimile confirmation from the forensic science lab in his hand.
‘The headlight found in Denton and Greenwood’s garage is a match with the debris for that at the scene of the Harvey murder,’ said the quiet, studious voice of the scientist. Dylan placed the phone down. He had it, he had the first positive link to Grace Harvey’s fatality, but the connection was the car make and not the driver.
He picked up his phone, held it to his cheek and studied for a moment before dialling DS Spiers' extension. ‘Come and see me in my office,’ he said. Instantaneously Taylor breezed in.
‘You wanted me, boss?’ she said with a glint in her eye.
He tried to avert his eyes from her over-exposed cleavage, but she saw his interest and smiled.
‘Have a seat,’ he said. Taylor did as she was told. Sitting in the seat directly across from his desk, she slowly crossed and uncrossed her long brown legs. He knew exactly what she was doing, but like a rabbit in car headlights he was momentarily transfixed. Dylan coughed and resumed his conversation.
‘The glass recovered from the scene of Grace’s fatal.’
‘Yes?’ she said, leaning forward. ‘Come on, don’t you know it’s rude to keep a girl waiting,’ she said licking her bright pink lips as she played with the tips of her hair that was scraped back into a ponytail.
‘They’ve got a match with a headlamp seized from Denton and Greenwood’s garage,’ he said shuffling the paper around on his desk.
‘Fantastic, when’re we gonna bring them in?’
‘Don’t get too excited, it’s a match for the make of car Denton owned. There’s a long way to go yet. I’m thinking about the day after tomorrow. That’ll give us chance to plan the interviews and enable us to get stuck into their ribs,’ Dylan replied. ‘You never know, if they admit to Grace’s death we might get them to roll over for Bridey and Toby’s murder too,’ he said, thoughtfully. ‘The carriage clock that Vicky mentioned; have we got proof it was Mildred Sykes’?’
‘Why would it be? The fingerprints at Mildred Sykes house are not theirs, we’ve checked.’
‘Do we know if Denton and Greenwood knew Stevenson? Could they be on his payroll?’
‘Dunno,’ she said. ‘Do you think they’ll soften under pressure in interview?’
‘Doubt it. On the advice of their solicitor it’s more likely to be
no comment.
I’ll give CPS a call and see what they’ll go along with in respect of charging them. Probably, death by dangerous driving is as much as we can hope for, which is better than nothing. But we’ll push for murder, manslaughter at the very least.’
‘You must be feeling generous,’ Taylor said, teasingly.
‘Why?’ he said, eyeing her quizzically.
‘Day after tomorrow is Bank Holiday Monday, remember? Everybody will be on double time,’ she said with a smile.
‘Good God woman, it’s a good job you told me. Headquarters would crucify me.’
‘Ah but, the team would love you,’ she said flicking her hair over her shoulder as she leant towards him.
‘Make it Tuesday. Early start, you sort out the arrest teams,’ he said as he dismissed her. She turned to leave.
‘Oh, arrange for them to be taken to separate nicks. I want distance between those two once and for all. If Danny Denton’s the driver then he’s the man in control.’
‘Billy Greenwood might grab a lifeline from us if it’s offered,’ she said as she stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at him.
‘And Greenwood might turn out to be the driving force of the pair?’ he said, frowning.
‘I’ll speak to Stevenson again and get the samples off him that you want,’ she said.
‘Do it here, at the nick. Invite him in. I’ll sit in with you. Let’s see what vibes we get from him. It’s about time I met him.’
‘It’d be nice to find out what makes certain men tick,’ she said looking at him quizzically.
Dylan looked to his computer screen. ‘Try getting him in today and see if the financial unit’s got anything to tell us about him before you do. The more ammunition we have the better,’ he grunted.
Dylan watched her walk out into the CID office. She turned. Looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, just like Jen did. He felt guilty, he’d never once looked at another woman since he’d met Jen and there was nothing special about Taylor Spiers, she wasn’t his type. What the hell was he thinking of?
He picked up his phone. He needed to speak to Jen. ‘We’ve just got a breakthrough on the mowing down of the old lady and her dog,’ he said excitedly.
‘That’s brilliant,’ Jen said. She never asked him who the suspect was or what the breakthrough entailed, she knew if she asked he would tell her but if she didn’t know then she couldn’t accidentally mention anything to anyone else.
‘It means an early start on Tuesday but the day after tomorrow I’m told is Bank Holiday so how you fixed for a lie-in?’
‘Sounds wonderful, I’m shattered,’ she said with a sigh as she rubbed her bulging stomach.
‘I’ll try to get a flyer today love, see you soon,’ he whispered into the phone, ‘I love you.’
‘Me too,’ she said, hanging up. Jen smiled to herself as she put her phone down and carried on reading her baby book.
At this stage of your baby’s development
, she read,
you are probably feeling pretty tired and cumbersome. You may be feeling anxious or irritable and have mood swings.
Well at least she was normal.
You may also feel a heavy dragging feeling in your pelvis, as the weight of your baby bears down. You may be experiencing vivid and unsettling dreams, which is your mind's way of adapting to an approaching life change.
Her eyes closed slowly and she drifted off to sleep.
It was only since Dylan had met Jen that he had started to think he would rather be elsewhere than at his work. He picked up his phone and on impulse rang the pensions departments number to see what his finances would be if he decided to retire. He had an idea, but the figures he was given were better than he thought. Taking a moment to himself, he sat back in his old worn leather chair that he refused to have replaced by Avril Summerfield-Preston when she refurbished the offices. He scanned the walls of his office and took time to read the endless lists of detected murders and other crimes he had dealt with in the past two years along with the vast array of commendations for outstanding work.
The phone rang, bringing him back to the present. ‘Boss, I’ve arranged for Stevenson to come in tonight at seven. It’s the best I could do. Is that okay?’
‘I suppose so. I’ll let Jen know I’m gonna be late,’ he sighed.’ Taylor Spiers could see him over the screen of her computer; she winked at him as she put down the phone. Did she never give up?
Jen’s phone bleeped and it woke her. Startled and sleepy she read the message. ‘Another night alone Max,’ she groaned as she reached out to stroke his head. She flopped dramatically back on the cushions. ‘Flaming work,’ she mumbled switching on the TV with the remote control.
Max settled on her handbag like a brindled suitcase – to be sure if she went out he wouldn’t be forgotten. She picked up the newspaper but couldn’t concentrate long enough to read it. She was tired and thirsty. She stood up and waddled to the kitchen to draw a glass of water from the tap. Making her way back to the settee she threw a cushion down first to support her bump then laid on her side to try and get comfortable. Within minutes she felt three large kicks from her baby. ‘Oi, Buttons,’ she said stroking her stomach and grinning to herself.
‘Hormones,’ she said out loud as tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away with a tissue. Dylan was getting back into a routine of early starts and late nights and she was frightened he would make himself ill yet again.
‘Awh, hurry home Jack,’ she whined, and Max barked as if he agreed. She was never surer he understood everything she said as she stroked his strong, soft head to quieten him.
Pam’s sadness was reflected in her tear-filled eyes. She had fallen in love with the wrong kind of boy. How could she have been so stupid? She had turned a deaf ear to anyone who had badmouthed him. She’d truly thought he liked her.
The realisation that neither of the boys had worn any form of contraception made her blood run cold. What if…? ‘Oh God no,’ she moaned as her hand moved to her stomach and felt it contract. She started to shake uncontrollably.
‘Come on,’ Danny yelled. ‘Move, otherwise we’ll leave ya.’
Perhaps she would be better off left alone.
‘If you don’t move I’ll give you some more of this,’ Billy smirked, pulling his zip down. He rubbed his crutch, suggestively.
‘No,’ she said, sobbing, reaching for her clothes. Billy kicked them away just as her fingers touched the cloth.
‘Let her have 'em Billy, we need to get going,’ said Danny, his voice taking on a bored tone.
She felt stupid, dirty and ashamed as well as in pain. Again she reached out for her clothes, trying desperately to hide her nakedness with her free arm. Danny’s phone clicked. She glared up at him.
‘Just a couple of pictures of you crawling naked in the grass, just in case you decide to tell anyone about our picnic,’ he said clicking the camera on the phone once again.
Her fingers were numb as she fumbled with the fastening on her bra. ‘Shall I help you fasten that?’ Billy said laughing.
‘Don’t… don’t you dare touch me,’ she said, staring angrily at him. ‘Keep away,’ she screamed.
Billy looked as though he was going to hit her. ‘Leave her be Billy, she’s not worth it. Let her scream all she wants nobody can hear her here.’
Silently, she followed them back to the car. As they neared their vehicle she saw an elderly man walking his dog in the distance. Danny turned to her as if reading her thoughts. ’Don’t even think about it unless you want us to kill him,’ he said flicking open a knife.
She froze. Danny sounded serious and she now knew only too well what they were capable of. If they attacked him what else would they do to her? They had her picture. Who’d believe that she wasn’t involved? The man walked closer.
‘She’ll let you and the dog have a go for a tenner mister,’ Billy shouted loudly.
The man put his head down and ambled on.
Pam looked ashamedly at the grass beneath her feet as she walked on. The man shouted his dog to heel and when she looked his way he had turned and had began walking in the opposite direction. Who could blame him?
Pam sat in the back of the car that was now strewn
with cast-off food cartons, drink cans, pizza boxes and chip wrappers. She stared at the mess as if seeing it for the first time. She could taste vomit and smell alcohol and the stale cigarette smoke upon her. Hurting, she moaned. Quietly she closed her eyes and as she did so she was lulled by the motion of the car, which gave her a little comfort.
‘I suppose you expect us to drop you off at home?’ Danny said.
She nodded weakly, glancing up for one moment to see the stranger’s eyes peering back at her from the car’s rear view mirror.
‘You’ll be okay when you calm down. Remember what we said, say nothing and you’ll be okay,’ he said in a gentler tone.
Was this really the Danny she had fallen head over heels for?
‘Yeah cross us and we’ll show everybody your tits on the internet,’ Billy said. ‘Mind you, they’re not bad,’ he said.
Pam’s lips were swollen and she could taste blood in her mouth. The journey home seemed to take forever but eventually she could see the familiar buildings on her street out of the window. The car came to an abrupt halt. Billy got out and opened the door. Reaching into the back he grabbed Pam’s arm and unceremoniously bundled her out onto the pavement.
‘Remember, say anything and there’ll be trouble,’ Danny called after her. He revved the engine ferociously three times. She stood at the gate looking dishevelled and forlorn. Danny drove off at speed, sounding the horn for everyone in the street to hear which spurred Pam into action. She ran into the house and locked the door behind her.
Pam held her breath and listened. Her mum and dad were still at work and she exhaled a sigh of relief. She ran straight upstairs and into the bathroom where she stripped off all her clothes. Feeling uncomfortable with her nakedness she grabbed her dressing gown and hurriedly set the shower running. Slowly she turned and caught her reflection in the mirror as she de-robed. Not only was her mouth red and bruised but there was a great welt on her arm. ‘Oh God,’ she said, gasping as she put her hand up to the tender flesh of her breasts that bore red, angry teeth marks.
She climbed into the shower and reached for the loofah. Scrubbing her skin until it felt sore, the feeling of nausea suddenly took over as she saw the river of dried blood on the inside of her thigh. She slid down the shower cubicle and sat on the floor of the stall, letting the water pelt down on her body like hailstones.
Suddenly, she twitched as if she had been falling into a semi-conscious sleep. The side of her face was squashed against the shower cubicle door. How long had she been there? The bathroom was full of steam. Fighting to stay lucid she managed to push the door open and claw herself up with the aid of the towel rail. She turned off the water. Wincing, she buffed herself dry with a big, soft towel. She wrapped a turban around her head and grabbed her toothbrush to brush her teeth until her gums bled. She swilled her mouth with cap after cap of mouthwash that burned, but it felt good.
As soon as she was dry she felt dirty again, dirty, used and stupid. She sobbed and sat in the corner of the bathroom on its cold tiled floor. She had no concept of time but slowly she gathered her clothes from the floor and, screwing them up, she threw them into the bin. She put on her Disney tracksuit and curled up on her bed. Her eyes closed, she cried hugging herself until she drifted to sleep.
‘Pam. I’m home. Where are you darling?’ Pam’s mum’s voice intruded into her dream and before she had fully woken her mum was through the bedroom door and at her side.
‘What on earth?’ she said, seeing her little girl’s form curled up in a ball under the duvet. ‘You ill? Did they send you home from school? You should have called me,’ she said stroking, the top of her daughter's head. Her hand wandered under the covers to her brow where she let it linger to see if it were hot.
She sat beside Pam on the bed like she used to when she was little and reached out to cradle her in her arms. Pam couldn’t look at her. ‘What on earth has happened to your face?’ she said, holding Pam’s face by the chin and turning it this way and that. Pam’s face screwed up and crying hysterically she held her mother tightly.
‘Mum,’ she whimpered.
‘Darling, look at me, has someone hurt you? I need to know.’
Holding her daughter close quietened Pam but, she didn’t speak. Linda stroked her daughter’s head soothingly.
‘I know some of my jewellery and money’s gone missing. You’ve been bullied haven’t you?’ she said lifting Pam’s face to look at her.
‘Oh, sweetheart we can sort it, don’t worry,’ Linda said. ‘I’m not cross with you.’
Linda pulled away slightly to get a look at Pam’s face once again but Pam clung to her mum’s jumper as if her life depended on it.
‘You’re safe now baby, you’re safe. I told your dad there was something wrong. You were so… so quiet when we went to France. Tell mummy what it is,’ Linda coaxed.
‘I’ve been raped, mum.’
‘What?’ Linda yelled, as her heart stopped and she gasped for air.