Sleepwalk (26 page)

‘We need a stick to mix it up.’
Sandy
looked around the hedges.

‘In the shed
Sandy
. As you go in the door there are some old bamboo canes in the left hand corner. Some of them are quite strong; we’ll need a strong one.’

As Sandy stepped from the bright sunlight of the garden into the darkness of the shed her face hit something hard and furry and she instinctively recoiled, took a step back and came to face to face with two piercing green eyes and the gaping open jaw of Felicity’s dead cat swinging from a hook above her head. She screamed and backed out of the shed slamming the door behind her. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would explode. Her face was white and the smell of decomposing flesh had made her feel nauseous.

‘What is it?’ Felicity cried. ‘What is it
Sandy
?’ She rushed toward the shed but
Sandy
stood in her way.

‘Don’t……… Flick. Don’t go in there.’

‘It’s the cat isn’t it?’

Sandy
nodded.

‘Oh God I can smell it.’

Sandy
took her arm and led her into the house.

‘Come on hun. I’m phoning the police.’

DI Carter and DC Peters were about to leave
North Barton Court
after receiving no answer from no 2 and there being no sign of a blue Fiesta. Claire informed Carter that she was probably still with her son and David Wilson who met fortnightly; and then Carter got the call.

‘What is it Steve?’

‘Sorry to bother you when you’re on call outs Sir but we’ve just had a call from a friend of the Breen girl. The cat has turned up; hanging from a hook in her garden shed apparently. Told her we’d get someone over there ASAP. Shall I send a unit over there?’

‘No Steve. DC Peters and I will take it. We’re on our way.’

On the way to Knapp Claire told him about David’s estranged wife and how she had once sleepwalked right out of her bedroom window.

‘Don’t be daft. How could anyone sleepwalk out of their bedroom window for Christ’s sake? She must have been pushed.’

‘You still suspect
Wilson
don’t you Sir?’

‘Don’t you?’

‘No. No I don’t believe I do. For a start he shows genuine signs of shock. I like him; and he obviously dotes on the Breen girl. You can see it in his eyes. No;
Wilson
is as foxed by all this as we are; I’m sure of it.’

‘Genuine signs of shock, eh? That what they taught you to look for at
Detective
University
was it? The thought hadn’t occurred to you that
Wilson
may be a bloody good actor?’

‘Of course; but I have this woman’s intuition thing to help me sniff out the good actors from the bad.’

Carter smiled to himself then. ‘I remember my old Uncle Teddy used to sleepwalk; but a fair proportion of his nocturnal activities were drink induced. He used to come back from the pub and wander about the house in his birthday suit. My Aunt used to give him some stick. ‘
Put some clothes on you dirty old goat
…..’ she used to say….. ‘
No one wants to look at that old thing
’
. There was many a folk saw his old thing though; used to go wandering off down the street in the nuddy. Never used to get very far though and then he’d wake up, realise where he was and he’d go home and find he couldn’t get back in because everyone was asleep in bed.’

They pulled into the lay by at Knapp and climbed the steps to Felicity’s cottage. They could both smell the dead cat as they approached the shed on which the door was swinging back and fourth in the summer breeze and flies swarmed around the doorway. DC Peters went to the back kitchen door, knocked and went inside. Carter put on some surgical gloves; put a handkerchief over his mouth and looked inside the shed. The cat was hanging from a steel S-shaped hook. The kind used in the meat trade by butchers and abattoirs. Its belly had been sliced open and the hook was tucked neatly inside its intestines. He looked around to see if there were any other signs of the intruder but could see nothing obvious. He closed the shed door, took off his gloves and placed them inside a plastic bag, then radioed through to the station to get a forensic team over to check for prints and went to join his colleague in the house. Claire Peters was asking Felicity about the Ford Fiesta. Had she ever seen David driving it?

‘No. It’s her car; although David did have a visit from the police a couple of weeks ago about it. We joked about it because he’d said he was in trouble for not sending the log book off and I said I might have to rethink our relationship.’ She smiled then and Claire smiled with her. Carter stayed in the shadows and observed. DC Peters was doing fine on her own; building up the rapport……
and she was good at it
.

Felicity went on…… ‘He’d given the car to her when they split up, which under the circumstances I think was really good of him because he said he’d had to buy another one and that was when he got the Audi. He’d signed his part of the log book and she’d promised to send it in to change the ownership and address, but she obviously didn’t keep her word because apparently it was still registered in his name. He said he would ask her about it the next time he saw her. I mean, she’d had it for about a year you know.’

‘Ok. Well thanks Flick and I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all this with the cat business.’

‘It’s ok. I’ve had so many shocks recently and I wondered when or where it would turn up once you said it wasn’t you that….. you know.’

DI Carter stepped forward. ‘Would you like us to …. er, dispose of the cat for you Flick?’

‘Oh God! I hadn’t thought about that’

‘We have our own veterinary who can arrange a cremation for you and I think under the circumstances……’

‘Yes. Thank you Detective Inspector. That would be very good of you. Maybe later, once you’ve caught this man, I might plant a tree or something where his grave was.’

‘Yes. Well. Goodbye Flick. We’ll keep in touch.’ DC Peters shook her hand and the two made their way to the car to await the arrival of the forensics team. Felicity went upstairs to find her friend hard at work. Sandra had mixed the paint and was already half way around the bathroom with a pretty pastel shade of blue
with the odd dark blue vein in it
………

Margaret Breen very carefully backed the car out of its garage. She hated to drive. Even the thought of getting behind the wheel scared her immensely. She felt a bump as she braked too late and heard the crunch of metal against the low garden wall. She put the gear stick into first gear, pulled forward awkwardly to the left and braked just in time before hitting the stone pillar of the garage. She tried to move the car both forward and back to manoeuvre it but it had somehow become stuck against the low wall and fence to the left of her and no matter how hard she tried she just got closer and closer to the wall until the car was wedged there against the wall and was going nowhere.

‘What on earth are you doing love?’ Joseph came across and opened the driver’s door.

‘It’s that silly wall again. I’ve told you about it before but you wouldn’t listen. It sticks out much too far’

Joseph looked at the angle of the car and looked over the bonnet to the passenger side. The sill at the base of the car body was well and truly jammed against the wall. Moving it in any direction would scratch it even more now.

‘No doubt about it Margaret; It’s well and truly stuck. We aren’t going anywhere now without causing a lot of damage to the car. Don’t worry though……’ Joseph took his wallet from inside his jacket pocket and took out some coins. ‘… I’ve got some money here. We can call the breakdown people to lift it out with one of their crane lorries’

‘Shut up Joseph; you’re not helping at all.’ She dialled Felicity’s number, furious at herself for her inadequacy as a driver and as she stood there in the driveway waiting for an answer, she realised just how much room she had on the right hand side of the car. It was wide enough to fit two cars in so how………….?

‘Darling I’m sorry, I know you’re busy but I’m a bit stuck, and I thought you may know what to do.’

‘What’s happened Mum?’

‘Well, somehow I seem to have got the car stuck against the garden wall and I’m not quite sure how to get it out. Your father has a hospital appointment in twenty minutes and ……. I could call a taxi if it’s difficult.’

‘No. No It’s fine Mum. I’ll be right over and I can take you to the hospital.’

Felicity
reached for
her handbag. David had only just arrived back after dropping Ollie at his parents.

‘I’m sorry guys. I’ve got to pop out. Mum’s got the car stuck.’

They all had a good snigger at her mothers expense.
Sandy
volunteered to hold the fort until they got back and David drove her to her parent’s house in
Compton
. He skilfully pulled the
Toyota
away from the wall resulting in a small but unavoidable scratch to go with its new dent, turned it around and then reversed it into the garage so that it was easy for her mother to drive out next time she used it.

‘There won’t be a next time’ she announced as they all clambered into David’s car.

‘I’ve never liked driving anyway so it can stay in the garage and gather dust for all I care……. or you can have it Felicity. It’s a new car and it’s got a lovely heater and everything and one of these CD things that I’ve never used.’

‘Don’t be daft Mum. You could sell it if you really don’t want to drive anymore. Or you could take a refresher course; have a few more lessons; get your confidence back.’

‘Darling; to get one’s confidence back one needs to have confidence in the first place and I have never felt confident behind the wheel of one of these things. We would never get back what we paid for it anyway. The depreciation value on new cars is way too high and Joseph isn’t allowed to drive it anymore.’

‘Might get fifty pounds for it.’ Joseph retorted abruptly.

David looked at Felicity and they both smiled but he recognised a deep sadness in her smile. He wanted to hold her in his arms right there and then; tell her everything would be all right; but he knew it wouldn’t be. Joseph Breen would slowly get worse until he didn’t know anyone anymore; until he didn’t even know himself.

David waited in the car in the hospital car park while Felicity went inside with her parents. There was a small play area in the hospital grounds and he watched the children playing there. The morning had gone well with Ellie and Abi both playing with Oliver while he’d watched from the bench and read his newspaper. He’d left them alone for a short while and gone to the booth to get himself a coffee and when he’d returned Ollie had come running up to him and held on to him like he wouldn’t ever let go. He had been crying and Abi advised him that it was because he was afraid his father had left him. More and more lately he’d noticed his son becoming quite clingy with him. The boy obviously still had his insecurities about the break up and knew that he wasn’t to be left alone with his mother. He had never had a problem staying with his grandparents; although David had never really left him with anyone else; not even with Flick. Although he’d also noticed that Oliver was becoming more fond of Flick and she, fonder of him. She bathed him, took him to bed and read to him every night and played with him or talked to him the whole time he was awake. She had an incredibly good understanding of children’s education and the boy’s speech had improved dramatically in the past couple of weeks. If she left now and moved back to her cottage it could have a devastating effect on Oliver. David watched as he saw her now, arm in arm with her father and mother, chatting away and smiling as they made their way back to the car park. They were a happy family, even with all the little obstacles life put in their way; they climbed them and moved on. That was what life was all about, wasn’t it; finding someone to share your life with; to climb the obstacles with. David had thought he’d found that with Ellie; then he had lost her. Now he had found Felicity
and he wasn’t about to let her go
…………….

*******************************

Vanessa Gordon had slept well and was more with it today. The round faced nurse was back on duty and had already been chatting away to her on and off for most of the morning. When the door opened and the boy, Williams came and stood by her bed it was no surprise to either of them. The round faced nurse left them to talk and made her exit.

‘What do you want Williams? Haven’t you done enough?’

His face was stern as he sat beside her and he didn’t speak or look at her. He just sat gazing at the floor.

‘If you’ve come here to sit and gawk at me and don’t even have a word of apology to offer then you may as well leave.’

His head moved then and he looked her in the eyes. She’d never really looked at his face before and she thought he was quite a handsome boy ….. in a rugged sort of way.

‘Why are you so bitter?

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘What makes you so bitter ……. so unforgiving ……. so short sighted, and so …… venomous.’ Even as he spoke Slim knew that the words coming out of his mouth were not his words; they were Jonquils; but sure enough it was him saying them. It was as though Jonquil were speaking through him and he felt quite pleased with himself that he had just used a word like
venemon
……
venemet
……
venemunon
…….
He couldn’t even say it to himself
.