Authors: C.J. Johnson
"They're brutal pictures, Mike," Ste had told him, the big man's voice having an out-of-character edge to it. "The bastard took pictures of the girl just before, and halfway through carving the cross into her back when she's in agony. And like I said, the cross was only half done, so you know as soon as he put the camera down, he went right on carving the girl up some more."
Mike grimaced.
"We have more pictures of Laura in the boot of his car," Ste had continued "and pictures of her at the location where her body was found." Ste's voice had lowered, "he made her beg on her knees, Mike. We have a picture of her praying on her knees. The next image is of her dead after he strangled her."
Mike sat back in his chair and sighed.
The
bastard can't do it again,
he told himself. It didn't ease the heavy feeling in his gut as he thought of the girl's suffering. As an officer, he had to be content with the lives they had saved, not the ones lost that had aided the killer's capture.
"Bad news?" Lee asked, suddenly appearing beside him. "You're looking a little green around the gills."
Mike told him the details of the pictures. "We need to find that woman," Lee said sternly after listening closely. "Already on it," Mike said. "We've also found some diaries. Someone is preparing to go through them with a fine-tooth comb."
Lee nodded, then regarded Mike thoughtfully.
"What?"
"I asked Ellen about you, about the Turner case."
Ellen worked the front desk and had been there for 22 years. Many of the officers called her Nana. A plump woman with white hair always pulled back into a bun, there wasn't one officer that didn't come running when she brought in trays of her baked goodies.
"Why? What were you asking about?"
"That's not important, what she just told me, is." Mike frowned as Lee perched himself on the edge of the desk.
"Well, the day you told me about the Turner case, I happened to ask Ellen that night. I mentioned your killer's new married name and she told me all about the case, what she knew of, and that you were put on leave and everything else. For what it's worth Mike, she believed in you. Anyway, your killer's new married name stuck in Ellen's mind, so when the call came in not ten minutes ago, she called for me."
Lee raised his eyebrows in such a way to make Mike think good news was coming, or some really bad news that he'd have to prepare himself to hear.
"Oh God," Mike muttered, thinking the worst. "Her new husband. She hasn't?..."
Lee shook his head, knowing instantly what Mike was thinking. "No. But there
is
a man laying in Derby hospital, the victim of a hit and run. Someone called regarding this accident, saying there is a witness. The victim is Bill Tompkins; he's Cheryl Underwood's father. The caller said that Cheryl's mother watched her daughter run down her father with her car before speeding away."
***
"We're here to see Mary Tompkins," Lee told the nurse, the catch in his throat sounding like he'd jogged all the way to the hospital.
Which wasn't far wrong.
"Jesus, Mike. Slow down before you send us into the future," he'd said multiple times as Mike sped to the hospital. This was it,
the moment.
Maybe he couldn't prove that Cheryl had murdered her first husband, but attempted murder of her own father would see a prison sentence, if of course, the claim was true.
He'd waited 7 years for this. Okay, he hadn't been consumed with the case for the past 7 years, but Cheryl Turner had lurked in his mind, like a spider lurking in the far corner of a darkened room. Every now and then, she had jumped out at him, taunting him with memories of a murdered man and his killer who had walked free.
So, Lee's pleas to Mike to slow the car down had fallen on deaf ears and Mike had all but ran to the ward on which Cheryl's father lay injured after being run over by his own daughter.
The nurse nodded at Lee, her face taking on a coloured hue as she openly stared at the detective's handsome young features. "This way," she said.
They followed her down a long corridor that seemed, to Mike, never-ending, before stopping outside a private room. The nurse knocked briefly before entering, Mike and Lee on her heels.
A man lay on the bed, his head bandaged and both his eyes black with bruising. His left leg was extending in the air and covered from his heel to thigh in a white cast. His left arm was also in a cast and raised outwards.
A small, frail woman clung to his right hand as she was comforted by the younger woman beside her.
"The police are here," the nurse said quietly. The small woman didn't look up and didn't relinquish her hold on the injured man's hand, but the younger woman by her side looked up.
For a second, Mike was stunned.
Cheryl's sister. Has to be.
She looked younger than Cheryl, and was far more beautiful. Though Cheryl was stunning, this woman's beauty was natural and pure. Dark hair fell around her shoulders in tousled waves and her face had very little make-up on it, where Cheryl's hair was bleached a bright blond colour and she wore excessive make-up.
Mike wondered if the women were close, whether the knowledge that her sister had hurt her father had caused this woman the pain and anguish of choosing a side.
Suddenly, Mary Tompkins; at least, that's who Mike presumed the older woman was, began to cry.
"I'm very sorry for what you're going through," Mike told her. And he was sorry. As delighted as he was at the prospect of finally bringing Cheryl Turner down, he didn't like this part of her hurting people in order for him to do that. "But we're here to discuss information and an eye witness account regarding a hit and run accident."
The nurse hurried from the room and returned seconds later with 2 folded chairs, which she immediately set out for Mike and Lee.
Both men thanked her and, casting a sympathetic glance at the two women, she turned and left the room, gently closing the door behind her.
Mike appreciated her professionalism.
"I believe you witnessed the whole incident. Do you feel that you can tell us?"
From the corner of his eye, Mike saw Lee prepare his pen over his pad, ready to jot notes and leaving Mike to answer the questions.
"Mum is in a terrible state over all this, as you can imagine. I made the phone call."
"And you are?"
"I'm Tess."
"You're Mrs Turner's sister?"
Tess's face darkened immediately and she lowered her head.
No
, Mike thought,
they aren't close.
"By blood only," Tess answered, looking over at her father.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Mike asked sympathetically, hoping he didn't sound as eager as he felt.
"Well—" Tess began before her mother cut in.
"It was my birthday meal last night; we all went out," she said, her voice heavy with grief.
"Where did you eat?"
"Mario and Louigi's," Tess told him. Mike nodded.
"It was a disaster," Tess added and once again looked over at her father. "Dad and Cheryl got into it."
"Got into it how?"
Tess sighed. "About 6 weeks ago, Cheryl's husband went to see dad about her. He said he'd heard a rumour that Cheryl was having an affair, wanted to know if my dad knew anything of it. Dad assured him he didn't and Harold went to pieces. He left claiming that he would fix whatever it was that had drove Cheryl to stray, vowing to change his job if that's what it took, just to spend more time with her. Then, it all blew up at a party a week ago."
Tess leaned towards her mother and pulled her in tight to her side, the woman's crying becoming more anguished. Mike waited patiently, trying to give them time, though a part of him felt like shaking the story out of the young woman.
"Whilst at a party, it came out that Cheryl had been sleeping with Harold's friend's son."
"So she continued to see the man after Harold tried to fix the marriage?"
Tess shook her head as her mother leaned her head on her chest. "No. This was a different man. Harold was so humiliated. He's since found out that Cheryl's had many lovers, both before and after they were married. Cheryl's the juicy gossip at the moment and dad was so ashamed. He told Harold that he should leave her, that no man should have to put up with that. At the restaurant last night, dad told Cheryl exactly that and said she wouldn't be welcome at their house when Harold left her as penniless as she was when he found her."
Mike nodded, thinking he could see where this was going, when Mrs Tompkins suddenly blurted "her own father! I have to turn in my own daughter to the police."
"Mum, we talked about this. We're not doing dad any favours by keeping quiet."
"Mrs Tompkins," Mike said softly. She looked at him and his throat constricted at the raw pain that was stunningly clear in those tear-filled eyes. "This is a very serious matter. If your daughter can do this to her own father, she's capable of hurting others. You couldn't have seen this coming, therefore, you couldn't have prevented it. But you can prevent anyone else getting hurt."
Mrs Tompkins lowered her head and sagged in her seat. "There was a knock at the door around 10.20pm. Everyone knows I go to bed at 10pm every night without fail. I...I take tablets, you see. They always knock me out. Bill was awake though. It was Bill getting out of bed that woke me. He was concerned about someone knocking so late and was worried there'd been an accident or something. I listened to him go downstairs and open the door, but I didn't hear anything else until the door shut again. I thought it strange that no-one had come inside, so I got up and looked out of our bedroom window. The first thing I spotted was Cheryl's 4x4, parked just down from our house. I was surprised to see her there, happy too, thinking she'd come to make peace with her father. They had said some horrible things to each other. Bill walked out of our front garden and headed towards her car as he put his coat on. And then...and then..."
"And then?" Mike asked gently as Mrs Tompkins began to sob. "And then Cheryl revved the engine and her car shot forward, heading straight for Bill. It happened so fast, but yet it seemed to happen in slow motion too. The look of disbelief and fear on Bill's face as the car headed straight for him. He didn't even have time to move. The car...hit him so hard he folded and went over the hood, then he fell sideways as she turned the wheel. I...I don't remember going downstairs, but the next thing I remember was kneeling beside him. His head was bleeding and his eyes were closed; I thought he was dead."
With that, Mrs Tompkins completely fell apart. She brought her husband's hand to her face and held it against her cheek as she cried.
The high-pitched sounds she emitted somehow made Mike think of a puppy being kicked. He lowered his head and Tess spoke.
"The next door neighbour heard everything, though she didn't see it. The were also a couple of other neighbours who heard it and one came out saying he had the licence number of the car. Mrs Collins, Mum and dad's next door neighbour, took mum inside and rang me whilst the other neighbours tended to dad before the ambulance came."
"I told the nurses to keep Cheryl out of here, not thinking she would come anyway. But she did," Mrs Tompkins muttered, still crying but also sounding aghast.
"Why have you only now contacted the police?" Mike's question was aimed at Mrs Tompkins, but it was Tess who spoke.
"Mum told me literally 10 minutes before I called the police. She only told me the truth because I saw her drag Cheryl out of here yesterday. Mum even slapped her." From the shocked tone Tess used to describe the slap, Mike guessed Mrs Tompkins wasn't, and never had been, slap-happy with her girls'.
"She was acting so innocent," Mrs Tompkins said. "Like I was out to get her, when she'd done nothing wrong. I...I was so angry. How could she do this? How could she do this to her own father?"
"Do either of you know if Cheryl is in the habit of lending her car to other people?" Mike asked, running all possibilities through his mind. He hated to do it, but he had to look at all angles.
"Her hair," Mrs Tompkins muttered and Tess lowered her head and began to cry, as if the full horror of the situation had just hit her.
"Pardon, Mrs Tompkins?"
"Her hair. Lovely long blond hair. I saw her hair as she was driving away." Mrs Tompkins looked at him. "I saw my daughter run down my husband with her car; she didn't even take the pink flag off the Ariel. I know it was her car, and I know it was her. She tried to kill my husband, her own father."
Mike nodded and stood, hearing all he needed to hear. "I'm very sorry," he told the women. "We'll get on this immediately, I promise you."
Mike and Lee left the room and were about to walk away, when Tess suddenly called out to them. She had rushed from her father's room to catch them.
"May I have a word with you, detective?" she asked Mike. Lee nodded and walked away, telling Mike he would wait for him in the entrance lobby.
"When you came into the room," Tess said, frowning, "you asked me if I was Cheryl Turner's sister."
Mike nodded, unable to see what her point was. "Well," Tess continued, "her name is Cheryl Underwood. She
was
called Turner, but that was a long time ago."
She raised her eyebrows, clearing wanting an answer. Mike wondered how he should work this, then decided on the truth. "I was the investigating officer at the scene of her first husband's accident."
"Accident," Tess scoffed. She looked at Mike then raised her eyebrows. "Are you the one who accused her of murder?"
"I'm sorry, but I really shouldn't be discussing this. I'll get straight to work on this statement you and your mother gave us."
He squeezed her shoulder, then turned and started to walk away. But her next words stopped him in his tracks and he turned to look at her.
"For what it's worth, detective, I think she killed him too. I always have."
Without another word, Tess turned away and entered her father's hospital room.
Chapter Twenty Nine