Mother Be The Judge (20 page)

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20:00 hours

It took two police officers about twenty minutes to fight their way through the wet ground. The rainwater had caused the mud to compact and it was like sticky clay as they dug down with their shovels. Eventually they uncovered a green tarpaulin and immediately stopped digging for fear of causing damage to what lay beneath it. Jan the SOCO took over along with the now present photographer, who documented every aspect of Jan's investigations; capturing each moment eternally on a digital file.

Jan used a brush to dust off the mud around the tarpaulin, no easy feat as the bush caused the wet mud to smear. She put anything she considered of significance into a plastic evidence bag; hairs, small bits of paper rubbish and sometimes almost invisible specks which she knew from experience may offer some evidence when scrutinised under a microscope.

Eventually, once Jan was happy she had scraped clean every possible scrap of evidence surrounding the tarpaulin, she gave the go ahead for two officers to retrieve the body length package from its hole. They took an end each then gently lifted the tightly rolled tarpaulin; it was so tightly ravelled that nothing escaped its embrace.

The tarp was laid on the floor and Todd watched from the side of the tented area whilst the officers slowly unravelled the green plastic. It was obvious that the contents of the tarpaulin were not featherweight; it took a real effort for the officers to turn it over and over until eventually a terrible smell began to emanate from the confines of the plastic. Dribbles of red liquid started to roll down from the creases of the tarp as it unravelled; Todd, Jan and the two officers all gave gasps of disgust as the smell of rotting flesh assaulted their noses. The liquid secretions became larger and darker in colour, browns and yellows mixed in with the reds and the last turn of the plastic revealed why. A rotten corpse, naked and torn was exposed to the air. Obviously female and a redhead, her body was a multitude of colours; purple being the main one where blood had settled and began to rot inside her. Todd knew this was Tiffany. The absence of formed breasts and the bare pubis showed this was a very young girl and the bright red hair screamed Tiffany at him. Looking closer, hand over mouth and nose in an attempt to block the smell, Todd could see the same raggedy bite marks in Tiffany's skin that had been present on Savannah's body.

One of the officers who had been unravelling the tarpaulin made a hasty exit from the tent and Todd could hear him evacuating the contents of his stomach outside the tent.

"Get away from the scene," he shouted out to the officer, although Todd knew that vomit would wait for no man.

"Oh the poor child," Jan said as she continued her constant picking of evidence from the tarpaulin and started moving towards Tiffany's body.

"Right, get the Coroner down here now." Todd said into the air knowing that Mary stood outside the tent. He walked out to where she stood. "We better tell the parents before them bastards go live." He said, gesturing to where Jogesh Singh was talking animatedly into the camera now pointed at him.

"Is it bad Guv?" Mary asked, having no desire to see for herself the devastation that lay inside the tent.

"It's the same person, I can tell you that much," Todd said, telling Mary about the bite marks, "I hope the bastard left some DNA because this time I'm going to nail that fucker."

"Well we'll know soon enough." Mary reassured him. "Jan will get those samples to the lab and we will know by the morning. Let's just hope he's on our database."

"Oh he's on it alright," Todd grimaced. "I know that Adrian Brown is responsible for doing this and I will be knocking on his door the minute the lab results confirm it."

Mary nodded in agreement and both she and Todd made their way to Todd's car in order to go and complete the unenviable task of letting Tiffany's parents know she would never be going home again.

'Killing is not as easy as the innocent believe.'

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

24
th
May 2012

22:00 hours

Jocasta lolled on her sofa with one eye on the Ten o'clock News and one eye shut. She was in a dozing state but still slightly aware of what was being reported on the television. When a picture of Twockford Rugby Ground flashed up onto the screen, Jocasta immediately came to full attention, sitting up on the sofa and turning up the volume on the television so she could better hear the forthcoming report.

A serious presenter began to speak with the tickertape headline below proclaiming, 'Body found in Elisworth.' Footage was put up on the screen and Jocasta immediately recognised the alleyway which led to some allotments near Migdon Lane, the same allotments she realised, as where Savannah had been found.

Jocasta hoped beyond all hopes that the body was that of an adult or a person who had met their fate at the hands of an aggrieved loved one, but as the newsreader told the story, Jocasta soon had those hopes crushed.

'The body of a young girl known as Tiffany Jones was discovered by police earlier in the evening.' The newscaster reported. 'Her parents had gone to the police earlier in the day to report Tiffany as missing; police quickly deployed search teams and a police sniffer dog discovered her remains buried on an allotment situated near to Twockford Rugby Ground.'

Remains;
Jocasta flinched at the word as it was uttered by the reporter. The unfurling news report stuck a pin into Jocasta's heart with each word that came. She knew that Adrian had committed the crime that was being explained to the nation on the News. Once again Adrian had lied and manipulated her by making her believe that he had committed only one crime. When they had spoken in the kitchen and Adrian had screamed his crime at Jocasta, he had still been astute enough to withhold the knowledge he had of what he had done. Jocasta was absolutely devastated. She didn't know what to do with Adrian, she was now petrified that there could be other girls buried in those allotments awaiting discovery. Jocasta consoled herself that at least Adrian was safely tucked away in the prison she had created for him.

The next footage was like a lightning bolt to Jocasta's heart. She recognised the face of the handsome police officer who had visited her flat after Savannah had been killed. He spoke now, looking down the lens of the camera, his eyes were looking directly at her and boring a hole in her heart.

"We have today recovered the body of Tiffany Jones. She was an eleven year old girl who has been missing from her home for eight days. Tiffany has been taken to the Coroner's office and a full investigation is taking place."

The officer's eyes burned with emotion. Jocasta sat entranced by his piercing stare. "We will get the evidence we need and bring the perpetrator of this crime to justice. Thank you."

The officer began to turn away from the camera when one of the unseen reporters shouted out to him, "Have you a message for the killer Detective Inspector?" the question stopped him in his tracks and an obvious struggle fought its way across his facial features. He was obviously torn between his professionalism as a police officer and his emotional battle as a human being. He looked back at the camera and Jocasta felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Goose pimples prickled all over her body and blackness started to creep into her eyes. Her lips started to go numb and the last thing she heard before she fainted was, "I'm coming to get you."

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Jocasta came around still lying on the sofa. The News was now finished and looking at the clock, she found that she had been unconscious for about ten minutes. Jocasta had never fainted before, she thought she must have stopped breathing whilst watching the news report; it was such a shocking revelation to her that her whole body had just shut down. Jocasta now knew that it would not be long until the officer on the television would come knocking on her door to take away her only son.

Jocasta was sickened by Adrian's actions. There was nothing inside her that could excuse what Adrian had done but she could not find the strength to hate him. Her love for Adrian was so overwhelmingly strong, he was her flesh and blood and she had borne the physical pain of bringing him into the world. The pain and heartache Adrian had given Savannah and her family and now Tiffany and
her
family, were devastating, but it was only something which Jocasta could imagine as she had not physically suffered that pain for herself. Whilst Jocasta had great sympathy for the girls and their families, her feelings for Adrian were greater and her emotions played a game of tug of war inside her head.

Jocasta's most burning issue was the fact Adrian would be taken away from her. He would be thrown into prison and the key would be well and truly thrown away. The sins of Adrian would surely follow him into the prison and he would be open to terrible abuse at the hands of either monsters or even the possibility of death at the hands of gangsters who considered themselves avenging angels.

Whilst Jocasta knew that Adrian probably deserved the fate which lay before him, she could not imagine her own life without Adrian there. Imagining her daily struggle knowing that Adrian was being tormented, would be the worst way for Jocasta to live, but there still remained the need for justice. Savannah and Tiffany's parents deserved closure and compensation for the children that had been so cruelly taken from them. Jocasta felt guilty that she still had her child when they spent every day mourning the loss of theirs.

Jocasta also wrestled with an overwhelming feeling of culpability. She had created Adrian; every organ inside him, every part of his skin, every finger, toe and nail on his body. She was his mother and had been responsible for both the nature and nurture of Adrian.

Any thought Adrian had and every deed he had done must surely have come from Jocasta. She felt ultimately responsible for everything Adrian had ever done as it was her blackened womb which had produced this wicked monster of a man.

Knowing that she could not live with the thought of Adrian being tormented in a prison cell and now accepting her part in the whole sordid situation; Jocasta made the decision to pay the price for Adrian's sins. Before she was able to do that, Jocasta needed to cleanse Adrian's soul and put her baby to rest.

She stood and slowly walked to Adrian's room, silently opening the door to the bedroom. Adrian remained prone in his bed, the Temazepam having had a sedating effect on him. Jocasta had already increased the dose so she could be sure he wouldn't awaken during the night and leave the flat.

She went over to the bed and stroked Adrian's serene face. "I love you Adrian," She whispered. She then picked up a pillow which lay beside Adrian's head.

Jocasta put the pillow over Adrian's face then lay on top of it and held her son's face in a very tight embrace, putting her full weight over the area where she knew his face must be. Images flashed in Jocasta's mind.

Getting off the plane in Greece and feeling the warm sun on her skin.

Avram's smile as he introduced himself to her at the bar.

Her joy at the attention Avram gave her and the feeling of achievement and lust she felt when he took her virginity.

The sound of Adrian's heartbeat and the squirming body she saw on the ultrasound screen at the first scan.

Her looking at her belly as a large lump would appear where the foetus growing inside her stretched out an arm or leg and kicked her, playing an unheard tune inside her womb.

The sound of Adrian's cry as he was born and her fear when she realised there was something wrong with him.

An overwhelming heat of love enveloped Jocasta once again as she remembered looking at her new born baby and feeling the unbreakable bond between mother and child.

Walking away from the school, Adrian's screams of 'No mummy, don't leave me,' echoing in her ear.

Calling the headmaster a jumped up prick before removing Adrian from his first school.

Watching Adrian's smile as she pushed him on his bike and let go for the first time; his little legs pedalling furiously as he rode the bike, "Look mum, I'm doing it," He had shouted.

The utter despair when Adrian was found sick in his bed and her heart wrenching imagination of Adrian's premature death.

Hearing Adrian admit to touching Charmaine and her blind denial of the truth; choosing instead to buy him a new computer.

Adrian bucked underneath her; his body now suffering from the lack of oxygen. Adrian made no sound, the Temazepam making him unaware of his situation but an animal instinct for survival causing his body to fight against its killer. Had Jocasta still been thinking about Adrian as a child, she may have broken away but her thoughts had now jumped to the reasons she was committing the ultimate sin.

Adrian walking into their flat with wet legs from toe to knee.

Adrian convincing her to join the hunt for Savannah and then discovering he was the one who had found Savannah's body.

The sight of the single pair of knickers under Adrian's mattress and her first confirmation that Adrian had been responsible for Savannah's death.

Adrian screaming at her that it was all her fault; his twisted face close up in her own and the menace in his eyes when he called her a cunt.

The body beneath Jocasta stopped bucking and the smell of faeces filled the room. Jocasta held onto the pillow and her now dead son for a little longer; now holding the vision of Adrian as a new born baby in her mind.

She took the pillow away from Adrian's face and no longer saw an evil monster but a little boy, now absolved of his sins and at peace.

Jocasta picked Adrian's head up in her hands and placed it on her lap, shuffling underneath him so she could cuddle him properly. She knew it wouldn't be long before the police came to claim her and she wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before they were parted forever.

Jocasta then got up and left the room, returning with a bowl of hot soapy water. She hummed nursery rhymes as she washed Adrian down, changed him into a clean pair of pyjamas and laid him back on his now clean bed. "There Adrian, all clean," she whispered to his rapidly cooling corpse, "All better now," she said.

All images in Jocasta's mind were now pure, all focused on the beautiful smile of her son's face when he was a toddler, taking his first steps, his first words and she once again felt the pride a mother has for her children.

Tears streamed down Jocasta's face as she mourned her only son. She lay back onto the pillow and allowed the tears to flow freely down her chubby cheeks. The tears ran but Jocasta remained stoic; she had lost herself in the memories of Adrian. She was ready to pay the price for Adrian's sins by going to prison for his murder. Jocasta hoped she would, in some way, have offered Savannah and Tiffany's parents the justice they deserved and they would be able to start the long road towards healing their emotional wounds. In Jocasta's mind her job as a mother was done.