Thorn In My Side (13 page)

'It wasn’t me,
honest.' He sobbed like a baby. 'Where’s Evan? He… he’ll tell you
it wasn’t me. It couldn’t be me, see, ‘cos I told you where we were
last night. Ask Evan.'

'Was he in on
it an’ all, eh?… Some sort of filthy disgusting perve ring yer’ve
got going between yer’s?' Kristina yelled. 'For God’s sake, is she
even the bloody first? Is she?
Is she
? How many others have
yer disfigured in this way? Tell me, are we gonna find more bodies?
More poor girls discarded like so much trash?' She leaned forward
in her seat, her voice suddenly calm and controlled. 'How many
more?'

Terrified,
confused and utterly devastated at the thought of Shelly being
dead, Danny could only gaze at the floor, tears running unchecked
down his cheeks.

Disfigured?
What do they mean, disfigured?

Oh God, what
the hell has happened to her?

Why would
anyone want to hurt her, disfigure her
? His brain actually hurt
trying to figure out the whys.

Shelly got on
with everybody, and she could certainly stick up for herself if she
had to. If he hadn’t seen her blood-covered body himself, Danny
would never have believed it.

In fact, he
still didn’t believe it. He was stuck in some sort of nightmare
with these monster coppers, and he really couldn’t tell which one
was worse. He’d never been in a police station in his life before,
never mind being interrogated by the coppers from Hell.

'Oh God,' he
muttered.

'Pathetic,'
Kristina said.

As Kristina
glared at Danny, Mike opened the door and asked the officer outside
to take Danny back to his cell until the duty solicitor could come
in.

'And send Mr
Miller in,' Mike said, as the officer escorted a sobbing Danny back
to the holding cell.

Jill was just
finishing her salad sandwich when there was a knock on the door.
One of the porters popped his head round.

'The family’s
here now, Jill, two brothers.'

'OK, send them
in.' Jill hastily shoved her tea into a drawer kept empty for that
purpose. Relatives could turn up at any time, and the last thing
they expected was the person dealing with their dearly beloved’s
body to be taking care of their own body’s demands.

The two
brothers walked into the morgue, their faces grim. With them was
the blonde woman police officer that had picked Mike and Smiler up
from the train station. The younger brother was dabbing at his eyes
with a paper handkerchief. The older one’s face was set in a stern
mask.

Jill introduced
herself, and found out that these two brothers were Gary and Liam.
Gary’s head was shaved bald, and he had the stance of a boxer. Liam
was taller but much slimmer. Both of them wore dark suits with
white open-necked shirts. Liam’s suit looked like he had grown out
of it, or borrowed the suit from a shorter friend. As Jill took the
white sheet off the body, she heard Liam sob.

For a moment
there was silence as all three of them stared down at the dead
girl. Jill stepped back to leave the brothers alone with her.
Sometimes, even though the family had been told more or less what
to expect, they still couldn’t believe that the lifeless body in
front of them was the same person they had last seen laughing or
crying, or in some cases arguing. Jill always felt sorry for the
relative who had last seen their loved one alive after a vicious
argument.

Liam’s sob
turned into a gasp as Gary said loudly, 'What the fuck?'

Jill frowned.
'Excuse me?'

Gary recoiled
from the table, and spun round to stare at Jill. His face was
covered in red blotches and she could feel the frustrated anger
radiating off him. He swung his arm back and pointed at the dead
girl. 'It’s not her. That’s not my sister. It’s not our
Shelly.'

'What?'

'It. Is. Not.
Her. How many times, for God’s sake?'

'But she was
found in your sister’s boyfriend’s flat, in their bed to be
precise. And she fits the description,' Jill said, her eyes
flickering towards the dead girl.

'Well I’m
sorry, pet, we don’t know who the poor bugger is, God bless her
soul. But that sure as hell isn’t our Shelly.'

'You’re certain
of that?' the policewoman asked. She stepped forward and looked
from one brother to the other.

Liam nodded,
staring in wide-eyed horror at the dead girl. 'She’s got the same
hair, definitely the same hair,' he managed a moment later. 'But
that’s it. Don’t know about the eyes. Our Shelly…' He sobbed,
looked at Gary and muttered, 'Sorry,' as he dashed tears from his
eyes.

Jill was unsure
whether they were tears of relief that it was not their sister, or
tears of sadness for whoever this was.

Smiler found
himself outside the priory with no recollection of how he had got
there, only a sinking feeling deep in the pit of his stomach, and
an overwhelming blackness in his head. He sat down on a seat near
the entrance.

'Nice here,' he
muttered.

'Yeah, great
view.'

'See that tiny
islet over to the right?'

'Yeah.'

'St Cuthbert
used to live on there. Did you know that one day, when he was
visiting the Queen in Carlisle -- not the present Queen, of course
-- he knew by second sight that her husband, the King, had been
slain by the Picts doing battle in Scotland.'

'Hmm.'

'Did you know
he had the gift?'

'No… Going to
be some more slaying. Because she got away.'

'Sorry?'

'The girl. The
girl’s in trouble.'

Tiny put his
large head on Smiler’s knee and whined, accompanied by the giggles
of two small girls who were staring at Smiler.

Blinking
rapidly, Smiler looked at the girls, who, still giggling, ran
away.

He sighed,
knowing he’d had an away moment, and patted Tiny’s head. 'Come on,
boy.'

He headed back
to the village quite unable to shake off the feeling of dread that
seemed to have been following him around for weeks.

Jill stared at
the two brothers, their faces deathly pale. They were looking at
the dead girl in fascination, relief clear in their eyes and the
sudden relaxation of their bodies. But Jill could detect pity as
well, at least from the taller brother, who was still staring in
awe at the dead girl. The other one’s face was changing rapidly
from relief to anger and back again.

Not their
sister,
Jill thought,
so what the hell was this girl doing
in
their sister’s bed?

Walking over to
the bench, Jill pressed a button under the counter. The alarm would
bring two burly porters, double-quick. People did strange things
when confronted with the dead, especially if it was their first
time. The rare shock of finding out, after you had prepared
yourself for the worst, that it wasn’t one of yours lying there on
the cold steel slab, strangely sometimes did not bring the relief
that one would expect.

As discreet as
ever, the porters came in, gave Jill a brief nod before making
themselves busy at the far bench, moving stuff around from one
place to another. Keeping their backs to the brothers, they
listened to every word that was said, ready to spring into action
if one of them turned nasty.

'So what now?'
Gary asked, tearing his gaze from the girl to stare at Jill.

Jill shrugged.
'Nothing. She’s no kin to you, is she? All I can do is apologise
for the mistake.'

'That’s all
right.' Liam beamed and nudged his brother. 'Don’t you understand?
It means our Shelly’s still alive. She’s still alive, we gotta tell
the others.'

'Aye, but
you’re forgetting something, aren’t you? Like, what the hell was
this poor lass doing in her bed? Eh? Why would she be in our
Shelly’s bed? That’s what I want to know… And just where the hell
is
our Shelly?'

Perplexed, Liam
shook his head.

'Tell yer what,
' Gary went on. 'Some bloody half-arsed idiot’s got a hell of a lot
of explaining to do… Come on, Liam, let’s get the hell out of here,
right now.' He turned abruptly and walked out, leaving Liam to say
goodbye.

When they had
gone, Larry, the taller of the two porters, turned to Jill.
'Wouldn’t like to be the one he’s looking for.'

'Me neither.'
Sighing, she covered the girl up and pushed the slab into the
freezer, confining the unknown girl to the cold and dark.

A few minutes
later, Gary stormed into Berwick Police Station, demanding to know,
before he’d even crossed the threshold, 'Who’s the stupid jerk, who
told us our sister Shelly was dead, when it wasn’t even her? And
what the hell is going on here? Is this place full of fucking
morons or what?'

He banged his
fists on the desk as he glared at the sergeant. 'I have just been
to the morgue to identify a total stranger. Do yer have any idea
what that’s like? Do you?' Behind his back, a red-faced Liam was
mouthing ‘sorry’ to the desk sergeant.

Sitting in the
waiting room, Evan glanced quickly up.
Have I heard right?
Did Gary just say Shelly’s not dead?

Shelly’s not
dead. No
. Frowning, he shook his head
. I must have
heard wrong, it’s the grief talking. Who else could it be, if
it’s not
Shelly? I would know for sure if Danny was playing
away. No way
would he be able to keep something like that to
himself. Not his style
to mess about. Anyhow, Danny couldn’t
keep a secret if his life
depended on it.

Just then, the
officer who had taken Danny to the holding cell appeared, to
collect Evan.

'Here, you,'
Gary shouted, catching sight of the policeman, and storming up to
him, 'What’s going? You friggin' lot thick around here or
what?'

The constable
ignored him, and the desk sergeant came out to try to calm him
down. Evan could still hear Gary shouting his mouth off as he and
the officer walked down the corridor.

It was obvious
Gary hadn’t recognised him, and Evan was pleased. It was to be
expected – he hadn’t met up with them for years – but the very last
thing he wanted was a run-in with Shelly’s brothers. They had a
reputation for looking after themselves. And it didn’t look like
Gary had calmed down any. He’d always had a big yap on him.

Walking into
the interview room, Evan sat down on the chair indicated by the
officer, who then left. The male copper was staring at the woman
with an odd look on his face as he put the phone down.

'So, er, what’s
going on?' Evan asked, his nervousness obvious in the way he chewed
his lip and fiddled with his hands. 'Nobody seems to know.'

Mike and
Kristina stared at him. This made him even more nervous.

Evan tried
again, beginning to feel really uncomfortable and actually guilty
of something. He just wished he knew what. 'Where’s Danny?'

Mike answered
his question with one of his own. 'Where’s your girlfriend
Alicia?'

'Wh…?'

'She didn’t
come home last night did she?'

Evan shook his
head.

'Please answer
yes or no for the tape,' Kristina said.

Evan cleared
his throat. It felt as if it was full of sand. 'No, she didn’t.
I’ve been wondering all day where she is.' He looked from one to
the other with a sinking heart, wondering where the hell all of
this was leading.

'Does Alicia
have long black hair?' Mike asked. 'Is her hair very much the same
as her friend Shelly’s?'

Evan, his eyes
full of a frightening suspicion, quickly said, 'Yes, yes she does…
I… I was at the hospital, got in around four and she wasn’t in… Why
do you want to know what colour her hair is?'

'Is it usual
for her to stay out all night?' Kristina asked, guessing rightly
where Mike was leading with his questions.

'No, not
really. Actually, not at all, not without letting me know about it…
No, she never stops out.'

'Was she very
good friends with Shelly?'

Evan’s heart
was flipping over in his chest, wondering where all this was going
to end up.

'What do you
mean,
was
she?'

'How close were
the four of you, eh? Share a lot, did you?' Mike glared at him.

Evan did not
like the way these questions were going. Even less did he like this
officer’s use of past tense.

'Nothing like
what you are suggesting, officer,' Evan replied stiffly.

Mike studied
him for a moment. Was Evan visibly shaking? Without taking his eyes
off Evan’s face, Mike said, 'The young woman found in your friend’s
flat, in your friend’s bed, is not who we first thought. She’s not
Shelly.'

Evan was quiet
for a moment, digesting what had been said
. For
God’s
sake,
it make’s even less sense now. Why would someone else
be in Danny’s flat,
in Danny’s bed?

'Not Shelly? So
that’s what her brother was yelling about… So, er… who is it?' If
Evan thought his heart was roller-coasting before, it was
definitely on the ghost train ride now. He kept seeing Alicia’s
long, silken black hair. Seeing her from the back, walking arm in
arm with Shelly the day after they had both dyed their hair. He and
Danny had been taking the piss out of them, laughing and joking at
the Terrible Twins.

Mike opened the
door and gestured for the constable to come in. 'Put him in a cell,
please.'

A cell? The
words screamed in Evan’s head. 'Why?' he demanded as he rose
unsteadily from the chair. 'I haven’t done anything… You can’t put
me in a cell.' He stared at Mike. 'I haven’t done anything
wrong.'

'Yes, we can.
We need to sort a few things out,' Mike said grimly. 'Take
him.'

The officer
took hold of Evan’s arm above the elbow. Silently, in shock, Evan
allowed himself to be led away. When the door closed behind him,
Mike said, 'I reckon it might be him.'