Ugly Duckling (7 page)

Jenni was lying on the bed, her vibrator and gel next to her, on her computer screen Wheeler49 was having a cigarette,

'I needed that' she smiled at the screen

'You seem to get better and more beautiful every time my little darling' grinned Wheeler 'but you'd better get dressed now I think D.I Dick and his little friend are about to pay you a visit'

'How could you possibly know that?'

But the connection was closed just as the door bell rang. Jenni wrapped a bathrobe around herself and went to the door, peering through the spyhole she could see John Dickie waiting, 'how could he have known?' she wondered as she opened the door.

'Good Afternoon Miss Everitt, I wonder if we might have a word'

'Yes of course, come in Inspector Dickie, we are being very formal today aren't we? Please take a seat'

John and Ian sat on a large white leather sofa and Jenni sat opposite them in a chair with her legs tucked under her, her robe gaping slightly showing just enough cleavage to make John look, and quickly look away, she closed the robe smiling slightly at John.

'So, how can I help?'

'Miss Everitt' John began

'You can call me Jenni if you want, unless I'm in trouble' Jenni smiled

Her smile is just like Sonia's John thought. 'No, I don't think your in any trouble Jenni' John continued 'Its just that last night after we'd spoken, my colleague here' pointing at Ian 'said he thought he recognised you as one of the reporters at the scene, I just wanted to clarify the situation'

Jenni laughed 'I'm a freelance journalist' she said 'I do a bit of reporting here and there but my main interest is 19th century London, I've written a couple of pieces that got published in women's magazines, but when I saw the police activity I thought maybe this was a story that would give me the breakthrough I've been looking for, until Sergeant Cripp came over and told me to stop.'

'I ordered him to do that, Jenni, you see after the first murder there was a lot of nonsense written about what was happening, we have to go through proper channels you see.'

'I read that' Jenni said 'I was really annoyed. I sent them the story but they plagiarised it and added all that other nonsense, I most certainly didn't right all that stuff about cannibalism'

'Are you sure?'

'I can give you the original transcript if you want'

'But you're covering this story?' John asked, knowing if she was he wouldn't be able to get to know her better till it was over.

'Not any more, not after Bill' Tears began to fill Jenni's eyes

'That's understandable' John said feeling a great sense of relief

'You're very kind, your wife's a lucky lady' Jenni sobbed

'Wife?'

'The ring' Jenni pointed to Johns left hand

'Oh, no. she's no longer with us, but I still wear the ring, just to remember her you know?'

'That's really sweet' Jenni said, her robe had become loose again now just covering her nipples, John was looking and becoming aware of the growing erection he was experiencing, Jenni saw him looking but this time didn't close the robe.

'Right so!' Ian interrupted 'we've cleared that up, unless you have anything else to add, I think we need to get back to the station, inspector'

'Yes, your right, better get back' Ian suddenly snapped back to work, his erection subsiding.

'If there's anything else we'll be in touch miss Everitt' Ian said as he was leaving.

John was following Ian but stopped to face Jenni, 'Thanks again Jenni'

'No problem' she was still smiling that sweet smile at him 'perhaps we could meet for a drink, socially I mean, I'll be in the Laughing Pig tonight about 8 o’clock if you fancy it?'

'Oh I don't know' John said 'We'll have to see'

He caught up with Ian and walked to the car, all the while thinking about Jenni, She really did remind him of Sonia, Laughing Pig 8 o'clock, He'd be there.

***

Placed on Johns phone was a yellow post it note, on it was written “Leon Wilson” and a phone number. John knew Leon; he'd used him before for profiling and although John didn't have a lot of trust in criminal profiling he trusted Leon. John picked up the phone and dialled,

'Hello Leon its John Dickie, Sorry I wasn’t here when you called, but I trust you got everything you need.'

'Hi John, that’s ok I was passing anyway, as for having everything I need there’s not much of it is there'

'No I'm afraid not Leon, but that's all we've got at the moment, is there enough for you to do your thing?'

'I've had a quick look, I'll need to look at it more and if you get anything else you must let me know, I've said to you before this isn't an exact science so the more you can give me the more accurate I can try to be'

'OK, OK! Consider your arse covered' John laughed 'what have you got?'

'Well, It’s a man, probably late 20s early 30s almost certainly a loner. Although to the outside world he would appear quite normal, there would be some sort of trait that people might find odd, I think he'd keep that well hidden though; it won’t be obvious, only his closest friends and family would possibly know about it. My guess would be some sort of experience in his childhood lead to this, perhaps abuse leading to the feeling that he just didn’t fit in somehow. There is a good chance that he knew the victims, at least the two that you've given me'

'What do you mean?' inquired John

'If these are the only two you've had John, there are going to be more somewhere, nobody goes from nothing to slashing someone's throat and disembowelling them in one step,  there will be others, starting off less brutal but building up to the current level. I suggest you have a look at any unsolved murders involving a knife, if it helps I think the cut throat is the signature, there will always be evidence of a cut throat, even if that isn’t what killed them'

'So we could be looking at stabbings?'

'Yes, it'll always involve a knife and as I said a cut or attempted cut throat'

'Anything else?'

'Not at the moment John, that was just my first glance but I'm fairly comfortable with it. If you get anything else let me know'

'I'll let you know, no problem. Thanks Leon, that's actually been quite helpful'

'Don’t sound so surprised! Ye of little faith'

'Don't blow your own trumpet just yet; we'll see how accurate you are when we catch the bastard. Thanks again, we’ll have a drink sometime.'

John hung up the phone and sat thinking for a while; he had that look on his face, that far away trance like look that he got when he was thinking. Ian appeared around the door,

'Oh God, you've gone again haven’t you?'

John sat starring,

'Hello! Is there anyone in there?' Ian said starring into Johns eyes

'Should I start Chanting? OMmmm'

'Shut up you tart' John suddenly said 'We need to have a look at any unsolved knife murders or attempted, with cuts to the throat'

'You think there’ll be others?'

'Leon came up with it, but thinking about it, it makes sense'

'I don’t think we have any in Dorset J.D'

'So we have to look further a field don’t we. If you can get onto that Ian I've got to shoot, hot date tonight need to make myself beautiful.'

'Hot date, need I ask who with?'

'No Ian, no need to ask its Jenni.'

Standing outside the Laughing Pig John looked at his watch, 7:57, better wait a bit don't want to appear too eager, he thought. He'd got home from work taken a shower and had a shave. Finding some aftershave and a can of Lynx for men, he'd splashed the aftershave around his face and under his armpits and emptied the can of lynx on every other part of his body, including a quick squirt down his boxers, just in case. But now it was time to go inside and meet Jenni.

The bar was quite empty, just the odd single person dotted around here and there nursing their drinks, John scanned around the bar, No Jenni.

'John nice to see you again, looking all spruced up' it was Phil 'Christ, and smelling like a poofs boudoir, what have you got on?'

'Just a bit of aftershave Phil, its nice to smell nice for a change, you should try it'

'What can I get you?' Phil never chatted too long before the business of handing him money was approached.

'Just a half please Phil'

'I won’t get bloody rich with you will I?'

Phil poured the half and put it in front of John, took the money and gave the change without saying another word to him, but looking around he spotted someone else, 'Chris! Nice to see you again, looking good tonight, what can I get you?' and Phil was off to the next customer.

John sipped his beer and had another look around, still no Jenni, oh well, what would she see in me anyway, he thought, I'll just finish this and go home.

Moments later he heard a familiar voice 'Hello John, you came.' it was Jenni. John felt that his heart had literally skipped a beat,

'Jenni. Yes I was just passing, I remembered you said you might be in here tonight so just thought I'd pop in to say hello, how are you?' John held out his hand as if to shake hands.

'Much better for seeing you' Jenni said and kissed John on each cheek Continental style. John, who wasn't used to such greetings, instantly felt another erection coming on.

'Shall we sit' he said and hastily made his way to one of the booths, sitting down trying to disguise the bulge in the front of his trousers. Jenni followed and sat opposite with the table between them, 'good' thought John 'she won’t be able to see it from there.

'Em John, I don’t have a drink'

'A drink er, no, what would you like?'

'White wine please'

'Yes, no problem, sorry' John raised his hand to attract Phil's attention; Phil looked over and raised two fingers.

'Think I'd better go to the bar, Phil doesn't seem to do table service, won’t be a mo.'

John shuffled out of the booth with one hand in his trouser pocket to try to cover his embarrassment and walked in an oddly stooping way to the bar, Jenni Giggled.

'Here you are one white wine' John said on his return and slid back onto his seat 'So how’s things?'

'I think the term is, as well as can be expected.'

'Bit of a silly question I suppose'

'No John, its OK, I'm fine really, what about you? Have you got any further?'

'I can’t really discuss that with you Jenni, its not that I don't want too or that I don't trust you, it’s just the rules.'

'I heard you made some arrests' Jenni continued

'Yes, that's public knowledge, but they've been released, no charges. They were just helping us with our inquiries'

'You cocked up' Jenni said with a smile, John smiled back.

'Fancy going for a walk' John said 'it’s a nice night I could do with some fresh air'

'That would be nice'

They finished their drinks and left the pub. They walked towards the town centre and as they did so Jenni slipped her arm through Johns.

'That's better.' she said

John felt a little uncomfortable, it had been a long time since he had walked arm in arm with a strange woman and he still had to keep one hand in his trouser pocket.

'How long is it since you lost your wife?' Jenni asked

'Three years, it took me a long time to get over it, in fact you’re the first date I've had since'

'Is this a date then John?'

'Well, you know what I mean'

Jenni smiled and gave John a peck on the cheek. If this gets any bigger its going to thrust out of these trousers and stab someone, John thought.

'Do you like flying? The Air show's back in August' John said, trying to pick a subject that would take his mind off sex.

'Love it' Jenni replied 'Joined the mile high club once, it was fantastic, would you like to join the mile high club John?' she had a beaming smile on her face, knowing exactly what she was doing.

They were approaching a taxi rank when suddenly John stopped.

'Thinking about it, you're quite resilient aren’t you?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, your boyfriends only just been murdered, but here you are walking arm in arm with me talking about the mile high club'

Jenni pulled her arm away sharply and glared at John 'What are you trying to say?' her eyes filling with tears 'That I don’t care what happened to Bill, well I can tell you I do. I thought coming out for a drink would be better that sitting around thinking about it, and you seemed a nice, kind person. I should've known better'

'No Jenni I didn’t mean that'

'You bastard. I would've been happy to sit in the pub on my own, just with people around me so I didn't feel alone, I only asked you because you seemed to be nice. But I know what you want, you bastard, don’t think I haven’t noticed you get a hard on every time you look at me. Is that what you do, find some vulnerable women that's had some kind of upset and play nice just to get them into bed? I bet you all have a good laugh back at the station about that don't you. You fucking bastard'

SLAP

Jenni's hand moved so fast it nearly broke the sound barrier and the contact with Johns face nearly broke his jaw

'Just Fuck off and leave me alone' Jenni screamed as she climbed into a waiting taxi and sped off.

Recovering his senses John looked around to see several people looking accusingly at him,

'Women Eh' was all he could think to say as he started walking slowly back the way they had come, this time though on his own and not with his hands in his pockets.

He decided just to pop back into the Laughing Pig for a quick one before going home, as he got to the bar Phil was there to greet him.

'Bloody hell that was quick, I'm not sure that's what they mean by speed dating'

'Could I just have a half please, without the comments'

'J.D! Hey over here' It was Ian at the other side of the bar, John went to join him, glad of the company.

'Ian, what you doing here?'

'Me and Jane just decided to pop out for a quick one, bumped into Liz and Greg. Do you want to join us? What happened to your hot date anyway?'

'Long story' John looked over to the table where Jane sat with Liz and Gregory Pike. Greg, as Liz and the others called him, was telling a story, Liz was sat next to him, but turned to face him, John noticed how she pushed a strand of hair from her forehead and seemed to be leaning in towards him smiling. As Greg finished the story and they all burst out laughing, Liz touched Greg's hand.

'What's Pike doing here?'

'He's leaving tomorrow for Glasgow got a new position up there, so Liz'll be looking for a new assistant'

'So he's just having one last try to get into her knickers is he?'

'Don't be stupid J.D they've worked together for a long time, I know you've never liked him for some reason, what is it? Jealous over Liz? Anyway who's to say they haven't already'

'Better not have done'

'Why J.D? You're not interested, you've even been out chasing skirt tonight for the first time in years and it wasn't Liz's skirt you were chasing. I take it that didn't work out'

'Not exactly'

'Do you want to join us?'

John took another look at Liz and Gregory Pike snuggling up to each other (he thought)

'No it’s alright, don't want to play gooseberry, I'll just head off home'

He downed his drink and left. It was supposed to be a good day today, but instead I've arrested the wrong people, not come up with any new leads, Fucked off the first woman I've been out with for years and watched that tit Gregory fucking Pike trying to get off with Liz. He got into his car and drove off cursing his “good day.”

Someone as watching from a discrete distance 'be careful how you drive now, wouldn't want anything to happen to you, would we.'