White Lilies (28 page)

Dylan shared an early breakfast with Jen. It was warm and the air humid. The sun hadn’t burnt through the morning mist but it was certain to be a hot day. He kissed Jen goodbye, patted her stomach lovingly, picked up his briefcase and walked towards the front door. Max followed.

‘Not this time fella,’ Jen heard him say and she knew Max understood he was going without him. Jen stood at the sink watching the bamboo fountain. It had such a calming effect on her and she couldn’t wait to sit out on the patio with Buttons in her pram.

All of a sudden she felt a stabbing pain in the region of her bladder. Not an unfamiliar pain when Buttons was feet down but now she knew the baby’s head was engaged it alarmed her. She turned and headed to the bathroom. One thing she wouldn’t miss when Buttons was born was nipping to the loo so often, she sighed, using the handrail as she dragged herself up the stairs.

‘These steps get steeper every day, I swear,’ she groaned to Max. As she reached the top a cramp hit her and she clenched her stomach. Water started trickling down her legs. She turned to grab a towel from the airing cupboard – and as she leaned backwards to open the door she fell backwards with a crash.

The hot, humid air hit Dylan as he opened the car door and he stood still for a moment. He took off his jacket and threw it over to the back seat and glanced at the lounge window before he got inside. He opened the car windows and mopped his brow with his hanky before he turned the engine on.

Avril Summerfield-Preston’s car stopped to allow Dylan to enter the police yard. ‘Where’s that interfering old bat going so early in the morning,’ he muttered to himself. He didn’t bother to wave.

The CID office was quiet and he switched on the lights and unlocked his office door, leaving it open to allow air to circulate.

Picking up his phone immediately he sat down behind his desk, he called the cells to find that Frederick Wainstall had been deemed fit to be detained by the force medical officer and had settled down to sleep through the night in his air-conditioned cell. Lucky bugger, Dylan thought as he tugged at his tie and opened the top button of his shirt.

‘He’s been a model prisoner,’ the detention officer said. It never ceased to amaze Dylan that when some aggressive offenders were finally imprisoned they were calm and rational, but Dylan imagined that being institutionalised meant normality to some people.

‘The prisoner has also been deemed fit to be interviewed, as long as a responsible adult is present along with his solicitor, sir,’ the detention officer continued.

Dylan looked up from the paperwork on his desk and saw Taylor standing before him. He pointed to the chair opposite, inviting her to sit while he finished his phone call. From the glance he’d given her he couldn’t read the expression on her face.

He could hear the team beginning to arrive in the CID office outside his own and he was pleased that she’d left the door ajar. Dylan put down the phone purposely slowly and brought his hands together on the desk before looking across at her.

‘Your outburst in the bar last night was uncalled for and totally unacceptable,’ Dylan said in a calm, controlled voice. ‘Do I make myself clear?’ He continued, his voice rising. Taylor sat with her head bowed, which reminded Dylan of a naughty schoolgirl.

‘I’m sorry, sir it won’t happen again,’ Taylor mumbled into her chest.

‘You can be sure it won’t. And if it does, I’ll take it further. Do you hear?’

‘Yes,’ she said in her strangled girly voice.

‘Right, get round to the court this morning with John and make sure the remand for Stevenson goes smoothly,’ he said shuffling his paperwork. ‘Any problems, ring me.’ Dylan didn’t look up but dismissed her as he picked up his pen and continued with the work set out before him.

‘Yes, sir,’ she whispered and walked out of the room. It was important to Dylan that the team moved forward without distraction. Banter he could accept; lies he wouldn’t.

‘Coffee for our hero?’ Lisa hollered from his doorway. She still had her cardigan and handbag thrown over her arm. Dylan fleetingly looked into her open smiling face.

‘Love one, thanks,’ he said gratefully.

‘We could do with you in every subway,’ she laughed as she turned, pulled out her chair from under her desk and unlocked her drawer. ‘The Council thinks they’re great those subways but nobody dare use the bloody things, they daren’t,’ she said, talking to him over her shoulder. ‘Toast anyone?’ she asked.

Dylan stood up and got a five-pound note out of his pocket. ‘Here, get toast for the office out of this and keep the rest for the tea fund,’ he said.

‘Thank you, sir,’ she said walking into his office briefly to collect the money from his desk. ‘You sure?’

‘Certain, coffee and toast might just about get me through the day,’ he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

‘That bad eh?’ Vicky said, as she passed Lisa on the way out. ‘I hope Taylor apologised.’

‘Yeah, she did,’ he sighed, as he picked a piece of paper out of the fax machine that was on his desk and scanned the text with his eyes.

‘It is Denton’s mobile,’ she said, taking a seat.

Dylan’s face lit up and his eyes found hers. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah, and it still has pictures of Pam Forrester on it.’

‘Tremendous.’ Dylan said, bowing his head into his hands as if to pray. ‘We now want some forensics on Wainstall’s clothing. His shoes must be a favourite. We need just enough to nail him. Get the interview arranged for as soon as possible. Probation are sending someone over to act as the responsible adult,’ Dylan said, lifting the fax that told him so.

‘Top man,’ she grinned.

‘Sergeant Wilson?’

‘Yeah,’ she grinned.

‘I’ll ask Wainstall about the most recent events first. It’ll make it easier for him to follow, hopefully.’

‘Okey, doke.’ she said as she walked from the room. She stopped and turned. ‘Guess what?’ she said.

‘What?’

‘I’ve got a date.’

‘The Sarge?’

‘Yes,’ she smiled.

Avril Summerfield-Preston knocked at the brightly painted red door. There was no reply. Jen’s car was in the driveway and the dog was barking so she must be home, she thought. She stood for a while and listened. There was no movement from within other than a constant yelp from the dog. Perhaps he was trapped?

She walked to the gate at the side of the house and tried the handle. It was locked from the other side. She reached over the top of the panels and her fingers traversed the wood. She stopped. There was a bolt. She hesitated. No, the last thing she wanted was an angry Dylan at her door – she’d been at the sharp end of his tongue before.

She walked away from the house and opened her car door. She saw the dog jumping up at the lounge window furiously leaping on the furniture within. He wasn’t trapped then. But where was Jen?

Wainstall sat smiling at Dylan in his white, cotton, prisoner issue coverall in between his probation officer and solicitor. The interview room was for once a pleasant place to be as the air conditioning blew down on Dylan’s face and he felt more comfortable than he had done all morning.

He and Vicky had spoken to Wainstall’s solicitor and probation officer prior to coming into the room and they in turn had spoken to Wainstall so the charge didn't come as a surprise in the interview due to his delicate state of mind. After formal introductions and ensuring Wainstall’s understood the charge, Dylan began.

‘Apart from being arrested for kidnap, threats to kill, possessing an offensive weapon and wounding; you are also under arrest for the murders of two young men, namely a Danny Denton and a Billy Greenwood. Yesterday, you held a woman at knife-point in the subway didn’t you?’

‘Yes, I’d collected flowers,’ he smiled around at them all.

‘Were you going to hurt the lady?’ asked Dylan slowly and clearly.

‘Yes, and you hit me, didn’t you?’

‘I did, but not with a knife.’

‘I like knives,’ he replied. Yvonne Best, his solicitor, looked at him wide eyed. His probation officer didn’t flinch.

‘Were you going to hurt the lady with the knife? Were you going to stab her?’ Dylan asked.

‘Yes, and when she died I could give her the flowers.’

Vicky remained quiet.

‘There was a boy in town. You stabbed him in the back too, do you remember?’

Wainstall looked thoughtful but didn’t answer.

‘Why? What had he done to you?’

‘Boys are bad, they laugh at me,’ Wainstall scowled.

‘When you were arrested and brought here, you had a mobile telephone in your pocket that wasn’t yours. It belonged to a man who was killed in his flat and his friend was stabbed there too when he was in bed. Do you understand what I’m telling you?’ asked Dylan.

‘I took their phone after I’d stabbed them, and stabbed them, and stabbed them,’ Wainstall said. His arm rose and fell as though he was carrying out the act. ‘Dead, they can have flowers, lots of flowers,’ he said.

‘What’s your favourite flower?’

‘White lilies,’ he said in a song-like fashion.

‘Why white lilies?’

‘Because you give people them when they die, my mother told me,’ he said matter of factly. ‘Death. That’s what they mean, so that’s what I do.’ Wainstall started laughing. His laugh became frenzied and Dylan decided that he would have to end the interview. Wainstall was taken back to his cell.

‘Mrs Best, Mr Hirst,’ Dylan spoke across the table inside the interview room. ‘Do you really think that your client is fit to interview?’

‘According to the medical practitioner he is,’ said Yvonne Best. ‘Don’t be fooled by his actions, Mr Dylan,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘I’ve known this man a long time, and believe me, he is good at playing the dunce when he wants to. I’m satisfied he’s fit to interview.’

Avril walked back to the gate and took the bolt off. The gate opened easily and she pushed it open wide enough to pass through. This side of the house was free from the sun and the flagged area was dark and cold. She stopped at the end of the path and listened. As she entered the back garden she walked into a different world and the warm sunlight gave her a renewed confidence. The back door was open and she could hear the washing machine spinning merrily away. Breakfast hadn’t been cleared away she noticed and the tea towel Jen had been using was lying on the floor by the door into the hallway.

‘Jen?’ she called. The dog yelped. ‘Jen’ she called again as she went into the hallway. The noise from the dog was coming from upstairs. With trepidation she walked to the foot of the stairs. At the top she saw the dog standing, yelping. His tailed wagged furiously but he didn’t attempt to come down.

‘Jen,’ she called once more. She stopped to listen. Should she go? She tiptoed up one step then two. Max hopped from foot to foot but still he made no attempt to come towards her. Then she saw it. Jen’s blonde hair was draped on the floor of the landing and flowed onto the top step. Avril rushed up the stairs. Jen moaned and tried to move.

‘Oh, my God,’ Avril said as her hand flew to her mouth.

Trembling from head to foot, she reached out to Jen’s pale face. She was warm to her touch.

‘My waters,’ Jen said in a laboured voice, without opening her eyes. Avril was already dialling for an ambulance.

The monitor showed that the baby was fine but Jen wasn’t having contractions of note. ‘I suppose a water birth is out of the question now?’ Jen said to Avril who was smiling down at her. She’d never seen Avril so at ease before as she held her hand. She was pretty when she smiled.

‘I think because of the risk of infection that is most definitely not on the cards now,’ the doctor said kindly. ‘We’ll start you off with a hormone pessary to soften the cervix but you can only have one because your waters have broken – as you will probably have guessed.’

‘Am I in labour?’ Jen asked.

‘Yes dear, you won’t be going home now until after the birth,’ he said, patting her arm tenderly. ‘I want to put a hormone drip into your arm in a while, so you’re going to be wired up and you’ll have to stay in bed then.’ He walked from the room.

Jen turned to Avril. ‘Jack? Please will you try to get hold of Jack for me?’

‘Of course,’ she said, reassuringly. ‘If he answers my calls, that is,’ she said.

‘I know you two don’t get on, but Avril, thank you,’ said Jen. ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you.’

Avril shook her head, and Jen could see that she was embarrassed.

‘Why did you come out to see me this morning?’

‘Oh, nothing for you to worry about, just a personnel check and to bring you a gift for the baby,’ she said. ‘Look, let me get Jack for you.’

‘Avril?’

‘I can’t have children Jen. I know you think I’m a cranky old thing,’ she smiled, nervously. ‘But my work is all I’ve got. I’ll never have what you and Jack have.’

‘But Hugo?’

‘Hugo only thinks about himself, Jen. He is far too selfish to want children,’ she sighed. ‘But at least he won’t leave me.’