Frank looked down at his notes, up until now he had been silent, letting his boss do all the talking.
“Mr Fenner, it’s very simple really, we have all the physical evidence that we could ever want. The murder weapon was found in the bedroom that you were standing outside of when you were arrested. We also have reports of gun shots at one PM.”
Alexa’s heart dropped, had Frank actually done his job for the first time in years and taken note of the time the gunshot was reported. The time that is that it was reported by her.
“One PM,” a grin started to appear across Fenner’s face. “If someone heard the gunshot at one PM then that puts me in the clear. I didn’t leave the car park of the golf club until after one PM and I have witnesses that can prove it.”
* * *
Alexa called a halt to the interview and left the room with Frank.
“You need to follow up on that gunshot report,” she said.
“Yes Ma’am. I’ll go and grab the rookie that took the call first to see if he kept a note of the time, but I wrote it down in my notebook as I was at my desk when the call came to me. If it checks out then we have a problem and Fenner’s story is starting to look like it could have legs.”
“Lets not get ahead of ourselves, make sure the times are right and then we can run down his alibi.”
“Maybe your watch is wrong,” Alexa shouted as she walked off back towards her office.
She knew that was a long shot as she knew exactly what time she had reported the sound of gunshots. She had planned on the rookie being on the desk to take the call and in his naive panic he wouldn’t take note of the time. What she hadn’t planned for was Frank taking the call in the office and then actually doing some solid police work. He never kept notes. It was one of the things she kept berating him about.
She found herself back at her office. It wasn’t large but it did have a door and blinds, which meant when she needed to she could cut herself off from the chaos of the detectives office and now was one of those moments. She shut the door behind her and closed the vertical blinds. The windows that looked out onto the park across the road let plenty of sunlight in so even on a dismal London day she didn’t need to use the harsh strip lighting that they put in these buildings. She sat down at her desk and opened up a file. It had laid there for nearly a year now, it was the file on the murder of Tracey Hind. She was greeted by a crime scene photo of Tracey. Even in death she was a beautiful young woman. In her early twenties she had managed to keep herself away from the drugs that normally dulls the senses of most prostitutes and so they hadn’t taken a toll on her body.
Over the months that Alexa had been meeting with Tracey they had rekindle their friendship that had struggled over the past years. Tracey was a criminal, Alexa a Police officer. They kept in touch by phone but meeting up was difficult, Alexa didn’t want to put Traceys life at risk. She was a strong young woman, she may have been a prostitute caught up in the circle of Martin Fenner but she had made a choice to live the life and use it to her advantage. She had managed to climb out of the seedy brothel side of the business into the more high end side and so she managed to make herself some money and used it to make sure she looked good and enjoyed the finer things in life. Throughout the months of meetings Alexa had been professional but she came to realise now that she had always been fond of Tracey and maybe even found her attractive. A knock at her office door broke Alexa out of her thoughts.
“Come in.”
Frank entered the room with two notebooks in his hand.
“What have you got there?” Alexa asked him.
“My notebook and the rookie’s notebook.”
“And?”
“Well sorry Ma’am but the timings match in both notebooks apart from the minute it took for him to write it down and then ring me.”
“Right, get to the golf club and find out if anyone did see Fenner that morning.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“I am off to the hospital to check on the surviving victim.”
Nine
The constable turned as Alexa approached the nurses station.
“Ma’am.”
“How is our victim?”
“She is in surgery, they managed to patch her up before she left the house and stabilise her down in the ER.”
Alexa was annoyed with herself and normally she would have excused the lack of an answer from the constable, but not today.
“I guessed that, she made it this far or I would be down in the morgue. But how is she now, will she survive? Am I going to get a witness?”
“Sorry... sorry Ma’am, I don’t know. She was stable when she went in there but that was three hours ago now and no one has come out so I don’t have anything else to tell you.”
Alexa turned to the nurse at the nurses station.
“Hello, I’m DI Blake. Could you give me any update on our gunshot victim?”
“I am afraid not, as your constable said, she went in three hours ago and no one has been out to give us any update.”
Alexa was getting more frustrated by the minute.
“Thank you.”
“Constable, stay here until...”
Before she could finish her sentence the doors to the operating theatre’s swung open and a doctor and nurses came out followed by a hospital bed with Felicia on it. Damn she was alive.
“Can you give me any update on the patient please,” Alexa asked as she stepped in front of the person she assumed was the doctor.
“And who are you?” he replied.
“DI Alexa Blake,” she said as she flashed her warrant card.
“Right, she is doing remarkably well given what she went through. Luckily what bullets did hit her all missed major organs so it really was just a case of remove the bullets and patch her up. She has lost a lot of blood but I think she will be fine.”
“When will I be able to talk to her. To see if she knows who did this to her.”
“I would of thought she should be able to talk tomorrow. She may be a bit groggy from the painkillers though.”
“Thank you Doctor,” Alexa stepped out of the Doctors way and turned to the constable. “Constable, as I was about to say, don’t lose sight of her and let me know as soon as there is any change.”
Alexa headed back towards the stairs, she needed to get out of here. She was sure they could all see it in her face, that she was the killer and that she would have to kill Felicia before she identified her. She couldn’t take the risk that the drugs would wipe her memory.
Ten
It had been a long day. Alexa had been up early getting everything ready for what she thought was her very well planned framing of Martin Fenner. She sat in her lounge, drained and not wanting to move. Thoughts, fears and the ‘what might happen’ running through her head. She had bought the house when she became DI at Barkingside station. It was a standard London town house, three levels, four bedrooms, way too big for her but she had planned ahead. She didn’t like to keep moving and this would make an ideal family home when the time came, if it came. She could be locked up by the end of the week at the rate everything was going wrong. Her phone beeped. Calendar reminder. She looked at the screen.
Singles night.
She had forgot all about singles night. Alexa and a few friends from University would go out to a singles bar, have some fun and most times end up coming home alone. And that was when she could even be bothered to go out. She normally managed to get out of it, work was her normal excuse. She played with the idea of making excuses again, she was so drained. Her phone rang.
“Hello.”
“So what excuse are you going to come up with tonight?”
It was Tamara.
“Hi Tamara. I’m not going to make any excuses this time around. I need some fun. Where are we going?”
“Bloody hell, are you feeling alright?”
“Bad day at work. Could do with working off some demons.”
Tamara knew exactly what Alexa wanted.
“Hilton, Docklands. Hopefully there are some newbies we can get our teeth into.”
“Okay see you there at nine.”
* * *
Alexa showered and started to look through her wardrobe for something to wear. Her normal daily routine meant she wore a blouse, trousers and a jacket. She needed something different tonight, very different. She decided on a red dress, it was short enough to draw attention to her long slender legs but not short enough to draw attention any higher. The plunging neck line would accentuate her breasts, they needed it as they were nothing to write home about.
She put the dress to one side. Dried herself off and dressed in matching red underwear. She dried her dark flowing hair and applied a small amount of makeup. Finally she put the dress on, fastened it and looked at herself in the full length mirror. She looked a completely different woman from the one that had been sat in her lounge an hour ago. Finally she picked out a pair of heeled shoes, not too high and a black jacket.
* * *
Alexa took her car to the Fairlop underground station, she didn’t fancy the walk home late at night on her own.She caught the first central line train heading towards the city center. The train was empty but filled up as it passed through Leyton and then Leytonstone. The trains during the day and especially at the end of the working day smelt of workers and it wasn’t always a good smell. The smell of an night train was very different. Gone was the smell of sweaty workers mixed in with their ever diminishing aftershaves and perfumes to be replaced with a mixture of all the smells of tarted up women and men on the pull. It reminded her of walking through the Harrods perfume section with all the sales people spraying their perfumes under your nose as you walked by. The look of the train was very different as well. The carriage was full of single men and women and couples all dressed up for a night in the city. Dresses and skirts of varying lengths with some only just covering the essentials. She settled in for the long journey to her destination.
* * *
Alexa finally alighted at the Canary Wharf station. She walked out of the underground station and headed in the direction of the Canary Wharf ferry terminal. It was a beautiful summers night in London. The sun was starting to set behind the skyline casting shadows of the many buildings across the streets. There was a warmth to the night which meant the city was still thronging with tourists and city workers. She loved London when it was like this, a hive of activity and people having fun.
Tamara was waiting for her at the ferry terminal. They needed to catch the ferry that took them across the river Thames to the Hilton Docklands on the opposite side. It always amused her that to get to such an impressive Hotel you needed to catch the ferry. Alexa was glad it was a warm summers night and not a windy winters one as she never had liked boats, no matter how small they were. They alighted the ferry and walked up the gangway to the hotel entrance.
“This is a first, Alexa Blake on a night out. You must have had one hell of a day.”
“You could say that.” Replied Alexa
“Let’s have some fun then shall we.”
“I fully intend to.”
Eleven
The hotel function room that had been hired out for the singles night was full, there was a lot of single females in the room, and luckily not a single male in sight. Alexa and Tamara were dancing to one of Alexa’s favourite tunes. She was finally having some fun and was slowly starting to forget all about her day.
“I need a drink,” Alexa said.
She pushed her way through all the people and made her way to the bar.
“Vodka and blackcurrant please.”
The barman went to make her drink, Alexa couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for him. He was surrounded by women of all shapes and sizes, but the likelihood of him getting anywhere with any of them was remote. If he was really lucky he might find a bisexual in the crowd. This was a lesbian singles night. She picked her drink up from the bar and turned to go find a seat. She hadn’t realised someone had come so close behind her and the whole glass went down the front of the ladies white dress.
“I am so sorry,” Alexa apologised.
“Well that’s the dress ruined.”
“I am really sorry. I will pay for it to be cleaned.”
“That’s fine, I think it might be beyond cleaning,” the lady said as she looked down at the blackcurrant seeping into the white dress and spreading across the front.
“We could go and see if we can find a shop open and get you a new dress. My treat,” Alexa said.
“No need, I have a room here. I didn’t fancy a late night underground ride home, so I can go change.”
“That’s good then. Well sorry again.”
Alexa started to turn back to the bar to order another drink.
“My names Letitia by the way.”
“Alexa,” said as turned back to Letitia. The dress was getting worse by the second.
“Well Alexa, would you like to come and help me out of the dress you have ruined? I think it’s the least you could do.”
Alexa looked at Letitia to try and gauge if she was joking. She wasn’t. Alexa was certainly attracted to her. Smaller than Alexa at about five foot, five inches. Slim with long brown hair, Letitia was a beautiful woman.
“I don’t think so, we have only just met.”
“Does that really matter. All I want you to do is take this dress off me. Then you can decide what you want to do.”
* * *
They left the lift on the fourth floor and made their way to room 413. The room was facing the Thames with the Canary Wharf skyline beyond. The earlier sun set had now been replaced with a full moon that was shining directly into the room. It cast its glow around the room, making for a surreal light that was bright enough to see but romantic at the same time.
Letitia turned as they neared the end of the bed and kissed Alexa full on the lips. The intensity of the kiss grew as Letitia started to unzip Alexa’s dress. As soon as the zip had reached its end Letitia removed the dress and very expertly slid her hand behind Alexa’s back and undid her bra. Alexa was now stood in just her knickers and all of this time their lips hadn’t parted. Alexa suddenly broke away.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
Letitia didn’t say a word. She slid the straps of her white dress off her shoulders and let it drop to the ground. She was stood naked in front of Alexa. Alexa had noticed the firmness of her breasts in the bar as the blackcurrant had seeped into the dress. Up close they were even more impressive. She stepped back toward Letitia and cupped her right breast in her hand as she slowly kissed her on the lips. This time she felt a tongue pushing to explore her mouth, she happily let it in and returned the favour. They were stood at the end of the bed as Alexa felt a hand starting to work its way down from her breasts where it had been slowly caressing the nipples. The hand reached its intended destination and removed her final piece of clothing. She felt a single finger enter her and play expertly with her to the point where she felt she was about to climax.
Before the climax could peak, Letitia pushed her onto the bed and started to kiss her inner thigh. Slowly she got closer and closer to her intended destination until Alexa could feel her tongue all over her. Alexa could feel the climax that she had been close to, starting again. This time it was more intense, starting where Letitia was expertly using her tongue, and then enveloping her whole body as Letitia plunged her tongue inside her. Alexa lost herself and couldn’t control the screaming, she had never climaxed like this before and she didn’t want it to end.
Twelve
Alexa was woken by a knocking noise. She opened her eyes and remembered where she was. She looked across the bed and around the room but she was alone. The knock was coming from the door. She wrapped a sheet around her and opened the door slightly.
“Room service madam.”
“I didn’t order room service.”
She heard someone behind her. She turned to see Letitia coming out of the shower room wit
h wet hair and a towel wrapped around her body.
“Let the poor man in Alexa. I ordered breakfast for us.”
He put the breakfast tray on the table in the middle of the room and left, shutting the door behind him.
“I hope you like what I have ordered.”
“I am sure it will be fine.”
Letitia took the covers off the food. There was toast, croissants, a mixture of pastries and some tea and coffee. They sat on the bed eating, Alexa still wrapped in the sheet from the bed and Letitia in her towel which was slowly becoming looser and dropping to show the top of her breasts. They looked at each other but didn’t speak. Alexa didn’t know anything about Letitia apart from her name, but she was happy with that. She wasn’t ready for a relationship, she had been hurt badly a long time ago and didn’t like the idea of that happening again. She also had work to do, the death of someone she cared for to avenge. Letitia must have noticed the distant look in her face.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing, just day dreaming.”
Alexa finished her coffee and got up from the bed.
“Leaving already?” Letitia asked.
“I have work to do.”
“Its a Saturday morning, I am sure it can wait.”
Alexa could see the glint in her eye, it was the same one she saw last night.
“I really must be going.”
She was starting to gather her clothes from the hotel room floor as Letitia stood from the bed and dropped the towel in front of her. She looked at the slim petite body stood in from of her and knew she was rapidly losing her resistance to staying. But why should she. She stood and took a long look at Letitia, her half dried hair framing her face. Work could wait.
Thirteen
Trainer was woken by his alarm. He rolled over, the digital display on his clock read seven AM. He hit the stop button to silence the alarm and rolled back over onto his back. It was Saturday morning and he wanted to get back to the golf club. He had gone to the golf club after the first interview with Fenner to see if his excuse for an alibi had any merit. He had spoken to the golf professional at the club and a few other people who had all seen Martin Fenner having an argument with another member in the car park at one PM. He needed to follow up the conversations with more details. He finally managed to get himself out of bed and into the shower.
Recompense Page 3
