Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Acknowledgements
Copyright
WHITE LILIES
R.C. Bridgestock
We dedicate this book to all our readers with our love, appreciation and thanks, for allowing us to be part of your lives. We hope that you will get to know a little more about one senior investigative officer’s real thoughts and feelings through reading the DI Dylan series of fictional tales.
And with love to our grandchildren: Axel Swan Maldini, Hermione Vegas & Cameron Bridgestock, Annabelle Rene & Frankie Ray Beckwith and Mabel Betty Bridgestock-Farren.
Chapter One
The day was one of mixed emotions for Grace Harvey. As she sipped the Earl Grey from her china cup, she admired the beautiful white lilies that sat on the corner of the dining table where she’d left them after the florist’s delivery a few moments earlier. Dancing above the floral arrangement was a helium balloon attached to a silver-coloured ribbon. ‘80 Today’ read the balloon’s inscription.
She wiped her hands briskly on her crisp linen napkin before reaching for the small handwritten envelope tucked among the flowers. She opened it, placed the card on the table by her breakfast plate and put her glasses on the end of her nose to read it. ‘From Brian’, it said.
Staring on to the front lawn, Grace swallowed the lump in her throat and sighed. With tears in her eyes, she put the card back in its envelope and her glasses on the linen tablecloth beside the condiments. When was she going to learn? Why did she let herself carry on hoping that one day her only child would remember such important milestones? He had been out of the country the last time they’d spoken and as usual he’d asked her for money. In fact, between them, Donald and Brian were going through her savings like a dose of salts, as Alfred, her late husband, would have said.
‘Well, I can’t take it with me, can I?’ she said out loud. ‘One day it’ll all be his anyway – and, who knows, perhaps the money will make him happy for a while.’ Brian, her friend and financial advisor, regularly said so, when he advised her to top up her investment funds.
‘Donald might ring later,’ she said to Winston, her King Charles spaniel, who placed his head on her knee knowingly. She smiled down at him. The arthritis in her spine wouldn’t allow her to bend so easily to stroke his head, so she blew him a kiss. Seeing the acknowledgement of her action on his cute little face made her feel a bit brighter. The old dog cocked his head, looked at her lovingly, then closed his big brown eyes.
‘What would I do without you?’ she whispered.
Alfred had brought Winston home unexpectedly from his nightly constitutional, just before he died.
‘What was I supposed to do, leave him tied to the tree?’ he’d said in response to her scowl. Alfred’s baby blue eyes, framed with grey brows that flew out like wings, had been close to tears as he handed her a note that confirmed the puppy had been abandoned. He adored animals. She had always been unsure about having a dog, but Grace shuddered at the thought of her life without Winston now. Winston moaned contentedly and settled comfortingly on her foot.
‘We miss them both, don’t we?’ she said, as she brushed away a tear that had fallen from the corner of her eye and on to her rosy weather-worn cheek.
Grace had lived in the same house in the quiet hamlet of Merton all her life. Yorkshire stone-built houses, just like hers, surrounded the village green, which was the centre of this tranquil village community.
The Westminster clock that had been presented to Alfred on his retirement struck ten o’clock. She read the inscription on the brass plaque that bore his name, pulled a hanky from her sleeve, leaned forward and gently dusted the metal until it shone brightly.
‘Time for our walk,’ she said, easing herself up from the chair. Winston instantly jumped at her words and, yapping persistently, he ran to the front door. She stood for a moment with her hand on the corner of the table until she felt a little steadier and put her hankie in her cardigan pocket.
Grace picked up her lipstick from the Welsh dresser in the hallway as she passed. Leaning forward on tiptoes to see her reflection in the mirror, she ran the pink gloss expertly around her lips. Smoothing her white wavy hair with the palm of her hand, she picked up her hat and popped it on her head. She collected her coat from behind the door, bent down for her smart black patent court shoes under the umbrella stand and picked up her gloves.
Winston’s lead and the bag of bread she’d prepared earlier for the ducks were hanging on the door handle. Although it was summer, she had noticed that morning when she’d stepped out to take the eggs from the milkman that there was a cool breeze.
‘Right, little man, are we ready for off?’ she said to Winston with gusto as she reached for the catch on the door. He didn’t need asking twice as he darted ahead down the pathway, sat obediently at the wrought-iron garden gate and waited patiently with a flurry of his wagging tail.
The locals had been known to say that you could set your watch by Grace and Winston’s constitutional. Theirs was a slow stroll around the green, incorporating a mandatory stop at the pond before calling at the village shop for the daily paper. Grace did so look forward to doing the crossword with her elevenses. For her birthday present, Brian had booked a table for them both at a restaurant in the nearby town of Harrowfield.
‘We’ll give the ducks a bit of extra bread today, Winston, since it’s a special day,’ Grace said, chuckling as she struggled to break the bread with her bent and swollen fingers. Winston wagged his tail as he looked on from the grass banking at the side of the pond, trying his best to intercept the bread between his owner’s hand and the duck’s beak. She laughed at his antics. He’d never caught a piece yet, but still he tried, bless him.
‘Now,’ she said, putting the bread wrapper in the bin, ‘it’s time to visit Mr and Mrs Taylor at the store. I think I’ll bake a cake.’ Grace looked right then left. Winston sat at her feet and waited patiently for her command. Grace tugged at his lead.
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‘Come on, Winston,’ she demanded as she stepped onto the road, but he refused. ‘What’s up, little man?’ she asked. ‘Don’t be stubborn.’ Grace struggled to pick him up, but he leaned into her touch, and eventually he was safely tucked under her arm. ‘If you want some cake we’ll have to get the ingredients,’ she scolded, tapping his nose as she crossed the road.
Suddenly she heard music. She froze. The speeding vehicle didn’t slow or swerve to avoid them. Grace and Winston were catapulted into the air and tossed into the gutter. The car disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. The noise that had spewed from it became inaudible in seconds.
Time seemed to stand still as Grace and Winston’s crumpled bodies lay motionless on the tarmac. An eerie silence swelled across the green like a creeping mist. Villagers slowly started to emerge from their homes to see what the commotion had been. Some ran to Grace’s side. Others were too stunned, but there was nothing anyone could do. Mr Taylor shouted at his wife to bring blankets and call 999 as he bent over the bodies.
‘Road Closed’, were the signs the young police constable and his mentor PC Tim Whitworth took from the boot of their marked police car.
PC Whitworth could see the villagers congregated in groups, watching. Some were being comforted by others. All looked shocked.
‘How could the car driver not have seen them?’ he heard them say. ‘The road’s straight. There are warning signs outside the village: Reduce Speed – Twenty’s plenty.’
‘Scenes of crime officers are on their way,’ the younger officer said, hearing the whispers as he started the painstaking task of putting out traffic cones and the police incident tape to protect the scene.
But what could the witnesses tell the police? Very little. Some had heard music, others a thud. All of them had heard the silence.
‘A fatal road accident. Driver failed to stop. Sadly an everyday occurrence,’ PC Whitworth said to Mr Taylor, who brought the officer a hot, sweet drink.
‘You don’t happen to have a biscuit, do you?’ PC Whitworth asked as he took the mug from Mr Taylor.
‘Err, I’m sure I can find one,’ he said.
‘Chocolate are my favourite,’ the officer called to the retreating shopkeeper, as he stood slurping his tea and perusing the scene. The officer had already decided how this fatal accident was to be written up on the accident report and subsequently for the inquest: ‘Old lady steps into road in front of oncoming vehicle. Driver unable to avoid collision.’ He would expect the driver to contact the police after a press appeal, given his experience of traffic accidents.
PC Tim Whitworth walked over to a bench and sat down. He’d just started to write up the scene notes in his pocket book when he heard footsteps approaching him and looked up.
‘Ah, chocolate Hobnobs, my favourites,’ the officer said, as Mr Taylor opened the packet.
‘Would you care for one?’ Mr Taylor said, offering him a biscuit.
‘Certainly would,’ PC Whitworth said with a grin as he took the packet. He removed one from the top, stuck it in his mouth and placed the rest in his overcoat pocket. Mr Taylor stood with his mouth open.
‘Well, if I can be of any further assistance, I’ll be in the shop,’ he said huffily, and turned to leave the officer to his work.
‘Just a minute.’
‘Yes.’
‘Another brew wouldn’t go amiss,’ said PC Whitworth, draining his mug.
Mr Taylor grabbed the cup from the officer’s outstretched arm and, shaking his head, he walked at a pace back to the store. His old friend Grace and her dog Winston still lay in the road covered with nothing but a flimsy piece of plastic and PC Whitworth was acting as if he was on a picnic. What was the world coming to?
There was no reason for Jen to believe that her pregnancy would change Dylan’s attitude and dedication to the job he’d lived for over the past twenty years. Jen never knew when she said goodbye to him in the morning if she would see him again that day or even that week. He’d spent long adrenalin-fuelled hours at incidents. He could never be sure how long enquiries would take. Luckily for him, she understood that his job meant total commitment and she accepted that, because not only did she love him and it made him happy, but other people’s lives depended on him. Even so, she was only human. She still got angry and lonely sometimes. She worried how she would feel when the baby came along. While she carried on working for the admin department at the police station, she would hear when a job came in and Dylan would call into the office with regular updates. Once the baby was born she would be at home, away from it all, and alone.
She missed her mum, but Jen had to be practical. Her mum and dad would have been on the Isle of Wight, three hundred and sixty miles away, even if her mum hadn’t been killed last year.
She realised now that when you lost your mum, you joined a band of people that no one wants to belong to. Her mum would never see her grandchild and the baby would never know what it was like to have her granny’s love. Jen ran her hand over her stomach and felt a rhythmic twitch in her uterus. She giggled as tears pricked her eyes. Their baby had hiccupped. Her mum would want her to be happy, she knew that. It stopped her from crying.
Jen’s phone bleeped and it brought her out of her reverie. It was a text from Jack. Missing you x.
Miss you more, she texted back.
Jen smiled broadly at DC Vicky Hardacre who was sitting opposite her at the duty clerk’s desk checking the CID rota.
‘You look like the cat that’s got the cream,’ Vicky said.
‘About as pleased as you when you found out you’d got the overtime to get your implants done,’ Jen said with a chuckle.
Vicky grinned. ‘Good God, that happy?’
‘I had to go to Mothercare on my way to work to get a larger size bra today,’ Jen whispered. ‘My boobs have grown a cup size already. Look at the size of this,’ Jen said, throwing a plastic bag over the desk to Vicky.
‘Oh, wow,’ she said, pulling out the nursing bra. ‘Look, I can fit me whole face in one of the cups.’
The pair laughed out loud.
‘Well, it’s official. I’m getting fat,’ Jen sighed.
‘At least maternity gear isn’t frumpy any more. Middle-aged rags they used to be,’ said Vicky. ‘I’d even wear some of it now. You gonna try and hide your bump?’
‘Bit late for that, isn’t it?’ Jen said, looking down at her prominent bulge.
The divisional administrator’s office door opened and Avril Summerfield-Preston stepped out.
Jen’s laughter faded as she grabbed the bra and the bag and stuffed it under her desk.
Avril Summerfield-Preston was nicknamed ‘Beaky’ because of the size of her nose. She was an extremely prickly and unpredictable character with an alarming reputation, a caustic manner and looks that could curdle milk. Her partner was the divisional commander, Dylan’s boss Hugo-Watkins, which suited her perfectly. He was self-loving, vain and egotistic and the bane of Dylan’s life. Having only served a few years in the job, he already thought he should be chief constable.
‘Meeting of the Health and Safety Committee in ten minutes, Jennifer, and I want you to take the notes. We can’t all be swanning off for the afternoon.’ She turned and tottered back into her office in her inappropriate high-heeled shoes.
Vicky burst out laughing. ‘I’m sure she’s a bloody witch,’ she said, sticking her tongue out at the closing door.
‘Shush … She’ll hear you and then she won’t let me go,’ Jen said, grimacing at her friend.
‘She’s so far up her backside she’ll get stuck one of these days if she’s not careful,’ Vicky said loudly.
Jen sniggered. ‘Shh.’
‘Where you off to anyway?’
‘The hospital for a check-up.’
‘Sounds like fun, or not,’ Vicky said, screwing up her nose.
‘Last time we went the baby was a right little imp. It wouldn’t move so the sonographer couldn’t get his measurements. No amount of proddi
ng, poking, moving around, emptying my bladder or eating sugary foods would get him to shift.’
‘Lazy. Must be a boy.’
‘That’s what we think,’ Jen smiled contentedly.
‘Is Dylan going with you?’
‘He says so, work permitting. But since last time the appointment took an hour instead of twenty minutes, it might have put him off,’ Jen said, tutting as she raised her eyebrows at Avril’s door opening once again.
‘Jennifer …’ she called.
Detective Inspector Jack Dylan was sitting in his office, finding it unusually difficult to concentrate on his work. His mind, instead, was on his future. He couldn’t believe that he, of all people, was to become a member of the exclusive club of parenthood, although it hadn’t been planned.
Dylan had promised Jen that her antenatal appointments were dates that work would definitely not interfere with. So far so good, but experience told Dylan that the unpredictability of his job meant that neither he, nor Jen, should hold their breath.
Chapter Two
‘She shouldn’t be allowed out alone at her age. If it hadn’t been for her we would have done the ton through Merton today,’ Danny Denton yelled, throwing the full force of his six-foot, lanky frame behind the kick to his front tyre.
‘Look what she’s fucking done,’ he shrieked, rubbing his grimy hands over his skinhead. ‘I’m going to have to get a new light casing now,’ he said with a groan. ‘Stupid bitch.’
Billy Greenwood, Danny’s mate, passed him his roll-up. ‘Have a drag. We’d better wash that shit off,’ he said pointing to the blood on the wing.
‘I thought the silly cow were gonna come through the bastard windscreen,’ Danny said, drawing deeply on the cigarette. ‘Good job she didn’t, I’d have fucking killed her.’
Billy sniggered. ‘You fucking moron. You probably did.’
‘Oh yeah,’ Danny said with a snort.
‘Did you see her fly through the air, Danny?’ Billy said, in awe of their elderly victim’s flexibility.
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