by K Leitch
She had told him to meet her at midnight at the shed, it was midnight now. Susan trained all of her focus onto the garden, listening out for the smallest of sounds; waiting, with baited breath for the muffled sound of a gunshot that would signal the end of their troubles…nothing. What was Gordon doing out there it was now 12.07; surely she should have heard something by now. Susan began to feel a sense of panic…something had gone wrong! Still she sat waiting, the loud screeching of a vixen nearby, nearly had her jumping out of her seat. She tutted at her own nervousness, she heard a scrabbling noise in the garden…probably the same fox going through her bins…she looked at the clock again 12.13…oh my god…something had gone wrong! Of course it had, what were they thinking, how did they imagine that they would be able to get the better of Craig O’Bruin, the man was evil incarnate …she had to get out of here!
Suddenly all the lights went out.
Susan screamed and ran for the back door but it was locked and the key had gone. Where had she put the bloody key, she fumbled about in the dark bumping into tables and chairs in her panic. That’s when she heard it, the swishing sound of the lounge French doors being opened…oh god oh god, he was in the house…where was that fucking key! A large shadow suddenly loomed inside the kitchen door way…Susan screamed even louder.
‘He’s not going to hear you Susan,’ said Craig O’Bruin menacingly, advancing towards her, ‘what the feck did you think you were going to do eh? Did you really think I would be that fecking stupid…now you had better have some money for me girl or I am going to start taking it out on your flesh…you get me?’
‘Stay away from me…’ screamed Susan terrified, trying to follow where the voice was coming from, as the shadow disappeared into the blackness of the kitchen. ‘I couldn’t get the money; I told you I couldn’t but you just wouldn’t believe me…what have you done with Gordon…GORDON HELP ME …GORDON!’
‘I told you he’s not fecking coming, so shut up! No one’s coming this time Susan, it’s just you and me,’ he whispered right behind her, she felt his breath on her neck. Susan whirled around and began screaming at the top of her voice, backing away from him as she did so until she was pressed up against the work surfaces…he kept coming. She searched around frantically for something with which she could defend herself with, her hand came in contact with the knife block that sat on the side near the cooker. She pulled out a knife and held it in front of her, waving it around aggressively.
‘Don’t you come any fucking closer, you fucking lunatic, or I will fucking stab you in your black heart,’ she shouted. That seemed to stop O’Bruin; and for a moment he seemed to hesitate but then he lunged at her, knocking the knife out of her hand and flattening her against the work surface.
He pushed his face up against hers and she could smell his stale breath, ‘Now you are going to get what’s coming to you bitch.’
Susan could feel the butt of a gun against her temple, she almost stopped breathing.
‘NO! please…please, I will give you anything …please,’ she sobbed.
O’Bruin laughed, ‘Oh so now you’ll give me what I want…well let’s see, firstly I want the fecking money that you owe me…’
‘I haven’t got any…’ Susan tried to interrupt him; a crashing blow to the head knocked her sideways.
‘SHUT THE FECK UP WOMAN, I DON’T WANT YOUR FECKING EXCUSES!’ he bellowed into her ringing ears.
‘Right this is how it’s going to be. You and me we are going to stay like this all night and then in the morning you are going to get me some cash, and then I will go away…you get me?’
Susan nodded miserably, blood was filling her mouth and her ears were still ringing, she didn’t know what had happened in that shed, but the fact that O’Bruin now had the gun made her fear the worst. Gordon was dead in that shed; and there was no one coming to rescue her. She had never felt so terrified and so alone…she began to cry in earnest, loud wailing sobs, only to get another back hander which knocked her to the floor.
‘I told you to shut the feck up didn’t I? You think this is bad, you don’t know what coming to you bitch…I’ll tell you shall I…pain…and then more pain, that’s what’s heading in your direction you fecking…’
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, another figure appeared behind O’Bruin and smashed him over the head with something big and heavy. He fell to the ground like a stone; hitting his head on the edge of the cast iron wood burner on the way down, and landing on top of Susan; who was screaming hysterically and scrabbling round on the floor, in her desperation to get out from under his inert body, and away from this new threat.
‘Is ok…you are ok now,’ came a voice in the darkness, ‘please don’t be scared…I will find light…where is switch?’
Susan felt like she was in some sort of nightmare, nothing was making any sort of sense. Who the hell was this girl in her house…what did she want? She frantically felt around on the floor beside her until she found the gun that O’Bruin had dropped when he fell.
‘Don’t you come any closer, I have a gun and I swear I will shoot you if you try anything,’ she said into the darkness, waving the gun round wildly in front of her.
‘Ok, ok calm down please…I not here to hurt you. I follow this man…he is bad man and I see him come in here…so.’
‘What do you mean you follow him, why are you following him? Have you been following me too, who are you… police?’ said Susan hysterically. ‘I can explain everything…he was blackmailing me you see and Gordon he had had enough so…oh my god Gordon…what has he done to Gordon?’
Suddenly the girl seemed to go very still, ‘I know you…yes I know you…you the woman who’s boy is taken…um Marshall…Owen Marshall…. How you know Craig…you do business with him?’
Susan didn’t answer; she couldn’t see where the girl had moved to, she thought from the direction of her voice that she was over near the door but she couldn’t be sure…she needed to know where she was!
The girl carried on talking to her, ‘I know what business he does…Craig…I know him you see…I know what he do to girls…taking babies from them…is this how you know him eh? You buy baby from him…oh yes you do…you buy Mary’s baby…yes that’s it! And she takes back…yes I’m right, that’s why she come here…you take her baby…’
‘STOP SAYING THAT!’ screamed Susan at the top of her voice, ‘HE’S MY BABY! MINE...I worked so hard to get him, I paid for him!’
‘Pah!’ spat Maya contemptuously, ‘you make me sick, all this…Mary dead…husband dead…is you… it’s you…you did this. I should let Craig kill you…’
Susan had heard enough she pointed the gun in the vague direction of the voice and pulled the trigger, the noise of it echoed round the room like a thunder clap. The girl screamed and then someone else, a man, rushed into the room and pushed the girl to the floor, Susan pulled the trigger again and again, she heard a grunt of pain and a body falling heavily to the ground.
Suddenly blue lights were flashing outside the house and figures with guns were running around her front garden. A voice came loud through a megaphone, ‘This is the police, you are surrounded, put down your weapons and come out with your hands up.’
Susan slumped down… it was all over for her, she knew that; she threw the gun away from her. She could see the kitchen clearly now, a light was beaming directly in through the front windows; Craig O’Bruin’s eyes stared lifelessly at her from across the room, and near the door way she could see the outlines of two bodies, one lying heavily on top of the other. She had no idea who they were, or how they had come to be in her kitchen. She got up slowly and walked towards the front door, stepping over the bodies on her way. She opened the door and was blinded by the powerful spotlight that was trained on it.
‘Hands on your head…hands where we can see them,’ came the instructions, Susan complied and walked forwards. Two large police officers grabbed her then and forced her to the ground, cuffing her and almost dragging her to a waiting ca
r. As she was taken up through the garden; she recognised D.I. Carla Right running into the house, and she noticed the coroner’s van pulling up along the street, she struggled with her captives, lurched over to the side of the path and threw up.
CHAPTER 59 - CARLA
Carla had spent the afternoon cruising round Redbank in the hope of catching sight of either Susan Marshall or Craig O’Bruin, it had been a waste of time and she had called it a day. She called Ted.
‘I’m having no success here Ted; I think I’ll head home. We can meet outside the Marshall house later this evening if that’s ok with you, catch them both at home…unless you’ve got another hot date planned of course, in which case I’ll see if Frank can come with me.’
She could almost hear Ted’s frustration coming down the phone line, ‘I’ve told you it’s not a date thing; we are just friends enjoying each other’s company, that’s all, ok?’
Carla laughed, ‘Ok, ok I’m only teasing; I don’t care what it is as long as it’s making you happy. So does that mean you’re free to meet me?’
‘Well actually why don’t you take Frank anyway, I think I’m going to keep an eye on Maya Dronski this evening. I don’t know why, but I have a very strong feeling that she knows more than she’s telling us. Oh I know it may be nothing, but it’s got to be worth a try hasn’t it?’
Carla was quite surprised, it was not often that Ted got ‘gut feelings’ that was more her department. But who was she to argue with his newly toned ‘gut’.
‘Ok Ted you do that, but keep me up to speed ok? I want to know if anything happens, and if she does happen to lead you to O’Bruin, you are to call for back up…immediately OK! Do not make the same mistake I did and try and tackle this man on your own…is that clear?’ she finished firmly.
‘Yes Ma’am,’ said Ted sarcastically, ‘don’t worry, some of us have more sense than to run after a known murderer, on our own.’
‘Yes, yes I know, pot and kettle…but seriously Ted be careful, I need my partner.’
Ted cleared his throat noisily and very quickly rang off. Carla smiled to herself; he was such a funny old stick, but she didn’t know what she would do without him.
She spent a rare evening cooking dinner and bathing her children, before heading off to the Marshall home at about 8pm. She had arranged to meet Frank there and sure enough there was his car outside the house. He came over to meet her; looking none too pleased to have been dragged out again this evening, and they went down the path and rang on the bell. Carla was dismayed to see that once again the car was missing from the drive and after ringing the bell a couple more times it appeared that once again they had made a wasted journey.
Carla popped another card through the door and drove back home. It was lovely to have the rest of the evening at home; but she felt a bit guilty about Ted, who was no doubt sitting in a cold car watching the front of Helen's house, waiting for Maya to make a move. Carla was not as convinced as Ted was that Maya had anything to hide, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part, it would be so awful if Helen had her heart broken yet again!
She decided to give Ted a call, see if anything was happening.
‘Hi Carla what’s up?’ he answered in his gruff voice.
‘Oh nothing,’ said Carla, ‘we drew a blank at the Marshall house, no one home again. I’ll try in the morning, early before I come in, that should catch them out. How’s it going your end?’
‘Well nothing so far, I saw her come back a few hours ago, I don’t know where from, but at least I know she’s in there. I’ll give it a few more hours Carla, I’ve got classic F.M. on the radio and some cheese and ham sandwiches, I will be fine. I’ll let you know if anything happens.’
Carla rang off and thought about Ted for a few minutes; something was worrying her and she couldn’t put her finger on it. She had a nagging uneasy feeling that she couldn’t get rid of, she decided to give him two more hours and if nothing was happening then, she would order him home.
With that settled she snuggled up with James on the sofa and watched some TV. She must have dropped off because she was jerked out of a dream by her mobile ringing, James was banging around in the kitchen so Carla started scouting around trying to find where she had left the bloody thing…it was Ted.
‘Hi Ted…’ she began but he interrupted her, he sounded quite excited.
‘Carla, he’s on the move…O’Bruin I mean. Maya slipped out of Helen’s house about an hour ago and I followed her to a street near the cinema. She just sat on a bench for ages and I was just about to call it a night, when out of the building opposite walks O’Bruin. Maya jumps up and starts following him, so I followed her. And guess where he went… he headed straight to the Marshall house; he’s just gone down the alley round the back. I’m going to try and follow to see where he goes, but I will probably need some back up. Keep it quiet though, we don’t want alarm him too much in case he panics and hurts someone.’
‘Ok Ted I’ll get someone over to you and I will be along soon, don’t do anything until I get there, do you hear me? Where has Maya gone, do you know?’
‘No, she seems to have disappeared along with O’Bruin, I am presuming that she has followed him into the garden, why, I don’t know. But I’ve got an awful feeling that she’s out on some vigilantly mission, maybe revenge for the death of Mary…who knows? Anyway I am going to see what’s what. See you soon,’ and with that he was gone. Carla hurriedly brushed out her hair and pulled on her coat. She gave James a lingering regretful kiss as she left, and went out into the night.
The scene that met Carla’s eyes in the Marshall’s kitchen was one that she would remember all her life.
Craig O’Bruin was lying dead near the cooker; a gaping wound in his head had created a large pool of blood around him and his eyes were wide open, in shock it seemed, that he had finally been taken down.
Near the door were two more bodies…Carla’s heart stopped beating as she recognised one of them.
‘No, please,’ she whispered, ‘…not Ted…oh god not Ted,’ she cried out for the paramedics, as she ran over and knelt down beside him. He was lying on his side, but Carla could quite clearly see the large bullet hole in his chest. His eyes were shut and apart from the wound he could have been sleeping. With scant regard for the forensics team, Carla lifted him slightly and cradled his head in her arms looking down at his face. Tears were streaming down her face.
‘You silly old fool, why didn’t you wait for me…Ted you should have waited, I’m here now see, oh god, why didn’t you wait for me?’ She put her lips to his head and sobbed into his hair. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, Dorothy Smiles was standing over her, bag in hand, tears in her eyes.
Carla stood then and put her arms around Dorothy’s shaking shoulders, as they both mourned the man they loved. Carla was brought back to reality as she heard a low moaning coming from the ‘body’ lying next to Ted.
‘Sam…SAM! Where are those bloody paramedics …get them in here now, she’s still alive!’
Maya was actually barely alive, her breathing was so shallow that Carla could hardly believe that she was, until the paramedics put an oxygen mask on her and carefully carried her away to the ambulance. Gordon Marshall’s body was found a while later by a young PC new to the job; who had promptly thrown up and had to be taken away white and shaking. Gordon’s throat had been cut and he had bled out all over the garden shed…it was not a sight for the faint hearted.
Carla waited with Ted’s body until the forensics team (minus Dorothy) had finished their investigations and a mortuary ambulance came to take him away. Dorothy had insisted on dealing with Gordon’s body and so had been there, holding Carla’s hand tightly, when the whole team of officers and forensics team had stood in silence as they watched Ted’s body being carried away. Carla had broken down then; it was just too much to take, seeing her old friend being taken away in a body bag. She ran to her car and sat and cried until she saw the sun coming up behind the small row of cot
tages. She became aware that someone was banging on her car window, she lowered it a bit; it was James, who opened the car door and pulled her out and into his arms.
‘Oh my darling girl I am so sorry…so sorry, he was such a good guy and I know how much you loved him…oh that’s ok sweetheart you cry your eyes out…he deserves it.’
CHAPTER 60 - HELEN
Helen, with baby in tow, ran like a woman possessed down the corridors of the A&E dept at the local hospital.
She frantically searched round for bay number 17, but to her horror when she found it, it was empty.
She grabbed hold of a passing nurse. ‘Please can you help me, my friend…my partner, Maya Dronski has been brought in by an ambulance, she’s been shot.’ Helen could hardly believe the words coming out of her mouth, but the nurse seemed to know who she meant.
‘Oh yes she’s in surgery…went down about an hour ago. Are you a relative?’
‘No not exactly,’ began Helen hesitantly, she saw the nurse pursing her lips. ‘Actually she’s my girlfriend, we live together,’ she said, the nurse just looked at her. ‘We have a baby,’ Helen tried again, indicating Abby who was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to it all, in her car seat.
‘Ok I will get a doctor to come and speak to you, if you would just wait in there,’ she pointed to a visitor’s waiting room and bustled off.
Thankfully the room was empty; and Helen sat down on a hard sofa and placed the car seat on the floor in front of her. She took a deep breath; the first it felt like since Tracy (who had been drafted in to look after the children by a frantic James) had called her with the news earlier this morning.
