DI Lorne Simpkins 08 - Hostile Justice

by M A Comley

  “Then that’s what we’ll have to go with. I’ve got to get back to the Crimewatch team. They’re going to open up a slot for us in this week’s show. Ring me if you find out anything else, Patti, will you?”

  Lorne’s fingers were sore from punching in the numbers by the time she got back in touch with John Truscott. They corroborated the information, and he listed Lorne as the contact person should members of the public have any information. Lorne flopped back in her chair, exhausted by her morning’s achievements.

  Katy smiled as she came out of her office. “That bad, eh?”

  “At least I feel as though the case is coming along now and not at a standstill.” She recapped the phone calls she’d made in the last half hour.

  “Excellent. Good thinking about the TV slot. Let’s hope we gain some valuable information from that.”

  “We live in hope. What’s next?”

  Katy perched her backside on the desk next to Lorne’s. “Sit and wait. That’s all we can do right now. Unless AJ comes up with something more than he’s already got from the CCTV footage, our hands are tied.”

  Lorne nodded—she had the same thoughts. They spent the rest of the day going over the footage, highlighting possible clues, then shooting them down just as fast. The process was gruelling.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Charlie pecked her mother on the cheek as she ran past her and out the back door. Lorne called after her, “Have fun, sweetheart. Be sure to book a taxi well ahead of time to bring you home.”

  “I’m going to stay overnight, Mum. Don’t wait up.”

  Lorne stood there, her mouth gaping open. When had that been decided?

  Tony came up behind her, enfolding her in his arms. “Time to let go, Lorne. Your baby is all grown up now.”

  They watched the taxi pull away with Charlie blowing kisses and waving from the back of the car. “That’s easy for you to say.” She turned in his arms and ran her hand down his sad face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did. Ignore me. It’s been a long day.” They shared a lingering kiss that eased the tension between them.

  “I made us a special dinner.” He walked over to the oven, opened the door, and took out an oval Pyrex dish. The aroma made her stomach rumble, she hadn’t realised she was so hungry.

  “That looks like moussaka to me. Did you make that all by yourself?” she asked, amazed that he would tackle something so complicated unassisted.

  “I followed a recipe, if that’s what you’re asking. No need to look so shocked.”

  She kissed him again. “It looks stunning. I’m sure it’ll taste just as yummy. Aubergines are blighters to get right.”

  Concern swam in his eyes, and his gaze dropped down to the dish he’d placed on the chunky, wooden chopping board in front of them. “We’ll see. The recipe didn’t say aubergines had to be treated in a special way.”

  Lorne hitched her jacket off and placed it on the back of one of the chairs, then ambled over to get the cutlery out of the drawer. “I’m starving. You serve up, and I’ll lay the table.”

  She discreetly watched him slice through the moussaka and gently spoon the contents onto two plates. When he delivered it to the table, she could hardly wait to dig her fork in. The cheese was warm and melted in her mouth as soon as she popped in a small mouthful. She glanced up to see him eagerly awaiting her reaction.

  “Well?”

  She sighed heavily, looking at her plate. She heard him swallow. Chewing her food, she stalled her response until he demanded impatiently, “Well?”

  She grinned wickedly. “Better than anything I’ve made.”

  Tony slumped forward and placed his head across his forearm on the table. “Don’t do that to me.”

  “Obviously I’ve taught you well over the years.”

  He sat up and laughed. “Yeah, all that ‘well-meant criticism’…‌I mean, ‘encouragement’ seems to have paid off.”

  Lorne grinned. “Encouragement is definitely the word you were looking for, husband dearest. What kind of day have you had around here?”

  “Are you kidding me? Your dinner took me over six hours to prepare.”

  Lorne’s bulging eyes replaced any words she could conjure up. Wow, six hours to cook one meal? Tony didn’t seem to notice her stunned look. He took a bite and said, “We had a few enquiries about some of the older dogs. I’ve told the couples to come by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll wash and groom the dogs in the morning, make them all purty.”

  “That’s the type of news I love coming home to. Fancy an early night as we have the house to ourselves?” She waggled her eyebrows playfully.

  “Thought you’d never ask, providing you do the dishes before we go to bed.”

  “Deal. Remind me to invest in a dishwasher one of these days. This is delicious, Tony. Truthfully, I’m really proud of your effort, and appreciative.”

  They finished their meal, and Lorne cleared away the dishes while Tony checked the dogs and tucked them up for the night. Then they headed to bed with a bottle of wine. This was the first time they’d had the house to themselves for months. Henry followed them upstairs, but Lorne closed the door preventing the dog from entering the bedroom. “Not tonight, hon.”

  Together they shared a luxurious bubble bath, massaging and pampering each other. Lorne put on a skimpy negligee that Tony had bought her recently for her birthday, though it didn’t stay on long. They made love several times, laughing and enjoying the fact they had the house to themselves. Finally, they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms at around eleven p.m.

  The telephone woke them at two fifteen. “Hello?” Lorne said sleepily.

  “Mum. I’m so sorry…”

  Lorne promptly sat up, nudged Tony awake, and switched on the bedside light. “Charlie? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m at the hospital.”

  Lorne threw back the covers and started to pull on her clothes with one hand while she held the phone in the other. Tony hopped out of the bed to assist her. “What are you doing there, Charlie? Are you hurt?”

  “No, Mum. Please don’t get worried. I wanted to ring you to let you know—I know you’d give me grief if I didn’t ring.”

  “What’s going on then?” Lorne put the call on speaker and threw the phone on the bed so that she could finish dressing. Tony sank down on the bed and reached for his prosthetic leg. He strapped it in place and headed for the bathroom.

  “We were at the party when some strange lads arrived. Mum, do you mind if we leave the inquisition until later?”

  “What hospital?”

  “St. Thomas’s.”

  “Tony and I will be with you in half an hour or so. What department?”

  “I’m in the accident and emergency. I’ll see you later. Mum?”

  “Yes, love?” Lorne asked, pausing before she pulled her jumper over her head.

  “Please don’t be angry when you get here and hear the facts.”

  “You have my word. As long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters, love.”

  Lorne hung up and ran down the stairs. After putting Henry in the garden for a quick wee, she leaned against the worktop in the kitchen, tapping her foot impatiently while she waited for Tony to finish dressing and join her.

  He appeared five minutes later. She issued a look of annoyance then headed to the car.

  “Did Charlie say what was going on?” Tony asked.

  Lorne grated the gears as she pulled out of the junction onto the main road. “No. She’d rather wait to fill us in when we get there. She sounded all right, a bit shaken up, but I didn’t get the impression that she’s injured.”

  Arriving at the hospital, Lorne ran ahead of Tony, leaving him to lock the car. Charlie collapsed into her arms the second she laid eyes on her mother.

  “Oh, Mum, it was awful.”

  Lorne led her daughter to one of the nearby chairs, holding her hands firmly. Charlie’s brave façade shattered into pieces now that Lorne was there. Between sobs, she expla
ined what had gone on at her friend’s much-awaited birthday party. “We were all having fun, and most of the kids were behaving themselves. Then out of the blue all these people turned up who hadn’t been invited.” She paused to suck in a breath. “It was horrible, Mum. They started ordering everyone to start playing drinking games. At first it was a laugh…”

  Tony arrived and squeezed Charlie’s shoulder. “Go on, Charlie.”

  Charlie’s breath left her body again. She renewed it and then continued, “Some of the boys from our group kicked up a fuss, which put the gate-crashers’ backs up. Wendy begged them to leave or she would be forced to call the police. The leader said he would take his boys and go if she had a final drink with him, to show there were no hard feelings.”

  “So what did Wendy do?” Lorne asked, fearing what her daughter’s answer would be.

  “Wendy was desperate for the boys to leave. She thought they were going to wreck her mum’s house.” Pausing again, Charlie swept the hair back off her face. She looked her mother in the eye and said, “The guy took a bottle of vodka out of a carrier bag. It was an unopened bottle, Mum.”

  Lorne interrupted her to ask, “Did you recognise the brand? What strength it was?” She had a suspicion those questions would need answering before the night was over.

  “No, he kept his hand over the label. I begged Wendy not to drink it. The guy threatened me that if I didn’t shut my mouth, he’d ram the bottle down my throat. So Wendy just smiled, told me not to worry, and that she had everything in hand.”

  “How much did she drink, Charlie?”

  “Only a glassful. She seemed to be okay the first ten minutes or so.”

  “Did the troublemakers leave the house after Wendy drank the liquid?”

  “No, they took their time. It wasn’t until Wendy felt unwell that I heard one of the gang members pleading with the leader to leave before the coppers arrived. The second they left the house, I called 999.”

  “What’s her prognosis? Has the doctor said yet?”

  “No. They won’t tell me anything. Can you ask for me?”

  “In a minute. What about Wendy’s mum? Has she been informed that Wendy has been admitted?”

  “I rang and left a message on her mum’s mobile. She hasn’t rung back yet.”

  Footsteps sounded, and they glanced up to see a young doctor in a white coat approaching them. Lorne shot out of her chair and introduced herself. “Any news, Doctor?”

  “I’m afraid I can only give immediate family any news I might have.” He looked past Lorne at Charlie. “Have you made contact with Wendy’s mother yet?”

  Charlie shook her head slowly and reached for her phone. “I’ll try again. Please, won’t you tell us? She’s like a sister to me.”

  In a hushed voice, the doctor said, “Wendy is in a very critical condition. It could go either way.”

  Charlie sobbed and punched the numbers on her phone. Tony took the phone from her shaking hand, sat down beside her, and gathered her in his arms. “That can wait for a moment or two. Be brave, Charlie. Let the power of positive thoughts aid Wendy’s recovery.”

  Lorne turned back to the doctor. “Thank you, Doctor. We’ll do our best to contact Wendy’s mother or another family member. We’ll let you know.”

  The doctor turned and walked away. Lorne got her own mobile out of her coat pocket and dialled the station. “John, it’s Lorne.” She moved a few steps away from her daughter and Tony. “I wonder if you can do me a favour?” She explained the tragic situation to the desk sergeant and asked for his help in locating one of Wendy’s relatives.

  “I’ll do my best, ma’am. Leave it with me.”

  Lorne struggled to fathom why Wendy’s mum, Gina Fuller, had turned off her phone, especially when there was a teenage party in full swing at her house. “Are you all right, love?” she asked her crumpled daughter.

  Charlie’s mascara-streaked face angled upwards. “Can you try to ring her relatives for me?” She handed her phone to Lorne.

  “I’ve got a contact at the station…‌they’re on it now. Did Wendy say where her mum was going tonight?”

  “I’ve tried to think, but I don’t remember her mentioning it at all. She might have gone away for the night to a hotel or something.”

  Lorne patted her daughter’s hand. “We’ll find her. Soon.” She tried the number again, but it went into voicemail straightaway. Lorne left a calm message saying that they were at the hospital with Wendy and to make contact when she could.

  They remained at the hospital, alternating pacing the corridor and sitting in the chair, awaiting any news. Finally around four o’clock, Lorne’s phone rang. “Hello?”

  “It’s John, ma’am. We’ve tracked down an aunt for the young lady, couldn’t locate the mother. I’ve told her it’s important for her to get to the hospital, and she’s on her way now.”

  Wendy’s aunt arrived twenty minutes later. The receptionist pointed the bewildered woman in their direction. Hesitantly, she said, “I’m Wendy’s aunt, Connie Smith. Can you tell me what’s going on? The policeman was very vague on the phone.”

  Lorne stood, shook the woman’s hand, and offered her a seat. The woman collapsed into the chair and appeared shell-shocked when Lorne divulged what the doctor had told them a few hours ago.

  “My God, where’s Gina? She should be here. If anything happens to Wendy…”

  “We’re not sure. At least you’re here now. We should be going, but I didn’t want to leave without a family member being present.”

  They watched in silence as the doctor, who’d visited them earlier, walked across the corridor to see them. Everything happened in slow motion after that and culminated with Charlie throwing herself into Lorne’s arms in floods of tears. Wendy had died.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Lorne drove into work looking and feeling like the walking dead on Wednesday morning. Tony was manning the kennels as planned, although the circumstances behind him handling the task had altered dramatically. Before leaving the hospital, Lorne had begged the doctor, who’d given them the sad news of Wendy’s demise to give Charlie a prescription for a sedative to help her sleep. When she’d popped into Charlie’s bedroom before going to work, she saw her daughter sound asleep. Kissing the top of her sleeping daughter’s head, she noticed the stains of mascara streaked across the pillow where Charlie had cried herself to sleep.

  • • •

  “Morning, Lorne. Everything all right?” Katy grabbed her elbow and led her through to the office the second she arrived at the incident room.

  “No. I spent most of the night at A&E.”

  Katy perched on the desk while Lorne slumped exhausted into the chair. “How come? Is Tony’s leg playing him up?”

  “No, nothing like that. Charlie went to her friend’s eighteenth birthday party last night and some troublemakers turned up with what apparently was some dodgy vodka. One thing led to another and Wendy, the girl whose party it was, ended up in hospital.”

  “My God, through the drink?”

  Lorne nodded. “Katy, she’s dead!”

  “What? How the hell did that happen?”

  “Dodgy alcohol. Who’s to say what these bastards put in it for profit.”

  “Is Charlie all right? Did she drink any of this stuff?”

  “Luckily, no. She had the common sense to decline it. She’d tried to convince Wendy to do the same, but…”

  “Well, we have the right to investigate the case if you want to proceed, Lorne. It’s a murder investigation after all.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that. I want to go over to Wendy’s house with a forensic team, see if they can uncover any traces of the liquid. We need to find out who this gang of boys are too.” Lorne ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated. “But what about the Jane Doe case?”

  “The team is big enough to cope with the two cases at once. There’s little we can do until the TV programme goes out tonight anyway. Let’s get the ball rolling first thing on thi
s one. We need to get this gang off the streets and out of circulation before they kill someone else. Ring Patti, see if any other cases have landed on her examination table. Okay? And of course ask her to send a team over to the girl’s address. Are you up for this fight, Lorne?”

  “You bet. I might not have had much sleep last night, but my adrenaline is in full swing. I want to take these bastards down before more victims end up as homicides on our desks.”

  • • •

  Lorne and Katy met Patti at Wendy Fuller’s family home. No one had been able to track down Wendy’s mother yet, not even the aunt. Using the spare key Charlie had given Lorne, suited and booted in the appropriate forensic protective clothing, they ventured inside. The first thing Lorne did was search all the bottles of booze lying around, though she didn’t hold out much hope of finding anything, fearing the criminals would have taken the proof with them.

  “Don’t bother looking for the bottle, Lorne. Try and find the glass Wendy drank from. If we can find it, that’ll be all we’ll need to ascertain what we’re dealing with,” Katy said. Lorne nodded and went in the kitchen in search of a cardboard box. Coming back into the lounge, she gathered all the glasses she could find and stacked them carefully in the box. During the search, Katy took several photos of the scene using her mobile.

  Patti sighed continuously as she moved around the room. “Not sure we’re going to find anything here, ladies.”

  “You say you’ve had a few cases that might match this one, Patti. Was anything found at the scene with those other ones?” Lorne asked, gingerly putting another glass with the others.

  “Nothing at the scene. No glass, no bottle, absolutely zilch.”

  They heard the key in the front door lock, and the three of them braced themselves for a distressing prospect.

  Lorne put the box on the living room floor and stepped out into the hallway.

  “What the—? Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my house? Wendy, get down here!” the woman shouted up the stairs.

  Must be Mum, Lorne thought. Withdrawing her warrant card, Lorne flashed it at the woman along with a slight smile. This was going to be the toughest task she’d carried out in a long time.