by Lily Zante
Caitlin’s eyes darkened with fear. “But I want him out of my life. I don’t want him to come near me or hurt me or threaten me ever again.” If the case didn’t go to trial for months, it meant that Carl Summers was free to harass her as he wanted.
“The court can impose conditions on him to ensure he stays away from you and from your home and place of work.”
“A man like Carl Summers doesn’t obey orders!” said Caitlin hotly, her face breaking out in anger. She would never feel safe again, not until he was behind bars.
“Caitlin, let’s take it one step at a time. You let me know if you get any more calls or texts. Keep a diary, document everything. It will come in handy when this goes to trial. And if you need to speak to me just call me.” He gave her his number. The poor girl looked frightened to death.
By the time she left the police station Caitlin was shaking uncontrollably.
The thought of weeks and months spreading out before her, living life as a frightened woman was unbearable.
She had spent the last few months looking over her shoulder every waking minute of the day. She wouldn’t be able to live like this for much longer.
The tears started falling, slowly at first, as she walked along Bishopsgate. The passers by walked on, not seeing anything or anyone as they focused on where they wanted to go and walked as fast as they could to get there. Just then her phone rang again.
“Sod off will you!” she yelled. She was about to hit the button to end the call when she heard, “Caitlin? Caitlin, it's me. Daniel. What’s happened? Are you alright?”
The sound of his voice reassured her, especially now that she felt all battered and broken up. “Oh Daniel,” she burst into tears again, with relief and feeling a bit sorry for herself too. As she walked along she noticed a small side road on her left. She walked down it to get away from the noise and people that were starting to suffocate her.
“Where are you? I just need to know you’re alright. Has anything happened?” He sounded urgent, anguished almost.
“No, I’m fine,” she lied. I wish you could come here. “It’s nothing. I’m not hurt. I..I…” She didn’t know what to say. How would she tell him how low she felt?
“Tell me where you are Caitlin. I’m coming.” He sounded so strong and as though he was going to take care of her.
“No, you don’t have to Daniel. Really. I’m fine. I’m just having a bit of a bad day.”
Refusing to take no for an answer, Daniel insisted, “Where are you Caitlin?”
She didn’t have the energy to make up any more excuses to avoid him. She leant against the walls of what looked like a church building and looking around her she saw a sign. She told him, “I’m outside St Helens church, Near Bishopsgate. But Daniel, it’s-”
He interrupted her. “I’m coming, I’m not far. Stay put.”
She wiped her eyes and face and tried smiling, to lift her spirits but inside she felt extremely low. He was coming and she didn’t want him to see her looking like the mess she felt she was.
The visit to DCI Osborn had rocked her to the core. News that the case might take months to get to trial, if the CPS didn’t throw it out, had knocked her self-esteem once more.
She had barely gotten over the December night attack. And when the December attack had happened, she had barely gotten over the months of hell she’d had with Carl. She felt as though her life had taken a swerve into darker depths since the summer and she’d been trying to get it back on an even keel ever since then.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, something always came out of the blue to knock her back down again.
Today everything had come to a head once more. The silent phone calls starting up again, memories of her time with Carl and now she felt her visit to DCI Osborn had done nothing to raise her spirits. Nothing that he said had given her hope. Soon, if the police could not protect her, she would have to tell her parents what was going on.
At times like this she remembered all too well the verbal and emotional bullying Carl had often inflicted on her. Each time she remembered those moments, it reduced her to a wreck. How could she explain how lonely and scared she felt?
She didn’t want to drag Kerrie into this mess and put her life in danger too. Kerrie was a hot head and she wouldn’t think twice about going over to Carl and punching him in the face. Kerrie would do this without thinking because she didn’t know just how dangerous a person Carl really was.
She was so completely lost in the darkness of her own thoughts that she hardly noticed Daniel getting out of the black cab that had parked up in front of her. As she looked up she noticed his shock of blonde hair first; it looked even more blonde contrasting as it did with his long dark coat.
He looked so tall and sure of himself as he walked up to her. He seemed anxious but his face softened as soon as he saw her.
She had tried to freshen herself up but Daniel could see from the puffy red eyes that she had been crying. Her face was blotchy and she sniffled away. She seemed shattered, broken. This was so not the woman he had seen before. Even on the night of the attack she had held it all together remarkably well. He knew instinctively that it had been something to do with Carl.
She looked up at him as he strode towards her and then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she was in his arms and he was holding her close. Burying her face into his warm winter coat, she melted against him. He held her tight with one protective hand against the back of her head.
“Caitlin,” he said softly. “It’s going to be alright.”
She didn’t want to leave the warmth of his coat or the security of his embrace. Reluctantly, they broke away and stood, half leaning against the small wall that encircled the church.
“Hey,” he said, giving her a friendly nudge with his arm.
“Hi,” she croaked, wanting to sound more upbeat than she actually felt. She turned her face sideways to look at him and attempted a smile.
“Anything you want to tell me about?” he asked quietly.
“It’s been a bit of a crap day.” As she spoke, she realised that they were holding hands. It had all seemed so natural. He’s married. She slowly unfurled her fingers from his.
“I think we can safely say it’s been a bit of a crap week, month and year Caitlin.”
She wondered what had made his week so awful. “Are your ribs still hurting?”
“Actually my ribs are the one thing that are positively moving forward.”
Caitlin smiled. “As in out of your body?” she asked, cheekily.
“As in hurting less and healing,” he replied with a deadpan expression.
It felt so easy, so comfortable, so normal sitting out here with him. For a slight moment, Caitlin forgot about the conversation with DCI Osborn. Until he asked her why she had been crying.
The easy camaraderie which they had enjoyed momentarily faded as she recounted her conversation with Osborn.
“They can’t do much if they can’t actually pin anything on him,” responded Daniel quietly. He wanted to hold her hand, to comfort her and run his hands through her hair. But he fought the urge to do all of these things. So instead he squeezed her arm gently, “They’ll charge Ryedon for the attack. No doubt about it. I think they’re trying to get evidence to pin on Summers. As soon as they have something on him that sticks, they can charge him. Then the CPS will decide whether there is enough evidence for this to go to trial or not. And even if it does, it can take months before we have to go to court and give evidence against him. There’ll be different court cases for our different circumstances.”
“How come you know so much about police procedures?” she asked curiously.
“You’re not a cop are you?”
“Why? Got something to hide have you?” he said this in a jocular way. There was a familiarity about him, about how he was with her and she found herself being swept into his cloak of familiarity.
She felt a bit lighter now that she had seen him. He cheered her up. No
doubt about it. But then she remembered Marisa and it didn’t seem normal to her, for him to be that way. He wasn’t being particularly forward or anything and they weren’t doing anything other than having a conversation. Still, she wondered what Marisa would make of it if she could see them.
There was more than a hint of mere acquaintanceship about them now. She felt that their friendship had shifted, if only just a little, to a more personal level and she would be lying if she said she didn’t like seeing him.
Seeing a shadow of sadness darkening her face, he asked her, “What else did DCI Osborn say?”
She told him about the conversation with the detective and that she had told him, on a previous visit, the entire story of her relationship with Carl. Though she had never intended to tell Daniel about her abusive relationship with Carl and the way in which he had harassed her when she left him, she now found herself spilling everything out. The only thing she omitted to tell him was about the silent phonecalls that had started up again.
He listened, as Daniel always did, by giving her the space to speak without fear of interruption or judgement. It helped her to offload the worry that had been burdening her of late.
When she had finished, Daniel put his arm around her and squeezed her gently.
“You’re going to be alright Caitlin. You’ve reported all of this to Osborn. Now it’s just a matter of time.” He was talking logically, calmly and the way he said it all made her feel that perhaps everything would work out in the end.
That the police would get the evidence they needed and that maybe Carl would end up doing some time and leave her alone forever. She felt better now that she had told him everything. She didn’t have to carry it all around inside her anymore. She could share her fears with Daniel.
It was getting dark outside even though it was still only six o’clock. It was also turning bitterly cold too. Daniel wanted to ask her if she wanted to go out for a meal or a drink or something, even just a coffee but he stopped short of asking her. Instead, he insisted on getting her a black cab home again.
“You can’t keep doing this Daniel. I’ll get a tube back.” And though she didn’t really want to splash out so much money for a black cab, when she would normally travel by tube train, she insisted, “I can pay for a black cab myself. It’s fine.”
“No. I’m the one who told you to stay out on account of me-“
“You are?” She didn’t remember it quite like that. From what she remembered, he had come out to see her because she had been so down after her meeting with Osborn.
“Yes Caitlin, I came out to see you. Otherwise you would have gone home at a decent time.”
“It’s only six o’clock,” she countered, getting out her travel pass from her handbag.
“But you don’t feel comfortable travelling home when it gets so dark. And I don’t think you’d want to travel today, since you’re not feeling particularly on top of the world.”
Caitlin closed the zip of her handbag. He was right. She didn’t feel too good today. But seeing him now had lifted her mood considerably.
They argued back and forth for a few more minutes but in the end Daniel won. A little while later Caitlin found herself in a black cab heading towards Butler's Wharf. And Daniel paid for the cab.
Chapter Twelve
When Caitlin left, Daniel walked back quickly to the Bank where he worked as a senior trader.
It wasn’t until much later that night, around ten o’clock, that he got a cab home. He had been tired and irritable ever the early morning when he had come across the dog feces and his vandalized car but seeing Caitlin later on had cheered him up.
Now as he headed home, he was looking forward to the peace and quiet of his place, as it had been before Marisa.
He paid the cab driver and paused as he stared at his house, wondering if anything else had happened since he had left it this morning. Sucking in his breath, he walked up the driveway and a floodlight came on automatically, showering the front of his house with yellow light. He walked over to the Merc and inspected it carefully, walking all the way around it.
No further damage had been inflicted. He opened his front door slowly and peered at the floor before placing a foot on the doormat inside. Clean. No sign of dog poop. Marie was good. He’d have to pay her a good bonus for clearing this mess up.
No Marisa either. Relief.
He placed his briefcase on the floor and flicked through his phone. He needed to take care of this now. The niggling feeling he had had all day, since he had found the dog excrement and his tires slashed, had been slowly building up inside him as he listened to Caitlin talking about Carl earlier.
That’s when he realised that his initial gut feeling had been spot on.
He didn’t think that Marisa wasn’t behind any of this.
For one thing, it would require far too much effort on her part and she would never dirty her hands with anything as revolting as dog feces. Marisa just didn’t have that streak of vindictiveness to get or pay someone else to do it for her either. He couldn’t see this being her style. She would not go out of her way to maliciously cause damage to his property.
She had made his life a misery but that was Marisa being Marisa. She didn’t need to do anything else.
No. This was the work of someone else. And he would bet money on that someone being Carl Summers.
Having found the number he was looking for, he called one of his closest friends, Lyall Pritchard. Daniel had arranged for Lyall’s son Jason to have a year’s placement in the back office at the bank where Daniel worked. He was able to pull the right strings and Jason had done a great job. He had learnt lots and would no doubt be returning once his final year was over.
Not that Daniel demanded a favor for a favor but in this instance, having a good friend high up in the police force was a useful thing to have.
“Lyall? Hi mate, it’s me Daniel.”
The congenial voice of Lyall responded warmly. “How are you doing Daniel. Good to hear from you mate. What’s up?”
“I’ve got a slight problem Lyall. Just wondering if you can look into it. I don’t know if you heard but I was involved in an attack before Christmas. Came across a hooligan beating up on a poor woman walking home at night.”
There was silence at the other end. “Jeez Daniel. No, I didn’t know. You okay? Is she?”
“Yes, we’re fine. Turns out her ex boyfriend was behind the attack – the man who attacked her says the girl’s ex paid him to beat her up.”
He heard Lyall inhale deeply at the other end. “Crazy people out there. Glad to hear you’re alright Dan. What can I do?”
“There’s more. The ex was abusive, which was why she dumped him. Now I think he’s just plain obsessed, a bit of a psycho really. He’s been harassing this poor woman. To cut a long story short, I’ve just had some dog excrement put through my door and my tires have been slashed. Could you by chance look into it? I know West London is not your area but the police still haven’t found evidence to charge the ex even though the attacker confessed. I think he’s deliberately targeting me now. But my worry is Caitlin.”
“Caitlin?”
“The woman who got attacked. I don’t want her to get hurt. Her ex was abusive and I’m worried he’ll do something stupid.”
“What’s his name?”
“Carl Summers, there must be a police file on the system. The woman he attacked was Caitlin Quinn and the man who actually attacked her was Alex Ryedon.”
“I can speak to the local criminals and get them to spread the word around. Let him know that he’s being watched.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble over this Lyall. I just wondered if there was anything you could do. I don’t think he’s a hard core criminal, I think he’s just a thug who’s into treating women badly. This time he’s gone too far.”
“Even easier to sort out. The local criminal element will totally frighten him then. Leave it to me Dan.”
“Appreciate any help o
n this mate. I haven’t even reported the slashed tires to the police yet.”
“You should. Document everything you can. The more they have to pin on him the better.”
“Thanks mate.”
“Don’t worry about it Daniel. I’ll take care of it. Say hi to Marisa for me.”
Daniel paused and then hung up. He felt as though a huge burden had been lifted from his chest.
A slight buzz on his phone told him there was a text message for him. It was Caitlin.
Thanks for seeing if I was okay. Just got home safe and sound. Goodnight.
He smiled and texted back. Goodnight Caitlin.
Maybe this year wouldn’t turn out to be so bad after all.
Chapter Thirteen
Caitlin felt much better after seeing Daniel.
She told Kerrie about her day when she got home later that evening and they both sat at their small wooden table eating sausages and mash.
“Hang on, hang on,” said Kerrie, waving her fork in the air. “He came all the way out to meet you? To see if you were alright?”
Caitlin flushed. She waved her hand as if to pooh-paah away any ideas that might be forming in her friend’s rather imaginative brain. “I don’t think he came all the way out. I think he works somewhere-”
“But he likes you doesn’t he? And…..I…..get the feeling that you do too.”
Caitlin stabbed her sausage with a fork and held it up in the air. “Are you sure you cooked these properly?” She peered at it closely.
“Stop being ridiculous. Of course it’s cooked. Admit it. You like him. He likes you. What’s the hold up?”
“The hold up is the fact that he’s married, as I already told you. And I’m putting myself back together again after an abusive relationship and if you remember, I was involved in a savage attack not so long ago.” She got up and placed her two sausages on a baking tray and shoved them back into the oven.
“They’re cooked.” Kerrie insisted.
