My Caroline

by Roger Rapel

  ‘Yes she wanted me to leave my wife for her, I told her I couldn’t and our affair was over.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  ‘She had to meet someone after her dance class, so it was later.’

  ‘Where did you meet her?’

  ‘In a car park.’

  ‘What car park?’

  ‘It was out of town a little way’s out near the train station.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘We had a blazing row, so I left, she was sobbing, but I had to go.’

  ‘Did you have sex that night?’

  ‘God no, she was like a woman possessed.’

  ‘Thank you for your help, but just to let you know we have taken samples from her for DNA testing and will be requiring all males who knew her to supply a sample for screening, you understand the implications behind that statement?’

  ‘Yes I do, but it won’t concern me.’

  ‘Okay thank you for your time.’

  Angela said:

  ‘Oh just before you go, when you met her that night, did she get into your car or you in hers?’

  ‘In mine why?’

  ‘Just covering all angles; thank you Mr Caruthers.’

  Once Carruthers had gone Mick and Angela made their way to HQ’s for the debriefing. Mick said ‘this will put the cat amongst the pigeons she certainly liked her men, she had two on the go that we know of and she wanted both of them to leave their respective wives for her.’

  Angela smiled as she wound-up Mick ‘would you leave your wife for me?’ Mick played along with her banter ‘what’s it worth, you want some now?’ ‘Fuck off Mick’ as she laughed. The journey over they kept the banter going then ended it as they reached the incident room where they wrote up the log of the interview with Caruthers.

  The briefing commenced as normal with the days update given by each team, each one adding their day’s information. Then the turn of Mick and Angela came, they gave their account of the interview with Caruthers. There were a few sighs from the others in the room. Langton said ‘What’s your opinion of Caruthers?’ Angela replied ‘He’s a married man with a lot to lose, but so did Albright.’ Langton said ‘quite so, but she wanted them both to leave their respective wives for her, was she edging her bets guessing that at least one would, but which one is the question?’ Jim said ‘that’s the six million dollar question. We can only wait until the lab comes back with the DNA then check all three suspects against the findings. We know from Albright that he had sex with her that night, but we also know according to him he dropped her off to collect her car, then she met Caruthers in the out of town car park to talk. He says he didn’t have sex with her. All three men had a motive, the jealous husband, then Albright and Caruthers who were being asked to leave their respective wives for her.’

  Jim requested the intelligence section to chart the information known so far. This would provide a visual aid for everyone to see rather than having to read statements and logs.

  The long slog of witness interviews and statement taking continued, but nothing came of it; most of the information that came in was confirming what was already known.

  One of team made enquiries at the Lamb and wolf, but with no CCTV covering the car park it proved negative; the night Caroline had gone missing was really busy, all the staff had been stretched so none of them could remember Caroline and Colin Albright being there.

  9

  The lab results were finally completed which provided information of two different types of DNA profiles being identified from the vaginal swabs taken.

  Jim looked at the results then made a request for all three men to attend Central at different times during the day where saliva samples would be taken for DNA comparison.

  When each suspect attended Jim obtained saliva samples from each of them then forwarded to the lab for comparison with the source samples taken from Caroline.

  It would be another 3 weeks before the results would be ready. Jim sat down with Vicky then went through all the evidence trying to assess the best possible scenario, but whichever way they looked at it the husband was the main suspect, his jealousy had already spilled over into violence at least once. He could have followed her and seen more than he had expected to see, then after Caruthers had dropped her off dragged her into his car and drove to the woods where he strangled her and ripped her clothes to make it look like she had been raped. They nodded to each other but decided to wait until the results came back.

  Langton was champing at the bit for a result as he was compiling his policy log. It would not be long before another set of eyes would be checking his decision making process.

  The DNA comparison results came back with a surprise. Albrights DNA profile matched one of the samples. He had already admitted having sex with her on the night, but neither Caruthers nor Romney’s matched the other profile. Jim said to Langton ‘she met a third man that night, either by design or by force; that certainly puts the cat amongst the pigeons, no matter what we do now, we will never make a conviction stick to any of the suspects with an outstanding DNA profile, unless one of them confesses, so let’s nick all three and go through the motions.’

  Then Jim said ‘I have been to the company that Craig Romney works for and checked his alibi, the CCTV of the only entry and exit showed him leaving at 9.30pm so he couldn’t have followed her from the dance class, so it does give him some kind of alibi albeit electronic; but he could have got someone else to follow Caroline, a bit of long shot, but let’s nick him anyway.’

  Langton nodded in agreement ‘we have nothing to lose.’

  10

  All three suspects were invited to Central where they were formally arrested and interviewed at different times. As anticipated they all had a solicitor with them who advised their clients to say no comment to the questions. The evidence of the DNA against Albright was spoken of, but Jim already knew he’d had sex with her from his previous interview, he also knew that he had dropped her off then she had met Caruthers. Jim then put forward a scenario that Albright had watched Caroline after he dropped her off then followed her to the car park where he waited for her to return, killed her then dumped her body in the woods making it look like rape. Or perhaps he had not had consenting sex with her, but had raped her after he had picked her up when Caruthers had dropped her off?

  Albright strenuously denied the theory, and then he refused to answer any more questions on the advice of his solicitor. Jim looked at Albright watching his eyes and body language, but saw no real signs, other than being nervous.

  One of the other teams interviewed Caruthers who also had a solicitor and said ‘no comment’ on his advice.

  Jim interviewed Romney and went to town on him regarding him being the jealous husband who was being cheated on by his wife. He had waited for her and had forced her into his car then drove to the woods where he killed her and made it look like she had been raped.

  Romney as expected strenuously denied the accusation, then on the advice of his solicitor remained silent.

  All three suspects were bailed for some 6 weeks pending further investigation. But Jim knew he was flogging a dead horse with another DNA profile outstanding; there was nothing he could do unless some other evidence came to light.

  Jim was so frustrated at the second unknown DNA profile; surely she never had sex twice that night, but the evidence of the lab was clear, two sets of semen producing two DNA profiles, one being confirmed as Albrights the other outstanding.

  Jim went to see Langton and closed the door behind him; Langton nodded at him, knowing the look of frustration on his face. Langton opened his bottom drawer and took out a bottle of Islay and poured two good measures. They chinked glasses Jim took a sip of the golden liquid and coughed as it went down. Jim smiled and said ‘extra strong again?’ Langton nodded. ‘What’s wrong Jim?’ Langton knew what was wrong, but had to try and keep his spirits up. ‘Just frustrated guv, I never expected the DNA result we got from the lab.’ ‘Yeah I know
, but they are liaising with all other labs up and down the country in the hope that the second DNA is somewhere in their files.’ Jim nodded, ‘without that we are up a gum tree.’ Langton nodded as he finished his scotch.

  ‘Okay Jim I will try and get authorisation for a blanket DNA elimination of all males in the area; I hope to get it funded and then we can get the teams involved in taking samples. I know from the last time when we completed such an exercise it is an enormous task, but hopefully it will turn up trumps or at least get someone to do a runner.’

  Jim nodded then got ready for the end of day’s debrief. He checked with Vicky then compiled a series of bullet points.

  The incident room was full of noise with the normal banter and jokes from the teams as they settled down. Then Langton stood in the front and gave an update from his perspective. Then as per normal he went from team to team obtaining the information from them as he scribed in his A4 book. He took particular interest in the interviews as he made copious notes for his policy log.

  Langton then said ‘okay ladies and gents thanks for all your input. I know for some it has been a hard slog, but as you have probably heard there has been a second and unidentified DNA profile found by the lab. The first result was matched with Albrights, but he had already admitted intercourse with the victim that night; the other result has no comparison to the other two suspects, so we are left with an unknown.’ Langton took a sip of water then continued.

  ‘I am going to have the male population of the area DNA screened for elimination purposes. I need the teams to assist in the obtaining the samples. All of those tested will be by saliva; we will have all the equipment ready. Make no bones about it, this is a big task, but is necessary for the investigation. Thanks to you all, have a good night, I’ll see you in the morning.’

  This lack of progress was frustrating the hell out of Jim, so he decided to go and see Francesca again, but this time unannounced, just to see how she reacted being on the back foot.

  Jim knocked the door, it took a moment, but eventually Francesca opened the door. She was wearing loose fitting jogging bottoms and loose top, she looked a little flushed. Jim said ‘sorry Francesca I was just passing and needed to ask a couple of questions if it’s ok?’ ‘Yes sorry I have just finished a work-out so excuse the gear.’ ‘No problem it’s very becoming on you.’ ‘Well thank you, would you like coffee?’ ‘Yes please.’ Francesca made coffee as they chatted about nothing; Francesca’s breath was now normalising. Jim was trying to break the ice and get her comfortable for the questions he wanted to ask.

  ‘Now how can I help you?’ ‘Look Francesca there are some aspects of Caroline’s life which are not adding up, I just need to try and ascertain if there is something that is being held back, or forgotten. I am re-visiting all her friends and associates to try and jog memories.’ ‘What things aren’t adding up, can you say?’ ‘Okay some I can’t, but what I can say is that we have discovered she was seeing two men at the same time. Were you aware of that?’ ‘I’m not sure, Caroline mentioned she was getting hacked off with Colin not making a decision to leave his wife for her. Then out of the blue she said she had met someone, I can’t remember where or when, but she liked him, I wasn’t aware she was actually involved with him as well.’

  Jim sipped his coffee as he admired Francesca’s figure as he cupped his hands around the mug. Francesca said ‘what?’ ‘Oh I was miles away trying to piece all of this together.’ Francesca smiled quite happily admiring his looks and the attention she was getting. She had been on her own for a long time and had forgotten what it was like to be talked too without having to push someone away. She liked Craig, but not in that way, she just felt sorry for him.

  Jim put his mug down then said ‘this other man did Caroline name him at all?’ ‘Not that I can remember, just a minute let me grab my diary and I’ll check.’ Francesca nipped upstairs where she picked up her diary then came back down.

  ‘Okay let me look.’ Francesca began flicking through the pages then she said ‘oh here we go, yes she did mention his name, I had forgotten, yes here we go, she told me his name was Grant.’ ‘Are you sure Grant?’ ‘Yes I’ve written it down, I write in my diary every day as soon as I can, so yes Grant.’ ‘That’s great; did she mention where he came from, or where he lived?’ ‘No she didn’t, as I remember I asked her, but before she could answer she received a phone call, it was from Grant, she had to go.’ ‘When was that do you have a date?’ Francesca gave him the date and a rough time. Jim thanked her then said ‘is there anything else that you can remember that might help no matter how small?’ ‘Can you give me a day or so, I will read my diary again and try to remember anything else she might have said.’ Jim thanked her for her time and the coffee. Then he said out of the blue to knock her off balance ‘were you seeing Craig?’

  Francesca looked down ‘oh my god no, look, Craig is such a nice man, he called me once and asked if he could come round for a chat as he didn’t know what to do about Caroline.’ ‘When was that?’ ‘A couple of days before Caroline went missing.’ ‘Did he come around here on the night she went missing?’ ‘He wanted to, he called me, but I was so tired and had a meeting the next day so I said no. I’m glad I didn’t see him as I knew what he wanted; I had to push him away when he came over the first time. I didn’t want to be in a triangle with my best friend’s husband, no matter how nice he was.’

  ‘You should have told me in the beginning.’

  ‘I know I should, I just couldn’t believe that Craig could have killed Caroline, he is so nice.’

  ‘Okay I’ll leave it there for now, but I will need to take a statement from you at some time so I will call back.’

  Francesca led the way to the front door and let him out. Just as he was about to go she said ‘once I have read my diary I will call you then we can discuss it, perhaps over a glass of wine?’ ‘That would be really nice, thanks again.’ Jim smiled as he walked out. Francesca waved as she was about to close the door then she said ‘oh I have just remembered something Caroline said to me, it didn’t mean anything to me then or now, but it might mean something to you.’ ‘Go on?’ Jim said as he stepped back into the hallway. ‘Caroline was very concerned about the hours Craig was spending at work so had looked in his briefcase trying to find evidence of him having an affair.’ ‘What did she find?’ ‘I had forgotten as I said, but she mentioned when she was looking she found a document with Top Secret on it; she opened the folder and read something about software installations by him for GCHQ and MI5. That’s it she never did find anything about him having an affair. I thought she was joking, Craig being some kind of 007.’ ‘That’s good just keep thinking. Call me if you remember anything else.’

  Jim made his way back to his car as he thought god she’s got a lovely bum. He then thought Grant, a third one in the melting pot, then began talking to himself; perhaps the phone records for that day would provide a number to research. We just need that one break, perhaps Grant was the third lover who they could match with the outstanding DNA profile. Then he thought, what was Romney’s involvement with GCHQ, MI5 and software installations? That’s presupposing Caroline’s comments to Francesca were true and not some made up fantasy?

  Jim’s head was swimming with all kinds of scenario’s nothing made any sense, the harder he thought the bigger his headache became

  Jim called Langton saying he would catch up in the morning as he was late after the interview with Francesca.

  Jim arrived home to music playing with Jackie bopping in the kitchen she was wearing one of his shirts again. He crept up behind her then kissed her neck and slid his hands underneath the shirt and caressed her free flowing breasts. Jackie loved his attention on her, it made her feel sexy. Her desire for Jim was smouldering hot as she turned off the oven; then dragged him into the bedroom by his tie where she undressed him and then made him perform on her by dragging his head unceremoniously between her thighs. She sighed as she felt herself about to explode then she cried out loud
as she climaxed.

  Jackie had Jim’s head in vice like grip with his hair between her fingers holding him tight, not letting him go, this to her was the best, she loved it. ‘Oh Jim don’t stop, keep going please, oh fucking hell yes, yes, yes!’ Jackie kept him in between her thighs till she was spent. ‘Oh Jim that was so good’ then she pulled him onto the bed as she went down on him caressing and licking his rock hard shaft, it wasn’t long before she felt his hips lock as his whole body went stiff. Jackie loved the control over him she was inwardly smiling to herself as she savoured all of him.

  Jackie rested her head on his chest, feeling warm and secure as she fell asleep with pleasant thoughts floating into her dreams. Then she woke up with a start, she slowly made her way into the kitchen checking the casserole which was still hot, so dished it up as she called Jim.

  Jim was also floating in a dream like state, but on hearing the voice of Jackie he dragged himself out of bed put on his dressing gown then cracked-open a bottle of wine as Jackie brought in two piping hot plates of casserole. Jackie looked at Jim and smiled, ‘oh Jim I do miss you when you get involved in cases like this, but that did make up for it, it was so good.’ Jim smiled as he nodded and said ‘you weren’t that bad either.’ Jackie leant over and smacked his arm as she laughed.

  The meal was good as always, Jackie was a great cook always making lovely meals. They chatted as they ate dinner then washed up. Jackie knew he wanted to work so said ‘after the soaps you finish okay!’ Jim nodded as he opened his A4 book and began reading the previous days interviews; but other than Grant there was nothing. He knew that he could make a case against Caruthers, but also knew with the other DNA profile outstanding he couldn’t get CPS to go for a prosecution with an element of doubt, unless there was some other overwhelming evidence or a confession. He sat thinking then he heard the soap music signifying the end, so closed his book and joined Jackie on the sofa as she rested her head on his lap and fell asleep.