The Girl in the Rug

by K Leitch

  Until Tracy’s visit yesterday, Louisa had been able to fool herself into thinking that Tim had kept his word and that the incident with the young girl had indeed been a one off…a moment of madness. She had been a bit nervous when Gordon and Freddy Robinson had started inviting Tim to their do’s, but Tim had assured her that apart from a bit of gambling and some good food and wine it was all very tame. The Robinson’s were just trying to smooth their way towards some very lucrative council controlled building contracts, not very ethical maybe but nothing for her to worry about…then Tracy had mentioned those children and Louisa’s ears had immediately pricked up….

  She was jolted out of her thoughts by the man himself who came up behind her and gave her a kiss.

  ‘I’m just going to pop into Redbank darling, need some more ink for the printer…can I get you anything before I go?’ he said.

  ‘No I’m fine thank you love…oh you could pop that little cow toy of Tilly’s into Tracy’s for me as you pass by, I seem to remember her saying that Tilly doesn’t sleep without it. Poor Tracy, don’t suppose she got much sleep last night then,’ Louisa said getting ‘moomoo’ from the table and passing it to Tim.

  ‘Well maybe she’ll be more careful about taking it with her next time,’ Tim said rather acidly taking ‘moomoo’ from her and stuffing it into the pocket of his coat. He kissed Louisa goodbye and was gone.

  This was what Louisa had been waiting for all morning, as soon as she was sure that Tim had gone she wheeled herself down the ramp that led into Tim’s office and switched on his laptop…blast the thing, it wanted a password.

  Tim was a creature of habit and he always wrote everything down…it had to be here somewhere. Louisa started looking through his desk and through his papers but could find nothing. She sat back in her chair, ‘Think Louisa…think,’ she muttered to herself, then she remembered his little Chinese puzzle box. She had bought it for him one Christmas after a concert in Hong Kong; it was a beautifully carved wooden box that had a secret mechanism which opened it, luckily Louisa knew the secret. She scanned the room looking for the box, at last she saw it, but it was on a bookshelf quite high up…would she be able to reach it? ‘Well you’ll never know sitting here will you?’ she said to herself, wheeling her chair over next to the bookshelf…she reached up as high as she could go, she could just touch the edge of the box and began pushing it with her finger tips, twisting it nearer to the edge. It was exhausting and Louisa was bathed in sweat as she tried again and again…moving the box centimetre by centimetre. After what seemed like an age it was at last teetering on the edge of the shelf…one more go and it should fall into her lap.

  She reached up again and sure enough the box fell, landing perfectly in her lap. Louisa did a high five to herself and wheeled her chair and the box back over to Tim’s desk. With a few clicks and twists the box popped open and sure enough inside there were a few folded pieces of paper, each with either numbers or numbers and letters on them.

  She tried them one by one; the second one opened the computer. Louisa felt elated at her success but soon realised that she hadn’t a clue what she was looking for. She went into Tim’s recent activity file; there were travel sites…which made sense because she had another recording session in the US planned for next month, he had been keeping an eye on twitter and had posted some advertising for her latest albums. What was this…Tim had been looking at a cosmetic surgery site, bloody hell what did he think needed doing…stupid man?

  Her heart sank though, as she read the name of the next site he had visited recently, ‘Oh no...oh no Tim…bloody hell,’ she whispered in a faltering voice. Once opened (via another password) her worst fears were confirmed. Images of young girls…very young girls, most of them naked…some of them performing sexual acts, suddenly flooded the screen.

  Louisa flicked through the site barely seeing the screen for the tears that were streaming down her face…he had promised…promised on her life, and she had believed him. She felt physically sick as she looked at the evidence of his betrayal, putting her head in her hands and groaning at the pain of it. It took a few minutes for her to compose herself enough to carry on; she came out of the website and went into his email account. Yet another password was needed for that, but Louisa was on a roll and found that first time round.

  Lots of work related emails, but also some from a company called ‘young and sweet’ with offers of private and confidential viewings at a price of course…then an email from Freddy Robinson caught her eye.

  It was an invitation to an up and coming event at the big house…Gordon and Freddy would be delighted to invite Tim to the event with a promise of good food and wine and the company of like minded men. There was a post script at the bottom from Freddy personally…‘We’ve picked out some particularly young and juicy cherries for this evening so I hope you can make it.’

  Louisa had read enough, ‘Bastard,’ she muttered angrily as her tears flowed faster, ‘that utter, utter bastard.’ She was really sobbing now and searched the desk until she found a tissue with which to blow her nose, accidentally knocking over a picture of the two of them smiling into each other’s eyes which just brought on a fresh wave of sorrow.

  Once her sobs had subsided a bit Louisa sat for a while, exhausted and defeated she thought about the ramifications of what she had just discovered. Her marriage was over that much was certain, she would make sure Tim was ok financially but there was no way she could live with him anymore after this. Also she had to tell someone what was going on, there were children’s lives at stake here, it couldn’t be allowed to continue…even if that meant implicating Tim, she would phone the police and tell them what she knew. She reached over and switched off the computer, watching it as the screen turned black…the blood in her veins turned to ice and she let out a scream of horror!

  Tim was standing right behind her…reflected in the screen…watching her. Her eyes met his and she could see his face filled with rage and fear as he stood silently staring at her. In one hand he held aloft the large bronze statue that stood on a cabinet just inside the door way of the study. Shaking her head in terror Louisa’s eyes pleaded with his seconds before he let out a roar of anger, and he smashed the statue down hard against the side of her head. She felt an explosion of pain…and then everything went black.

  Tim looked down at his unconscious wife for a second or two as if he couldn’t believe what he had just done and then the enormity of it hit home. ‘Fuck!!!’ he swore as he saw the blood oozing out of the wound in her head, ‘fuck fuck fuck…what the fuck am I going to do now…you stupid fucking…’ he ranted holding his head in his hands as he went into full blown panic…marching round the room moaning and groaning, kicking out at anything that got in his way. Picture frames and china vases went flying as his emotions went into frenzy, ‘Oh god oh god oh god…’ he moaned over and over finally slumping down on the sofa to try and control himself.

  ‘Right think…think,’ he said out loud after a while…his face crumpled again, ‘no no no don’t start again…’ he took another deep breath, ‘right fucking get a hold of yourself you stupid wanker.’ He forced himself to go over and check if he had killed Louisa, by looking for a pulse…there was one, it was faint, but she was alive…shit shit shit…he would have to finish her off…fuuucckkk!

  Shaking from head to toe, Tim took a cushion from the sofa in the living room, he turned Louisa’s face towards him…she began to stir, so quickly before she could open her eyes he pushed the cushion into her face holding it hard against her. She began to struggle, it was amazing how hard she struggled but he held firm, shouting at her all the time, letting his anger take over.

  ‘You stupid cow…why did you have to meddle…look what you’ve made me do, why Louisa…fucking hell…why did you do this…’ he was crying hard as he felt her body go limp. He kept on though, pressing hard until he was sure his wife was dead. Then he held her in his arms and sobbed.

  Tim didn’t know how long he stayed beside hi
s dead wife, but eventually reality returned and he knew he had to get rid of her body. He knew a place that he could put her, where she wouldn’t be found until he could figure out what the hell he was going to do with her, but he would have to wait till after dark to move her. Until then he would wrap her up…he couldn’t bear to have her so near, and was horribly aware of her eyes which seemed to be staring accusingly at him. He took a colourful old throw from the back of one of the sofas, carefully lifted his wife out of her chair and wrapped her in it, placing her gently on the sofa and closing the living room door. He was just about to begin collapsing her wheelchair, when the doorbell rang making him jump guiltily.

  He ignored it, but it rang again longer this time. Tim went back into the living room and peeked out of the window…Tracy, with Tilly in the buggy was on the step, she had moved round to try and peer in through the living room window and had seen him, she waved. Swearing under his breath Tim waved back and making sure the living room door was shut he answered the front door.

  ‘Oh I am so relieved I caught you…I thought for a minute you were out,’ Tracy said before Tim could say a word. ‘It’s just ‘moomoo’…only she can’t sleep without it you see and I can’t go through another night like last night so I thought I’d walk round and see if you’d found it.’

  Tim looked at her as if she was mad, ‘Sorry…what?’ He said shaking his head.

  ‘Oh god I’m babbling again aren’t I,’ said Tracy giggling, ‘is Louisa around, she’ll know what I’m talking about.’

  ‘No sorry,’ Tim said shortly, ‘um…she’s gone away for a few days…weeks actually…um a concert, in Amsterdam…’

  ‘Oh blimey…she didn’t say…’ began Tracy.

  ‘No…last minute thing, just heard last night actually, all a bit rushed so…’

  ‘Oh god sorry Tim, I expect I’m the last person you want to see aren’t I?’ Tim didn’t answer just stood there looking awkward.

  ‘It’s ‘moomoo’ Tilly’s little cow…I left it here yesterday, I wondered…’

  ‘Oh bloody hell yes, I meant to drop it off to you earlier only I had to come back home for something.’ Tim started riffling through his jacket which was hanging just beside the door, until he finally produced ‘moomoo’ and handed it over to Tracy.

  ‘Thank you so much…what a relief, might get some sleep now,’ Tracy babbled, ‘Oh tell Louisa I hope it all goes well won’t you, are you joining her later?’

  ‘What?’ Tim snapped, ‘oh I see what you mean, yes I expect so…sorry so much to do…’

  ‘Um I meant to apologise…for yesterday…’ Tracy began awkwardly, stalling Tim who had started to close the door.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said impatiently shaking his head, ‘what about yesterday?’

  ‘Well I think I may have said something out of turn…about the children I mean, I just found it odd you know…but I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation.’ Tracy pulled a face, ‘I was thinking though that I might mention it to my friend Carla…she’s with the local CID you know…because when all’s said and done those kids should not have been out so late and if the parents are doing that then who knows what else…I mean bloody hell the stories you hear…’

  ‘That seems a bit over the top Tracy,’ said Tim, running his hand through his hair in a distracted way, ‘after all no crime has been committed has it?’

  ‘Well no I suppose…’ Tracy faltered.

  ‘You will only be making a fool of yourself you know…better just let it lie,’ Tim said with a smile, ‘I tell you what, I’ll have a word with Freddy Robinson, tell him he shouldn’t use those particular caterers again if that would make you feel easier.’

  Tracy thought about it, ‘Well yes I suppose that would make me feel better…but tell him to let them know why he won’t be using them again…otherwise they’ll just keep on doing it elsewhere won’t they?’

  Tim seemed to heave a sigh, ‘I will Tracy don’t worry about it…anyway I must dash, loads to do and all that.’

  ‘Oh god sorry Tim, I’ll let you go…see you when you get back…’

  Tracy walked back home slowly. ‘Well that was bloody weird,’ she thought as she went, Tim had seemed desperate for her not to talk to Carla about those kids, which just made her more determined to mention it to Carla. But what was even weirder was, if Louisa was in Amsterdam… why had Tracy seen her empty wheelchair in her kitchen in England.

  CHAPTER 40 - CARLA

  ‘Why do these places always smell the same?’ said Frank as he walked up and down the tiny room impatiently.

  ‘I suppose they all use the same disinfectant…’ said Carla casually pondering the question, ‘let’s face it, it must be a major headache keeping a place of this size clean and fresh, especially when you’ve got a few thousand inmates all living together in close proximity.

  ‘Well it makes my stomach turn…bloody hell how much longer are we going to have to wait?’

  Carla shook her head; Frank had been in such a funny mood just lately. He was usually such a laid back person, no matter what the situation but these days he’d become snappy and impatient, with a complete sense of humour failure…it was becoming a pain to work with him.

  They had driven over to Sutton, HMP Highfields to be precise, to interview Kathy Hunt again. Since speaking to Turk, it had become obvious that there were serious doubts about who actually killed Lucy Hunt. Carla was convinced that Kathy knew who had done it, but for some reason it seemed she would rather take the blame for it herself than implicate the real killer. Probably because she was terrified of what would happen to her if she talked to the police…with good reason if Turk was anything to go by. He was still in a critical condition in hospital but Frank had managed to get a signed statement from him by asking questions, for which he would nod once for yes and two for no. He had put the blame for Lucy’s death firmly at the feet of Nellie, but it was still unclear as to how it had happened. He of course denied that he had played any part in it, and also denied that he had helped to dispose of her body…becoming quite upset when Frank had mentioned the sexual interference, so upset in fact that the nurse had asked Frank to leave at that point. So they were back again trying to get some answers from Kathy…at least she should be sober this time.

  Carla was interrupted from her thoughts by the door opening and Kathy herself being ushered into the room by a guard. She looked even smaller than Carla had remembered and sort of hunched over as if she was shrinking into herself. She sat on the chair opposite Carla and Frank and the guard left the room.

  ‘Well I didn’t expect to see you lot no more,’ Kathy said before Carla could speak, ‘what you trying to do me for this time…some old lady get mugged did she? Or was it a drive by shooting? Sorry love it weren’t me…I got a water tight alibi this time don’t I?’ she finished with a cackle.

  Carla gave a faint smile at her sarcasm, ‘Kathy we’d like to talk to you again about what happened to Lucy,’ she began.

  ‘Oh ‘ere we go…what more do you want, you’ve arrested me ain’t you?’

  ‘Well as to that, we have new evidence that points to someone else being Lucy’s killer…’

  ‘Well I could have told you that…I didn’t kill her; I don’t know who did…how many times do I have to say it?’ interrupted Kathy.

  ‘Look cut the crap Kathy,’ Frank said impatiently, ‘we’ve got better things to do with our time than to sit in this stinking prison and listen to your lies okay? We know you know who killed Lucy…it was Nellie wasn’t it?’

  Kathy looked startled for a moment but then started shaking her head, ‘I already told you I don’t know who done it right…look why don’t you just leave me alone, you got me don’t you…why are you still looking for someone else.’

  It was obvious that Kathy had been shaken by the mention of Nellie’s name; she started digging her nails into her hands, and nervously rocking in her chair.

  ‘Kathy don’t you want the person who killed your daughter to be punis
hed for it?’ Carla said, ‘Don’t you want the man who sexually abused her little dead body to be brought to account for his actions…’

  ‘What you talking about?’ said Kathy looking back and forth from Carla to Frank, ‘What d’you mean sexually abused her body…no one said anything about that to me…what did he do to ‘er?’ she started to cry, ‘what did that fucking monster do to ‘er?’ Real tears were flowing down Kathy’s face; it seemed that Carla had finally struck a nerve.

  ‘Who ever dumped Lucy’s body had a bit of fun with her first,’ Frank said bluntly, he pulled out a sheath of papers sorting through them until he found the one he wanted, ‘tearing to the anus wall, tearing of the vagina and the labia, her hymen was ruptured…’ he read from his copy of the post mortem report.

  Carla sorted through her pile of grim photographs, some showing Lucy wrapped in the rug and some others clearly showing the damage to her body.

  Kathy was really sobbing now, looking at the photos of her little girl with wild eyes, ‘What’s ‘e fucking done to her…why would ‘e do that, she was dead for Christ’s sake…fucking animal…’

  Carla let her rant for a moment or two, but she needed to get something from her now.

  ‘Who’s he, Kathy…who are you talking about?’

  ‘Fucking Nellie…that sick fuck!’ Kathy shouted at them, ‘they turned up didn’t they…after you lot came round about old Amish. They saw you…and they thought we’d talked to you. I told them we hadn’t…I tried to stop them…but Nellie…he grabbed me didn’t ‘e, said he needed to show Andy what happens if you talk…’ she stopped talking and cried as she remembered.