Fireflies

by Menon, David

  ‘What did Andrea Kay say about the knives, sir?’ asked Ollie.

  ‘Well she was rather embarrassed about it in the end’ said Jeff. ‘But she did cover up their disappearance because Tina was her friend. She said that Tina was setting up a new flat at the time and she wanted to help her because she didn’t have much cash to buy things for it’.

  ‘I don’t have meat cleavers in my flat’ said Ollie. ‘But the one with James Clifton’s blood all over it and the smaller knives were all found in Tina Webb’s flat, tucked away at the back of a cupboard in her bedroom. Could they have been planted by the real killer?’

  ‘Well she says that the only other people to have a key to her flat are her parents’ said Rebecca. ‘Unless they’ve got something to do with this which I doubt’.

  ‘I think you’ve got a point though, Ollie’.

  ‘Unless we’re being fooled by this vulnerable tart with a heart act’ said Rebecca. ‘She was the last one seen with James Clifton, there’s absolutely no sighting of him leaving her flat on his own, no taxi companies have said that they picked him up and a meat cleaver with Clifton’s blood on it was in her flat and she has no explanation for any of it. Now we’ve found a bag of clothes which look like they belonged to James Clifton and have got her DNA all over them. We’ve charged people on a lot less, sir’.

  ‘Added to all that though, Rebecca, there’s no sign of any struggle in Tina Webb’s flat and no sign of Clifton’s blood there and she doesn’t have a car’ Jeff pointed out.

  ‘But who would have it in for someone like Tina Webb to the extent of setting her up for murder?’ said Rebecca.

  ‘As soon as we move forward something else pulls us back’ said Jeff. ‘And all we’re left with are a bunch of possibilities with nothing to tie them together’.

  ‘But if she’s not our murderer’ said Ollie. ‘If something did happen to Clifton after he left her flat then how do we account for the Rohypnol, the knife and the bag of clothes?’

  Jeff stared at the mission board with its pictures and its arrows and notes in various different styles of handwriting.

  ‘But who could’ve helped her?’ Rebecca argued behind him. ‘The two friends she was with have got alibis for the remainder of that night’.

  Andrea Kay hastily made up the bed in her Grandma’s spare room. Tina Webb stood numbly at the door.

  ‘There’ said Andrea. ‘You’ll be okay in here’.

  ‘Thank you’ said Tina before bursting into tears.

  Andrea put her arms round her. ‘Hey, it’s okay’.

  ‘You know me, Andrea. I’m all gob and dirty talk. I never thought I’d ever go through anything like this’.

  ‘Tina, the police have released you under caution pending further enquiries. That means they don’t really think that you did it. And during those enquiries they’ll find out for sure that you didn’t’.

  ‘But I swear to God I knew nothing about those knives or those clothes. Somebody made sure they could be linked to me but who’d do that to me, Andrea?’

  ‘I don’t know, love’ said Andrea. ‘Are you sure there’s nobody in your life who you may have upset in some way?’

  ‘But to the extent that they set me up for murder?’

  ‘I know’ said Andrea. ‘It does seem a bit far-fetched but I’m clutching at straws trying to find some answers for you’.

  ‘You do believe me, don’t you?’

  ‘Of course I do. Do you think I’d invite a murderer to stay in my Grandma’s house? I know you didn’t do it, Tina. Nobody who knows you could ever believe that you could’ve done it. We’ve just got to convince those idiot police of that now’.

  ‘They want to pin it on me’.

  ‘They won’t succeed’ said Andrea. ‘Now I like Ryan your solicitor. He seems to have it all up top’.

  ‘I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pay him’.

  ‘You don’t have to worry about that’ said Andrea. ‘I’m covering the cost’.

  ‘No, Andrea … ‘

  ‘ … look, I won’t hear any objection from you about it. I’ve still got some of the money my mother left me and I’m going to use it to get my best mate out of trouble’.

  ‘I’ll have to pay you back at some stage’.

  ‘No, you won’t. It’s a gift. You’re innocent and I’m going to help you prove it and whilst Ryan does what he needs to do my Gran says you can stay here as long as you like’.

  ‘Thank you’ said Tina. ‘Your Gran is letting me stay and I can’t thank her enough. I don’t think I could’ve been alone tonight. And I’ve got to speak to the Welsh dragon tomorrow’.

  ‘We’ll do that together’ said Andrea. ‘Now I think you should try and get some sleep. Gran is downstairs making some tea and I’ll bring it up along with a brandy. We’ll fix all of this somehow, Tina. I don’t know how yet but we’ll find a way’.

  FIREFLIES EIGHT

  After they’d finished for the day, Rebecca decided to give in and go for a drink with Jonathan Freeman.

  ‘So where are you from, Jonathan?’ she asked. She liked the way he looked. They’d gone straight from the office to the pub and he needed a shave. She liked that. She liked the way his hair seemed to fall back into a sort of order after he’d run his hands through it too. She also liked that slight gap in his top front teeth and the little dimple in his chin. Should she carry on talking to him or cut straight to the invitation back to her place?

  ‘Portsmouth originally’ he answered. ‘But I went to university up here and after I qualified I decided to stay. Well there was a girl involved then but we’re not seeing each other anymore’.

  ‘There’s a lot of people in the city these days from all sorts of places’ said Rebecca.

  ‘Yeah, well that’s the same everywhere’ said Jonathan who tried to keep his voice even. He didn’t want to give anything away.

  ‘I meant that was a good thing’.

  ‘Oh so did I’ said Jonathan, putting on his best bewildered smile.

  ‘Good’ said Rebecca. ‘Because anyone else might’ve been forgiven for thinking you were hinting at some kind of racism’.

  ‘Me? I’m no racist, Rebecca’.

  ‘I’m glad to hear it’.

  ‘I do think that immigration has gone too far though and we need to review it’.

  ‘What kind of immigration? The white Australian barmaid who served us our drinks five minutes ago or the black Somalian with a different culture who just wants a better life for himself and his family?’

  ‘Rebecca, don’t try and trap me into saying what I don’t want to say’.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to. But you’d know if I was’.

  ‘Don’t you ever let racial stereotypes get into your thinking at work?’

  ‘I see a crime, Jonathan, not a race’.

  ‘Then that’s why you’re a great detective’.

  ‘Well recovered. I’m impressed’.

  ‘My Dad used to be a Tory councillor’.

  ‘Used to be?’

  ‘He defected to UKIP about six months ago on the issue of immigration. He thinks its gone way too far’.

  ‘Jonathan, let’s get away from politics. Otherwise we won’t get through another drink and it’s your round’.

  ‘I bought the last one’

  ‘I know. You’re such an old-fashioned gentleman’.

  Jonathan came back from the bar with the drinks and said ‘I really hope you haven’t got me all wrong, Rebecca’.

  ‘So do I’ said Rebecca who thought he was as sexy as fuck and wanted him there and then. ‘I don’t want anything serious, Jonathan’.

  Jonathan paused in that way men do when they think they’ve been given a green light. ‘Who mentioned anything serious?’

  ‘Drink up’.

  Rebecca asked Jonathan back to her place and happily discovered that he was a formidable lover who had more than a few ways to pleasure her. Jonathan loved licking out a woman especially after he’d been in there w
ith his cock. The tastes that were unleashed reminded him that he could never do without sex. He wondered if his Dad ever did this to his Mum. His Mum would no doubt think his Dad was disgusting for even suggesting it. He licked and kissed his way up Rebecca’s body, stopping to suck on each of her breasts before turning over and lying beside her. She’d been quick with her orgasm when they fucked and now, as her straight hair fell against his shoulders, he lit a couple of the strong continental cigarettes he liked so much and handed one to her. She took a long, deep drag.

  ‘If you’d have told me this morning when I came into work that I would be having that kind of sex with you before the day was out then I’d have laughed my head off’ said Rebecca who was feeling on top of the bloody world for the first time in weeks.

  ‘It was inevitable it was going to happen from that first moment we met in the office’.

  ‘But you didn’t know anything about me then?’

  ‘I knew you were giving me a hard-on’.

  Rebecca laughed out loud. ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Yeah’ said Jonathan as he shifted his bum in the bed.

  ‘But you didn’t know anything about me. I might’ve been happily married’.

  ‘That didn’t stop me from having it away with the bride at a wedding’.

  Rebecca’s jaw dropped. ‘You dirty bastard’.

  ‘And her mother’.

  ‘You are joking’.

  ‘No, straight up’.

  ‘Well yes I know all about that with you’ said Rebecca. ‘In fact, I can see you’re getting it on again, aren’t you?’

  ‘Why don’t you slip your hand down there and find out?’

  Rebecca slipped her hand under the duvet and sure enough Jonathan was getting another whopper of an erection. She wrapped her fingers lightly round it and stroked it gently.

  ‘I’m not much of a mystery man, Rebecca’.

  ‘Not much?’

  ‘Every gentleman keeps some things secret just like every lady’.

  ‘After the sex we’ve just had I don’t think there’s much about me you don’t know’.

  ‘I know that you’ve got beautifully shaped breasts that are just the right size for my hands’ said Jonathan as he caressed her breasts with his free hand. He then fingered his way down her body and penetrated her with his finger and started massaging around. ‘I know that you’re very accommodating down here’.

  Rebecca arched her back and gasped. He’d found the place again just like he’d done before and his finger would be wet through when he brought it out.

  ‘God, that feels good’ said Rebecca, her head back.

  Jonathan began to kiss her breasts and then bite on her erect nipples. She could feel his erection against the top of her leg and she wanted him inside her again. Jonathan brought his finger out and licked it dry as she watched. Then he gently parted her legs and was taking her again.

  ‘You’re a dirty job but somebody’s got to do you’ said Jonathan as he went into the rhythm.

  ‘I’ll bet there’s a lot of dirt on you, Jonathan’ she blurted out between gasps. She wrapped her arms round his neck and then slid her hands go down into the small of his back where she urged him in deeper.

  ‘Me? The only dirt you’ll find on me, sweetheart, are the stains I make on your sheets’.

  By the time they’d finished the second time Rebecca had lost track of whatever the time was. But somehow she didn’t care. It had taken Jonathan to walk into her life and sweep her off her feet to make her admit to herself that her feelings for Jeff Barton were complicated.

  ‘I should never have let this happen, Jonathan’.

  ‘What have you got to be guilty about?’

  ‘Oh nothing. I was just thinking’.

  ‘Don’t think. People do too much bloody thinking. Just do is what I say. It felt right to have sex with you and I’m so glad we did. But some people would’ve still been thinking about it. You know?’

  ‘I know’.

  ‘I’ve never seen the point’ said Jonathan. ‘I’m not very English in that way’.

  ‘No, you’re not very English at all’ said Rebecca. She ran the back of her hand through the hairs on Jonathan’s chest. ‘You are so open, Jonathan. That’s one of the things I really like about you’.

  ‘One of the things?’

  ‘Well okay, that and your big cock’.

  ‘Yeah, he’s not a bad size, I’ll grant you that’.

  ‘I shouldn’t be laughing like this as if I haven’t got a care in the world’.

  ‘That’s because right at this minute you haven’t’.

  ‘Right at this minute?’

  ‘Well I’m aware I’m a poor substitute for the boss’.

  Rebecca sat upright. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘It’s not only women who are perceptive’ said Jonathan. ‘The whole station know there’s something unspoken going on between you and Jeff Barton. To be honest they all wish the two of you would just get on with it’.

  Rebecca was mortified to think that everybody had been talking about her and Jeff when there was no her and Jeff to talk about. ‘Everybody knows?’

  ‘Pretty much’.

  ‘So what was this all about?’

  ‘Well seeing as I didn’t exactly have to drag you here kicking and screaming then why don’t you tell me what it’s all about?’

  ‘A diversion?’

  ‘Yes, we’re adults, Rebecca and we’ve had fantastic fun. A fun diversion with no strings’.

  ‘It doesn’t bother you that I might have feelings for someone else?’

  Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. ‘It didn’t bother me when I was fucking a bride and an hour later her mother when their respective husbands were at the bar’.

  ‘A bride on her wedding day? That’s low, Jonathan’.

  ‘Lower than doing it with her mother do you think?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ll have to ponder that one’.

  ‘Well don’t ponder too much. Too much pondering and thinking is very bad for the spontaneity in the soul’.

  ‘Oh I’ve been played good and proper’.

  ‘Yes you have’ said Jonathan. ‘But not by me. I mean, who do you think has been spreading it around the station that you and the boss have got the hots for each other?’

  ‘Tell me?’

  ‘DC Ollie Wright’.

  ‘Ollie?’

  ‘Oh yes’.

  ‘I don’t believe it’ said Rebecca. ‘Ollie is the last person I would think of as a gossip’.

  ‘Well I’ve only been there five minutes and I can see right through him’ said Jonathan. ‘He’s been putting it around about you and the boss’.

  ‘I can’t believe it. Ollie?’

  ‘It’s what those bitter and twisted Queen types do’.

  ‘Now you’ve lost me again?’

  ‘Is that something else you didn’t know? Rebecca, Ollie is gay. He’s probably hot for Barton which is why he decided to spread his poison. He’s jealous of you’.

  ‘Well now you are being ridiculous’.

  ‘Am I?’

  ‘I don’t mean about Ollie being gay because I couldn’t care less about that’ said Rebecca. ‘But I would never take him for the nasty vicious Queen that you’re making him out to be’.

  ‘’Rebecca, all I can tell you is that he’s given me nothing but a hard time since I started’ said Jonathan. ‘He more or less accused me of trying to steal his wallet the other day’.

  ‘You’re not serious?’

  ‘Oh yes I am and it’s true what they say. You sometimes don’t really know those closest to you’.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to do this, Tina’ said Paula Jones, the supermarket manageress.

  ‘So that means that I’m not going to like it’.

  ‘Tina, I have to put the interests of the store and the company before anything. That’s the only way I can protect all the staff and our customers. Do you understand?’

  ‘No’ said Tina who was res
enting being held on the Welsh dragon’s carpet. After all she’d already been through the last thing she needed was this.

  ‘Your presence here may be disturbing for our customers’ said Paula, trying to reason. ‘Surely you can see that?’

  ‘No, I can’t’ Tina countered. ‘The responsibility for what happened lies solely with whoever did kill James Clifton and that wasn’t me’.

  ‘Well I’m suspending you pending further investigations. I’ll be writing to you later today to make the decision formal’.

  ‘No way! On what grounds are you suspending me?’

  ‘For bringing the store into disrepute’.

  ‘That’s crap and you know it!’

  ‘Could I ask you not to use bad language, please’.

  ‘Oh well, sorry if I offend but I’m fighting my corner here against a prison cell and I’m just not going to let you put me in that position’.

  ‘You don’t have any choice, Tina. My decision has been approved by head office and is final’.

  ‘Because you and head office have decided I’m guilty? What happened to innocent until proven guilty, eh? Or have you and head office decided to write your own laws?’

  ‘I’m very sorry you see it that way’.

  ‘Well that’s what it comes down to’ said Tina. ‘And you know it’.

  The door to the office opened and Andrea Kay came in.

  ‘Andrea, it is not appropriate for you to walk into my office like that and in these circumstances’.

  ‘Oh yes it is’ said Andrea, firmly. ‘I’m the union shop steward for this branch and Tina is one of my members. You shouldn’t have even been talking to her officially without consulting me first’.

  ‘Oh I’m sorry but I thought that as the manager I was running the store’.

  ‘You haven’t followed correct procedure in terms of industrial relations but we’ll deal with that later’ said Andrea who knew she’d got the Welsh bitch and from the look on her face so did the Welsh bitch. ‘But let’s deal with this first’.

  ‘I’m suspending Tina for bringing the store into disrepute’.

  ‘Well I’m sorry you’ve taken such a reckless decision because you will have to reverse it now’.