Sorcerer

by Menon, David

  Jenny shook her head and smiled. ‘You are shameless’.

  ‘Mum, I’m getting married to a man I love very much but I’m not dead to the sight of some eye candy’.

  Jenny didn’t quite know what to say to that. Her marriage to Gabby’s father had felt like one year folding into the next one and the next one. She wasn’t in love with Ed anymore. She didn’t know if she ever had been or if he’d ever been in love with her. They weren’t even comfortable with each other. They were distinctly uncomfortable at times and that could make time pass so slowly when they were at home together, especially since Gabby had flown the nest to move in with her fiancé Owen. They should’ve had more children but they hadn’t. They’d been putting off the inevitable for almost all of their twenty years of marriage and Jenny had learned to fill the gaps with going to the gym and making curtains.

  ‘You are sure about everything, aren’t you love?’

  ‘About marrying Owen, you mean?’

  ‘Yes’.

  ‘Of course I’m sure, Mum. Why are you asking me that?’

  ‘But you’re a pretty girl, Gabby, and you’re young’.

  ‘Where’s all this coming from?’ asked Gabby before cutting into her order of raisin toast with scrambled eggs.

  ‘I just don’t want you to wake up in ten years time and wish you’d had more freedom before settling down’.

  ‘I thought you liked Owen?’

  ‘I do, love, I do. I like him a lot, you know I do. But he’s not my concern. You are’.

  ‘And are we talking about me or you here?’

  Jenny’s response to her daughter’s direct accusation was momentarily paused when Cameron brought Jenny her replacement sandwich. She closed her eyes slowly to fight back the tears. What this was really all about was money. The bills for Gabby’s wedding had to be paid in two weeks time and Jenny didn’t know how she and Ed were going to do it. Jenny’s parents were both dead and had never had much money anyway. She didn’t earn much as a doctor’s receptionist. She’d never be able to borrow what was needed. It looked like her only option would be to ask Ed’s mother who lived in Spain. She’d helped them out before although Ed didn’t know. He’d have been furious if he had have found out. He’d never got on with his mother for as long as Jenny had known him.

  ‘That’s not a question a daughter should ask her mother, Gabby’.

  ‘Mum, I know what it’s like between you and Dad and you’re both still young’.

  ‘I see’.

  ‘Or is it money, Mum? I know the letters that arrive for Dad. I know he’s got financial troubles’.

  ‘He always has had’ said Jenny. ‘That’s nothing new’.

  ‘Mum, do you still love Dad?’

  Jenny breathed in deep and then said ‘I don’t hate him. And it’s not like I can’t stand the sight of him. But I wouldn’t call it love. Not in the way that you and Owen are in love. Not in the way your mate Cameron here crossed the world to be with his girl. There’s something there between your Dad and me but I don’t know what it is’.

  ‘Oh, Mum’ said Gabby as she squeezed her mother’s hand.

  ‘Ah, look, I don’t want to be talking about this now’ said Jenny. ‘I couldn’t be happier for you, Gabby. Owen is a great bloke and I do mean that. I just wanted to make sure that’s all’.

  ‘I know and I am happy, Mum’ said Gabby who’d fallen head over heels in love with Owen the first time she’d met him. She’d broken her ankle and Owen had been the casualty nurse who’d attended to her. ‘I just wish you and Dad were too’.

  Jeff went to see Chief Superintendent Ian Hayward at the earliest opportunity. It was all he needed this morning. His son Toby had started wetting the bed again and at four o’clock this morning he’d been loading the washing machine with the wet sheets before trying to get a very distressed little five year old back to sleep. Toby had ended up sleeping in Jeff’s bed.

  ‘Sir, something’s come up in the investigation that I need to talk to you about’.

  ‘Like what, Jeff?’ Hayward asked amiably although he had a good idea what Jeff needed to speak to him about. He’d been haunted by it for twenty years and as soon as the human remains had been found at Pembroke House he’d known that it would only be a matter of time.

  ‘Sir, do you remember a young man called Ronnie Wiseman?’

  Hayward swallowed and then cleared his throat. ‘No’ he answered. ‘Should I?’

  ‘You might’ve forgotten because it was a long time ago’ said Jeff who was convinced that Hayward was lying to him already. The body language was loud and clear. ‘He was a resident at the Pembroke House care home for boys back when you were a constable and it was on your beat. In a television programme he says he made a complaint to a police officer about having been physically and sexually abused at the home but he wasn’t allowed at that time to mention the officer’s name. The force took out an injunction against the name of the officer being revealed but we’ve found out that it was you’.

  ‘I don’t know what you expect me to say?’

  ‘I don’t expect you to say anything, sir. I’m just asking as part of the investigation because you see, we can’t find any record of Wiseman’s complaint ever having been recorded. Now we have found evidence in a dungeon-style basement area of the home that suggests that ritual, sadistic abuse took place there and we want to get to the bottom of it’.

  ‘Well it’s news to me, Jeff’.

  ‘So you wouldn’t know why that injunction had been taken out?’

  ‘Detective Superintendent Barton, I’m not aware of any television programme or any injunction’.

  ‘So would you also say that Wiseman is lying, sir?’

  ‘It’s hard to give a definitive answer to that without having the full facts to consult’.

  ‘I can make sure you have them, sir, and then perhaps we can talk again?’

  Hayward regarded Jeff shrewdly. Of all the investigating officers under his command it would have to be Jeff Barton who’d been given a key into his past. He wouldn’t give up until he was satisfied he’d got to the truth. But Hayward couldn’t tell him anything without landing himself right in it up to his neck and further and there were others to consult before he could do that.

  ‘Well if there’s anything I can recall from all that time ago then I’ll be sure to tell you, Jeff’ said Hayward. ‘How is the investigation going, by the way?’

  ‘Slowly, sir’ Jeff replied. He was annoyed at having been fobbed off by his senior officer. What the Hell was Hayward hiding? They’d known each other a long time and there’d never been any whiff of scandal surrounding Hayward. ‘We’re looking at the staff records and at the record of residents. Sir, do you know someone called George Griffin?’

  ‘George Griffin?’ said Hayward. He spun the name round his consciousness until he could think of a convincing lie to disassociate himself from Griffin. He couldn’t think of one so he went for the basic. ‘No. Again, should I?’

  ‘He was manager of the care home when you were a beat officer, sir’

  ‘Well as you said it was a long time ago’ said Hayward who then shifted a little in his chair. ‘I can’t be expected to recall off the top of my head everyone on my beat at that time’.

  You lying bastard, thought Jeff. ‘My team need to speak to him because he was the manager at the time we estimate the victims to have died and he could provide us with vital evidence. Not to mention the allegations made by Ronnie Wiseman’. He decided to fire a warning shot across Hayward’s bows. ‘We want answers, sir, and we will get them’.

  ‘I’ve no doubt given your previous record’ said Hayward a little sharply.

  Jeff then took the photograph of the toddler that had been found at Pembroke out of his pocket and handed it to the Superintendent.

  ‘Do you recognize this child, sir? The photograph was found amongst a pile of empty video cassette cases at Pembroke’.

  Jeff watched Hayward’s face contorting, not dramatically,
but just enough for him to be able to notice. Hayward recognized the child alright. Jeff watched him rub his hand over his mouth and try desperately to think of a form of words to add to the already established pattern of denial.

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘No’ said Hayward. He handed him the photograph back. ‘I don’t recognize him’.

  ‘Are you sure, sir?’

  ‘Jeff, what are you implying?’

  ‘I’m not implying anything, sir. I’m just doing my job’.

  ‘Well I’m afraid I have to leave now’ said Hayward. He stood up. ‘I’m due for a meeting with the chief constable so if you’ll excuse me’.

  Jeff was bristling with anger as he made for the door but then Hayward stopped him.

  ‘How are things, Jeff?’ he asked. ‘On a personal basis I mean? I know it’s getting on for a year since Lillie Mae died. I just wondered how you and little Toby were doing?’

  ‘We’ll get there, sir’ Jeff answered, unsure of where this was going. Why the sudden, deliberate shift to the personal? ‘It isn’t easy but we’ll get there’.

  ‘You must miss Lillie Mae very much’.

  ‘Well of course I do, sir’ said Jeff. What a stupid fucking question that was. ‘There’s a part of me that always will’.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll find happiness again, Jeff’.

  ‘Well that’s as may be, sir, but my priority at the moment is to make sure Toby feels secure and isn’t scared that I’m going to suddenly leave his life like his Mum did’.

  ‘I’m sure you’re doing a great job of that’ said Hayward. ‘Although it isn’t easy for us men to take over the nurturing, emotional role with children that women are so good at’.

  ‘Oh I disagree, sir’ said Jeff, firmly. He was highly sensitive to the still widely accepted view that women cope better as single parents than men do. ‘You just have to man up and use some emotional intelligence. That’s all it requires’.

  SORCERER THREE

  Jenny Lake was preparing a chilli with jacket potatoes and salad for dinner when her husband Ed came in.

  ‘You’ll stir a hole into the bottom of that pan’ said Ed as he watched Jenny staring into the pot of chilli like it contained some kind of secret.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You looked like you were miles away’.

  ‘I was’. She looked at him. He seemed restless. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

  ‘I’ve just been talking to the police’ said Ed. He sat down at the table and rubbed his face in his hands. ‘They came down to the sorting office just after I’d finished my round. They want to speak to George. They asked me all kinds of questions about him’.

  ‘And what did you tell them about your dear old step-father?’

  ‘I answered their questions’ said Ed, even though he hadn’t told the police anything that he really should tell them. ‘They will want to speak to you too. They’ll probably try and contact you tomorrow’.

  ‘I don’t know what I can tell them about anything’.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll think of something’.

  ‘Ed, are you ever going to tell me what all the animosity is about between you and George? I mean, you and I have been married twenty years and it’s always been the same’

  ‘I wouldn’t call it animosity’ said Ed. ‘I’d call it pure hatred’.

  ‘Somebody called Ronnie Wiseman is accusing him of all sorts of horrible things’ said Jenny. ‘It’s probably only for attention. His sort are like that’.

  ‘And what would you know about his sort, Jenny?’

  ‘You’ve only got to look at the picture of him in the paper’.

  ‘And from that you know all about him and his life, do you?’

  ‘No, but I know George and I know that he would never be capable of doing the kind of dreadful things that Ronnie Wiseman has accused him of’.

  ‘Then you carry on thinking you know it all because believe me Jenny, you know absolutely nothing’.

  ‘Then you tell me, Ed’.

  ‘I can’t be bothered’.

  ‘You never can be, Ed. That’s the trouble’.

  Jenny dished up and placed the dinner down on the table. They’d lived in the same semi-detached in Chorlton since Gabby was a baby but over the years Ed had used up all the equity for loans secured on the property. Ed was adopting his usual head-in-the-sand attitude towards the latest financial crisis involving paying for Gabby’s wedding. But Jenny knew that they had to get real about it. Their only option was to ask Ed’s mother for the money to pay for Gabby’s wedding and she would have to make Ed see that. He’d have to swallow his pride for the sake of their daughter. Jenny didn’t know what to think anymore. They were both young. They’d kept their looks and their shape, although that was easier for Ed considering all the walking he had to do in his job as a postman. They’d both turned forty last year and celebrated with a holiday in Turkey that had made a lasting impression on their credit cards in as much as they still hadn’t made much of a dint in paying them off. But they’d had a good time. They’d actually laughed on that holiday for the first time in years and Jenny had been reminded why she’d fallen in love with Ed in the first place. She still had a strong physical attraction for him. But the rest of the relationship was like being in the wilderness without Jesus.

  ‘Ed, we need to talk’ said Jenny.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about George’.

  ‘Not about him. I want to talk about us. I want to talk about the state of our marriage, Ed’.

  Ed looked up to the heavens. ‘Ah, not this again. Every morning I get up at four o’clock to go and earn a crust and every evening I have this crap to deal with in one form or another and I’m getting just a little bit sick and tired of it. Am I not under enough pressure? I really could do without this’.

  ‘Ed, are you happy to carry on like this for the rest of our lives?’

  ‘Sounds like you’re not’ he answered.

  ‘Well can you blame me? Ed, we’re old before our time’

  ‘Sorry. I didn’t realize I’d screwed your life up to that extent’.

  ‘Oh don’t be like that’.

  ‘Like what? You’re the one who’s saying how unhappy you are’.

  ‘Only because I’m the only one who’s got the guts to face up to anything!’

  ‘Well don’t mince your words to save my feelings. I wouldn’t want you to do that’.

  ‘We need to sort ourselves out, Ed’ said Jenny. ‘I’m exhausted with it all’.

  ‘Well won’t this make for a happy family atmosphere at Gabby’s wedding? We get to trash the happiest day of her life by telling her that her parents are filing for divorce’.

  ‘Was it the happiest day of your life when we got married, Ed?’

  ‘What kind of a bloody question is that?’

  ‘One that I need an answer to!’

  ‘We had to get married’ said Ed, flatly. ‘You were pregnant with our Gabby’.

  ‘Oh well he finally speaks the truth!’

  ‘Jenny, I didn’t mean what you think I meant’.

  ‘Then what did you mean? Oh don’t bother because I’m not interested anymore’.

  ‘So divorce is what you want?’

  ‘Yes, no, I don’t know. Let’s eat and we can talk later’.

  Dinner was eaten in almost complete silence except for the sound of heavy rain falling outside. Ed was thinking about George and the police enquiry that had opened up. He opened a bottle of red wine. Jenny had one glass and Ed drank the rest. Once he’d finished playing about with his food he stood up and took his plate over to the sink.

  ‘Not taking mine as well then?’ Jenny asked irritably. Ed had a habit of clearing away his own dishes and leaving hers. It drove her crazy.

  ‘I didn’t know … I didn’t know if you’d finished or not’.

  ‘Try asking me next time!’ she snapped. ‘It’s called conversation’.

  Ed leaned forward against the kitchen sink. ‘Look, I’m sorry’
.

  ‘You’re sorry?’ Jenny snarled. ‘Don’t bloody well insult me’.

  ‘Well what do you expect me to say?’

  ‘Something that might make me believe in you, Ed’ said Jenny. ‘Something that might make me believe in this sham of a marriage’.

  ‘It’s not a sham!’

  ‘Try and say that from where I’m standing! We haven’t done anything but argue for months. You never touch me or come anywhere near me and when we do have sex you’re so unenthusiastic I feel like I’m raping you’.

  ‘Don’t be so bloody ridiculous’.

  ‘I’m only forty-one, Ed. So are you. We’re both young enough to start again’.

  ‘You don’t mess around when there’s a husband to be kicked in the bollocks’.

  ‘Don’t you even try and make this my fault! I’ve done everything I can and more to hold this marriage together’.

  ‘I don’t know what to say, Jenny’.

  ‘I loved you, Ed’ Jenny declared tearfully. ‘I loved you with everything I had and I’ve paid a high price for it’.

  ‘What about Gabby?’

  ‘And the wedding we can’t pay for? I’ll be ringing your mother about that’.

  ‘You will not ring my mother!’

  ‘Ed, your mother is the only one in this family who can pay for Gabby’s wedding and I’m ringing her first thing in the morning’.

  ‘If you do it really will be the end of us’.

  ‘There is no us, Ed. I feel sorry for you. You’ve been so obsessed with hating your mother and step-father all these years that you’ve really lost it’.

  ‘You don’t know either of them like I do’.

  ‘But I know you and I know how difficult you are. Now can we agree to keep things cordial for Gabby’s wedding?’

  ‘I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Gabby, you know that’.

  ‘Yes, I know’ said Jenny. ‘But after the wedding are you going to put up a fight for me? Or has everything I’ve done to save this marriage over the years amounted to nothing?’

  Jeff and Rebecca were on their way to interview Ronnie Wiseman.