Chapter 24: And Having Writ Moves on

1130hrs. Friday 12^th April 2019. Thurston Hall

DAY 12

It was well past eleven by the time I returned to the CID room. DI Warren was at her desk and waved for me to come into her office.

“Did everything go as per PACE with Madam Donizetti?” She asked.

PACE refers to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984, which governs the behaviour of the police in every interaction with civilians when arresting and charging suspects and in collecting evidence.

“Yes, Ma’am. Her brief was sat alongside her as she gave her statement and never made an objection or even interrupted.”

“That must have been a first. I believe her solicitors are Sue, Grabbe, and Leggate.” She laughed, and her body blossomed with her mirth. Whatever Bruno was giving Fliss Warren it was obviously making her exceedingly happy. She laughed, she smiled, and exuded sex appeal and was a completely different female to the one encountered when I first arrived at Thurston Hall.

“Missus Donizetti has yet to be interviewed by the NCA and is...”

“I think, when we are tête-à-tête, like now, you can call me Fliss, AJ,” She said, and smiled as sexy a smile as I’d seen, other than on Molly Miller of course.

“Well, thank you, ma – err, Fliss. As I was saying Donizetti will be released on police bail after being interviewed by the NCA, who should be here,” I glanced at my watch, “in under an hour.”

“Yes, I knew your friend from the NCA is arriving this morning, which is why I sent Bruno to take over the suspected break-in at Marley Manor. I know your team are dealing with it but as you won’t be available for at least three days – time off in lieu of overtime worked – I thought it best Bruno do the honours.” She couldn’t help smiling every time she mentioned Bruno’s name. She had got it bad. Well done Bruno, and obviously a well done Fliss Warren. Her mobile rang and she glanced at the screen and a huge smile enveloped her face.

“Will you excuse me, AJ? I need to answer this.”

I nodded and made for the door; she waited until I was out of earshot before answering the call. By her smile and the way she leaned into the phone, I knew Bruno was on the other end. I thought of how I felt when seeing or hearing Molly and smiled to myself; good luck to them both.

I decided to have a copy of Eloise’s interview made for Vince. He would then know how far he could push her to open up about the smuggling gangs if he had her full confession. I walked into forensics and saw Tommy Atkins leaning on his desk staring vacantly into space with a dreamy look on his face. He started when I approached him.

“Yes, Sergeant, can I help you?”

I held up my new smartphone. “Can you take a recording off this and stick it on a flash drive, Tommy?”

He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a lead. He plugged one end into the smartphone and the other end into his PC and then slotted in a USB. He did some geeky things with the keypad and seconds later handed me the USB.

“There you are, Sergeant.”

I thanked him and he returned to staring into space.

“A penny for them, Tommy.”

He started. “Sorry?”

“You seem to be in a bit of a daydream.”

“Yes, I am in something of a dilemma. Doctor Devereaux has...”

“You’re in contact with Doctor Devereaux?”

“Yes, she said I should keep in touch with her via text as there might be a position for me at AI Research in Palo Alto...”

“And is there?”

“Doctor Devereaux says I would have no problem in being recruited, and in a field of research I would enjoy.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I have a girlfriend but she is unable to accompany me.” He sighed, “Victoria lives with her grandmother and has done for years. Her granny is rather frail now and Victoria doesn’t want to leave her on her own.”

“But Vicky – Victoria – would be quite happy to accompany you to America otherwise?”

He gave a huge smile. “Oh yes. Victoria says I’m the best boyfriend she has ever had.”

“And the feeling is mutual?”

“Yes, and Victoria is the only girlfriend I’ve ever had.”

“You want the penny and the bun?”

“Pardon?”

“You want the job and the girl.”

He nodded vigorously. “That would be the best option but I realise I cannot have both.” He gave another huge sigh. “There will be other jobs, but there is no other girl like Victoria.”

“Have you told Victoria that?”

“No, do you think I should?”

“Yes indeed. It will make her day,” I said, ‘and your night’ I thought to myself. I slapped him on the back. “If you get your priorities right then life becomes a breeze, Tommy.”

He smiled. “I know what you are saying, sergeant, and thank you.”

As I left forensics, I thought I should really do the same as I had advised Tommy and tell Molly how I felt about her.

I made my way to the canteen but before entering the room a sudden blanket of depression enveloped me. The adrenalin generated by Eloise’s capitulation and confession had dissipated, leaving me with a searing feeling of disgust at what she had done.

Eloise was a murderer who had used her autistic brother Ashby as her weapon, and five lives had been taken merely to preserve the reputation of her family firm. The blatant wickedness of the deed appalled me, yet I had connived, conspired in fact, so that Eloise would avoid the full punishment she deserved. I was utterly disgusted with myself for what I had done, and the repugnance and loathing I felt for my action must have been displayed on my face. Molly and Marcel were seated at a table covered in sheets of paper. She looked up as I approached.

“Marcel and I have almost finished with the...” She saw my face, I was near to tears, and alarm showed on hers.

“What on earth is the matter, Joshua?”

Marcel saw the state I was in and got from the table. “If you two need to talk my office is free, Molly.”

Molly nodded to him, took my arm and hurried me behind the servery and into Marcel’s office, where she locked the door. “What has happened, Joshua?”

I burst into tears. I blubbered like a baby and Molly gathered me to her. “Whatever it is, it I’m sure it can’t be as bad as you think, Joshua.” She sat me down on in an easy chair and then sat on my lap, pulling my head to her bosom. My tears fell, wetting her blouse. She unfastened the buttons and freed her breasts from her bra and I nuzzled her teat as I had the night before; for comfort, security, and solace.

I stopped crying, and with my head still resting on her breasts I told her the whole story of Eloise and the murders. She listened in silence, stroking my hair and kissing my brow as I stumbled through the sorry tale and my part in allowing Eloise to evade the punishment she so richly deserved. Eventually, I stopped talking and snuffling. I wiped my eyes, blew my nose, and gathered what was left of my dignity.

“I’m sorry I broke down like that, Molly. I don’t know what came over me. You must think me a snivelling wuss to blub all over you like a fractious child.”

She kissed me tenderly.

“It takes a real man to show his emotions, Joshua. I’m honoured you trust me enough to share your innermost feelings.”

“I bet Denny never blubbered all over you?”

“No, Denny wasn’t strong enough to show his feelings, or at least to show and share them with me. He would get drunk or in fights if something troubled him. You have shared your angst with me and that means more to me than any amount of macho posturing.” She kissed me again. “I feel closer to you now than ever I was with Denny. I had thought he was the ideal man but you are more man than he was. If less is more, then sometimes showing weakness is strength. You feel for those poor murdered girls, and blame yourself that Eloise is not going to face the full measure of the law. But think on, Joshua. Vince is going to use what you got from her to dismantle an evil empire of trafficking and smuggling. Although I agree Eloise Donizetti is an evil bitch, one must admire that she will go to prison rather than see the family business destroyed.”

“Yes, but she will get a reduced sentence because I allowed a fake document to be given as evidence.”

“No, Joshua, think clearly. Had the original blackmail document been placed in evidence the firm would have ceased to exist and Eloise could have been found Not Guilty and literally get away with murder.”

“I don’t see how.”

“All she had to do was blame her brother. He does anything she wants and would confess to the murders even if he hadn’t committed them. She would say she knew nothing of the murders; and you say there is no evidence connecting her to the vans seen in the areas from where the girls were snatched?”

“That’s true but we have established a link between her and Betty Smith.”

“Her barrister would demolish that link in a trice. It was a one night stand via Tinder, and she says Betty was given a lift home by her brother Ashby. And it is a similar tale with Kate Hodge. Eloise says she sent her brother to pick Kate up from Ipswich, but he told Eloise that Kate never showed. If Ashby admits to murdering all the girls no jury is going to find Eloise guilty of anything other than having an autistic brother. She is a skilled manipulator of people and will have a jury eating out of her hand when she comes to give her evidence.”

“Do you think she would get away with the murders and accessory charges even if I had presented the blackmail document as evidence?”

“No doubt about it. But it would have meant the end of the family business so she chose to take jail time rather than see Fowler’s finished.” She got from my lap. “Now let’s go home, and I will show you how much I appreciate you letting me see your feminine side.” She gave me a full-blooded kiss, and it was with some difficulty, and regret, that I broke the embrace.

“Vince Cowan will be arriving shortly. We will have to wait until I have briefed him on the Donizetti Affair.”

“And then we can go home and you can de-brief me,” she said with a sly wink, and stuck her tongue in my ear.

As we left Marcel’s office I heard the unmistakable beat of helicopter blades and looking out of the window in the canteen saw a helicopter in the livery of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) landing on the helipad.

“I’ll come and say hello to Vince, then I’ll go to HR and have a natter with Janice,” Molly said. “Pick me up there when you and Vince have finished talking, and remember, tonight I’m going to shag your brains out.”

We walked hand in hand down the stairway and then out to the helipad. Vince saw us and waved. He first kissed Molly on the cheek and hugged her and he then shook my hand. “I see you two have got your act together at last,” he said.

Molly and I looked at each other and smiled. “Yes,” we said in unison.

Vince laughed. “I couldn’t think of two nicer people to be together.”

Molly kissed him warmly and then kissed me even more warmly.

“I’ll be with Janice when you’re ready to go home, Joshua,” she said. Vince and I admired her derriere as Molly swayed away to the HR department.

“That is one wonderful woman you have got yourself, Dolihaye,” Vince said.

“I know.” Then, like a pair of curtains being whipped open to greet the morning sun, it dawned on me that I loved Molly Miller. I loved Molly Miller! I wanted to shout it out aloud but thought it probably better if I told her before telling the rest of the world so instead I gave Vince the USB with Eloise’s confession. “This was obtained illegally but is the reason why Eloise Donizetti is willing to give the NCA all the information she knows concerning trafficking and smuggling gangs. She was really rattled when I revealed I had recorded her, but she might have recovered by now and she is one tough cookie to interview. She will try and seduce you and throw...”

“Did she seduce you, Josh?”

“No, but I was...”

“Well, she won’t seduce me either. We both have good women to go home to, and that trumps a sexy slag every time.”

“Yes, but she plays mind games and will do all she can to reduce her time in prison.”

“That won’t be up to me. I’m just here to listen to what she has to say. She might not know anything worthwhile, and in any case, any reduction in her jail term will depend on how much use her information is. All I am here to do is listen and report back to a higher authority. But I had better hear the recording before I interview the woman.”

He and I found a quiet spot near the reception desk; in fact, it was the same place I had sat while waiting to be escorted to the HR department when I first arrived at Thurston Hall. The magazine with the article listing the delights of Bury St Edmunds was still on the table.

“How come you’re not in an RAF chopper,” I asked Vince as we sat.

“The GMP was sending two high ranking officers to Cambridge and I cadged a lift with them.”

“Cambridge?”

Vince nodded. “They were tight-lipped during the flight but I gathered there’s some sort of jiggery-pokery suspected in the East Anglian Constabulary, and they are attending a meeting with other senior police chiefs and civil servants from the Home Office.”

“That reminds me. Eloise Donizetti knew Fuller and thinks he might have flown to Argentina with an Argie racehorse owner he is mates with.”

“I’ll pass that on to my boss when I get back. Meantime, let’s see what Eloise Donizetti can tell us about smugglers.”

Vince plugged his laptop into a socket and then slotted the USB into the laptop. He had a pair of ear-buds and I saw his face twist in disgust as Eloise told her tale. Half an hour later he pulled the buds from his ears and sat back in his chair.

“She’s a piece of work and no mistake. And you destroyed evidence?”

“All in a good cause, but yes I did, and could end up in a cell alongside her.”

“She had a good plan, and had you not recorded her she would have got away with murder, smuggling and who knows what else. Her brother was going to be the fall guy whichever document was produced, but of course the forgery would have been detected straight away by her defence team. I suppose they won’t challenge the smuggling accusation now she has done a deal?”

“No, Eloise will put her hand up for that to save the family firm from going under.”

“You took quite a chance, Josh. Had Eloise searched you she would have discovered your other mobile and that would have been that, no confession.”

I nodded. “Yes, but it was a chance I had to take. Fortunately, Eloise thought I was so besotted with her she underestimated me.”

“With the original letter destroyed and the other letter dismissed as a forgery Eloise would have got off scot free. She would have put all the blame on her brother and there was not a shred of evidence to link her to the killings. It was a cunning plan of Donizetti’s.”

“Yes, it was well up to Baldrick’s standard,” I grinned, “but most of his plans went tits up!”

Vince laughed and unplugged his laptop. “OK, Josh. I won’t keep you from your hot date any longer than I have to. I’ll go to the custody suite and discover how much Eloise Donizetti knows about the gangs. We may end up having to place her in witness protection as we are pretty sure the little tsar is the main man where these gangs are concerned and he doesn’t allow people who piss him off to live for very long. Just remember Salisbury and Novichok from last year. The beast from the east has a long memory and a longer arm.” Vince shook my hand. “I’ll let you know how useful or whatever Eloise’s information is. Keep in touch and give Molly my love.” We then man hugged, and Vince went to the custody suite downstairs and I went to the HR department on the first floor.

Molly and Janice were alone in the room.

“Where’s Red? “ I asked, “I want to book some time off. I think I have three days owing.”

Janice opened her PC and after some keystrokes got to my overtime details. “We owe you five days, Josh. When do you want them?”

“How about from now, or at least from tomorrow, that will take me up to,” I did a quick count on my fingers, “Thursday of next week.”

Janice booked my leave. “Planning to go anywhere special, Josh?” Janice said as she keyed my details into her computer.

“I aim to make frequent visits to Paradise,” I said and winked at Molly. She blushed and Janice laughed. “Where’s Red?” I asked to spare Molly any more embarrassment, or questions from Janice. “I thought he never had time off.”

“He and Ted Barnaby are in a meeting at the Dreaming Tower of Pissants,” Janice said. “There’s something big going on but I couldn’t get a peep out of Ted of what the meeting is about, which is most unlike him as I can usually persuade him to do anything I want.”

. I remembered Vince’s helicopter had stopped in Cambridge. “Two senior officers from the GMP were on the helicopter with Vince but they disembarked at Cambridge.” I said.

“I knew there are other senior officers from other forces and a senior civil servant from the Home Office at the meeting. The rumour is Druxford is for the chop, but of course he can’t be sacked as he has been elected by Joe Public and Joe Public can’t get rid of him until the next Police Commissioner Elections are held in two years’ time. He will have to retire due to ill health,” Janice explained.

“That means his deputy, ‘Billy No Mates’ Vaughan, will take over,” said Molly. “By all accounts, he is no better than Druxford.”

“We will have to wait and see,” said Janice. “If the Home Office is involved the Privy Council might make an Order of Council and put someone in charge who actually knows what they are doing.”

‘That would be a first,’ I thought to myself.

The girls said goodbye, and then Molly hurried me to her car. She drove home more quickly than usual and I looked over at her in surprise. “Is there somewhere you have to be?”

She shook her head, “No, but there’s somewhere you need to be.”

“Where have I got to be in such a hurry? Is there a meeting of the re-enactment club?” I was rather alarmed at Molly’s behaviour. Usually, she drove with care and consideration but she was now weaving in and out of the traffic and giving a blast on the horn and two fingers as she moved slower drivers out of her way.

“You need to be in my wet and ready cunt,” she said. Molly rarely used bad language and had never referred to her genitalia other than as her quim before now. “I’ve been used to hourly shags for the last few days, but have missed out today and I’m gagging for you. I can hardly wait till I get you home and if there was a layby nearby we would be in it and you would be in up to your bollocks in my sopping, sucking quim!”

I gaped at her. This was a side of Molly I’d not encountered before and I admit it made me as randy as a stoat. I held onto the dashboard as Molly swerved her way along the A14, hoping we wouldn’t be pulled over for speeding or dangerous driving. Fortunately, we didn’t see any patrol cars nor hit any slow-moving vehicles, and eventually, we screeched around a corner into Mill Road and Molly slowed down to the correct speed limit and drove sedately along to Castle Road.

She backed the car up the drive and I looked at her in surprise. Usually she drove nose-first into the driveway, and then only a few yards onto her property as a sycamore tree at the side of her garden dropped pollen, leaves and seeds onto the car if it was parked fully up the drive.

“Why are you backing the car up the drive?”

She stopped under the branches of the tree and switched off the engine.

“I want you to shag me in the car.”

Molly and I had enjoyed several after dark sexual encounters in the Juke, which is a very comfortable car to shag in. I’m surprised the ease and comfort of having sexual congress in the vehicle is not made more of a feature in Nissan’s adverts, but possibly that might contravene the Advertising Standards Authority’s rules.

“Shagging in broad daylight? We’ll be had up for indecent behaviour!” I said. Although Castle Road was a cul de sac there was plenty of pedestrian traffic using the walk- through to and from the Waitrose shopping centre during the day.

“Yes, right here and now,” Molly replied. “And as we are on private property any passer-by who doesn’t like what they see can sod off!” She pulled a lever on the passenger seat and my seat moved back from the dashboard. Molly clambered over from the driver’s seat on top of me. With her knees bracketing my body she released the backrest locking key and the back swung down to the horizontal. She pushed me down, savaging my mouth with hers and at the same time removing her knickers. She then crawled up my body until her knees were either side of my head. I could smell her arousal and felt droplets on my face. She pulled her skirt up over her hips and lowered her herself onto my mouth. My tongue flickered over her delicious quim, tasting her before eating her out She was wet, sopping wet, and her moans and gasping groans as I treated her to the full Ajay’s Mega Magic Muff Munching Experience gave me such a stonking hard-on it was a wonder Molly didn’t levitate off my supine body. It didn’t take long before she convulsed in orgasm. I held onto her hips as she shuddered on my face until collapsing on my body.