How to Catch Butterflies (3 page)

Lucy was gorgeous looking with a strong personality which opened many doors to this amazing social life..... She was a social butterfly; if she wasn’t out at some concert with backstage passes, she would be out regardless at some event or other. Yes life was great for Lucy.

She was a strong independent woman, who enjoyed the trapping of working hard; she had an amazing loft apartment in a converted red bricked factory overlooking the River Thames in Hammersmith, West London.

The main living areas was open planned. She had a huge oversized velvet couch which suited the room perfectly, coffee table, sideboard and other furniture. Her dining room table and chairs was bespoke as one of her artisan friends made it for her as a housewarming gift.

The kitchen was again open plan; it had stainless steel counters on handmade walnut units and divided the room as so to speak was enormous it was one of the many features she loved.

There was also a guestroom, and a bathroom. Her master suite was upstairs on a mezzanine level with its own on-suite. Lucy loved her place; she had bought it before the building work had finished off the plans.

People at the time had said she was mad tying herself down with the heavy responsibility of a mortgage at a young age. But Lucy had a great head on her shoulders and saw the potential in the property. She was clever enough to know that if, and when she did sell, she would have at the least doubled her profit. But either way she loved her place, it was home for her.

It was in an ideal location, close to work and easy to get home to, from where ever she had been out. It was so central for everything.

And for the last six months, Lucy had been seeing the dazzling fantastic ‘George De Vere’. It was on her way home from him when she had received that horrifying call from Rebecca.

* * * *

Lucy had only just stepped out of the car when her phone rang. She was surprised to see it was Rebecca as they’d had only spoken earlier that evening. She had heard Rebecca’s screams of; “
Lucy Help me please”
and the awful commotion that followed leading to the line eventually going dead...

Without hesitation, she spun round towards the car that she moments ago had only just got out of. She frantically tapped the front passenger window, trying to get the chauffeurs attention and she jumped back into the vehicle. Once she was seated safely, the car sped away.

Her phone still in her hand, she dialed 999. The called connected, Lucy breathed out slowly feeling the panic in her rise. She composed herself and spoke in a cool, calm manner, steadily explaining the urgency of the situation, and what she had just heard. She gave the person she was speaking to, Rebecca’s address.

Before she knew it they were there, the road was lit up with blue flashing lights. At first it freaked her out for a second, until she remembered; it was her that had actually called the Police.

The chauffer had hardly pulled up behind one of the three parked police vehicles when Lucy had leapt out of the car. She flung open the gate to the property yelling Rebecca’s name as she pushed past the officer at the front door.

The chauffer didn’t think twice, and before he knew it he was following Lucy. He had heard the call she had made and was alarmed at the number of Police vehicles they were met with due to the blaze of blue flashes it was an eerie scene.

But that was nothing to the situation Lucy saw upon gaining entry to the flat after she was questioned about who she was, and why she was here. As she pushed past the officer giving him a mouthful of abuse.

The Main entrance door, hanging from only one hinge it was leaning inwards at a very awkward angle, which meant you had to sort of duck and dive to get in.

When she entered, she was taken aback at the scene of dismay that lay in front of her. Shards of what looked like broken glass and crockery everywhere and she meant everywhere. There was even some embedded into the walls, the polished floors everything that could be smashed was.

It looked like a scene from a natural disaster that you would see on the news. ‘
And one guy did this’
she thought.

A Police officer walked from the kitchen stating ‘
it was like this in every room, the boyfriend had obviously gone on some bender to do this
’ shaking his head in disbelief.

She could hear sobbing; Lucy’s eyes were then adverted to a corner in the room from where she had heard the sobbing coming from.

There was Rebecca, sat on the floor amid this chaos cradling her blooded self. Two of the six officers who were in the flat approached Lucy.

“Look we need to know if this is the boyfriend” and a torn photograph was shown to her. Lucy noticed the other half lying crumpled, thrown on the floor, much like its human counterpart.

“Yes that’s the shithead” said Lucy...

”Ah” said the officer shaking his head side to side “I don’t really want to approach the young lady just yet. We’ve had two calls, with regards to this particular Domestic Disturbance”. He looked over at the door hanging by its hinge.

“We needed to break the doors down to gain entry; we could hear her screams from outside”.

Lucy’s face had turned ashen, her eyes wincing, her body recoiling, as she listened in horror.

“He must have hot tailed out the back and through the gardens when he heard us coming through the main door. We were only here a few minutes before you arrived”. His head now averted back at Rebecca’s direction. Lucy nodded her head as the officer continued to speak “We really do need to I.D. this guy” he said looking around at the carnage of mess. The torn crumpled picture was still in his hand.

“Yes,” said Rebecca through sobs “that’s him in the picture; he’s actually wearing the very same clothes”.

The officer nodded, clutching the photo in one hand and his radio in the other and proceeded into the kitchen giving a full description of David.

What seemed like hours, when in fact it was only ten minutes later. The police radio’s all bleeped in unison which startled everyone. The officer who still had David’s photo in his hand, returned back into the Living room, declaring that the suspect had been apprehended. David was being brought to the station, to be charged and would be spending the night in the cell.

Out of the two, it was Lucy that had looked up at hearing the news about David’s arrest. It was then she made eye contact with the officer, giving him the opportunity to speak directly to her.

She was cradling a still sobbing Rebecca, telling her over and over again that “it was going to be okay, it’s okay, I’m here darling, I’m here” as she brushed the blooded hair off Rebecca’s face. .

“Sorry Miss to disturb you. But we do need the young lady to make a statement but firstly she
does
need medical attention. We have a Doctor on site at the station, and they can decide if she needs to go to hospital for further treatment”. He bent down squatting as he spoke to her; he continued to speak to them.

”It could save a long and hopefully unnecessary wait at a hospital” he explained with a kind expression, Lucy nodded, she was so grateful at the empathy and tact that was shown by all the officers involved. She nodded again acknowledging what he had said, trying gently to get Rebecca to her feet, and ready for the few minutes journey to the station.

Rebecca was in a
now
bloodstained and slightly ripped nightshirt. She looked around for Rebecca’s coat, eventually finding it. Wrapping it over her poor friend’s shoulders and sitting her down on the sofa.

“I’m going upstairs to get you some clothes Bec. I’ll only be a minute okay”. She looked at her friend and flew up the stairs to the bedroom.

For her everything was a blur ...
God knows what it must have been like for poor Rebecca?

She was thankful John, the chauffer, had waited for them when they had finished at the station. She had thanked him for doing so when he had driven them back to her apartment.

Now she was home safe with her. She had bathed Rebecca to wash the blood off her and out of her hair. She helped Rebecca into bed, snuggling up beside her, trying to comfort her heartbroken friend.

She was grateful it was Saturday night well Sunday morning really, her heart filling with compassion for her friend. Rebecca cried herself to sleep; that was also hard to hear. The only comfort for now in knowing at least they didn’t have to get up for work the next day.

As she lay there restless, all she could do was think and her mind went in to overdrive.

She had known things were bad between them, she knew this wasn’t David’s first time hitting Rebecca. Rebecca had confessed this to her friend only last month when Lucy had called round when he was out. Rebecca had told her after a couple of glasses of wine too many. She could feel the anger rise in her as Rebecca spoke

“Oh but he was very sorry and promised her he’d never do it again.

What angered Lucy was Rebecca had actually believed him. That night she had so wanted to tell her friend exactly what she thought of the shithead.

But Rebecca was in love and that wasn’t a good idea. She had tried that many years ago, when Rebecca had first met David. She had seen David cheating, she confronted David, and he of course denied it.

He had told her,
she would be gone before him and he would make sure of it.
Rebecca was his now
.

She told Rebecca what she had seen and Rebecca had stupidly believed him. He had turned her into an old maid before her time which Lucy thought was a shitty thing to do such a pretty girl with so much going for her.

Her mind flashed back to the Medical unit housed within the police station.

Rebecca was being photographed for evidence. The swollen cuts and bruises on her still pretty face were photographed from different angles. They used a ruler like instrument which measured the area’s affected. Lucy thought it down right degrading, but unfortunately completely necessary. It was photographic evidence.

David had hit her hard, hard enough, that the red marks were now turning black and blue for the camera. Rebecca lifted her shirt up, exposing her bruised ribs and stomach. Poor Rebecca stood there in her knickers and bra as each and every one was noted for the records.
“And how did this one happen?
” she was asked again and again as the camera clicked.

Lucy thought she would be sick. It was an awful sight to witness. Thankfully it was only bruising, there were no breaks considering Rebecca’s tiny frame against the muscular Karate freak David.

She held Rebecca’s hand as she gave her statement of the night’s events. What time he went out. What time he returned. The state he was in. How it started. Rebecca squeezed her hand as she explained. It was gut wrenching hearing how he had picked her up slamming her into the floor, while he punched and kicked her as she lay in a ball. As she spoke Lucy looked up to stop the tears popping out of her eyes. It was heart breaking to hear never mind having to endure it.