Mother Be The Judge (8 page)

"I've had WKD before, that's much nicer, this tastes like piss." she exclaimed.

"Yeah but it gets you pissed." Adrian laughed.

Both Adrian and Savannah sat on the bench alternately swigging from the bottle and talking with each other. Adrian encouraged Savannah to talk of her problems with her family, she had been reluctant at first but the wine gave her courage and soon her sorrows were flowing. Adrian consoled Savannah with his words and ensured she had a good share of the litre bottle of wine. As time wore on Savannah became less hostile towards Adrian's advances which began once again with hair touching, arm touching and moved on to Adrian putting his arms around her to 'keep her warm' in the cold dark allotment.

Adrian brought his face closer to Savannahs. He was so close he could feel her breath on his face, it smelled of the sweet wine she was drinking. He could see her small white teeth twinkling in her mouth as she opened and closed it whilst talking. Adrian was overcome with an urge to kiss Savannah. Mindful of Charmaine's reaction to him grabbing her in the past, he resolved to take his time with Savannah. He was determined that this time he was going to get what he wanted.

Savannah's intoxication made her oblivious to Adrian's advances, she was a naturally tactile person and as she became more comfortable in Adrian's presence she didn't mind him consoling her.

"I really like you Savannah." Adrian whispered.

"Do you know what Adrian?" she slurred, "You're alright too." She knocked back the last dregs of the wine bottle and marvelled at the now empty vessel. "Cor we drunk all of that." she exclaimed.

"You drunk most of it," laughed Adrian.

"Oh," she giggled, "Can you get any more?"

"No."

A melancholy came over Savannah and she sat back, apparently reflecting on her problems. Both sat quiet for a short while and Savannah began to shiver; her body temperature dropping due to the alcohol coursing through her veins.

Adrian put his arm around Savannah once more and she leaned into him, enjoying the warmth his embrace gave her. Without words Adrian lowered his mouth to match Savannah's. She knew he wanted to kiss her and felt that she may like to kiss him as he had been so nice and seemed to understand her so well. Savannah reached for Adrian's mouth with her lips. Adrian became immediately excited at the feel of Savannah on him. He forced his tongue into her mouth, which made her pull back from him. "It's ok, this is what everybody does." He assured her. "It's nice Sav, you're nice."

Savannah shivered and Adrian pulled her closer, he could feel his erection pushing its way through his trousers and his body was starting to take control of the situation. Even though he knew it was wrong he saw his own hands reaching for Savannah's clothing and start to travel towards her immature breasts, still braless under her t-shirt. Adrian did not seem to have any control over what he was doing, it was as if he were looking through a window at a scene playing out in front of him; a type of surreal porn. Adrian watched as he held Savannah down, pinning her arms to the bench. He watched her fall to the ground and to kick out with her legs and then saw himself grab those legs and force them open, pulling at her jeans and knickers, ripping them off with his free hand. Adrian could feel his own hand take his penis from his trousers and then insert it into Savannah's vagina. He became lost in his emotions and in feeling her hotness, holding her by the neck as he had seen happen in the films he had watched online. He could hear only a rushing sound in his ears and was blinded momentarily as he pumped furiously into Savannah's body.

Adrian felt himself come back to his senses after a short while, once again his erection had begun to fail and the emotion which had overtaken him just moments earlier began to dissipate. He looked at Savannah's face which seemed to him to be very peaceful. She wasn't screaming or crying, her eyes were closed and he thought she must be enjoying herself. As he looked closer he saw his hand was still holding Savannah's throat and her two little hands were gripping the sides of his fingers.

Adrian snapped back into his body and mind. He could feel he was whole again and he withdrew himself from the ground where Savannah lay. Looking down at her body now gleaming white, legs naked and twisted against the concrete slab; he called her name. Her eyes remained closed and she did not respond to him. Adrian put his ear to her chest to see if he could hear or feel her breathing then slapped her hard on the face to try to get a response from her. She did not move. Nothing of her moved. She lay cold and still and silent on the floor at Adrian's knees. She was dead, he had killed her.

-x-

Still and silent; everything surrounding Adrian had come to a standstill. Even the wind had stopped its motion through the leaves of the trees surrounding the allotments. Birds which had begun to twitter in the coming morn had stopped their chattering and car engines were no longer audible in the allotment. Adrian viewed Savannah as though at the end of a camera lens; his whole being focused on her lifeless face. From one moment of maddening passion came this cold lifeless angel before him. Adrian thought Savannah really did look like an angel now; it was almost as if death suited her. He spent a moment pondering the beauty of her but could feel truth creeping its way into his bones.

The truth was he had just raped and murdered a young girl. Adrian was surprised at how normal he felt about his situation. Her death did not upset him, he was calmed by it. The only panic he felt was in the being caught and having to go to prison. He had been silly not to plan this better and chided himself for getting caught up in the moment and carrying out his plan; one, at the wrong time and two, on the wrong person. He had been planning Lacey's demise for weeks, hoping the murder would be the edge he had needed to give him the release he required. He was disappointed that that had not happened and believed that he still needed Lacey as he had a real emotional connection with her.

Adrian gave silent thanks for the crime scene games he had played tirelessly since the computer became his. He began to view the scene before him as a chapter of the game he knew so well; DNA, fingerprints, hair samples. He knew he had to get Savannah to running water to clean her up and that he had to dispose of her clothing in case he had left any trace evidence behind. He took one last long look at Savannah, stroking his hardening penis as he did so. He thought he may as well make use of her while he had her. The night was nearly over and he resolved to get to work, he had a lot to do in the next few hours.

'Love is blind.'

William Shakespeare

New Year's Day

06:00 hours

The sound of the front door woke Jocasta from her snoozing. She had not moved from the sofa since she had settled there after seeing in the New Year with Adrian. Jocasta looked at the clock and wondered where Adrian was going so early in the morning.

"Adrian, you're up early, where are you going?" she called out to him.

"Nowhere, I've just been out for a walk. I felt a bit sick after that wine." Adrian called back to her. She looked into the hallway to see Adrian's trouser bottoms were wet up to the knees.

"Have you been jumping in puddles?"

Adrian didn't respond to her question, instead he went into the bathroom and locked the door.

Feeling the empty hunger in her stomach which comes after a night of alcohol, Jocasta got off the sofa and went into the kitchen. She began to make herself some tea and toast. She pulled out the cheap white toaster she had bought many moons ago. Jocasta wondered why the people who made toasters had never made the slots big enough for the slices of bread. She had tested various loaves of differing sized slices and was yet to find a piece which fit the toaster. As she was making the decision between three quarters toast, a quarter raw or turning the toast mid-cook, Adrian came out of the bathroom wrapped in his threadbare towel. He had his dirty clothes in his hand and walked them over to the washing machine.

"Adrian I'll do that." Began Jocasta, she had been waiting for enough clothes to make a load and did not want him ruining her system.

"No I need them for work tomorrow; I'm putting them in now." Adrian stuffed the clothes in the machine and set the dial to its highest temperature.

"That will shrink your clothes." Jocasta exclaimed, but Adrian just ignored her, stomping out of the kitchen and into his bedroom. Although Adrian often confined himself to his room, Jocasta found his behaviour odd; he almost never went out for a walk although she could do with some fresh air herself after overindulging in the wine last night. She could excuse the walk but wondered why his legs had been wet and why he felt the need to shower and wash his own clothes. Still, she thought, it's nice that he had made such an effort with her at midnight and she believed maybe all of this was a sign he was becoming an adult.

Jocasta was optimistic about her future relationship with Adrian; maybe the nights in front of the television were not such a pipe dream after all.

'What should I possibly have to tell you, oh vulnerable one? Perhaps that you're searching for too much? That in all the searching you don't find the time for finding.'

Herman Hesse Siddhata

New Year's Day 2009

19:00 hours

PC Tom Hunter stood at the front counter of Olinsbury police station. It had been a long five hours since he had started his shift at two o'clock and he had already taken three crime reports; one for theft from motor vehicle and two credit card deceptions. He had also seen countless people who were prepared to spend three hours queuing just to ask him a question or produce their documents to him. He just couldn't understand how on a Bank Holiday people were prepared to give up their precious time and visit a police station of all places. He could think of much better things to do with his time, namely drinking copious amounts of alcohol down the pub with his mates.

Tom wondered where his relief was; he was Hank Marvin Starvin' and wanted a pee. As he was about to go on the radio to request his break a couple walked in through the glass front door of the station. PC Hunter completed his usual assessment of newcomers to the station, after deciding they may need the fashion police rather than the real deal, he noticed the woman was in a highly panicked state. Her hair was in wild disarray and Tom could smell alcohol on her breath as she drew nearer. The fellow didn't look much better; he was glassy eyed with the dulled look akin to heroin addicts. He also smelt of alcohol and Tom could feel another domestic crime report coming on.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Tom asked, fiddling with the handcuffs on his utility belt, he wondered how long it would be before he had to use them.

"Please, my baby is missing." The woman said, leaning her head against the safety glass which separated her from the rest of the station. She let loose a wail of desperation,

"My baby, please, please." She cried.

The male who was with her took her by the shoulders. His movements were slow and deliberate and he was obviously concentrating on keeping upright. He leant on the woman and said, "Come on Mae, calm down. It's going to be ok. She's just gone to her friends or something."

"Get off me." She screamed at him, "Just fuck off Mike, you don't know fuck all, you're too stoned, you are always fucking stoned. Fuck off." She pushed him back into the blue plastic chairs and he sat down, no longer capable of restraining her.

Tom gestured to the woman. "Madam, please come back to the counter and tell me what has happened." He could tell this was no run of the mill domestic and if a child was missing he needed to take the details and get the child's description circulated on the radio as quickly as possible so that the policemen on the street could start looking for him or her.

He buzzed the woman into a smaller room where they had a desk and a computer and he could speak to her more intimately than from behind a glass screen.

"Ok, start with your name, what is it?"

"Mae West."

Tom lifted an eyebrow.

"It really is." She put her hand to her mouth and gave a large sniff. Tom could see this was no time for jokes so continued with his questions.

"Ok, tell me what happened." He said, taking out his notebook so he could record any salient points.

"It's my daughter Savannah, I got up this morning and she wasn't at home."

"Ok, when was the last time you saw her?"

"About 11 or maybe 12, I don't know, I was asleep on the sofa; maybe 12 or 1 this morning." Mae began to cry again. "I don't know where she is, please; you have to find her, her brother needs her."

Tom took all the details about Savannah. Mae told him that there had been a big argument and the drug addled boyfriend currently sitting in the waiting room had smashed all of Savannah's things as well as most of the household objects. Mae had been pretty hazy about events after that as she had been drunk, but she was able to tell Tom that after finding Savannah missing she had made several attempts to find her at her friend's houses only to come up empty. Tom thought Savannah may be hiding at a friend's having had enough of her parent's drunken antics and had probably asked her friends not to say she was there. Although she was only eleven years old, Tom knew the estate she lived on and knew children from that estate grew up a lot quicker than a conventional child.

"OK Mae, sit tight here and I will go and circulate her as missing. Every police officer on borough will be looking for her, I'm sure we will get her back for you soon enough."

"Ok, can I go and have a fag?" Mae enquired.

"Yes, by all means go outside and I will come back and get you when I need you." Tom showed Mae out into the main reception area once again and made his way to the first floor control room. Once there he circulated Savannah's description to all officers on duty.

"Please be aware of a MISPER by the name of Savannah West. Female, IC1, 4'10", shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, slim build, believed to be wearing a white t-shirt and jeans with grey UGG boots and a black puffer jacket. No jewellery, no marks, scars or tattoos."

Tom then went to let his Inspector know about the missing child before completing his report on the MERLIN system which he so hated. As he typed he contemplated how long it may be before he ate again. It irked him that he may now be spending a good hour on a report that would probably go nowhere as Savannah was more than likely ensconced in a friend's bedroom playing the Xbox and calling her parents every name under the sun. With any luck he would get a call before he had done most of it letting him know she had been found.

-x-

19:45 hours

PC James Mann received a call on his radio asking him to attend 824 Summervale Road, Elisworth, to make enquiries about a missing girl named Savannah West. He took the call and made his way on foot to the address. James had been a Safer Neighbourhood Officer for twenty years and the Fern Bridge Estate had been his local beat for the last ten. Countless calls to missing children often came to nothing. Most of the time it was teenagers throwing tantrums or neglected kiddies that had walked away from their ignorant parents who were too busy chatting to notice their little one had wandered off. James didn't believe this call would amount to much more than this so took his time to walk to the address. He was on the lookout for a local scrote named Daniel who had been stealing bicycles by the dozen and selling them on for paltry amounts. He knew it was Danny, every instinct he had told him this, he just needed to catch the little sod at it.

James walked the long way around the Fern Bridge in the hope of spotting Danny but there was no sign of him. Arriving at 824 he hoped the parents had arrived back from making their report at the station as he didn't want to spend any more time than he had to at this address. Waiting in someone's garden for them to return home was not his idea of time well spent. In the absence of any door knocker or bell he knocked on the glass panel of the front door to 824. He immediately saw a woman come out from an inside room and rush to the front door.

"I've just got home." She said as she invited him in. "I don't know why you need to come here; you should be out looking for her. If she was here I would know." The words tumbled out from the woman's mouth and tears streamed down her mascara streaked face.

"We have to check the house Mrs?" James had forgotten her name already as he was still wondering what Danny was up to.

"West."

"West, yes, we have to check the house, you would be surprised how many kids are found hiding under the bed or in a wardrobe somewhere." Or dead in the attic he thought to himself.

"Well she aint fucking here." Mae said sarcastically, "Do you really think I've spent all day looking for her and I wouldn't bother looking for her in her own fucking room?"

"Mrs West, I know you're upset and worried about Savannah. We have our own way of investigating missing children and more often than not it is the best way to find them. Just let me get on with it and then we can concentrate on looking for Savannah elsewhere." James moved into the hallway. "Now have you got any of her friend's details here and I will need a photograph as well please."

"I don't know," Mae floundered, looking around her hopelessly, "I must have a photo somewhere."

"I haven't introduced myself, I'm PC Mann and I'm your local bobby, have we ever met before?"

James began to manoeuvre Mae deeper into the corridor so he could gain access to the living room. As he arrived at the room he spotted a dishevelled male sitting on the edge of a bright blue sofa, scrabbling at cigarette papers and a suspicious looking wrap on the coffee table. James did not want to lose focus on his investigation so stored that information in his mind; should the MISPER come to nothing, an arrest for possession would be good for his figures.

James moved around the front room, wading through broken ashtrays, discarded beer cans and other detritus. Mrs West had obviously not had time to clean before his arrival; he wondered if she actually
ever
cleaned, the place was so messy. He looked under the smoked glass dining table, moving the chairs out of the way so he could get a good look underneath.

"I think we would know if she was under there." Mae commented, throwing herself onto the sofa and looking at her partner in disbelief.

Unperturbed and determined to do a thorough job, James continued to make his way around the two bedroomed flat. Followed by Mae he did kitchen, toilet, airing cupboards and main bedroom before concentrating his efforts on the second smaller bedroom which Savannah shared with her brother Andrew who was currently sitting on his bed watching Ben 10 on a small flat screen telly.

"Hello," said James.

"Five-oh need to check the room Andy, go in with Mike so he can have a good look." Mae's slang was not lost on James, even in the event of her daughter going missing he marvelled at how she was determined to sound 'cool' in front of her young son. The young lad got off his bed without a word and left the room.

"Has Savannah got a computer?" he asked.

"Yeah she's got one of those notebooks," said Mae; reaching under a pillow and coming out with a small black square. "It's Pay as You Go; I don't know where the dongle is though." She said, returning her hand underneath the pillow but this time coming up with nothing.

"Ok, if we need to look at it we can seize it later and get a lab to take everything off it," James informed her.

"Can you do that?" asked Mae.

"Yes most things as long as they have been saved to the computer's hard drive at some point. It's amazing what they can do nowadays." James continued to look around the small cramped bedroom, it didn't take long for him to establish Savannah was definitely not there and he left shortly afterwards, advising Mae the police would do all they could to find her and reminding her to call the station if Savannah came home in the meantime.

James left the flat and got onto his personal radio to let the controller know how he had got on.

"Tango x-ray receiving 175?"

"Go head 175."

"Yeah I've done a full search of the flat, no sign of MISPER, can you let the Guv know? Over."

"Yes received, thanks for that, over."

"No problem, over."

James went off on his eternal hunt for the elusive Danny, all thoughts of Savannah West now gone from his mind.