Spiritwalker (8 page)

“Willy? Willy didn't have an enemy in the world.  I know he could be a bit peculiar at times but nobody hated him.  How could someone do that to an old man?  I thought he had just fallen and hit his head...They think someone killed him. Robbed him and left him to die.” She began to cry uncontrollably again. 

“There, there dear,” PC Gregory said sitting on the other side of her and patting her hands.  “We're going to take you home now as soon as the inspector here is finished asking you questions.  Georgie will be home waiting for you.”

I forgot all about Georgie, I must telephone and tell him what's happened.” She began rooting around in her purse frantically.  “I can't find it.  I can't find my phone what am I going to do.  I have to ring Georgie.”

“We already sent someone over to see him.  He's fine, we told him what happened.  He wanted to come and get you but we told him to stay there that we'd bring you home soon.”

“That's my Georgie always thinking of someone else.  He can't even drive.”  She began to cheer up thinking of her husband.

“How long have you been married?” PC Gregory asked realising that talking about her husband cheered her up.

“Sixty years next May.  The first of May.  Our children are all grown up now of course.  Two sons and a daughter all with children of their own now.  I've six grandchildren they're all grown up too now.  My eldest granddaughter is getting married on the first of May next year.  Isn't that nice, something to look forward to.” she rambled on happily about her grand-daughter' wedding.  Perhaps so she won't have to talk about her brother, Morley thought as he got up to go.

            DI Morley left the two women alone.  He knew he wasn't going to get much more information from the sister.  He would interview her properly tomorrow when she wasn't so much in shock.  He went back to the body.  The pathologist had arrived and was examining the body.  He waited until he was finished.  Then he gave the all clear for the body to be removed for the autopsy. 

“Dr.  Sutton, it’s good to see you, what do you think?” DI Morley asked shaking hands with the pathologist.

“Good to see you, Morley.  Pity it’s always something like this though.”

 “Can you tell me anything about the cause of death, or how long he has been dead?”

“Won't know for certain until I do the autopsy, but it looks like the poor man was strangled. But it could have been the injury to the back of the head just as easily.  Either way it wasn't natural causes.”

“How long has he been dead?”

“Over twelve hours at least, difficult to say really, maybe fifteen or sixteen.  Poor man.  You don't look too good yourself, working all the hour’s god sends I suppose?”

“No rest for the wicked, you know that.” Morley said.  They had known each other for years and Morley had the greatest respect for Dr Sutton.  They had seen a good few dead bodies between them in the past ten years since Morley had joined the police. 

            After a brief conversation Dr Sutton left promising to let DI Morley know as soon as he had finished examining the body.  Morley's stomach was starting to complain.  He knew he would be there for at least another hour.  He sighed tiredly and knew that food would have to wait.

Chapter twelve

            Anna arrived into London's Victoria station in good time. Her appointment with Molly Turner was for 10am. She had thought she would be exhausted after the previous night’s activities, but she was surprisingly refreshed after her few hours’ sleep.  Andrew had insisted on taking her to the train station, telling her that he hadn't been able to get much rest and might as well make himself useful.  He was like a lost puppy waiting anxiously for his wife to telephone for him to collect them.  She exited the train station and decided that a taxi would be the easiest option, she wasn't at all in the mood to try and negotiate the London Underground system.  She jumped into the first taxi in the queue and gave the driver the address.  He was a cheery dark skinned Indian with a large white turban on his head and a surprisingly strong cockney accent.  He had some kind of Indian dance music playing softly in the CD player.  He was continually lowering and raising the volume as he asked her questions and listened to her replies.  Anna reflected that it was definitely the correct type of music to listen to while trying to traverse in traffic.  It had a soothing yet lively tone, it encouraged the listener to move along to it.  Anna was almost disappointed to exit the taxi when the driver told her that they had arrived at the address she had given him.  She paid the fare and tipped him generously.  Looking around Anna observed the obvious wealth of the area, property, she surmised, would cost in the millions on this street.  Most properties had security gates and intercoms, CCTV was fixed to the entrance pillar of the Turner's residence, the camera pointing directly down onto the visitor.

Anna pressed the buzzer and was greeted by the voice of a young woman.  Anna introduced herself and she was granted entry by pushing on the smaller side gate when she heard the lock release.  As she approached the front door it opened and a young woman welcomed her, introducing herself as Molly Turner.  Anna followed her into what would at one time have been called a morning room.  It was decorated in what could only be described as minimalist and modern. There was a black piano in front of one of the two bay windows, two mauve and cream striped sofas opposite each other in the centre of the room.  A Chinese rug lay on the floor between them.  There were various other bits of furniture located around the room but the room was so large they didn't fill it.  A few paintings hung on the walls and some family photos were scattered on the mantel of the fireplace. The original features of the period residence were still in place and interestingly enough the two eras seemed to marry well together. 

            Molly Turner was tall and gangly, like a long limbed teen who hasn't quite grown into her body.  Facially she looked nothing like her mother.  She had short dark curly hair and her face was a mass of brown freckles. Which led Anna to believe that she must favour her father's side of the family.  Molly offered her a coffee which was gratefully accepted.  Moments later she returned with two steaming china mugs and handed one to her guest.  After taking a cautious sip of the steaming beverage, Anna commented on the pleasant rich flavour and aroma.

“It’s about the only thing I can make without burning it.”  Molly smiled at her as she sat down on the rather uncomfortable stripped sofa beside Anna.

“Well I imagine your aunt has explained why I'm here?”  Anna said looking Molly directly in the eye.  They seemed to be the only feature that she had in common with her mother's side of the family.  They were a vivid blue like her aunt's.

Yes of course, Aunt Eva said she had hired a private detective to look for Mum.  I must admit I thought you would be more like those middle-aged fat men on telly. 

“I hope I haven't disappointed?” Anna said smiling at the image that came into her mind.

“Not at all.  If Aunt Eva thinks you're good enough, then I'm sure you are.  She's not usually wrong about people.”

“Firstly, I have to ask.  Have you heard from you mother?” Anna asked getting straight down to business.

“No, I haven't heard from her for a while.”

“Are you not worried about her?”  Anna asked wondering at the unconcerned tone.

“Well I was at first, but she sent us an email a couple of days after she left, saying that she was going to be away for a few weeks and that she wouldn't be able to ring, that there was no mobile signal where she was staying.  She said she was going up to a friend in Scotland and not to worry, she just needed some space.  You know, after Dad...”

“Your aunt didn't say anything about an email”

“Oh Aunt Eva's convinced someone else sent it and has kidnapped Mum or something...  She really had us worried for a while.  She even called the police.  I was worried then and I rang Dad and he said that she had gone away before without telling anyone.  The police have said not to worry, that people go away all the time.” Aunt Eva can be over-protective sometimes.  I'm sure Mum just needed space.”

“Do you know which friend she went to visit?”

“She just said Mary.”

“Do you know her, or her last name?”

“No, sorry.  Mum has lots of friends, there's always someone calling, she's involved in lots of charities, maybe it’s someone from one of them.  Mum's very smart, but she can be a bit scatty at times.  When my sister and I were growing up, she would forget to take us to piano lessons or basketball or wherever.  We always had to remind her in advance of things like that.  I'm sure she's fine, Aunt Eva worries too much”

“Look Molly, I don't want to worry you unnecessarily but some things have happened since I arrived that make me believe that your aunt might be right.”

“Like what?”  Molly said beginning to look alarmed.

“Before I go into that, can you think of anything unusual that happened before she went to stay with Eva?  Did she meet anyone new? Maybe a new boyfriend?

“God no.  Mum would never cheat on Dad...you know what I mean.” She said blushing slightly as she remembered that they were separated.  “She loved Dad, she would never have gone off with someone else.    You think she went away with a man....You do don't you.  No, no way, not Mum.  She always said she would never trust another man again.  She's gone off with Mary.”  Molly was obstinate in her conviction of her mother's whereabouts.

Anna wondered how she should tell Molly about Sassy and the events of the previous night without alarming her too much. 

“We had an incident involving Sassy last night.  There's no easy way to put this.”  She hesitated.  “Someone tried to abduct her.  Don't worry she's fine, we found her in time.”  Anna said quickly, looking at Molly's horrified expression.

“Someone tried to abduct Sassy?” She asked, hardly believing what Anna was telling her.

“Yes, but she's fine, she spent the night in the hospital.  You see that's why I'm worried about your mum.  We think the two are connected somehow.”

The colour drained from Molly's face as she slowly took in the last piece of information.  Anna could see the thoughts racing through her head.  Oh my God.... Mum.  Oh my God.”  She moaned.  She was starting to have difficulty breathing.  She began to gasp, she was struggling to catch her breath, and it was coming out in harsh rasps.  “My inhaler.” She gasped.  “It’s in my bag on the hall table” She was barely able to get the words out.

Anna jumped off the couch spilling the remainder of her coffee on the carpet.  She rushed out to the hall and grabbed the only bag in sight.  She ran back into Molly, opened the bag and found the inhaler.  She put it up to Molly's mouth.  Molly grasped the inhaler greedily and pumped it a few times.  Colour began to slowly come back to her cheeks and her jagged breathing eased. 

            It took a few minutes for Molly to recover and for her breathing to return to normal.  She asked Anna to fetch her a glass of water.  When Anna returned with the water she was relieved to see that the young woman was almost fully recovered.  Molly had given her a fright, she had never seen anyone have an asthma attack before and was shocked at how sudden it had come on.

“I'm sorry, I don't have attacks much anymore.  It must have been the shock.”  Molly said faintly.

“Can I call anyone for you?” Anna asked, concerned that the girl would be alone when she left.

“It’s okay I'm fine now.  Tell me everything, I have to ring Dad and Sam.  We have to find Mum.  I thought she would be back next week, we were supposed to be looking at venues to hold Sam’s twenty first.  Mum's great at organising parties.  She wouldn't forget.  She must be okay...Mustn't she?  Maybe that thing with Sassy was a mistake.  Maybe it was some boyfriend messing around.  Sassy has a boyfriend you know, she told me not to tell her mum.  Maybe it was him.”  Molly was babbling now and she was beginning to get upset again as she trawled through the various possibilities out loud.

“Molly.”  Anna said firmly.  “I'm going to call your dad and sister for you.  First though I need you to tell me anything, anything at all unusual that your mum might have said or done before she left.  I'm sure she is fine, we just need to find her.  To make sure she is.  She might be in Scotland with this Mary.  We just want to know that for sure, okay.”

“Okay, I'm fine, just let me think.”  Molly thought for a while.  “I can't think of anything, everything was the same as usual.  Mum didn't go out socially much after they split up.  She couldn't face meeting her friends.  She was afraid that they would all be talking about her behind her back, pitying her.  I remember she went out one night, Sylvia persuaded her.  I was glad, she hadn't been out for ages and was starting to mope around.  I heard her come back in about midnight, she had someone with her...a man. I stayed where I was I didn't want to interrupt anything.  Shortly after, I heard loud voices and I shouted down to Mum to see if she was all right.  She said everything was fine.  I thought it was Dad at first, but then I saw a man storm out the front door and slam it behind him.  I ran down to Mum, she was in tears.  I asked her who he was and she just said it was someone she had met at the party.  I could see she was upset.  I didn't really ask her anything else.  She didn't want to talk, so I just gave her a hug and we both went to bed.  She didn't say anything about it the following day and neither did I.”

“Do you know who he was?” Anna asked

“No.  I didn't see his face and she never mentioned him again.  Oh my god.  Do you think it might be him?  Do you think he might have done something to my Mother?”

“It’s okay, Molly.  Calm down.”  Anna was careful not to get her too excited as she asked.  “How long ago was that?”

“Let me think.... It was before she changed her number.  Sometime in the summer.  June or July, Sylvia might know.

“Your mother changed her number?”  Anna asked wondering if the two events might be connected.

“Yeah, she was getting crank calls I think.  You know, like when I'd answer the phone and there wouldn't be anyone there.  Mum changed all the numbers, the house and her mobile.  She told us not to give them out to anyone we didn't know.”