A Season For Everything - Matthew Fairman (pocket ebook reader .TXT) 📗

had been keeping himself so busy that there was little else to do. He was sick of leafing through the paperwork and Ryan was happy to work at the bar. Nothing could take his mind away from worrying about Emma. There was only so much pretending that everything was ok that a person could do. ‘I need to go look for her, I need to find her. I know it’s not good. I just know that whatever has happened to her it’s not going to be good.’ He put on his flat-cap and coat and took Kaisers leash down from a hook on the back of the door. The dog raised his head and pricked its ears. ‘C’mon boy. Let’s go look for mummy, eh!’. The dog uncoiled itself and stretched. He clipped the leash to the collar.

‘I’m going to get some fresh air Ryan. There’s a delivery still not arrived, just check that everything’s theres on before you sign it. You know where I keep the order forms?’

‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll see you later okay.’

He buttoned his coat. It was a raw wind that whipped up at the valley side. He took a packet of cigarettes form his pocket and shook one up to the top, extracting it from the box with his mouth. Turning his back to the wind he lit the cigarette beneath cupped hands. It was his first cigarette in fifteen years. They hadn’t improved the taste in all that time but the thick heavy smoke felt good in his lungs. He remembered a saying he had heard. ‘Once a smoker always a smoker, you just had to wait for the chips to be down enough.’ Kaiser padded along at his side sniffing at the air. He knew where he was going even before Michael did. Maybe it was the dog who was really leading the way. Maybe it was the cigarette smoke that had reminded him of his walks with Emma. Emma had never given up smoking, it was a vice that she had chosen to keep. He never came to the quarry, why would he, it was torture enough living in the same house where he had lived with and loved his little boy. He knew Emma came here often but he never spoke to her about it, it was a private place. ‘Maybe I should have pushed her to go to bereavement counselling but regrets are useless, a waste of time. Where are you Emma? I just want you back.’

The light was dimming under the canopy of the trees, his vision was dulled and fuzzy. He threw his cigarette stub against a tree, it burst into a shower of orange sparks and landed in the snow. It hissed. Kaiser sniffed at it. He let the dog from his leash. Kaiser ran on ahead over a ridge and was lost from view. He needed a piss. He stopped and undid his belt and fly. The hot jet of yellow piss drilled a hole in the snow in a cloud of steam. When he reached the brow of the ridge Kaiser was nowhere to be seen.

‘Kaiser, kaiser, c,mon boy. Kaiiiseer. C’mon Kaiser, for fuck sake. That fucking dog never listens to me.’

It would be to dark to see in about an hours time. He followed the main path through the woods until he reach a place where the path was dissected by another. He turned right onto a track that ran towards one of the large pits.

‘Kaiser, Kaiser.’

 

 

The call came in at around Seven pm. An apologetic young lady who explained that

she was concerned about the well being of her neighbour who she had not seen or heard from in the past couple of days.

‘We heard a noise, it was a banging. We were worried she might of fallen.’ The operator asked the young woman to be patient, a police officer would call by within the next hour. PC Lusie and PC Bergan received a call to visit the address a short while later over their radios. It happened just at the same time that Hollis was trying to convince Steve to walk by the Beaton’s house to check if any of the lights were on. When the call came, Hollie’s mood was victorious.

‘You see, didn’t I tell you that there was more going on over there than met the eye.’

‘Look, I will concede that it looks strange but I still think that you’re letting your imagination get the better of you again. Have you ever heard of coincidences.’

‘Coincidences, my arse. He chooses to go missing and then less than a week later his neighbour goes missing. Not to mention that other missing woman. I knew it. I fucking new it.’

‘All right, all right just calm down, let’s actually find out whats happened before you get too excited.’

 

A young woman in her early to mid thirties answered the front door, she had mousey blond hair that cane down to her shoulders. She was a thin, nervous type. Her husband was standing behind her in the hallway.

‘Oh, hello. That was quick.’

‘We happened to be in the area, I’m PC Lusie and this is Police Officer Bergan. Are you the one that alerted us.’

‘Yeess, hi, my name’s Teresa, but as I said I didn’t want to blow anything out of proportion. We were a little concerned about out neighbour Mrs Gream weren’t we Dick?’ Dick nodded in agreement.

‘Yes a little, it does seem weird not to see her for so long’

‘We both heard a noise and we haven’t seen her around since thursday.’

 

The couple invited the police officers inside out of the cold.

‘And apart from hearing the noise on Friday you’ve seen and heard nothing?’

‘Yes, thats right, which is unlike her. She lives alone since her husband died last year. She likes to have a chat. You know, she’s lonely.’

‘Me and PC Bergan will have a look around and see if everything looks as it should be.’

They could see nothing through the net curtains in the bay window. All the lights in the house were off.

‘Well, I guess we should take a look around the back but I’m not climbing any fences this time.’

The gate was open which seemed unusual.

‘You locked this last time you were here didn’t you?’ Steve nodded and then frowned ‘Pretty certain I did, I think she made me lock it.’ Hollis lifted the gate on its sunken hinges and pushed it open. She stood on the rockery wall and looked next door.

‘Still boarded up here, doesn’t look like anyone’s been back and tried to get in.’

‘Hey look at this, the window’s been smashed’ Hollis jumped down.

‘Is it locked?’

‘Yeah’

‘Can you reach up and see if you can get the keys off the top of that cabinet?’

‘I think so, hold on, I just need...’ Steve on tip toes grasped around for the keys on the top of the cabinet.

‘Nah, they aren’t there’ Steve got out his torch and shone it around the glass littering the floor.‘Mrs Gream, can you hear me Mrs Gream? Hey look at that under there. That must be what was thrown through the window.’ Hollis followed the torch beam. There was a large round rock by the leg if a chair beneath the kitchen table.

‘I don’t know Steve, look at the glass around the window. It’s clean, right the way around the edge. Thats not simply been thrown through.’

‘Fair point. What do you want to do now?

‘Well I think we should call it in. I think it’s worth trying to get in there tonight don’t you?’

They had to wait to get a warrant to search the house. Hollis had wanted to be there when it took place but the Sergeant specifically requested that she return to the station.

‘It’s probably that promotion I’ve been waiting for all these years.’ Steve frowned at her. ‘Take this seriously Hollis, you’ve been in enough shit lately. The last thing that you need is to piss off Coxy.’

‘Oh, what does it matter, I just have to be in the same room to piss him off’

‘Well, anyway, best behaviour and at least pretend that your listening to him even if your not. You can’t afford not to.’

‘Yeah, I know your right. I’ll see you back at the station then. I want to know everything they find.’

‘Hollis! Just get out of here already.’

 

‘Come in Hollis, take a seat.’ Police Sergeant David Cox was seated at his desk. He was a heavy set man with sallow skin, his brown thinning hair was peppered with grey. His rectangular wire rimmed glasses perched low at the end of his thin nose as if he had just been reading over something.

‘Yes sarge, thank you.’ Hollis took off her cap and sat down.

‘I had a phone call this morning.’ He paused. ‘Do you know who it was from?’

‘No Sarge’ Hollis was looking at her hat, turning it over in her hands.

‘Can you guess?’

‘No Sarge’.

‘I think we both know what I’m talking about. One our operators received a phone call from a very distressed young lady by the name of Marie Earnest. I gather you know who she is and why she might be distressed.’ Hollis tried to answer but was cut short before she could begin explaining. ‘It would appear that she was upset because one of our police officers had called her up and told her that her estranged husband was on the loose somewhere. The same police officer, who only the day before, was told by me to leave the case alone, ....... Well what have you bloody well got to say for yourself.’

‘I’m sorry sarge. It’s just that I had a lead and...’

‘If you have and leads you put it into your report or you pass it on to the DI. What you sure as shit do not do is go around like Miss Fucking Marple ringing up whoever you like and putting the fear of God into them. For Christ’s sake Hollis, you know better than that the woman’s got a young kid.’

‘I’m sorry Sarge, I really am. I’ve got to explain this to the Inspector, your just lucky that she wasn’t making a complaint.’ Hollis’s eyes looked up inquisitively.

‘What did she want?’

‘What do you think she wanted. She wanted to know if we had found him yet. You’ve got her scared to death. I’m recommending that you take some time off up until Christmas....’ ‘Sarge? Your suspending me, but...’

‘I said that I am recommending you take time off. You would be wise to take it. We’ll look at all this in the new year. This is really serious Hollis, I hope you realise that. This isn’t the first time we’ve had conversations of this nature. I want you to put your time in today and I’ll see that it’s approved. OK?’

‘Yes sarge.’ ‘This really is your last warning Hollis. Next time it will be suspension. I can’t promise that this isn’t going to go further but we’ll see. Have a good rest Constable.’ ‘Yes Sarge.’ Hollis left the office feeling dejected. She was still filling in her time sheet and tying up some loose paper work when Steve walked in. Hollis looked up.

‘That Bad eh?’

‘Worse.You spoken to the sarge too?’

‘Yeah, what did he say to you?’

‘It doesn’t matter. I’m taking some leave until the new year. Voluntarily apparently.’

‘For fucks sake Hollis, what the hell were you thinking You can’t remove evidence from a house without telling anyone?’

‘C’mon Steve, please, I don’t need to hear it from you all over again.’

‘OK,ok.’

‘Hey, how did we make out at the house.’

‘Look Hollis. Im not supposed to discuss it with you. I’m sorry.’

‘Right, of course.’ Hollis got up and went to the locker room to get changed. All in all, she thought to herself, it was shaping up to be a pretty shitty end to a pretty shitty year year.

 

Beaton cranked open the busted garage door open up to his waist and shoved the sports bag through, crawling in afterwards. He walked over the pallet where he had left the body.