Mightier than the Sword - Part 3

Chapter 11

The next morning Sabine met up with Julia and Tony in the investigation room.

‘Just heard from the coroner,’ Julia announced as soon as the three of them had exchanged greetings.

‘Let me guess,’ Sabine replied. ‘A crushed windpipe?’

‘That’s definitely the cause of death,’ Julia said. ‘But he also said that there was bruising on and around the right knee.’

‘So looks like pain in the knee might have made him pass out first,’ Tony said. ‘Anyway, once again no prints on the tape.’

‘Let’s hear his latest mix of bragging and insanity,’ Sabine said with a sigh and Tony put the tape into the machine as the three of them sat down to listen to it.

“Two down and four to go and you’re still not close to catching me. Although to be fair you did find the right pub and you even sat outside it all night. You couldn’t stop the killing or catch me, but at least it shows signs of you beginning to think. I was starting to believe that none of you had any brains, even though I was certain this wasn’t the case with Lieutenant Larksson. Even though you know my next move this time around, I’m still at least one step ahead. Anyway keep trying, you never know you might get lucky and come close to actually catching me. Until tomorrow it’s goodbye from me.”

Sabine pushed her chair quickly behind her and jumped up, then began to pace around the room whilst putting her hands in her hair.

‘How the fuck did they know we were there?’ She said whilst pulling tightly on her hair, then let out a little scream.

‘They must have been watching us whilst we were looking for them,’ Julia said.

‘Our advantage of knowing what type of person he’s going to kill, is negated somewhat by him being aware of that,’ Tony added.

Julia and Tony remained seated, looking on at Sabine as she paced around the room.

‘We need to make the description of these guys as public knowledge as possible,’ Sabine said as she paced.

‘I agree,’ Julia said as she sat, nodding slowly.

‘We don’t want to create a panic,’ Tony countered.

‘I think if we handle it right we won’t create too much of a panic,’ Julia replied.

‘Plus if it helps us catch these guys then any panic will be justified,’ Sabine added. ‘We can even make it clear what sort of victim we think is likely to kill tonight.’

‘If we’re going to tell the public anything, we may as well tell them everything,’ Tony agreed.

‘I’ll go and sort that out,’ Julia said.

‘And I’ll see if I can sort out some identification of the body,’ Tony said.

‘Might want to contact the landlord of that pub, he’ll probably be able to help us out on that one,’ Julia suggested.

‘Good call,’ Tony said.

‘I think I need some alone time,’ Sabine said. ‘Whilst one of you finds out that the victim is a convicted mugger and the other one warns the public who aren’t going to listen, I’m going to have a day to myself,’ she added as the pacing continued and turned into her walking out of the room.

‘Call us if you need anything,’ Julia said as Sabine opened the door and walked out.

A little after five o’clock that evening Sabine got a phone call from Julia.

‘Hey Julia.’

‘Hi Sabine, don’t get excited, no good news on the case I’m afraid.’

‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll need a lot more than a phone call to get my hopes up about this case. Sorry for walking out today.’

‘Oh no problem at all, it probably made sense for you to have some time to yourself, plus I can totally understand your frustration. I was actually calling to invite you round to my house tonight, I can cook us something, or to be honest order us some takeaway. You like Chinese food?’

‘Chinese would be great, I can’t promise to be good company though.’

‘I’m sure you’ll be better company than my sofa. Are you back at the hotel now?’

‘Yeah I’ve just walked into my room.’

‘Excellent, I’ll come and get you now, I’m leaving work and the hotel is on the way to my house.’

Julia came out of her kitchen, into her living room, with a mug of coffee in each hand.

‘I discovered that Chinese place a couple of years ago,’ Julia said to Sabine as she handed her one of the mugs. ‘And ever since I’ve never had Chinese from anywhere else.’

‘It was definitely right up there with the best I’ve had,’ Sabine replied.

‘So how are you doing?’ Julia asked after making herself comfortable in an armchair that was facing the one Sabine was sat in.

‘I’m holding up okay,’ Sabine wasn’t convincing.

‘I know we don’t know each other at all well, but please feel free to unload your true feelings. I know a stressed out cop when I see one and trust me I’ve been there plenty of times, I would totally understand if this case is killing you.’

Sabine took a sip of her coffee then sighed. ‘It’s not killing me yet, but I’m starting to get the feeling it will be the death of me.’

‘For what it’s worth I think you’re doing a great job of keeping your cool.’

‘You only think that because you don’t know me, trust me you’ve seen more emotion from me than guys I’ve worked with back home for five years.’

‘Talking about it might help, certainly can’t imagine it doing any harm.’

‘I think the worst thing is the futility of my investigation so far, I’ve come nowhere near solving this case, I know that tonight he or they are going to kill someone and here I am chatting away over a cup of coffee.’

‘There’s nothing we can do about what they’re going to do tonight, but we have to keep our minds as clear and as fresh as possible, that’s our best chance to catch them.’

‘I know you’re right, but logic is rarely a match for passion,’ Sabine replied.

‘Were you close to John?’ Julia asked. ‘You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.’

‘We weren’t anything other than partners, but he was an excellent partner,’ Sabine nodded slowly as she answered with a frown.

‘So there’s an element of personal vendetta about the case.’

‘Oh definitely, if somebody had killed John and nobody else then I’d definitely be desperate to catch them.’

‘People keep telling me you can’t catch them all,’ Julia said.

‘Not a good mindset for a cop.’

‘Oh I never take any notice of them.’

‘In this case I’m either going to catch them or die trying,’ Sabine said then took another slow sip of her coffee.

‘I bet it’s just about the only thing you think about during all your waking hours.’

‘Not just the hours I’m awake,’ Sabine said despondently.

‘You’ve been having nightmares?’

‘Yeah, they started about a couple of weeks into the case.’

‘Is it always the same one?’

‘Not exactly the same but on the same theme. I’m always tied up, usually to a chair, and there’s a tall, faceless man dressed in all black, who is holding a knife to my throat.’

‘Oh wow,’ Julia said with a wide eyed expression.

‘Not exactly needing a lot of interpreting,’ Sabine said. ‘I always wake up covered in sweat with my heart racing.’

‘And this is every night?’

‘At least once a night now, sometimes two or three times. If I get four hours sleep over the course of one night, I class that as a good night.’

‘I’m hoping we catch them before I get to that stage.’

‘Hopefully you won’t get as attached to it as I have become,’ Sabine said. ‘No offence to you or Tony, but this is my case, of all the cases I’ve ever worked on this one is most particularly mine.’

‘No offence taken, I understand what you mean.’

‘And I don’t care if they go to Manchester, Melbourne, Mexico City, Madrid or Milan, I will follow them every step of the way.’

‘If they don’t want to get caught, I reckon they’ve picked on the wrong kitty.’

Chapter 12

Natasha

Natasha was out shopping in a Los Angeles mall, when she got a phone call from Jade her sister.

‘Hey sweetie, how you doing?’ Natasha answered her phone.

‘I’m okay,’ Jade’s tone did not collaborate with her words.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine, what are you up to?’

‘I’m just wandering around the mall, couldn’t really call it shopping. You totally sure you’re okay?’

‘Seriously I’m fine, you heading home soon? There’s something I want to talk to you about.’

‘I’m heading home now sweetie, definitely sounds like you need a hug.’

‘I always need a hug from you,’ Jade lifted her tone a little.

‘See you soon.’

‘Bye.’

Natasha ended the call and turned to the two friends she was out shopping with.

‘Sorry guys, I’ve got to head home now,’ she told them. ‘That was Jade, she sounded down and she said she wanted to speak to me about something, she’s never said that before.’

Natasha didn’t wait for much of a response from her friends, instead heading straight out of the mall and into a taxi for the short trip home.

Natasha let herself into her parents home and shouted for Jade, but got no response, so she headed up to what was Jade’s room when she lived there. Jade was in that room, sat on her old bed, with a tissue in one hand and both eyes looking a little red and damp.

‘Oh my God Jade, what’s wrong? You’re really scaring me,’ Natasha said as she walked right up to the bed.

‘Where’s that hug?’ Jade asked with a forced smile.

The two of them hugged tightly.

‘I’m sorry honey,’ Jade said as she broke away from the hug. ‘I have got some bad news.’

Tears formed in Natasha’s eyes and started to roll slowly down both cheeks.

‘Sit on here with me,’ Jade said and patted the bed, Natasha did so and held her sisters hand.

‘I’m afraid I’m sick,’ Jade said as she managed to look Natasha in the eye. ‘And just about in the worst way, I’ve got AIDS.’

Natasha’s mouth became wide open, she looked at her sister and started shaking her head, the shakes getting faster and faster.

‘No, no, no,’ Natasha said quietly. ‘No way!’ She screamed.

Jade grabbed hold of Natasha and hugged her once again, holding her tighter than ever before.

‘I’m so sorry sweetie,’ Jade said as both of their tears began to flow.

‘You don’t need to be sorry,’ Natasha said through the tears as they continued to hug. ‘How did this happen?’ She asked with a complete lack of comprehension.

Jade slowly broke up the hug, looked at Natasha and said; ‘You remember that one night stand I told you about?’

‘Oh God yeah, that is so unfair, the one time you do something like that,’ Natasha’s tears continued to flow as she held Jade’s arms. ‘So many sluts out there get away with it all the time.’

‘I know, I know, but that’s not even the worst thing about it. The truly horrible thing is that the guy knew he had AIDS when he slept with me, when I contacted him to tell him he should get checked he told me he knew he had it before we had sex. He even said he thought I deserved it for being so easy.’

‘No fucking way,’ Natasha screamed and jumped up off the bed. ‘Who is this guy? Where is he?’

‘Nat, honey, the last thing I want right now is a vigilante sister. I know it hurts like hell, but we will get through this,’ Jade looked on as Natasha paced up and down the length of the bed.

‘We can’t get through this, that son of a bitch has made sure of that,’ Natasha shouted as she put her hands in her hair and then interlocked her fingers as they met the back of her neck.

‘We can’t change what he has done, but we can make sure we don’t become as bitter and nasty has he did. He was a regular guy who responded badly to a terribly unfair setback, I don’t want to end up like him. I reckon we can’t punish him any worse than he’s already been punished.’

‘Oh I can think of worse things we can do to him,’ Natasha said as she quickly dropped her hands down by her side, grabbed a book from off a small table and hurled the book across the room.

‘He’s got a horribly debilitating disease, been starved of hope and been hit by the realisation that he’s never going to live out a lot of his dreams. I really don’t think it can get much worse,’ Jade spoke quietly has her tears grew stronger.

‘Oh my God Jade, I’m so sorry,’ Natasha said then went back over and hugged Jade. ‘I promise I’ll be there for you throughout this, whatever you need.’

-----------------------

Natasha was in the room that she was sharing with Anna whilst in Manchester. Her turn for murder had come around again and she was getting herself ready. As Anna walked in Natasha was slipping into her dress for the evening.

‘Loving the dress baby,’ Anna said. ‘You steal that from an Audrey Hepburn film set?’ She asked about the classic little, sleeveless black dress.

‘I wish.’

‘You’re a little curvier than her, which most people would say makes you about perfect.’

‘Saying I’m better looking than Audrey Hepburn? I’m used to guys wanting to get in my pants,’ Natasha said then gave Anna a little smile.

‘Trust me honey, when I want to get in your pants, you’ll know about it. By the way the guys have finished painting the van.’

‘What colour did they go for in the end?’

‘Silver, it was a shame to get rid of the black, but it looks pretty cool. Besides chances are the cops were on the lookout for a black van.’

‘Yeah a colour change was definitely a wise option. Any suggestions on what I should do with my hair and makeup for tonight?’

‘Just wait a minute before you carry on getting ready,’ Anna said then went over to the side of her bed, delved into a bag and then pulled out her Ipod. ‘I reckon you should have some musical accompaniment to get you in the mood, and I’ve already picked out the perfect tunes for you.’

‘I can’t wait to hear this,’ Natasha said whilst slightly shaking her head and smiling.

Anna started smiling and nodding as the first song started to play. Natasha’s smile matched Anna’s when she realised the song was “The Female of the Species”, by “Space”.

‘Great selection from DJ Anna,’ Natasha said.

‘Anyway, hair, I love it when you let it hang natural, the curls totally suit you and I love the way it looks as if it sits on your shoulders.’

‘You don’t think it’s a little big for the look I’m going for?’

‘No not at all, it’s just big enough for that sort of guy to be imagining passionately grabbing hold of it. Maybe give it a little of a wet look, what about a few dyed streaks, plenty of colours go well with jet black.’

‘I was thinking of a few streaks and I was leaning towards silver, even before you told me about the van.’

‘Silver would look good,’ Anna concurred. ‘Makeup wise you never need much, but I have some silver lipstick you can borrow.’

‘That would be perfect.’

‘I’ll help you with the hair dye,’ Anna said and the two of them set about giving Natasha her silver streaks. Just as Anna was applying the hair dye to Natasha, the next song came on.

‘Oh you’re good,’ Natasha said. ‘And have spent way too much time thinking about this,’ she added whilst “Poison” by Alice Cooper started to play.

Natasha and Anna walked out of their temporary room and headed for the stairs.

‘You certainly look ready,’ Anna said. ‘You sure you are ready?’

‘Ready to kill? Not sure if I can ever be truly ready to kill,’ Natasha replied. ‘But I definitely think the first time will have been the most difficult,’ she added as the two of them stopped at the top of the stairs.

‘I’ll be close by all night,’ Anna assured her. ‘Make sure you only kill someone you are comfortable killing.’

‘Comfortable killing? There’s two words I never thought I’d hear in succession,’ Natasha said with a little shake of her head.

‘I can recommend insanity,’ Anna said. ‘It definitely helps me deal with all of this.’

‘Chances are that I’m already there,’ Natasha replied with a little smile and a raise of her eyebrows, then the two of them made their way down the stairs.

Scott was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Wow, at least this guy will have the consolation of being killed by someone looking seriously hot,’ Scott said as the two ladies got to the bottom of the stairs. ‘Ready when you are Natasha.’

‘I’m all set,’ Natasha replied.

‘Awesome, here’s your tape,’ Scott said then handed Natasha the tape and she put it in her small hand bag. ‘Okay everybody, let’s roll,’ he said loudly enough for Justin, Ronny and Don to hear in other rooms.

The six of them climbed into the newly painted van and headed for a much more affluent area of Manchester than they had the night before.

‘One of these bars should do fine,’ Natasha said as Scott parked the van.

‘Nat we’ll come in just after you, and remember we’ll never be far away if you need us,’ Anna said.

‘Don’t worry I’ll be fine,’ Natasha said as Justin slid the side door of the van open and Natasha made her way out.

Natasha walked into one of the bars, sat by the bar and ordered herself a drink. A couple of minutes later the rest of the gang came into the bar and sat in a corner, away from the bar but they could still keep an eye on Natasha.

After ten minutes alone at the bar, Natasha started looking at her watch a few times, then at the door to the bar and did her best to look disappointed. A man not much older than Natasha herself came over to her.

‘Hey, I’m totally confused, because you look like you’ve been stood up, but I can’t begin to imagine anyone standing you up.’

‘That’s sweet, and if I was a sweet girl I’m sure that line would have a great chance of working,’ Natasha said and scowled a little.

‘Oh I see, come on let me buy you a drink, I don’t like seeing you alone at a bar.’

‘So you buy me a drink, then I’m duty bound to spread my legs for you, is that how this goes?’

‘No not at all, you’re mistaking me for a typical, horrible guy who is only after one thing,’ he said as he held both hands up and took a little step back away from Natasha.

‘So you’re not after one thing?’

‘I guess I am, just a different thing from most guys my age. I’m after a soul mate, someone I can spend my life with, someone who if I was on an island with and it was just the two of us, I’d be completely happy.’

‘That really is sweet, I hope you find her someday. But right now you’re not the kind of guy I’m looking for, you’re way too good for me.’

‘That’s got to be the nicest rejection I’ve had so far,’ he said with a little smile.

‘Trust me honey, you’ve no idea how lucky you are to be avoiding me.’

‘Can’t begin to imagine that being a good thing, but I’ll have to take your word for it,’ he said. ‘Nice meeting you anyway,’ he added then turned and walked away.

Every male in the bar at some point glanced over at Natasha, most of them a lot more often than once. But it was another fifteen minutes before one of them went over to try his luck.

‘Why so sad? An absolute stunner like you should have some guy making you smile all the time,’ was his opening line.

Natasha looked at him, detected a smarmy smugness about him. ‘To be honest I was supposed to meet up with a guy tonight, and I was looking forward to him making me do a lot more than smile.’

‘Oh okay, your boyfriend?’

‘No, nothing that formal.’

‘Whoever he is, he’s an idiot for missing out on a night of fun with you.’

‘That all you want me for, some fun?’

‘Isn’t that all you were looking for tonight?’

‘I definitely wanted to enjoy myself tonight, you think you’re the guy for me?’

‘I’m sure of it,’ he said with a big grin. ‘I’ve never had any complaints.’

‘Doesn’t mean a great deal, if a girl wanted to complain about a guy in bed, the vast majority of them would do it to the girl friends, not to the guy himself.’

‘Trust me honey I always get great reactions from women.’

‘So you’ve had plenty of women?’

‘Don’t mean to brag, but yeah I’ve had way more than my fair share.’

‘You think that is something to brag about?’

‘I think most guys if they are honest would love to have slept with as many women as I have.’

‘I’m guessing you like it rough, more risks the better?’ Natasha checked.

‘You’re good.’

‘So no condoms then?’

‘Only if the girl insists on it.’

‘You better not be all talk because I was planning on getting fucked tonight and I hate it when my plans don’t work out.’

‘I’m so up for it if you are honey.’

‘You got a place we can go to?’

‘Sure.’

‘Then let’s go.’

The two of them headed outside, with him grinning like a Cheshire cat who had just found a bowl of his favourite cream. There were a few taxis waiting near the bar and they got into one. As soon as Natasha had got up to leave the rest of the gang got up to follow her out, when she got in the taxi, they got into the van.

‘Gorgeous accent by the way,’ he said to Natasha once they were both in the taxi. ‘You American?’

‘No small talk for fuck’s sake, that can only ruin the sort of night we are planning to have.’

‘Suits me fine,’ he said with a reappearance of his smarmy grin.

As soon as Natasha was in his house and he’d shut the door behind him, he went to kiss Natasha and have his hands all over her.

‘Whoah, steady on there. I’m horny but I’m not an animal,’ Natasha said and pushed him away. ‘I want a drink first.’

‘No problem, you’re definitely worth the wait. There’s some wine in the fridge,’ he replied and pointed to the kitchen.

‘That’ll be fine, I’ll go sort us out a glass each, you get in the living room and put some music on.’

‘Love that you like taking charge,’ he said with that smile that was already annoying Natasha.

‘That’s good because I’m definitely going to be in charge of what happens here tonight.’

‘Works for me,’ he said as Natasha headed to the kitchen and he went to look through his CD collection.

By the time he’d picked out a soul music collection for the background music, Natasha was in the living room, holding a glass of wine in each hand. She sat down on the big sofa and beckoned him over, as soon as he sat down he was handed his glass of wine. Natasha downed her drink in one go, with him looking on, a little taken aback.

‘Wow, you don’t hang around with wine do you?’

‘I hope you can keep up with me, otherwise that really isn’t a good sign for tonight,’ Natasha replied, looking at him and his glass of wine.

He gulped down his wine. ‘Not a problem!’

‘Good boy. So tonight you are planning to have some amazing sex with me, maybe leading to other nights of sex with me, intermingled with lots of sex with lots of other girls.’

‘Sounds about right.’

‘And you’re happy with that are you? An existence of spreading your germs around as much as possible, not caring at all who you hurt along the way.’

‘Isn’t that what you wanted for tonight?’ He checked as he wiped some sweat from his brow and started to breathe heavily.

‘Not at all. It’s annoying being deceived by someone isn’t it? Having them think you want one thing when you really want something totally different.’

‘I never promised you anything but sex,’ he said whilst wiping more sweat away.

‘Not with me, but I’d be willing to bet all the money I have on the fact that you’ve lead several women to believe that you wanted more.’

‘Maybe,’ he said as he put on of his hands to his throat.

‘Actually I’ve got something completed different planned for tonight,’ Natasha said then moved her face so it was right up close to his. ‘You’re death.’

‘What?!’ He asked, in between gasps for air.

‘Guys like you deserve to die. You’ve just drunk some poison and will be dead any second now,’ Natasha’s piercing stare looked into his eyes until a few moments after his death.

Once Natasha was certain he was dead she got some perfume out of her bag and sprayed it around the room, then made sure the wine glass she drank from had her lipstick on. After leaving the tape and card she let herself out but before shutting the door she screamed; ‘Don’t you dare fucking call me, I don’t want to ever see you again!’ Then she slammed the door shut.

She went down the short drive, wiping away at her eyes and making loud crying noises, then made the two hundred yard or so walk to the van, still sniffling and holding a tissue to her eyes and nose. About halfway to the van she passed Justin going in the opposite direction.

‘How did it go sweetie?’ Anna asked as soon as Natasha got into the back of the van.

Natasha stopped the sniffling immediately after the van door shut behind her. ‘Perfectly,’ she said with a broad smile.

‘Excellent,’ Scott said as he started up the engine and pulled away. ‘Do you need to find a victim for tomorrow Anna?’

‘No don’t worry about it, I’m sure I can attract the sort of guy I want tomorrow night.’

‘Don’t doubt that for a second,’ Scott replied.

-------------------------

Natasha

Natasha was sat alone, late at night at a Los Angeles bar. She had one elbow on the bar and she was leaned over with her head resting in that hand. It had been the same barmaid who had poured all six of her cocktails so far that night.

‘Drinking to forget something?’ The barmaid asked as she slid the sixth cocktail over to Natasha.

‘Yeah, drinking to forget the unforgettable,’ Natasha said as she grabbed hold of the glass.

‘Let me guess, a guy?’

‘Yeah, sort of, but not in the way you’re thinking.’

‘Sometimes it helps to talk it out,’ she said and offered Natasha a little smile after an extra effort was required to get eye contact from her.

‘You’re not going to want to hear this,’ Natasha replied.

‘It’ll definitely make a change from all the lousy lines I hear from guys every night.’

‘Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Natasha still didn’t lift her head up off her hand. ‘My sister died a couple of weeks ago, from AIDS.’

‘Oh wow honey, that’s awful,’ the barmaid look at Natasha with her deepest sympathies.

‘The worst, most sickening part of it is that the guy who slept with her already knew he had AIDS.’

‘Oh my God, that is unbelievably low,’ the barmaid said after putting both hands to her face, then putting them back onto the bar before she spoke.

‘He murdered her as far as I’m concerned,’ Natasha spoke as if with no emotion, without looking at the barmaid.

‘You know what, I agree with you. I see so many guys in here who really do just want to use women for sex, it’s disgusting.’

At this point a man walked up to Natasha.

‘Hey, can I buy you a drink?’ He asked.

‘That depends,’ Natasha replied without looking at him.

‘On what?’ He asked.

She turned to face him. ‘On whether you want your fucking cock ripped off!’

Chapter 13

Sabine, Julia and Tony walked into the house of the latest victim. One of the crime scene officers showed them into the living room, where the body remained from the night before.

‘I know I definitely shouldn’t be thinking this, but I love that perfume,’ Julia said as soon as they walked into the living room.

‘Not exactly subtle with it are they?’ Sabine said.

‘They must have sprayed that around the room,’ Julia added.

‘Looks very much like a poisoning again,’ Tony changed the subject.

‘I’m going to take a guess at potassium chloride,’ Sabine said despondently as she took an up close look at the victim. ‘Another execution by the Hitman.’

‘Two glasses of wine, lipstick on one,’ Tony pointed out.

‘They do love staging their murder scenes,’ Sabine said.

‘They couldn’t have done much more to make this look like a feminine murder,’ Julia said.

‘We need to do some research on this victim,’ Sabine said. ‘To make sure he’s the same sort of womaniser as the third victim in LA.’

‘We can start by asking the neighbours,’ Tony suggested.

The three of them went to one of the neighbouring houses, Tony knocked on the door. A woman in her mid fifties opened the door within a couple of seconds of Tony’s knock.

‘Are you the police?’ She asked, wide eyed with an expectant smile.

‘Yes we are ma’am, I’m Detective Inspector Hodgson, this is my partner detective inspector Gough and this is Lieutenant Larksson from the LAPD.’

‘Oh how exciting,’ she said. ‘Come in please,’ she added and held the door wide open for the three of them to walk in. ‘It is the police Freda,’ she shouted then shepherded the three police officers into her kitchen.

‘Thank you ma’am,’ Tony said as he lead the way into the kitchen.

‘Is he dead?’ She asked as the four of them entered the kitchen.

‘I’m afraid so ma’am,’ Tony said.

‘We’ve just been talking about it, this is Freda, she lives on the other side of him, and I’m Joan.’

‘And what have you been saying?’ Julia asked.

‘We were talking about what went on there last night,’ Joan replied.

‘Which was?’ Julia asked.

‘Quite a carry on,’ Freda replied, even though Julia had asked Joan. ‘We both heard the screaming.’

‘Screaming?’ Julia checked.

‘Yes,’ Joan said. ‘A young lady left in quite a hurry last night, slamming the door behind her, but not before screaming something along the lines of never wanting to see him again.’

‘Did either of you see anything? Sabine asked.

‘We both couldn’t help but have a little peer through our curtains,’ Freda admitted. ‘This young lady stormed off down the drive.’

‘Anyway,’ Joan took on the story. ‘Barely a minute or so later a young man made his way up the drive and into the house.’

‘Chances are he’s your murderer,’ Freda said.

‘Did you get a good look at this man?’ Tony asked.

‘Not really, it was dark and he was dressed in all black, all we could tell you was he looked slim,’ Joan replied.

‘And the woman?’ Sabine asked.

‘Again not much I’m afraid,’ Joan said. ‘She was wearing a black dress, had longish black hair and from what we could tell looked young.’

‘You didn’t recognise her as a previous visitor to his house?’ Sabine checked.

‘No,’ Freda replied. ‘Although that’s not to say she hadn’t been a visitor before, like Joan said we didn’t get a good look at her and he had plenty of female company.’

‘So the victim was a bit of a ladies man?’ Julia checked.

‘Oh most definitely,’ Joan said.

‘From what the young woman screamed, did it sound like she had known him for a little while?’ Sabine asked.

‘That was the impression I got,’ Freda said. ‘It sounded like a girlfriend who had felt wronged somehow, probably by him cheating on her. Having said that I think some young women demand monogamy from a man very early in a relationship.’

‘What time did all of this happen?’ Tony asked.

‘Just after ten thirty, the news had just finished,’ Joan said.

‘Thank you,’ Tony said. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’ Tony asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ Joan said then paused for thought.

‘Here’s my card,’ Julia said as she handed her card to Joan. ‘If you do think of anything at all that might be of use to us, please call me as soon as you can.’

‘I certainly will,’ Joan said.

‘If that’s all you have for us for now then we will say goodbye and leave to get back to your chat,’ Julia said. ‘And thanks for your help.’

‘Oh not at all, we’re happy to help the police,’ Joan replied. ‘Thanks for coming to see us.’

Joan showed the three of them out.

Sabine got to the end of Joan’s drive then sat on the wall to her front garden.

‘I’ve never pretended to be psychic, but I’m pretty sure there’s a theory running round in your head,’ Julia said to Sabine.

‘It seems unlikely that he would’ve known the victim in this case, so far from home,’ Sabine said.

‘I’d go along with that,’ Julia said.

‘Then the problem I have is how does a male murderer get his victim to swallow poison, without any signs of a struggle. A victim who is a raving heterosexual and doesn’t know the murderer.’

‘Are you thinking that this murder really was done by a woman?’ Tony asked.

‘I’m saying I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was done by a woman, in fact I’m saying I think it’s more likely to have been done by a female than a male.’

‘I’m getting to the stage where nothing would surprise me about this whole thing anymore,’ Julia conceded.

‘If it was the man who walked in after her that committed the murder, then he would’ve had to have followed this man to know that he was the sort of womaniser he wanted to kill. There could’ve been no way of him knowing that the woman would’ve stormed off like that. So either he was prepared to kill both of them, or he was prepared to wait another day for the murder, either of which would’ve be deviating from the plan in a way he really doesn’t like to do.’

‘So are we saying two guys and a girl, each committing two murders?’ Julia wondered.

‘Sounds just about crazy enough to be true,’ Sabine said, followed by a long, slow exhalation.

Back at the station the three of them sat down to listen to the latest tape, after once again having it checked in vain for fingerprints.

‘Is anyone else getting a feeling of deja vu? Even if I say so myself I doing I’m doing an awesome job of sticking so rigidly to the same pattern. It goes without saying that this guy deserved to die. I’m sure if you’re honest none of you are too sad to see him go, particularly the ladies amongst you, Sabine and Julia. No prizes for working out that I’m half way through the English leg of my journey. I apologise for never really giving you any clues during these taped messages, I fully intended to but it’s just that I’m enjoying killing so much that I don’t want to make it easy for you to catch me. I’m looking forward to tonight’s murder, the fourth one is one of my favourites. Speak to you tomorrow then, bye for now.’

‘A psychotic serial killer knowing my name,’ Julia said. ‘That’s literally spine chilling,’ she added with a shake of the head.

‘You get used to it,’ Sabine replied.

‘I wonder if the fourth one being one of his favourites is some sort of clue,’ Tony said.

‘I think the first one is his real favourite. Maybe it’s just the manner of the fourth one that he likes the most,’ Sabine guessed.

‘So what now?’ Tony wondered. ‘Julia I’m now thinking we need to push the publicity on this one.’

‘Yeah I agree,’ Julia said. ‘I’ll make sure the “beware of the tall, slim American males” campaign gathers momentum.’

‘No news from any hotels reporting American guests matching that description?’ Sabine asked Julia.

‘No, not yet.’

‘They’re probably not even staying in a hotel,’ Sabine said, followed by puffing out her cheeks and a long, slow exhalation. ‘Maybe they’re sleeping in that van.’

‘Wouldn’t be surprised if they were,’ Tony said.

‘We’ve not really got a great deal to go on with the type of victim for the next murder, or the next two for that matter,’ Julia said.

‘Certainly nothing concrete, may as well warn everybody,’ Sabine agreed.

‘Something tells me it’ll be a warning that will go unheeded,’ Tony said.

‘Why are the mass public such morons?’ Julia asked rhetorically.

‘Because if they weren’t that would make our jobs far too easy,’ Tony replied with a little smile.

Chapter 14

Anna

Anna was sat in a comfy chair, the only other furniture in the room was an equally comfy chair which her female counsellor was sat in.

‘So do you feel ready to talk about the attacks today?’ The counsellor, who was holding a pad and pen, asked.

Anna picked her feet up so that they too were on the chair, and she curled up with her knees up to her chest and put one of her hands to her mouth so she could bite her finger nails.

‘Why do you call it that? ‘The attacks’, is that what they tell you to call it in counsellor training?’

‘We can call it whatever you want.’

‘Assault, it was assault, he assaulted me.’

‘All right Anna like I’ve told you before, don’t feel like you have to suppress your emotions. If you feel angry just let it out, if you want to scream and shout at me then do so.’

‘If I feel angry? If?’

‘Of course you feel angry, and you have every right to do so. I’m just saying that if there’s anything you’re feeling right now, whether it’s anger, hate, guilt or whatever, this is the room where you can say anything and not be judged on it.’

‘Guilt?’

‘I’m not saying you should feel guilty, just that a lot of women do feel guilty after going through something like that.’

‘Guilty? Yeah I’ve been there, for a while I felt like I’d done something wrong, then it occurred to me that the only thing I’ve done wrong was feel guilty.’

‘Completely correct.’

‘How old are you?’

‘I’m twenty four. I think they sometimes like to assign counsellors to patients of a similar age.’

‘Makes sense I suppose.’

‘Are you eating enough Anna?’

‘Sound just like my friends.’

‘You do look thin.’

‘I’ve always looked thin, I promise you I’m not anorexic or anything, I eat as much chocolate as the next girl.’

‘You still see your friends a lot?’

‘Not as much as I used too. When we get together, it’s usually for a night out and I’m not in the mood for them as much as I used to be.’

‘How many times did he assault you?’

‘I lost count, too many.’

‘When did it start?’

‘Just after I moved into his place.’

‘And how did it start?’

‘One night after a night out together, he wasn’t happy with the way I’d danced with some of his friends. At first I thought he was joking, but then he grabbed both my hands, and screamed in my face, calling me all sorts of horrible names. He grabbed me so hard that my arms had bruises on for days afterwards.’

‘Was he drunk?’

‘He was that night, but he wasn’t always drunk when he did it.’

‘Was it always because he was angry with something you did?’

‘Yeah, he always made it out that it was my fault,’ Anna’s eyes started to overflow with tears.

‘Keep going if you can Anna, you’re doing great.’

Anna very slowly ran her hands through her hair and then left them on the back of her head, tucking her chin in and bringing her elbows to touch each other. She held this position with her, still teary, eyes closed for about thirty seconds. Then she let her hands drop to her neck, opened her eyes and turned to face her counsellor. ‘Have you ever been assaulted?’

‘No I haven’t. If you want to talk to a counsellor who has been that can be arranged.’

‘No it’s okay, as long as you don’t mind listening to this.’

‘I want to listen to this, if it helps you to talk to somebody, then counsellor or not I’d love to be that somebody.’

‘It was usually something stupid like me being ten minutes late from work, not cooking dinner well enough or forgetting to do some chore. He would never absolutely beat the crap out of me and hardly ever touched my face. What he did do was leave me in absolutely no doubt that he could’ve beaten me to death anytime he wanted, and made me think that could happen any day. He’d mock me for being so weak compared to him and continually brag about how he had all the power and that he controlled and dominated me,’ Anna’s tears started to flow more readily. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t talk about it anymore. Maybe next week.’

‘That’s totally fine Anna, you did great. How do you feel about him now?’

‘I know prison is too good for him. I want him to die and I want to be there so I can drag him into hell.’

--------------------------------------

The roles were reversed from the night before, Anna getting ready for her murder and Natasha on hand to give any advice where required. Anna was sat in her dressing gown, adding the finishing touches to her subtle make-up when Natasha walked in.

‘Where’s the music?’ Natasha wondered.

‘Oh of course, how could I forget?’ Anna said then jumped to and went to get her iPod and set it to play the songs she wanted.

‘Love it,’ Natasha said with a smile as soon as the song “I’m going to start a fight” by Pink came on. ‘What’s the outfit going to be?’

‘I’m thinking something in black,’ Anna said. ‘Although you’ve probably guessed that much already,’ she added then went over to the wardrobe and took off her dressing gown.

‘What you’re wearing right now would definitely get the sort of male attention you’re after,’ Natasha commented on Anna’s black, lace underwear.

‘I’m sure it would, but it’s a little cold out there for that and I think that might get me a little too much attention,’ Anna said with a friendly smile.

‘True, not the best outfit for an incognito killer,’ Natasha acknowledged with a little smile.

‘I’m thinking this skirt,’ Anna said as she pulled a skirt out. ‘Short enough to be sexy, but loose enough to kick a guy’s head in.’

‘Good call.’

‘And this vest top, with my leather jacket over the top of it to begin with.’

‘Vest tops look great on you, showing off your gorgeously toned arms.’

‘I’m sure that’s exactly what guys think it shows off,’ Anna said with a little chuckle.

‘Most of them haven’t got the first clue what to appreciate about a woman.’

‘Too true honey. Then of course there are the boots,’ Anna said and held up her, almost knee high, boots.’

‘Ultimate “fuck me” boots,’ Natasha nodded and smiled. ‘Oh I’ve not heard this for ages,’ she added when “Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas came on.

‘A timeless classic,’ Anna said and started to slip into her skirt. She then pulled on her tight vest top, before going back to the mirror to check her make-up and hair.

‘Stunningly gorgeous,’ Natasha assured her.

‘Took the words right out of my mouth,’ Anna said then sat on the bed and started to put her boots on, unzipping them all the way down before sliding her foot in. Then slowly zipping it back up, and repeating the process on the other foot. Just as she stood up the next song came on, “These Boots are made for walking” by Nancy Sinatra.

‘Wonder who you’ll end up walking all over tonight?’ Natasha said.

‘It’ll be somebody that deserves it, that’s all that matters,’ Anna replied as she put on her leather jacket. ‘Let’s go and kill somebody,’ she added with a blank expression.

When the two ladies got to the top of the stairs Don was already there, about to make his way down.

‘Hey sugar, looking outrageously sexy as always,’ he said to Anna.

‘Call me sugar one more time and we won’t have to go out to find my second victim,’ Anna snapped back and fixed Don with a glare.

‘Whoah, someone is primed for action!’ Don replied.

‘Seriously, just leave me alone,’ Anna said as she made her way downstairs.

Once again the six of them headed out in the van. They found an area that was somewhere in between where they had been the previous two nights, in terms affluence, but it was nearer to where Justin found his victim than where Natasha had found hers in that regard.

‘That place looks perfect,’ Anna said as Scott drove slowly past a pub. ‘That alley to the side is just what I need.’

Scott found somewhere to park close to this pub and the whole gang made their way to the drinking establishment. Anna led the way into what turned out to be a busy place, which looked like it was halfway between an old fashioned pub and a new fangled bar.

‘Oh yeah, I’m sure I can find somebody here,’ Anna said as the others joined her inside. ‘There’s even a dance floor, for me to reel in my prey,’ she added as she slipped off her jacket and found somewhere for them to sit.

‘I’ll get the drinks,’ Scott said and took everyone’s orders then went to the bar with Justin as the other four sat down around a table.

Anna only needed one drink before she was up on the dance floor, dancing alone, but fully aware of all the male attention she was getting. The other five watched on from their seated position as Anna set about weaving her web to catch a fly.

After about ten minutes of Anna dancing, one man plucked up the courage to go over to her and make it perfectly clear that she had caught his attention. He came up close to her and started dancing with her.

‘I believe that a way a person dances relates strongly to the way they have sex,’ he leant over and said into Anna’s right ear.

‘I hope for the sake of any woman who’s ever fucked you that’s wrong,’ Anna said loudly.

He cracked a smile and produced a little laugh. ‘In my case I’m far better at the sex.’

‘Let me guess,’ Anna said. ‘You want to prove it to me.’

‘I’d love to.’

‘Why don’t we go outside, so we can hear each other without shouting,’ Anna suggested.

‘Works for me, I’m just going to go to the toilet first,’ he said and pointed towards the toilets.

‘That’s fine, I’ll see you out there.’

When he’d gone into the toilet Anna went back over to the gang and slipped her jacket back on.

‘Target selected?’ Natasha checked.

‘Maybe, I’m going to take him outside and get to know him a little better.’

‘He’s kind of a big guy,’ Justin said. ‘You sure you can handle him?’

‘Not the size of the dog in the fight Justin, you know that,’ Anna replied.

‘I’ll follow you out after a minute or so, to keep an eye on proceedings,’ Natasha told Anna.

‘Thanks sweetie. One way or another, this won’t take long,’ Anna said then headed out of the pub.

She waited by the entrance to the pub for less than a minute before the man she’d danced with joined her.

‘Come on, let’s go down here,’ Anna said and headed down the side of the pub where there was a dimly lit alley.

‘Hell yeah, always wanted to do it out the back of a place like this,’ he said with a broad grin as he followed Anna, who got about half way down the alley and then leant back against the wall of the pub.

‘I suggested we should go outside so that we could hear each other better, and somehow you heard “follow me outside for a quick fuck”,’ Anna said.

‘Oh come on honey, you don’t have to be ashamed about it.’

‘Ashamed about what?’

‘About wanting sex with a stranger, even outdoors,’ he said as he stood close to her, face to face, with a hand on the wall either side of Anna’s head.

‘What has made you think I want sex with you?’

‘Look at what you’re wearing for one thing, then there’s the way you showed off that amazing figure of yours on the dance floor and now you’ve invited me to come with you down a dark alley.’

‘To talk.’

‘Yeah right.’

‘So you’re saying any attractive woman who doesn’t want to have sex needs to dress extremely conservatively and never dance in public?’

‘I’m saying any girl who looks like you, dresses like you and acts like you, not only deserves to be fucked, but wants to be fucked. I know you weren’t particularly looking for me tonight, but be honest, when you we slipping on this outfit at home, you were thinking about having sex. And when you started dancing you were thinking about all the guys in the pub who would be wanting to have sex with you.’

‘I’m smiling because I know you have no idea how wrong you are.’

‘The only talking you really want me to do is dirty talking, about just how much I want to fuck you and all the things I’m going to do to you.’

‘All the things you are going to do to me? Whether I want you to or not?’ Anna checked.

‘Don’t make this out to be some sort of rape,’ he said. ‘Although I reckon you’ll be one of those girls that have a big time rape fantasy,’ he said as he grabbed both Anna’s shoulders.

‘You can’t have a rape fantasy, it’s an oxymoron you fucking idiot. Trust me, no girl wants to be raped.’

‘You know what I mean,’ he said and leaned in to kiss her.

‘So no means yes?’ Anna said as she leaned her head away from him until it was touching the wall.

‘Exactly.’

‘You are going to regret this for the rest of your life, good news is there’s only about three minutes of your life left, and the better news is you’ll be unconscious for two of them,’ Anna said then licked her lips as a wicked smile came across her face.

‘What?!’ He asked with a little shake of his head, then Anna forcefully lifted her right knee into the place where he was hoping to soon experience the ultimate pleasure, instead he felt just about the worst pain any man ever can. He doubled over in pain and staggered backwards a little, Anna pushed him back further away from her. She took a moment to appreciate the sight of him in pain and gasping for air, then grabbed him by the throat and ran him back into the wall behind him, slamming his back into the wall before letting go of his throat. He let out a cry of pain and then started to slide down the wall.

‘Stand up you sick son of a bitch,’ Anna said and grabbed his hair with one hand and put the other hand under one of his arms and lifted him to an upright position. ‘You ever fantasise about this?’ She said as she held him by the throat and put her face and inch away from his. Anna took a step back then picked her right foot up so high that she could put it on his throat, pinning him against the wall with it. Her foot was now a little higher than her head, but she was more than capable of holding that position for a long time. He gasped for air and grabbed at her foot with both hands, but couldn’t move it.

‘I’ve heard that rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power,’ Anna said as she held her foot to his throat. ‘Who has the power now?’

After about a minute Anna dropped her foot down and took a few steps back away from him. She watched him stagger around, stood with her hands on the top of her thighs and smiling in anticipation of what was about to happen. When one of his staggering steps took him closer to Anna she took one step closer to him and executed her favourite combat move perfectly, a kick to his head, slamming the sole of her right boot into his face. Sent crashing to the floor, flat on his back, either the kick or the impact on the concrete knocked him unconscious. Anna rolled him over so that he was face down, then stood up, ran her hands through her long hair and then reached into the back of her skirt and pulled out a folded up stocking. Slowly putting one foot either side of his motionless body, Anna then bent down, wrapped the stocking around his throat and started to squeeze. She pulled tighter and tighter, feeling the throat constrict and the life leaving him, kept going for far longer than was needed, to make absolutely sure he was dead but also because there was nothing else she’d rather be doing right then.

As Anna stood up and stuffed the stocking back down the back of her skirt, Natasha walked up to her.

‘Here’s your tape,’ Natasha said.

‘Oh thanks,’ Anna replied and took the tape from Natasha and placed it at the side of the body.

‘You okay?’ Natasha checked.

‘Yeah sure,’ Anna said as she put her fingers gently to her moist eyes. ‘Killing someone is proving to be quite an emotional experience for me.’

Natasha gave Anna a hug and said; ‘You can cry if you want to, I cry every night.’

Anna held the hug for a while before breaking away. ‘I know, even big girls cry,’ she said as she wiped away a few tears. ‘It’s just fucking men pissing me off,’ she managed a little laugh.

‘Right there with you,’ Natasha said with a smile.

‘This is probably my raw emotions talking, combined with my complete hatred of men in general,’ Anna said. ‘But you’re looking hotter than ever!’

Natasha produced a little laugh of her own. ‘God knows we both have reasons to look for alternatives to guys, but I really don’t think I want to be getting into a relationship with a psychotic killer right now, no offence.’

‘Oh none taken, come to think of it, neither do I,’ Anna smiled.

‘Let’s get the guys and get out of here,’ Natasha suggested.

‘You’ve got my vote.’

Whilst Anna and Natasha were outside, Don had gone to the bar to get the next round of drinks. As soon as he got to the bar the woman serving asked who was next. Don didn’t notice anybody waiting to be served so he gave the barmaid his order.

‘Hang on a second pal, in this pub we have a queuing system to determine who’s next. We don’t just go on who’s got the loudest voice,’ a local regular at the pub informed Don with a mix of confidence and anger.

‘All right calm down, I didn’t see you there. Hard though that is to believe,’ Don replied.

‘Are you saying I’m fat?’ The local checked aggressively.

‘I wasn’t saying you’re fat, just that you were an imposing figure. Is that your wife over there?’

‘Yeah so what?’

‘That’s what I call fat!’

‘Right you bastard, that’s it,’ he told Don and then let fly with a big right handed punch.

Don managed to sway sufficiently to avoid the full force of the punch but he still caught enough of it to knock him down. Don quickly picked himself up then he charged towards the man who had just punched him, who was also advancing on Don. Instead of going for a straightforward punch Don decided to tackle the guy rugby style and drive him into the floor. Once he had completed the tackle Don, who was now on top of the big man, started to throw a succession of punches with his right hand into the face. Noticing that Don had got himself into a skirmish, Scott, Justin and Ronny all went over to stop the fight and prevent Don from drawing any unwanted attention. Just as they got up to intervene two friends of the man Don was fighting with also rose from their seats and set off to get involved in the clash. Both small groups noticed each other advancing on the fighting duo. Justin went over to one of the two friends to stop him from getting to Don. His excellent combat skills were efficiently nullified by the other friend swinging a bar stool into his face, with enough impact to smash the stool into three or four pieces not to mention send Justin crashing to the floor with a bad nose bleed. All thoughts of not drawing attention to themselves disappeared from Scott’s mind as he saw Justin flying backwards onto the floor. He hurled himself at the one who swung the stool, knocked him and himself to the ground and the two of them began to grapple on the floor. Ronny liked a good fight but he wasn’t a good fighter. He swung wildly at the other friend who easily ducked under his flailing fist and responded with a quick jab of his own with his left hand. This sent Ronny stumbling backwards. He tripped over Justin, who was still lay on the floor, and he bumped into a bystander at the bar. The collision caused this bystander to spill his drink all over himself. Obviously being another character who liked a good old fashioned brawl, this guy grabbed Ronny by the neck and picked him up and hurled him just a yard or two back in the direction he came from. Justin noticed this and managed to get to his feet although he was still somewhat disorientated. He managed to throw a punch at this guy who had just thrown Ronny. Fortunately for this guy the impact of the stool was still having an effect on Justin so he wasn’t up to his usual standard when it came to combat. Which enabled the guy to block the punch and throw his own, the two of them continued to slug it out as the brawl spread virtually throughout the pub.

Just as Anna and Natasha walked through the door the brawl was just reaching its most frenetic. Ronny had just got up and was trading blows with a friend of the one who had just thrown him to the ground, whilst that man was still both enduring and enjoying his fight with Justin. The two ladies just stood and watched the outburst of violence develop, their attention was drawn to Justin’s particular fight. Both of them were stunned that he wasn’t winning easily and moving on to the next man. Anna and Natasha watched on as Justin was aggressively pushed backward into the bar, then his opponent threw himself at Justin and caught him with a swinging arm. This action sent both men over to the floor on the serving side of the bar. First to emerge was Justin but only because he was being lifted up and then thrown back over to the customer side of the bar by the guy he’d been grappling with, who then jumped onto the bar and launched himself off there onto Justin. Making sure he landed elbow first onto Justin’s sternum, he effectively ended their little conflict. Anna decided that this was a good time to enter into the chaos. She went straight over to the guy who had been throwing Justin around, he was looking for the best place to start a new fight. When he caught sight of Anna his mind switched to physical contact of another kind.

‘Hi there, you look pretty impressive,’ she told him in her most feminine voice.

‘Me kettle you pot.’

‘Oh witty too, I love that in a guy,’ Anna replied then delivered a vicious right upper cut, which snapped his head back and caused him to stagger away from Anna. When he steadied himself and began to take a slow step towards Anna he managed to get out a surprised, ‘You bitch’, she smiled then once again perfectly executed her favourite combat move, the high kick to the head. Even though this man was comfortably over six foot, Anna still managed to kick him in the face, the heel of her leather boots smashing into his mouth. Just as with her victim, this kick sent the man backwards and onto his back. Instead of the usual unconscious state he remained awake and mentally sharp enough to respond with a counter move of his own. Anna walked slowly towards him, as soon as she got right up to him he grabbed both her feet with his hands and pulled them sufficiently enough to put Anna in a similar horizontal position as him. After the initial moment of shock at hitting the floor Anna turned to look at the guy who’d put her there. Both of them looked at each other with a fascinating combination of physical attraction and spite. Before anything else could happen between them Natasha grabbed Anna, picked her up and dragged her towards the pub door.

‘See you later babe,’ he said to Anna as he remained lay out on the floor.

‘You bet honey,’ Anna responded, they both smiled at each other as Natasha dragged Anna away.

Natasha had already checked that Justin was all right and then got him out of the pub.

‘What’s your problem?’ Anna asked when Natasha when they got outside the pub. ‘We’re having fun in there.’

‘This is a pub brawl,’ Natasha replied.

‘Yeah.’

‘That means the police will be here soon and we have got better reasons than most for avoiding them.’

‘Good thinking honey, we better get the other three out of there.’

‘Right I’ll get Ronny you get Scott and Justin can get Don.’

‘Now that’s what I call a good night out!’ Anna exclaimed once they were all back in the van.

‘I have to agree, that was fun and the best bit is I’ve picked out my victim for tomorrow,’ Don added.

‘A good night all round then,’ Scott commented.

‘That bastard broke my nose,’ Justin said as he tried to stop the flow of blood from his nose.

‘Don’t worry it won’t take anything away from your looks,’ Anna assured Justin.

‘Oh well then that’s okay, in fact I believe the pain is easing already,’ he replied, shaking his head.

As Scott pulled away from his parking place two police vehicles arrived. One was a normal squad car the other was a van, which they intended to fill with anybody involved in the brawl.

‘It’s a good job one of us keeps a clear head all the time,’ Natasha said as the police vehicles screeched to a halt outside the pub.

‘Yeah I have to admit that we all owe you one,’ Scott conceded. ‘Although I was just about to start getting out of there anyway.’

‘Yeah right,’ Natasha said.

---------------------------------------

Anna

Anna rushed in through the bar door, then scanned the crowded bar for her old gang of friends. Eventually she spotted them sat around a table in the far corner of the bar, and made her way over to them.

‘Oh wow you finally grace us with your presence,’ one of them said when Anna got right up to them, then stood up to give Anna a hug.

‘You should feel honoured that I’ve found time to be with you guys,’ Anna said after the hug was finished.

They had saved Anna a seat, which she duly sat in, and the six of them chatted away for the next hour or so. All of them managed to sensitively avoid the subject of boyfriends and relationships in general, but there were still plenty of other things to talk about, clothes, holidays, celebrity gossip and music to name a few. Anna was the least vocal of the six of them, but she did make some contributions to each discussion topic.

After that hour or so had passed, four of them got up to dance, Caroline stayed behind with Anna.

‘So how are you doing?’ Caroline asked as soon as the others had gone.

‘I’m doing fine,’ Anna replied quickly.

‘You seem to be mistaking me for somebody else, so I’ll introduce myself, I’m Caroline, your best friend, the one you tell everything to. At least I used to be.’

‘Oh Caroline, you still are I promise. I’m sorry we haven’t seen each other much lately, but I promise I’m doing okay, it’s just that I’m busy, it’s not like I’m sat at home crying every night.’

‘Busy can be good, and what your busy with is great, but I have to say I’m a little worried about just how busy you are with it. Let me see if I can remember your weekly schedule, self defence class on Monday nights, kung fu on Tuesdays and Thursdays, kick boxing on Wednesday, karate on Fridays and hours in the gym on the weekend.’

‘You are good,’ Anna said with a little smile.

‘I’ve never pretended to be Sigmund Freud, but I don’t think I need to be to work out what’s going on.’

‘I was put in a terrible situation in my life, a situation I never want to be in ever again and I’m doing my best to make sure I never am.’

‘And I’m so proud of you for taking such a strong response, but don’t forget to live too. I don’t want you making the rest of your life being about what that son of a bitch did to you. It’s obviously created a lot of anger in you, which of course is understandable, but I’m just worried that the anger could take control of you.’

‘You’re such a sweetie for looking out for me, but really I’m fine. You should come to one of my classes, you’ll see how much fun it is.’

‘Don’t see that happening anytime soon,’ Caroline said. ‘I have to admit, you are looking even more amazing than you used to do, but I really don’t think I’m the combat sort of girl.’

‘It is such a good stress reliever too,’ Anna said.

‘I can imagine, but I prefer other, more fun ways of relieving stress.’

‘Right now the only contact with guys I can imagine having involves giving them pain, not pleasure.’

‘Seriously Anna, look out for that anger,’ Caroline made a point of making strong eye contact with Anna.

‘I will do Caroline, or should I say Master Yoda.’

‘I’m far better looking than him!’ Caroline replied.

‘But not quite as cute,’ Anna laughed. ‘Come on let’s have a dance.’

The two of them joined the other four on the dance floor.