Four Lives: Part Six

~ beetleypete

This is the sixth part of a fiction serial, in 832 words.
**Contains some swearing.**

The police told Marian that they couldn’t send anyone for up to three hours, and suggested she take her sister into the nearest police station to make a statement. But she was in no mood to be messed about, and insisted they come to her when they were available. Both her and Ros had already written off being able to go into work the next day, so it didn’t matter how long they sat up that night. She made a pot of strong coffee, and gave her sister some thick pyjamas to wear so she looked decent when they showed up.

It was well after midnight when two cops arrived. One was a stern-looking woman, the other a boyish-looking young policeman who didn’t really seem to know what to do. The stern woman took charge.

“So, have I got this right? You got into the car of an ex-boyfriend who wanted to take you for a meal in London. Then you took off your seat belt as he was braking hard in traffic on the A1 and hit your face on the dash? Later on, you jumped out of the car in North London and took a taxi to your sister’s flat here. Is that about it?”

Marian jumped in, raising her voice.

“No, that’s not right. She got in a car thinking it was a taxi, and when it turned out to be some bloke she had been on one date with ages ago, she wanted to get out. But he drove off fast, and when she was finally able to get out of the car, he grabbed her so hard she cut her head. You should be sending people to arrest the bastard, not mocking my sister”. Ros started crying again, and the young policeman stared out of the window of the flat, looking awkward. The stern woman sighed.

“Someone will go and get his side of it, I assure you. But see it from my point of view, if you can. What had he actually done, other than to pick her up from work and try to take her to dinner? He didn’t take off her seatbelt, and he may well have grabbed her to stop her getting out of the car, but that was at a busy junction where she could have been run over. That’s going to be his side of it, I promise you”. Marian was furious, and Ros carried on crying.

“If that’s the best you can do, then you might as well fuck off!”

The policewoman stood up, and wrote something on a pad. “I will ring you tomorrow with a crime reference number, then update you once someone has spoken to this Fowler bloke. If I were you, I would take photos of the injuries, and take your sister to see a doctor tomorrow”.

With that, they took their leave. Marian looked at her sister, who was shaking and crying on the sofa.

“Let’s get some sleep, you can share my bed tonight. I’m going to take the photos in the morning. Give me a number for your work, and I will ring them early to say you can’t come in. I have to get up anyway, to call my boss”.

Although she had set an alarm for seven, the phone rang thirty minutes before that, waking her up. Ros was still fast asleep next to her.

“Mrs Davidson? It’s Constable Hall here, I spoke to you last night in your flat. I have heard back from the county police, five minutes ago. As I suspected, they are not prepared to charge Fowler with anything. He says he had arranged to pick your sister up after work and take her out, but she became angry and aggressive on the way, took her seatbelt off and tried to get out of his car on a busy road. He braked in a panic, and she hit her face. So he wanted to take her to a hospital to get her looked at, but she jumped out of the car at Millhill Circus. He tried to stop her because it was so dangerous, and she caught the back of her head on the door frame”.

Trying to talk over her got Marian nowhere, and she carried on.

“He says he tried to find her, but couldn’t stop anywhere on that main road. He rang her mobile number numerous times to see if she was okay, the local police confirm they saw the dialled calls on his phone list. But he couldn’t get through to her. Now I know what your sister told you, but it will just be his word against hers, and any CCTV from the shopping mall will show her getting into the car of her own volition. Sorry, but that’s the real world. He won’t be arrested on this occasion. If you have a pen handy, I can give you the reference number”.

Too angry to reply, Marian hung up.

34 thoughts on “Four Lives: Part Six”

  8. (1) Marian “gave her sister some thick pyjamas to wear so she looked decent when they showed up.” Doesn’t Marian have a clothes dryer? (On the bright side, Constable Hall did compliment Rosalind’s pajamas.)
    (2) I once met a stern-looking woman on a cruise ship. But she smiled when I took off my hat in order to bow.
    (3) “It was well after midnight when two cops arrived.” I’ve often wondered at what time of morning “well after midnight” no longer applies.
    (4) Rosalind actually chose Lee’s car over a taxi that was clearly marked as such. However, she’d noticed that the taxi driver looked a lot like Robert De Niro.
    (5) Bad citation: “If I were you, I would take photos of the injuries. Add some ketchup, and use some makeup to make those bruises shine. Take your sister to see a doctor tomorrow, but slip a few quid under the table so that he’ll agree to exaggerate the severity of the injuries. That’s the best advice I can give you.”
    (6) Rosalind jumped out of the car at Millhill Circus. After looking around in vain for a circus pony, camel, or elephant to ride, she settled on a taxi, but only because the driver looked like Marilu Henner.

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    1. It can be very tricky to prosecute when it is the word of one person against another, with no independent witnesses. Until they become a victim of crime, most people do not realise this.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. The awful thing is that some unspeakable people make false claims deliberately. They are the worst kind of criminal along with those who steal identities. What sickens me most is that children have learned to play the system and once an accusation of abuse has been made, it can never be completely removed even if the accusation is retracted. I knew a guy who went to prison, falsely accused. He was later released but how do you erase that? What is the answer? Certainly not making abortion and birth control illegal. Gad.

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        1. Most of the problem lies with the Crown Prosecution Service. They are always reluctant to proceed with cases that are one person’s word against another. Nobody can be charged for anything, without their agreement.

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