Chapter 22
“Alright,
thanks for letting me know.” Detective Chief Inspector Austin replaced the receiver
then looked at the ashen-faced woman sitting opposite him. “Carry on with what
you were saying, Miss Wade.”
Nikki
cleared her throat nervously and Karen, whose office they were still in,
thoughtfully handed her a glass of water. Nikki looked at her smiling her
thanks. Cars had been despatched to her house and Helen’s flat, she had
overheard the Inspector telling Karen, but she didn’t know what was happening
and it was almost killing her. “That call, was it about Helen…Miss Stewart?”
“All
in due course, Miss Wade.”
“Just
bloody tell me, will you?” she demanded angrily.
“Everything
is under control, Miss Wade,” Austin replied non-committally. “Please
continue.”
“Bastard!”
she said almost inaudibly.
“Miss
Wade?” Austin looked at her questioningly.
“Sorry.”
She took a sip of the water. “When I got to the club Edwards…Sergeant Edwards
had got her over a table. He was trying to rape her. I tried to pull him off
her and he turned on me.” As she took another sip of water she heard a door open
and Karen moved out of her line of sight. “He started slapping me around then
he put his hand on my throat and started choking the life out of me. The next
thing I knew Trish came up behind him and stuck a broken bottle in his neck.
She just freaked out but I couldn’t do anything to help her. Edwards fell on me
and I banged my head on one of the tables and I was knocked out. When I came
round Trish was sitting in a heap on the floor whimpering. I pulled the bottle
out of his neck and tried to stop the bleeding. We heard the police sirens and
I told Trish to let me do all the talking. When the police came into the club
they jumped to the obvious conclusion, that I had killed him.”
“And
you did nothing to dissuade them of that fact. You must have loved Miss Johnson
very much to take the blame,” Austin looked at her a sly smirk on his face.
Nikki
put the glass down on the desk with an angry thud. She took a deep breath
trying to bring her rising anger under control. “I didn’t love her at all,
Inspector. I hadn’t done for years but we were friends and she relied on me for
everything. I knew she wouldn’t be able to cope with a prison sentence however
short.”
“And
you were able?”
“Not
at first,” she said softly. “I was in shock and rebelled against everything and
everybody. As far as I was concerned it was self defence I thought I’d get off
or receive a light sentence but the judge decided to make an example of me and
gave me ten bloody years!” she ended bitterly. She stood up and banged her fist
on the desk. “Now, if you’ve finished asking stupid bloody questions,
Inspector, why don’t you get off your fat arse…”
“Nikki,
don’t.”
She
whirled round. Helen was standing – only just, with Karen’s support – at the
back of the room looking like death. A sob escaped her and she stumbled into
Nikki’s waiting arms.
“Glad
to see you’re safe, Miss Stewart,” Austin said politely as he rose to his feet.
“Miss Wade do you have anything else to tell us?”
Nikki
looked at him over the top of Helen’s head. “I did try and help him,
Inspector.”
“There
will have to be an investigation into what you have told us but if Miss Johnson
corroborates your story I don’t see any reason why you should be incarcerated
any longer than necessary.”
“I’ll
see you out, Chief Inspector,” Karen offered.
When
they were alone Nikki hugged Helen tightly to her. “I am so sorry for putting
you in danger.”
“It
doesn’t matter.” She reached up and touched the face she loved so much.
“Helen,
maybe I shouldn’t be asking you this but…”
“Trish
is fine, Nikki. The police were questioning her when I left. She admitted
everything,” Helen told her gently. “I can’t believe it, all this time you let
me think you’d done it.”
“How
much did you hear?”
“Enough.
Why didn’t you tell me the truth when I asked?”
“How
could I? Be honest, Helen, you wouldn’t have let me serve another minute behind
bars if you thought I was innocent. Would you?”
“No,
I wouldn’t,” she said decisively.
“And
that’s why I couldn’t tell you.”
“Did
you mean what you said about not loving Trish?”
Nikki
nodded. “We met when Trish was only seventeen. She was beautiful and everyone
wanted her so I had to have her. We were happy for a while then I realised what
a dreadful mistake I’d made. Trish was beautiful but she didn’t have a heart.”
“Whereas
yours is as big as a bucket,” Helen interposed lovingly.
Nikki
stroked her hair gently and Helen groaned as caressing fingers brushed against
the bump on her head. “What’s wrong?” Nikki demanded seeing the look of pain on
Helen’s face. “Did she hurt you?”
“She
knocked me out.” She swayed slightly. “The police wanted to take me to hospital
but I wouldn’t go. I wanted to see you.”
“From
now on I’m going to take care of you, Helen Stewart.”
“No,
you’re not! This is a partnership we’ve got, Nikki. We’ll take care of each
other.”
“Well,
I’m taking you to the Infirmary. You could have concussion.” She slid a
protective arm around Helen’s shoulders and guided her towards the door just as
Karen came in. “Helen’s hurt, Miss Betts,” Nikki informed her. “Can we get her
down to the Infirmary?”
“Are
you alright, Helen?” Karen asked worriedly.
“I’m
fine. Stop fussing you two,” she argued but was glad of their support. Her legs
felt like jelly.
In
the Infirmary the nurse tended to Helen’s head before telling her to go to
hospital for a check-up the following morning. She was found a prison issue
nightie and installed in one of the beds. “Karen, would you let Nikki stay with
me, please?” Helen begged.
“Well,
technically she is still a prisoner,” Karen began hesitantly then saw the looks
on both their faces. “But theoretically she is innocent. Shit, Nikki, why is
nothing ever easy where you’re concerned?”
Nikki
smiled sheepishly.
“Alright,”
Karen relented. “But, Nikki, behave!”
When
they were alone Helen moved up so Nikki could sit on the edge of the bed. “When
is that coming off?” She indicated Nikki’s plaster cast.
“In
a couple of days then I’ll probably have to have physio…”
Helen
leaned forward and pressed her mouth against Nikki’s. “I’ve been wanting to do
that for ages,” she said softly as she drew back. “When I thought I’d never see
you again.” She shuddered.
“I
felt so useless stuck in here.”
“It
won’t be for much longer then you’ll be coming home to me.” She laid her hand
against Nikki’s cheek. Nikki turned her head and kissed the palm of Helen’s
hand.
“I
know we’ve talked about being together when I get out but I don’t want to rush
you into anything. We don’t have to live together straight away, not if you
don’t want.” Nikki’s heart sank but she knew she had to put her thoughts into
words. It was alright planning for ten years away but now it might only be a
matter of weeks.
“I
do have doubts, Nikki. We hardly know anything about each other. I’m a
miserable sod when I get up in the morning, I leave the top off the toothpaste,
I lose things all the time.”
Nikki
smiled patiently. “Just as long as you don’t leave the bog seat up!”
“Well,
that’s alright then. There is just one other thing that worries me.”
“And
what’s that?”
“Where
are we going to live? Your house or my flat?”
“Would
you be offended if I asked you to come and live in my house? I bought it
because I wanted to make a home for myself and find someone to share it with me
but Trish and I never lived there as a couple. Not once,” she said hurriedly.
“She only moved in with me a month before the killing. She’d trashed the flat
we used to live in and was thrown out.”
Helen
frowned. “How have you managed to keep the house on whilst you’ve been in
prison?”
“My
business partner has been paying all the bills,” she explained.
“Business
partner? I’m impressed.”
“Don’t
be. Jack’s a little old guy I love dearly. We built up a sub-contracting
business together and he’s been running it whilst I’ve been in here.”
“You’re
full of surprises, Nikki Wade,” Helen laughed. “Anymore I should know about?”
Nikki
shook her head. “I’m pretty boring really.”
Helen
linked her arms round Nikki’s neck. “I wouldn’t say that,” she said softly.
“I’ve always found you pretty exciting myself.” She sought Nikki’s lips,
opening her mouth and letting her tongue brush against them.
Nikki
moaned as she opened her mouth and their tongues touched. She pulled Helen hard
against her and they kissed feverishly. She groaned softly as she felt Helen
start to withdraw.
“Nikki,
Karen said you’d got to behave,” Helen said harshly. She leaned her head
against Nikki trying to control her breathing. “Why don’t you get into bed and
we’ll get some sleep?”
Reluctantly,
Nikki stood up and kicked off her shoes as she drew back the bedclothes. “Not
with your clothes on,” Helen said irritably. “Do you want to look as if you’ve
slept in them all night?”
“You’re
a bossy cow, Helen Stewart!” Nikki snapped as she pulled off her trousers. She
folded them neatly then as one final act of rebellion dropped them onto the
floor. She got into bed and lay looking up at the ceiling.
Helen
pushed herself up onto one elbow and leaned over and kissed her. Her hand went up
under Nikki’s T-shirt and caressed her breasts through the plain cotton bra
then she ran her hand down Nikki’s stomach and slid inside her underwear.
“Helen,”
Nikki gasped as she felt the hand between her legs. “Miss Betts said I had to
behave.”
“Aye,”
Helen agreed. “But she didn’t tell me I had to behave!”