A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [86]
He didn’t know what to say to her. He kept clutching her to him, rubbing her back as she cried, kissing her face, even apologizing for not knowing what to say.
‘I don’t know what to say either,’ she cried, clinging to him.
He washed and changed his clothes, then made them both a cup of tea and sat down with her on his lap, but his eyes constantly strayed to the window. There were five police cars in the road now and the area along the front of number 11 was cordoned off. As the police searched the house, more and more people were arriving in the street to look, and the noise they made wafted up to Dan and Fifi and engulfed them both.
They heard Frank arrive back, and voices shrill with an ugly kind of excitement telling him what had happened. Soon afterwards Miss Diamond came home too, and it was all repeated.
‘They are all feeding on it,’ Fifi whispered. ‘Like sharks coming in for the kill. A little girl is dead, and they can’t even be quiet and show a little respect.’
Both Frank and Miss Diamond at least came in quickly. Dan and Fifi could hear their muffled voices down in the hall.
‘I don’t want to see them,’ Fifi said in panic, knowing they were probably discussing whether they should come up to her or not.
‘I’ll go,’ Dan said, lifting her up in his arms. He put her back in the chair and ruffled her hair affectionately. ‘I’ll ring the doctor while I’m at it.’
‘I don’t need a doctor, only you,’ Fifi said, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. ‘What can he do but give me something to sleep?’
‘Maybe that’s what you need,’ Dan said, looking very anxious.
Fifi shook her head. ‘No, I want to be awake when they get back.’
Dan slipped down to Frank and Miss Diamond. He spoke in a low voice and although Fifi could not hear what anyone was saying, she sensed the tone of sympathy in both Frank and Miss Diamond’s replies.
Dan came back with a brandy bottle. ‘Frank said you’re to have some of this,’ he said. ‘Miss Diamond has gone in with him, they’re both shaky and stunned and neither of them wants to be alone.’
Fifi had never liked the taste of brandy, but she drank it anyway, grateful for the way it soothed the jitters inside her. Dan made himself a sandwich but found he couldn’t eat it. He stood at the window looking down at the people in the street and a tear rolled down his cheek.
‘I should never have brought you here,’ he said after a few moments of silence. ‘In fact I should have disappeared after that day I went to tea at your house. I’ve brought you nothing but misery.’
‘That’s not true,’ Fifi retorted. ‘I’ve had more happiness since I met you than I had in my whole life before. What happened over there is nothing to do with us, Dan. If I hadn’t been such a busybody someone else would’ve found her.’
‘I wish it hadn’t been you,’ he said, looking round at her. ‘I’m afraid of what it will do to you.’
They sat in silence by the window, watching as daylight gradually faded. It was a beautiful sunset, the sky turning red, with shades of purple through to mauve and pink.
They didn’t turn on any lights, just stayed rooted in their chairs holding hands. As it became dark they could see into the Muckles’ house, for all the lights were on there. Figures flitted from room to room, presumably conducting a thorough search. A little later they saw bright flashes in the top window, perhaps from a camera, and a man who could have been a police doctor, as he had a kind of medical bag, left and drove away. An ambulance arrived, two men went into the house and emerged only minutes later carrying a covered stretcher. Two policemen positioned outside the house spoke harshly to the onlookers who had come closer to look, and they melted back as if ashamed of themselves.
One by one the lights at number 11 were turned off. The two police at the door ordered people