Reprobates by RC Bridgestock Page A

the house. It appears he has suffered stab wounds. Could you send further assistance to secure and preserve the scene and will you inform on-duty CID?’
    He knew that the detectives on arrival would take charge of the crime scene.
    Jane Simpson would soon be on her way to Harrowfield Hospital for her injuries to be treated but since she was responsible for a person’s death it was only a matter of time before she would have to be arrested. It was decided that PC Druce would travel with her for continuity. When she rang in on the three nines she had told Richard Pauley that she had stabbed the intruder – he was dead.
    ‘I ’ll need a duty statement from you,’ PC Druce told the paramedics. ‘And CID will need to speak to you later. I’ll also need Ms Simpson’s clothing for exhibit purposes.’
    It was essential that they took samples from her with her consent, but before she was cleaned up they needed to secure any contact evidence that there might be. PC Druce turned to her, ‘When you rang nine, nine, nine you told them you stabbed the intruder?’ He cautioned her.
    ‘Yes, ’ she said, breathlessly. Her eyes had a vagueness about them. ‘I don’t understand.’ She looked confused and dishevelled.
    ‘ The intruder is dead apparently from stab wounds, so therefore I am arresting you on suspicion of murder,’ he said to her.
    ‘I ’m not a murderer,’ she said turning her head quickly from side to side. Her eyes looked wild and full of anger. ‘This is a bloody nightmare,’ she said, over and over again. ‘He was going to kill me... I had to stop him.’ There was blood on her lip and a little on her chin.
    The male paramedic and PC Druce exchanged glances over the woman ’s head. She was a rather anaemic woman, the paramedic thought seeing her lying on the bed in the ambulance. PC Gavin Druce sat opposite her on a chair and buckled his seatbelt. The ambulance doors were closed.
    Vicky Hardacre was the on-duty CID supervision. Although she had passed her exams for the rank of Sergeant, she had to await the next round of promotion boards before being considered substantive, which meant in the meantime Detective Inspector Jack Dylan could request her to be in his team as an acting Detective Sergeant, and headquarters had approved the request. This incident meant she would now get her first taste of what the additional pressures and stresses were that came with that role. It was her first opportunity to prove to everyone she was competent.
    Acting Detective Sergeant Hardacre felt very alone. She arrived at the scene with Detective Constable Wormald. Whilst she had attended murder scenes on numerous occasions, this was different. She was the most senior police officer at this scene and she was aware that others would look to her for direction. She was now the one responsible for making decisions and she had to record why she’d made them. Afterwards people would judge her on how she dealt with the issues that arose here and now and the judgement calls she made on the spur of the moment. That was afterwards, in their nice cosy offices where there was no hurry about their task. Her first job as supervision was a murder. It couldn’t get more serious. She was in no doubt that she was under the microscope.
    ‘ Guess it’s sink or bloody swim, Andy,’ she said as they got out of the unmarked vehicle. Her heart was pounding and not used to feeling hurried she felt the immediate rush of adrenalin.
    ‘ Sarge,’ Andy Wormald said respectfully.
    PC Hand updated them both with a sallow and expressionless face. Vicky was aware of his eyes fixed upon her. In her entire career no one had spoken so directly to her, or so it seemed. They ’d talked at her, over her, through her, around her but never in a way he did now that she was the most senior rank at the incident. It felt strange.
    ‘ PC Druce is on route to the hospital in the ambulance with Jane Simpson, Sarge,’ he said. ‘Her injuries are minor. What