Case One Read Online Free PDF Page A

this is TPO Marsden. It’s about Ashleigh. Do you think we could come in for a moment?”
    The woman frowned, glanced at Sam, then back to Yvonne. “What’s happened?” she asked again.
    â€œIt’d be better if we could talk inside. Can we?”
    Mrs Jarvis was still for a moment, then nodded and stepped back so they could enter. Yvonne motioned to Sam and went in, taking off her cap as she did so. Sam pulled off his beret and rolled it up.
    In the sitting room Mrs Jarvis picked up a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. The television was on and there was an ironing board set up so that she could watch as she ironed.
    â€œWhat’s it about?” Mrs Jarvis asked, lighting a cigarette. “Is she in trouble – Ash?”
    â€œNo, not like that,” Yvonne said. “Maybe you’d better sit down.”
    The woman shook her head. “I’m all right. What is it?” But even as she said it Sam could see her hand start to tremble.
    Yvonne took a second, then said: “I’m afraid there’s been an accident. A girl was injured on Gatemead Road earlier and from the ID she was carrying we think she may be Ashleigh.”
    â€œNo,” Mrs Jarvis said, definitely. “No, Ash is on her way home from her mate’s – Lauren. She texted me.”
    â€œWhen was that?”
    â€œI dunno. A bit ago.”
    She moved to a coffee table and picked up her phone. After a moment she said, “It was twenty to seven. She said ‘Home soon. Might get chips first tho.’ – See?”
    She held up the phone, as if it was proof that Yvonne was wrong.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Yvonne said. “We’re pretty sure that it’s Ashleigh who was knocked down. She’s been taken to the Queen Victoria, but her condition
is
serious. We’d like to take you down there.”
    â€œNo!” the woman said again ­– harder, angrier. “You’ve got it wrong. It’s not Ash. She’ll be home any minute.”
    â€œMrs Jarvis…” Yvonne began.
    But even as she said it Sam saw the anger in Dee Jarvis’s face begin to dissolve and then she was sobbing, tears welling in her eyes. “No,” she said, almost in a whimper. “No, not Ash. Not Ash…”

9.
    EMERGENCY DEPT.
QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL
20:10 HRS
    â€œYou watch, CID’ll come in – they’re bound to for a rape.”
    Holly said nothing. Apart from the fact that she didn’t like the know-it-all way Sam Marsden always reckoned to be one step ahead of everyone else, she was more interested in watching Ashleigh’s mother as she spoke to Dr Scobie. Sergeant Stafford and Yvonne Dunlop were on either side of her, saying nothing.
    â€œHer mum said she’d been at a friend’s house,” Sam went on. “So if she was on her way home when she was attacked we could be on door-to-door – see if anyone saw her on the way, if she was with anyone.”
    Finally Holly looked at him. “How do you know she wasn’t assaulted at the friend’s house
before
she left?” she said flatly.
    â€œShe’s a girl – the friend. Name’s Lauren.”
    â€œDoesn’t mean someone else wasn’t there as well though, does it?”
    â€œNo. Maybe,” Sam said, grudgingly.
    She was right, and he was annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it, especially since he was the one who wanted to go into CID eventually. Trouble was, Holly was sharp and she never seemed to have a problem fitting into a situation, whereas Sam still felt awkward and unprepared a lot of the time.
    Across the corridor Yvonne Dunlop led Dee Jarvis to a chair, an arm round her waist. It struck Holly as an unusually sympathetic gesture from a PC who’d drop a suspect into an armlock if they gave her any bullshit at all.
    â€œWe’re going back to Gatemead Road,” Stafford said, approaching the two TPOs. “Yvonne’s going to