The Sad Man. A Dani Lancing Story

The Sad Man. Final Part.

Thirteen

Tuesday 18 October 1999

 

His throat has been sandpapered. He shifts slightly and his stomach feels like it will split apart.

            ‘Christ,’ he croaks.

            ‘You’re my hero,’ Dani-in-his-head tells him.

He ignores her and tries to open his eyes. They don’t want to. Suddenly Tom feels a wet sponge placed against his lips and squeezed, he sucks greedily. Then the sponge licks over his face and into his eyes. The lids separate a little, enough to see a blur of light and shape. It hurts.

            ‘I’ll call a doctor.’

Tom doesn’t recognise the voice. Then black washes in again and he slips away.

He comes round again, two hours later. The pain in his belly is still there but the throbbing headache has lessened. This time he can make out a figure sitting in the chair – slightly in the shadows.

            ‘Dani?’

            ‘Yes, it’s me.’ DI Bennett leans forward into the light. ‘It’s Danny Bennett. How are you, Tom?’ It’s the first time he has ever used Tom’s first name.

            ‘Lucy Brindley, is she safe?’

            ‘Thanks to you she is. Very scared but not hurt.’      

‘Oh, thank God.’ Tom feels a wave of relief flood over him. ‘Did you get him?’

Bennett scrunches his face up like he can smell something bad. ‘No. No we didn’t.’

            ‘Fuck.’

            ‘But don’t worry, we will.’

            ‘Do we know why he went to the Brindley-Black home?’

            ‘Well…’ Bennet half-shrugs. ‘He had locked Lucy in a cupboard, but hadn’t touched her. She said that all he kept asking her about was the book. On the Road, and the photograph of Jenifer. She said he was desperate to get it.’

            ‘Did she give it to him?’

            ‘No. No she didn’t. She seems quite a stubborn person.’

            ‘Good. What about his house?’

‘We went there first thing, just like you ordered, and turned it over. We took his wife and two kids into custody.’

            ‘He’s married?’

            ‘Pretty wealthy, too. SOCO are in there now, have been all day. We found the doll just like you said, it was in a sealed room behind his home office.’

            ‘But he’s still free?’

            ‘For now. But great work, DI Bevans.’

            ‘Drake stripped me of that, I’m—’

            ‘The golden boy. You going over Drake’s head to the deputy commissioner worked. Drake was suspended this afternoon pending an internal review. Someone from Yorkshire’s been drafted in to babysit while we see what happens. But you’re the man of the moment.’