Chapter 4

The Retribution

chapter 4

Both detectives were sitting in a tavern in the main centre of Ravens Fair, that afternoon. They had headed there as soon as they got out of the pathologists office. Both of them sat at the bar with a double whisky each when Carl noticed that the bar tender kept watching them through the corner of his eye and glancing over, but trying not to make eye contact at all. He seemed shifty and uncomfortable, as though he was desperate to avoid them.

"Top me up!" a drunken Robert shouted over to the bar tender.

The bar tender, who had a typical working class look, wearing a scruffy brown jacket with a checked shirt walked over and, whilst he poured them both another shot into their glasses, he asked in a genuinely concerned voice, "Have you caught the killer yet?"

"No. We’ve got a long way to go," replied Robert.

"We’re all sorry about Mary," he said, before walking away from them.

Carl leaned towards Robert and whispered, "That guy’s been giving us weird looks. I’m a little suspicious."

"Put a lid on it, boy." He thought he was just being silly and imagining things.

.

The next morning, both men awoke in their motel rooms and quickly threw their clothes back on and set off to interview some towns folk.

Robert had a raging hangover. He had more whisky than Carl the night before, who had only had 3 glasses and left it at that.

"You look fresh and bright this morning!" Carl exclaimed sarcastically.

"I’ve no time for your wise cracks today, junior."

They both got in the car and Robert set off driving, looking for a street of houses.

.

After being shunned by every local that they tried to speak to - eventually both men pulled in at a street which looked quite well to do; it seemed like a posh part of Ravens Fair, so they got out and walked over to one of the houses and knocked on the door. A woman in her early 30’s with long blond hair and blue eyes answered.

Robert said to her, whilst both men held their ID badges, "Robert Cowan and this is my junior detective, Carl Simmons. May we come in, ma’am?"

To their amazement,the woman opened the door wide and smiled, "Right this way."

.

Her living room was big with a coal fire opposite where they were sitting, and a glass coffee table in the middle. She sat down in an armchair at the side of the huge fireplace, before asking, "Are you here to ask me about Mary Shaw? It’s an awful shame, but she wasn’t overly popular around here since little Michael Ashen went missing. The majority of this town blamed her for it. It was those Ashens fault that everyone blamed her. They kept spreading rumours about her…trying to turn everyone. People around here are so small minded, they’d believe anything. Me? I stay clear of em all."

"Do you know anyone who ya think may have played a role? If ya do, you have to say now," Robert informed her.

"No. I don’t. The Ashen family live on the next street, if you’re wondering. And a coffee in the meantime?" she replied softly, whilst lighting up a cigarette.

"No thank you. Come on Carl," Robert ordered, whilst getting up to leave. "Sorry to take up your time. We’ll show ourselves out."

.

Outside, both detectives got back in the car and drove towards the Ashen’s home. When they got there, they pulled into the front garden, which was much bigger than the last, so they had to drive along the wide, stone pathway. The house looked relatively big, as though it belonged to an upper class family. They both then got out of the car and knocked on the door. It was a woman who answered.

"Mrs Ashen? Detectives Robert Cowan and Carl Simmons. May we come in?" asked Robert, but the woman just looked annoyed and slammed the door in their faces. They didn’t go away though. Robert knocked loudly and yelled, "Mrs Ashen! We need to speak to you!"

She opened the door again and let them in, saying nothing. She just stormed into the huge living room, which had 2 coal fires at either side of it and 2 big black leather sofas facing each other.

Both men sat down on the sofa opposite the one which the woman sat on. Robert calmly began to ask her, "We’re interviewing locals that might have information-." He was cut off at that very moment by the Ashen woman who sharply said, "You’d better not wake the kids. Are you b******s finally doing something about my boy? Took ya long enough, didn’t it?"

"Mrs Ashen, did you and your family have an altercation with a woman named Mary Shaw?" he asked.

The woman looked up and bitterly replied, "Yeah. We knew her. Creep. I never let any of my kids near her; nobody in Ravens Fair did. We all went to see her do her ventriloquist act, but we never spoke to her. She was a loner and kinda dark and spooky."

"Mrs Ashen, we’ve had a tip off from a local that one of you has something to do with what happened to Mary Shaw."

"No. And anyway, what d’ya mean? She got what was coming to her."

"She had severe mutilations to her throat, bruising across the abdomen and right arm and whoever killed her had cut out her tongue and forced it down her throat. She was still alive when these were done, so I hope to god damn hell you’re right, and you and whoever did it should pray so hard that she did kill Michael, else it’s a pretty big thing to live with" said Carl, just to inform her.

She didn’t know what to say. She looked astounded and slightly ill at what he had just told her. She was angry at the woman though, so she replied coldly, "All of us knew that old witch had something to do with our Michael going missing."

"Why? Why, Mrs Ashen?" Robert asked her seriously.

"At her show one time, he shouted out that he could see her mouth move during the ventriloquist act. She took it hard. God, the way she looked at him was demonic."

"Maybe because he’d made her look stupid in front of thousands? I somehow think I wouldn’t have been smiling sweetly either. Would you have been?"

"That was different. It was really weird.I just knew something was gonna happen from then on."

"That something could’ve been tripping him up on his way out. Doesn’t mean she killed him - and I’m sorry for your loss, but I really do hope that it was her, for everyone’s sake."

"What ya saying?! You’re a bunch of asses, ya know. My 10 year old  son went missing and your department was useless and now somebody has taken it upon them self to get justice for Michael and suddenly you’re around here actually caring about her. They did what you lazy sons of b*****s couldn’t be bothered to do!"

"Yeah, a jail sentence along with possible hanging if we had solid proof that she did do it," Robert replied with humour.