4. DI Florence Winthorpe

Confusion in a clearing in the forest, with two apparently identical boys.

DI Florence Winthorpe was bending over Jack, who lay in a faint where he had collapsed at the sight of the other boy, and Baz Juniper was rubbing his eyes as if he couldn’t believe the evidence they were presenting him with, when into the already crowded scene (for that corner of the relatively uninhabited forest) a second car pulled up.

Before she had raced to the scene, drawn by the name of Jack Newby which was on a list she had virtually committed to memory, the DI had sent a message to Jerry. She’d been obliged to: the boy’s name was on the list of people who may be at risk, being the son of an agent from a top secret Government group.

And then, minutes later, there was Jerry, stepping out of his own car and taking in a scene in which two apparently identical schoolboys dominated proceedings.

“It’s unfortunate that you are dressed in similar clothes to my Jack,” he said to the second boy who was still upright and gasping with confusion at everything. He also noted that there was a gash on that boy’s head and a trickle of blood was still running across his forehead and down one cheek.

“That boy needs an ambulance!” he said, “Jonny? It is Jonny, isn’t it? We weren’t expecting you today! What happened to you…?”

The blood stained boy shook his head, gently because it hurt him, and looked as confused as he felt.

“Dad?” he asked, “Are you my dad?”

“Have you forgotten your old man already?” asked Jerry who was painfully aware that he really should have made a great deal more effort to keep in touch with his other son over recent years. But life had conspired against it, and on the few occasions when it might have been possible, problems at the other end meant that Jonny wasn’t easily available.

Meanwhile, Jack was stirring, and the first person he became aware of seeing was his father.

“Dad,” he mumbled, “dad, is that me, and am I dead?”

“You’re perfectly well and alive. This, if you’ve forgotten, is your twin brother Jonny. And he’s been injured,” He turned to the other boy, “Jonny, how did this happen and , more importantly, I only got a message this morning that you weren’t coming this way until tomorrow at the earliest. How come you’re here?”

“I ran away,” mumbled The boy who it turned out was Jonny, “I was told that you didn’t want to see me and I couldn’t put up with it. I’ve been looking forward to meeting my brother again for years, and I remembered being told about the woods round here and how he might explore them, so when I arrived on the bus I set about exploring them once I’d found your house and discovered there was nobody in. I didn’t go far, though, I didn’t want to get lost.”

“But your poor head… how did that happen?” asked Jerry

“I don’t know. Suddenly a voice said something like I told you once and you were ordered to tell your precious dad my message… and then there was a sudden pain on my head and when I opened my eyes next I was lying on a grassy little hill and there was blood everywhere. So I staggered off and very soon found myself here…”

Before Jerry could ask any more questions the ambulance he had asked the DI to order arrived on the scene, squeezing in between the police car and Jerry’s own vehicle, its blues and twos filling the air with light and sound.

“There’s an injured boy,” asked the paramedic who was first off the ambulance.

“Over here,” called Jerry firmly, “someone seems to have injured him and he needs to be looked at by a doctor.”

Two paramedics attended to Jonny and agreed that he probably needed hospital attention if only to say he was okay.

“I’m the boy’s father, so I’ll come along with him, following in my own car if that’s all right,” Jerry told them, and he turned to DI Florence Winthorpe, “can you attend to his brother Jack, and see if he knows anything at all? From what Jonny said whoever attacked him assumed that he had already communicated with him, and it may be confusion, what with the boys being identical twins and dressed in similar casual clothes.”

“Yes sir,” nodded the DI, and Baz noticed the assumed superiority her words implied for him.

“Jack,” he said, “I’m going to the hospital with Jonny. You stay here with the Inspector and be as helpful as you can be. She will have some very important questions for you to answer. Jonny’s got a headache and we’re hoping that’s all it is, but it might have been you. Remember that.”

“Dad… mumbled Jack, “so it wasn’t me seeing my own dead body? It’s really Jonny? I know he looks like me, but not so much in the pictures when he’s no wearing black shorts and a white tee-shirt, like I am.”

“Yes, Jack, it’s Jonny and not an eerily dead Jack,” laughed his father. “Now come on! You stay with the DI and if you’re really very helpful she might let you call her Florence!”

“Come and sir in my car with me,” urged the DI as the ambulance, still filling the air with flashing blue lights and a deafening siren, reversed away, followed by Jerry in his car.

Suddenly there was peace and stillness once the noise had faded into the distance.

“That’s better, you varmint,” grunted Baz.

“Come to my car and I’ll see if I’ve got some sweets in my glove compartment,” smiled Florence at Jack, and she took him by one hand and guided him towards the dirt track which was all Baz had for a road leading to his cottage.

“Liquorice allsorts?” asked Jack.

She grinned at him. “I very much doubt if I’ve got any of those, but I’m never quite sure what little treasures I’ve tucked away,” she said, “come along, Jack, and thank heavens you’re alright.”

“I thought I was dead and looking at my own body,” sighed Jack, “Silly old me! But dad told me Jonny wasn’t coming today…”

“He said he’d come without telling anyone,” she told him, “and maybe that wasn’t the wisest thing for him to do if he intended to get lost in this creepy old forest! But come on. I want details of everything you saw or heard whilst you were exploring. Even a cuckoo calling might be important.”

“Cuckoo… that reminds me. There was the grammar school teacher…” began Jack.

© Peter Rogerson 29.06.24