Enigma

  * * *

  Her hair was red and pulled back in a chignon. Shiny. In good condition. Showed she ate well or took good care of her hair or both.

  Probably the former.

  Bodies have a way of acting like walking advertisement boards. Whatever you put in your body shows up on the outside.

  Her eyes were blue-green. Sparkling with unshed tears. Her face carefully made-up. Nicely done. Light foundation, brown eyeshadow. Knew her stuff. Always to wear a contrasting eyeshadow. Rose pink blusher lightly brushed her cheeks topped off with white highlighter. A mere touch. Just enough to bring out her cheekbones. On her lips: pale pink. A well-defined mouth. Not too large. Not too small. Her body, slim, above average height.

  A very attractive lady. Looked like a younger version of Monica Dixon. No coincidence. Her name was Ashley Dixon.

  Monica’s younger sister.

  Love narrowed his eyes. He’d been staring at Ashley since she’d walked into the conference room at DSBD. He couldn’t get over how much she looked like her sister. She was still wearing her flight uniform. Linen. Dark blue. Two piece suit. Pencil skirt below the knee. Single-breasted jacket one large button with nipped-in waist. Gold flight badge attached to her lapel “EWA” the insignia for European and World Airways. British. Flies out of London Heathrow Airport. Cream cotton shirt. Mandarin collar. Cream-coloured hold-ups. Dark blue court shoe medium heel. Style as well as comfort was of paramount importance.

  ‘Thank you for coming in, Miss Dixon, won’t you sit down?’

  Ashley glanced at Love. She blinked and nodded before placing her navy blue raincoat she held over one arm on the back of the chair closest to her. She sat down. Placed her leather shoulder bag down on the carpet by the chair. Her matching hat was peeping out of a side pocket. Oval-shaped pillbox. She crossed her legs folded her hands in her lap and looked up at Love.

  ‘How did it happen?’

  Stuart, who had been standing over by the window walked across to the chair next to Ashley, he pulled it towards him and sat down. He spoke quietly.

  ‘She was shot. One shot to the head.’ He glanced at Love who had moved to sit in the seat opposite Ashley’s. ‘It was instant.’

  ‘And Timmy? How’s Timmy?’

  ‘He’s holding his own,’ Love said.

  He’d put a call through to Doctor Cooper to tell her the news. She was glad to hear Ashley had been located. Not half as happy as Love. Happy they’d finally tracked her down. Thanks to good detective work and state-of-the-art Internet access available to Love and Stuart and their outfit who had the skills to work on it. She’d been located in Spain about to fly on to Africa. Not due to return for a week. She was back in London within four hours and had come straight to DSBD.

  ‘Was he hurt?’ Her voice trembled. She spoke quietly. She looked like she was holding herself together but she was in shock.

  A knock on the door interrupted Love from replying. ‘Come in,’ he said as he glanced over. ‘Thank you.’ He smiled at the young male constable who’d brought in the wooden tray. White bone china teapot. Three matching cups and saucers. Tea. Strong. Sweet. Good for counteracting shock.

  Love picked up the teapot and poured. He looked over at Ashley. ‘Milk and sugar?’

  Ashley shook her head. ‘No… no, I don’t want anything… I...’

  ‘Here,’ Love said. He added a dash of milk and a teaspoon of sugar. He handed her the cup. ‘Please take this. Have a sip. Just a sip.’

  Ashley tried to smile, and murmured, ‘Thank you.’ She raised the cup to her lips. Blew on it took a sip. ‘It’s good, thank you.’

  ‘Ashley,’ Love said quietly. This wasn’t going to be easy. But then if he wanted it easy he wouldn’t have become a cop. ‘Ashley, what can you tell us about Timmy’s biological mother?’

  She didn’t speak. Stuart stared at her. Love looked first at Stuart then back at Ashley. The fine lines round her mouth had become more pronounced. She picked up the spoon in her saucer and stirred her drink. It was the only sound to be heard. Eventually she stopped. Replaced her spoon took another sip and with exaggerated care placed the cup on the table in front of her. She sat back and looked directly at Love.

  ‘I’m Timmy’s biological mother,’ she said. ‘But I think you already know that otherwise you wouldn’t have asked.’

  ‘We had to be sure,’ Stuart said.

  Ashley smiled. ‘It’s all right, Detective, I understand.’

  ‘What happened?’ Love asked.

  ‘All I’d ever wanted was to be an air hostess,’ she said, and smiled again. ‘Nothing else. And my dream finally came true when I turned nineteen and was accepted by EWA. A year later I met a captain, we fell in love, and…’

  ‘Let me guess, he was married.’

  Ashley turned her head to look at Stuart. She nodded. ‘Yes, he was married. I thought he might leave his wife but he didn’t.’

  ‘Before or after you became pregnant?’

  ‘Before. I was in love and I thought it was reciprocated.’

  ‘What happened?’ Love asked.

  ‘He didn’t want me to have the baby,’ she said. ‘He’s quite a bit older than me and already had two teenage sons at the time.’ She spread her hands in a gesture as if to make her point. ‘To be fair, he did stand by me, financially, I mean. When it was determined I’d have it.’

  Love thought of the attractive and spacious studio flat in Southall. ‘He pays the rent on the apartment in Southall?’

  Ashley shook her head. ‘No, as I refused to take any child maintenance from him he paid off the remainder of my mortgage and bought the flat outright as security for me.’

  ‘We didn’t find it under the name of Dixon.’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t. It forms part of a small trust fund, which he insisted on implementing, which Monica and I are keeping for Timmy’s college education.’

  Stuart thought back to Ashley’s bank records they’d pulled. Not so much pulled but by using the Alpha-Zulu data available to them, Stuart had retrieved her bank records and statements going back to when she first opened an account with Barclays Bank when she turned eighteen before eventually switching to Nationwide Building Society.

  ‘How does Monica feature in all this?’ Love asked.

  ‘By the time I discovered I was pregnant it was too late to do anything about it... otherwise…’ she murmured, and shrugged. ‘Things might have been very different. My parents were, by this time, dead. When my father died eleven years ago, Monica moved back to the family home to be with Mum who died a year after that and Monica just stayed on at the house. The only family I had was Monica. We talked about it and we decided it would be best for everyone if she took Timmy on as her own.’

  ‘As opposed to putting him up for adoption?’ said Love.

  ‘Yes, playing the part of auntie appealed to me as opposed to the role of mother,’ Ashley explained. ‘I was never the maternal kind but Monica took to it like a natural.’ She looked down at her cup now empty. ‘It might have been different if I’d got married, but to be honest, I doubt it.’ She shrugged. ‘He, Timmy’s biological father, and I are still good friends but no longer…’

  Stuart shifted his position in his seat. He leant forward to get her attention. ‘Lovers.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘The man Monica was seeing at the time - I understand they were living together?’ Love said.

  ‘Oh yes, David.’ Ashley smiled. ‘He wasn’t prepared to take on the role of adoptive father which was his prerogative entirely and so things came to an abrupt end.’ She shrugged. ‘If nothing else it showed the relationship had its cracks.’

  ‘So you could say it all worked out for the best,’ Love said.

  ‘Precisely. He was nice, I liked him, but they went their separate ways,’ she said. ‘Besides, I can hardly point the finger, can I?’

  ‘What happens now, Ashley? With Timmy I mean?’ he added.

  ‘I’ve thought of nothing else. It’s a
ll I could think about on the way over here.’

  Love said, ‘And what did you decide?’

  ‘I still think I’m not the maternal kind but all we’ve got now is each other. So, I’m going to take him on. One day I’ll tell him the truth about his parentage but for now we’ll take it one day at a time.’

  ‘He seems like a good kid,’ Love said.

  She smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, he is,’ she said. ‘Monica did a brilliant job.’

  ‘What about your career?’

  ‘I’ll still do it, at least for the moment, but I’ll fly short no more world trips. I can easily afford a nanny to look after Timmy for the times when I am away but for the immediate future I’m owed some holiday time which I’ll take.’

  ‘Where will you live?’ Stuart asked.

  ‘We’ll work it out between my parent’s house in Lee and my home over in Southall,’ she said, and smiled. ‘Lee is too far for me to commute but maybe I’ll work it out. I can always use Monica’s car it’ll be quicker than going by train.’

  ‘Will you keep your parents’ house?’ Stuart asked. He looked at her face. Composed. Scared. But defiant and in control.

  ‘I’ll either keep it on and rent it out or live there and rent my apartment out. At the very least it will be another income coming in giving Timmy and me security and stability for the future,’ she said. ‘We’ll work it out as we go along,’ she said again.

  ‘Sounds like you’ve thought it through.’ Love pointed to her empty cup.

  Ashley shook her head. ‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’d like to see Timmy now if that’s possible.’

  ‘Of course, Miss Dixon,’ Love said. He stood up. He looked good in his white cotton sartorial shirt, slightly creased, and his skinny black chinos. ‘I’ll get a constable to run you over to St Katherine’s.’

  ‘Thank you very much,’ Ashley said. She reached for her bag and stood up. She hung the strap over her shoulder. She reached for her coat took a few steps and Love followed.

  ‘Miss Dixon?’ Stuart said. He stood up and walked over to where Ashley and Love were standing by the door. She turned to face him.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘You don’t seem surprised or put out at the fact that your personal statements have been researched.’

  Ashley smiled. ‘You are professionals, Detective Le Fanu, and a special kind of detective. You’re just doing your job. I understand that.’

  ‘I wish more individuals had your attitude,’ Love said, and grinned. He shook her hand, and added, ‘We’re sorry to have met like this, Miss Dixon.’

  ‘Thank you. Thank you to both of you for everything you’re doing.’

  Love opened the door and Ashley stepped out into the corridor. A moment later, he and Stuart followed. The door slammed behind them.