An extract from a chapter of my romntic drama Snowbird
350 CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Graham Stone left the musty basement cells and climbed the stairs to the ground floor. He crossed his arms and stood back in the shadows as he looked through the opened door across Market Square. Stone knew Charlotte would arrive, not to see him of course but to see Danny Wilson. To acquaint herself with the circumstances behind the actions which had lead to the killing of her father. He couldn’t understand why she bothered with Wilson, let alone understand why she hadn’t shown the tiniest interest in him. After all he held a dignified and responsible position in the community, and always kept his appearance smart and respectable. None of these were qualities that could any longer be ascribed to Danny Wilson, if they ever were at all.
And yet she’d come, as sure as hell she’d come. Then it would need to be quick for he was expecting at any moment to receive the prisoner escort that would take Wilson to Birmingham court where he’d stand trial for her father’s murder, and where presumably, if he were not very fortunate indeed, he would hang.
Stone only hoped that he’d be there when she arrived, that he wouldn’t be assigned to some trivial matter of minor deception of which he’d encountered a good many of late, time wasting episodes where prosecution wasn’t even a consideration, and yet it was something which would wrench from his grasp the last opportunity to gain her confidence, a prospect that deep within he knew to be remote, but that still, in his conscious mind, assumed total importance to him.
He was not disappointed in one respect: he was there when she called. She’d strode through the front entrance and despite his anticipation of her visit she’d still taken him by surprise. His back turned, he’d swung round to encounter her.
Her stature was second to none.
She was erect, and with long auburn hair flowing from her broad head down the sides of her flawless face and across her wide shoulders she epitomised health and beauty. Her very presence seemed to propel him into another world inhabited by this same woman, but now she might be a warrior goddess, fierce and intimidating. Hadn’t that very vision always been reflected by the intensity in her expression? He didn’t know. It only served to make his desire for her become so potent that it troubled his soul.
But she hadn’t come here to see him and the very formality with which she announced that fact made it hard for Stone to stem his jealousy.
‘Good morning Sergeant,’ she said, as if he were just another commonplace serving member of the public, ‘I’ve come to see Danny Wilson. Would you show me to him please?’
Just like that. So dismissive of his own presence and Graham Stone was boiling now, so much so that he could hardly contain his rising jealousy.
No I damned well can’t, he was transported to Birmingham fifteen minutes ago.
How he’d love to be able to utter those words in the face of her casual dismissal of him.
But why couldn’t he do that? Just what was preventing him? Nothing.
Because who the hell would know? In just a short time Wilson would be going anyway.
‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible, ‘ Stone replied, his face both hardening and reddening at the same time, but he was also gloating at her anticipated disappointment. ‘You see he was transferred to Birmingham only a short time before your arrival - I’m sorry.’
Her bearing remained just as resolute and forceful as ever as she met his cold stare. There was something uncaring and yet demanding about this man.
Moreover, she didn’t believe him.
She raised her head as a shaft of sunlight shone through like a huge conical needle and inflamed her hair for a second. Stone felt then what he’d always known, that she was the most desirable woman he’d ever encountered.
And yet she despised him, he could tell it in her manner and it angered him deeply.
‘Danny Wilson killed my father so you say, in which case I’d like to be certain that he’s suffered the last couple of days in the squalor he deserves.’ She raised her head even higher, squaring her fine shoulders, ‘I want to see the cells.’
‘That won’t be possible.’ Stone swallowed heavily and she noticed.
‘Oh really Sergeant, and why not, because you’ve something to hide?’
Before Stone could grasp what was happening her strong arms had thrust him aside. She was descending the narrow twisting stairway before he fully realised what her intentions were.
‘Danny’ she called as her footsteps echoed on the bare floor below. ‘Danny!’
‘Charley?’ It was a weak voice, it didn’t sound like his but she recognised it anyway. She paced along the small block, her footstep accelerating with each stride until she reached his cell.
Stone can rushing breathlessly down behind. ‘I told you -’
‘Open this - open it now!’
Her voice always seemed without strength and yet it seemed to exude an authority beyond anything Stone had known.
He felt angered and belittled. But he’d draw strength from the fact that Wilson was soon to receive his just reward, and her own agony in that respect would compensate for her dismissal of him.
He felt her eyes burning into him as he turned the key to the lock, fumbling in the basement darkness to turn the light on.
The door swung open and Charlotte’s eyes narrowed as she took in the dark contours of the man who stood before her. She didn’t associate the shambling figure with the man she’d known and loved. At least, not at first.
‘Ten minutes.’ Stone’s voice droned harshly and then the door closed behind them leaving Charlotte to make sense of the sorry spectacle who stood before her. His clothes were in tatters and he was so filthy the basement cell reeked of the all pervading smell of bad odour.
To him, her eyes easily outshone the weak electric bulb which hung from the ceiling, but that only added to his torment. He so loved her and yet her presence was as unwelcome to him as the ultimate penalty he was soon to face. It was unwelcome to him because in the very proximity of her beauty he felt his own disgrace, and felt
her own anguish at the death of her father, brought about by his ugly hands.
He lowered his head, avoiding her eyes.
But there was no anger in them, only concern for him. Concern, and the desire to know what had really happened on that fateful night.
She took three quick strides towards him and held him tightly despite his state. ‘Danny - I’m so very sorry, sorry about us, sorry about everything.’ She gazed into his eyes, not the earnest green eyes she’d known so well, but tired ones, baleful and troubled.
She pulled away slightly and caught his hands, clenching them firmly, ‘What happened that night Danny, what really happened? Tell me, I need to know, my father tried to kill you didn’t he? Look, It’s not to late, we can get the best solicitor in the region.’
‘I killed your father, that’s all you need to know.’ When he spoke his voice was devoid of feeling, almost robotic. He seemed resigned to the consequences of his actions, but whatever those actions were, Charlotte believed with every ounce of conviction they didn’t amount to murder.
Danny hadn’t it in him. If she had only been there that evening and not preoccupied with her own crusade in Scarborough she wouldn’t need to be asking these questions. But right now his only chance of survival lay in giving her a vivid account of what happened. One she was convinced would show things in a different light.
But his apathy was total. He’d accepted his fate and she’d less than ten minutes to
354
convince him otherwise.
Stone summoned a constable to keep watch by the cell door, then stalked along the damp passageway, his eyes on his watch. He climbed the narrow stairs two at a time
almost coming to grief as his shoe caught an indent in the worn steps. He gave a sigh and hurried on up. Where were they for heaven’s sake?- The escort should have been here by now. He didn’t want the beautiful woman being in Wilson’s company even for ten minutes and he was furious for allowing himself to be so easily out-manoeuvred. He didn’t doubt she’d try to get the oaf off of the hook, but she needed time. Ten minutes would be hardly enough, even for someone of her stature. But still he willed the escort to come now; to give her no chance whatsoever of saving him.
He waited at the door, expectant eyes focused intensely on the street outside.
Down below, Wilson hardly raised his head as he fidgeted with tips of his fingers. Charlotte felt like grabbing and physically shaking him out of his self-deprecation, but it would do no good. She could shake him until his bones rattled but he’d not change his attitude.
‘Danny, there is something you should know,’ she lowered her head before her fine eyes locked intensely with his. ‘My father found me at the farm,’ she said, tracing a finger down his grime sodden cheek, ‘he had some crazy notion that we were plotting all along to steal his inheritance. I think the fact that we both arrived back in Lichfield at about the same time fuelled his warped mind. In any case he gave me an ultimatum-’ she paused, grabbing his arms firmly and pulling him towards her ‘- in a nutshell, if I didn’t break all association with you then your life would be at risk. That was the one and only reason I told you we were finished for good. Not because I didn’t want to see you again but because I feared for your life.’
She tightened her grip still further and Wilson’s eyes lost their lifeless shape. ‘Stand up and fight Danny. Don’t let them nail you for something that wasn’t your fault. You know I’ll stand by you don’t you?’
‘I should have known it all along,’ he said in a croaky voice. He felt choked with emotion, her grip on him was so strong it constricted his breathing but she was driving
a sense of reality back into him. Hidden from his view Charlotte’s features had taken on a savage look, though her fury was not directed at him.
‘The bastard threw a lighted match into the cabin, along with some substance or other. It all happened so quickly. The door opened and then the damned stuff was tossed in. You could have been inside for all he cared, Charlotte.’ Wilson’s voice began to break up as he shook his head wildly. Charlotte placed her arms tightly around his back and her face against his chest. He felt choked with emotion, she was driving a sense of reality back into him, reinvigorating him slowly but surely.
‘Tell me the rest of what happened Danny, I need to know.’
‘I suppose sheer panic came to my aid,’ he said, his gaze staring into the dim light as he relived the events of the tormenting night, ‘I forced my way through the heat and flames and out into the night air. I hadn’t seen who tossed the stuff in, but in the light of the blaze I saw a large figure staggering away towards the track that runs behind the cabin. I had no bloody doubts as to who that figure was and I was going to have his guts I tell you.’
Danny paused to wipe away the sweat that had formed on his brow. His recollections of the night, brought forcibly home were so vivid he might be reliving the whole sorry scene again.
‘He seemed to pause against a tree, he was probably out of breath -’ Danny’s voice fell away and Charlotte fighting back the hatred of her father that had distorted her face inclined her head slowly, ‘Go on Danny -’
‘I had a gun Charley,’ he said his voice a mixture of anger and remorse. ‘I’d bought the bloody thing the day before. I was so certain he’d try something.’ She felt something wet on her forehead and realised he was shedding tears. ‘He moved away from the tree, I took aim and fired. When I closed up on him I realised he was dead. In a moment of sheer panic I dragged his body back to the cabin, or as close as I could get so it looked like the fire had incinerated him.
Danny stood looking at her aghast, his face as white as a sheet.
She took a step back so that he could see her face, see the intensity in her expression.
‘Danny Wilson, had you ever fired a gun before in your entire life?’
‘No. But what’s that got to -’
‘How far were you from my father when you shot him?’
‘I don’t know,’ he seemed bemused, ‘twenty yards maybe.’
‘And I bet the vision wasn’t too good, you only had the light from the blaze to go by.’
‘It was good enough for me to know who it was. Listen, Charlotte -’
‘No you listen you idiot !’ Now her strong hands held him in a vice like grip, ‘I reckon the chances of you hitting my father were a million to one. You say he was dead when you examined him. I’m not saying he wasn’t, only that you couldn’t have been responsible for it, not in my book. My father was vastly overweight, unfit and not used to exertion. It was natural causes, do you get it?’
Danny nodded his head, probably he muttered.
‘Oh Danny,’ Charlotte eased her grip and sighed. Outside she could hear voices, several of them. She could hear the clank of keys and before she could utter another word the cell door was opened and Stone stood before them accompanied by three others wearing constabulary uniforms.
‘Time’s up, Miss Fitzharding,’ Stone said holding himself rigid. She thought she saw the muscle in his cheek twitch, ‘Mr. Wilson has to be on his way.’
‘He hasn’t murdered anyone Sergeant,’ I think we should establish that fact. You see I know my father, I think his death was due to natural causes -’
‘’I’m afraid I have to disagree,’ Stone said, she thought smugly. ‘You see Mr.Wilson has signed a sworn statement to that effect. Isn’t that right?’
He glared up at Danny who nodded silently. ‘Now please move aside Miss Fitzharding, you’re impeding our duties.’
‘I’ll impede them if any of you lay a single hand on him, he only signed the statement out of misplaced guilt at my father’s death. Ask him won’t you?’
Charlotte glared at the four men, her eyes flashing vividly in the poor light before she swung to face Danny. ‘Come on for heaven’s sake, stand up for yourself!’
One of the officers, bearing handcuffs took a step towards him following a brief nod from Stone. In a moment of uncontrollable indignation Charlotte snatched the man’s arm, flinging him bodily against the grey cell wall. ‘Leave him be why can’t you?’
‘Right you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer,’ Stone snarled, as supported by the remaining two policemen they began to manhandle Charlotte from the cell.
‘Get off her you bastards!’
Suddenly Danny was upon them, his placidity replaced by an anger Charlotte had never seen in him before. Launching in to them he tore her from their grasp, his fist striking Stone fully on the jaw and sending him to the ground. Charlotte cursed under her breath. It had all gone terribly wrong. Now Stone would claim he had evidence of Danny’s vicious nature, and she by her own actions had induced it.
‘Danny no!’ She swung upon him, wrestling him away with all the strength she could muster. ‘I didn’t mean for this,’ she panted, as the policemen reasserted themselves. But her restraining action had been too late, she knew that, and turning to see Stone rise from the floor, an ugly smile creasing his thin face, she knew that Danny’s conviction had been handed to him on a plate.
The trio of covert operatives from Area-51 are back. Black Widows Bondage continues the action packet sexy spy-fi
adventures of the “super agents” from Angels Keep Watch, led by Dr. Sterling Striffe, with his paramour partner, the
mysteriou
The Confliction - Dragoneer Saga III, is the thrilling conclusion to the "Full Confliction"
cycle of Dragoneer Saga books. In this episode, The Dragoneers face the Sarax that were loosed
in Book II - Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, as well as
Farhad Shirazi, a three star general of the ex-Shah's army who has been hiding in Iran for nine years,needs to escape From Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran or face capture and execution by the revolutionary guards...
