Secrets and Shadows

Chapter 10

David Jarrett drove his mother’s blue Volvo V40 through the gates and parked it next to Donald’s V90. Janet had ‘lent’ the car a couple of times to David, an arrangement that he now seemed to think was permanent and now took the car whenever he felt like it without asking, a source of contention between them. Janet thought he took the car just to annoy her and Donald had told him that he should ask permission before taking it, but he ignored them both.

When she had first given him use of the car, she had also given him the spare key, an act she now regretted and no amount of demanding its return could entice him to give it back.

‘I need the wheels,’ he would say, when pressed about the issue.

‘So do I,’ retorted Janet.

‘Well, you know what to do, don’t you? Get another one, get Donald to buy you another car if you need one that bad, but I need the wheels. End of.’

He got out of the car and walked into the house. From the front door, he walked down the hallway towards the kitchen and pushed open the door.

Donald Jarrett sat on one of the wooden kitchen chairs, slumped across the kitchen table. The back of his head is a mass of clotted blood and hair and darkening blood was thickly spread across the table. David quickly ran back down the hall, picked up the telephone on the hall console table and dialled 999.

‘999, what’s your emergency?’, responded the operator in the emergency services call centre.

‘Police! My father, father, he’s been attacked. He’s dead. I think he’s dead.’

‘Where are you caller, can you give me your address?’

‘Hurry, please.’

‘Caller, I need you to confirm your address. Are you calling from the scene of the incident?’

‘Yes, it’s my parent’s home, I live here.’

‘Caller, I have an address on my system of number 27, Blackmires Road, Fallswood, West Garside. Is that where you are calling from?’

‘Yes, hurry. Please hurry.’

‘A response team is on its way to you now. Can you tell me your name caller? Your name?’

‘Yes, yes, of course. It’s David. David Jarrett.’

‘Thank you, David, You say the injured person is your father. Can you please give me his name?’

‘Yes, it’s Donald, Donald John Jarrett.’

‘Thank you, David, the response teams should be with you very shortly. Can you tell me David, is there anybody else in the house with you?’

No. No, I’m here on my own. Oh no, s**t, not unless the killer is still here.’

‘David, listen carefully to me. I want you to quickly walk out of the house and wait for the response team. Try not to touch anything, all right.’

‘Yes, and my mother, she’s missing, I think she must have locked herself in the garage and hanged herself.’

‘David, David, are you there,’ but the line had gone dead.