FOUR: KAREN BETTS (Pt2)

Karen Betts grabbed a towel from the linen closet, and glanced at the clock. By her calculations, she had twenty minutes before her visitor was meant to arrive. As long as she rushed through her shower, she'd be dressed in plenty of time. Satisfied with her plan, Karen made her way towards the bathroom, but was stopped by a rapid knocking at the door.

She paused to spare a glance at her bathrobe clad self, before deciding that she wasn't indecent, and unlocked her door.

"Helen," Karen greeted with a smile. "Sorry about the robe, I was just going to grab a quick shower."

Helen couldn't help but notice the bathrobe. "I'm early, aren't I?"

Karen laughed, and ushered her friend inside. "A little. It's alright, let me just go get changed."

"Well, why don't you hop in the shower, I'll pour myself a drink and read over what you've got. Then when you're out, I should be done."

Karen smiled gratefully. "That'd be great. The kitchen's just through that door, there's glasses in the cupboard above the oven. Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge."

Helen waited until Karen had gone into the bathroom before discarding her jacket and shoes and heading into the kitchen. She easily found a glass and poured herself a drink.

She'd been surprised to receive a phone call earlier in the evening from Karen asking her to come over and review the case file that Karen was preparing against Jim Fenner. Karen had finally gathered solid proof against the man, and was planning to submit it to the Head Office in the morning. Helen was looking forward to reading over everything Karen had, thankful that the man would finally be sacked from the Prison Service.

The sound of rustling papers caught her attention, and Helen made her way to the door, curiously looking out. Helen pulled her head back into the kitchen abruptly, her hand falling to her pocket, grabbing her cell phone.

She dialled 999, and was connected to an operator immediately.

"What is your emergency?"

"There's a man in my apartment," Helen whispered, knowing instinctively that it would be faster to identify herself as the owner. "I don't think he knows I'm here. Please, send someone quickly. I think he's armed."

She rattled off the address, and hung up. She chanced another quick glance around the corner, startled to see Jim Fenner's face in profile. He hadn't seen her, but she wasn't about to take any chances.

He looked as though he was searching for something in Karen's drawers. Whatever it was, he didn't seem to be finding it.

Helen held herself rigidly against the wall in the kitchen, terrified he would enter. She barely dared to breathe loudly for fear of him discovering her.

She heard the sound of keys jangling, and then the sound of the balcony door sliding closed. She poked her head around the corner, and saw that he was gone. Tires squealed down the street, and the sound of a crash took Helen to the balcony, peering down to see a familiar green ragtop convertible in a fender bender with a police car.

Helen couldn't help but laugh.

Karen emerged from the shower, towelling her hair. She joined Helen on the balcony. "Was that a car crash I just heard?"

"It was. Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Helen asked.

"Bad first," Karen said, a little confused at the change in conversation.

"Well, your car was stolen, and the thief just crashed it."

Karen's eyes widened in horror, and she looked down at the crash sight. "Oh my god."

"The good news is that Jim Fenner's the one who stole it."

Karen looked extremely confused. "How is that good news?"

"Well, not 'good', exactly. But he broke in, probably stole a lot of the evidence you've got in your case file, and then stole your car. I called the police, because I heard someone rifling through your things, though I didn't realise it was Fenner."

"I can't believe he broke into my apartment. Why the hell would he want my car though?"

Helen shook her head. "I have no idea. But, at least whatever he's taken from your file, he won't get away with it."

Karen could see the bright side of that argument. A knock on the door pulled both of them away from the balcony. A police officer stood at the door, a concerned look on his face.

"Ma'am, I hope you're alright. We caught the man who broke into your apartment, and stole your car. Unfortunately the vehicle was involved in an accident."

"I'm not worried about the car," Karen said. "The man who did this-"

"His name is James Fenner," the police officer replied. "He claims you leant him the car."

"Not in this lifetime," Karen said. "He broke into my apartment, stole some very vital and confidential documents from me, and then took my car keys. I definitely want him charged."

The officer nodded. "Of course ma'am. If you'd like, I can give you a ride to the station, and we can begin those proceedings right away."

Karen nodded, and then looked down at her bathrobe. "Let me just get changed," Karen said. "One more thing, the documents he stole, it's extremely important that I get those back."

The officer nodded. "My partner has Mr Fenner in custody. I'll make sure he seizes all possessions now, rather than at the station."

"Thank you officer," Karen said. "I won't be long."

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Karen and Helen sat in the back of the police car, Karen unable to keep her smile at bay. She was feeling positively giddy at the way the evening had turned out.

"I can't thank you enough Helen," Karen said.

"For what?" Helen asked incredulously.

"For being early? For calling the police? For saying 'yes' when I asked you for help. I don't even want to know what would have happened if Fenner had got away with this. I probably wouldn't have even noticed my car was missing until the morning. God knows what Fenner would have done with it. Speeding tickets, parking fines...god, he could have hit someone with it."

"You can't think like that, Karen," Helen replied. "He's vindictive, but...murderous?"

Karen contemplated the idea. The idea of Fenner killing someone and laying the blame at her feet made her stomach roll sickly.

"I don't even want to think about what he could have done. I just know that if you hadn't been there I'd have been in a world of trouble."

Helen nodded, and patted Karen's hand.

"At least now you'll definitely have something very solid against him. Breaking and entering, theft, grand theft of an automotive," Helen said. "That's quite a case right there."

Karen smiled. "I just wanted him fired, but...if I can send him to prison, then...even better."

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Karen watched through the one-way window as Jim Fenner sweated profusely.

"She said I could borrow the car," Fenner insisted.

"Miss Betts says otherwise," the detective responded calmly.

"Well, we had a bit of a fight. No doubt, she just wants to jam me up a bit," Fenner said.

"So...if you'd had a fight, why would she say you could borrow the car?"

"I called her earlier," Jim said. "Said I was sorry, told her my car was broken down. She said I could borrow it for the night."

The detective nodded thoughtfully. "Fair enough. You called her from your mobile phone?"

Jim's eyes darted around the room nervously. "From a pay phone. My mobile's flat."

Another ambiguous nod. "Well, phone records are extremely easy to check. We'll cross reference Miss Betts phone logs with local pay phones. I'm sure we'll have this cleared up quite easily."

Fenner wiped a shaking hand across his forehead. His fingers drummed at the table nervously.

"What uh...what happens if there isn't a phone call in the records?"

"Then, we bring charges against you for making a false statement to a police officer."

Fenner breathed in shakily. "Okay. Okay, fine. I didn't ask her, I didn't call her. Betts didn't know I'd borrowed her car."

"Borrowed?" the detective asked casually. "That's not quite what we call it around here. You stole Miss Betts car."

Fenner nodded. "I did. I stole her car."

"After you broke into her apartment."

Fenner nodded. "Yes."

"Tell me why you did that Mr Fenner."

"That bitch is out to ruin my life!" Fenner yelled, losing control of his temperament. "She's trying to run me out of my job."

"So you broke in tonight to...scare her? Threaten her?"

"What? No! I...she had a file that she was making. It's all lies!"

The police detective reached under the desk and pulled out a file folder. He spread the documents over the desk, including some very incriminating photographs of Fenner with a young woman dressed in a chef's uniform.

"The photo's are doctored? It's pretty hard to tell when a photo's been manipulated by computer nowadays."

Jim clenched his jaw tightly. "No."

"How old is she?"

"Nineteen."

"She's old enough to consent," the detective said. "Why would this photo have ruined your career?"

Fenner closed his eyes, unable to believe that there was photographic evidence of himself with a prisoner. It wasn't even one of the prisoners he'd truly enjoyed having. Tina O'Kane had her uses, though most of those weren't even remotely sexual. He liked his girls tiny-waisted and foul-mouthed.

"She's a prisoner on the wing I work on," Fenner said.

"Your Code of Conduct specifically prohibits prison officers and prisoners from forming a sexual relationship, is that correct?"

Fenner nodded sharply.

"So, you'll lose your job because of this photo. Is that why you took it from Miss Betts apartment? Along with the negatives."

"Sly bastard," Helen whispered from behind the mirrored glass.

Karen couldn't believe that she'd left the negatives in a place that Jim had managed to find them. She should have given them to a friend for safe keeping. She'd just never figured that Jim would break into her apartment in the middle of the night and take them.

"Yes," Fenner admitted.

"You also took several of Miss Betts personal papers that had evidence against you. One is a report made by Helen Stewart, and another is an affidavit by Colin Hedges, both of them attesting to incidents of sexual misconduct initiated by you."

Fenner said nothing, just stared hatefully at the table. He didn't want to hear the name Helen Stewart ever again.

"Why the car, Mr Fenner?" the detective asked. "Why steal Miss Betts car?"

Fenner shrugged indifferently. He was already caught, there was no point in making the case against him any worse.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he replied.

The detective scoffed, bemused by the answer. "I think you were planning on hurting someone, Mr Fenner. You stole a bottle of whisky from Miss Betts house, which had her fingerprints on it. You stole her car, and drove it wearing gloves, so as not to implicate yourself. Were you planning on crashing it somewhere? Hitting someone?"

Fenner's eyes shot to the detective, unable to believe that his brilliant plan had been deduced so easily. "You can't prove that."

"I don't have to prove that, Mr Fenner," he replied steadily. "Your arrest warrant already had a whole host of charges. I'll enjoy seeing your sentencing."

"You absolute bastard," Fenner seethed angrily.

"Calm yourself down Mr Fenner. You've no one to blame for this but yourself. You can't possibly have thought that anything good would come from breaking into a private residence, taking confidential documents, and then stealing a car? You were caught red-handed. In here, we call this an 'open-shut' case. Easiest paycheck I'll ever earn."

Karen turned to look at Helen. "He seemed to enjoy that."

Helen grinned. "I know I certainly did."

"D'you want to go grab that drink?"

Helen smiled. "I know a great club not far from here."

BAD GIRLS VERSION: Karen gets photographic evidence of Fenner abusing Tina O'Kane (technically it's consensual). She decides to report him to the Home Office, but makes a crazy mistake by taunting Fenner with the knowledge of what she is planning. Fenner breaks into her apartment, steals the photos, the negatives, and her car keys while Karen is in the shower. Karen goes to bed none the wiser, and Fenner drives erratically through busy streets wearing a blonde wig and lipstick. He runs over a man, who eventually dies. Karen reports her car as being stolen the next morning, but an hour or so later, she is arrested on the wing for vehicular manslaughter. She is on released on bail. Karen hires a private investigator, and finds proof that Fenner was the driver. He is arrested briefly before managing to pin the crime on someone else.