Fights with Monsters
Robbie arrived home in the early hours of the morning exhausted from his current murder investigation, planning to remove his jacket, tie, and shoes and lie down on the bed without disturbing Laura. He was surprised to find lights on downstairs and even more surprised to find Laura and Lyn on the sofa with Monty bridged between them. He looked from Lyn to Laura, "Is everything all right luv?"
Laura sat up. "Robbie, Lyn has something to tell you. It's going to be quite a shock."
Robbie wearily rubbed his hand on his chin, "It's not Jack, or the baby is it?"
"No, everyone is healthy. Dad it's..." she burst into tears.
Robbie glanced at Laura as he knelt down to put his arms around his daughter. "Whatever it is Lyn, you can tell your old Dad."
Laura put her hand on Robbie's shoulder. "It's going to be a shock, you need to prepare yourself."
Robbie's face darkened as he turned from Laura to his daughter, "Go on Lyn."
Lyn gulped for air and blinked back tears. "It's Mum, she's...we were lied to, she's still alive!"
Laura and Lyn each held their breath while they waited for Robbie to respond. What he said next was the last thing they expected.
"I know."
Lyn recoiled from her father's arms. "What? Dad! You lied to me too!" Then she flew at her father and pummeled him in the chest.
Laura took hold of Lyn's shoulders and gently tried to pull her away. Lyn resisted at first then gave up the fight and allowed Laura to take over. "Robbie, how long have you known?" Surely Ken must have called and told him sometime after he gave his sister the news. Laura held onto that thought for dear life. What other explanation could there be?
James Hathaway arrived at his flat about the same time as Robbie was explaining to Laura and Lyn when and how he learned about Val. He put his takeaway bag down on the table, grabbed a fork and took the lid off his container of Chicken Vindaloo. Except for coffee and cigarettes, James had not ingested anything all day and he ate heartily. After clearing away he reclined on the sofa with his guitar, idly strumming some chords as an idea for a new song tried to construct itself in his head. He stared at the plant on the side table. The cactus had been left to him by Oxford's former Chief Superintendent, Jean Innocent. When presented with it, James told the new Chief Super, Joe Moody, that Innocent must have been trying to tell him something and he brought the plant home to figure it out on his own time.
He studied his bequest carefully. If only plants could talk. From this angle James noticed something he had not seen before. There was a bit of white paper sticking out between the inner and outer pots. He put his guitar down and walked over to pick up the cactus. The brown inner receptacle was easily separated from the yellow container revealing a folded piece of paper that had worked its way upward. James was a bit annoyed with himself for never looking for an actual message from Innocent. Even though he expected it was just a misplaced shopping list he unfolded the paper to discover a series of clues, headed by two names, Rose M Kennly and Valerie Susan Lewis. There were dates, places, and other details on the paper. Then came the names Simon Monkford, Graham Lawrie, a former Oxford DCI, and the long ago discharged crap pathologist Dr. Cook. James followed the diagram created by Jean Innocent leading him to the startling conclusion. Did Robbie know? He tried calling him and got no answer. He selected another number from his phone's memory.
Jean Innocent saw the caller id and wasn't sure whether to be pleased or angry. "I've been waiting for your call. I was beginning to wonder if Moody threw the cactus in a bin."
When he finished telling Laura and Lyn the when and how, Robbie hoped they would understand the reason why he hadn't told them what he knew. Before he could explain Lyn stopped him.
"I can't listen to any more of this. You and Mum, and Ken, should all go be together. You deserve each other. " Lyn pulled something out of her pocket and handed her father a piece of paper. "This is where Mum's staying, with Ken."
He read the address. "Lyn, I didn't know she was here in England. You have to believe me." Robbie crumpled the paper up in his hand.
Lyn just shook her head and looked away from her father.
Laura tried to keep her voice even. "You need to go, Robbie, see Val. She is still your wife." He could see the hurt in her eyes. "It's what you always wanted."
"I don't know what I want. I don't know what to feel"
After all the years of being patient with Robbie, waiting for him, making sure he was okay, letting him take her for granted, Laura Hobson finally had more than she could take. In a tone of voice he had never heard from her before she commanded, "You need to find out. So go, be Val's husband." Laura got up, turned him around and pushed him towards the door. "Be brilliant", she shouted at his retreating back."
Once outside the door, Robbie decided where he needed to go first.
Robbie had been here many times, usually with flowers in his hands and tears in his eyes. This time was different. He carried a hammer. Valerie Susan Lewis died in December 2002. It said so right there on the headstone. Robbie swung his right arm back, the hammer poised to do some damage. Just as he was to release his arm Robbie was grabbed from behind, the flying hammer stopped by the grip of James Hathaway.
"Get away."
James hugged Robbie tighter. "It's against the law to deface a grave. You know that, you're cop, a good one."
"I don't feel like a good cop right now." He struggled in vain against the younger man's grip. "Val didn't think I was a good cop or she would have told me when..." Robbie broke down in tears and collapsed into James.
"I know."
"Jean Innocent told you." Robbie slumped to the ground with James still hanging on to him.
"Not exactly, she left me some clues. She trusted me to look after you."
"How did you know I'd be here?"
"It was my job for ten years to know where you were." He took the hammer from Robbie's fist and set it down gently. "I traced your mobile. I'm a good cop too."
After seeing to Lyn throughout the night, Laura needed to tend to herself. She had called Tim and asked him to leave the children with his aunt and come get Lyn. When Tim arrived, Laura left the house, the one she shared with Robbie, and took refuge in the one place where no one ever lied to her.
Laura calmly told her story to Harriet, age 76, a retired school teacher with congestive heart failure. Harriet was a good listener. When she finished Laura smoothed Harriet's hair and tidied up her cover, then returned her to the vault. Next came Bella, age 24, victim of an abusive boyfriend, then Derrick, 56, a firefighter.
DS Lizzie Maddox peered through the window of the morgue. She couldn't quite believe the scene she was witnessing. It appeared that Dr. Laura Hobson was talking to her corpses. On a mission, she knocked and opened the door a crack.
"Excuse me, Dr. Hobson?"
Laura patted Shirley, age 62, non swimmer, on the shoulder and pushed the drawer back into the vault.
"Yes, Maddox?"
"Do you know where Lewis and Hathaway are? They are not answering their phones. I expected both of them back at the station hours ago."
"Yes, I believe I know where they are." Lizzie noticed the sadness in Laura's eyes. "You should probably just knock off for the day and leave them to it."
"Uh, thanks." She started to let the door close then caught it and pulled it open and walked into the morgue. "If you don't mind my saying so ma'am, you look like you need a friend."
"Thank-you, no, I'd rather be with them, I mean here, on my own." She waved her hand at the drawers in front of her. "Oh I don't know what I need."
Lizzie moved closer to Laura and slouched a bit so she wouldn't tower over the diminutive pathologist. "Dr. Hobson, can I buy you a coffee?"
"Coffee!?" Laura pulled a face.
Lizzie grinned. "Something stronger?"
"That sounds a bit more like it."
"C'mon, I'll round up a couple girlfriends, we'll get pissed and run down men. Want to call any of your mates?"
Laura briefly considered the easily excitable Ellen Jacoby who happened to be in town for a conference and shook her head. Ditto for her fellow former medical student friends. A new crowd was what she needed tonight. "No, I want you and your girlfriends buying drinks just for me."