Same Room: Different Doors

Same Room - Different Doors

Copyright 2016 Crime Frontiers

Published by Crime Frontiers at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Same room – different doors:

Copyright © 2016 Crime Frontiers

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781544199641

Front cover pictures

From:

jattiga.wordpress.com

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Funerals and rainbows

Chapter 2: Breastless nipples

Chapter 3: Kidnapping an Angel.

Chapter 4: Making it tricky for Ricky

Chapter 5: A history of Ainsworth and Bean

Chapter 6: Bean bait

Chapter 7: The first exchange

Chapter 8: The French - the time for a decision

Chapter 9: The second exchange

Chapter 10: The Inspector enters

Chapter 11: All or something or nothing?

Chapter 12: Bean and Rupert

Chapter 13: Ainsworth and Rupert

Chapter 14: Trophies

Chapter 15: Ding-dong merrily on high

Chapter 16: The Babes

Chapter 17: Bean learns of the flyer

Chapter 18: Rupert goes detective

Chapter 19: The letter to the Bells

Chapter 20: Exactly!

Chapter 21: Two’s company

Chapter 22: For whom the Bells tolls

Chapter 23: Bedside manners

Chapter 24: In lieu of payment

Chapter 25: The Babe’s and Mr. Woo

Chapter 26: The birth of Crime Frontiers

Chapter: By the same author

Dedication

To all who have helped me, regardless of whether you knew it or not.

Author’s note:

The characters and criminal events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to any event or actual person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

Funerals and rainbows

It is a terrible day for a funeral. The sun is shining, birds are singing and there is even a rainbow hovering over the ornamental fountain in the cemetery’s Garden of Rest. All of which, emphasises to the usually optimistic David and Clair Bell; that their daughter, Lucy, would never again see, hear, feel or experience such incidentals of Life.

What is more, when the knowledge that Lucy’s death had been recklessly accelerated, by the drug dealing pathetics who had involved her in drug abuse; was added to David’s and Claire’s grief, then as far as their judgement went, those dealers were guilty of Lucy’s cold hearted, murder.

However, such is the legal naivety of the Bell’s personal judgement; that if it were to be presented before any defence or prosecution barrister, then it would have almost certainly caused a smile of empathetic-dismissal to cross the barrister’s legally bound lips. Not that there was any legal need for a barrister during the coroner’s inquest upon Lucy’s death; which returned a verdict of an accidental death due to a heroin overdose.

Like many parents going through the processes of grief, David and Clair Bell also feel guilty; that when it came to preventing Lucy’s death, their own efforts had also been tripped, barged, and ultimately scoffed at by those of a less caring mind - and even by Lucy herself.

Indeed, if were not for the firm clasp of Claire’s hand in his (and that the slowly disappearing coffin and poor Lucy are about to be cremated) then David’s feelings of fatherly guilt would have moved him to leap upon the coffin; and beg his dead daughter’s forgiveness for his failure as a father.

Never the less, as the coffin and Lucy disappear through the crimson curtains, David and Claire express the inner pain of their individual and mutual loss, by gripping each other’s hand even more tightly; until Claire suddenly releases her grip; as she passes and presses Lucy’s gold locket and broken gold chain into David’s freed hand. Taking and squeezing the locket and chain, David Bell feels such a rising rage, that he even begins to look down upon his prior feeling of fatherly-guilt, as if it were some naïve, out of place, tourist.

Not that David’s, nor indeed Claire’s rage, would have seemed as being out of place by most reasonable people. David and Claire had been good parents, and any rage would be have been deemed by those who know them, as entirely reasonable.

Being reasonable and optimistic people themselves, David and Clair had done their best in trying to give Lucy a happy childhood and good upbringing. They had used their own education and jobs (David, as a respected self-employed carpenter, and Clair, as a much in demand, freelance, strategy consultant for small businesses), to give Lucy a well-rounded view of life, other people, and herself.

Up until Lucy’s drug addiction, the Bells had survived the normal stresses of married life and parenthood, mainly by Clair supplying the flexibility of her natural creativity, and by David supplying the glue of his carpenter’s common sense of practicality.

They had first met when David, who then at the age 20, owned and ran his own small carpentry business. He had come to install a bespoke kitchen for Clair’s parents, who lived in Epsom. However, so instant and powerful was Claire’s and David’s mutual attraction; that they had ended up having made love, seven times, in the kitchen alone, before any of the solid wood worktops had been fully installed. Clair was attracted to David’s, practical approach to life (and his strong hands and arms) whilst David found Clair’s outgoing, refreshing nature a continuing delight.

After just over a year of trying for a child, Lucy was born. When Lucy had reached her 1st birthday, Clair’s parents (Martha and Mark) announced that they were retiring to a small cottage near Portsmouth, to be by the sea, and that they were gifting the house to Claire. Six months later, David, Clair, and Lucy moved into the four-bedroom (and bespoke kitchen) family house.

Life, the universe, and everything in had been going well for the likable Bell family. Things had gone much as they had hoped and planned it would. Until at the age of 14, when, as with many teenagers, Lucy Bell, tried practicing the magic slights of mind and delusions of drug use.

As with many teens, all would have probably turned out well enough, in the end, for Lucy, until that is, she went to a party; at which someone passes her, and she inhales from; what she thinks is a pipe with a spot of pot in it, but instead, it turns out to be her first - pipe of crack cocaine.

After Lucy comes down from her crack high, the dealer who had passed Lucy the pipe, was profusely apologetic about the mistake (as he always is on such occasions) and he assures her that crack isn’t as addictive as people make it out to be. However, if she wants another small hit, just to get her over any bad withdrawal symptoms, he will not even dream of charging her.

Unfortunately, in the end, all was lost – except Lucy’s gold locket and broken chain; that now lay the hand of David Bell. Indeed, to the Bells the chain and locket had become the symbol of their daughter’s desperate bid to hang onto a decent life.

Claire and David had given Lucy the gold locket and chain on her thirteenth birthday. Although she had pawned her birthday present many times, Lucy had somehow managed to keep at least some sort of hold on to it, as if it were the personal tether to her moral lifebelt; whilst she continually tried to navigate through the rapids of her prostitution, heroin and crack-cocaine use.

Chapter 2

Breastless-nipples of addiction

Even though David and Claire Bell have not yet decided what they would do when, and even if, they found those linked to Lucy’s death; they had at least decided that the first place to start to understand things more clearly, would be to pay a visit the local drugs rehabilitation centre. So, just over a month and a half after Lucy’s funeral, and after an initial interview by the receptionist/outreach worker, called Beth, the Bell’s visit the offices of the local drug rehabilitation centre.

The first thing the Bells notice as they wait in the interview room is the large wall poster. The poster shows a woman’s nipple, and above the nipple is the statement:

"Addiction is a breastless-nipple …

(Below the nipple is the rider)

… that can make a sad-sucker out of anyone."

As soon as they meet the tousled hair, 38-year-old Thurles Drake, he strikes the Bell’s as a likeable man, with an easy manner and easy to like face, and after a short introduction the session begins. Looking from one to the other of the Bells, Thurles proffers, ‘Beth told me about your daughter, Lucy, and I am very sad that she died so tragically.’

The Bells acknowledge Thurles’s sentiments, with a smile and their thanks. Then he asks, ‘But if you don’t mind too much, could you tell me, why did you come here today?’

‘We know how Lucy died …’ David Bell explains, ‘…. and the man responsible was, I guess, her drugs co-dependent, he is in prison now, and will be for some years. Although that brings us some understanding and even a little closure, to be honest, he seemed as out of his depth as Lucy was, and it does not answer our needs as parents.’

‘What we want to understand,’ Claire Bell explains, ‘is what happened to Lucy, our daughter. How and why she become so … desperate, to let herself be controlled by such a wreck of a man and such a wreck of a life.’

Then David adds, ‘And we want to know how or what we can do, to prevent others from such … waste.’

Thurles nods and asks, ‘I understand from Beth that neither of you has used hard drugs?’

The Bells look at each, and then Claire admits, ‘We both smoked pot, in our teens, and I took ecstasy a few times, but no heavier type drugs, no.’

‘Well, of course, you are not alone. But I guess, a simple way to describe the difference between giving into temptation or addiction, is the way one client described his addiction as … if you will forgive the analogy … as having a massive hard-on for continuous masturbation, but without ever quite being able to fully cum.’

Nodding their understanding, the Bells smile until Thurles adds, ‘Which also explains, why it is not too long before things begin to turn increasingly sore, physically, emotionally and morally. Which is why addicts start to use bigger doses, to ease their self-inflicted soreness, which begins to cost them more money. And of course, the only people they can buy their chosen cure from, aren’t exactly generous loving types of people, so they start committing crimes to get the money’

At that point, the Bells look at each other, at Thurles, and then Claire admit, ‘I’m afraid that we funded Lucy’s habit. We gave her money to buy her drugs, until she could get a place in the Hampton Clinic.’

‘We hoped by doing so she would not have to resort to … well … prostitution or stealing,’ David adds.

‘Obviously, we were wrong.’ Claire concludes.

‘In that case, Thurles states, whilst holding his hand up, ‘let’s deal with that. There is a growing number of people who feel that legalization, or as an alternative, the decriminalization of drugs would reduce overall crime.’

Lifting her head Claire asks, ‘What’s the difference between decriminalizing and legalizing?’

‘Simply put, decriminalization would allow possession of personal use drugs, but not the selling them. Legalizing, would allow the selling of drugs, under strict quality controls of course.’

‘Right.’

‘Although dealers and addicts would not suddenly become upstanding citizens, many people believe the so-called, small to medium type crimes, such as burglary, street robberies, car thefts, and street prostitution would drop by at least thirty, or even fifty-five percent. There would be an even a much bigger drop in things like drug turf wars, drive-by shootings, and civilian deaths and casualties. Plus, drug legalization would not only remove the goose that lays the Golden Egg from organized crime’s earnings, but also from terrorist organizations, causing both of their abilities and influences to diminish.’

Leaning forward, Thurles continues, ‘However, crime has many different doors. Most violent, or fatal drug-related crimes are committed by people who already have psychologically, vulnerable or damaged minds, which have been made even more vulnerable and dangerous, by using their chosen drugs. Which all means, that legalization will not magically stop all drug related crime.’

‘Which do you prefer legalization or decriminalizing?’ Claire asks.

‘I prefer the legitimate selling of drugs, rather than criminals sell them.’

Looking at the Bells, in turn, Thurles then emphasizes, ‘Virtually everybody agrees, that whether drugs are legalized or not, drugs and crime are permanently linked in a chain of inevitability. The main question for society is, just how heavy do we allow that chain to get?’

At that moment, Thurles pauses as he sees a brief but meaningful look between David and Claire, which is both understanding, significant, and private enough for him not to question it.

Instead he continues, ‘A young woman, who had been coming here for about six months, came to the centre one morning, carrying a can of strong larger in her hand and several more in a