Read Online The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Joseph Wambaugh
Ads: Link
"probables."
Before the incident room was closed and the murder squad was disbanded and returned to divisions, there was one contact made with a villager that later proved noteworthy. A lad, fourteen years of age, was reported by several villagers as being a "bit of a nuisance." He was a curious youth, usually seen riding around the village on a bike with cowhorn handlebars and derailleur gears. Sometimes he prowled the streets and parks and footpaths. He liked to jump out at women and girls, to frighten them.
"He's always mucking about" was how it was put by more than a few villagers.
Mick Mason interviewed the boy. He lived with his family in Narborough, by the Foxhunter Roundabout. He used to be interested in CB radio but as he was getting older he longed for a motorbike.
He didn't seem overly bright, was quiet spoken and didn't give the detective any trouble. He answered perfunctory questions and Mason was satisfied.
Mick Mason had a mental picture of Lynda Mann through contact with Kath and the family. Mason had made regular visits to the Eastwoods, and when they'd come to the incident room, Kath would always walk up to Mick and give him a hug, because, as Pearce put it, "he's that sort of bloke."
The village youth was a big lad, a bit thick, a bit odd, but Mason was absolutely sure he was not the one.
"Lynda would've been able to sort out a fourteen-year-old," he told Derek Pearce. "Any fourteen-year-old."
Mick Mason clearly admired and respected Lynda Mann. He had come to know a girl in death he'd never known in life.
The Eastwood family turned to a medium. She was forty-ish, frail, rather timid. The medium came to their house and sat in Lynda's bedroom. Kath and Eddie stayed on the stairs and listened to eerie noises within. The medium held one of Lynda's necklaces and made terrible choking sounds, but the Eastwoods had to remain outside and not interfere. When the woman emerged she said, "He was a big strapping man. He came up from behind."
She refused to take money for reporting her "vision," and said she'd return and try again some other time. Before she left she said, "The afterlife is on a different plane. We all live on different planes, those of us in this world and the others. This world is hell."
Kath didn't doubt that now, not for a moment.
"And where's Lynda?" her mother asked.
"She's in the other plane. It's like being in hospital there, the equivalent of hospital. She'll continue living there much as she was here."
The woman was obviously trying to put them at rest, but the famil y w as upset for days. A big strapping man coming up behind Lynda. Th e c hoking, strangling sounds. It was like Kath's recurring dream!
"If he's not caught within one year, he'll do it again," the mediu m w arned.
The aftermath of murder produces many casualties. Susan Mann had, like Eddie Eastwood, been center stage during the inquiry into the death of her younger sister: Lynda the pretty one, the bright one, the popular one, the one they doted on.
The police inspector responsible for the night patrol of Narborough began receiving reports of a shapely girl in a miniskirt flagging down patrol units as well as CID cars. When he talked to his officers he learned that the girl was Susan Mann who was offering "clues," none of them worthwhile.
"Leave her alone" was the word he quickly passed.
A sergeant who'd become a friend of the family spotted Susan one night and decided to have a chat with the girl, who had never openly grieved for her murdered sister.
"Look here, Sue," he said, "we've been ordered not to talk to you anymore. It's just not on. You can't be waving down police cars."
"Nobody talks to me anymore," she said. "I even talk to Lynda, in me own mind, but nobody talks to me. Nobody cares!"
"Well, of course we do," the sergeant said.
And suddenly, Susan Mann grieved. Perhaps for Lynda, perhaps for her mother or for herself. In any case, the lonely girl cried. She wanted comfort and a shoulder. She
Before the incident room was closed and the murder squad was disbanded and returned to divisions, there was one contact made with a villager that later proved noteworthy. A lad, fourteen years of age, was reported by several villagers as being a "bit of a nuisance." He was a curious youth, usually seen riding around the village on a bike with cowhorn handlebars and derailleur gears. Sometimes he prowled the streets and parks and footpaths. He liked to jump out at women and girls, to frighten them.
"He's always mucking about" was how it was put by more than a few villagers.
Mick Mason interviewed the boy. He lived with his family in Narborough, by the Foxhunter Roundabout. He used to be interested in CB radio but as he was getting older he longed for a motorbike.
He didn't seem overly bright, was quiet spoken and didn't give the detective any trouble. He answered perfunctory questions and Mason was satisfied.
Mick Mason had a mental picture of Lynda Mann through contact with Kath and the family. Mason had made regular visits to the Eastwoods, and when they'd come to the incident room, Kath would always walk up to Mick and give him a hug, because, as Pearce put it, "he's that sort of bloke."
The village youth was a big lad, a bit thick, a bit odd, but Mason was absolutely sure he was not the one.
"Lynda would've been able to sort out a fourteen-year-old," he told Derek Pearce. "Any fourteen-year-old."
Mick Mason clearly admired and respected Lynda Mann. He had come to know a girl in death he'd never known in life.
The Eastwood family turned to a medium. She was forty-ish, frail, rather timid. The medium came to their house and sat in Lynda's bedroom. Kath and Eddie stayed on the stairs and listened to eerie noises within. The medium held one of Lynda's necklaces and made terrible choking sounds, but the Eastwoods had to remain outside and not interfere. When the woman emerged she said, "He was a big strapping man. He came up from behind."
She refused to take money for reporting her "vision," and said she'd return and try again some other time. Before she left she said, "The afterlife is on a different plane. We all live on different planes, those of us in this world and the others. This world is hell."
Kath didn't doubt that now, not for a moment.
"And where's Lynda?" her mother asked.
"She's in the other plane. It's like being in hospital there, the equivalent of hospital. She'll continue living there much as she was here."
The woman was obviously trying to put them at rest, but the famil y w as upset for days. A big strapping man coming up behind Lynda. Th e c hoking, strangling sounds. It was like Kath's recurring dream!
"If he's not caught within one year, he'll do it again," the mediu m w arned.
The aftermath of murder produces many casualties. Susan Mann had, like Eddie Eastwood, been center stage during the inquiry into the death of her younger sister: Lynda the pretty one, the bright one, the popular one, the one they doted on.
The police inspector responsible for the night patrol of Narborough began receiving reports of a shapely girl in a miniskirt flagging down patrol units as well as CID cars. When he talked to his officers he learned that the girl was Susan Mann who was offering "clues," none of them worthwhile.
"Leave her alone" was the word he quickly passed.
A sergeant who'd become a friend of the family spotted Susan one night and decided to have a chat with the girl, who had never openly grieved for her murdered sister.
"Look here, Sue," he said, "we've been ordered not to talk to you anymore. It's just not on. You can't be waving down police cars."
"Nobody talks to me anymore," she said. "I even talk to Lynda, in me own mind, but nobody talks to me. Nobody cares!"
"Well, of course we do," the sergeant said.
And suddenly, Susan Mann grieved. Perhaps for Lynda, perhaps for her mother or for herself. In any case, the lonely girl cried. She wanted comfort and a shoulder. She
Similar Books
