Jessie's Nightmare by Catherine Holland (each kindness read aloud TXT) 📕

Werner?” Jessie nodded and watched as the man knelt down to her level, keeping eye contact all the while. “My name is Detective James Bridal, I’m so sorry for your loss.” He took a deep breath as fresh tears rolled down Jessie’s face. The crumpled tissue now in shreds at her feet.
The Detective took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and offered it to Jessie, she accepted and took one from the pack, then gave it back. The Detective shook his head “It’s alright Jessie, keep the pack, I daresay you need them more than I do.” “Thanks.” Jessie mumbled, drying her eyes.
“You’re welcome, now is there anything I can get for you? Another cup of coffee perhaps? Or something to eat maybe? I understand that this is hard for you.” Jessie gave a shallow laugh “You understand how hard this is? Let me ask you something Detective, have you ever lost anyone you love to murder?”
The Detective considered her question, he then took a deep breath and still keeping eye contact said “Yes I have, I witnessed my twin brother murdered in cold blood, this is going back about ten years, I was just finishing school and about to enter college.” Jessie took a deep breath feeling ashamed of herself.
“I’m sorry, sorry for your loss, did you catch the killer?” The Detective shook his head, “No, I never did, but the time will come, I have faith in the system, after my loss I decided to change career paths and become a Detective.” Jessie nodded, she could understand that. She took a few deep calming breaths then said “What’s going to happen to me?”
The Detective replied “At the moment, we’re waiting for autopsies on the cause of death and the forensics team is still at the crime scene. I know this is hard but I need you to take me through your day, leaving out nothing, can you do this for me?” Jessie took a deep breath, she could still smell the blood, as she nodded and stood up, she caught sight of herself in the two-way mirror, her white shirt was covered in blood, bloody handprints down the front of it and splotches of blood on the back.
The Detective waited whilst she collected herself then led her out of the depressing interview room and down the hallway where he stopped outside a wooden door with ‘ladies’ written on it. A female officer appeared out of nowhere with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she also had a clear white bag with her. Jessie looked at the Detective questioningly; he gave her a small warm smile and said.
“We need the clothes you’re wearing for evidence; we managed to find these in lost property.” Jessie nodded and followed the officer into the bathroom. As Jessie took off her bloodied white shirt the officer gasped. Jessie knew what she was seeing, three long, deep scars going from her right shoulder down her back in a diagonal stroke to the bottom of her spine.
Jessie stripped off her black trousers and put both items in the clear bag, she slipped on the jeans and was about to pull the t-shirt over her head when the officer spoke. “Will you wait here for a moment please?”
Jessie nodded, pulled the shirt over her head and washed her hands at the sink. She was drying her hands when the officer came back in followed by the Detective; the Detective looked from the officer to Jessie confusion on his face and said “What’s this about?” The officer said “Show him.” Jessie turned round and lifted the shirt up so the scars would be revealed.
The Detective gasped and took a step closer whispering “How did this happen?” Jessie replied “My scars are not the reason I’m here Detective.” The Detective noted her unwillingness to say what happened to her back and nodded. Jessie pulled the shirt down followed the Detective from the bathroom; he led her up a set of stairs to an office with comfy armchairs and a glass coffee table.
The room looked warm and inviting, the Detective gestured for Jessie to take a seat so she sat in one of the armchairs and watched as the Detective sat next to her and pulled a mini tape recorder out of his jacket pocket. As he placed the mini recorder on the table he said “This will be easier for you than sitting in an interview room.” Jessie nodded; she crossed her legs and leaned into the back of the armchair.
Jessie thought back to what the snotty woman Dora had said. “Detective? That Dora woman who said she was my solicitor, although I don’t remember asking for one, something she said caught my attention and I was wondering whether you could answer something for me honestly?”
The Detective looked at Jessie and nodded, so she continued “She said that I hadn’t been charged with anything yet, but I don’t understand how I can be charged over what happened when I wasn’t there.” The Detective replied “In some cases the survivor of an attack on this scale is usually the prime suspect, but I can’t get into that until you’ve said what happened today. Now before we start is there anything I can get you?”
Jessie shook her head and looked at the Detective; he took a deep breath and said “Are you ready?”


Chapter Three


Jessie thought ‘I’ll never be ready,’ but nodded her head. The Detective pushed a button on the recorder and said “This is the testimony of-.” He gave a meaningful look at Jessie and she said “Jessie Werner.” “-In regards to the tragic events that took place at fifty-four Bandels Road on the 5th September 2009.
“The Detective conducting and witness to this testimony is Detective James Bridal, the time is twenty-fifty five and the date is 5th September 2009. Do you agree Miss Werner that there’s no-one else present?” “Yes I agree.” Jessie whispered. The Detective nodded, took a breath and said “Miss Werner, in your own words could you please for the benefit of the tape describe in as much detail as possible, everything that happened today from the time you woke up, to the time the police were called?”
Jessie took a deep breath “I woke up this morning at six-thirty am when my alarm clock went off. I switched my alarm clock off and got dressed for work; I made my bed and then went to the toilet.
“Afterwards I put my shoes on and unlocked the front door and had a cigarette on the front porch, once I’d finished that I went back into the lounge and got my bag ready for work, I made sure I had my phone, purse, fags and lighter and went into the kitchen fridge to get my energy drink. When I was leaving the house I looked at my clock and the time said seven-fifteen am.
“I locked the front door, took my keys and walked to the bus stop on the corner of Magnolia Crescent; I got the seven thirty-five am bus to work and arrived there roughly at eight-twenty am. “I had a cigarette before I went upstairs to work, had lunch at twelve noon and I ate a quarter plate of chips.
“I had a cup of coffee then went outside for another cigarette then went back to work for half twelve. I finished work at three pm and decided to walk home as it was a nice afternoon, I had my phone in my pocket so I’d hear and feel it ring as I have the phone on vibrate and ring. When I was about ten – fifteen minutes from home, as I was walking across the playing field by Sameera Lane, I felt as though someone was watching me, I stopped and looked around but I couldn’t see anybody so I carried on home.
“When I got home I expected to hear my brothers arguing over a games console, with my mum having a go at them, but there was silence apart from my brother Malcolm’s music. I opened the front door and expected to hear my collie bark, then run and jump up at me like she normally does, or to see my cat slinking out of the lounge, but I didn’t see either of them.
“I put my head round my mum’s door to say hi, but she wasn’t there even though her laptop was on, I could hear her game music. I looked in my brothers’ room but they weren’t there either. That was when the smell hit me, and I still can’t get rid of the smell or the images in my head of when I walked into the lounge and saw their bodies, and the blood. I remember backing out of the lounge screaming.
“I then saw the writing on the wall, I started screaming again and ran outside, my knees gave out from beneath me and I fell onto the grass. I remember screaming again then crying. The next thing I remember is speaking to the paramedic and seeing the coroners van. I saw them load up my family’s bodies and then drive off. I was then bought here and put in that interview room, and you know the rest from there.”
Jessie dissolved into tears again, hugging her knees in the chair. The Detective waited whilst she calmed down before he started asking questions. “Where do you work?” “The Cosmos Hotel, I’m a chambermaid.” Replied Jessie. The Detective knew her alibi would hold up so he asked about something she’d said earlier.
“Miss Werner, on the way here to the station, you said something in the police car, can you remember what you said?” Jessie looked up; she nodded then remembered the tape recorder. “Yes, I remember what I said, I said ‘I’m sorry mum, I’m so sorry’.” “Can you explain why you said that?” The Detective asked. Jessie took a deep breath.
“If I’d have been at home, I would’ve been able to protect them, but now I can’t, I’ll never be able to protect them and the looks on their faces, it was as though they knew who killed them.” The Detective looked Jessie in the eyes when he asked what would be one of the most important questions in the investigation. “Miss Werner, do you know of anyone, or can you think of anyone who’d want to hurt you or your family?”
Jessie sat and thought, there were a few people who wanted to hurt her, the jilted ex-lover, the guy who’d attacked her and scarred her for life, or it could’ve been her old boss whom she’d had fired for sexual assault.
But none of them as far as she could tell would ever kill an innocent family just to get her. “No Detective, I can’t think of anybody, but if I do you’ll be the first to know.” The Detective concluded the interview and pressed stop on the tape recorder. He then stood up and looked at Jessie, “I’ll make copies of this tape and send them out through the appropriate channels to the courts, I know this is hard for you and I really am sorry for what you’ve lost.”
Jessie nodded and bit her lip, she didn’t want to cry again, but the tears kept flowing down her face regardless. She took a deep breath and said “Is there a place I can go for a fag?”