Kates' Friends Part 1

Prologue

“So do you know your neighbour well?”

The man looked blank. “To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen her more’un twice.”

The constable nodded. It wasn’t unusual but it always saddened him to think that living right opposite someones’ door didn’t afford you a better relationship with your neighbours than living in the middle of nowhere with not a sole to speak of for miles. So much for neighbourhood watch this guy could barely tell him what she looked like. “So do you have any idea where we could get hold of her?”

The man shook his head and shrugged.

Oh well he would just have to wait. He couldn’t leave the flat unattended with the door wide open. “Thank you sir.”

One of the other three officers on the scene, who had been taking finger prints, waved him over. “We’ve done about all we can here. Do you want us to look at the other place now?”

“Yeah you better get on with it. It doesn’t look like she’s going to turn up.”

The man motioned to his partner and they picked up their bags and started out of room.

The constable turned his attention back to the tenant. He was looking unhappy. His eyes moved from the man to his belongings littered about the room, most obviously broken and thrown down any old how. It looked all the worse for being quite a small room but still there wasn’t a surface free from debris. He sighed and shook his head. Why did people have to do this?

“So that’s it then?”

Constable Perry’s nerves grated at his tone. Yes that was it, really nothing more they could do except leave him to clear up the mess and work out what was missing or broken and then replace it. He fixed a sad smile to his face and moved closer to him. “Yes I’m afraid it is. As soon as you can, bring that list in and we can put it on file. We’ll do our best but...” He didn’t get any further.

“Right and you’ll still not catch who did it?”

What could he say, the likelihood was the man was right, it wouldn’t matter what they did the perpetrators would not be caught. He stayed silent

“Right so I guess that really is it then.” The man picked his way across the lounge towards the door, kicking some of his broken dvd’s as he went.

“I’m sorry sir but there’s really nothing else I can do. We’ll give you a call in a few days and let you know how things are going or if we get anywhere but in the mean time I would put a claim into your insurers.” He paused.

“Right yes.” He rubbed his forehead.

The constable nodded and turned to leave. He carefully picked his way over the mans’ belongings, trying not to do any more damage and then gingerly edged around the man putting a new door on the flat and stepped out into the hallway. It was small and poorly lit and the dark grey walls made it all the darker. The landing was littered with broken glass and wood splinters from where both the doors had been forced but wasn’t nearly as messy as the flat behind him.

Right well he had better see if his partner had been able to get in touch with the tenant. Sometimes this job was just joyless.