Free The Smoke In The Photograph by Kit Tinsley

had not tried to mollycoddle her on these visits. Instead, she had listened and told her when she thought Julia was being ridiculous. Sometimes Julia had got mad at her for her blunt approach, more than once telling her to fuck off and not come back. Wendy always did though. No matter how bad the previous visit had ended, she always came back and began with a clean slate.
    A tall, haggard looking man walked over to her. He looked older than she guessed he really was. He wore the disheveled look of a junior doctor.
    'Mrs Draper,' he said, extending his hand to her. She shook it and stood up.
    'I'm Doctor Williams. I've been treating your husband back there.'
    'How is he?' she asked. Despite her anger she still loved him.
    'He's stable now,' Doctor Williams said. 'We'd like to keep him overnight for observation, but it was just a severe asthma attack.'
    Julia shook her head and looked at the doctor confused by what he had said.
    'No, that can't be right?'
    'Why not?' Williams asked.
    'Steven doesn't have asthma.’
    'I'm sorry, Mrs Draper,' Williams said. 'He does now.'
     
     
    When Sam returned from the bar, the young woman had taken off her jacket and made herself comfortable. He wasn't sure what he was doing. This was the first time he had flirted with a woman since the breakdown of his marriage. After his wife had left, he had thrown himself even deeper into his work. Even deeper into the Ripper.
    She took the drink from him.
    'Thank you.'
    Sam tried to place her accent. She was English, of that he was certain, but there was a hint of something else, German perhaps, as though she had spent a long time living abroad. This wasn't uncommon in Lincolnshire. All of the air bases meant there was a plethora of RAF brats in the county, people who had spent their lives moving around due to having a parent in the forces.
    'So, what do you do, Miss?' he said, sitting down.
    'Ariel.'
    'Like the little mermaid?'
    She laughed and nodded.
    'I didn't take you for a Disney fan, Inspector.'
    'Please, call me Sam,' he said, removing his own jacket. 'My daughter is a big fan.'
    The woman looked at him and sighed.
    'Typical,' she said. 'Another married man.'
    'Actually, we're separated,' Sam said, taking a sip of his drink.
    'Sorry,' she said. 'It's just I only ever seem to attract married men.'
    So he was right? There was a kind of attraction, and she felt it just as much as he did. He didn't know where it would lead. He was unsure if he wanted it to lead anywhere, but it was nice to know that he still had the ability to attract a woman.
    'You didn't tell me what you do.’
    She laughed.
    'No, I got distracted. I work for the bank in town. Lloyds. I'm a cashier.'
    They talked a little about her job, apparently just a stop gap, then about her childhood. Sam had been right, daughter of an airman, many years spent in Germany. Fairly happy, but never found it easy to make friends.
    'Do you have any siblings?' Sam asked, thinking of his own experience as an only child.
    Ariel looked sad.
    'I had an older sister, but she passed away a few years ago.'
    'I'm sorry,' Sam said.
    'It's alright,' Ariel said. 'It was a blessing in the end.'
    Sam nodded. He understood this feeling. His mother had suffered for years with cancer, getting smaller and weaker with each passing day. Watching her deterioration had been like watching her fade, slowly, from existence. When she had finally passed away, despite his grief, he had felt a sense of relief.
    'I guess you deal with death all the time in your job?' she asked.
    'More than I'd like,' he answered honestly.
    'Do you get used to it?'
    He shook his head.
    'No, it gets easier to learn to cope with it, to distance yourself from it, but you never get used to it.'
    She looked at him inquisitively.
    'Does it hurt you when he kills?' she asked.
    'What?' Sam was unsure of her meaning.
    'I mean the Ripper,' she said. 'When you find a new victim, does it hurt you?'
    It was a line of questioning that Sam neither understood,