[The evening before their wedding]

“Who was on the phone while I was in the shower? Was it your Mother?” asked Josh.

Danielle was reluctant to give much away when they met up the following Sunday. She'd turned up at his home driving her mother's car.

[At a wedding reception]
Josh Fisher, the Best Man stood up and tapped a glass to get everyone’s attention. The level of conversation in the hall dropped away until there was a sea of faces looking at the ‘Top Table’.

“Welcome to Tottenham nick, PC Galbraith.”

Roberta had reported for duty at her new assignment on the Monday after finishing at Colindale the previous Friday.
“I’m Inspector Foster. I have had some good reports about you from your old Inspector. Keep that up and you will go far in the force.”

Monday morning dawned cold and grey. Taylor, was beginning to think that the skies over Colne, were going to be that colour forever.

[Authors Note]
There are dozens and dozens of stories about a bad boy becoming a good girl on TG sites. This is a topic that I had not put my toe into until now. However, I decided to do something a little bit different whilst remaining within the ‘bad child changes and becomes good’ theme. This tale is about a bad girl who thinks that she is entitled to the world and therefore is in dire need of being put on the right path. I’ll leave it to you to fill in the blanks.

“Young lady, it means that you are pretty well off,” said Mr Gerrard.
He'd been explaining in broad terms the provision that her father had made for her after his death.

{Written as a parody and with due homage to a host of SF Authors, Films and TV}

The bedside comunicator beeped.
I slowly opened my eyes. I'd only had a few hours of sleep in the past two days.
The alarm bleeped once again.

[two days later]
“Any luck?” asked Sylvia.

I had been calling around all the local hospitals in the hope of finding where Ray had been taken.

I’d forgotten how nice it was to wake up with someone of the opposite sex lying in bed next to me. It had been a good night. We’d both needed to unwind. Heather was right. A good romp in bed had been a great way to relax, and be normal for a few hours.

Living my life on the edge of what is and is not legal sort of happened without a plan or deliberate action on my part. It just happened and … well it took a car crash to make me take stock of my life.

I stayed with Queenie for three days. During that time, we talked and talked. If I'd thought that testifying before the Grand Jury was an ordeal, then I was very much mistaken. That woman clearly missed her true calling… as a trial attorney.

Messenger 14

We spent the next two nights at a fairly anonymous hotel to the south of the city while decisions were made by the powers that be, about what to do with me.

Jared Raynes was a big man. Not that he was built like a linebacker, but he had a presence that was right there on the nail from the beginning. Using the word ‘Imposing’ did not do him justice.

Once the introductions had been made, he said,
“This is my show, ok? If I tell you to duck, you duck. Got it?”

Sylvie's kiss totally surprised me. My first reaction was to pull away, but the fact that someone wanted to kiss me was good, and she tasted nice. I responded a bit before pulling back.

[central Smithfield, NC]

“I was beginning to think that you weren’t coming,” said Sylvie when I arrived in the diner.

"I had a bit of personal business to take care of. That's all done so we can get out of here."

“Where are we going now?”

I spent the rest of the drive watching the scenery flash by. The plains are pretty boring from a landscape point of view. This was a far cry from the beauty of the cabin and the mountains.

The Judge was good on his promise to take me not only out of the city but right out of the state. Our journey was hardly discrete due to a three Police cruiser escort complete with lights and sirens out of the city. Then the county cops took over and four of them followed us right to the Washington State line. A local TV truck complete with a huge satellite dish joined in the convoy but according to the local radio, I was being run out of town because I was a threat to society. Not true but small-town politics are messy at the best of times. Thankfully, the state line was just over an hour away but it was clear in that the message they were sending me was very clear… ‘Do not come back or else!’

The unseasonably cold wind from the north offered little protection for people like me, who lived on the streets despite it being well into spring. Two blocks away from me, there was a hostel that at least offered a warm shower and some hot food but it didn't open until 6 pm. That was hours away and I’d already been warned off from two places where I’d tried to shelter from the wind.

Surprise

“Darling!” came a call from downstairs.
“Your agent is on the phone.”

I sighed. Despite me telling my agent more than once to use my mobile, she continued to use the landline.

“Ok. I’m coming.”

The morning as with many mornings recently, had not been that productive in terms of writing my next novel. I was sure that my agent, Agatha Smythe-Hall was calling to check on progress. I knew what I wanted to write but it would just not come out in any sort of even semi-readable text.

I went downstairs and took the phone.