(aka Bike) Part 1146 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad
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“What time did you tell them to be home?” I asked Simon.
“I didn’t, I assumed you’d done that.”
“It’s eleven o’clock, d’you think you should go and find them?” It was more of a huge hint than a question.
“I expect they’ll be alright,” he said his attention going back to his book.
“They’re only sixteen, Simon.”
“Call Julie and tell her to get her arse back here pronto.”
“I expect she’ll have switched off her phone.”
“You won’t know until you try.”
“All right, already,” I said dialling her mobile number. It came back as unavailable. “She’s switched it off.”
“They’ll be alright.”
“I do worry about them, especially as one of them is a guest here.”
“Yes I know, I hurt my back pumping up that ruddy mattress.” He looked irritated by me.
“There’s an electric pump in the workshop for those sorts of things.”
“Now you tell me,” he sighed.
“I told you when I bought it.”
“When was that?”
“Months ago. It was when I bought the mattress.”
“Well that was still in the box.”
“Yeah, it would be, as we haven’t used it. The pump is the same, although I think you can use it for car and bike tyres.
“Cathy, I can’t remember all these gadgets you buy, I have more important things to think about.”
“I buy them to try and make all our lives easier.”
“Yeah, I expect you do, but it’s like your pen knife–it has so many gadgets on it, even one for getting boy scouts out of horse’s hooves. I’ll bet you can’t remember when you last used it?”
“Oh I’ve got a battery powered one now, also gets girl guides out of sticky situations, wanna see it?”
“Girl guides in sticky situations–the mind boggles.”
“You know up to their wellies in mud, that sort of thing.”
“How does it work?”
“Like a miniature helicopter.”
“Cathy, that is a personal fan.”
“Oh, I thought it was a bit small to get a Spitfire off the ground.”
“I think you’ll find a Merlin engine requires more than two AA batteries to get it going.”
“Perhaps you’re right, what about the girls?” Sometimes if I play stupid and let him lecture me it gets him in a good mood and he’ll do what I ask him to.
“Hmm, it’s half past eleven and Julie’s working tomorrow you say?”
“Yes.”
Just then Jenny came in. “Hi, I’m surprised you’re still up.”
“We’re waiting for Julie and Phoebe to come home.”
“Where are they?”
“In town, went to the Sailor’s Return for the music.”
“Gosh, that’s a bit rough, and I think I heard someone say there was a big fight there or outside, the Naval Provost was out and the police. Oh well, I’m off to bed.”
“Jenny, could you keep an ear open for the baby? I think we’d better go and find the girls.”
“If you want, don’t be too late though, will you?”
“Be back as quick as we can, c’mon, Si, get your shoes on.”
“Oh bugger,” he grumbled as he roused himself from his book and his chair.
Twenty minutes later we were near the pub–or as near as we would get by car. The police were out in numbers as were the Naval Provost. Simon parked the car and we started to walk.
“Where are you headed?” asked a young policeman.
“My daughter and her friend went to the Sailor’s Return to listen to the live music,” I said innocently.
“I wouldn’t let any daughter of mine go near the place, full of drunken matelots.”
“Surely they wouldn’t touch two youngsters, would they?”
“They’d touch anything and everything, madam.”
“Can we get through to find them?”
“I doubt it, there’s been a stabbing.”
“Surely my two aren’t involved in that?”
“I don’t know, madam, they could be witnesses.”
“C’mon, Si, let’s see how close we can get, we might be able to see them.”
The young copper shook his head but we walked on. A hundred yards closer we were challenged again, this time the copper was not going to let us through. “Sorry lady, there’s been a fatality–it’s a crime scene, can’t let you through.”
“But my daughter and her friend were here and they haven’t got home yet.”
“What’s her name?”
“Julie Kemp and her friend is Phoebe Allen.”
“Okay Mrs Kemp, wait here.” He went off a few yards and spoke into his radio for a couple of minutes.
“Someone is seeing if they can find the two youngsters. Personally, I wouldn’t let my daughter come anywhere near here.”
“Was it a man or woman who was stabbed?” I asked feeling very anxious.
“A woman, why?”
“Oh, God, Simon, it couldn’t be Julie or Phoebe, could it?”
“I expect they’ll be okay, Babes. They both sounded pretty sensible to me when I brought them in.”
The policeman’s radio peeped and he excused himself again, then returned. “They haven’t got anyone of those names still on site, so they’re either down the station or somewhere else.”
“If I call the station would they know if they’re there?”
“They might if you can get through, they were taking them off by the busload.”
“Have they caught the killer?”
“I can’t tell you, madam, even if I know.”
He gave me the phone number for the central police station and I called them, they took ages to answer and said they didn’t know, as they were still processing the people they’d pulled in for questioning.
I asked him to make some enquiries and call me back. He said he couldn’t promise anything they were so short staffed. “Will you take my name and mobile number?”
“Okay, but I’m not promising anything.”
“It’s Cameron, Lady Catherine Cameron.”
His tone changed immediately, “Is that the Lady Cameron?”
“As far as I know it is.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll get back to you.”
“I thought you said name dropping was common?” Simon teased.
“There is a time and place for everything, this was it.”
“I see,” he smiled.
“Don’t you agree?” I asked him, feeling I’d transgressed some unwritten law, not that I was terribly bothered by protocols unless they helped me find the girls safe and sound.
“Oh absolutely.”
“So why the snotty question?”
“I just wondered, that was all.”
My phone rang and I had it up to my ear before a second ring. “Hello?”
“Hello, Lady Cameron, I’ve been right through all the females here and neither of your two are here. Two young women were seen running off after the stabbing with some bloke chasing them.”
“Not the killer, I hope?”
“That I don’t know, but we know they weren’t the victim, she was in her twenties.”
“You don’t know which direction they were seen running?”
“I don’t, Lady Cameron, I have to go, it’s bedlam here.” He rang off before I could thank him.
“They’ll be all right; there’ll be coppers around half the night if not all of it.”
Simon’s words didn’t reassure me or the knot which was tying and untying itself in the pit of my stomach. “Yes, so will the killer if they haven’t caught him. What if it was him who chased the girls?”
“Don’t torture yourself, Babes, we don’t know anything so let’s not speculate on what we don’t know.”
“Oh, Simon, I have a bad feeling about this.”
Comments
Cliffhangered again?
Thanks A+B: this is another fine kettle of fish you've dropped us in!
Precipice Scrambling
Bike Resources
Bike Resources
What is it with Cathy's clowns?
They go out for a swift half and end up in the brown and nasty. Topping it off is a lot of added stress for parental types.
Still, life with two teenage females is not going to be easy, even if you have just 'borrowed' one of them. If Neal gets to hear about Pheobe's antics, he'll have a field day torturing his sibling.
Interesting how Jenny now seems to have become resident.
Nice one A + B + I; keeps the pot boiling.
S.
Yeah but ...
... no but and, like, if they didn't it'd be borin' innit? And Ang's anyfink but borin', like in't she?
Clifford Hangar ;)
Bad feeling...
The question is: who knows the town better - the girls or the bloke chasing them?
Cathy's bad feeling could be ominous - but then again, we might discover that Cathy's not the only member of the family who can hold her own in a fight...
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
The Answer to…
…your question, Ben, is that Julie probably knows the city quite well—being a "Person of Pompey"—but Phoebe is a “Sarumite†(from the city of Sarum—as Salisbury used to be known by the Romans) so, although her brother lives and works in Pompey (Portsmouth), it is unlikely that she knows much of it.
Gabi.
Gabi.
Fortunately cathy has awesome resources at her command
such as locating via the blue light and stuff like that. Needs to remember who she is and what she can do.
and I'm hoping Cathy has her phone on
they just might make it home on their own.
Simon is such a…
…PLONKER! Surely he can see that Cathy is worried sick about the two girls, especially as there has been violence.
Honestly, some men. Grrrrrr! They don't have a clue. Fancy his not giving the girls a curfew time to be home by. Yet he must have at least two brain cells to rub together because he is very good at his job. There is also the wee problem of Julie's plumbing anomaly…of which Phoebe is unaware, and a yobbo could turn exceedingly nasty were he to find a way inside Julie's knickers.
Hilary
We used to watch our three so closely that ...
Aw, I won't go into it. We really tried but all three managed to get into situations that I was afraid to. My step father would have really killed me.
Gwendolyn
Woah...
Woah, that was a close one. I almost fell over the precipice! Is this what happens when you have enough sleep?
I do understand the parent's worry - even with good kids. (I suspect most parents here - including the author - know the feeling.)
If Cathy takes some time - and gets her thoughts together. She'll realize there's a better than even chance she can "get a feeling" on where the teens are, and perhaps she and her knight (okay, he's not the knight, but close enough) in shining armor can maybe do something directly...
Thanks for keeping this story going,
Anne
Bike pt 1146.
Hope we see that we have a new DYNAMIC DUO in the teens.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
God knows where this is going.
Hi Angie.
'Nuther cliff-anger'
Not all sailors pubs are evil. We used to go down to the 'Ship and Pilot' in Tiger bay. No problems, the regulars were lovely.
It was the dumb pratts from up the valleys on Rugby international nights who were the worst trouble. None of them had ever seen a ship except to sail past Berry Island on Miner's fortnight.
Pains-in-the-arse they were.
Let's hope two young ladies are good runners and more importantly, SOBER!
Still lovin' it!
Love and hugs.
OXOXOX.
Bev.
Sixteen Year Old
Children have no business being in a Pub no matter
what is taking place. I believe a visit by a social
worker is over due. Someone with blue light needs a
a little light in her head.
Captin N, In The UK…
…it is legal for 16-year-olds to go into pubs, but they are not allowed to buy alcoholic beverages before they are 18. However, if they are accompnied by an adult (ie over 18) they are allowed to consume wine, beer or cider as an accompaniment to a meal. There are variations in Scotland and Wales.
Hilary
Don't know about
Cathy having a bad feeling about this....If my daughter was last seen running down the street with some unknown man chasing after her....I would be having more than bad feelings, And i would certainly be asking why the police hadn't seen fit to find the unknown man....
Kirri
Funny stuff with Simon.
I have no fingernails left from too many hangings from a cliff.
Where can they have run to ?
Cefin