The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1178 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

After the police came and removed the note for forensic analysis and presumably to compare finger prints with those they had on record of Alfie Bird. If he’s dumb enough to have left any, he’ll soon be doing bird–it’s an offence to send nasty letters through the Royal Mail, and the missing apostrophe made it very nasty. He should get an extra six months for poor grammar.

Stephanie had gone to see Julie again, and had pronounced her well enough to come home, the physicians agreed and I was called to go and get her. Just as well I wasn’t doing anything important, only drawing up plans for world domination by the Mammal Society–actually, I’d moments before put the bread machine on and was thinking about lunch. Instead, I grabbed my jacket and car keys. I sent a text to Simon to advise him that I was collecting Julie from hospital.

The traffic was dreadful, why does everyone with a car always want to use it the same time that I do–and always in the same place? It took me forty five minutes to get to the hospital and park the car. I picked up my handbag and the small holdall with Julie’s clothes and walked to the ward to collect her.

She gave me a huge hug and then went to change into her jeans and top, plus trainers and socks. Ten minutes later, she thanked the nurses with a hug each and then we left the ward strolling back to the car park. We were being watched as we soon found out.

Crossing on the crossing with several other people, a car flashed past and nearly caught both of us. If I hadn’t seen movement from the corner of my eye and pulled her back, who knows what would have happened.

Several people saw and commented on the old red Cavalier that so nearly knocked us down. It happened so fast that were unable to see the driver or get the number. We took a deep breath and continued on to collect the car. Perhaps I was still tired from the previous night or what, but I didn’t realise that we were actually being attacked.

We stepped into the car park and the red car came screaming at us once again, I pushed Julie between some parked cars and had to scramble over the bonnet of another avoiding the maniac in the Vauxhall by inches. He then drove out at breakneck speed and I heard his engine whining in the distance.

“Are you all right, Mummy?” called Julie from between the cars.

I pulled myself out from the bushes at the edge of the parking spaces and told her I was. Alas, she wasn’t, she’d twisted her ankle and was limping heavily on it. Fortunately, my car was only yards away and I went and got it and she managed to scramble inside, throwing her bag on the back seat.

Safe at last, Mercedes make secure cars, they’re renowned for it, so I felt safe. We drove round the hospital road and a blue car pulled out in front of us and I had to do an emergency stop to avoid him. He stayed in front as we exited on to the main road and did he dawdle. The windows were blacked out so I couldn’t see who was driving but it felt like a little old lady, I mean I cycle faster than he was going.

He drove on past a crossing where I stopped to let some children cross and one of them almost thanked me–cor, recognition at last. We caught up with the blue car at some traffic lights and once again he drove off like a clockwork slug. In desperation, I pulled off to the left to avoid him and go home by a different route, he was beginning to annoy me.

Another A class Merc followed him through the junction although it was a red one. We went in a big dog leg to come back to the main road and suddenly from nowhere the blue car came screaming past us–at least I thought it was the same one.

“Is that the same car which nearly ran us off the road coming out of the hospital?” I asked Julie.

“Could be, yeah, it looks the same, why?”

“Why indeed? He was crawling along in front of us, though he pulled out like a maniac to do so. Now he’s overtaken us again and is slowing down again–what’s going on?”

“What d’ya mean, Mummy?”

“Why’s he slowing us down–someone going to take a pop at us?”

“Mummy, this is Portsmouth not Chicago and Alfie Bird doesn’t have the brains to plan something like that, does he?”

“Who said he’s planning it, what if it’s his boss?” I glanced at Julie who’d gone pale. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

“That’s Alfie up ahead.”

He stepped out into the road carrying something in his hand, I accelerated past the blue car and opened my door as we drew level with Alfie, who was knocked flying. The impact cracked my window and probably dented the door, but we squeezed through between a bus coming the other way and the blue car, which now began to come after us.

“Call the police,” I instructed Julie but she seemed to have fainted, slumping forward in her seat against the seat belt.

I now had to try and lose the other car, which I suspect went much faster than mine. Coming up to a roundabout, I deliberately turned against the traffic flow and went down a one way street against the direction of oncoming traffic, somehow, we all managed to miss each other. Getting to the end, I did a handbrake turn and went back up the road passing the lunatic in the blue car who had finally worked out where I’d gone except he was now going away from us and I saw he’d also hit a taxi coming up behind us.

I sighed for a moment of relief when I heard a dripping noise, I glanced down Julie was bleeding from the chest and it was running off the seat onto the floor of the car. I don’t know what had happened but she was unconscious and bleeding heavily. I had one thought in my mind–hospital and quick.

I don’t think I ever want to relive that journey; suddenly the red car appeared again and tried to ram us, this time I saw him coming and he careered across in front of us and crashed through the window of a chemist’s shop.

I was now speeding well over the limit through streets with pedestrians and slow moving traffic, one hand on the wheel the other on the horn, beeping my way through, squeezing through gaps I’d never normally even try in a car park, now I was doing it at fifty miles an hour.

Approaching the A&E entrance to the QA and the blue car appeared again, this time with a police car on his tail, lights flashing and sirens wailing. To my horror it didn’t seem to stop him, he just kept coming.

I put my foot down and swerved into the A&E parking bay and stopped suddenly expecting an impact from the rear, instead he shot past us and got broadsided by an ambulance which caused him to fly up into the air and land on his roof.

A policeman came running up to arrest me and I pointed to Julie–“She’s hurt, I don’t know how.”

He took one look at her and ran into the hospital returning a moment later with two nurses and a gurney. “Gunshot wound,” he said breathlessly and pointed to Julie whom I’d sat back in her seat and had a handful of tissues over the wound.

We all lifted her onto the gurney and some more nurses and a doctor appeared, she was rushed back into the hospital and the copper stopped me and said. “You’re under arrest,” and read me my rights.