The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1244 by Angharad Copyright © 2011 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

The phone rang and rang but no one answered it. I rang Pippa who told me that Tom had taken the day off. She also told me that the latest gossip had it, that Diana was trying to raise half a million pounds to ransom Godrick. If he was being ransomed then I would have thought the price would be higher than that. I hoped Tom wasn’t one of the donors, but knowing him, he probably was. It worried me that he was nowhere to be found and that Diana had also seemingly disappeared.

I expressed some milk while I was making my mind up in what to do. I’d promised the kids a day out, so Jenny and I took the children except Julie who went into Bristol with Stella. We went off to Weston and had a mooch about. The tide there disappears about half a mile from the actual beach–it’s on the Bristol Channel which has some of the highest daily rises and falls of tide in the world.

We got home again via a supermarket about five o’clock and it was getting dark although the nights were beginning to draw out a little, especially on a fine day like this had been. I made a stew and left it cooking whilst I tried to call Tom again. He still wasn’t answering. I rang Simon, he was grumpy, but then he admitted he wasn’t sleeping well without me. I waivered for a moment but decided to stay here at least another day. He also thought Tom was at home today unless he’d taken Diana to her place to get the clothes.

I asked him if he’d heard anything about the body found in her garden and said the police had been to see him but only because they were seeking Diana.

“No Susan, then?” I quipped.

“Susan? Who’s Susan?”

“The girl they were desperately seeking in the film.”

“What film?”

“Desperately Seeking Susan.”

“You talk a load of rubbish some times.”

“Is that why you love me?”

“Probably, why?”

“Just wondered, can’t think why I love you, but I do.”

“Come home then.”

“I can’t, I’ve got a stew cooking.”

“Not mutton?”

“Well they call it lamb these days but I suspect it probably died of old age.”

“Ooh, I haven’t had mutton stew since I was in school.”

“Yes you have, I’ve made it a few times.”

“Not when I was home.”

“Oh, maybe not then. Look, I’m worried about Tom.”

“I thought you’d disowned him?”

“No he told me to leave, remember?”

“You did rather insult his guest and Hielanders take a dim view of bad manners.”

“He’s from Edinburgh, any further south and he’d have been a Sassenach.”

“So, he’s a Hielander in spirit.”

“Bollocks, he can’t stand midges, and his spirit is single malt.”

“Okay, okay.”

“You’re more of a Highlander than he is.”

“I am? Of course I am, been to John of Groats twice.”

“There we are then, now where is Daddy?”

“This morning it was Agnew–what’s changed?”

“I’m worried about the old fossil, that’s what.”

“Have you tried his mobile?”

“He broke it, remember?”

“He dropped it as I recall, it was you driving that bloody behemoth running over it that broke it.”

“It was dark, how was I supposed to know he’d let it fall out of his bag as he carried stuff in? Anyway, that was a week ago, why hasn’t he replaced it?”

“Why are you asking me, he’s your father?”

“I know and I’m scared witless about him.”

“Did you say witless?” he chuckled.

“Yes, I did–which you heard perfectly.”

“You don’t usually succumb to propriety when talking to me.”

“Yes I do, you’re just trying to wind me up. I’ve got to go and sort this stew before the sheep gets out of it.”

“I love mutton stew–and the people who make it, byee.”

“Goodbye, darling.”

Fighting with Simon was almost worth it for the making up afterwards.

“Darling? You we’re gonna divorce him at breakfast–you’re so inconsistent, Cathy.”

“Stella dear, you shouldn’t eavesdrop.”

“I wasn’t, I happened to be coming up here anyway.”

“I can’t contact Tom.”

“Tried his mob–oh, you ran over that didn’t you?”

“Don’t you start.”

“Oh was big bruv having a go?”

“If making pointless statements about my driving ability and a mobile phone is having a go, then yes he was.”

“I’m not sure if you’re more sensitive about his comments on your driving or about the phone.”

“I’m not worried about either except it stops me ascertaining if Daddy is okay or not, or if he’s still with that old tart.”

“He likes her, so why keep calling her names?”

“Because she makes me sick–‘Oh Paul McCartney was the only one of the Beatles I slept with.’ Name dropping old slag.”

“You’re jealous.”

“Jealous–of her? You must be joking, I can just see her now name dropping–‘I caught clap from Clapton and syph from Simon and Garfunkle and leptospirosis from the Boomtown Rats.’ Nah, he’s worth more than that, besides she’s already married to his friend.”

Stella was still lying on the bed laughing–“You are completely potty, d’ya know that?”

“Wrong–if I was completely potty, I’d sleep under the bed.”

“Okay, I asked for that one. So where d’you think Tom is?”

“I don’t know. I think I’m going to call Jim.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah Jim Beck, he might be able to find him and also what’s going on with that woman.”

“He doesn’t exactly come cheap–a bit like your eldest daughter.”

“Why what’s happened now?”

“Nothing, I just got caught for a coat and boots.”

“Whose fault is that?”

“I know, but she did look nice in them even if she won’t be able to walk far.”

“You didn’t buy her something with stupid heels, did you?”

“You wear them occasionally.”

“Very occasionally but my bones have ossified, hers haven’t yet. She’ll be crippled by the time she’s twenty one.”

“Have you any vinegar?”

“Somewhere in the pantry, why?”

“If she soaks her feet in it she’ll have pickled bunions.”

“Very funny, Stella–God that is so old I didn’t see it being resurrected.”

“Beck.”

“Eh?”

“You said you were going to call Jim Beck.”

“Oh yeah,” I picked up my mobile and dialled, Stella changed and left the room as I waited for his phone to transfer to whichever number he was at–very sophisticated. Nice to know he’s spending my money so well.

“Beck, how can I help you, Lady C?”

I was taken aback for a moment then realised he had my mobile number on his phonebook. “Hi, Jim, I need some help...” I explained my concern and the event which caused it.

“So you think this Diana woman is concealing something which these guys want back and Tom is caught up because he fancied her a hundred years ago?”

“Make it two hundred and you’re about right.”

“So where does the body in the garden figure in your theory?”

“It might be coincidental,” I argued weakly.

“Oh yeah, I find dead bodies in mine all the time.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me one bit.”

“Cathy, I’m not some sort of psycho with a blood lust.”

“I’m only joking, James.”

“So you want me to see if I can put some feelers out and find your dad?”

“More or less, yes.”

“It’ll cost you.”

“I know.”

“Consider it done. How long are you staying in Bristol?”

“I don’t know, d’you think I should go back?”

“I don’t know either, perhaps you could come back but couldn’t Stella and Jenny cope with the kids without you for a few hours?”

“I’m still feeding the little one.”

“Give her a bacon sarnie and she won’t even know you’re missing.”

“Long experience in baby care have you?”

“Yeah, but they all seemed to choke t’ death for some reason, never worked out why.”

“I’m sure.”

“I’ll let you know when I hear anything.”

“Thanks, Jim.”

“See ya.”