The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2966 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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When I got home that evening there was a strange car in the driveway. I wasn’t expecting visitors. I knew David was there and Amanda should be, so perhaps they had a visitor; except the odds were it was someone wanting me. I wasn’t to be disappointed, it was a detective inspector and sergeant from Bristol.

“Ah, Lady C, these two gentlemen are from Avon and Somerset Constabulary.”

“Thank you, David, have they had tea?”

“We have, thank you,” said the older of the two.

“D’you mind if I have one?”

They shook their heads and David offered to bring it through to me in the study. I led the two men though and sat on one of the sofas, they both sat opposite me.

“You gave a colleague some details about the case of the body in the canal, a body which you discovered.”

“Yes, I phoned him this morning.”

“Some of the details haven’t been released to the public, so how do you know them?”

“Sometimes if I link with people, bits of information just come to me.”

“Like a psychic?”

“I don’t know.”

“You could also have been involved.”

“Why should I be involved in the murder of a school kid I’d never met and about who I feel very sad.”

“How do you know about the knife?”

“I saw it happen in my mind’s eye. They drugged her, bashed her once on the head—which would have killed eventually—and stabbed her in the heart. The knife was a kitchen one which they washed and put back in a knife block. You should be able to find blood on it.

“It seemed to take place in a garage or other enclosed space and they put plastic sheeting down before killing her, except the blow to the head was violent enough for the odd spot of blood to spray about the place—you should find some if you look hard enough. Check that they don’t have more than one garage or workshop. The body was wrapped in the plastic and they burned it after dumping her in the canal. If you check their garden you may find traces of burnt plastic.”

“And you saw all that—in your head?”

“Yes. I’m also seeing an old lady, named Mabel, has a King Charles spaniel, both have arthritis—she also has something wrong with her chest—oops, it’s lung cancer, she’s not too happy about it as she got it from passive smoking. Oh she’s your mother, isn’t she?”

The Detective Inspector became rather flushed. “Any of that could be collected from various people and you were up in Bristol on the weekend. It could all be a trick.”

“Yes it could. So what do I have to do?”

“You realise I could arrest you.”

“What for, downloading information from the ether?”

“You think you’re pretty clever, don’t you?”

“Whether I’m clever or not is irrelevant; I’m trying to help you because I believe a young woman’s life was ended because of some stupid men who deem their loss of face is more important than her life. I don’t know how the information comes to me, anymore than you know which pair of underpants you’re going to pull from your drawer in the morning. Blue paisley ones today, I see.”

“Very funny,” said his mouth but his eyes weren’t agreeing. “I could arrest you for wasting police time.”

“Feel free, the last time the police tried to make me an example, my lawyers made quite a lot of money for charity.”

“If you’re threatening me...”

“I never make threats, just the occasional prediction. I called Sergeant Bond in good faith, to try and make the investigation easier for you and thus enable the young woman to rest easier.”

“Rest—she’s dead.”

“I’m aware of that, I saw her body in the canal.”

“I’m going to caution you, stop wasting police time, we don’t need amateurs interfering. Do it again and I’ll charge you.”

“If that’s what you came to say, please leave.”

“Just keep your nose out of it.” He said standing up and was followed by his sergeant who’d said nothing. I’d have something to say to Andy Bond the next time I saw him. I was convinced what I’d seen was what happened. If I was correct in this assertion, I suppose it could put the police in a difficult position in trying to get a conviction, except I was pointing them at evidence each time.

Despite the senior copper’s unhelpful attitude, I felt involved and if they messed up the enquiry, I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

There is an age old superstition that murder victims cannot rest until their killer has been apprehended and convicted. I suspect there may be rather a lot of them wandering the earth if that was the case, given the number of murders that remain unsolved—sometimes without even a body being found. So was it all imagination? I suppose it could be, but I’m not a bored, middle-aged housewife looking for some excitement. I’m an overworked university professor with ten zillion kids trying to find some time to relax. I need some woman’s ghost haunting me like a hole in the head, but that’s how it feels. I try to tell her that I’ve done what she asked and all I got for my trouble was a rollocking from man whose mother is dying and whose smoking may be the cause of it. No wonder he was unpleasant.

Wandering back into the kitchen I espy a police car approach up the drive. Out gets Andy Bond, I switch the kettle on and it boils as he entered. I make three mugs of tea, one for him, for David and one for me. Amanda says she’s finished for the day and leaves just afterwards.

After taking Andy through to the study, I again sit in the same place as before and he sits opposite and while he drinks his tea, I told him about my recent experience with his colleagues. He simply shrugs.

“They don’t know how to write up the investigation and driving down here has used up most of the day and increased expenses.”

“I told them where to look and what to look for.”

“I know but they don’t know how to deal with it. We get calls from psychics all the time, ninety nine percent of the time, they are more of a hindrance than a help. I know about your ‘powers’, so it’s easier for me to accept what you tell me, besides you have an unusual hit rate. I implored them to use the info you gave them because some of it will be verifiable.”

“SOME,” I said loudly, “It’s what happened.”

“Provided they can tie the two men into the scene of the crime, they can go and look for the other stuff and believe me, they will turn the places inside out. If there are bloodstains, they’ll find them.”

“By then, the knife will have been dish-washed and the garage repainted.”

“The repainting won’t necessarily destroy the bloodstains. They’ll find them.”

“If they look,” it didn’t seem at all obvious to me that they would. Another picture came into my head. “Oh dear.”

“What’s happened?”

“That detective inspector chap, his mother has just fallen and broken her hip, she fell over the dog.”

“Want me to tell him?”

“I think perhaps we’d better leave it in case he tries to arrest me for causing it.”

Andy Bond chuckled but I didn’t feel it was very funny at all.