Bab’s New Year’s Resolution 38 ©

List of characters

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter.
Angela Smith Bab’s newly adopted daughter
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation in Birmingham.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington. Lola’s new girlfriend in college.

Chapter 38

After a week of intensive study of the documents combined with constant collusion with Olivia and Angela, Erica finally came to the end of the bundle. As the prosecution counsels worked alongside the girls they were shocked at the revelations that emerged as dates and places were matched to the girls recollections and names mentioned in the files.

Time and again, one or two or sometimes all three of the girls would gasp or curse as they realised that some individual they had identified as ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ would turn out to be ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ and who happened to be somebody working for a local authority, or charity or government agency. In two cases, they were high ranking police officers.

In another instance a police file turned up some very disturbing corroborations of the girls observations.
“We all knew him as ‘Mac the knife’!” The girls gasped as the files revealed him to be the chief executive of social services in a town in Yorkshire.

The para-legal assistants fell silent except for one young lady who was tapping furiously on her keyboard until she let out a gasp followed by a sotto-voice curse.

“I thought I’d seen that name! Here it bloody is!”

“Tsk, tsk Miss Lewisham. Not the sort of language I expect from a trainee barrister” The head of chambers admonished her.
Miss Lewisham stalked angrily across to the printer and snatched the page off the machine to place it firmly under the leading counsel’s nose as she riposted.

“And not the sort of behaviour one would expect from a chief executive of Social Services. There! Look, fourth line down. A police reference to his nick-name in some masonic bash he must have been attending. ‘Mac-the-Knife. How’d ’you think he got that name?” I wonder.”

He took the proffered page from the young barrister and stared askance at it with eye-brows raised.

“I see what you mean,” he replied as he turned to Inspector John.

“It looks like another damned interview for the girls.”

There was an angry curse as Erica slumped back with exhaustion.

“Not more bloody interviews!” She sobbed.

Miss Lewisham quickly stepped across the circle to hug the exhausted teen-ager.

“Not now love. Not for a long time. Come and have a cup of tea, it’s nearly eleven.”

Almost by telepathic consensus, the circle of mostly young researchers stood up in a unanimous act of support. All of them had at some time been shocked and sickened by what they were learning from the files.

As Erica sipped the hot, sweet, milky tea, her two friends Ollie and Angie gathered protectively beside her on the sofa as tears glistened in all three of the girl’s eyes. They had all suffered in some degree at the hands of ‘Mac the knife’.

Very cautiously, the young paralegal trainee settled on the arm of the sofa and carefully broached the subject to all three girls. She did this to avoid overloading Erica with yet more traumatic stress. She also sensed that she had somehow won Erica's confidence so there was no better place to broach the questions.

“Can either of you two give us any details?”

Both Olivia and Angela nodded as Erica looked up through glittering tears of anger.

“If you’re happy with my questions, I’ll start with you Angela then if either of you two can corroborate it, just nod and I’ll come back to each particular issue or event later.”

It was a tactic secretly filmed by a hidden camera and the strategy worked. As Angela narrated events involving ‘Mac-the-Knife’, Olivia and Erica simply nodded confirmation and the researchers found themselves making much faster progress.

They discovered several more high-level individuals who's names were being furiously written down then emailed to trusted police officers. By the end of the Monday session, the prosecution counsels had more than enough to support Erica’s claim whilst incriminating some very high level government officials including some MP’s and members of the house of Lords.

After completing the searches of the files, the remainder of the week and following weekend was spent checking out dates, locations and known facts about the identified suspects. Fortunately this only involved the girls at a superficial level for all they had to do was corroborate stuff that was already a matter of record in the documents.

Their other task however was a much more distressing one. Missing girls were being linked to the files by dint of all three girls identifying faces on the police ‘missing-persons’ files. In a score of instances, it transpired that one or more of the three friends had been the last innocent witnesses to have seen the missing girls alive before they had been moved to places unknown.

Even before the week of research was complete, the police had already found two corpses by simply following up Angela and Erica’s recollections. Fortunately both Inspector John, the lead prosecuting counsel and the judge put a stop to a police request to have the three friends identify the corpses.

“Give the poor girls a bloody break!” The judge cursed uncharacteristically when the police request landed on his desk.

Inspector John fully supported the judge’s decision as he studied the forensic photographs of the exhumed, decayed bodies. He shook his head and explained to his colleagues in Manchester.

“Leave it to the dentals and DNA lads. These poor dead bitches were friends of our three witnesses and they’ve been through enough!”

ooo000ooo

After nine days of exhaustive work the prosecution team had a rock-solid case against the second raft of rape-gang members plus further charges and accusations to level against the original defendants convicted in the first trial. By far the most serious and numerous charges were laid against Abdul Ibn Saud, Manuel Lopez, a Mexican drug lord and a one, Irtan Dofar, a Turkish people trafficker.

When Erica returned to court on that Monday morning she almost vomited when she saw the three of them arraigned in the dock. The judge immediately ordered a screen to be placed between her and the defendants while allowing the jury a clear view of all proceedings and participants except Erica. From the cover of the screen, Erica smiled with relief then mouthed her thanks towards the judge.

“With the new evidence the trial became an ‘open-and-shut case’ and it took the jury less than an hour to reach its verdict after three days of additional hearings.

After the judge had retired, Erica got another message from his chambers. This second time she was not so nervous when she knocked on his door. Once she was seated he explained.

“Sadly Erica, you’ve still got the German and Dutch trials to attend as a witness. The dates for those are fixed but I have been informed that the Turkish trial has some way to go before a date can be fixed. I suspect there is some murky water to be navigated yet with all the turmoil out there.”

Erica nodded her head slowly as the judge explained some his own feelings and suspicions. Finally, armed with the judge’s thoughts and warnings, she took her leave and joined the girls later in yet another hotel.

“We’ll have stayed in every hotel in bloody England before this fucking business is over!” She sighed as she slumped down onto the settee in their suite.

Sergeant Bridie noted her weary mood and moved to encourage her.

“Try not to get too stressed girl. When it’s over you’ll receive substantial compensation for damages.”

“She’ll be able to write a book.” Lola chuckled.

“Or even make a film!” Olivia added.

“It’ll be fucking ‘X’ rated if I ever do.” Erica replied as she stood up and yawned.

“I’m for bed, anybody else?”

“Not before some sort of Supper,” Olivia argued.

“Huh! Typical!” Angela riposted. “I’ll try room service.”

“No. I’ll organise a meal,” Bridie responded while explaining. “Room service is one of the chinks in the armour. How are we to know who’s delivering the food?”

“Point taken.” Erica conceded as she shuffled towards her bedroom to change before eating.

ooo000ooo

The meal was eaten in silence as each of the girls dwelled upon their private thoughts. As the final clinking of cutlery fell silent, Erica turned to Lola.

“Will you cuddle me tonight?”

Lola smiled and nodded. This was taken as a general signal to head for their beds and soon total silence reigned in the apartment.

The next morning as the girls prepared to return to court to hear the judge’s sentencing there was a commotion on the court steps. From the security of the side entrance the girls heard shots being fired and they immediately adopted the pre-arranged plan as their armed guards bundled them back into the armoured van.

From their secure place they heard Sergeant Bridie talking over the radio then she cursed.

“Fuck! How badly.”

The girls heard the word ambulance followed by hospital before Bridie turned towards the girls with a worried expression.

“Bab’s has been shot!”

There were several shrieks of angry despair before Bridie was deluged simultaneously with questions as the girls demanded to know.

“They’ve taken her to hospital, she was shot in the lower back.”

“Take me there immediately!” Lola pleaded.

“And us!” All the girls added simultaneously.

“What about the sentencing?” Bridie warned.

“That can wait.” Lola declared. “I’d be surprised if the court carries on anyway. There’ll be a crime scene outside the doors anyway.”

“I’ll check it out now.” Bridie agreed.

After a few brief checks Bridie confirmed that all the courts had been suspended and after several calls she turned and nodded.

“We’re going to the hospital, it’s a fair distance away.”

“How is she?” Olivia begged tearfully.

“Give them a chance darling, they haven’t even reached the hospital yet.. Re-fasten your seat-belts girls, we’re going for a ride.”

As the van sped towards the hospital, Bridie was continuously talking on the radio then she turned to the girls.

“They’ve caught the gunman. The getaway car skidded off the road through a fence and down a railway embankment.”

“Good!” Erica gasped as they swept through the A&E emergency entrance.

Despite Bridie’s endeavours; the girls burst heedlessly out of the van and dashed into the A&E department demanding to know about Babs. It was only when the girls were refused access into the theatre that Bridie managed to catch them. Her angry voice reverberated around the A&E waiting room.

“You stupid bitches! The gang could have been waiting here for you!”

Suddenly the truth dawned on the girls as they realised Bab’s might have simply been bait. They glanced around fearfully but Bridie now had the situation under control. She cursed the girls for their head-strong stupidity even as her radio crackled again. Angrily she snatched the clip from her lapel and barked into the mike.

“Yes. Sergeant Davies here.”

The radio crackled again but, because Bridie had earphones in, the girls could not hear what Bridie was being told.

“Have they?”

The radio crackled again.

“All of them?”

More crackling then Bridie relaxed.

“Good! Give my regards to Inspector John; and thank him.”

She turned to the girls and frowned.

“They’ve caught the ones planning to ambush you, they were waiting outside The Royal Hospital because they anticipated Bab’s being rushed to the nearest A&E. Instead, Inspector John ordered the ambulance to the General Hospital because Bab’s injuries were not immediately life-threatening. It’s a good job he did otherwise we’d have driven into a hail of bullets.”

Erica’s mouth was agape as she realised what had happened.

“The inspector must have anticipated their plans!”

“I think you’re right Erica,” Bridie agreed, “he’s canny thinker when he puts his mind to it. One step ahead yet again.”

“This whole business is getting dangerous – bloody dangerous!” Lola intoned.

“You fucking bet it is!” Olivia agreed as Angela just nodded; lost for words.

After Sergeant Bridie had explained to the A&E unit manager, the five of them were taken to a ‘family bereavement room’ for their own protection until the A&E surgeon appeared. The five of them looked up hopefully so the surgeon gave a cautious smile.

“She’ll live, - but – she might be unable to walk for a long time; if at all, bearing in mind her great age. The records say she’s seventy eight or nine, can you confirm that.”

“Seventy eight, she’ll be seventy nine in December." Lola advised then asked. "Can we see her?”

“They are taking her up to the wards now. She doesn’t need intensive care because the injuries are no longer life threatening. Give her an hour more to recover fully from the anaesthetic and you can see her. Who’s the oldest relative?”

“I’m her oldest adopted daughter.” Lola revealed.

“Ah. That makes sense now. Do you know her full circumstances?” The surgeon asked tactfully.

“Yes.” Lola replied monosyllabically so as not to reveal any of Bab’s secret circumstances to the girls. Lola was'nt quite sure whether Olivia, Angela nor Erica were aware that Bab’s was transgendered. As she replied to the surgeon she had tried to motion with her eyes to implore secrecy but her effort had not gone unnoticed by the sharp-eyed Erica.

When the surgeon had left, Erica immediately tackled Lola.

“What was all that about?!”

“What?” Lola responded defensively.

That eye-contact thing with the surgeon then you slid your eyes our way. What’s that about?”

“I’ll speak to Bab’s first, once she’s out of this. If she’s okay, she will tell you herself. All I can say is that it doesn’t affect you or Ollie or Angie.”

The stressed Erica, already burdened with too many secrets and too many experiences, now topped by Bab’s having been shot; cursed loudly and laid verbally into Lola face.

“What is it you bitch!? What are we not allowed to know? Come on! Tell us!”

Lola equally stressed just like all the girls, blasted back.

“Just fucking wait! Not here! Not now! Bab’s can tell you, if or when she’s good and ready!”

The confrontation had all the signs of erupting into a full blown row and Bridie was forced to assert her authority.

“Stoppit! The lot of you stoppit! If you don’t calm down I’ll have the boys remove you from the hospital!”

Erica cursed loudly and slumped down onto the chair almost breaking it despite her smallish size. Bridie eyed her a clear warning.

“Enough! Okay! The last thing Bab’s wants is a troop of angry bitches marching into her room. If she’s got any problems or issues then It’s for her to discuss them when she’s ready! AND NOT BEFORE!

ooo000ooo