The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3355 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 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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Trish caught a bus to the town centre, my Jaguar was about three cars back. I left most of the spotting to Danni while I concerned myself with dealing with driving, it would undoubtedly help if we stayed alive during the purpose of the exercise. We saw her alight the bus and I stopped the car and Danni jumped out to pursue her on foot while I found somewhere to park the car. It took me a few minutes to catch her up and as far as she knew, Trish hadn't spotted her.

We were both wearing dark jackets with a hood which could be pulled up to cover our hair and face if necessary, it hadn't this far because she didn't turn around or look behind her. We followed her for about ten minutes we were trying to look inconspicuous which made us stand out like two sore thumbs, then fortunately for us she turned into a cafe. I don't mean she became a cafe but entered one, a sort of bistro place.

She was wearing her tidy jeans which were tucked into a pair of ankle boots with a two-and-a-half-inch heel. Her rather pretty top was covered by her red jacket and she carried a handbag on her shoulder. It was large enough to carry an umbrella and a book about quantum theory. I wondered why anyone would take such a thing with them to read on a date then realised it wasn't for reading, in fact, I think she read it ages ago, but to advertise her presence to her date.

The place wasn't exactly heaving but sitting with her back to the window enabled us to see her quite clearly without her seeing us. We watched for a few minutes and then a young man went in and seemed to be looking for something or someone already in there. He approached her and they spoke for a few moments then he sat down beside her and the waitress came to take their order. I had tried to drum into all of them that they had to pay their share, anything else may be assumed to be payment in kind. The fact she was still a minor didn't mean that she couldn't make any mistakes and while she couldn't get pregnant, she could either be assaulted or damaged or catch something dreadful. She was only a kid and while I wanted to see her enjoy herself, I didn't want her hurt.

"He looks older than sixteen," observed Danni when we had a chance to see him fully.

I agreed, "He's more like twenty," I replied.

"Too old for her and probably wanting something you told her not to give."

"I'm concerned that she may be wanting to test it all out, in which case, unless he's built like a dormouse, she will be torn something rotten."

"Built like a dormouse?" Danielle chuckled at my expression.

"You know perfectly well what I meant."

"I do but quite how you managed to fit in dormice, surprised me."

"You know I compare everything to dormice."

"I wonder where Daddy comes in this dormouse world?"

"Um....mind your own business," I replied.

She laughed again and I felt my colour rising. "What do we do now?" she asked me. I was beginning to feel decidedly cold.

"Let's go in," I suggested and we slipped in the door and sat behind Trish in a corner by the window. I said quietly to Danni we'll just have a drink because if they leave we can abandon a coffee without too much trouble but a meal we can't."

"Okay," she said and then added, "I need a wee." She was blushing profusely and we were quite a distance from the nearest loo, apart from the one in the cafe and that was just in front of Trish. The coffees arrived and I paid for them, she pulled her hood up and walked into the toilet as if she was desperate, she could have been. Minutes later, the hood still up, she snuck back to our table. "I don't think she saw me," she added.

"No, I don't think she did." We watched them eat feeling hungry ourselves, then suddenly he seemed to look at his watch and they went outside. I was tempted to run after them but resisted the inclination and followed a minute or so later hoping they hadn't turned off anywhere before we could see them. Our luck held and we picked the trail up ending at our local multiplex. It looked like we were the guilty party as we hid in doorways and alleyways on our way to the cinema. After we saw where they were going, I bought us a bag of chips, which we ate and then went into the cinema.

Looking at the names of the films I opted for the one about a mathematician and bought us tickets to it. The film had started and watching the audience I spotted them in the middle of a row about halfway down. At least it wasn't the back row.

About ninety minutes later we hid as they left now arm in arm, and I managed to catch him on my camera and sent a copy to my physics professor. Any idea who it was? He replied a few minutes later saying the photo was one of his new lecturers and why did I have it? I replied that he seemed to be dating my daughter of thirteen who was starting university in a week or two, although if this was to become a regular event, either she wouldn't be coming or he'd find himself unemployed for going out with a minor, possibly even in police custody. I received a reply, Oh shit.

As we tailed them he answered his phone as they were about to get in his car. I had a feeling I knew who the caller might be and as he took the call and then his reaction afterwards, I was pretty sure who it was and we turned and ran back to my car and I drove as fast as I could back to the house. We arrived about ten minutes before they did. I was trying to pretend I had been working on something in my study and Danni shot up to her room.

Trish got out of the car and she insisted he come with her into the house. She marched into my study and introduced her friend to me. "This is Dr Tony Millward from the physics department and we have just been to see a film. We are going to have a cuppa in the kitchen if that is okay.

I asked him if he knew how old she was and he replied that he did and that today had not been a date but more a friendship meeting as both were lonely and interested in similar things. I pointed out that the police might see it differently and I also explained that I was the Dean of the science faculty. He went white and didn't bother with tea leaving immediately. He didn't know who I was and once he made himself scarce.

Trish went bananas and couldn't see how lucky she'd been and that I was going to ask James to investigate Tony Millward for possible paedophile activities. Trish had worn little makeup as she wasn't really that good at it, so it must have been obvious that she was only young. I tried to reason with her but she stormed off to her bed and slammed the door. I asked Danni and Stella to keep their eyes on her while I went to the university to look at staff records.

I could find nothing on Millward there nor in pending on Diane's desk. I at last found a not saying his records were in transit from Durham University, where he'd got a PhD. I called James and sent him the photo, I also sent one to Sergeant Andy Bond at Portsmouth police explaining why I had sent it, and then I drove home to deal with an outraged adolescent. That we might have a paedophile in the university alarmed me.

Trish had calmed down and I spoke with her apologising for bursting her balloon and she told me he had suggested going back to his place for a drink and talk, then his phone has rung and he brought her straight home and his whole demeanour had changed from casual to worried. I asked her how old she thought he was and she replied he'd told her he was eighteen.

"Eighteen with a PhD? didn't that strike you as unusual?" I asked her.

"He told me he was a prodigy as well and that he'd get his degree at fifteen."

"In which case, he won't mind me checking on him but he's still too old for you."

"You're just jealous," she threw at me and then ranted and raged some more. I just tried to explain what he may be and that was an impostor. that really set her off and I asked Livvie to sit with her until she calmed down. I then found out Danni had eaten both our dinners, which were being kept in the little oven of the Aga. She'll grumble at me next week that she's getting fat. I had a cuppa and a piece of toast. I didn't really want it but felt better for eating it.

Stella and I talked about what had happened and she told me that she hoped I had been less obvious than when I tailed her some years ago. I laughed and said we were invisible to them which nearly had her in hysterics, "Borrowed Harry Potter's cloak did you?"

"Yeah, something like that."

When I checked an hour later both Trish and Livvie were fast asleep as were the other girls who shared their room. I was amazed that none of them were demanding their own bedrooms but all happily shared what almost became their dormitory. Oh well, I didn't disturb the status quo and when I went to bed I locked the front and backdoor and did so to the mortise lock and removed both keys. If she decided to do a runner, she'd have to walk through a wall as all the doors and windows were alarmed.

The morning came and she seemed over her anger or at least she seemed civil enough at breakfast, apparently, Danni had told her how worried I was and while it was okay to date boy a year or two older because boys were always immature compared to girls, it wasn't right to go out with someone five or six years older. When she was older, like twenty-something she could then date someone much older but until then she had to be wary.

Trish had protested that she was precocious in everything, and apparently, Danni had said to her, "So if he shagged you and tore open your fanny, remember you've only got a girl's one until you finish growing, or his house was full of his friends wanting to do the same, it was all right because you're precocious - or does dating a paedo turn you on?"

That made Trish think for a moment and she never complained again. As for Durham, they had never heard of Millward and even James drew a blank. Interestingly he failed to turn up for work and was never seen again - so if you know someone with a PhD or equivalent our physics department would love to hear from you.