The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3450 by Angharad Copyright© 2024 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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James was out when I returned to the hotel and I met with Danni who'd been using the free wi-fi and her laptop. We'd bought all of them laptops at different times as well as iPads or other tablets, which Danni had had updated, at least twice to my knowledge, so it was actually a better machine than I used most days. We had taught them how to research subjects online, and as student of my university, she had been taught a little more than the basics and was putting it to good use.

"Michelle O'Sullivan is the one you need to talk too. She's the president or equivalent to the lesbian group here."

"I've already spoken to Michelle, a nice girl and she has agreed to be our ears at the university. Of course she protests about the possibility than any of her members could be involved and I didn't ask her to prove it."

"Hey Mum, you're slipping aren't you? Being polite doesn't normally restrain you from going for the jugular."

"Maybe age has enlightened me because if I had gone in with guns blazing I doubt she would have given me more than a knee-jerk dismissal. I didn't, I treated her as an equal and explained my predicament all the time respecting her lifestyle and choices. She agreed to make enquiries for us and to get back to me. Having her as an ally is wiser than as an enemy. She might not be able to help us find Trish, but I suspect she could hinder anything we may try."

"Gosh, I didn't realise you had such skills," Danni smirked as she spoke and I went to slap her on the head when the door was knocked. She already stepped away from my ill-targeted attack and as she was nearer the door, opened it.

James walked in carrying an iPad and file of papers, "Did you miss me?" he asked with his customary irreverence and cheek.

"I wasn't trying to hit you or you might not be here now," I replied and he showed a little surprise, it wasn't the reply he'd been anticipating.

"Glad to hear it," he said more solemnly, "The police haven't got anything evidence-wise from the room they snatched her from.. Nobody heard anything nor saw anything. She just seemed to vanish like one of these magic tricks they do at conjuring shows."

"I don't think that's possible, no one could pull off an abduction without leaving some evidence behind, it's just too subtle for the police to find."

"It's possible," admitted James, "So you're gonna go round there and spot it in a jiffy are you?"

"You're confusing me with Trish who does such things, pity we can't consult her to find herself."

"I'm sure she would," added Danni.

"I'm not so sure, I've been looking for myself a lot longer than she has and I don't think I've reached a conclusion yet."

"Right, I have to go and follow up a lead and speak to an informant, see you later," and with that, James was gone.

"He didn't just go to avoid buying me lunch, did he?" asked Danni.

"No, because if he had, he'd have charged it to expenses."

"No wonder he can afford to run a Porsche," Danny expounded and then collapsed on the sofa. "Have you asked the goddess?"

"Not yet, there's nothing to stop you asking her for help."

"I don't have this new-found wisdom that you appear to have, not to mention she frightens the brown stuff outta me."

"She is a goddess and provided you treat her with respect and a degree of humility, she will treat you the same."

"So how come she talks to you?"

"Class always shows," if you can't beat 'em, baffle 'em.

Danni collapsed onto a sofa and cried to herself with laughter. Next time she needs hitting, it'll take more than James entering to save her, bloody children.

Things got back to normal and Danni showed me what she learned from the net. It appears that things were happening on the website of the Baptist church where cryptic postings were appearing which made no obvious sense to us but presumably did to its members. Now was that just in the US or did it include the UK? Danni looked at me and said," Well you're the crossword buff, what's it mean?"

"I don't think that solving the Guardian crossword means you're qualified to break codes."

"Oh Sarah phoned while you were out, she said that everything was okay at home and that no one had contacted them, as in ransom demand."

"I'll ring her later if I get a chance."

"Is it worth asking the goddess?"

"Didn't you," I asked.

"Not exactly," she replied.

"Which means?"

"No, I didn't. Meaning I never know how to address her or call her up and she frightens me."

"She not half as frightening as humans who it seems can plumb greater depths of evil almost by the day."

"I s'pose not," answered a very small voice.

"Let's look at what kidnappers would profit from abducting Trish."

"Making you do something you wouldn't normally do, like revealing where Laura is."

"But I don't know where Laura is."

"But they don't know that, do they?"

"I don't know, if it was the case wouldn't they be in touch making demands by now?"

"Perhaps they're just trying to make us sweat?"

"Maybe, let's go see what sort of gym this hotel has," I suggested, deciding to do some sweating and see if exercise might jog something or prompt the kidnappers to communicate with us.

We were an hour playing with various equipment, static bikes and weights, a rowing machine and a swimming pool. We tried the lot, including a punchbag which one of my kicks broke the rope securing it. I was apologetic but the gym manager was okay about saying, "You really meant one or two of those, didn't you?"

"I probably did," I replied.

"Golly Mum, relax okay?" suggested Danni as I went back to our suite for a shower. I then went and sat on my bed and having got rid of my stress to an extent, I tried to home in on Trish.

This usually was like a form of meditation where I held her image in my mind and sent out my thoughts for her to try and contact me. For a while all I knew was that she was alive. I usually feel a sort of blackness or void if the person I'm trying to find is no longer alive. I tried to relax and let myself go deeper. I knew she would be trying to contact me and know that I would be searching for her. She felt quite close, she was still in Cambridge, of that I was sure, well it was an intuition of sorts, sort of knowing by instinct, although that is rather basic compared to intuition. I tried to explain to myself and they both seemed the same - knowing something just by being, it was all a bit woolly but it seemed to work.

I'd established to myself that she was alive, I then tried to decide in which direction she was being held. It was north. I estimated from the strength of her response that she was within 5 miles north of where I was. Having done all this, I then slipped into a short but refreshing sleep where images of Trish and the goddess seemed to swirl in my mind like a kaleidoscope, but nothing seemed to gel.

I woke when James returned, he told me that while the police had plenty of manpower assigned to our case, they had no new leads, suggesting either that Trish had been taken by aliens or had set it up herself. They had nothing at all. James' enquiries had thrown up one or two new leads but they had been dead ends and the only positive thing was my certainty that she was still alive.

Simon phoned and we spoke for a quarter of an hour. He was tied up with things in America, in particular the Baptist Church of Texas, where he was destroying bits each day, but trying to keep his identity hidden and acting through an agent. The FBI were involved as they had umpteen complaints about the church and the money behind it and they were sympathetic to our search for Trish.

I called for a detailed map of the area and Danni called up one on her laptop, I looked at it for a few minutes then shut my eyes trying to call her to show me where she was. After a few minutes I pointed to a place on the map. "That's where she is," I said and we looked at where I had pointed, the village of Girton about four kilometres away depending upon how you went there, it's also the site of Girton College.

James looked at me, "You know Girton was one the first colleges to admit women, don't you."

"Yes, with Somerville."

"So it's likely to have lesbians," he added.

"It's been coed for fifty or more years but I admit I believe it has a strong feminist community."

"So what do we do now?" he asked. I didn't know, I'd hoped that Michelle could find something more concrete so I was dragging my feet with regards to action.

Danni asked, " Why aren't we heading for girldom?"

"It's Girton not girldom," I told her quite sharply.

"I think my name's better," she smirked and James grinned at her.

"I don't think you realise how difficult it was for women to be admitted to the college and to be allowed to get degrees."

"I've read, A Room of One's Own," added Danni referring to Virginia Woolf's book. I nearly added, that I had read quite a few more than that including 'Orlando', which is a strange tale of the hero becoming the heroine at times.

While we were sitting about and Danni was looking up stuff on the internet about Girton College the phone rang, I answered and told reception to send up the person who had spoken to the desk. Within five minutes Michelle O'Sullivan was entering our suite and I hoped had news for us. I suddenly thought that she must have or why would she come to see me? But then people do strange things at times, especially it seems when I am around.

"Ah, Lady Cameron, I've been pursuing your request and it seems there is a rather radical chapter of the feminist movement at..."

"Girton," I supplied.

She looked taken aback, "If you knew that why did you ask me?"

"Thank you for your help, Michelle, we only just found out about the Girton connection, I'm sure you have more concrete information for us, oh, this is James and my daughter Danielle."

"Are you the one who played for England?" she asked my daughter who shrugged and nodded.

"My hero, well heroine," she said, "I play for my college, could I have your autograph?" So while Danni went off to find a photo that she could sign, Michelle told us about what she had discovered about the Girton connection. "When I asked, everyone went schtumm and got rather twitchy, so I pushed a bit harder and it seems that the Girton mob are very exclusionary, one trans woman was made so uncomfortable that she changed colleges, went to Somerville instead. There have also been one or two complaints to the lesbian alliance concerning Girton and its unfriendly reception to strangers. I mean lots of these girls are only just coming out of the closet and they need support not interrogation by some hard-nosed dyke."

Her expression made me start slightly, as I'd always thought it a term of abuse, but I suppose that if used by a lesbian, then it wouldn't have the same offensive quality than if used by a non-lesbian or a man. I suppose a man would be considered a non lesbian automatically, but that was how my mind was working. Michelle also said that as president of the lesbian alliance she wanted to be involved in our investigation. James wasn't sure as she could be a double agent. I could see his point but she felt sincere to me and Prof Burgess had confidence in her to help if she could. I agreed and we adjourned to an early dinner or late lunch and I remembered I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. We were going into action on full tummies so off to the dining room we went.

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