The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3467 by Angharad Copyright© 2024/2025 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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I had a call from Southampton General Hospital asking me I knew a Jemima Cameron who'd been injured in an RTA. Apparently, we were given as her next of kin, which we are, she was unconscious and the university had given our name. In ten minutes I had run to my car and it was moving when Danni jumped in, and we went off to Southampton. I think one of the last times I was here was when Perryman collapsed and tried to accuse me of childporn. He subsequently committed suicide claiming I was responsible for his death. It was proven that he had lied and I was completely innocent of all his accusations. I wasn't sorry he was dead, but I never did discover why he disliked me enough to try and implicate me in his crimes.

Like most parents I have an inherent dislike of paedophiles and anyone who hurts children, especially for their own pleasure or gratification. I tried to keep my objectivity when thinking about such things but it is very difficult and so easy to join the mob baying for blood.

"Why have you come?" I asked Danni.

"She's my sister."

"I know that but she was closer to Trish growing up."

"I know, but I'm here and Trish is off climbing up her own arse."

"No, she's doing something for the European Space Agency."

"I'm sure she could leave that for two minutes to come and see Meems."

"She obviously thinks not." I replied and Danni just rolled her eyes.

"Serve her right if the Martians vandalised her Mars rover thingies, if ever they get them there."

"Okay, they got it wrong last time, I'm sure they won't this time, besides, how do you know if there's any life on Mars?"

"Where do think all the little green men come from?"

"Have you taken your medication today?" I asked jokingly.

She replied in the negative and during the whole of our trip she amused me with all sorts of exaggerated tic and twitches, right up until I parked the car in the hospital multistorey car park, paying for two hours. It was the same rate as Portsmouth hospital and required a second mortgage.

I knew the hospital well enough to find the enquiries within a couple of minutes. We were sent to ICU. There we tried to discover what had happened. The police were involved. Meems had been walking and a car had hit and run her and then drove off not bothering to stop to see how she was or anything. It had been seen by a couple of young women who sent for the emergency ambulance. The police were calling in quite regularly to see how she was and if she had recovered consciousness. She hadn't when we got there. I sat next to her and started pumping in the blue stuff and Danni did something similar at her other side.

She had quite a bit of facial bruising and we saw it was improving, I hoped because our efforts. The nurses wanted to ask lots of questions but they left us in peace and the senior nurse said she had added our car to a list of those exempt from paying charges in the car park. Apparently if you have someone in ICU, you can apply for exemption, also if you have a child under treatment there, it applies. I told the nurse that she was my daughter, so did I doubly qualify. She coughed politely and turned on her heel pretending not to have heard my remark.

Meems had multiple internal injuries and a broken leg and was quite ill. However, by the time we'd finished her vitals were looking better and they no longer thought she needed a blood transfusion, though she was still on a dextrose drip and some antibiotics.

The police officer in charge called while we still there. She had no idea why anyone would try to run her down. As far as we knew she had no enemies, she was an academic, teaching history, why would someone need to kill her or was it mistaken identity?

I pointed out who we were and as a family, the copper said she knew and wondered if someone had squabbled with the bank and taken their frustration out on Meems as one of the family. She also recognised Danni and asked if she would ever get a call up from England again. Danni just said she doubted that her face fit any longer and she wasn't holding her breath. "I was there when you did that overhead bicycle kick and scored a goal. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen on a football pitch. I tried to copy it but couldn't get the timing or balance right."

"Neither can I most of the time, but when it comes off it is a bit spectacular."

"A bit said the copper, it was out of this world."

I interrupted and asked what was happening about the assailant, were we any closer to working out who they were and why? It transpired they had found the number of the car by use of various road cameras, but the car had been reported stolen a week before. "That suggests premeditation," I offered my opinion.

"It could," agreed the young copper. She left and while Danni stayed with Meems, I rand Simon and reported what had happened. He was really upset, Meems was our first adopted child and never did a bad deed to anyone as far as we knew, so why should this happen to her? He told me he was going to asked James to investigate. I told him I tell him more when I got home and that Danni was with me. He asked to speak to Danni for a couple of minutes, then rang off. I went sit with Meems and continue the blue energy, but Danni had finished her call and we thanked the nurse and went home having asked them to let us know if things changed. I also said we'd be back tomorrow. the nurse said goodbye to us and Danni nodded of as I drove home.

As soon as I got home and cup of tea in front of me, I rang Trish to let her know how Meems was. She was interested but still at the university and said she'd be down as soon as she had time and that she was very busy. I was furious and told her not to bother but to spend some time deciding her priorities. She rang off while I was in mid rant. My temper was not improved by it.

This was obviously some time ago, Danni stayed in the car as I went in search of Meem's employers and to tell her she wouldn't be in for a few days if not indefinitely. I told them all the police knew and that she was as yet unconscious. They had my number in work, they had let me know in the first place. I asked them had anything had happened at work to cause the assault, they knew of nothing. When I got back to the car Danni told me that a security man from the university has enquired how long we'd be and why didn't we have a sticker. She had told him the sad story of her sister's accident and he suggested drugs may be the reason. Danni told me she had told him that Meems was very anti drugs and he said that was a cause on its own. Danni suggested calling at her flat to look for clues and to gather some items of nightwear or toiletries to bring with us tomorrow. I had to admit that I hadn't thought of it myself but then I was trying to think of how we'd get into her flat. Danni reminded me that she had a key safe and the number was her date of birth. I couldn't remember that either. Good job she came.

Her flat was tidy, as I would expect, it was me who was untidy and in Tom's house although there had been quite a bit of space, I had encouraged them to clear their stuff, toys and puzzles and books to a cupboard each had by their bed. Trish had been untidy, because such things were beneath her or so she thought. The other girls showed her that she had to do the same as them or they'd repay her with the odd thump. Being thumped was more painful than keeping your stuff tidy, so she learned the hard way about families.

I rang Trish when we got home and told her what we knew which was only that she was the victim of a hit and run. The police weren't sure if it was deliberate or just poor driving. Seeing as the standard of driving was so poor, it might have been an accident. However, I was glad that Jim was going to be looking into it for us which increased the likelihood of finding the driver who did it and then we could ask them why. If it was deliberate I wasn't sure what we'd do but I know Simon would be in favour of payment in kind. I'm not sure if I would agree, probably not, but if it was drug related or organised crime, I may change my mind, though how my Meems would be involved was so unlikely. She didn't mix with that sort of person and usually she didn't even see such things. Now Trish was much more adventurous and went places she didn't ought to, so if she'd encountered such a thing it would have surprised me less. But Meems? No way unless she had changed in the last year or two, maybe she had, but I doubted it. At least I had a spare room should she come back to us as she recovered, assuming she did recover, though when healing on someone you got a feel for how ill they were and how likely they were to get better. Much of the healing was about encouraging the body to heal itself, of which it has amazing powers of recovery and immunity. I felt no negatives about Meems so I expected to make a complete recovery. Would she be able to tell us why she was hurt remained to be seen, accident victims often have total amnesia about the incident, so we'd have to wait. Meanwhile Danni had settled down with a large pad and was trying to list reasons why it may have happened, like drugs, revenge, something against either the family or the bank, bad driving or pure accident. Hopefully, Jim would be able to get access to police records and see if they knew anything they weren't telling us. It does happen especially if it involves somebody who's either a crime lord or someone who is important for other reasons. But then they'd have to be quite important to be of higher status that our family, some titled bankers, two professors, someone who helps GCHQ and lots of money. There must only be half a dozen who qualified for this and James should be able to find out if it was the case.

I left Danni to her musings and set to for the dinner, David was off today, though he had left me half a salmon and some watercress to make sauce for it, so at least I had some idea of what we'd be eating and put in half a dozen baking potatoes while I fiddled with fish, salads and sauces. Don't you just love such things?