The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1681 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

A short time after he left me, Jim called to say he’d ditched Ditchley at the cop shop and had nearly got himself arrested again, this time for assault. He explained that he’d got hurt rescuing me, and they’d be sending someone to speak to me tomorrow. What joy.

I suppose his call was so we told the same tale and Ditchley could then be done for assaulting me. I didn’t like it very much as he hadn’t actually done so, then I reconciled myself with thinking of it as payback for his attack on Julie. I still hadn’t decided if I’d tell her or not.

My prophecy of not sleeping well was wrong. I did take a while to go off but once I did I woke up the next morning and wondered why my face hurt so much–then remembered. When Simon saw me he nearly died of shock.

“What on earth happened to you?” he gasped as I tried to focus on him with one eye.

“Oh, this–oh bugger,” I just noticed I’d bled on the pillow and duvet cover. More work.

“What did you think I meant?”

“We had an intruder last night.”

“And you let me sleep through it?”

“Yeah, James took care of him, besides, your hand is in plaster.”

“Okay, so Jim took care of it. Did he get him?”

“Oh yeah, then the bloke fell backwards onto me–hence all this,” I pointed at my face.

“Who was it?”

“The same guy who beat up Julie the day I found her, you know, on the rubbish.”

“Does she know?”

“No, and I suspect it might be better not to tell her, it might freak her out, especially if she thinks he was looking for her.”

“Was he?”

“I doubt he even knows she lives here, and he’d hardly recognise her now anyway.”

“She has changed a bit, I’ll grant you that.”

“Changed? She’s turned from a teenage tart into a beautiful young woman, just like a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly.”

“She is quite a looker, these days. You should be proud of her as one of your greater accomplishments.”

“I am, but not for my part in anything, rather for her own ability to overcome a traumatic adolescence and childhood to become a relatively balanced as well as beautiful young woman. She’s a credit to herself.”

“You’re her mother.”

“Foster or adopted mother, for the last couple of years.”

“She couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I’m sure she would.”

“Cathy, where was she headed if you hadn’t taken her in?”

“To some guy in Brighton she’d spoken to on the internet.”

“She’d either have gone back to her parental home and been further abused or gone to Brighton and ended up as a tranny prostitute and got AIDS or a drug habit or both. No, you gave her a chance to be herself and also gave her some motherly advice when she needed it.”

“Stella helped as well, and so did Trish, if I recall correctly.”

“There we are, a team effort–but you’re the captain. Hadn’t you better put some ice on that face?”

“It ruddy well hurts,” I whined as I bent down to find my slippers.

Of course, once up, I had to explain half a dozen times what had happened last night, only I abbreviated it to having acquired it while helping James catch and subdue an intruder–as per the police story.

A copper duly arrived, a young woman, not one I’d seen before, who was mortified by the bruising on my face. “What d’you think he was after?”

“Money or valuables he could sell off, I presume. He must have climbed over the gates or the fence and was trying to gain entry when I saw him and James, that is James Beck, gave chase and I went to assist him and this happened.”

“What accidentally?”

“I don’t think so, he had a go at one of my children a couple of years ago, so possibly he was back for that, or it might have been coincident. Anyway he called me names and smacked me across the face with his arm.” I was lying, but at least it was a synchronised one, backing Jim’s story.

“I see. Did you know this man, then?”

“No, I have no idea who he was?”

“I can tell you that, one Arnold Ditchley, who was a police officer and who was sacked for being unsuitable–he was on the take, so they say. He’s worked at a series of security jobs since.”

“With a bit of housebreaking on the side?”

“Possibly, we’ll certainly look into that.”

“What was Mr Beck doing here so late, if I might ask you, Lady Cameron?”

“Collecting some things I got from his mother for him.”

“You’re aware that he works as a private investigator amongst other things?”

“Yes, but he’s also a friend of ours, my husband and me.”

“I see, so his was just a social visit to collect his stuff from you?”

“Yes, why?”

“This is just between you and I, but Ditchley was implicated in the death of Mr Beck’s partner a few years ago, so there could be some bad feeling between them.”

“I take it that Ditchley got off?”

“Oh yes, he was still on the force then, but there was something strange in the death of John Hopkins, who was Beck’s partner.”

“Partner?” I queried.

“Yes, they ran the investigation thing between them, what did you think I meant?”

“I wondered if you meant, partner as in more than good friends?”

“I couldn’t possibly imply that Mr Beck is gay.”

“I thought he was up front about it, he told me ages ago.”

“So he is gay, I did wonder myself.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Oh well, another one bites the dust, eh?”

“I’m happily married, so I don’t need to keep looking.”

“I thought you were never too old to go window shopping, I mean you’re how old, twenty five?”

“Twenty eight, feeling about ninety three this morning, excuse me, I need to take another pain killer.” I rose from the table and popped a pill which I followed with a swallow of water.

“I see that you and your husband were involved in an assault outside a chip shop a week or so ago?”

“Yes, I was attacked by a couple of yobs and Simon had to rescue me, one of them had a knife.”

“Yes, I saw you’d alleged that in your statement.”

“It was captured on CCTV by the shop.”

“So was the rescue, I believe.”

“I expect so.”

“You seem to have some sort of magnetic effect upon trouble and violence, Lady Cameron, several interactions with the Russian mafiaski, plus a couple of other incidents. I believe one of my colleagues suggested that since you’ve lived here, Portsmouth has doubled its rate of crime and violent crime in particular.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” I challenged.

“I wasn’t making an interpretation, Lady Cameron, just mentioning a statistic.”

“Is that the only one concerning me?”

“No, it seems the number of young women signing up for Portsmouth university has doubled, especially in the ecology courses.”

“Any others?”

“What sort, d’you mean?”

“I was thinking about the police in particular.”

“Oh you mean the one about the numbers of police retiring early, leaving or being sacked?”

“Could be?”

“I don’t know if it’s true, but yes they call you the ‘pension killer.’”

“Can’t think why, can you?”

“I hope that’s not a disguised threat, madam?”

“No, I was just checking out what one of your colleagues told me. It seems he was telling the truth.”

She got me to sign my statement and she then left. I checked my emails, and texts–there was nothing from James. I felt quite worried. I hope that Ditchley bloke remains in custody, because if anything happens to James, I shall make the bastard pay.