The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2345 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

We did get home at stupid o’clock and thankfully, Tom and Jacquie let us sleep on but only because I’d filled two bottles with double cream the day before, so the little milk vampires were sated for the moment. It was about ten when I realised the sun was up. Simon was showering from the noises in the bathroom which had probably woken me up.

I used the loo and went into the shower as Si finished. It helped to wash away the cobwebs and I felt a little more human. As far as I knew I didn’t have to go anywhere except collecting children, so I dressed casually in polo shirt and jeans with a fleece jacket—it wasn’t too warm—in fact it was sheeting down. Stella was seated at the kitchen table when I made my tea and sat beside her. We mumbled a greeting to each other. Finally, when we’d both finished our breakfast, I said to her, “I can’t believe you knew what was going on without breathing a word to us.”

“That’s your hard luck.”

“You said you knew when you were doing the course, pottery wasn’t it?”

“Ceramics.”

“Okay, ceramics. How did you guess?”

“He was too friendly, claimed he was divorced yet he had a white mark round his ring finger. If he could lie about his wife, what else would he tell porkies about?”

“Goodness, well done, you.”

“I spoke to Daddy and he mentioned it to Commander Jacobs who told me to let him know if Mitchell contacted me again.”

“He was a renegade Special Branch officer.”

“Was being the operative word,” she said not displaying one bit of emotion.

“Did you not feel anything for him?”

“Why should I? His job was probably to abduct and kill me, my kids, you or yours. I decided from the start that I’d play it like an actor would. So it was all role play.”

“You had me fooled—most of the time.”

“Some people are easier fooled than others.”

“So it would appear.”

“Did you see him shot?”

“No, thankfully. As soon as the bangs and flashes began, they hustled me towards the fire escape door. I think you saw it from then on.”

“I came to try and help you but the guy saw me and if that dying copper hadn’t moved, I might not be here now.”

“Oh yeah, he shot the copper again, didn’t he.”

“He fired at me too but one of the police got him.”

“Yeah, they did.”

“And you scrapping with that bloke in the car park. I see you haven’t lost your touch.”

“I’ve been practicing whenever I could. Glad I did now.”

“So am I, sis.”

“It sounds very dangerous to me,” offered Jacquie.

“It was, they were using real bullets,” I confirmed.

“If you knew that, why did you expose yourself to the risk instead of waiting for the police to clear them all?”

“You were at risk and I wasn’t prepared to let that go wrong on you.”

“I’m a big girl, Cathy.”

“I know, but I couldn’t stand by and let them hurt you.”

She placed her hand over mine, “Nor I, you. Bless you, little sis.”

David arrived and after making more tea, began to prepare something for lunch. “Any fresh bread?” he asked and I checked, we didn’t so I set up the machine to make a loaf.

“What are we having?” I enquired.

“Something tasty and easy, bacon sarnies but with the magic ingredients of home cured bacon and homemade bread.” I found myself salivating, it just doesn’t get any better.

I called the university and left a message for Tom to say I’d collect the girls as I was now back in the land of the living. He called back to tell me he wanted me to see the new volunteers for the dormouse survey tomorrow morning and take them out on site to show them what to do.

I had to check my stuff. Essentially, it’s quite simple. A large clear plastic bag. A smaller one preferably of known weight, a balance of some sort—mine’s a spring balance, a Swiss made one with a clip on the bottom and weighs up to fifty grams. That would be one big dormouse. Then I have the chip reader and finally a lens to check any nuts or acorns for dormouse tooth marks. I usually keep a couple of little plastic pots or boxes to store those, especially if I’m doing a survey on a new site.

A map and compass are useful if working in a new area, especially if I’m trying to note where things were. I also take photos if I need to, so take a camera with me when I remember. Occasionally when you find a torpid mouse, it’s nice to get a photo as it’s about the only time they’ll sit still for you. Dormice can move pretty quickly for small, plump critters and they climb like, well like dormice.

By the time I’d got my mousing gear together it was time to get the girls from school. They were waiting just inside the entrance for me—it was raining lightly and they grumbled all the way to the car. In the car they were complaining about some girl who’d been caught cheating in an exam. She apparently had a smart phone disguised as a calculator but was spotted by the headmistress. She was sent home immediately and her exam paper cancelled for cheating. If her parents weren’t in cahoots with her, then they must feel awful. Will she be allowed to sit any others or will she be excluded? The girls weren’t sure, but I was—they’d kick her out and disqualify her for any she’d already taken—just in case.

It happened when I was doing my A-levels, a boy was found with bits of paper shoved up the cuffs of his shirt. I would have had difficulty with that because I was wearing one of Siân’s spare dresses. Murray had decided that if he made me wear the girl’s uniform I’d fluff my exams. I didn’t, and besides the dress I was the only boy there wearing enough mascara to sink a battleship. When he walked past me I couldn’t resist batting my enhanced lashes at him. He just managed to stay in control of himself because there were other people about who would be witnesses if he had done anything.

In the end it all backfired on him. For once in an exam I felt relaxed and nearly filled in my name as Charlotte, because that’s what everyone was calling me—except me. I called myself, Catherine. I did very well in my exams and Sussex confirmed my place. The rest as they say is history.

How Murray didn’t actually kill me, I’ll never know. We played this game of brinkmanship all the time, and sometimes he won it sometimes I did. He was a monster and shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near a school but things were different in those days. Nowadays, my school is co-ed and if you’ll recall, they asked me to speak to them a year or two ago. I suppose I have done quite well since leaving there.