Monday dawned grey and cold. I looked out of my Hotel window at the myriad of people scurrying off to work and felt more than a few pangs of regret that I wasn’t amongst them. My daydreaming was abruptly ended by my phone bleeping.

‘Get some sleep? No matter if you didn’t. Rent a car and drive west along the M4. Leave your hotel by 10am. I will be watching you. Don’t speak to anyone especially the police.’

I glanced at the clock on the phone. It read 07:56. I sighed to myself and went into the bathroom and texted the details of Lindy’s message to Ingrid, She would pass them onto the Police.

Then I got myself dressed and ready for the day ahead.

I couldn’t decide how/where I could rent a car. In the end, the decision was made for me. My other phone received a text message.

‘Call 02094452089. Rent a car from them. They are expecting a call.’

I let out a visible sigh of relief.

I picked up my ‘bugged’ phone and punched in the number.

After two rings it was answered, “Capitol Car Hire. How can I help you?”

“I’d like to rent a car for today. I’m at the Novotel in Hammersmith. Can you deliver one there?”

“Let me check.” The human voice was switched to ‘hold music’. Inevitably, the music was the Four Seasons.

Some 20 seconds later and to my eternal relief, it ended.

“Hello?”

“Yes. I’m still here.”

“Yes we can deliver a car. The daily rate for a standard four-door saloon is fifty-two pounds a day. That includes an allowance 100 miles. After that it is 35p per mile. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes… That is fine.”

“Good, one of our drivers will be there in about an hour. To whom shall I make the paperwork out to?”

“Sar… Peter Robinson,” I replied suddenly remembering that my driving license is in Peter’s name.

“How long will you ne needing the car for?”

“It should be just for today.”

“Very well. The Delivery Driver is going to someone called Vishal Khan. He will identify himself. Please check his credentials. He will be able to process your credit card and driving licence.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up feeling relived. I stood there looking at the phone for nearly five minutes waiting for Lindy to approve what I’d done. Then I realised that not only did she have a lot of power over me, but that power was all in my imagination. I was better than her. I repeated to myself, ‘I will not let her win’.

I headed down to the foyer of the hotel and waited for the driver to deliver my car. I was early and he was late so in the end, it was just before 09:45 when I got into the car and breathed a sigh of relief. Relief that the delivery driver hadn’t batted an eyelid when what appeared to be a woman in a skirt and heels presented him with a driving license that had a male name.

My first problem was that I’d never driven in heels before. After nearly crashing into a No 73 bus in the Hammersmith One-Way system I kicked them off and drove in my stocking clad feet.

I got onto the A4 and felt a pang of regret as I passed Fullers Brewery and the turning that would have taken me to my former home but I managed to keep going. As I travelled along the elevated section of the M4, my new phone screen lit up.

‘Pull into Heston Services. You will be met outside the ladies. Give the officer the keys.’
I felt a great deal of relief that someone was on my side.

It wasn’t before I pulled off the M4 into Heston Services and parked the car.

If Lindy was watching me, I wondered how long before she’d start complaining. I’d almost reached the building then my phone bleeped.

‘Why have you stopped? I told you to drive along the M4?’

I texted her back, ‘Nerves. I need to go to the toilet’.

As I walked up to the sergeant I’d seen in Saturday, I thought to myself, ‘if she does not like that then she can lump it.

“Hello Sarah.”

“Hello Sergeant,” I replied giving him the keys to the car.

“I’ll be in the back of the car. I will keep the others informed with our progress.”

I nodded back to him and headed into the Ladies.

Five minutes later, I was back in the car and driving west. I now knew why the car I’d rented had darkened windows in the back. I would be hard for anyone to see my passenger.

I carried on west past Heathrow, Slough and Maidenhead. I started to wonder when I’d get further instructions when just after I’d passed the A329M junction the phone bleeped.

‘Take the next Exit and follow the signs for the Park and Ride at Reading Football Stadium. Park in the far corner of the car park and wait.’

I smiled to myself. Action at last.

I showed the phone to my passenger and concentrated on driving.

Just under fifteen minutes later I pulled into the car park outside the football stadium. A sleety wind making it feel a lot colder than it really was. I could not see Lindy anywhere so I put on my heels again and got out of the car and immediately regretted it. The cold wind whipped around my legs and up my skirt. While I liked the freedom a skirt gave me this was certainly one of the drawbacks.

Then I saw Lindy. She was driving a black Ford Escort. She drove it close to where I was standing and stopped.

I resisted giving her a smile. I just wanted this over and done with.

“Hello Sarah,” remarked Lindy as she got out of her car.

“Why? Why did you do this?”

She grinned.

“My mother was cheated out of her birthright. You really have no idea how hard it was on a sheep station in the middle of a drought that went on for years. In the end that and the grog killed both my parents. I made a promise to my mother to get the house that was rightly hers back where it belonged.”

“But Aunt Rose was awarded it by the court when we couldn’t find your mother.”

“They obviously did try very hard.”

“Your mother stopped calling or writing letters so no one had any idea where she was living.”

“That’s not the point. It should have been hers and now mine. I am here today to rectify that travesty.”

“You have been planning this all along haven’t you?”

“Give the tranny a prize. Yes I have. But Rose would have none of it so she had to go.”

My mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Are you saying that you killed Aunt Rose?”

“Well, let’s just say that I helped her on her way down the stairs.”

“You murdered her!”

“If you say so, I don’t, I call it getting even.”

Then to stop any further conversation, she reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a set of handcuffs.

She threw them to me.

“Put them on your ankles. That will stop you from doing anything silly.”

With a good deal of reluctance, I put the cuffs around my ankles and clicked them home.

Lindy smiled at me.

“Now come over here and you can sign this document. This will transfer ownership of the house to me.”

I hobbled over to her car and looked at the document. I started to read it.

“What are you doing?”

“Reading the document. I never sign anything I haven’t read first.”

Lindy went red in the face and dug into her bag again.

She pulled out something that looked dangerous.

“Sign this or I’ll give you a taste of this,” she said waving the weapon in her hand.

“This is a Taser. It will give you a nice little electric shock. Enough to keep you quiet and from interfering with my escape.”

I felt any remaining colour drain out of my face. I took the pen she was offering and signed the document.

“Now walk back to your car and throw me the keys.”

Lindy followed me back to the car and literally grabbed the keys from my hand. Then she threw them as far as she could into the other parked cars.

“I would like to say that it has been nice knowing you but it hasn’t. You are really crap in bed. So bad that I had to feign every orgasm you thought I had. Oh, and good luck keeping out of jail for having sex with your cousin.”

“But what are you going to do with the remains of the house?”

“Oh that. I’ve already sold it on to a developer. The money will be in my bank account in the Caymans before the day is out. I’ll be long gone before you can do anything about it.”

With that, she got back into her can and took off with wheels spinning on the loose gravel of the parking lot.

I just stood there stunned by how well Lindy had executed her plan.

“He she gone?” came a voice from behind me.

I turned around to see the Sergeant climbing out of the car.

“She gone,” I confirmed.

He smiled at me.

“She won’t get far. There are cars waiting for her at the A33 junction.”

Then the smile turned into a grin.

“I got her confession on tape. She’ll probably be charged with murder before the end of the day.”
I nearly burst out crying with the relief that it was all over.

“Here, wipe your eyes while I get you out of these cuffs,” he said calmly as he handed me a handkerchief.

[To be continued]