The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2428 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

To say everyone was a bit jaded the next morning was an understatement. I actually fell asleep giving a statement—different, I know. Lizzie was also trying to suck my lungs out and I nearly dropped her as well. I felt so tired. The others, except Julie and Bramble had been woken up by the police walking all over the place taking photographs. Julie’s bedroom carpet was ruined and instead of cleaning it, we got someone in to remove it and the underlay and measure up for a new one. Meanwhile she’d have to use a couple of rugs I had up in the attic.

I did have the hall, stair and landing carpets cleaned which was nearly as expensive as replacing them, but they did do a good job at short notice. The council have a list of names of specialist firms who do the clean up after accidents, murders and suicides. The police gave it to us and they came out two hours later but required payment up front. Thankfully, they accepted a cheque when they realised who we were.

The police had rescinded the bail conditions when they saw that trouble did seem to follow me around. The statements were short and sweet and my efforts to save my would be assassin were looked upon as an act of selflessness. Post mortem showed she had died from a combination of blood loss and myocardial infarct—an embolism bunged up her coronary artery.

James had a fix on Cortez from the phone call but by the time he got there, the usurer had disappeared. I decided that although I might still be a target I was going to Menorca if it killed me. We commenced packing and got ready for a flight the next morning from Southampton. It was a crack of dawn job and we had a minibus taxi pick us up at five in the morning. We were at the airport at half past and an hour or so later were boarding a charter flight to Mahon or Mao as the locals call it.

We arrived at ten o’clock local time and used a taxi to take us the few miles to the villa where our caretaker was waiting. It cost me fifty euros for the ride but it was worth it to find ourselves at the drive way of a beautiful looking house with terra cotta tiled roof, roses, bougainvillea, hibiscus, orange trees and a lemon tree greeted us with a display of colour and scents that almost threatened to overwhelm the senses.

Crickets chirped and birds flew in and out of the bushes as we tried to take in the sight in front of us. White washed walls were only occasionally visible behind the sprawl of climbers, and even a wisteria and passionflower got in on the picture that we all held for a few moments before walking down the drive and knocking on the door—a modern glass and PVC double glazed variety with an insect mesh over it.

The door was opened almost immediately by a woman in her fifties whose sunbathing had turned her skin to a burnished bronze colour. Despite her dyed black hair and dark skin, she was as Scottish as Edinburgh rock and kept the house spotless and the laundry clean enough to eat off. In the garage was a Peugeot and beside that a cardboard box which contained an Orbea bike and a workshop stand with a limited range of tools. I was going to have to set up the bike but being away for a few days was going to feel good.

I’d opted out of the director’s meeting, Simon conveyed my apologies and explained that I’d been the target of a ruthless assassin but had somehow turned the tables on them. He reported me as exhausted and offered to read my report which the meeting accepted and when he showed the pictures of the reserve and the progress with the building, then related Danni’s and my ordeal at the hands of the hunters and the outcome of two very incapacitated hunters, the board stood up and applauded.

Henry hadn’t heard of both incidents and when he did he offered to buy me a Wonder Woman outfit, brought a further cheer from the board. However, when he texted me telling me his ‘plan’ and that the board thought I should wear it to the next meeting, I texted him back, ‘I will if you will, C x.’ Simon apparently thought it was a good idea, but Henry didn’t; can’t think why.

Within an hour of being at the villa the girls were in bikinis and in the pool. I told them that they had to stay up the shallow end to play and that there was to be no messing around or I’d have it closed and drained. One of the bigger girls had to make sure everyone got out safely and no one was to use it on their own. If I caught anyone doing so, they’d be banned from the pool for the rest of the holiday.

Once they’d stopped their initial enthusiasm, I changed and swam to and fro for half an hour which given I’m such a lousy swimmer felt like quite a workout. I hauled myself out and after showering went inside and changed into my shorts and tee shirt and went to assemble my new bike.

Of course they all wanted one, but there was no way I was going to buy another set of children’s bikes and have to replace them as they grew, so I agreed we would hire some. The same shop which had delivered mine agreed to deliver and collect an assortment of bikes which I was renting for the price of buying one of them.

The early summer in the UK had produced a good show of flowers and fruits which were now going over. On Menorca, the flowers were still amazing and I watched a lizard, some sort of gecko lounging on the wall of the house in between two hibiscus plants. He disappeared as soon as I produced a camera.

I got directions from Mrs Winner, our caretaker, for the local supermarket and three of us set off in the car to get some food for the next few days. The car was a left hand drive and took a mile or two to get used to, and my first roundabout was an adventure, then I relaxed into it—so much so, I nearly went on the wrong side of the road approaching the Lidl store, which seem ubiquitous in Europe these days.

I spent over a hundred euros just getting the basics of bread and milk, vegetables and meat, some fish and some fruit. It filled the boot of the car and I had to drive back to the villa quickly to stop the ice cream melting in the heat.

The nearest town is Es Grau and that’s around the bay. Somehow, Henry had bought the place which is on the edge of the large nature reserve and lagoon. I spotted red kite and Egyptian vultures, and that was without binoculars. If I had the same result with mammals, it looked as if this could be a good holiday.