Bab’s New Year’s Resolution 43 ©

List of Characters.

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter.
Angela Smith Bab’s newly adopted daughter
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation in Birmingham.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington Bab’s university girlfriend.

Chapter 43

Lola dialled and waited for a couple of seconds before a very brusque efficient voice answered.

“Hello. Ball and Ball.”

“Hello. Is that Sonia Ball?” Lola asked as she pulled her head away from the phone momentarily in surprise at the terseness of the reply.

“Yes.”

“I’ve got a Mis Barbara Smith on the line. We call her Bab’s and she wishes to speak to you.”

“Put her on please.”

Lola passed the phone carefully to Bab’s who immediately placed it on speaker; partly because it was difficult to lift her arm up to her ear and partly so that the girls could hear the conversation. When she lifted one arm up high it put a slight twist in her spine and even that tiniest of actions made her bum uneven amongst the pillows and caused her pain in the sacrum and pelvis.
Instead, Bab’s held the phone in the midst of her lap and everybody could clearly hear the conversation.

“Hello Sonia.”

“Is that you Bab’s?”

“Yes.”

“You sound weak love, are you alright?”

“No. I was shot in the lower back outside the courts and I’m in the IC ward at Queen’s Hospital.”

“Oh my God! It was you!”

“Yes. I need you here tomorrow, I’m sorting out my affairs for a final time.”

“It’s Saturday tomorrow! I’ll just have to sort out a couple of family arrangements. Will the afternoon do. Your life’s not in danger is it?”

“No of course not; and yes, the afternoon will be better than the morning. They tend to pull me about in the morning with therapy and stuff.

“I’ll be there. OH! And by the way what are the first and fourth letters of your password?”

Bab’s gave Sonia the letters and checked with Sonia who warned Bab’s.

“The girls will need to confirm their identities.”

“The girls looked up with concern but Bridie came up trumps.”

“We’ve processed their passports already in preparation for their European court appearances. Inspector John’s got them in the office safe in Birmingham. I’ll organise them right away.”

“Please. And thanks Bridie." Bab's replied, then added, "their birth certificates are down at Canal cottage by the way." She spoke to Sonia again.”

“Will they really need their birth certificates?”

“They will help as well. Who’s Bridie?”

“She’s the police sergeant responsible for protecting the girls.”

“Can I speak to her as well please?”

“Bridie reached over and took the phone from Bab’s and identified herself.

“Detective sergeant Bridie Davies here.”

“Ah that’s good, you’ll make an excellent witness to the will. I’ll bring along one of the office juniors to make up the numbers. As a full partner, I’m qualified to re-write Bab’s will in front of witnesses then my partners can write it up back here in the office on Monday. That’s all until tomorrow. Ask everybody to bring any other documents they’ve got that will identify them. Are you still their Bab’s?”

Bridie held the phone to Bab’s lips and she confirmed her presence.

“See you tomorrow my love.”

Bab’s sent a kiss down the phone and Lola smiled as Sonia returned the kiss..

“Oh she’s got a human side then.”

Bab’s just nodded, and smiled, then closed her eyes and prepared to sleep. The sister motioned to the girls that it was time to leave and the nursing team appeared from nowhere to rotate Bab’s gently onto her tummy again. Once she was on her tummy Bab’s called softly for Olivia who leaned in concernedly.

“What is it Nan?”

“Tell Lola I’m getting bored with the colour of this floor.”

Olivia let out a snort of amusement and as the others looked slightly askance, she explained the joke.

“Well her sense of humour seems to getting better.” Erica opined.

ooo000ooo

Saturday arrived true to form for Late August. Being statistically the fourth or fifth wettest month of the year, the last day of August could not break with meteorological traditions so it left the calendar in a deluge of biblical proportions.

“Can’t see anybody being stupid enough to come looking for us in this,” Olivia opined as the antiquated van’s windscreen wipers struggled do their job.

“Is this the best thing they had to tackle this sort of stuff?” Erica wondered as she felt water dripping on her arm. “Look the bloody thing leaks!”

"It's camouflage girls. Nobody would believe the police would use a wreck as old as this." Bridie explained. "We never expected it to rain like this."

“Let’s face it girls, a bloody submarine would leak in these conditions.” Angela chipped in.

“Blame global warming. More heat means warmer oceans, - means more convection, - means more clouds, - means more rain.” Lola explained as she finished sucking the toffee that Sergeant Bridie had handed around.

“It’s got armour plating girls.” Sergeant Gareth offered as the top heavy van swayed clumsily on its overloaded suspension. “Which would you prefer to be wet or dead.”

“We’ll be dead anyway if you have to swerve like that again in these conditions. Slow Down Gareth!” Bridie demanded.

“We’re late and that flood looked treacherously deep. I had to stick to the crown of the road.”

Despite the torrential rain, the mood in the van stayed cheerful and eventually they arrived at the hospital, grateful that they had direct access to a secure underground service area. As Gareth entered, two police that Gareth knew to be members of his same armed response unit, appeared and confirmed the area seemed clear. In the lift a third armed police officer joined with Gareth to escort them to Bab’s IC unit. While they scurried to the unit the third officer explained.

“This is just the sort of weather to organise an ambush. Everybody is scuttling about seeking cover with their heads down and eyes screwed up while squinting through the rain.. We’ve four extra armed officers on duty today.

They arrived at Bab’s bedside to see her now comfortably sitting upright and talking to a lady in a black tailored suite. Bab’s looked up, smiled and made the introductions. The lady stood up; identified herself as Sonia Ball then acknowledged everybody before returning to the large notepad she had spread out on the bed table. Lola immediately noticed the pre prepared title header; -

Last Will and Testament of Barbara Geraldine Smith.

‘I never knew she had a middle name.’ Lola thought.

Sonia then explained.

“My office junior has been delayed by the floods so Inspector John, who was here earlier, has gone to collect her and bring her in via a safer route through the back lanes. He’s left these for you girls because you’re going to need them in Europe.”

From her brief-case, Sonia produced four shiny new passports and the girls eagerly examined them. She also produced copies of their birth certificates. These served as valuable ice-breakers.

Lola held her birth certificate up and wondered aloud.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. My original proper one is only an ‘A5’ sized page from a note pad.. This is like the Dead-Sea scroll.”

“That’s a ‘Full’ birth certificate Lola.” Sonia explained. “The one that you’ve always used is known a ‘short version’. You get your passport and pension rights much faster if you’ve got your full certificate.”

As Lola inspected the long 'A3' page she frowned and turned again to Sonia.

“Huh! It still doesn’t say who my father was. I’m no wiser.”

“Neither does mine,” Erica concurred. “I always thought my egg donor was a slag; this proves it.”

“Mine’s named,” Olivia observed, “but it makes no difference, I’ve never met him. What about you Angie?”

“He’s here but I only knew him for a few years and apparently he used to beat my mother up. She divorced him when I was about three or four and I was put on the ‘At Risk’ register. Eventually I was put into care and passed around like a fucking parcel.. Same shit, different toilet.”

Sonia sensed the cauldron of seething, accumulated hurt so she quickly changed the subject as Bab’s caught her eye. As a commercial and property solicitor, she had never had much to do with family issues and the degree of hurt fulminating around the bed took Sonia by surprise. Always being used to handling legal and financial issues as ‘cut-and-dried’ cases, she had to force herself to maintain her reputation for efficient, forceful, professionalism. To this end, she deftly lifted the first bundle of documents and briefly explained.

“Right Bab’s, this is a sectionalised list of all your holdings so I’ll discuss and describe the property holdings first.”

Sonia knew this would take at least half an hour or she could easily stretch it to an hour by just a precursory description of each building. This was to give Inspector John time to return with her office junior after avoiding the floods.

As Sonia read slowly through the list and estimated value of each building, the girls eyes grew wider and wider.

Lola, being the mathematician, quickly summated what she was hearing and the figures forced her to stand up and peer over Sonia’s shoulder. She saw the summation at the bottom of the page and had to bite her tongue.

'Bloody Hell! She’s richer than I thought.'

Eventually the inspector arrived with Sonia’s office junior and more chairs were placed around the bed. Sonia completed the property portfolio analysis then passed the data sheets to each of the girls and Bab’s. Naturally, the three younger girls’ eyes just fell upon the ‘bottom line’ evaluation but Lola found herself listening to Bab’s discussing specific items in the property list with Sonia.

Having a sharp mathematical brain and a pencil. Lola made a few discreet notes alongside the properties that had been mentioned by Bab’s then folded the page away as Sonia next turned to the second page listing share dealings and assorted promissory notes.

The same scenario played out with Olivia, Angela and Erica simply staring at the bottom line while Lola once again listened to and noted Sonia’s advises.

Finally the third page listed assorted other assets such as insurance policies, annuities and a substantial cash deposit in Bab’s bank. At the very bottom there was an item listing ‘Other holdings’ with a question mark against it. When Sonia finally came to it, she glanced askance at the girls while tapping the item thoughtfully, then she gave Bab’s a knowing look.

“Do you want me to address these items as well Bab’s?”

“Yes, but not here, not yet. Can you get me my handbag?”

The office junior reached into Bab’s bedside hospital locker, took out the bag and offered it to Bab’s who refused it.

“I can’t lift it or hold it, I’m too sore. Give it to Sonia.”

Sonia took the bag, opened it and found Bab’s house keys and car keys. Bab’s explained.

“In Canal cottage, behind my little desk under the stairs, you will find a bolted down, fire-proof, safe deposit box. It’s behind the riser of the first step of the stair and the wooden panel can be carefully lifted out. The panel is well hidden behind a pile of household appliances and cleaning materials. I want you to go there with your office junior and Inspector John then bring the contents of the box to me. Can you do that for me by tomorrow?”

“I’d prefer to do it this afternoon,” Sonia declared, “and bring it back this evening. Then I get Sunday free."

“Okay then,” Bab’s agreed. “You’ll find six reinforced envelopes and some jewellery boxes. Can you get them back here by this evening.”

Inspector John nodded and suggested they used his patrol car with the ‘blues-and-twos’.

With the arrangements hurriedly completed Bridie took the girls to a pub out in the country while Sonia and Inspector John speeded to the cottage.

“Do you know what the six packages are about.”

“No, but you heard her wishes, we are not to open them.”

“Curiouser and curiouser.” Inspector John grinned.

“Bab’s always was a cagey old dear,” Sonia added, “she first came to our offices when my grandfather was the senior partner, that’s nearly fifty years ago. For years she would only deal with my grand-dad then my dad and now me.”

“Have you any idea what might be in the envelopes?”

“No. Ours is to do or die. If Bab’s want’s to reveal all then she’s probably going to do so in the hospital bed this evening. Those girls are going to be quite rich.”

“Lucky little bitches,” the office junior opined. “All that wealth just falling in their laps like that. Hope they know how to appreciate it.”

Inspector John simply wagged his head and asked the young law graduate.

“Have you not been following this case Miss?”

“Well bits of it. Just the lurid headlines that the press sensationalise. I haven’t really been digging into the nitty-gritty. Our practice specialises in commercial law. I only came on board this morning when Miss Ball co-opted me.”

“Well, now that you have become involved, I suggest young lady, that you read the police reports and read the girl’s statements. I’ve got my own complete file copy in my office because I am the lead operational police officer for the British end of the investigation.

If you want, I can give you a much deeper insight into the case and believe me Miss. You will not be referring to them as ‘lucky’ when you read through the ordeals the girls have been through. Especially that poor kid Erica!”

ooo000ooo