The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3373 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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James left us after drinking yet another espresso. If I had drunk three of them like he had, I'd probably not have needed any sleep for a couple of days and I suspect I 'd have been quite twitchy as well. James didn't seem to be affected. He is much taller than me and several times broader, which he assures me is muscle. Mind you, Simon says exactly the same and because I'm female, I obviously don't realise it, it raises the question about most women being attracted to muscular males, in which case wouldn't they be well aware of muscle tone in males? Not according to Simon when I raised it as an argument. Apparently, women do not appreciate the finer points of male muscularity. I conceded that gay men might be ahead of women on those criteria and blushing he suggested he was possibly wrong because he was no shirt lifter.

I told him that terms of such homophobic resonance were not very helpful, and he told me I should tell that to public schools. I declined the offer, it's nigh on impossible to talk to dinosaurs when the asteroid is rushing toward them.

We drove home in my car, Francesca and her mum, Dawn, sat in the back and chatted while I listened to Classic fm as I drove home, partly so I wouldn't overhear what they were saying. I had pointed out to Dawn that by staying with me, Francesca was avoiding a prison sentence. She had suggested her old family house but Francesca vetoed it as it was full of awful memories, not least the violent death of her father.

I added that she had agreed with the court to stay with me, so her mother immediately agreed we should try to keep the court on our side. As drove into the driveway of our house Dawn said, "You live here?"

"It's small but it's my own," I said knowing that was all false.

"Don't listen to her, Mummy, it's her dad's house," said Francesca. I was aware that Tom had actually put the house in my name to avoid death duties, which I'd had to pay on the house that Mr. Whitehead had bequeathed me but it was still worth a fortune, plus of course, the old Jag in mothballs in my garage.

"This place is huge," said Dawn Davidson, "How many bedrooms?"

"Eight plus one or two more we use as bedrooms if we need to, we added a few rooms a couple of years ago."

"Go on, Cathy tell her what."

"A few bedrooms and other rooms upstairs and a study and library downstairs and a facility for the children to study as well. Sadly none of them use it. preferring to clutter the dining room. We use the kitchen most of the time for meals, it's also quite big."

"Big, it's vast, Mummy, wait until you see," Francesca added.

The girls were there and David was doing dinner, he made quite a fuss of dawn. "Is David your um...?" she asked.

"Good Lord, no, he's our cook."

"Oh," said Dawn blushing, "You have a cook?"

"Tell her who you really are," urged Francesca. When I said nothing but felt my facial capillaries flushing, she continued, "Mummy, may introduce you to the Lady Catherine Cameron who is married to Lord Simon Cameron who is the son of Lord Henry Cameron..."

"Who owns his own bank," Dawn finished the sentence.

"We thought he should have an interest because old people become so bored."

"So he took over High Street and made it the third biggest of the clearing banks."

" Oh, did he?" I feigned interest.

"You should know um, Cathy, you're a director too."

"Oh, yes so, I am ." I tried to act as if the fact was a surprise to me.

"Don't let her fool you, she's as sharp as needle."

"No wonder you can't sew, Francesca, all your needles were as blunt as a spoon."

"So I am dealing with a genuine lady?" said Dawn.

"Nah," I said, "I got the title as part of the compensation package for marrying Simon."

As we entered the kitchen so Simon put in an appearance, "All shipshape and Bristol fashion, milady," he said bowing.

"Thank you, Cameron you may have the rest of the afternoon off."

"Very good, milady," he said and walked off.

"Who was that ?" Dawn asked Francesca.

"That was Lord Simon."

"Wow, I can see who wears the pants here."

"I think you may be mistaken, Simon likes to play-act on occasion, I asked him to watch the girls while I was out, I'll bet Meems supervised him and David did the lunch."

"How many girls have you got?"

"Um, I forget, they keep moving while I'm trying to count them, let's see, there's Meems and Trish, Hannah and Livvie, Cate and Lizzie, Danielle, Sarah, Sammi, Jacquie, Julie, and Phoebe. I think that's all of them."

"I don't think I've met Sarah," said Francesca.

"No, she's in hospital having a birth defect corrected."

"Oh, right."

"Well, someone cancelled and we took it at short notice."

"She's gone to stay with her Uncle Peter to convalesce, she was so far ahead with her degree the university decided to allow her to go."

"The fact that you're her professor and Tom her granddad is the Vice Chancellor, doesn't count then?"

I blushed, "It may have a small contribution," I replied.

"Cor, a lady and a professor, anything else you're not telling me, Lady Cameron?"

"Yes, let me show you to your room," I started toward the stairs.

"Dinner in half an hour, Cathy, " called David.

"Shouldn't the maid...?" asked Dawn.

"I think there are enough women in the house already, this way," I led her up the stairs to the room next to Francesca's. It had been Phoebe's and some of her stuff was in the cupboard and the wardrobe.

"Who am I dispossessing?" said Dawn.

"Phoebe but she has her own flat, Julie, and she have a shared flat above their salon."

"Salon?"

"Yes, they have a very successful hairdresser and beauty salon."

"Oh, I could do with something being done to my hair."

"Ask them tomorrow, they'll be over for dinner."

"They're both very good cutters of hair."

"I'll have to see if they can fit me in while I'm here?"

"They are pretty busy but I'll have a word with them tomorrow."

"The girls are very quiet," I said ominously and left the mother and daughter alone in the mother's temporary room.

I left hearing Fran telling Dawn that David was a brilliant cook. In the dining room, I found all of the girls, well, the usual offenders and they made a fuss of me, which felt good. Apparently, Simon who was working from a laptop had promised them a fiver extra if they finished their weekend homework before pestering either me or our visitors.

"Is it Francesca's mum?" asked Livvie, beating Trish by a millisecond.

"Yes, and that's all I know, now no pestering either her or Francesca. Where's Danni?"

"Football at Bournemouth, the men's team were away this weekend so the ladies team got the use of the stadium."

"I'm surprised she hasn't phoned, "I said to no one in particular.

"She's rung about five times, you took so long getting here. She only scored a hat trick today and made two other goals," answered Trish.

"Who were they playing?" I asked.

"Chelsea ladies, beat 'em five three, according to Dan, she got man of the match again."

I shook my head. She was becoming one of the best woman footballers in the country and holding down a degree, which was up to scratch, so she was such a special girl, I don't think I could do it but she pulled her finger out and once the business of the relationship with Francesca and the beating she got from her father had been put behind her, with a bit of help from Sarah, she caught up faster than I thought she was. Somehow I think this ability was always there but being in a state school and in the company of boys, she had suppressed it, not to be bullied or thought of as a swot. I know what that felt like, pretty uncomfortable.

Sarah had had her op as Mr O'Rourke had a space and he knew she was waiting so that she could get on with the rest of her life, he fitted her in all done via Stella, who is quite important in the urology department, and he fitted her in because SRS is more interesting than poking prostates, according to Stella reporting what he said. I think I'll stick to chasing research grants and dormice.

David sounded the gong and we went to the kitchen, I introduced all the girls, and Danni was still in her room having her eyelashes rust-proofed or something, she called by and said hello and had apparently done so upstairs too, so Dawn had met her. The meal was venison pie with carrots, peas, broccoli, and creamed potato. David had stewed the meat in a pressure cooker for some two hours and then baked it in pastry, no wonder it fell apart in the mouth, usually, venison takes about two weeks to cook and usually stinks, so you need to cook it in a fume cupboard.

It was an exquisite meal, David showing he knows what he's doing and he sat and ate with us, so we knew it was safe to eat. Of course, Simon's schoolboy humour had to announce to our visitors. I think Dawn was beginning to believe my joke about the compensation package.

After dinner and me daring Trish to ask a question of Dawn relating to Shrödinger's cat, she went off pleased that Dawn knew she was an undergraduate at thirteen. We repaired to the lounge and said that Kit Mitten KC, was visiting on Monday to see if Dawn could remember anything that they could use to help Francesca. In effect, telling the court that George Davidson, was a right brute and killing him did the world a favour and it saved Danni's life.

Dawn told us loads of stories, a lot of which were hearsay and thus inadmissible in a court of law, however, any tales she had of direct experience would be admissible, so I left her and Francesca talking, hoping she'd remember some juicy morsels for Kit on Monday. I think the fact that she fled for her life, leaving her little girl behind, was evidence enough, and the fact that recent discoveries had implicated him in several suspicious and unexpected deaths, which was her reason for running away.

She was apparently working in a school as a teaching assistant and had done several jobs to keep herself as she had feared if she went on any sort of benefit, that George would have traced her. He even had the police looking for her as a missing person until one of them twigged that if they did find her, she'd be a serious risk. So they didn't try very hard. Just as well because they nearly found her at one point and she only escaped because a police support officer, warned her. She went up to Scotland for a while and things seem to calm down afterwards. I told her to write a book or even some magazine articles, which would make her some money. She declined, it would remind her too much and friends of George had memories like elephants and may not be prepared to let things lie.

I pointed this could happen if she testified. "If it does, I was doing it for my daughter, and that's worth the risk. If I was doing it for money, I'd be losing the moral high ground which they seem at the moment to be respecting."

"That may be the case, Dawn, but I suspect they don't even know we have found you."

"You don't know them like me, once they knew that James was searching for me, they would know as soon as he found me and then I only let him for Francesca's sake."

I admitted it wasn't my strong point but to make sure that she took plenty of safeguards while she was here. Then wondered if Danni should look to her safety, because if George hadn't been beating her to a pulp, Francesca would not have shot him. It was a bit convoluted, but I'm sure stranger things happen, like Old Testament goddesses making house calls. Now it was getting silly and at half ten I went to bed, with Simon and Tom celebrating Scotland's win over England. I hoped I was asleep before he came to bed.