Four Lives: Part Twenty-Two

~ beetleypete

This is the twenty-second part of a fiction serial, in 771 words.

After the police car had brought her home to Hackney, Marian was unable to get any sleep until she had told Ros everything that had happened. After sleeping through most of the day the first call she made was to Amanda, to apologise for not turning up the night before. She gave her a rough idea of what was happening, and was surprised by her reply.

“When he is found guilty, I want to be there. Please let me know the date, and I will be in court”.

The next call was to Lyndsey, who was not as excited by the news as Marian had hoped she would be.

“He will appear at Magistrates Court this morning, and be held on remand awaiting trial. Given the severity of the charges, there is no way he will get bail. The police will prosecute, and if I am approached I will turn it down. It would seem far too obvious if I prosecuted him again. They will give you a hard time in court, so as soon as you have a trial date and witness warning, I want you to contact me. You can come over to mine and we will go through all the possible variations of his defence”.

Her third call was to her boss. She told him what had happened, and he immediately told her to take as much time off as she needed. At the same time, Ros was calling the shoe shop company, telling them she would be back to work on Monday. With Lee off the streets, she felt much more relaxed about returning to her own flat.

Marian then rang the car hire company, and arranged delivery of a replacement car. If they knew why the previous car had been impounded, that wasn’t mentioned.

Ros was packing up her personal things, when she suddenly turned to her sister. “You should let Denise know Lee is in prison. That might help her case with Social Services on Friday”. But Denise didn’t answer her phone. Not that first time, or on the next four times Marian tried during the evening. Once the hire car had been delivered, Marian got changed and drove Ros home. They ordered a takeaway pizza and ate it in Ros’s flat before she drove back to Hackney.

Alone in her flat that evening, she sat drinking white wine, and thinking about the last twenty-four hours. The one saving grace was that Lee could not have got her pregnant, as she had stayed on the pill after splitting up with Steve. Now that she had taken her revenge, it all started to overwhelm her, and she broke down in tears.

By late Friday afternoon, she had heard nothing from Denise, and had stopped trying to contact her. She was not about to leave an answerphone message, and didn’t want her number to appear so many times on the phone records, just in case anything went wrong later. But by Saturday morning, she had lost all patience, and drove over to Denise’s house. Wearing a beanie hat covering her hair, and an old scruffy raincoat she had not got around to throwing away, she walked up to the front door.

“She’s gone, love. Ireland, she told me. Staying with a cousin, I think. Cork maybe, somwehere like that anyway. She got a taxi to the station on Thursday morning with Daisy. They had a case and bags. I asked her what was up, and she said a cousin was ill in Ireland. If you ask me, I reckon she’s skipped on the rent”.

The loud voice startled her, and she looked around to find it was coming from the house next door. A woman about sixty was leaning out of an upstairs window, partially obscured by a curtain. Not wanting to engage with her, Marian nodded, waved, and walked back to her car.

Driving away from the woman’s sight, Marian stopped at the end of the street to compose herself. She was furious with Denise, but also with herself. She should have known. Once she had the thousand pounds, Denise had fled to Ireland, rather than face the questioning from Social Services. She was also probably terrified that Lee would come after her.

Oh well, she had her abduction and rape case. The child molestation would have been the icing on the cake, but that was not to be. No doubt the Social Services would be after her, and eventually find her in Ireland. But that was no longer her problem.

She would run with what she had, and be the most convincing witness in legal history.

25 thoughts on “Four Lives: Part Twenty-Two”

  7. (1) Marian gave Amanda a rough idea of what was happening, and was surprised by her reply. “I don’t appreciate that kind of rough language, Marian!”
    (2) “It would seem far too obvious if I prosecuted him again.” Maybe, but the third time would be the charm. And that can’t happen without a second time.
    (3) After Marian told her boss what had happened, he replied, “I was going to ask you out on a date. Maybe a few pints at a nearby pub before driving you to an old shop near my house for some fun in the back seat of the car… But now, for whatever reason, I’m having second thoughts.”
    (4) Return a car. Take away a pizza. (I’m just following the story.)
    (5) Marian decided to go see Denise. But first, she had to decide what to wear. She could do her make-up party style, and put on a nice dress, short and low-cut, the kind she would wear to an evening out, or on a hot date, OR…she could forget the make-up, and wear a beanie hat covering her hair, along with an old scruffy raincoat. It was a really tough decision.
    (6) An irate xenophobe in Cork once exclaimed, “Ireland is not Yourland!”
    (7) Marian still had her abduction and rape case. She opened it up and pondered the cloth and chloroform, the handcuffs and chains, the various ransom notes, the provocative lingerie, and the stamped certificate of virginity.

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