The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1139 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Jenny took the girls to school with Tom in his Freelander while I waited for the police. Something which surprised me was the arrival of the superintendent, whom I’d have thought had better things to do than investigate vandalism to my car.

“Our paths seem to cross continually,” he observed drily.

“Who is doing this? Apart from costing me a fortune, it’s beginning to frighten me.”

“Isn’t that the whole point–to scare you, show you that they can harm you even when you think you’re safe.”

“If they touch any of my children, I won’t be answerable for the consequences.”

“That makes you as bad as them, though, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t claim to be better than them.”

“Don’t you? You saved young Old’s life–I’ve since spoken to the surgeon, a Mr Nicholls, he swore me to secrecy, which I respect–but you’re something special aren’t you, Lady Cameron?”

“Oh sure, maybe Dan Brown got it wrong, instead of Audrey Tautou being the last in the bloodline of Jesus, maybe it’s me. After all, I was born in Dumfries, which is closer to Rosslyn Chapel than Paris is.”

“I don’t think I’d base too much on Dan Brown’s ramblings, Lady Cameron, I believe they’ve been shown to be wild speculation formed from poor research, however, they are good cliff hangers or page turners.”

“Okay, so I can’t walk on water either, but then I don’t believe anyone ever could without the aid of technology. Now what about my tyres?”

“I think you’ll need some new ones.”

“I know that–what about protecting the new ones?”

“Perhaps putting it in the garage, or even closing the gates–it all helps you know.”

“What if they attack another vehicle then, like Daddy’s or Stella’s–I pointed to the other cars.”

“Who knows what they’ll do next, I certainly don’t.”

“Have you spoken with Martina whatever-her-name-is?”

“Toby’s ex, yes I have, she’s in the clear for this one.”

“How d’you know?”

“She was in hospital, she was drunk and slipped and twisted her ankle.”

“Who’s looking after her little boy?”

“Her mother, but I’m sure she’d be touched by your concern.”

“I think she’s touched already, stupid woman is going to lose her baby if she isn’t careful.”

“Oh, is she pregnant again?”

“I think so and I don’t think Toby had anything to do with it.”

“She used to be a nice girl you know, until they split up and she took to the drink.”

“So, if it’s not mad Martina, who is it? This I mean?” I pointed at the tyres which had had the walls ripped out of them.

“I don’t know, perhaps your mysterious attacker, the sinister, colour challenged one.”

“Anything on the diamonds? I hope they’re not blood stones from Liberia or Congo or somewhere?”

“They’re being examined to try and trace their provenance, a conservative estimate, is that they were worth between two and three hundred thousand.”

“Pounds?”

“Of course, I don’t deal in these new fangled currencies like Euros and Dollars.”

“A quarter of a million hidden in someone’s garden pond–what the hell is that all about? Why not just put them in a safe deposit box?”

“I don’t know, we assume it’s some form of money laundering.”

“What drug money?”

“Could be, or extortion or prostitution or any other of a myriad ways that organised crime makes its ill gotten gains.”

“Organised crime–you mean like the mafia?”

“Lady Cameron, are you alright, you’ve gone rather pale.”

He helped me over to a seat in the garden, “D’you want a glass of water?”

“No, I shall be fine, thank you.”

“You’ve encountered Mafiosi before?”

“If you’ve read anything about me you know I have.”

“They tend to come off worse, if I remember correctly.”

“So far, I thought we were beyond all that–perhaps they’ll never leave us alone.”

“I’m not aware of any intelligence which suggests there are Russians roaming the country looking to kill people.”

“Did they before then?”

“The powers that be, knew, why?”

“They could have told me, the bastards.”

“My thoughts entirely, we didn’t know until it all erupted on our patch–not nice.”

“Try being their target.”

“I’ll pass on that, if it’s okay.”

“What about the gardener?”

“Which gardener is that, Lady Cameron?”

“Mr Edwards, Toby told me he died suddenly.”

“He did, suddenly and violently–he was stabbed probably by the same or similar weapon to the one which perforated my inspector.”

“Do we know why?”

“This is confidential information, Lady Cameron.”

“So? It concerns me, and without me and Sherlock Watts, you wouldn’t have the diamonds or the money.”

“True–okay, but this goes no further and I won’t brook any meddling from you, so be warned–next time I’ll arrest you.”

“I’m not promising anything.”

“You don’t make my life any easier, Lady Cameron.”

“Nor you mine, so tell me about Percy Thrower.”

“Percy Thrower, you’re not old enough to remember him are you?”

“Yes, he set up the Blue Peter garden, I was an avid Blue Peter fan.”

“Our gardener is a Norman Cashman. We don’t actually know anything much about him other than his cause of death and he did several gardens for the great and the good, and Mr Edwards. He apparently did a few town gardens for a few pop stars and actors, TV presenters, you know the sort.”

“Like Alan Titchmarsh?”

“Yes–No, I’d hope he’d do his own–oh very funny,” he said as I sniggered.

“Do any of them have ponds?”

“They’ve been checked, don’t you worry–we found nothing.”

“You didn’t find much when you searched the Edwards house and garden.”

“We drained the others–no messing this time–there was nothing.”

“I don’t know, MI5 up the road and we still have organised crime–makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“Lady Cameron, most of the crimes solved in this country are solved by simple old fashioned, coppers–doing what they do day in and day out. MI5 tend to operate on big stuff like terrorism, with Special Branch.”

“Yeah, and shoot the wrong guys.”

“The Brazilian chappy–that was unfortunate, but he could have been a terrorist and been carrying a bomb.”

“Rubbish–he wasn’t wearing a loose fitting coat or carrying a rucksack–they panicked and got it wrong.”

“Were you there?”

“No, of course not.”

“Neither was I, so I’ll advise you not to base your judgement on third party hearsay. A mistake was made, but those blokes are risking their lives every day for the rest of us. Just because they got it wrong that time doesn’t mean they do every time.”

“Spare me the lecture, Superintendent. To recap, Norman Cashman seems to only be related to the rest of this because he’s been killed by a similar knife to the one which stabbed Toby and because he looked after Mr Edwards garden and fishpond?”

“Yes.”

“And we don’t know if my tyres being slashed are related to any of it?”

“No.”

“Well, thanks for coming, give my regards to Mrs Superintendent.”

“Her name is, Caprice.”

“I’m sure she’s as individual as her name.”

“She is indeed.”

“Oh, Superintendent, tell her to see the doctor about her itchy nipple–it might be more serious than she thinks, but perfectly treatable.”

“What do you know about my wife?” he suddenly seemed very serious almost threatening.

“Only what I told you.”

“How do you know?”

“I get these ideas–dunno whence they come or why, but they tend to be right most of the time. I have to go and phone the garage, goodbye, Superintendent.”