Part 2 of the tale.

I'd raced her to the kitchen and given her some kitchen towel to staunch the bleeding. I'd poured a double rum and had forced it down her. Sod my career I'd thought. I'd told her that I would get the Police and call an Ambulance. She'd begged me to do nothing, they would be looking for her and they had friends in high places.

I'd thought of a compromise. I'd told her to go to my bedroom. It was at the top of the stairs. In the en-suite she would find some "women's things" that had been left by an ex-girlfriend. Then she should use any of my clothes to make herself decent.

 The moment she'd gone upstairs I'd phoned my ex-wife. I'd told her not to argue, or put the phone down but just listen to me. I'd explained the circumstances and had asked that she came round immediately to give the woman a thorough examination and if possible take the woman back to the Private Clinic where my ex-wife worked as a consultant.

She'd asked why I'd chosen her?  My caustic response had been, because she was a bloody doctor and I'd thought that a break from abortions might be a pleasant change! She'd recognised the implicit threat and had said she would be right round.

The woman had then come down. She'd looked at me sheepishly for she was wearing a football shirt, a pair of boxer shorts, slippers and had been utterly lost in the folds of my dressing gown. I'd made us coffee and then had demanded to be told everything.

It turned out that she had been a member of a "Venus Fly Trap Group". She had been the bait, I would have been allowed to get undressed and then a group of women would have burst in, overpowered me and then I'd have been subjected to physical abuse.

She'd met the group through her court work. She'd defended one of them against a GBH charge. She'd been told that the victim had been a rapist and had merely got his just deserts. She'd then been conned into giving 2 of the women an alibi and had subsequently found out that the victim of their assault, an elderly man had bled to death. They would not now let her leave the group.

The ring of the doorbell had stopped further questioning. I'd answered the door. In addition to my ex-wife there were two Police Women. I'd forgotten that my ex-wife did charity work at a Women's Refuge and therefore had contacts with the Police.

Unbeknown to me they'd actually met by chance for each had come to see me for unrelated reasons. However their discussion on the doorstep had shown them that they'd had an unexpected common interest.

I'd told my ex-wife that the Woman was in the kitchen and she'd gone straight in. I'd tried to follow her but one of the Police Women had stopped me and had ushered me into the lounge, shutting the door behind us. The other Police Woman who had stood back out of the light and who I'd not clearly seen had presumably gone into the kitchen.

The WPC had asked me to make a full statement. It was to start from the time that I'd left my house. I'd then made a full statement. It had amused me that she had not known who I was. She'd been very thorough and had complimented me on the clear-cut way that I had given my evidence. She'd handed me the statement and had asked me to sign it. Her face had been a picture when she'd seen me write DCI R.B Lane.

Unfortunately we were interrupted when my ex-wife and the other Police Woman had entered the room. My ex-wife said that the injuries were superficial and even the broken nose had easily snapped back into place. The woman had been given a sedative and was now asleep in my bed.

I'd had my back to the door so had been staggered by the familiar sound of my Boss's voice, She'd told me that I'd buggered everything up. It would have seemed that she'd had been watching those little cows for several months but they had a host of houses that they could work from. She and the WPC had been following the woman but I'd thrown them off her trail. She'd explained that the group also targeted young girls, but in their case as sexual partners. She'd a personal axe to grind on that matter.

I was told that WPC Robbins and she would stay the night. The 3 of us would take turns at keeping watch. Tomorrow they'd escort the woman to my wife's clinic.  She'd then snapped at me, Robert stop gawping and get me a drink. My ex-wife had then gone home and the WPC had gone to my bedroom to guard the sleeping woman. I'd got us a drink.

My Boss took a deep breath then said she'd wanted my help. I was to be the bait in her trap. I was to go to the next Grab a Granny Night where a woman would approach me and I would take her back to her house. This woman was a plant and had been on the fringe of the group for at least two years as what you would call a "sleeper". The plant had just received a text message instructing her to go to the next Grab a Granny Night and pick up a man.

I'd accepted then had asked what had happened to the woman.  My Boss had replied that the woman had wanted out, for she had had enough. They'd beat her up to terrify her but the sexual abuse had been a gratuitous extra for it had been quite obvious to them if not to me that the woman had found me attractive. I'd been under their scrutiny in the Pub.

I'd asked how the woman had known where I lived. The answer had been simple, when I'd pulled my car keys out I'd dropped a speed-dating card. When her assailants had left her apparently unconscious on the floor, she'd grabbed her coat, picked up the card, run to her car and had driven off. She had known the road on which I lived so she'd abandoned her car in an adjacent road and had crept through the alley that connected them.

A month later I'd driven up in a different car, parked and gone into the Evergreen Club. About 45 minutes from closing time a middle-aged woman wearing an obvious wig had approached me. Her chat up line had been original. She'd said in a common voice, evening DCI, a bit of a dance, a bit of a grope, and then we're off. 
I'd followed my instruction and groped very seriously all in the line of duty of course. She'd been very convincingly passionate in return. Furthermore my groping had found a rather hard object that seemed to be gun shaped.

We'd left the Pub and had crisscrossed in a manner similar to my first journey. We'd driven through a shabby area but then had turned into a very posh street. I'd scarcely noticed the house that we had entered and when went into the room I'd said that I was very shy and had put the light out. I'd hoped that they'd not thought of infrared. We'd kissed and cuddled but when the door burst open and the women ran in we'd dived for cover behind the bed.

I'd heard the sound of the door shutting. They'd then switched the light on. We'd stood up and ordered the women to put their hands up and then stand still. We'd both been toting silenced handguns. My companion had shouted that the women should strip or they would have their heads blown off. They'd had done as they were told. She'd then told them that they were to come to her one at a time. She'd given me her gun. I'd covered the women with the 2 guns whilst my companion had cut strips from a roll of surgical plaster.

Each woman had been gagged and her hands tied behind her back. The next instruction was that they should form a tight column with the tallest at the back and shortest at the front. I'd handed my colleague her gun back. To my horror she'd fired one round after another and had not stopped until she had been sure that they were all dead. She'd handed me her gun saying that it was a fair cop and that she had done it all on her own. I'd told her to follow me.

We'd abandoned the stolen car we had arrived in, and had walked to where I'd parked my car. By sheer luck it had been no more than 5-minutes away from the house. We'd driven back to the Pub and had engaged in some lock in drinking.
The woman had suddenly removed her disguises. The wig had been obvious but the coloured contact lenses were not. She'd put on her glasses, reverted to her posh accent and there was my boss.

She'd explained that those bastards had abused WPC Robbins' sister. The sister had then killed herself because she had felt dirty and defiled. My boss said that she had never had had children but if she had had a daughter she would have loved one like Robbins.

Robbins was in on it with her, had told her about the group, and that our lady Assistant Chief Constable was an active member or at least a sympathiser. Robbins had got her the gun out of the auxiliary gun cupboard. My boss had said that she expected me to hand her in, but begged me not to incriminate Robbins.


I'd startled her when I said that we should discuss this in bed. She'd told me not to be flippant. I'd said it would provide us with an alibi. I'd added that the elderly man that had bled to death had been my estranged widowed father. I too had been looking for them. I'd then asked whether she had "scarred the bullets". She had. I'd said that Robbins could safely put the guns back for the auxiliary gun cupboard would not be checked for at least 3 weeks.

We'd spent the rest of the night in one of the Pub's Guest Rooms signed in as Mr and Mrs B.R. Neal. I love anagrams. They are so easily solved!

To be continued