The Fairy Godmother Part 132

“He’s lost his no claims bonus,” said James as they sat down in front of the tv to watch the news after tea.

“I should help with the dishes,” said Mary, standing up.

“No need to,” smiled Myrtle. “We have a dish washer. That has made a total mess of that car,” she added. “What happened to it.”

“I hope it isn’t a fault,” said Mary. “We’ve got a car like that. It’s only just back from a recall.”

“What was wrong with it?” asked James. “I hadn’t heard of any recalls lately.”

“I don’t know, James said he’d sort it out,” sighed Mary.

“Maybe this one hadn’t had the recall,” said Myrtle.

“It does look very familiar,” said Mary, sitting down.

“They’ll make lots of cars that model and that colour,” said James.

“But only one with that number plate,” said Mary, going very pale.

“Are you sure that’s the number?” asked Myrtle.

“I’d remember it anywhere,” said Mary. “There was something about it that stuck in my mind.”

“Try ringing him,” suggested James. “He may not have been in the car. Someone might have stolen it.”

“It was parked outside a prison,” said Mary. “They aren’t exactly short on security there.”

“True,” said James. “But there are a lot of thieves there.”

“Mostly behind bars,” said Mary, fishing out her phone and ringing James senior.

“This number is not on the network,” the mobile said.

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Mary.

“He might have his phone turned off,” suggested James. “Myrtle,” he added as she picked up her mobile phone.

“I’ll go in the kitchen for this,” she told James.

“What should I do?” James asked following her.

“You’re a Doctor and she’s in shock,” Myrtle replied. “I would’ve thought you’d have a better idea as to what to do than me.”

“And what are you going to do?” James asked.

“I’m ringing security to see what they know about it,” Myrtle replied.

“Like they’ll know anything, this is at the other end of the country,” said James.

“They have their sources,” said Myrtle.

“And they’re going to tell you anything,” James added.

“I am a Fairy Godmother,” said Myrtle. “They will tell me everything they know.”

“Or else?” asked James.

“I’ll set Mother on to them,” Myrtle smiled.

“That should work,” sighed James, heading back to see his Mother.

“I should do the dishes,” Mary said. “It was so good of you to feed me, but I don’t want to be an imposition.”

“It’s OK,” smiled James. “We have a dishwasher.”

“But, I want to help,” Mary said as the twins began to cry.

“Sounds like they need a change,” said James. “Myrtle is on the phone, so if I do one, will you do the other?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a nappy,” said Mary.

“I’m sure it will come back to you,” laughed James.

The twins were asleep and the dirty nappies sorted out when Myrtle joined them in the living room.

“James was right, it didn’t take long to remember how to change a nappy,” smiled Mary.

“What did they say?” asked James.

“I contacted security,” Myrtle explained to Mary. “To see what they knew about the car on the news.”

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Mary asked.

“So sorry,” said Myrtle.

“Am I supposed to identify his body or something?” Mary asked.

“Normally, yes, but there was a bomb,” said Myrtle, trying to think of the best way to say it. “They were wondering if you could give them a DNA sample, hairs from a brush or something like that.”

“I shouldn’t have left him,” Mary sighed.

“Then you’d both be dead,” said Myrtle.

“But he was alone,” said Mary. “No one should die alone.”

“There were two people in the car,” said Myrtle. “It seems one of the prison officers left with him, he was driving the car.”

“James wouldn’t let a stranger drive his car,” said Mary. “There’s something fishy about this, about that prison officer,” she added as Myrtle’s phone rang.

“Hello, this is security,” said the voice. “I rang the prison to ask after the person who is thought to have been in the car with your father-in-law.”

“What did they tell you?” asked Myrtle.

“That the officer took your father-in-law to his car and drove him away at 4pm. Another officer went to check on the prisoner Peggy Brown, shortly after this time. She was found dead in the interview room,” said the person from security.

“How did she die?” asked Myrtle.

“It would appear that she had been stabbed,” came the reply. “But the weapon was not to be found.”

“There was nothing wrong with her when I left the room,” said Mary. “There was a prison officer with us all the time.”

“No one is saying you did this,” said Myrtle.

“If the prison officer died in the car with James, then there is no one to say that I didn’t,” said Mary.

“That is true,” said the person from security. “However, there was a CCTV camera in the room and that shows that Peggy Brown was alive when your mother-in-law left the room. It also shows the prison officer coming back into the room and pushing Peggy Brown to a part of the room not covered by the camera and leaving shortly afterwards. As that is the place she was found, it is assumed that he killed her and then took your father-in-law to his car which was rigged to blow up when put into fifth gear.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” said James. “Why would the prison officer get into a car which he knows has a bomb in it?”

“Perhaps he didn’t know about the bomb,” said Myrtle.

“Why would anyone want to kill us?” asked Mary.

“They may have thought that you knew too much,” suggested the person from security.

“The prison officer seemed to know a lot more than I would have thought he should,” said Mary. “He knew what had happened to the people who were supposed to be given baby James.”

“Was there any CCTV footage of the car park?” asked Myrtle.

“Yes, it showed the car arriving and leaving,” said the security person.

“But no one going to it in between?” asked Myrtle.

“What are you getting at?” asked James.

“I was just wondering if the bomb was planted in the car whilst they were at the prison,” said Myrtle.

“It must have been, or they wouldn’t have got there,” snapped James.

“You said the bomb went off when the car was put into fifth gear?” asked Mary.

“According to the insurance company, the onboard computer sends data on the driving to them so they can assess the ability and safety of the driver,” said the security person. “The data stopped when the car was put into fifth gear and that coincides with the time it was blown up.”

“Your Father was a very cautious driver, he rarely used fifth gear and he was driving especially slowly, I think he hoped that I’d change my mind about the visit,” sighed Mary.

“So the prison officer probably didn’t know about it, or he wouldn’t have used fifth gear,” said Myrtle.

“I think we had better increase the security for your rooms till the person who planted the bomb has been arrested,” said the person from security. “I shall sort that out now and let you know of any further developments.”

“Thank-you,” said Myrtle.

“If you could provide us with a DNA sample,” security added.

“He didn’t clear out the loose hair from his hair brush this morning,” said Mary.

“If we could have the brush, that would be helpful,” security replied.

“We’ll get it to you straight away,” said Myrtle.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 131

 

“Are you sure you want to go?” James senior asked his wife for the umpteenth time since they had received the letter saying they could see the person who stole their baby.

“I’m not going to get any answers sitting here,” Mary replied, putting her coat on.

“OK, but if you feel uncomfortable at any time, or you want to change your mind, just say,” said James, picking the car keys up.

“I don’t expect it will be a comfortable visit,” said Mary. “I suspect there will be things said that I’d rather weren’t true. But I want to know the truth. So are you going to drive or shall I?”

“I’ll drive,” said James heading for the door.

“Are you still sure you want to go through with this?” James senior asked as he parked the car in the prison car park.

“We are here now,” said Mary. “It would be stupid to turn back now.”

“No one would think any less of you if you didn’t go in,” said James.

“I would,” said Mary, getting out of the car.

“I was just saying,” said James, locking the car and following her. “It’s a very imposing building.”

“I know,” said Mary. “So lets get this thing over with.”

“I don’t think Myrtle should have asked you to do this,” said James. “It’s too much.”

“I don’t want to hear any more of this,” said Mary. “I’m beginning to think that you don’t want me here.”

“Of course I do,” stuttered James. “There are things we need to ask her.”

“We’ve come to see Peggy Brown,” Mary told the prison officer.

“This would be restorative justice?” the officer asked.

“Yes, that’s what it is,” said James senior.

“I’m afraid that we only allow one person to speak to the prisoner,” the officer explained. “Your wife can wait for you in the room over there,” he added nodding towards a side room.

“Why do you assume that it will be my husband who is going to talk to her?” asked Mary.

“I, er, it can be very upsetting, in a case like this,” the officer said, looking round him for someone else to explain.

“I shall speak to Peggy Brown,” said Mary. “My husband can wait in that room.”

“Do you really think that is a good idea,” said James, hurriedly. “You will be in there, by yourself with her.”

“If I am with her, I wont be by myself,” said Mary. “And I should think there would be someone in there to make sure I don’t kill her or anything like that.”

“Of course, the visit will be supervised at all times,” said the officer, happy to get onto familiar ground.

“Then there should be no problems,” said Mary.

“I just don’t think you should put yourself through this,” said James. “I know what questions you want answering, I can tell you what she said.”

“I want to look her in the eye and see how she reacts to what I ask,” Mary replied.

“The prisoner has just arrived in the side room,” said the officer. “If you would care to come this way.”

“Thank-you,” said Mary.

“I’ll be waiting,” said James as she headed off into the prison. When the door closed behind her he went to the side room to wait.

“The prisoner is in here,” said the officer, unlocking a door for Mary to walk through. “I shall be here to supervise,” he added following her into the room.

“Thank-you,” said Mary as he pointed to a chair. Peggy Brown was sitting on a similar chair on the other side of the table.

“I thought James was the one who was coming to ask the questions,” Peggy said to the prison officer.

“He offered, but they are my questions,” said Mary. “Anyway, it shouldn’t matter who is asking them.”

“No, of course not,” said Peggy, looking to the officer, who shrugged his shoulders. “I just thought.” her words trailed off.

“You thought you could flannel him,” said Mary.

“No, of course not,” stuttered Peggy.

“Why did you take my baby?” asked Mary.

“There was a couple, they wanted a baby, but they couldn’t have one and you had two,” said Peggy.

“They could adopt,” said Mary.

“They tried, but there is so much bureaucracy to go through,” said Peggy.

“They were turned down for adoption?” asked Mary.

“It is a difficult process and so easy for things to go wrong,” said Peggy.

“So it was easier to steel one?” asked Mary.

“It wasn’t like that,” said Peggy. “Your husband said that you couldn’t cope with two, your finances would be stretched just looking after one, and the strain on you.”

“Who told you this?” asked Mary.

“Your husband,” said Peggy.

“Who were these people, the ones who couldn’t adopt by the normal channels?” asked Mary, doing her best to stay calm.

“I can’t remember their names,” said Peggy. “I don’t think that I ever had them, just Mr and Mrs X.”

“You left my baby at an orphanage, why?” asked Mary.

“Mr and Mrs X, they died,” Peggy explained.

“There was a drive past shooting, they were having lunch outside at a restaurant, a motor bike drove past and the pillion passenger opened fire on the diners,” the prison officer explained.

“I was supposed to meet them there,” said Peggy.

“Did you see what happened?” asked Mary.

“Yes,” Peggy sighed.

“Did you stop to help?” Mary asked.

“I didn’t think it would be a good idea,” said Peggy.

“So you took my baby to the orphanage?” Mary asked.

“Seemed like the best thing to do,” Peggy smiled.

“You could have taken him back to the hospital and us,” said Mary.

“Then I’d have had to explain what I was doing with him,” said Peggy. “I’d have lost my job.”

“Which one, the one at the hospital or the one steeling babies?” asked Mary.

“Both,” said Peggy.

“Do you want to ask any more questions?” asked the prison officer to Mary when she had not said anything for a couple of minutes.

“Just one last question,” said Mary. “Who told you which babies to steel and where to take them to?”

“I don’t think it would be very wise of me to answer that question,” said Peggy, looking at the prison officer, not Mary.

“Why not?” asked Mary.

“I’d like to go back to my cell,” Peggy said to the prison officer. “I’ve said all that I’m going to say.”

“Wait here and you will be escort you back to your cell,” the officer said to Peggy. “If you will come this way,” he said to Mary, holding the door open for her.

“Thank-you,” she smiled, getting up and walking out. The officer closed and locked the door behind her and they headed back to the little room where James senior was waiting.

“Are you OK?” asked James senior as soon as he saw Mary. “You look very pale.”

“You told her that I couldn’t cope with two babies,” said Mary.

“You struggled with just one,” said James.

“I struggled because I had lost one baby,” Mary replied. “You don’t know how I would coped if I had been allowed to take both my babies home. You didn’t give me a chance.”

“I,” stuttered James.

“Always you isn’t it,” said Mary, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

“Who are you ringing?” asked James.

“Myrtle,” said Mary. “Could you get me out of here?”

“Of course,” said Myrtle, waving her wand.

“Thank-you,” said Mary as she materialised in Myrtle and James juniors living room.

“Mum, are you OK?” asked James junior.

“He told the midwife that I wouldn’t be able to look after two babies, so she took you,” said Mary. “He tried to justify himself by saying that I struggled looking after one baby!”

“Of course you struggled, you’d lost one of your babies,” said Myrtle. “I don’t know how I’d cope if someone took one of my two precious little one.”

“Exactly,” said Mary. “I hope you didn’t mind me ringing. I couldn’t stand being in the same room as him for one minute longer.”

“You can stay here as long as you want,” said Myrtle.

“I just need to sort out what to do next,” said Mary. “That and help get to the bottom of all this baby steeling.”

“Did you find out anything from the person who stole me?” asked James junior.

“The couple you were to be given to were killed, just before the handover, so she fled and left you at the orphanage,” Mary replied.

“Why didn’t she just take the baby back to the hospital?” asked Myrtle.

“She thought she’d loose her job,” said Mary, slowly. “The prison officer knew how they had died,” she added. “I didn’t think of it at the time, but, why would he know that? It didn’t come up in the court case.”

“That is a very good question,” said Myrtle. “We need to talk to that officer.”

“I think your wife smells a rat,” said the prison officer, as Mary disappeared.

“What are you going to do about it?” asked James senior.

“I need to have a word with Peggy,” said the officer. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I’ll be heading off,” said James as the door shut behind the prison officer and James heard the key in the lock.

“I don’t suppose Myrtle would get me out of here,” he thought pulling his phone out of his pocket and then putting it back ask he heard the key in the lock again.

“I will walk you back to your car,” said the prison officer, taking James senior by the arm and pulling him out of the room.

“But,” stuttered James.

“Just act natural,” said the officer as they walked to the car. “Car keys,” he said holding out his hand.

“What are you doing?” asked James.

“You are too emotional to drive, so I am going to drive for you,” said the officer, taking the keys from James’s hand and pushing him into the passenger seat.

“You can’t do this,” said James as the officer fastened his seat belt and then got into the drivers seat.

“There’s no one to stop me,” said the officer as he stuck a knife through James heart into the seat and then drove out of the prison.

“The pay wasn’t very good,” he thought. “And this has tied up a few ends that needed tying up.”

He accelerated down the road, putting the car into fifth gear as soon as he got to some clear road and as he did so the bomb under the bonnet exploded and the car was engulfed in a ball of fire.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 130

“You’re home?” said James senior as his wife walked in through the front door.

“I’ve been for a walk and now I’ve come back. It’s what I said I was going to do,” said Mary. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“I thought I’d lost you for good,” James said, watching as she filled the kettle.

“So I’ve been told,” said Mary.

“She rang you, putting more poison into your ear,” James replied.

“No, she spoke to our son and he rang to make sure I was OK,” Mary replied. “Though why you rang her in the first place is a mystery to me.”

“The fairies, they’re trying to get between us,” said James.

“And why would they want to do that?” asked Mary. “If their intention was to deprive us of our son, that’s been well and truly achieved.”

“I suppose you think that’s my fault. I’ve done nothing but try to protect you, all these years,”

James replied.

“Protect me from what?” asked Mary. “You tried to make me believe that there was only, ever, one baby and when I could prove that there were two, you tired to tell me one of them had died.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” said James.

“You tried to make out I was delusional and then you just didn’t talk about him, for years, you didn’t mention him,” said Mary.

“I thought you’d forgotten about him,” stuttered James.

“Like I was ever going to do that,” said Mary.

“You didn’t mention him,” said James.

“Because there was a row every time, it was easier not to say anything,” sighed Mary. “Then Mark brought Rose home and the two of you talked for hours about fairies and suddenly you had it in your head that they had stolen our baby James.”

“It was something that she had heard about and it seemed so logical, it fitted the facts, it was the only explanation,” James explained.

“It may have fitted the facts that we had, but we didn’t have all the facts and when you put those in, it doesn’t fit at all,” said Mary. “It doesn’t matter how much you want them to fit, the fairies didn’t steal our baby, I don’t see why you find that so hard to understand.”

“Because, it was easier to believe that they had taken him,” sighed James.

“Why?” asked Mary.

“Because, if they hadn’t taken him, then he’d been taken by humans,” sighed James.

“And why is that so much harder to take?” asked Mary.

“Because they are our own,” said James. “And we still don’t know who or why.”

“We know who took baby James,” Mary replied. “We saw her in court.”

“But she didn’t say why,” James replied.

“No, she didn’t,” Mary agreed. “I’d like to know that one as well. The whole thing did fall short in not pursuing the question as to why the babies were stolen and where they went to.”

“That’s why I keep going back to the idea that the fairies were behind all of this,” said James.

“You think that the fairies got human’s to steal babies for them?” asked Mary.

“Can you prove otherwise?” he asked.

“Not at this moment,” said Mary. “But I think I know where to start finding the answers.”

“You can’t ask her,” said James.

“Why not?” asked Mary.

“She wont tell you the truth,” James replied.

“That wasn’t my question,” Mary replied. “Why can’t I ask her?”

“They probably wont let you see her,” said James.

“You still aren’t answering my question, why can’t I ask her why she took our baby, what went wrong and why did she dump him in an orphanage instead of bringing him back to us,” Mary asked.

“You might not like the answer,” sighed James.

“That sort of implies that you know what it is,” said Mary.

“I said something at work, about how hard it would be, looking after two babies,” said James. “The cost of all that stuff,” he looked pleadingly at her.

“So someone took baby James and you think it might have been because of that!” asked Mary.

“It’s the only thing I can think of,” said James.

“Did you get any reward for this?” asked Mary.

“Not as far as I know, but there were promotions that came my way, I don’t know,” James sighed.

“So, the two things may be totally disconnected,” said Mary.

“Or it could be that someone heard what I said and thought I’d be OK if one of our kids just disappeared,” said James.

“So you’ve been thinking, all these years, that it was your fault?” asked Mary.

“I thought you’d blame me, I thought you’d hate me for what I’d done,” James muttered, shaking his head and looking at the floor.

“I might have done, at the time,” said Mary. “I was into blaming anyone and everyone, myself included.”

“How could you blame yourself?” asked James.

“Perhaps I didn’t want them enough, maybe, when we found out they were to be twins, maybe I didn’t sound eager enough. I was in a pretty dark place after the birth,” said Mary. “But now I want answers, answers that that court case didn’t provide. Answers that I’m sure that woman has.”

“But what if she says they were acting on what I said?” asked James.

“You didn’t give them permission to take one of our babies,” said Mary. “If you had done, they wouldn’t need to steel him.”

“That’s true,” said James.

“So, we go to see this woman, together,” said Mary.

“We will need to get permission,” said James.

“If we get that,” said Mary.

“We will go together and see what she has to say for herself,” said James.

“In the meantime,” said Mary, pulling the phone out of her pocket.

“Are you going to ring James junior?” asked James senior.

“He was very worried about me,” said Mary.

“As was Myrtle,” said James junior, his voice coming from the phone in Mary’s hand. “We asked her to stay on the line to make sure she was OK.”

“Did you think I would hurt your Mother?” asked James senior.

“We didn’t know,” said James.

“The way you have been, blaming the fairies when all the evidence pointed to them having nothing to do with it,” said Mary. “It wasn’t the you I know and love.”

“We couldn’t risk Mary getting hurt,” said Myrtle.

“I thought you’d be behind this,” said James. “Getting them to gang up on me!”

“Hard though it may be for you to believe, I want the truth, the whole truth, about what happened and why,” said Myrtle. “I want the answers to the questions that the court didn’t ask. I want whoever it was that organised all of this to be brought to justice and I think that is what you want as well.”

“Fine words, but what if it turns out that there are fairies behind all of this?” asked James.

“Then they should be brought to justice,” said Myrtle. “I think we could work together on this to get justice for all the babies and their true parents.”

“Do you want to come with us to talk to this woman?” asked James senior.

“I don’t think we would all be allowed to see her, not in one visit,” said Myrtle. “But you can tell us all about it afterwards.”

“And what will you do?” James senior asked.

“I shall go and talk to the tooth fairies,” said Myrtle.

“You don’t expect me to believe in them do you?” asked James senior.

“I used to be one,” said Myrtle.

“What can they do to help?” asked Mary.

“They have an extensive archive of information on all children,” said Myrtle. “They should be able to get together a list of all children who moved, suddenly, to a new address, without any of their siblings going with them and whose parents changed at the same time.”

“They have that information?” asked Mary

“The tooth fairy needs to know where all the children are,” said Myrtle.

“Why didn’t they tell the court?” asked James. “There are people trying to find all the missing children, or at least the ones they know about.”

“Probably no one thought to ask them,” said Myrtle. “There are so many people who don’t want to admit that they exist. No one who wants to be taken seriously is going to ask them for evidence and they wont volunteer the information.”

“So, we talk to the prison authorities and you talk to the tooth fairies,” said James. “And we’ll let you know how we get on.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Mary, hanging up the phone call.

“Sorry,” said James.

By Janice Nye © 2021