“Finished” Mary wrote and put down the pen.
“What happens now?” she asked, hoping that someone was there to hear the question.
“Your statement is being studied,” came the reply. She looked down and the table was bare.
“What happens to me now?” she asked, as the walls went out of focus and she drifted into darkness.
“What is happening to her?” asked James.
“Security has moved her to another cell,” Myrtle replied frowning slightly.
“Why?” asked James.
“It was thought that they were trying to get to her,” Myrtle replied.
“How is that possible?” asked James.
“They have been compromised,” said Myrtle, busily ringing Ethel.
“Ethel, we need an update,” she said.
“There is nothing to update,” said Ethel. “Mary is in her cell writing.”
“No she isn’t,” said Myrtle. “Not according to the screen we can see.”
“What screen do you have,” asked Ethel. “All my screens show her writing.”
“I put the mirror in there,” said Myrtle.
“There is a video loop being fed into the system,” said Ethel. “What should I do?”
“Pretend that you haven’t noticed it,” said Myrtle.
“What are you going to do?” asked Ethel.
“Best that you don’t know that,” said Myrtle, hanging up.
“So where is she?” asked an ashen James.
“I have moved her to somewhere safe,” Myrtle replied.
“Which is where?” asked James. “That cell was supposed to be safe.”
“But more people knew about it than the place she is now,” smiled Myrtle.
“And this is safer?” he yelled.
“Yes,” smiled Myrtle. “Even I don’t know where it is.”
“And that is supposed to make me feel better, how?” he yelled.
“After all she has done, I do wonder why you are so worried about her,” said Myrtle.
“Because I thought she was my Mother,” shouted James.
“She killed your Mother, took her place for over thirty years, deceived both your brother and your Father and you when she pretended to be your Mother, devastated about your disappearance and despite all this you are worried about her,” said Myrtle.
“You don’t think that I’m a part of this, do you?” asked James.
“No, but I think your judgement may be impaired,” smiled Myrtle.
“Then you had better not tell me where she is,” sighed James. “But what do we do next?”
“There are contingencies in place,” said Myrtle.
“I shouldn’t ask what they are,” said James.
“But you want to know anyway,” said Myrtle.
“I am only human,” James sighed.
“And very sweet,” said Myrtle. “It is part of what I love about you, however, I shall have to go and sort this out.”
“What about the twins?” he asked.
“I’m sure you can manage to look after them for a short time,” said Myrtle. “I could always ask Velvet to help.”
“Isn’t she busy with the laundry?” asked James.
“Never too busy to help with the twins,” smiled Myrtle.
“Thanks,” said James.
“Hello mirror,” said Myrtle. “How are things?”
“Not as quiet as they were,” sighed the Mirror.
“Not happy,” said Myrtle.
“Is she ever?” asked the Mirror.
“Can’t think of any time when she has been, not truly,” said Myrtle. “Though I would have thought being alive would be a plus point for her.”
“You would think so,” said the Mirror. “But it doesn’t seem to work that way.”
“Was anything she put in that statement worth the paper it was written on?” asked Myrtle.
“No, but I think she was hoping that it would please her Masters with the disinformation,” the Mirror replied.
“That still leaves us with the problem of finding out what did happen,” sighed Myrtle.
“I could try and get the truth out of her,” the mirror offered.
“As long as you keep yourself safe,” said Myrtle.
“Thanks for worrying about me,” the Mirror replied. “But I can look after myself now. I’ve learnt a trick or two.”
“That’s good to know,” said Myrtle. “Meanwhile, I shall see what I can find out.”
“Good hunting,” said the Mirror as Myrtle hung up on her rather ancient and not so smart phone.
“How are things going Ethel?” she asked, using her smart phone.
“Keeping an eye on the video link and it shows Mary writing away,” said Ethel.
“She’s got a lot to say,” said Myrtle.
“That she has,” Ethel replied.
“So, no change?” Myrtle asked.
“Nothing I’ve noticed,” said Ethel, rather too quickly.
“Let me know when you have something to report,” said Myrtle, hanging up and ringing Security.
“How is everything progressing,” she asked the man who answered the phone.
“She’s still writing,” said an unfamiliar voice.
“Thanks,” said Myrtle. “Let me know if anything changes,” she added hanging up.
“Someone has got under all our safeguards,” thought Myrtle. “There aren’t many who could do that. In fact there are only two I know of who would have access to that level of information and one of them is dead.”
“Hello Mum,” she said as Enid finally found her ancient and not so smart phone.
“Why are you ringing me on this old thing?” asked Enid.
“I would have thought you would have worked that one out,” said Myrtle.
“So the live footage?” she asked.
“Video loop,” said Myrtle.
“They are good,” said Enid.
“Too good,” said Myrtle. “There is only one person, besides you, who could do this.”
“She’s dead,” said Enid. “We found the body, we saw her disappear.”
“Or did we see an image of her,” said Myrtle.
“Why would she do this?” asked Enid. “She must know how much it would hurt us and the rest of her family.”
“Ivy didn’t know she was dead,” said Myrtle. “She would have known if Lily had really died.”
“So what do we do?” asked Enid.
“I don’t know,” said Myrtle. “But if I am right, then this is the chink in their armour, and means that we are calling the shots.”
“If you say so,” said Enid. “What will you do?”
“You’ll find out,” said Myrtle hanging up the phone and sending it to the heart of the nearest volcano.
“Track that if you can Lily,” she thought.
By Janice Nye © 2022
