“Damien, it is nice to see you again. I had hoped that it would be under better circumstances.”

“Thank you, Mrs Thompson.”

“Paula, please.”

Because of the reporting restrictions still being in place, the mainstream media was limited about what it could say until the jury had returned a verdict. It was as if the world had stopped while the jury deliberated.

The Judge called the court to order after the short break.
“Mr Fox, you may begin your cross-examination of this witness.”

“Thank you, My Lord.”

Behind the scenes, Fox was preparing for the fight of his life. He fired the court-appointed lawyer and engaged the services of two of his former pupils. Then, he went to court and argued his right to defend himself. That was initially denied by the lower court and subsequently, the court of appeal.

When a subject or subjects are charged with crimes in most of the world, the process of investigation does not stop. Efforts are made to make sure that the case is as ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ as possible.

Part of them getting to know each other was talking about how they looked and what style of clothes they liked.

It turned out that Diana was just half a size larger than Vienna, so she was able to wear at least some of the latter’s clothes. They both agreed that it would be fun to dress up in the evenings.

{This is a very short story by my standards}
The art of the window dresser is easy to understand. Their goal is to grab passersby's attention, then entice them to come into the store and, hopefully, persuade them to spend a lot of money. That is the theory… In practice, it only works sometimes.

The digger was delivered the next morning as planned. Dora was on hand to watch Tom drive it down the narrow drive towards the house.

[NEC, Birmingham, UK]

The applause and cheering gradually died down after ‘Hazed’, aka Hazel Donaldson and her backing band, had left the stage. Then the chants of ‘More’ grew until the stage lights went on again to reveal an empty stage apart from Hazel, a stool and an acoustic guitar. In the minute or so from the lights going out to now, she’d changed from her previous outfit into a simple white lace dress.

Dr Wiggins performed the post-mortem the next day at the Morgue in Stevenage. He had an audience of DCI Pascoe and Chief Superintendent Montgomery. The presence of the Chief Super told Dr Wiggins that these children were important to a lot of people way above his pay grade.

[At the home of Mr Fox and his Son early Monday morning]

The SOCO team was assembled for a briefing. More than a few were yawning. It was not yet 06:00.

“I want this place taken apart. Every nook and cranny. Check the walls and under the floors. Who knows… there could even be secret rooms,” said Detective Chief Inspector Clive Pascoe.

John’s depression was down to the failure of AC Morgan to act on the information given to her by John, Dido and Chrissy. She’d gone silent, and so far, she had not returned any calls from John. His contacts in the Met were also very quiet.

John was still waiting for the call, which, with every passing minute, looked like it would never happen, when Dido appeared late on Saturday morning. She and Trish had both decided to skip classes on Thursday, but had gone to the university on Friday as one of their lectures was given by Fox himself.

It did not take a lot of persuasion for Trish to accept Dido’s offer to share her home for the remainder of their time as students. Now that Trish knew all about Dido’s very chequered history and they had the beginnings of a relationship that was turning out to be more than just good friends, all the awkwardness of the first year between them was a thing of the past.

Josie took the first of two carloads of possessions to her new home. Having an 'upstairs’ was a first for her. All her childhood had been in a top-floor but single-storey council flat in Limehouse.

Getting to see her ladyship proved easier said than done. The estate manager took an immediate dislike to Josie. Thankfully, his boss was at her office desk when he called her. A few words from her to the manager were enough to let her pass.

Once Ma’s death had been ruled as being due to natural causes, the atmosphere in town visibly relaxed. Kelly reported that almost everyone she came into contact with sent their best wishes for both of us in a time of stress.

Jak didn’t fully appreciate how hungry he was. Stella saw him clear his plate with ease and was ready with more ham, homemade bread and eggs. It was all washed down with some excellent tea.

[Edinburgh early that evening]

“You look great,” said Sarah.
She’d just finished applying makeup to Jak. Both of them were dressed to go out on the town. While Jak’s clothes appeared to be a little dated, the addition of a brightly coloured shawl changed the look entirely.

After they’d eaten and cleared away,
“Is Calum’s ‘grand plan’ becoming a bit clearer?” asked Sarah.

“I can sort of understand why Calum invested in the Salmon farms. It is a growth area, but some of these other businesses seem a bit weird to me,” said Jak as he reviewed the descriptions of the businesses that he’d left them both.

Jak was surprised by the cheerful tone of her greeting.

“Yes, or at least I think so. I’m Jak McGee, and I’d like to see Mr MacKay.”

“Would that be Mr MacKay, the elder, or Mr Mackay, the Junior?” she asked.

News that a woman was being interviewed for the position of Chief of Police spread through the town like a rampaging wildfire. Opinion was divided, but because of the corrupt nature of the last Chief, many were willing to let her have the benefit of the doubt should she take up the post.

[The events in this part of the story take place before County Sheriff – Part 17.]

When Ingrid returned home, she had started to call Sean’s place home now, and she found him kneading some bread. Despite trying hard, she failed to stop herself from laughing.

“What’s so funny?” said Sean as he used the back of his hand to move a lock of hair from his eyes.