Bella Osborne - Ottercombe Bay – Part Four - Shaken and Stirred

‘Hang on, that’s Max,’ shouted Jason from nearby. ‘What are you doing?’ he added, approaching him. Max slowly rolled onto his side and looked up to see an automatic weapon pointing at him and Jason next to the armed officer with his hands on his hips.

‘Hiya, mate,’ said Max, breathlessly. ‘The bloke you’re looking for is up on the headland fighting with Pasco.’

Jason got on his radio but someone more senior was already directing officers into a car and they screeched away. Jason helped Max to his feet and he watched as the woman was removed from the Astra, handcuffed and escorted to the other police car.

‘Where’s Daisy?’ asked Jason.

Max closed his eyes. That was going to be his question. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I need to sort things out here. Can you find her?’

Max nodded and set off towards Locos taking in big gulps of air as he walked. His mind was awash with questions. He had no idea what he’d witnessed, who those people were or where the hell all the armed police had sprung from. His only comforting thought was that Daisy had avoided a confrontation, but where was she now?

He took out his phone and dialled her number. It went to voicemail. He took a deep breath and started jogging. When he reached Locos he could see there were no lights on, which wasn’t a good sign, but he would go and check inside anyway. He slowed to a walking pace and checked all around the building. ‘Daisy!’ He knocked on the door but there was no reply. He was standing on the platform thinking through his next move.

A click behind him got his attention and for a second he expected to see the stern-looking man from the headland with a cocked gun. As he turned around the door of the carriage opened and a frightened-looking Daisy emerged, glancing around her like a startled animal.

Max had a million things running through his head that he wanted to say to her but instead he opted for pulling her into a hug and holding her tightly. He could feel her trembling. After a bit Daisy gently pushed him away.

‘What the cocking hell is going on?’ she asked.

‘I wish I knew. Come on, I’ll walk you home and we’ll get Jason to fill in the blanks in the morning.’ He needed to track Pasco down too and check he was all right but getting Daisy home was his priority and she didn’t need anything else to worry about right now.

Daisy locked up the carriage and they walked slowly across the car park giving Max a chance to fill her in on what had happened to the woman who had chased her whilst Daisy explained how she’d cut down a side street to get away. As they reached the sea wall they could see more police cars had appeared and there was a flurry of activity around the pub, which was lit up like Christmas.

‘Poor Monty, he won’t be happy about all this,’ said Daisy, turning to walk home.

‘I dunno, he’ll be charging them top dollar for fancy coffees. He’ll be raking it in.’

They neared Daisy’s road and heard a car approaching behind them. As it went past they could see it was yet another police car. The car screeched to a halt, slammed into reverse and sped back towards them. Daisy and Max stopped walking and watched two officers leap from the vehicle.

‘Max Davey?’ said one of them.

‘Yeah,’ said Max, looking bewildered.

‘Max Davey, I am arresting you on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs under section 4 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Get in the car please, sir.’

‘What?’ said Max. The policeman opened the car door and gestured for Max to get in. ‘Actually, nothing makes sense tonight. Let’s go, boys.’ Max shook his head and willingly got in the police car. One officer got in next to him, the other got in the driver’s seat and they drove off leaving Daisy shivering on the pavement.

When Daisy woke the next morning she lay there for a few minutes hoping it had all been a dream but if she was honest even her craziest dreams made more sense than the events of last night. As she was trying to order her thoughts the bedroom door opened and Aunt Coral came in with a cup of tea.

‘Morning, love. I’m not working today. I wondered if you’d give me a hand cutting the Buddleia back. Are you all right?’ she said, taking in Daisy’s glazed expression.

Daisy took the proffered tea. ‘Thanks and no, I’m not all right at all.’

Aunt Coral sat on the bed and Bug came and joined her (after three failed attempts to jump up Coral took pity on him and picked him up). She listened intently and nodded in the right places until Daisy had finished her story.

‘So Guillaume is safe because Jason saved him and Max saved you but he’s been arrested for supplying drugs. Is that right?’

She had hoped it would make a little more sense once she’d gone through it out loud but it still made no sense at all. Daisy snatched up her mobile and rang Jason’s home number, when there was no reply she tried his mobile but it went straight to voicemail. Daisy threw back the covers. ‘I need to see Jason. Perhaps he can explain everything.’ She wished somebody would. She headed for the front door hoping Tamsyn would know where to find him, and then thought even popping next door in her pyjamas probably wasn’t socially acceptable so she scurried back to put something else on.

Tamsyn also had no idea where Jason was so they decided to go to the police station together in Tamsyn’s car. Daisy went through the events of the previous evening again, as much for herself as for Tamsyn. If she was voluntarily going into a police station she may be asked to make a statement and it would be nice if she had some understanding of what she had witnessed.

‘Jason sent a text last night to say no Doctor Who because he was on an emergency. I just assumed it was an RTC. That’s road traffic collision,’ added Tamsyn proudly.

Daisy eyed her friend. ‘This was no RTC.’

‘I think you should turn yourself in,’ said Tamsyn, her face deadpan.

Daisy blinked. ‘What did I do?’

‘You got Max to hire the boat that Guillaume had to be rescued from.’

Tamsyn had a point.

The police station where they were holding Max was a few miles away, gone were the days of one in every village. The car journey gave Daisy time to studiously inspect her fingernails.

When they got there Tamsyn made a big deal of making sure her car was parked properly in the space despite Daisy pointing out that being crap at parking wasn’t actually an offence. Inside there were quite a few people but a distinct lack of anyone who looked like a policeman.

‘Shall we ask for Jason?’ said Daisy, feeling unsure.

‘Or Max?’

‘I’m guessing they’d be more likely to send Jason out to the front desk to explain things to us.’

‘Oh, okay then,’ said Tamsyn, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm.

Daisy joined what she hoped was the right queue and waited. Behind her she heard raised voices. It was one of those moments where you knew making eye contact could be a disaster but still something tells you that you have to look. She turned to see Pasco reversing through some double doors with Max poking him in the shoulder. ‘You think it makes everything else all right? What about the locket? Did you think I wouldn’t recognise it? Was it you who—’ Max stopped dead as he realised who his audience was.

Daisy was shaking as she looked from Max to Pasco. Her mouth had gone dry and she was struggling to make sense of what she’d just heard. She stepped out of the queue and walked right up to Pasco. ‘Did you steal my mother’s locket?’