The
Whirlwind Knight
This story is fiction and depicts no persons living or dead. It has a small amount of violence but is essential to the storyline, so no apologies here. It also has a strong romantic flavour, eventually and some humour but do be warned there is some explicit erotica in here too and I certainly am not going to apologise for it so this should only be read by adults over 21 years old YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Intro
My name is Ken Richards, I’m a 46 year old man brought up just north of Eastbourne, East Sussex in the south east of England, I stand just under 6’ 2”, I work out at a gym when I can and used to do Karate up till I left home so I can look after myself and with working outside a lot in all weathers I seem to have a permanent tan, at least where the sun hits, I’m a freelance Construction Manager and I have worked overseas for a while and had enjoyed it up to now, I had just finished a contract for the local government in the Falkland Islands and that’s the reason I had the time to buy the lottery ticket and check the numbers.
Oh! Yes, I won the Euro Millions jackpot, all £35 million. Well unlike the American lottery there’s no tax on ours so I got the lot to myself all in one lump sum. What a shocker and no one to celebrate with, oh boy!!!
I had been adopted as soon as I was born, near as dammit, by a wonderful childless couple who had passed away 2 years ago about 3 months apart so I don’t have any family that I know about, I suppose you would think that because I had all that money now, I would start trying to find my biological family but that didn’t occur to me at that time, what I immediately thought of was building a home, well most of the last 15 years I had been living in construction camps, hotels and boarding houses so once the financial whizz-kids had explained about all the wise investments I could and should put my money into they started to leave me to my own devices.
I have been in the construction industry all my working life, I had started out as a carpenter like my adoptive Dad, but had quickly realised that the best opportunities were in management so a couple of years after finishing my apprenticeship I applied for and got the company I was working for to sponsor me to go to college and I finished up with letters after my name. My Mum and Dad were so proud.
So anyway there I was at 46 years old, single and so much money I don’t know what to do with and having travelled the world and seen the sights and been paid for it so don’t fancy doing it all again on my own so I concentrated my efforts on finding the ideal location for a home, well that is after buying a top-of-the-range red Saab convertible to run around in, it’s really nice jumping up to the kind of credit card with no limit and have a debit card to die for, you’ve no idea how many doors they open.
Well I found an old farm house and surrounding buildings with a nice bit of land attached just outside a village in East Sussex between two towns, Lewes and Polegate on a hill that would give great views and then I found a young local architect, she was just starting out and very feminine but not into men, but she was willing to work with me in designing a home fit for a king. My wants were simple, 5 bedrooms (well you never know maybe somebody will visit sometime) all ensuite, a couple of large reception rooms, a study/office and a big kitchen with all mod-cons and a breakfast bar and a large dining area, with one of the reception rooms and the master bedroom facing the view with long covered verandas, out the back a small swimming pool, hot tub and gym and a games room with full sized snooker table. There also had to be a large two car garage and workshop. What I also had to wait for was planning permission to knock down the old buildings and build my castle, I took my time in finding local companies to supply most of the materials and labour. I made myself the Project Manager after all I’d earned my living doing that for a long time. It all seemed to take forever but in reality it took just over a year and at the beginning of March I moved in with all the souvenirs I had got from my travels that I had kept in my parents old house, now I could put it on the market, sad to see it go but I didn’t want to stay there anymore, too many memories.
Trouble is after I moved in I found myself with nothing much to do and quickly became bored (that should be illegal, boredom). I was never one to sit around and vegetate but anyway there I was about 2 weeks after moving in, watching a programme on TV and it was about a multi-millionaire going to a strange (to him) town and volunteering his services to small local charities like drop-in centres, soup kitchens and the like that were struggling to keep going and then finishing up going round afterwards, owning up to be a multi-millionaire and giving out some of his wealth to keep these places going, plus it gave him a good feeling to be able to help, this struck a cord with me after all I didn’t earn these millions I had and I could well afford to help some people and I needed something to do, so the following day I contacted the channel that was running the programme to see if I could help in any way. The first thing they asked if they could send a researcher and a camera man, I said “Yes and they can stay at my home if they don’t mind my cooking” so I invited them to stay for a few days, this would give them plenty of time to suss me out.
Day 1 (Monday 24th May)
So now you know why in the month of May I’ve been roughing it in a cheap bedsit in Partick, Glasgow and going around volunteering here and there for a week and now it’s my last day. Yes, I enjoyed it, didn’t think I would, but I found some wonderful dedicated people who I am sure will remain friends for a long time, so anyway there I was about 10:30am just stepping out of the door having presented the last cheque when this young blonde girl runs into me and grabs hold crying, “Help me please, they are after me”, well my instinct is to hold onto her and get her back into the place I had just left and find a quiet corner for her to calm down in. She looks to be about 15, maybe 16 years old, slim build and comes to just above my shoulder and she is bleeding from cuts on her face and she doesn’t look very well and seems to be in pain wherever I try to hold her. She is pretty agitated and keeps looking towards the door we have just came in, so I asked Jim (the guy in charge of the drop-in centre) if I could take her to his office out of the way, he said, “Yes and I’ll get a couple of the lads to watch out for whoever’s chasing her and steer them away from here”, I replied my thanks and guided her through to the office.
I asked her after she was seated, where and why it hurt and she said that she had escaped from them by jumping out of a moving van, I wondered what kind of arseholes would do that to a young girl, then when she slowly realised that she was indeed safe from her abusers she calmed down a bit and after I had told her my name she started to tell me her story, I asked if she didn’t want to go to an A and E department or to see a doctor first and she said that they might find her there and that she was frightened and that she felt safer here with me and that she didn’t think anything was broken anyway. She calmed down a little and told me her name was Libby (short for Elizabeth) Murray and that her widowed Mum had remarried about a year previously to a man who had a small ironmongers shop in Partick, not far from where we were and during the last 3 months the shop hadn’t been doing so well, now she didn’t get on very well with him as he kept looking at her in a funny way and when she had told her Mother that she felt uncomfortable in his presence, her Mother had thought her loving husband had just been trying to be friendly. One evening a couple of days ago when coming out of the lounge she had heard him on the phone to someone talking about a sum of money, namely £15,000 but didn’t think any more of it.
Then this morning as she was walking to school a van had drawn up beside her and she thought the man was going to ask directions but she found herself being manhandled into the back of the van, she had no time to scream as a hand was over her mouth then she felt tape being put over her lips. She hadn’t been driven very far and seemed to be in a back lane somewhere but she saw very little as she was bundled into a warehouse-like building and tied to a chair with more of the tape. There were three men in their thirties with one of them better dressed than the others and he said, “Now, that wasn’t too bad was it and we didn’t hurt you, did we?” He went on, “You’re here now ‘cause I bought you and you’re going to work for me, you’re going to be a nice little earner for me, is that clear? I bought you’re innocence my little virgin, I’m the boss around here and my name is Danny and they (pointing to the 2 men) are Tommy and Bobby” Then he told them to take her to one of the other rooms and lock her in, so the straps were cut and the tape taken off her mouth then she was taken and put in a room that just had an old table and chair in but no windows and as the men were leaving one said “It’s no good screaming, it’s only us that will hear you, you’ll get fed shortly after we get you to ‘the house’ then you’ll get told how things are going to be from now on”
About a ½ hour later Tommy and Bobby came back into the room and took her right outside and bundled her into the back of the van again. Danny was driving and cursing about a hold up on the road ahead, then the van slowed down and they were talking about an accident that was slowing traffic, the two men in the back started stretching their necks to ogle through the drivers window at the accident as they drove past, at that moment Libby dived at the back doors of the van, hit the handle and fell out of the back onto the road just as the van started to speed up again, there was a hell of a commotion behind her but she had a good start on them, not thinking of any injuries she might have incurred she ran for her life and then on running round a corner that’s when she ran into me!
So here I was with a frightened young girl, afraid to even go to a doctor, what was I to do? Well the first thing I did was to ask for Jim’s help, after all he had local knowledge that I didn’t. As I got up to go out of the office Libby clung onto me but I calmed her saying “It’s ok, I’m just going to get the guy that’s in charge of this place to get some advice on how to help you” With that she still held onto my arm tightly but I was able to move. I met Jim as he was coming towards the office and he said “There were two men pretty agitated outside a while ago but we told them that we knew nothing of a running girl,” I thanked Jim and told him a cut down version of Libbies story and he said that it goes on a lot and that a lot of girls are noted down as being runaways when they really weren’t. However I asked Jim if he knew where we could go to make sure Libby was safe and medically cared for and he said that if I really was a multi-millionaire I would be able to get her booked into a local private hospital. Good old Yellow Pages came up trumps and Jim made a call to a friend who had a taxi, I thanked Jim and said I would let him know what was happening as soon as I could.
Jim let us out a back door “Just in case” he said, then we were in the taxi and heading away from Partick.
It was about 3 miles to the hospital on the south side of Glasgow over the Clyde, the taxi came to a halt outside the reception area and we got out and I leaned over to pay the driver and he said Jim had sorted it and had warned him to not even think about taking a tip, I laughed and told him to tell Jim I would be in touch, whereupon he drove off. We both walked into reception and I asked if we could talk to someone privately and we were accompanied to a small interview room, after a few minutes a nurse came in and I told her that Libby had fallen from a moving vehicle and said that I would pay for any medical needs that she may require, so I handed over my American Express card for her to check me out along with my Passport (which I always carry – never know when you’re going to be offered a job, force of habit), she returned about 5 minutes later and said a family suite had been made available for us, I didn’t say we weren’t family but I shouldn’t have been bothered as the hospital room that Libby was put into was next door to my suite with a connecting door, I told Libby to just let the medical team check her out and that I wouldn’t be very far away as she seemed to want to cling onto me all the time.
I went and sat and then my sense of justice started kicking in, here she was, a sweet innocent girl just going about doing things normal girls her age did then some arsehole pops up his head to fuck things up, it just wasn’t right and I vowed someone should pay for doing that to her even if she wasn’t family, she had after all relied on me to help her become safe.
A notepad would help and there was one in the room, so I wrote down all I remembered of Libbies story. Then I used my mobile to call my family lawyer in Sussex, George Wilson, I had used him a lot in the past for contracts and stuff about my home, I explained that I wanted a local lawyer in Glasgow if he could recommend one, he said he would call me back on my mobile and asked if I was in any trouble and I answered “No it’s just something I have to do up here and I need the services of a local lawyer to help me”. Then we hung up.
The doctor in attendance entered my room and introduced himself as Dr Stewart Campbell and asked me how Libby had got her injuries and I explained to him that she had been abducted and had managed to escape out of the back of the van she had been in, he said “I think we aught to get the police involved if that’s the case” I replied “I think that’s up to Libby, she feels frightened at the moment and it’s not about me or you but if you do mean to bring in outsiders she may not feel so safe as she does at the moment, but I will ask how she feels about that”
The doctor started to ask me what my relationship was to Libby, so at that point I thought it best to explain my role in this and showed him the notepad I had written in. As he was reading I got a call from my lawyer and wrote down the name of the local man that he was recommending and thanked him then hung up after telling him I would tell him the whole thing later by email. After reading the notes I had made the doctor said he still felt the law should be informed, I said that I was going to contact a local lawyer on Libbies behalf and her Mother to get things on an even keel, he then asked me why I was becoming involved and I explained that not all adults were out to get what they could in life, I already had more money than I needed and wanted to use some of it to help others less fortunate, and he said that it wasn’t every day you meet someone like me and wanted to shake my hand. Me, I was embarrassed.
However the doctor did say he would hold off calling the police until he heard back from me and then left to carry out his duties elsewhere.
So I made the phone call to the lawyer and he said he knew a little about me from the call he got from my own lawyer, he said that they had been at university together and that’s how they knew each other, I then asked for an emergency appointment and he said that he had a spare hour that afternoon at 2pm and gave me his office address in the city, it being just 12:30pm I was surprised at the time and realised I had only known Libby for a couple of hours and what a couple of hours that had been.
I went and found the reception and asked what the arrangements were for feeding the patients and she said that owing to there being no reason for Libby to have a special diet they had ordered a meal be sent to Libby, she asked if I wanted anything from their kitchens and showed me a menu, it was quite substantial and I ordered a main course along with a pot of coffee to be sent to my room and said for it and Libbies meal to be charged to my bill, she said an account had already been set up for me with the hospital and that they had my credit card details all it required was my pin number or signature which I would give them on leaving.
At 1:55pm I arrived at the lawyers’ office and introduced myself to the receptionist. Nice office, it showed someone had either good taste or a good designer, I was asked to wait a moment before being shown into his inner sanctum. He greeted me with a firm handshake and introduced himself as Donald McKay but added that it was Donnie to his friends and now me. I took a seat on the other side of his desk and started by explaining why I was in Glasgow and about the TV programme, he said he knew the programme and that it was very popular, then I told him that I had just handed the last cheque over and that he should then read the notes I had made in the notepad and gave it to him to read.
It didn’t take long, he then asked what had happened after Libby had run into me and I bought him up to date. He asked the same question Dr Campbell had asked and I gave him the same answer. He said that my lawyer had told him I would stand up and take no nonsense from anyone. He asked me to wait in his office for a moment and left me and returned quite quickly and said he had cancelled his next meeting, said it wasn’t as important as this was.
Libby had given me her Mum’s home and mobile phone numbers before I had left her (in tears), so Donnie tried her home number first on his hands-free desk phone, let it ring for a moment or two then he hung up and dialled the mobile number, it was immediately answered and I heard a woman with a soft Scottish accented voice say, “Hello, this is Mrs Murray can I help you”
Then Donnie said “It’s me that can help you Mrs Murray, I am a lawyer and a client of mine has found you’re daughter safe and reasonably well, we would like you to come to my office in the city so we can get you both back together again, I’m going to make an unusual request and that we would prefer it if you didn’t tell you’re husband until after we meet, we will explain when you get here” She hurriedly replied that she was already in the city planning on going into a police station to report her daughter missing and that she would be at his office shortly, he gave her the address and said he would reimburse the cab fare, she said that wouldn’t be necessary and was already looking for a taxi.
So as we waited I had a conversation with Donnie and he caught up with how his friend, George, my lawyer was, he is a year older than Donnie at 45 years old.
15 minutes hadn’t passed before a very harassed good looking, slim and well dressed blonde lady in her early thirties was shown into the office and introduced as Mrs Ellen Murray, Donnie shook her hand first and introduced himself then he turned towards me and said that I was her ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ and she came and gave me such a hug with tears in her eyes and asked where Libby was and why wasn’t she here. So I asked her to sit down and told her she wasn’t to worry and that she was in a local private hospital just being looked after. I asked her to have patience then I would take her to the hospital, so I told her my name and related my story to her and then said she would know soon why we asked that she shouldn’t contact her husband and Donnie handed her the notes I had made about Libbies story
Ellen Murray got more and more agitated as she read them and stood at the end and said ”This can’t be true, it’s a lie, my husband isn’t like that, he wouldn’t, he got the money from the bank, he told me so and he was upset when I told him the school had phoned and asked if Libby was OK because she hadn’t arrived at school but when I said I was going to report her missing he said that it was much too early and that she would probably turn up later, I knew she wouldn’t miss school, she is bright and loved it and had lots of friends so I just went ahead and was just about to step in to the police station to do that when you called me” I then explained what I had done to get her out of the danger she felt she was in, Mrs Murray said she knew the hospital I had taken her to but that they would never be able to afford the type of money they would be looking for to look after Libby and I said, “This is on me, I couldn’t stand by and not do what I could, don’t worry I can afford it”. Then Donnie said “Look I am going to cancel the rest of my day, my partners will help out, we will all go to the hospital now and get you back together Mrs Murray”.
Donnie left us then to make his arrangements and Mrs Murray said to me “I can’t believe this is happening. What am I to do? What has my husband done? How has it come to this? I am so confused” I said “Whatever is to be done will be decided after you have seen Libby and if I or Mr McKay can be of any help don’t hesitate in asking, will you?” She replied “I still can’t get my head round it all but I’ll wait, as you say”. Then Donnie returned and said a cab would be waiting at the pavement for us so we all left the office.
The journey took about 10 minutes and when we arrived at the hospital I immediately went to the reception and told them that the lady with me was Libbies Mother and the gentleman was my lawyer and I asked to be taken to where Libby was, they asked Mrs Murray and Donnie for some identification and we then got escorted up to my suite. I warned Mrs Murray that Libby had some cuts to her face but that she was OK and I then opened the connecting door and indicated for Mrs Murray to go through into the hospital room.
There were two screams and then a lot of hugging and crying from both of them and it took a few minutes before they calmed down enough to study each other at arms length, Mrs Murray looked horrified at Libbies face but saw that they weren’t deep cuts and calmed down considerably. After the reunion, Donnie McKay took statements from both Libby and her Mother and got them to sign them, asking a nurse to witness the signatures. He also took a statement from me, and then I arranged to take a hotel suite at a 5-star hotel nearby so Ellen could stay at the hospital in the family room I was in. I said to Mrs Murray “It would be better if you don’t contact you’re husband now as I’ve no doubt that damned pimp will have been in touch with him by now and he’ll know he is in trouble, he just doesn’t know how much”
She agreed that that was probably best and said to me “I think it’s about time you start calling me Ellen after all that you have done for us”
I replied “Only if you call me Ken and I think anyone would have done what I did, given the same circumstances”
“No” She replied and went on “Most others would have just called the police and left it to them”
I couldn’t argue she was probably right. Then I spoke to Donnie I asked if he would meet up in the morning over a coffee at my hotel at 9:30am and said I would like him along when I went to see Mr Murray in the morning, he said he would then left. Before I left the hospital I assured Ellen that all the expenses associated with this incident are coming out of my pocket and that I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, I also said that Donnie and I are going to her husband’s shop early and asked for directions and an address. She asked why we were going to see him and what we were going to do to him, I replied “Primarily we intended to get a statement from him regarding the events involving him leading up to Libbies abduction, I don’t intend to harm him but I feel I would like to”
She said, “Please don’t resort to violence that would bring you down to his level and I only feel contempt at the moment”
When I got to my hotel I phoned Jim Reynolds at the drop-in centre and asked him if he knows of a man who can look after himself as I told him I am going visiting and it may get a ‘little rough’ I also said that whoever it was would be paid in cash for their ‘time and expertise’.
I felt my tummy rumbling and suddenly realised it was coming up to 6:30pm and I’m hungry, so I went down to the restaurant in the hotel, then while I’m sitting resting after my meal I think about all that’s happened that day and that how bored I was just a couple of weeks ago, “Gee, what a day this has been” I thought to myself before going to the bar for a beer then up to my room. I used the hotel email facility and informed George Wilson (my lawyer) of everything that had happened today, boy that was some length of email. There after, to bed.
Day 2 (Tuesday 25th May)
The following morning, after meeting Donnie, we got a cab to the drop-in centre to get the ‘helper’, he was introduced as Andy, he’s about 6’ 6” and built like a bull, I certainly wouldn’t like to take him on, he is quite friendly towards me and shakes my hand, my hand was swallowed by his, I think Jim’s had a word in his ear about the situation, we then walk along the Partick main street to Archie Murrays’ ironmongers about ½ a mile away and we all just walked in casually as if we were customers, luckily we were the only ones that were in the shop, I walked up to the counter and the man behind the counter, mid to late thirties, slim build about 6’ asks me if he can help, I said “I presume you are Mr Archie Murray”
He asked “Who wants to know?”
I replied “ My name is Ken Richards, you don’t know me but I know a lot about you as I am the person who rescued you’re step-daughter from the fate you had sold her into” I added “We are going to shut the shop until we get a few things sorted, these gentlemen are here to assist me in that”
Mr Murray nearly choked as I then introduced everyone starting with “This man is Mr Donald McKay, a lawyer of McKay Partners Ltd, Glasgow and this guy is Andy, my assistant”
Andy went back to the shop entrance door turned the indicator to ‘closed’ and locked the door, there were no shades so I said to Mr Murray “Is there somewhere in the back we can go to discuss this?”
A frightened looking man said “I have a stockroom out the back, are you going to hurt me?” he asked
I replied “That’s up to you, but I don’t think my lawyer here likes the sight of blood so we’ll keep it to a minimum”
He led us back to his stockroom where he had a table that he obviously used for making up orders or repairing things, I indicated that he should sit down on the chair at the table and packing cases were dragged in by Andy and myself for the rest of us to sit on and started by saying “I am appalled by what you did to you’re own step-daughter, you must have known her and her Mother for quite a while now, you’ve been married for over a year, have you no bloody feelings?” I went on “I guess by now Danny has been in touch with you and he will be looking for his cash back, well sunshine, we have statements from everyone involved in this and we want one from you, it hasn’t been decided by anyone if the police should be informed or not, after all we have Libby back and apart from a few cuts and bruises she is ok, no thanks to you”
He replied “I know you don’t think much of me, but I am pleased it didn’t turn out right for Danny, I was just so desperate for the money, I have been turned down by the banks and if I didn’t get that money I would lose everything”
I said “ Well let me tell you, you’ve now lost a wife and a step-daughter and you’re friend Danny will come looking for his money back, so tell me, what do you think you’ll have now?” I continued “Mr McKay will take that statement from you now and don’t leave anything out”
For the next ½ hour Archie Murray and Donnie got a statement down on paper and at the end Donnie asked Andy to witness Murray’s signature, assuring Andy that he wouldn’t have to stand up in court or anything so not to worry, it was just a legal thing.
I said as we were getting ready to leave “I’m telling you now that Mrs Murray and Libby will want you to leave you’re home and I think that’s reasonable under the circumstances, after all you created this problem”
Whereupon he replied “I don’t think they’ll be in the flat for long as I’m behind in our rent, that’s something else I needed the money for”
I said “You have a lot to answer for, what were you going to do if you hadn’t got the money?”
“Just go under like a lot of businesses nowadays” he said woefully.
“Well” I said “It looks like that will happen now anyway and you have not just lost a business, you’ve lost you’re family as well and I have no sympathy for you”
That said I indicated that we would be leaving, he didn’t get up to see us out, in fact when I looked back he had his head in his hands and was sobbing his heart out.
Outside the shop I turned to Andy thanked him for his time and handed him a £100, he objected strongly and said that he hadn’t done anything I said that I didn’t know what situation we would be going into so he deserved it, I added that he could buy me a drink sometime. He smiled, held out his hand, I shook it and he walked off down the road.
Donnie turned to me and said he was going back to his office, he said with a laugh “If I don’t I’ll have no clients left”
So we both hailed cabs and he headed into the city and I went to the hospital. As I entered the reception area the woman behind the desk motioned me over and I went to her, she said that owing to the fact that they couldn’t do any more for Libby as her cuts and bruises had been attended to and that they would heal naturally now, they felt that it was best if she be discharged, of course the doctor had spoken to Mrs Murray on the subject and she had agreed that this was best. I said that I would go up to the suite and get things ready and come down to sort out the account at that time and it was agreed.
On entering the suite I found Libby and Ellen sitting ready to leave and I said to Ellen “I have a bit of bad news for you Ellen, to add to everything else that’s happened, I’m sorry but you’re husband hasn’t been paying the rent on the flat and so you may not have a home to go to, I’ve no doubt that the landlord will allow you to pick up any personal items that belong to you, but I don’t know how long you’ve got.”
Ellen burst into tears and Libby hugged her mother saying “Where are we going to live Mummy, oh that bastard, what I’d like to do with him”
I went over to them and I said “Look, I got into this by chance and I’m certainly not going to let those bastards win, so you will come with me, I’ll get another room at my hotel for you two for a few days and we will get something sorted out, I think you deserve some compensation from Danny, after all that he’s done, he started this. What do you say?”
Ellen replied tearfully “How can we ever repay you for all you’ve done for us? I’m sure you’re lawyer won’t be working for you for nothing and the hospital and now a hotel room, what do you want from us?”
I said “Look let’s get out of here and into the hotel and have a sit down, a nice meal and then we’ll have a talk about all this, ok?”
So we got ourselves down to reception, I sorted the bill (a little steep I thought, but it was for a good cause) then we headed for the hotel.
We had no trouble getting a family room (I insisted) near my room as the hotel wasn’t full by any means (a result of the ‘credit crunch’ I guess), then we headed for their restaurant, had lunch and then by agreement went to my room for a conference. I asked at reception on our way for a pot of coffee to be sent up to my room and some Irn Bru (a Scottish fizzy soft drink). We went up to my suite and I asked Ellen and Libby to wait until the waiter had left before we started.
After he’d gone I asked them to sit down and listen to me for a minute or two and I gave them both a run down of my life up to the time when Libby ran into me in the street, well it took longer than the minute or two, but they listened and when I said at the end “I didn’t earn all that money I now find myself with so using some of it to help you both will help me come to terms with it”
Ellen then said “Why don’t you just give it all away to charities, they’ll be glad of it?”
“I want smaller charities to benefit and see the difference it will make, I want to educate those who can’t afford it and I want to be part of all of that. I didn’t know until now what I wanted but our discussion has brought it out, thank you Ellen, also because I have become involved, I would like to help you two, not as charity causes but for my peace of mind and as a friend, please feel free to object but I have set my mind on it”
I laughed at both their serious faces. “Anyway, how do you feel about going shopping with me this afternoon, I didn’t bring enough clothes with me for an extended stay and I’m sure you would like a change of clothing and some personal items and probably not a good idea to go home yet, so do you?” Ellen said “Ken, you can be pretty stubborn at times I can see and perceptive and under these unusual circumstances Libby and I find ourselves with no alternative but to agree”
Libby jumped up, nearly spilling her drink and rushed into my arms hugging and laughing and crying all at the same time “I have been so sad and feeling sorry for myself, I can see now that it’s not just me that’s been affected by all that’s happened, it’s my Mum that’s lost everything too, I am so grateful to you Mr Richards for helping us, I’m sure no one else in the world could or would have done as much as you in such a short time”
I said as serious as I could “If you continue to call me Mr Richards, the deal is off, my name is Ken”
Then I laughed and got a gentle punch on my arm as a reward for teasing her.
So we headed out to try to dent my credit card, well they did well after I had to push them a couple of times and I could see laughter in their eyes as they shopped and that mattered to me and I had a strange feeling about that at the time, but then it was put to the back of my mind. We arrived back at the hotel and I had insisted they buy a large roll-along suitcase each (I got one too). We would need them eventually. It took a large luggage trolley to get it all up into the rooms and a good tip for the porter.
I suggested we get ready and I would meet them in an hour at the lift and we could go down for dinner, it was agreed and right on the hour I was waiting at the lift and along the corridor walked two gorgeous blondes with their hair shining and flowing over their shoulders, I hardly recognised them, Libby had a little makeup to accentuate her eyes and lips and must have had some foundation applied as I could hardly see the cuts I knew were there, her mother also took my breath away, she walked up to me and said “You can close you’re mouth now, so you think we scrub up well then?”
“I am honoured to accompany you both to dinner, shall we?”
We entered the lift and went down to the mezzanine floor where the restaurant area was and enjoyed some conversation, well I talked mostly about some of the places I had worked in and some of the characters I had come across and all too soon it was time to go back to our rooms. I asked Ellen if we could meet in my suite at around 9am and we could then discuss the way forward, she agreed, and so I left them to go to my room and to bed to dream about blondes.
Day 3 (Wednesday 26th May)
I was up, dressed and ready by 9am and after they had both entered I asked if they wanted breakfast, so we ordered and while we were waiting I said to Ellen “It may be best if you were to phone you’re landlord this morning to find out when or if he has repossessed the property yet and tell him that you would like to go to the flat to get personal items that belong to you, you don’t have to go into details about you’re situation, I’m sure he is probably used to these questions by now, I will phone Jim Reynolds and see if we can get a van suitable with a driver and assistant”
We were interrupted by the waiter bringing in our food, then after I had tipped him and he had gone I continued “We will find a local storage facility to put it all in, how does that sound?”
Ellen had tears in her eyes and said, “It all sounds so easy when you say it, I want you to be there when I go into the flat, and I don’t even feel like saying, ‘it’s my home’ anymore, it’s just a flat now”
After our breakfast I called Jim and he said that the brother of the taxi driver I had used had a ‘Luton’ type van, plus he didn’t get much work so he would be pleased to hire himself out to me, then he said “Just don’t overpay him like you did Andy, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and you don’t want to be flashing too much cash about, ok?”
“Alright Jim, point taken, I’ll get the address and time I want the van to you later”
So it was agreed. Ellen then phoned the landlord and found out that he had arranged for two of his staff to go to the flat that afternoon after lunch. I told her after getting off the phone that that gave us plenty of time to arrange everything, I then also asked how much furniture and stuff there would be and she said “Not much really as most of the furniture belonged to Archie as he lived in the flat before we were married, his previous wife left him and they had a quickie divorce and he had kept the flat on”.
Anyway, I got the address of the flat from Ellen and phoned Jim about it and the time to meet the van and men.
‘I thought to myself maybe I should have hired myself a car, but then on second thoughts I would have had to have a chauffeur or bought myself a sat-nav unit, no, best stick to cabs’.
I phoned around and found a local storage centre and gave them my details and booked it for 3 months, then we chatted until lunch with both Ellen and Libby getting more and more agitated the nearer it got to the time of going back to visit the place they had called ‘home’ for a year.
After a subdued lunch I ordered a cab to take us to the flat in an area called Broomhill (a nice part of Glasgow overlooking Partick). By the time we arrived the van had arrived as well and we only waited about 5 minutes in the cab and the landlords surveyors arrived in a small van with the rent company’s logo on it. I paid off the cab and then as Ellen still had her key she opened up the ground floor flat and she let me walk in first to make sure we were alone, I had a quick look around in the lounge then into a dining area and then into the kitchen with Ellen and Libby following closely behind, I went back into the hallway and found the bathroom, I only just opened the door slightly and was shocked to find Archie Murray hanging from the shower curtain rail, I hurriedly turned and prevented Ellen from going that way, closed the door and said to the one of the surveyors “You’d had better call 999 and get an ambulance and the police to attend here urgently. I am afraid Mr Murray is in the bathroom and they are needed here”
I turned to Ellen “I think you and Libby had better go into the lounge and sit down or rather make some tea or coffee, I’ll attend to this until they arrive” She said “Archie is in there isn’t he? He’s done himself in hasn’t he? The damn coward” I just nodded, there was nothing I could add.
While we were waiting on the emergency services turning up I phoned Donnie and all he would say was “If the police ask you all to go to the police station, ask them which one then phone me, I’ll drop everything and meet you there, ok?”
I agreed that was probably best and apologised for taking up so much of his time, he said with a wry chuckle “Don’t worry about it Ken, I’ll bill you big-time later”
Then he hung up before I could think of an answer. There was a sound of sirens getting louder and louder so I hurriedly went and opened the front door for whoever turned up first, it was the police and I quickly showed the two of them where the bathroom was, a close second came the green uniforms of paramedics so the police, who had cut Archie down allowed the ambulance crew into see what could be done. The two surveyors had gone out of the flat into the street and were chatting to my van driver and his pal.
The police, a man and a woman, turned to me and asked who the hanged man is and why there are so many people in the flat, I tried to explain “The two women in the lounge are the Wife and Step-daughter of the man who has hanged himself, namely Archie Murray and I am a family friend who is helping them as their marriage for several reasons had come to an end, we were visiting the flat to get a few of their belongings into storage, it is my hired van and men outside”
I also explained that the other two were surveyors from the property rental company. Then the policewoman asked me my name, address and birth details. After she had written these down she asked why I was so far from home and I said “That’s complicated and I would rather try to calm the two ladies down than spend a lot of their time explaining”
The policewoman said in that case we had better get you to the local police station to make a statement, please don’t go anywhere, we are going to have a word with the ladies”
Meanwhile the policeman had been speaking on his walkie-talkie and requesting more help. I asked the policewoman what the address of their police station was and was asked why, so I said “So my lawyer can be present, I know nothing of Scots law and would rather he be there”
So I was told and while they walked into the lounge I made the call to Donnie.
Just as they moved another older man came into the flat with a large black bag and said to me that he was a doctor so I directed him to the bathroom, since the police weren’t watching I walked out of the flat into the street and approached the van, I asked for the man whose van it was and a guy came up to me and said “My name is Jimmy and my mate is Vince, how can we help?”
“I don’t think you can now, I don’t think the police will allow us to take anything away at this time, so if you want to I would just leave and I’ll pay you for the time and for the inconvenience”
I had separated some of my money in my wallet earlier so when I handed them an amount of cash, neither of them argued but they didn’t see everything. I mentally thanked Jim. Whereupon they got into the van and drove off, no doubt glad they didn’t get involved. I then went over and spoke to the two young surveyors and said that they had better get in touch with their boss and tell him what has happened and to say that the police probably won’t be allowing them to roam around in the flat at this time owing to the circumstances. After this I went back into the flat and just as I got back in there appeared another couple of policemen at my back. I showed them into the lounge and the original policeman looked up and said to their colleagues “There’s something fishy going on here, I think all these people should be taken to the station to get this sorted out, we have all their personal details but the story we have been getting is a bit complicated”
At that the doctor came into the lounge and spoke softly to one of the police and I could hear him say that he had pronounced the man in the bathroom dead and had probably been that way for most of the day, but that details would follow after a post-mortem. I tried to reassure both Libby and Ellen with a smile but they both had sad eyes and no smiles came back, this had taken a lot out of them.
The police indicated that we should all get ready to leave and outside I was instructed to get in the back of one car and Ellen and Libby into another, there seemed to be a lot of police cars there now, some people ogling and then we were whisked off to the Partick police station. On my arrival inside I saw Donnie talking to a policeman at the desk and he turned as he heard us coming in then walked straight towards me, the policeman with us came between us and asked Donnie who he was “I am Donald McKay, lawyer of (he gave them his city address) and you have my clients here, Mr Ken Richards, Mrs Ellen Murray and Miss Elizabeth McCowan they are all my clients and if you wish to interview them I request I be present at each interview, I can shed a lot of light on the circumstances they find themselves in as I already have signed and witnessed statements from most of those concerned here and they would be admissible in a court of law, maybe you should interview me first”
I had to admire Donnie for speaking like that to the police, they were all standing there gobsmacked. Then the desk sergeant spoke up and said “Maybe that’s a good idea, it may make things easier in the long run”
One of the policemen asked Donnie to accompany a couple of them to an interview room and we were told to wait where we were and not to talk to one another.
About 20 minutes passed and then they asked me to join Donnie in the room, after I sat down one of them read from a card informing me of my rights and I said afterwards that I understood, one of them asked me why I was in Partick, so I told them, it took me about ¾ of an hour to bring them up to date and they changed the tapes they were using to record me twice and as I finished one of the policemen said “I hope when you leave Scotland that you don’t leave with bad feelings towards us”
“No sir, this may not be what I expected when I came but I have still made a lot of good friends”
“Mr Richards, you may leave for the time being but please leave contact details before you do”
I thanked them and left the room with Donnie. He went straight over to the two ladies and said “The police want to hear both you’re sides of this, I’ll be in there with you but please don’t leave anything out, it is very important” So they were both interviewed individually and afterwards they allowed us to leave. Once outside Donnie turned to me and asked if I had any pressing business I had to get back to in Sussex, when I said “No, nothing”
He said “The police may not want to talk to you again but I think they’ll want to talk to Libby about her abduction and I think she would like you’re support at this time”
Ellen said quickly “I would like his support too, I’m just getting used to him”
She turned to me and said “Please don’t go Ken, I’d like you to stay if you can”
“I have no intension of going anywhere, no, the hotel here will think I’ve moved in permanently by the time I’m ready to leave”
I laughed at my own joke “And they will think that about you two as well” Ellen said on a more serious note said that her and Libby would have to see about getting somewhere to live and for her to get a job and Libby has to get back to school to finish her year. We hadn’t thought about her and her schooling ever since this started. Well I said “If Libby has to go back to school we’ll have to think about security for her, after all that arsehole, sorry, Danny is still out there and probably getting madder and madder and it won’t be long before he get’s to know that Archie has gone and he’s not getting his money back”
Libby suddenly looked frightened and I quickly stepped up to her, hugged her and said “Don’t worry Libby, he or his cohorts won’t get anywhere near you while I have breath in my body”
She quietened down, blushed and said “No one has ever made me feel as safe as I feel at this moment, sorry Mum, but you understand don’t you?” Then I felt as if I was blushing and then we all laughed. Donnie said “My, look at the time, I have to get home, my wife will think I have another woman, plus I don’t want to miss dinner” He laughed loudly “I’ll speak to you all again tomorrow, have a good evening”
With that he hailed a cab and was gone, we did the same and headed back to the hotel.
By the time we arrived back it was gone 6pm and we were hungry enough to just go straight into the restaurant after a quick trip to the washrooms and we weren’t in the mood for hanging about, Ellen said to me “Can we have our deserts and coffees afterwards in you’re suite, I think there are a things we should discuss if you don’t mind Ken”
It sounded ominous the way she said it but I agreed so we just finished the main course and I went and explained to the waiter and we headed up in the lift, just before we got to mine Libby asked if we didn’t mind as she was tired, she just wanted her bed, she looked absolutely knackered and we, of course agreed, her mum kissed her and I said goodnight and got a hug and then her mum let her into her room.