Chapter 9

Reg gave her a big grin. “Prudence darling, I do like the thought. Do you all think I should fondle your breasts while I am reading a book – not at the same time, of course?”

Erika retorted, “It is called ‘multi-tasking’, Reg. We girls do that all the time, in so many ways, without thinking about it. If you are fondling Prudence’s tits while reading, I might give you a blow-job at the same time, and see if you can concentrate on your book. Now THAT is multi-tasking!” She laughed in delight as she concluded.

The University Office of the Registrar got a call from the local police force, asking about a student. After getting confirmation that the call was genuine, the Admin head asked the student’s name.

“James Fitzgerald. I do not know what course he is on, but I suspect there is only one with that name.”

“Hold on, I am checking, constable ... indeed, there is only one. What do you want to know, constable?”

“Primarily, is he still at the university, currently?”

“He is still a student, if that is what you meant. As to his presence, I shall check whether his ID card has been used today. I need to get someone else to do that check, so I will put you on hold.”

There was a short hiatus, then he was back on the line.

“He is still on campus. I am informed that there is some sort of party taking place, and he is involved. Students tend to hold such parties at the end of each semester, before leaving for home or wherever they are going.”

“I see. Can I ask for your assistance? I want to interview the gentleman in private. Do you have a room where I might conduct this interview? I can be there in half an hour or so.”

At this time of the year, many rooms are vacant, so that is easily achieved, Constable who?”

“Oh, of course: Constable Freiberg, number 33526.”

“Thank you, constable. I shall have one of the proctors fetch the student. He will remain with us until you arrive.”

Constable Freiberg got there in twenty-five minutes only, and presented himself at the office of the Registrar, and gave his name. His uniform also offered some evidence of his identity.

“Ah, Constable Freiberg, welcome. The student is through here. Someone will escort you to an empty office for the interview.”

The policeman introduced himself to Jim Fitzgerald, but refused to discuss anything until in the interview room. Once they were there, and the door closed, the constable produced a recorder from his pocket and laid it on the table where they sat facing each other.

“Our interview will be recorded, Mr Fitzgerald, as this is in connection with a reported crime. You understand?”

“Yes, sir. What am I accused of?”

“My goodness, young man. Surely, as an educated gentleman, you know that should be: ‘of what am I accused’?”

Fitzgerald stiffened, and said, “Yeah, whatever. So what is the accusation?”

“That is much better, sir. We have received a formal complaint against you, of an assault on a fellow student.”

“Oh? What kind of assault?”

“There was more than one, sir? You cannot identify which person you assaulted?”

“You are trying to twist my words. I can’t recall ANY assault.”

“That is a pity, sir, considering that there were many witnesses – fellow students – who confirm the assault.”

“Oh.” He was silent for a few moments. “When did this assault take place?”

“We are back at the same situation, sir. If you cannot identify an assault in public in front of witnesses, does this mean that you have been involved in a number of such assaults? I should warn you that the university may be investigating your past record of activities among students. It is not my direct concern at the moment, but should other examples come to light and be reported to us that can impinge on your treatment by the court.”

“Okay, I may have been involved in a dispute or two with other students from time to time. So what?”

“Thank you, sir. That is a trifle more helpful. The assault in question was reported to have been on a Mr Reginald Robertson.”

“Him? Him and his harem of harpies! One of them kneed me in the balls. I should be the one reporting an assault.” He had a thought. “But that was weeks and weeks ago!”

“Indeed, sir. It appears that you have a reputation for bullying and threatening people who were victims or witnesses. That persuaded Mr Robertson to say nothing for a while, until other pressures got him to report the incident. We have his statement and those of a number of witnesses, so I must inform you that you are under arrest and will be taken to the police station where you will be formally charged, fingerprinted and DNA samples taken. Do you have to notify anyone before we leave?”

“As long as the university authorities know where I have gone, that will be enough. Are you going to hold me or will I get back today? Do I get to see a lawyer?”

“Once you are properly charged and your data recorded, you will be free to go. It is up to you to obtain the services of a lawyer at a time of your choosing. If you wish, you can be returned to the university after being charged. I have no doubt the university authorities will wish to conduct their own investigation, as it occurred on their premises.”

The procedure happened as he had been told, and afterwards, he was driven back to the university and handed over to the Registrar.

The police then went about fully identifying his DNA and fingerprints, prior to a computer comparison with data from the black Range Rover.

A day or two later, the comparisons positively linked him to the Range Rover, and preparations were made to charge him with its theft. The only evidence of its being used in the sideswipe would be particles of paint from each vehicle on the other vehicle, but this was not enough to identify specific vehicles; merely the make and model. No-one had identified the driver of the Range Rover at the time. As a result, Fitzgerald could not be charged with that offence.

A phone call to the university, informing them of his forthcoming arrest for vehicle theft, elicited the response that he had left the university for the vacation break, and that they did not have any notified destination for him.

“However,” said the staff member from the Registrar’s office, “As he has been accused of a crime, should he be convicted, he will be dismissed from the student body as contravening one of the terms of acceptance of students. One of the requirements is no criminal conviction, so we will be taking action before very long. It will have to wait until he is convicted, but we will gladly accept any evidence offered to us in the interim.”

“Very well. We shall be in touch at the start of the new term, whenever that is.”

“It is normally the second week in January. We officially start the week from Sunday, but students are unlikely to be here until the Monday. Please call us then.”

The constable reported back to his superiors, with the fact that finding the young man during vacation would be very time-consuming, and so recommended waiting until the start of the new university term. That proposal was approved.

The Robertsons were busy preparing for the immediate future. They had visited the university library, to borrow the volumes they hoped to read during vacation, and were now home again. Their time in the library had become extended as Reg wanted to peruse the New Scientist and skim several other magazines. Now Frances spoke to them all.

“Look, we are late home, so we are short of time for preparing our evening meal. Would everyone be happy if we just did pasta cheese? We have big bags of tortilla chips to go with the pasta cheese, to give it a crunchy bite.”

Laziness won the day, and they all agreed to her suggestion.

When they had eaten their fill, Frances prompted them again.

“Girls, we must start planning our visits home, as we talked about earlier. Our parents will all expect to see us at least for a few days each, and if we intend to visit en masse, we need to warn them of the invasion.”

Erika asked, “How much accommodation can we expect from them? They can’t all cater for us with two double beds pushed together in one bedroom. Most bedrooms in a modern home don’t have the space for that, anyway. Only older buildings like this one have decent-sized rooms.”

Reg said, “Don’t look at me. I phoned my mother and warned her as you told me. I have no idea what your families have in the way of houses, so I am easy with whatever you work out. Have you ever visited each other’s parents?”

“Yeah, a couple of times,” Erika responded, “But that was just one, or sometimes two of us. Prudence hasn’t visited our folks at all, or we hers.”

“Well, I will leave it to you girls to decide what our visiting rota should be.”

Shortly, Reg excused himself and went off to start his vacation reading. He knew he would just be in the way during the discussion. He would wait for the outcome, and accept it. He loved them enough to trust them implicitly.

Some time later, he was called into their presence. Frances, in her capacity as leader, due to her being the first one to engage with Reginald at the university, and the organiser of the study group that had brought them all together, spoke for them all.

“Reg, we have made a few phone calls to confirm the availability of each set of parents over the Christmas vacation, and as a result our first port of call will, be to Erika’s parents. With her dad not having a job to work around, they are in the most flexible position.

We looked at the geographical locations to see if we should use a cost-benefit analysis of the travel involved, but decided that a small gain in efficiency was less important than fitting all the parents in equably.”

Reg commented, “That sounds sensible. I am pleased that you applied yourselves to alternative possibilities. Did you consider public transport?”

“We did, but with all the luggage we want to take with us, car travel seemed preferable. Prudence cannot take a load of luggage on her scooter, and four of us plus luggage is tight for my car, so we have opted to hire a second car. That way, we can spread ourselves over the two cars and be more comfortable for the travelling.

And before you say anything about cost, we girls have agreed to finance the two-car option; end of story.”

Reg sighed and said, “Yes, dear.”

Frances retorted, “Good boy. Keep it that way, Reg.”

The other girls grinned at him, so he knew it was useless to say anything.

Frances went on, “Freda’s folks are next on the schedule, then my family, and finally your Mum. We are allowing two or three days with each family, and a day in between for travelling between venues. All our sets of parents understand we are coming as a complete family, and they have accepted this. It has been suggested to them that we would prefer to all share one room, but that is not set in stone. There may be logistical questions that prevent that happening, and we have told them that we would accept it as a second-best option. You agree, Reg?”

“Yes, dear. We have to be practical in such circumstances. Should that be the case, then whichever set of parents we are with, their daughter gets preference as to bed arrangements. O.K.?”

“Yes, Reg. We have already laid that out and agreed it as only fair.”

Reg had a thought regarding their travels. “Shouldn’t we inform Sergeant Phillips of our meanderings, in case he needs to get in touch?”

Freda gave her opinion, as her father was a lawyer. “We can be contacted by email and also by our mobile phones. I know you don’t have such hi-tech facilities, but as long as one of us can be got hold of, the information will be passed on. That is quite sufficient, I should think. You can still let him know we are away, as it makes it awkward if he wants our presence on the spot.”

Reg agreed. “Fine. I’ll ring him and let him know that.”

His call to the Sergeant was switched to an answering machine, promising that he would return the call as soon as was practicable. That was about ten minutes later.

“Hello, Mr. Robertson. Sorry I was busy; other people are affected by crime; not just you.”

“That’s all right, Sergeant. I was just phoning to let you know what between now and Christmas, at a minimum, we will be visiting relatives, but you can catch us by mobile or by email, if there is anything urgent.”

“Don’t worry, Mr Robertson. Matters are in hand. Your friend Mr Fitzgerald is off somewhere on vacation, so we will deal with him in early January. I don’t think there is anything further we need from you in the interim. Have a nice break, sir.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I hope you get a decent break from work, yourself.”

“I hope so too, sir. Farewell for now.”

The car hire was effected with a national firm. They could either return it to the same depot or to another in the chain elsewhere in England. All that remained was the packing, fuelling the cars, and informing Erika’s parents of their probable time of arrival.

Frances remembered to phone her mother to tell her that the house would now be empty for the next couple of weeks, and the cleaner had been notified of their absence. “I told our cleaner that she should continue her usual hours, but use the time to give the premises a real ‘spring clean’, dealing with all the things she did not normally have time for.”

“Very sensible, darling. I shall tell your father that her pay remains as normal in that case.”

“Thanks, Mum. We are off to Erika’s folks first. You are third in our visiting list. Try to get us a room with two double beds, Mum. We like to be together, if at all possible.”

“My, my ... very well. If that is what you want, dear, we will try to accommodate your wishes. Reginald must be someone really special, to merit such attention.”

“He is, Mum, even if he hardly believes it himself. Poor guy, he is henpecked already.” She laughed inwardly, saying to herself, “I nearly said he is fucked already. Mum wouldn’t appreciate that!”

“My goodness. Look after yourself, girl.”

“Bye, Mum.”

Frances called out to Reg and the other girls. “Right. That’s my Mum up to date on this building. Do we leave right away, or wait for tomorrow morning?”

Erika replied, “It is a couple of hours drive to my folks, so I vote for a start in the morning. We don’t want to arrive tired.”

The others all agreed. Reg remarked, “Do we still need to get Christmas presents for anyone? If so we could have a trip to the shops today, or leave it for a break in tomorrow’s drive.”

It turned out that everyone had already bought their gifts, except for Reg. He blushed at this revelation, and agreed that the girls could make his choices for him tomorrow, as they knew better what their parents would appreciate.

Getting an early start, they were happy that it was an overcast day, so no sun in the eyes while driving. Reg thought to himself that he would need to get the girls to start him on learning to drive, so he could take his share of the load. They took a detour to a shopping centre, and made the purchases for Reg, ignoring his being uncomfortable with the prices. He managed to refrain from comment, though his expression said it all.

Erika was driving the hire car, and was in the lead for this leg of the journey, as she knew where they were going.