Chapter 3: A New Home For Rupert

Lewis sat in thought for a moment, then he rang Daryl. ‘Hi,’ Lewis said, ‘I’ve just heard that Jake has been remanded in custody for sentencing at the Crown Court. That will probably be in about six weeks. I’ve spoken to Social Services,’ he said. ‘They will arrange for you to be moved if you want to be. Have a word with your mum. A Miss Steel will probably contact you shortly so talk to her about it.’

‘Mr Morgan was fine with it,’ Lewis said in answer to Daryl’s question. ‘He won’t ask you anything about it tomorrow. Just make up your own excuse if any of your classmates ask where you were. Oh, I’ll call round after school and collect the radio,’ he said. ‘I forgot amid all the ruckus last night.’

Ella had sat quietly whilst all this was going on. When he finished, she grinned at him. ‘Has my knight in shining armour been leading a charge against the baddies again?’ she asked. ‘Yes,’ he admitted. He showed her a picture of Daryl’s bruises. Ella felt sick at what she saw. She just rested her hand on his and smiled at him adoringly.

‘It was quite exciting,’ Lewis told her, ‘I saw a Taser in use and helped put a pair of handcuffs on.’

After school Lewis went over to Daryl’s. He was welcomed in by Daryl’s mum. ‘Come in,’ she said, ‘We’re in the lounge.’ Squeezing past the black bin bags in the hall Lewis followed her through.

In the lounge he found Daryl sitting laughing with Gina Steel. Seeing Lewis Daryl rushed over and hugged him. ‘I had the best night’s sleep ever,’ he said. When he sat down again his mum said, ‘Miss Steel has offered to have us moved, but we’re settled here. We’ve decided we would like to stay.’

Lewis smiled and nodded his thanks at Gina. ‘He’ll certainly be locked up for a while,’ Lewis said. ‘In all probability you’ll never see him again. But just to be sure I’ll see if the court can ban him from contacting you in future.’

Daryl left the room then returned with Lewis’s radio in its bag. ‘Thank you,’ he said again as he handed it over. After another thank you from his mum, he left with Gina.

As they walked down the stairs, Gina told him, ‘It was me who came two years ago,’ she said. ‘It was my first visit on my own. I told Daryl and apologised to him. Do you know what he said to me?’ ‘I can guess,’ Lewis said with a grin. ‘He smiled at me,’ she said. ‘It was my fault,’ he said, ‘I told you it wasn’t happening, you weren’t to know. It’s all over now, please forget it.’

‘Can you?’ Lewis asked. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I’ll never forget it, but I’ll learn from it.’ ‘That’s called experience,’ Lewis said smiling at her. ‘I’m sure you’ll go on to save lots of Daryl’s from suffering.’

TUESDAY

The next day at school a happy looking Daryl came up to Lewis and offered him a small package. ‘It’s your phone back.’ Daryl told him. Lewis handed it back. ‘No need, that’s yours to keep.’ he said. ‘I’ll use it to invite you to have lunch with us in the shop in a few weeks so we can see how you’re getting on.’ ‘Ok, thanks.’ Daryl said, ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

WEDNESDAY

An hour before school finished everyone was assembled in the hall. The head, the school secretary, Dudley and a reporter from the local paper were on the stage.

The head stood up and said, ‘It’s just over thirty days since we were all together in this hall. The accounts are now closed. We will announce the grand total very shortly. Miss Jenkins.’

The school secretary replaced him on the microphone. ‘You will remember I’m sure,’ she said, ‘There were two thousand, two hundred and seventy-one promissory forms returned. If everyone had honoured their promise, they alone would have raised nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-two pounds forty pence.’

‘I can tell you that not everyone paid up.’ There was a groan all round. ‘I’ve no doubt that there are a lot of genuine reasons for that,’ she said. ‘But of those who did, not everyone put in their promised four pounds forty pence. A number of people rounded it up to five pounds. Some even put in more. The total from promissory notes came to twelve thousand six hundred and twenty-three pounds.’

After the eruption of cheers died down, the headmaster replaced her. ‘Thank you, Miss Jenkins for all the effort you have put in,’ the headmaster said. ‘Now, added to that is the total raised when we were here last. That was one hundred and twenty-four thousand seven hundred and forty seventy pounds, forty pence. However,’ he added. ‘The go fund-me pages of the local paper and the local tv station collected more donations. There were even a few more from the local swimming pool and the video hire shop. There were also some postal donations sent direct to the school. The grand total raised,’ he said and paused.

You could have heard a pin drop. ‘I think it’s only right to ask the star of the show to tell you himself,’ he said, ‘Dudley,’ he called out as he indicated the microphone. To thunderous applause Dudley approached the microphone. ‘The grand total is,’ he said, then looking at the piece of paper the headmaster had handed him he looked open mouthed at him. After the head had nodded encouragement he swallowed and said, ‘The grand total is one hundred and forty-one thousand, four hundred and ten pounds eighty pence.’

The room went wild. Dudley just stood there, tears pouring down his face. The headmaster produced a giant cheque for the full amount made out to Cancer Research. As the money had already been transferred electronically, the cheque was just for show. So, the signature on it was just one word, Ruby.

After a photo holding the cheque, Dudley was mobbed once more. The picture of him with the cheque was posted on the school noticeboard the next day. It also appeared in the next issue of the local paper as well as being shown on the tv news that night.

Speaking to Lewis later on, Dudley said he had enjoyed his moment of fame, but was looking forward to putting it all behind him now.

Known only to a few, Dudley later presented the cheque as a keepsake to Michael who was Ruby’s cousin.

THURSDAY

On Thursday Amos and Vincent appeared at the crown court for sentencing. Before pronouncing sentence, the Judge told them their crime had been disgusting and evil. They had taken advantage of their tenants who had trusted them. ‘I was inclined to give you the maximum sentence of fourteen years,’ he said. ‘However, I am mindful that you have both pleaded guilty, saving your victims appearing in court. So, I sentence you to ten years in prison.’

After letting the horror of that sink into the pair, he added, ‘However, you have shown true repentance. You have earned from your victims an acceptance of your apology. So, I am suspending five years of your sentence. Take them down,’ he said to the prison officer in the dock.

When Aiden relayed the sentence to Lewis later that day, he explained that they should both serve five years, but providing they behaved themselves they would get two and a half years remission. ‘That means they will be released on licence after two and a half years.’ he said, ‘They will then be on licence for two and a half years, plus the five suspended years after that. If they get into trouble during that time, they could have the seven and a half years added to their next sentence.’

When Lewis passed the news on to Ollie and Jerry, they were happy with the verdict. They thanked Lewis yet again for all he had done.

Lewis rang Malcom, the previous tenant, later on and told him too. When he said he was fine with that Lewis asked him how he was coping. ‘I’m fine, thank you,’ he said, ‘I’m pretending it never happened. But I’ve kept your phone number just in case,’ he added. Lewis wished him all the best.

FRIDAY

After finishing work, Ernie drove his truck over to pick Rupert up. He knocked on Mrs Jeffersons door first. ‘Hi,’ he said handing her a sheet of paper. ‘We’ve just got the ok to move into the new house, so I thought I should give you our new address from mid-week on.’

She thanked him, then spotted Rupert coming out of the other door. He saw Ernie and came running over. He leapt into Ernie’s outstretched arms and hugged him. As he put him down, Mrs Jefferson said, ‘I hope all goes well tomorrow.’ Ernie thanked her and off they went.

‘How’s your week been?’ Ernie asked. ‘Great,’ he said, ‘It flew by because I had something to look forward to.’ ‘I’ve just been telling Mrs Jefferson,’ Ernie told him. ‘The purchase is complete so we can move in next week, so it’ll be absolute chaos.’

Rupert just smiled feeling very happy. He didn’t care in the least as long as he was part of it. He got a lovely welcome from Susan when they arrived, then they had Rupert’s favourite for their evening meal, sausage and chips.

After dinner, Susan gave Rupert a pattern book for carpets, curtains and wallpaper. Pick three of each she said, then we’ll get our heads together. Also, if you prefer plain painted walls that’s fine.