Chapter 7

Well, everything was okay, wasn't it? I'd proposed, she'd accepted, her father had been and gone ... just the formalities to finish.

Sure, Wilbur.

"Okay, Precious. When do you want to do the deed?"

"Would yesterday be too soon?" She smiled.

"Depends on what you want. As far as I'm concerned it's formalising something that's already happened," I said seriously. "It'll be your day, so you need to think what you want from it. Who do you want to be there? We won't contact Cheryl and the others until the Autumn term. Do you want just us and the Hansons? I expect some of St. Jude's will want to be there. Don't you want to show off your ring for a bit before we actually marry?"

She didn't say anything for a bit, smiling slightly, but then her expression changed.

"It's not like him to give up that easily," she said quietly.

I shrugged. "What could he do?" I wish I'd taken her more seriously...

A day or so after the 'visitation', Rose-Marie went down to our local mini-market for bread. That's be about four o'clock. When she wasn't back after about half an hour, I thought she'd met someone and was chatting. After an hour, I was a bit worried. Perhaps she'd called at the Vicarage? The Vicarage landline went to voicemail, so I tried Dulcie's mobile. When I told her Rose-Marie had gone out for bread and wasn't back – it was now getting on for an hour and a half, she expressed concern.

"Call the Police," she said, "I'll be with you in ... ten minutes or so."

I can't say the police were helpful... "We can't act on a missing person report for at least twenty-four hours," the officer I spoke to told me.

"Even if I have reason to believe the missing person may have been abducted? Her father has ... how can I put it ... extreme religious views," I said, "and my fiancée expressed concern about her father's behaviour, that his behaviour when he left was out of character."

"Hm..." he said, "well ... all I can really do is record your concerns..." he gave me a reference number, "and tell you to be careful to act within the law."

When I thought about what he'd said, I thought he meant ... look for her, think about where she might be, but don't do anything illegal. I knew Rose-Marie still had keys to her parents' house ... so I could get in without 'breaking and entering'. Surely he wouldn't take her there, would he?

I rang 'CostCutter' – the mini-market, who said they hadn't seen her at all.

Dulcie arrived. I told her what I'd done and she nodded when I told her what the police had said. "I'm not surprised," she commented. "Good idea phoning the shop, though. You've got keys to their house, you say? I can't think he'd be stupid enough to take her there, but it's worth taking a look, I think."

Dulcie drove us up to Bents Green and I directed her to the house. I had no idea what we'd do when we got there and I was getting very anxious. We didn't park outside, rather, a few yards down the road.

The house was rather untidy; the garden overgrown and we walked round by the side of the house. The upstairs windows were open; we stood there and looked at each other. What did we do now? At which point we heard a scream. A second scream was sort of cut off, as if something had been stuffed in the screaming mouth. Dulcie had her mobile out.

"Go in," she said, "I'm calling three nines."

Three nines is supposed to be the British emergency call system. I had a friend who was hassled by a guy who got violent. She saw him come in the gate and dialled 999. He'd kicked the back door in and was standing beside her before she got through to the police control-room. Fortunately he was 'making a point' and didn't actually assault her. But you can tell I'm less than enthusiastic about the response time.

I didn't have much choice, though, practically or emotionally.

The back door had a five lever mortice sash-lock, and there were only two keys that could fit, so I got in fairly quickly despite my shakes. Well, I was pretty pumped up with adrenalin ... I ran through the kitchen (which was in a fine old state) into the hall and upstairs. He hadn't bothered to shut the door to Rose-Marie's old bedroom and he was too focussed on thrashing her with a bamboo cane (which had broken and split) to notice me. We'd moved most of her stuff to mine, but there was an Oxford Reference Dictionary on the desk just inside her room and that was the only weapon I could see. It made a most satisfactory 'thud' when it hit the back of his head, but it didn't actually knock him out. He staggered, though, and when he turned to confront me I kicked him in the balls. What? I was supposed to be all scientific and use minimum force? Bugger that for a lark!

He doubled up and I was able to twist his arm up his back, force him to the floor on his face and hold him there. Dulcie came in about then.

There was a flash as Dulcie took a picture with her mobile, then she was untying my Rose-Marie. I looked at her, properly, for the first time since I entered the room and very nearly broke his arm as I saw what had been done to her. The bruises that she'd have weren't particularly visible at that point, but the marks of the cane were. I didn't see much because Dulcie was wrapping her in a sheet and holding her as she cried.

I think the police arrived about ten minutes after I'd entered the house, arrested Richard Burnham, and an ambulance took Rose-Marie to the hospital. They let me go with her as she cried so much if she didn't have Dulcie or myself with her.

As they were carrying her out of the room, she sobbed, "My ring ... he took my ring..."

"We'll find it," Dulcie reassured her. "Don't worry."

I've never been beaten or raped, but I would think the aftermath; the tests, the questions ... however gentle and kind the authorities, would be nearly as bad; it's a continuation of the assault.

There was no question of Burnham's guilt, but the police made sure they dotted every 'i' and crossed every 't'. I approved of that, but I hated to see Rose-Marie's distress. There was, too, something she wasn't saying to me and she wouldn't meet my eyes though she clung to my hand.

At some point Dulcie turned up ... and once all the poking and prodding was over, Rose-Marie was given analgesics. They wanted to give her a mild sedative, but she refused.

"Maybe later," she said, "I want to talk to Dulcie."

Dulcie looked at me and flicked her eyes toward the door. I was very reluctant to leave and at the time didn't see why I should, but Dulcie glared at me, finally telling me;

"Go get some of that dishwater they call coffee, Ted. If you're lucky the staff cafeteria is open; their coffee isn't too bad. Stay away at least twenty minutes."

Well, it takes maybe five minutes to cover the distance to the cafeteria – the Northern General is a very large, sprawling hospital, so there wasn't much danger I'd be back too soon. As it was, I sat and brooded over my coffee and Dulcie actually came to find me.

"Right, Ted..." she started briskly. "Can you think of anything that might make you reject Rose-Marie?"