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Mia had brushed her teeth, heading back to her bed, the appearance of her mum to check that she was tucked up with a goodnight kiss?
Before Mia had gone to bed, she had given Terry a peck on the cheek. a thank you for one of the best days she could remember in a long time? If it had surprised Terry, the kiss on the cheek that is, Sandy was even more convinced of her choices.
"I like him Mama, when we were making the bird stand, we talked." Sandy suspected it was probably Mia, that had done most of the talking.
"He treated me, like I was worth listening to Mama. Let me do the drawing for the bird table and then showed me how to make it. We even found the perfect top for the table and we had the right tools to use, safety gear to wear, serious work Mama but having fun, at the same time."
Mia, had not told her mother, of the catapult, that Terry had produced. The empty coca cola cans that were soon stood on a trestle lined up at the end of the barn, as he loaded the catapult, showed Mia how to use it.
"OK! Best of three shots, wins! " Mia lost! Well the first round. She insisted on a second round and in that she did a whole lot better. Cans? What decent catapult fiend, doesn't aim for cans to knock over. Fun? Oh yes!
"I was pleased, to see how well you've done, with your music! Really proud of my girl earlier." "Suki is doing online webinairs for her tutorials." "Well, I think next year, we can look at that. At least you won't, have any excuses for not doing tutorials.”
“Do you think Uncle Ken could visit? He has some books I was using for learning chords and scales.” “In the New year I don’t see why not, why don’t we phone him tomorrow and wish him seasons greetings, that way you can spread the good news and invite him over.”
Sat in the lounge by the fire sipping on a Malt whisky, Terry had been mulling over the news from Joules. It was not good. The b was somewhere in the vicinity, that much Joules had discovered BUT could not pin point exactly because of the reception.
The signal kept dipping out, but bad news; he was almost certainly close to Bilsden.
Shaun had acquired the in car charging unit. Sobered up a little but not for long, the next trip was to an off licence on the outskirts of Bilsden. Stocking up on several bottles of cider he was soon back in the car and swigging it down.
Dropping the phone earlier in the day had caused the screen to crack. It made it difficult to see the image of the map for the area. For some reason it did not have all of the smaller side roads on it, thus some guesswork on his part would be required. HOWEVER he had decided it was time to invest in a Sat Nav unit.
Another trip to the out of town shopping center. More delays? Well yes but in his twisted mind he had decided to make the visit on Christmas Eve. Somehow it festered to have him grin. He’d give that bitch a Christmas to remember; or not. By the time he had finished she would either be dead or wish she were.
Tim’s had been watched by Steve leaving work. He watched him go into the Dog n Duck and following him, having purchased a pint of ale he made his way through the crowd, to sit down in the seat directly behind Tim’s, he was gambling on whoever was sat talking to Tim’s, who had momentarily glanced at him, not knowing him.
Tim’s appeared unaware of his presence; he was in conversation with a well dressed
male, who spoke with an accent that Steve was puzzling over to begin with, until he realized, it was Australian.
“You’re leaving it a bit tight arn’t you. Christmas Eve?” Tim’s shook his head.
“They’ll be out celebrating at the expense of the guvnor. A meal, drinks; no problem of me being caught or disturbed, sides it’ll only take me less than an hour to upload to cloud all of the info we need and to plant the virus.”
After ten minutes Steve had gotten the gist of the conversation. Putting the pieces together he was pretty sure he understood enough to decide on what to do next. Leaving the pub he headed over to the office and made a phone call. “It would have to be done tomorrow night, without him knowing and us undisturbed. You’d better let Miranda and Jodi in on the latest news.”
“Only one more day and it’s Christmas eve!” Sandy slumped down on the sofa next to him a glass of wine in her hand. “You have a fan in my daughter. Thank you.”
She leaned in to give him a kiss. “For making her day one to remember, in the nicest possible way.”
Terry had decided he was not going to tell her or Mia about the news from Joules.
It would cause tension and that he knew they both, well all of them; didn’t need to be stressed out because of that b’stard. Unknown to Sandy, Terry had found the baseball bat placing it next to the hall stand.
No one was likely to break down the front door, it was solid thick oak. The back door was also fairly substantial. All of the windows were double locked and the cellar doors; he had placed a heavy duty chain and padlock in place. He had no doubts in his mind that it would be a massive headache if the b turned up.
The chance of the local police being able to get to them in time, if at all; given the recent snowfall which had piled the snow almost to the level of the hedgerows? Most unlikely. That meant he had to ensure some protection and if that was giving that thug a lesson with the aid of that baseball bat, he was ready.
On the wall in the hallway was an old blunderbuss. It had been a weapon of choice for detering poachers, typically loaded with a number of lead balls smaller than the bore diameter. Barrels were made of steel or brass.
Terry had seen it a number of times, a 17th century antique but nothing more.
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