Day 8 - part 2.






“If you wanted hide Christine, I mean, really hide, where would you go?”



“My mum’s.”

“So, Vanessa’s mum passed away some years ago. Think again.”



“Er, holiday cottage?”



“Can you afford that in cash, will someone take cash, would you know where to go to get a holiday cottage in cash?”



“Well that is the crux of it sir, we have to try and think of solutions that involve no money. Break into an empty house?”



“Yes, they can then go to ground and consume what ever food is in the house, freezer or tinned or whatever.”



“But that would only last them so long, then they would need to go out and get food.”



“And that means money or a credit card, and we have had all of Vanessa Hilts cards stopped.”



“The ones that we know about sir, same as her phone. Damn.”



Christine slapped her forehead with her hand. “We missed a trick there sir.”



“Don’t worry, Christine we all did, and so did the wonderboys. Get in touch with the mobile phone companies. I want a list of all unregistered phones that used the cells near Vanessa Hilts house in the period after we visited and she ran. Damn, we should have thought of that before.”



Christine made a note and then circled it several times. “Right sir, back to where to hide, I am not sure that they would risk an occupied but empty house, they would have no way of knowing how long the occupants were away for. We could get a list of all registered empty properties, the Council will have that, you can then get the uniforms to check every one out.”



“Indeed, good call. I will go and talk to social services and see if there any vulnerable people living alone, they might be worth checking out too. I wonder how many of them there are.”









“Hello my lovely,” Vanessa said to the middle aged man as he got out of his car in the carpark. Soon he had handed over the hundred pounds he had in his wallet and went away knowing that he had to go to a cash machine as he had forgotten to bring any cash with him. Vanessa managed to gain a total of around five hundred pounds from people parking their cars in the car park at the cash and carry. She went back to the borrowed car where Amanda had lain curled up on the back seat.



“Right then beautiful, I have plenty of money, shall we see if we can find some food and perhaps buy you a pretty dress?” Vanessa started the engine and headed off to the mall, she had considered it prudent not to get her cash in the same place she shopped.



“First things first, let’s get to a food store and buy food. Let me guess, you like tinned fish?”



“Oh no, that is awful. I like spaghetti hoops and those tins that have steak and kidney pudding in them. My mum buys them if I have been good.”



Vanessa wondered if Amanda had a compromise IQ, somewhere higher than large cat and lower than human. At times she acted more like a young child than the young woman that she was. Their shopping trolley was soon filled with tins of spaghetti, baked beans, various meats and fish and some soup. Her thinking was that tins won’t go off, mostly contain already cooked food, and if push came to shove, the food could eat it cold. She hoped that the selection of sanitary towels and tampons, toothpaste and brushes, and shaving blades and cream would be sufficient, and as an after thought she added a roll of refuse sacks and when they paid, the amount was only around seventy five pounds.



They took the food shopping and stowed it in the boot of the car and then Vanessa drove to a different part of the mall and they went looking for clothes. Amanda picked out two small slip on dresses that she liked.



“I will have to leave them with you though, my mum will wonder where I got them from.”



They picked a small selection of clothes for the food, dresses, t shirts, trousers and some flip flops.



“Addicts can’t be choosers” Amanda said.



“And food doesn’t get a choice. Right lets get this lot back. It’s such a chore but it has to be done. In time we can send the food, but they are too unreliable at the moment. The drugs they were using as well as killing them slowly is now fighting to say in their body and wants more. The withdrawal is very bad for them, and my blood only helps a little.”



“Why not give them more?”



“Because they taste so horrible at the moment.”



“When my mum had to have some medicine the doctor used a needle and he didn’t have to taste her at all.”



‘Indeed, why didn’t I think of that,’ Vanessa thought as they arrived back at the mansion, ‘the clinic will have IV sets, shouldn’t be difficult for a nurse to collect a few sets.’



Amanda got out of the car, opened the gates and then relocked them as Vanessa drove the car through.