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“C
laudia, are you sure you’re OK?
He didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m fine, just a bit shaken.” I sipped the tea, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed in my throat.

“Poor girl,” he said, pulling me closer to him, “poor, poor girl.”

We watched the police car pull into the car park an
d Andrea rushed to let them in.
They came straight over to me a
nd started taking my statement.
I was glad to see that they were not the same policemen that had told me about my parents’ crash.

“Did you know the man that attacked you, Miss Lee?” asked one of the policemen.

“Yes, well
, he didn’t hit me or anything.
His name is Tim Horman, he’s my friend’s brother.”

“I’ll run his name through the system, see if we get anything come up,” the other officer said, walking outside for privacy. I told the first policeman as much a
bout both incidents as I could.
Sam stayed with me the whole time, keeping an
arm securely around my back.

The two policemen conferred together, out of my earshot for a few minutes, and then they both returned and sat facing me.

“It would appear,” one of them said, “that
Mr Horman has been a busy boy.
He was arrested twice in
Leicester
on suspicion of attempted rape, but both times there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.”

“
Leicester
?” Sam enquired.

“It’s where he went to university,” I replied and the policeman nodded.

“Furthermore, there was an incident last weekend whereby a sixteen year old girl was date raped – her attacker gave her a false name and address, but he fits the description of Horman,” the policeman paused. I shuddered, thinking I hadn’t overreacted at all.

The other policeman started speaking: “Our officers are searching for him now, but Miss Lee, we think it would be wise if you d
on’t stay at your home tonight.
Is there somewhere you can stay? Somewhere he won’t know?”

“My aunt’s house – I don’t know the train times or anything,” I whispered.

“I’ll drive you there,” Sam said.

“But it’s two hours away.”

“Like I’d let you go anywhere on your own right now,” Sam said, rubbing my back.

The policemen left to continue their investigatio
n and Sam drove me to my house.
He came in with me and waited patiently while I pack
ed my suitcase and rang Sandra.
She was surprised I was coming to see her early and I didn’t want to mention the unfortunate incidents to her, so I just said a friend had offered to drive me there instead of getting the train.

My suitcase and the presents I’d bought were a tight fit in the boot of Sa
m’s convertible but we managed.
Sam knew the way to the town where Aunt Sandra lived, so I would only have to navigate for
the last part of the journey.
I tried to stay awake for the journey, but my eyelids grew heavy look
ing out onto the dark motorway.
My yawns didn’t escape Sam’s attention.

“Claudia, you must be exhausted, why don’t you have a little rest?”

“I’m fine, rea
lly, it’s just been a long day.
Besides, you’re going to have the return journey without anyone to talk to, I should really keep you entertained.” I felt terrible for the length of journey he’d offered to take me on.

“Who says you don’t entertain me when you sleep?”

“When have you seen me sleep?”

“Yesterday, in the car, after our meal out – you were spark out!” Sam smiled.

“What did I do?” I didn’t really want to know; it could only be embarrassing.

“You snored a bit; c
ute, little, princess snores.
Oh, and don’t you go thinking that I missed it when you were checking the corners of your mouth for drool!”

I hid my face in my hands, mortified to have been caught in
such an embarrassing position.
“I’m never going to sleep again!”

He laughed.
It sounded nice to hear after such a harrowing day.

I tried to stay awake for a few more miles, but as we sped away from the troubles of the day, I could
fight the tiredness no longer.
The last thing I remember before falling asleep was Sam saying “Sweet dreams, Princess.”

Chapter 28

Sam gently woke me up on the ou
tskirts of Aunt Sandra’s town.
I directed him to her house, remembering the route easily from wh
en I’d visited with my parents.
Aunt Sandra’s house was originally built in the Victorian era, but the semi-detached residence had been given a fair few extensions and improvements when my father had been alive t
o advise on the building work.
It was a friendly looking house, with its bright red door and
mosaic path.
I’d always been given a warm welcome here.

Aunt Sandra had opened the front door and was hurrying down the garden path befor
e I’d even opened the car door.
Sam got out and started unloading
my possessions from the boot.
Sandra wrapped me up into a big bear hug of a cuddle.

“Aunt Sandra, this is Sam, he was Dad’s business partner,” I said and they shook hands.

“Pleased to meet you, th
anks for driving Claudia here.
Were you on your way som
ewhere else?” Sandra asked Sam.
Uncle Ned came out to help carry in the bags and we all made our way into the house.

“No, I just didn’t like the idea of Claudia getting the train on her own,” Sam said.

Aunt Sandra looked at my face in the light, immediately asking “What’s wrong?”

“OK,” I started to explain, “don’t panic, I’m fine, but I couldn’t stay at home tonight, and Sam kindly offered to drive me here.”

“What are you talking about?
What’s wrong with your house?” Sandra couldn’t hide her panic, her voice rising in a direct correlation to her anxiety.

“Claudia was attacked today, the man is still on the ru
n and he knows where she lives.
But you can see for yourselves, she’s fine, she’s been so brave.” Sam used the reassuring tone he’d used with the residents on the call out.

“You were attacked?
Why didn’t you tell me?” San
dra pulled me into another hug.
I noticed her eldest daughter, Rachel, standing at the top of the stairs, watching the situation in the hall.

“Hi, Rachel,” I said, alerti
ng the others to her presence.
I didn’t want to discuss any of the day’s events with
my cousins listening.
“I’ll tell you
about it later, Sandra.”

“I’d better head off,” Sam said.

“I’ll see you out,” I muttered, as Sandra ushered Rachel back to bed and Ned picked up my suitcase to take it up to the guest room. He struggled with the weight of it, sounding puffed out after two steps.

I followed Sam out to his car.
I hoped he wouldn’
t be too tired on his way home.
He reached into his jacket pocket and, after a bit of searching, pulled out a business card which he firmly placed into
the palm of my hand.

“Call me, if you need anything. Anything at all.
In fact, make sure you send me your number,
so that I can check you’re OK.”
H
e looked reluctant to leave me.

I nodded. “I’m so sorry you have such a long drive home.”

“It doesn’t m
atter, as long as you’re safe.”

I noticed that he wa
s still holding on to my hand.
He looked down and let go of me, even
though I hadn’t said anything.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for Princess Claudia,” he gave me a smile as he got int
o the car.
I waved as he drove away and returned to
explain everything to my aunt.

Sandra was wai
ting at the door, watching me.

“Cup of tea?”

I nodded.

“The kids are all in bed, start fr
om the beginning.” Sandra said.
I followed her into the kitchen and explained every
thing that had occurred.
She only asked one question I hadn’t expected:

“Does Marty know what happened?”

The question threw me – I realised that so much had happened to me during the day that I’d on
ly fleetingly thought of Marty.
Suddenly, I had a physical pain of longing for hi
m. I also had a pang of guilt.
Partly for not pining for him, but mostly for letting
Sam look after me.
If Marty had been watching, it would have been torture for him to obs
erve another man protecting me.
Sand
ra was waiting for a response.

“I haven’t told him.
He’d hate himself for not being here to protect me.”

“It looks like Sam did a good job in his absence.”

“He’s been great,” I could hear the sadness, the betrayal in my voice.

“But you still miss Marty.”

I nodded.

“Is there anything going on between you and Sam?”

I shook my head, too upset to try speaking.

“Probably a good job – he’s old enough to be your father.”

I smiled at her.
Exhaustion was catching up with me.

“Let me show you the new, improved guest room – you l
ook shattered.”

  I followed her up the stairs, to the sm
all box room with a single bed. It smelt of fresh paint.
Aunt Sandra left me to my thoughts and I tumbled into a deep sleep.

I woke up feeling confused, unsure of my location, and it took me a few moments to realise
that I was in the guest room.
There was a light tapping at the door and I could hear my cousins
getting excited in the hallway.
I decided to play along.

“I can hear some scratching outside my bedroom, I wonder w
hat it could be?
Is it some little mice?”

“No!” came the collective response from the other side of the door.

“Is it some little kittens?”

“No!”

“Is it some little monsters?”

“Yes!”

They tumbled in as I opened the door and I was surrounded by cuddles, sticky hands and sloppy
kisses.
For the first time since Marty had left, I felt truly happy and decided immediately to immerse myself fully in activities with the children for the
time I would be staying here.
I realised I had no idea how long that might be and wondered if the police had man
aged to catch up with Tim yet.

I sent the children down to make me breakfas
t and quickly checked my phone.
There were no calls from the police, so I assumed t
hey would have no news for me.
I remembered Sam asking me to make sure he got my number, so I found his business card and sent a quick message to his phone:

Hi Sam, it’s Claudia.
I ho
pe the drive back wasn’t awful.
Tha
nk you again for all your help.
I really appreciate it.

I left my phone in the room and went down to the kitchen. The children made me toast with both strawberry jam and marmite on it, but I ate it an
yway, just to make them laugh. It tasted disgusting.
I talked to them about the presents they wanted for Christmas and what they’d bought for thei
r parents.
I discovered they hadn’t wrapped their gifts yet and came up with a
plan to fill up our afternoon.

Everyone seemed in good spirits, although I noticed Sandra glancing at me with a worried expression
on her face from time to time.
I popped to the newsagent to buy some supplies for my plan for the afternoon and then
checked my phone before lunch.
I had missed a call from the polic
e, but they’d left a voicemail.
I listened to it, sitting on the edg
e of the bed in the guest room.
The room was warm, but I shivere
d whilst absorbing the message.
Tim had been arrested trying to break into my ho
use in the middle of the night. He was now in police custody.
I also had a text message from Sam:

I’ve now added your number to my contacts – you are labelled Princess Claudia
!
The drive was fine, seemed quicker withou
t the weight of your suitcase!
How are you feeling today? X