Episode 4

Having had his foot stamped on by a steel tipped stiletto, it was no surprise that Yaxley was on the ground ripping off his boot and sock to assess the damage. He was whimpering and moaning as he did so. The girl, Fiona, was down by his side. "Bloody madwoman" she said "You're the fourth person she's had a run in with since she came in about an hour ago. Are you all right ?". The pain in Yaxley's foot had overpowered his feeling of embarrassment and his vocal chords had begun to work again. "It hurts so, so, so much" he whined bravely "It's gone right between the toes".

They both looked down at Yaxley's foot and the heel had, indeed, gone right between the toes only scraping a small amount of skin from inside. "Get up. You'll live" laughed (laughed !) Fiona and she held out her hand to pull him up. At the sight of her proffered hand, Yaxley tried to act cool but in his mind he was doing a dance akin to that of Nobby Stiles at Wembley Stadium on 30th July 1966. Fiona brought Yaxley a coffee and they chatted for a while as he composed himself. There then came a ringing sound from inside Yaxley's leather jacket. He instantly wished he had changed the ringing tune from the present one as "The Birdie Song" interrupted what was turning out to be a promising chat with Fiona.

He listened for a bit and replied briefly, "...but I'm not due to start until tomorrow..ok..ok..ok. Cauliflower Drove. I can't miss it ? ok. Bye". He stood up and replaced the phone in his pocket. "Gotta dash" he said, with as much cool as he could muster. "Very mysterious Mr.Yaxley Farcett" she said, teasing him. "And what drags you away so urgently ?". Yaxley took out a card which he handed over. "Give me a ring one evening if you're free" he said and walked out before she could reply. Fiona watched him limp out towards the battered escort and turned the card over in her hand. The card bore the words D.I YAXLEY FARCETT (Drainage Inspector).

[Next Episode - Episode 5]