Sexual content Book 2 – The Fightback   Abe hadn’t thought through his timings. Another Thursday. It was 20th December. Monday will be Christmas Eve. Greg’s company will be shut Saturday and Sunday, Dee may fly back to England for Christmas. That would be this weekend. Was it worth flying out before the New Year? He said, ‘Best time. Catch the buggers while they are wondering what to buy the missus for Christmas.’ I said, ‘Can’t catch them if they are not there,’ but he wasn’t listening. Dianne says he is good and I should trust him. What choices do I have?   Baltimore in December. We thought we had taken warm clothing. Baltimore is supposed to be the milder of the Eastern Seaboard cities. Huh. We had booked a hotel overlooking the yacht harbour in Essex. The yachts had a covering of ice. We would have to go out and buy some shoes commensurate with the snow

Sexual content   Chapter 3       Friday took a funny turn. I hadn’t noticed, but Abe’s wife had been gone weeks, which left Abe with a lot of pent-up libido. I gave the piper a tune to play and he played – again and again. I lost count actually. I reckon we finished breakfast around ten and went for tea at five-thirty. Our waitress had her feet up and was trying to get a quick nap before dinner started. She opened an eye as we entered. She shut it again and tried to ignore us. Then she opened both and sat up, with a grin from ear to ear. ‘My! Well, well. Look at you.’ I went the colour of my freckles. I remembered what I looked like at such times and couldn’t control my urge to look at the mirror behind the bar. ‘Yep, lady! We know what you have been doing!’ I will never forget her chuckle. A third new life had just begun!

Three hours later, I heard the lock whir and the chink of cups. Mave pushed in a trolley, with four breakfasts. She was dressed for her shift. We three slowly sat up and arranged ourselves to eat. ‘Sorry, Abe. I had to put this on your tab.’ Abe waved an uninterested hand. She ignored the breakfast she had brought and fiddled with the TV remote. A news channel sprang to life. The news was on a loop. After a few minutes our attention was riveted to the screen. ‘And now just in – a local businesswoman Dee Bradley gets caught in a domestic in that hotbed of intrigue and bad behaviour, Oscillations. Apologies for the picture quality, but they keep the lights low in that joint. You’ll soon know why!’ A grainy video showed the dungeon room. Dee, with her white skin and stockings, can be identified. Abe puts his hand on her butt. There was her smile. She was up for everything. Cath comes from nowhere, just a white blouse silhouette, slaps Dee, screa

Chapter 6   Abe disappeared in a flurry of research activity. Disappeared? I knew where he was – sitting in our room, but sensible communication was only possible at mealtimes.‘When are we leaving?’‘Not before the New Year. Someone you should be with?’‘I’ve sent electronic cards to the outstanding relations. I can do Christmas in Baltimore.’The waiter came to clear our dishes.‘Is Mave on today?’‘No, sir. She has finished till the New Year. We’d appreciate it if you could go to the check-in desk and tell us your Christmas plans and needs.’‘We’ll keep the room until the New Year. We won’t need any catering after tomorrow.’‘Very good, sir.’The waiter left our table.‘Why won’t we be eatin

The idea now, was to walk casually to the road and hail a taxi. ‘There won’t be a taxi, after midnight on Christmas Eve,’ I consternated. ‘Yes, there will! Trust me.’ ‘I trust you, but I hear a dog barking in the distance. Could it be a tracker hound?’ Abe was worryingly quiet. ‘An option of which I hadn’t thought,’ he admitted. ‘Why would they need a dog? Our tracks in the snow should be enough.’ ‘Not what I wanted to hear. What now? How long can we hide in this weather, before we have to give in, with frostbite or similar?’ ‘Let’s move deeper into the forest!’ He took my hand – nice gesture – and pulled me down an embankment and into some trees, which was all very well, but the stray light from the city, that had been bouncing off the clouds and providing good visibility, was blocked out. Theoretically, we know what total darkness must mean, except we have never experienced it. Theoretically, we know wild anim