Blind Angel of Wrath (The Blind Sleuth Mysteries 2)

8 Blind Angel of Wrath

Roxanne called two days later at the appointed time, after Daisy had come back from work. She sounded very shy, but she assured her new friend that Dragon had a lot of information about Loretta, and that if they could get together, Daisy would hear the whole story of what had happened to her. It was Roxanne who suggested that they meet up in a pub in Shepherd's Bush. "That is, if you think you can find the place..."

"Oh, don't worry, darling. There are always people willing to help a blind lady to find her way. So the White Horse it is, tomorrow morning at ten thirty."

And so the three of them ended up at a table, nursing the beers paid for by Daisy. In the background you could hear the clang of billiard balls colliding on the pool tables, conversations and bursts of laughter in a far corner; the air was redolent of stale tobacco smoke mingled with the sour stench of the wet rags that the table tops had been wiped with. What Daisy could not see, was that the two hippies had some plastic bags by their side, containing all of their meagre possessions.

"Well?" Daisy asked, "Has Amber shown up yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, no sweat!"

"And did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're cool..."

"What did she say? Come on!"

"What Dragon is dying to tell you," Roxanne explained, "is that he followed your advice and declared his love to her..."

"Really? Good!"

"This is none of your business, Roxanne!" Dragon growled. "In fact, it is none of Daisy's either."

"You're right, of course. Sorry. I just hope she wasn't angry and didn't mock you, that's all..."

"No, you were right, she was very nice about it, but she argued that she believes in free love and doesn't want me to be in love with her only."

"The conceitedness of a smasher," Roxanne grumbled.

"Anyway, we two are together now, I mean Roxanne and I, and we want to leave the Island and go to Roxanne's place."

"My parents are rather nice, unlike Dragon's. We will tell them that he persuaded me to go back home; my parents will be mighty impressed by the fact that Dragon is one of the founding members of the commune, and that he's giving it all up for my sake..."

"Ah yes, Dragon, I remember you told me you were there a year ago when Tiger and Piglet set up the thing..."

"Yeah. Tiger and Piglet and Dragon-Slayer... the new names we chose for ourselves when we started our experiment."

"So you're saying you were on an equal footing with them?"

"Oh yeah! Yeah."

"But you don't have a penny in your pocket to pay for a couple of beers. And I bet that Tiger and Piglet do have money in their pockets, even a lot of it..."

"Yeah, well, we don't believe in money and possessions, but someone has to take care of paying the rent and stuff..."

"Still, I think you will be better off if you get out now."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that... But before Roxanne and I 'elope', as you suggested, I wanted to tell you what I know about Loretta. I remember her well."

"All right, I'm very grateful for that. So she joined you very soon after the three of you started the commune?"

"You could say that, yeah! Just a few days after we started, in fact. So here we are, Tiger, Piglet and me with the girlfriends we had at the time and a couple of other kids we knew, and in walks this girl with her boyfriend and tells us she wants to join us..."