Riley's Stunning Progress.

Book three in this series. We pick up the story at a time when there are a number of changes about to take place in the village of Nether Boldley where Dan has just bought his own bungalow. He has also just bought a home for his mother and sister, who he brought here from Ireland where they were having problems. He has been persuaded to invest in a building project which will double the amount of housing in the village by building a link road between two lanes. This will include a shop and Post Office. There are also plans for the local public house to build an extension which will incorporate a new village hall, and a communal village centre, youth club with a games area and a dance hall. This book also ties up a few unfinished sub-plots from the first two books... I write this book with the presumption that you have read either, or both of the first two, and there are references back to both of the previous book's escapades.

Chapter one: A New Direction. A win for the lady. A wet and drizzly Thursday morning, and very much in line with how quite a few people in the village were feeling. There had been a 'lock-in' at the Old Grey Mare the previous night due to a celebration following a day out at a traction rally. The three main reasons for this were firstly; a narrow gauge steam locomotive that had recently been acquired by Smitty had been serviced by Dick Ayers, and was actually running at the rally - being driven by his girlfriend Mary, which surprised them all. The second cause for celebration was an old farm tractor which had been lovingly restored to it's former glory by one of Dick's steam buff friends. Major Harris was the former owner of this extremely rare machine, and was invited to drive it in the main parade of vehicles. The final element in the party spirit was Dick Ayers himself, who had just completed the full restoration of a Sentinel steam lorry, and was also able to run it in the main parade. So there were a few slightly woolly-headed people around the village that particular morning. Dan had just made a slightly foggy Rose a strong cup of coffee when Bernie burst in on them. "Pot o' best fer a dip in yer biscuit tin!" was his opening line. This was a cannister of fresh jersey milk from the herd he had just finished milking. This was a regular daily event here. "Och, hold down yer blether mon. Ah cannae dae with ye this morning." Rose was not in the best of moods. She had been a leading light in the party last night. "Bugger Oi, 'er's as bad as my lovely s'mornin' moosh." Bernie directed this at Dan, but it was Rose who responded. "If ye dinnae keep ye're wheesht down, Ah'll take awa' ye're rations." Bernie put is arms around the biscuit tin and said, "Fight yer for it!" Rose scowled at him and reached for her coffee. She made no further comment. Dan and Bernie exchanged a grin and left her alone for a moment. Dan made them both a cup of tea, and while he was at it, he put her porridge on to cook. "Best put 'er an extra dollop o' honey in it s'mornin'," Bernie said, "Oi reckon 'er needs sweetenin' up a bit." Rose turned on him with a look that spoke volumes. She was ready to fire off a sharp response when Dan cut in. "Steady on, me sweet. Yer know only too well yer only goin' ter get a lot more back, don't yer?" Rose gave a sigh. "Aye." she said, "But Ah'll be havin' words with Helen later. She can tame him." Bernie chuckled, "Oi dun't think so. 'Er's as bad as you are t'day." Rose finally broke into a smile. The coffee was having it's effect. Bernie grinned. Then he turned to Dan and asked, "Ain't that Izzie goin' inter court again t'day?" Dan nodded. "This is where they sort out who gets what out o' their divorce." he said. "Oi tink she will make sure she gets the lion's share. Oi have a notion that if she mentions those creeps we had at the rally yesterday, she's goin' ter have the beak right on her side. What d'yer tink?" Bernie nodded and said, "Oi reckon 'er bloke must be some kind o' sod ter get 'er follered like that. Oi 'ope she skins the bugger proper." Dan replied, "Oi tink she will." Then added, "If them papers Oi found in that old desk mean what she told me, then she's got all the aces, an' trump cards as well. Yon Izzie is one very smart lady, yer know." Bernie bit on a biscuit and just nodded. Rose said "She will nae be on her own fer long, though. Did ye see how ye're mon Sparky an' her look at each other. Mon, there's a real match there Ah think, an' Ah'm happy fer her tae." Bernie grinned. "Must be summat in the water round 'ere. Dopey Dick's got 'is self tied up with yer mate Mary; an' 'ave yer noticed 'ow our local 2. copper seems ter be busy with another on o' yer nursin' mates." q "Oh aye?" asked Rose, "How's that then?" "Oi'll tell yer, then." said Bernie, "An' Oi can even tell yer which one, 'cos Helen told me her name. 'Tis Sheila, an' they bin gettin' very cosy over the past couple o' weeks. Then there's Paddy's mate Boggy with 'er at that 'ouse in Draywood. Oi reckon our 'oly Joe is going ter be workin' overtime on a few more weddin's sometime soon. What say, moosh?" Dan smiled and said, "Three out o' four, Bern. Oi don't tink our friend Izzie is goin' ter want another ring on her finger yet. Oi tink them two might live over the brush fer a bit." Rose grinned. The coffee had worked it's magic and she was back on form again. "You'se two are worse than a pair o' auld wifeys, ye ken. Bletherin' awa' like that!" Dan made his excuse to dive out. "Oi need ter rescue yer porridge." he said, and escaped into the kitchen before he got drawn into any more discussion. "Dun't forget ter drop a bit extra honey in it," Bernie called, "'Er needs a bit o' summat s'mornin' ter sweeten 'er up a bit." "Awa' an' shite ye!" was Rose's immediate response, as expected. His next comment had them all chuckling, though. "Oi best get back ter get me lovely sorted fer her shift. Oi just wonder 'ow many more o' yer nurse buddies are goin' ter come out 'ere ter grab a man, then?" With that as a parting shot, he left through the back door. However, they could all see that Bernie's observations were spot on. *** The early morning drizzle had developed into a steady fall of light rain by the time Izzie had made her way into town, but it hadn't dampened her spirits though. She was headed to court for a final confrontation with the man she was divorcing and today would be the last settlement of their estate. While two sets of legal teams had been haggling over who-gets-what for a few weeks now, Izzie had done a bit of preparation of her own. Today was the day for her to present her case, and she had a few little surprises for them all. Not least her ex-husband. She parked at the court house and spent a few minutes checking her make-up, then she had a quick look through her paperwork as a final check to be perfectly sure it was all there. Then she went in to wait to be called to the mitigation chambers. Her ex-husband was sat there with his barrister, but he did not look up, and not a word was spoken between them. This was not a happy gathering. Izzie's own legal representative came in and bid her "Good morning." She just nodded. Then he saw the others sitting there, and understood. "Would you like to wait in another room?" he asked. Izzie nodded and said "Yes please." So he led her into a small interview room, and said "No-one will disturb us here. Now is there anything you would like to tell me before we go into main business of the day?" At this, Izzie smiled and said, "Actually, quite a lot." She put her folder on the table and drew out a sheaf of papers and an envelope with photographs in it. As she did so, she said, "I was having a day out at a traction rally yesterday. I ran into some of my business colleagues there, and we went around the fair together. One of our group noticed that we were being followed, and mentioned it to his friend. Then they confronted this person who told them he had been assigned to follow my movements to see if I had any association with another man. There turned out to be two of them, and they had been paid by my ex-husband's legal team to try and establish if I was in another relationship. If so, it would compromise my position here today. That was their plan. Now, prepare yourself for my own plan." She brought out the photos and placed them on the table. "These were taken by a friend of mine on a visit to London recently," she said. 3. They looked like typical tourist shots, and he said so. "That's what my friend was doing, but then she noticed someone in the background she recognised. Look here." She showed a photo of Eros and the roundabout where it was set. Izzie pointed to a couple of people just about to enter a hotel off the side of the main street in the background. "That just happens to be that man in the other room, and the lady he is with is definitely not me! These were taken a few months ago, in June, and he was supposedly away on a business trip in Europe. This was before I began the divorce proceedings, too. We were still married at this time." Her barrister smiled and said, "This looks like a very strong bargaining chip." She held up her hand to silence him. "I've got a lot more yet." She laid out some of the papers, and said. "These are photo-copies from the bank. I actually had to pay to get these, but they show quite clearly how my ex has been drawing funds from out joint account by forging my signature. That is fraud, right?" Her barrister let out a whistle, and said, "You've certainly done your homework here. You could get the man locked up with this kind of evidence. Fraud, miss-appropriation of funds, illegal access to your account, plus a case for his infidelity to round it all off. I would say that what ever their council has to face us with, they will have no answer to this little lot. So just what do you intend?" Izzie smiled, "Yon man married me for my business brain, not for any passion, so now I'm going to make him pay. I know he owes a lot of people money, so I'm going to make him the offer of enough to clear his debts, just. Make them a one time offer of twenty thousand pounds. Otherwise this will be presented to a criminal court. One final thing, I want an order preventing him from any form of contact or intimidation in future. Can we put that in place?" Her barrister looked at her in pure admiration. "Lady Munroe, you most certainly are a very smart lady. Yes, we can get a legal restraining order placed on him. It's enforceable by law, and he would be liable for a fine or even jail if he breaks the order. Would that be what you need?" "That's just what I need." she said. At ten thirty on the dot they were summoned into the inner chambers before the magistrate. Izzie's barrister asked if he could approach the bench, which was granted. He presented the evidence Izzie had given him without any display of the triumph he was feeling. He also mentioned the fact that she had been followed by men in her previous husband's employment in an attempt to link her with a male companion, and so sully her reputation. This was a ploy to gain some advantage in the pending settlement. The magistrate just said, "Hmm." Then he looked through the pile of paperwork, and after reading through the first half a dozen sheets he said, "This would take too much of the court's time to read through it all, so please tell me briefly what this represents." Izzie's barrister did just that. "M'lord, these papers demonstrate very clearly that the plaintiff had been fraudulently withdrawing funds from a joint business account for his own personal use by forging my client's signature on a number of occasions. We also have some evidence of infidelity, which may have been his motive." The magistrate looked towards the other bench. "Viscount Duncan, these are quite serious accusations. From what I have seen here, the lady has grounds to bring a criminal action against you. I would suggest that this would be successful case and could merit a custodial sentence. Do you have anything to say about that at all?" His barrister conferred in whispers, then stood up to say, "No comment, M'Lord. My client does not wish to respond." The magistrate turned back to Izzie's barrister and asked, "How do you wish to proceed?" With a perfectly expressionless face he stated, "My client wishes for a full and complete settlement with her presenting Viscount Duncan with a sum of twenty thousand pounds 4. sterling. This to be the total sum. All other assets to remain in my client's possession. My client also would ask this court to grant a full restraining order on the plaintiff, effective from this date. This is due to the fact that while my client was out with some friends at a traction rally yesterday they were being followed and monitored by two people who were in Viscount Duncan's employ." "Thank you, Mr Hollins. I feel that there would be no point in wasting this court's time with any further pontification. Subject to your client providing the sum mentioned within twenty-eight days of this hearing, I find in your favour. You will receive notification of the restraining order from this court within fourteen days of this hearing. Case closed!" He banged a gavel down. "Court will rise!" came a call from an usher, and they all stood up. The magistrate bowed, and stepped out through a door behind the bench, and was gone. "Is that it?" Izzie asked, bewildered. "I thought we'd be here nearly all day for this." Her barrister just gave a smile, and said, "Two things going for you here. First, your evidence was solid, so there was no room for negotiation; and secondly, today is Thursday. The beak is off to play golf later, and he doesn't want to be sat here all day. You've got just what you wanted. congratulations." Izzie stepped out into the rain and turned her face up to feel it. Then she went to her car to dry herself off before driving slowly towards Dan's store. When she got there the first person she met was Smitty, and she grabbed him in a cuddle, saying; "I won my case! I've got the house! I've got all the business contacts! I've got my freedom!" Smitty swung her around and sat her in a chair by the refreshment corner. "I'll sort you out a coffee, while you come back down to earth." he told her. "Is Paddy here?" she asked. This meant Dan. Like most of the people who knew him, she called him Paddy. The exceptions were his army friends, who always referred to him as Reckless, but that is a totally different story. [As told in 'The (Incredible) Fortunes of Riley.] "He's at home in his workshop today." Smitty said, "I know you're just bursting to tell him, so get on the phone. Are we celebrating again this weekend, then?" "Aye. Ah hope so!" was her reply, and she had lapsed back into her native Scottish accent again. "We cannae dae another t'night, after last night's wee bash, can we?" "Maybe a little drop or two." said Smitty with a grin. She got onto the phone and called Dan. "Oi'm here. Who's calling?" he responded. "Oh Paddy, Ah've done wi' ma court, an' Ah got everything Ah wanted. Ah want tae celebrate but after last night it may be a wee bit tae much, hey no?" Dan chuckled, "Congratulations! We can have a drop or two t'night, but Oi tink yer can push the boat out on Friday night if yer like. How about yer ask Smitty ter get the mob in ter help yer make a proper job o' the ting?" "Will ye be goin' tae ye're local t'night, then?" she asked. Dan replied, "Oi tink Oi might be able ter persuade me sweet ter take a look in fer yer. Give me a ring when yer about ter come down in case we have ter make other plans. Oi'm not sure if Rose is up ter the mark, so we could get a few drinks in at my place. That would be us, Smitty, likely, with Aunty Mew. Probably Bernie and Helen are likely ter want ter be a part o' the party an' all. So that should be enough