As promised, first thing Monday Andy went to see the Doctor and laid it on thick. By the time he was finished the doctor said, “Well, given your past history I recommend you take some time away from work” and five minutes later Andy was walking out of the surgery with a sick note for three weeks. When he got back home he rang work and told them that the Doctor had put him on the sick for a couple of weeks with stress and told them that he would post the sick note to them, which he did and later that morning he rang Bella.
“Hi sweetie, how you doing?” “I’m fine” said Bella, “did you go to the doctors?” “Yes, I did and she’s put me on the sick for three weeks” “Excellent” said Bella, barely able to contain her excitement, “Well I’m free if you want to come round for a coffee,” she said. “Ok, be round in half an hour” Andy replied.
Half an hour later Andy arrived at Bella’s. “Hi sweetie” he said has he walked through the front door. “Aloha, I’m in the kitchen” Bella replied. Andy entered the kitchen and sat down and keen to instigate the next stage of her and Alicia’s cunning plan, Bella carefully sparked the conversation….
“So, any thoughts on what you’re going to do with your time off?”“Not really” Andy replied. “Well I think you should take a trip, maybe head up to Scotland and chill out for a few days” “Do you mean both of us?” Andy replied. “I can’t this week sweetie, I’m back to back, but I could look on the internet and see if I can find you a good deal for a couple of nights. I think you should, it’ll do you the world of good and when you get back I will book somewhere local for both of us” – her fingers were crossed under the table. “I’d love to get away for a bit, ok see if you can find me a deal, but not too expensive I’m not that flush at the moment.” “Don’t worry about that, I’ve had a good couple of months I could give you some cash to pay for the hotel” Bella said.“Are you sure B? I don’t want you to go short?” “No, it’s fine honestly” Bella reassured him.
Unbeknownst to Andy, Bella knew exactly where she was going to send him, as part of their research, she and Alicia had visited a local library and used one of the computers, not wanting to use their own which could show searches and incriminate them later on. They’d come across a place near Oban in Scotland called Connell;they chose this place for a very special reason. For in Connell were the Falls of Lora. The falls of Lora are situated six miles North East of Oban on the West Coast of Scotland. The falls are generated when the tide level in the Firth of Lorn drops below the level of the water in Loch Etive. On the ebb tide, the seawater in Loch Etive pours out through the narrows which are themselves spanned by the spectacular and historic Connell Bridge. The currents and waves produced by the flood tide can be very dangerous, if someone was to fall or jump in they would almost certainly drown and be taken by the strong current and washed out to sea.
However, for the plan to work, she had to ensure Andy was at the right place on the right date and at the right time. She had to persuade him to book into the Oyster Inn on the 20th; having studied the tidal timetable for the Falls, she knew that on the 21stFebruary, between 17.18 and 20.57 in the evening the falls would be in flow. Sun set on that day would be at 17.43 - that meant that Andy had to be at a spot close to the falls at between 17.50 and 20.30 when it was dark, ensuring the plan would work seamlessly. Another reason Bella had chosen that date was because she had no appointments on the 21st or 22nd, meaning both she and Alicia could travel up to Scotland using a hire car and after shrinking Andy, they could drive back down and return home in the early hours of the morning. Under the cover of darkness, they could get Andy into the house without being seen, Bella was going to leave her own car on her drive so that it looked like she was at home the whole time.
As she already knew the hotel that he would be staying at, she rang Andy - “Hi sweetie, I have been on the internet and found a lovely hotel called the Oyster Inn at Connell near Oban, you should book it for the 20th, and don’t worry about money, I will give you the cash for the room.” “Brilliant – I’ll book it now” said Andy and after thanking her, he rang off and went straight onto the internet. After coming off the phone, she rang Alicia to update her. “Hi Ali, I’ve got him to book that hotel we looked up, if for some reason he can’t get in on those dates, I’ve found another hotel nearby just in case the Oyster is full. I know, the Oyster is perfect as it’s very near to where we intend to pick him up, meaning he can leave his car at the hotel and walk the short distance to where we’ll be waiting, and of course, by leaving his car at the hotel it will lessen the chance of us being spotted. When we get to Connell I will phone him from a pay phone and tell him to meet me at the spot we planned saying that I have travelled up to surprise him and join him for the two days “Brilliant!!! It all seems to be going well, let’s hope he can book the Oyster “said Alicia.“I’m sure it will be fine at this time of year” replied Bella and with that they said their goodbyes and rang off.
No sooner had Bella put the phone down, it rang again. It was Andy - “Hi sweetie, I’ve booked it from the 20th until the 23rd” “Perfect” replied Bella, “how much is it for the room?” “£230.00 and that includes breakfast.” “That’s not bad, sounds like a bargain to me” replied Bella. “We can go out for early doors tomorrow evening and you can stay at mine and leave first thing on Wednesday morning”. “Sounds like a plan” replied Andy, “Ok sweetie, get packing and I will see you tomorrow night at 6.00 in the pub.” “Ok B, see you then, bye for now” and Andy rang off. Bella once again phoned Alicia to bring her up to date.
The next day Andy had packed and loaded his car ready for the trip, he was really looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and wished Bella was coming with him. Oh well, she did say that she would book somewhere for them both to go when he got back, he thought. Andy drove the short distance to the local pub, thinking he would get there first and get the drinks in. To his surprise Bella was already there and was sitting outside with two pints.
“HiBel, you’re on the ball tonight aren’t you? I thought I would be first here so I could get the round in.” “I needed to go to the bank and draw the cash out for the room, you can get the next one in” she said. “Ok” replied Andy. After talking about the usual stuff for a time Andy got up,“I’m getting a beer sweetie what do you want”- “a small house red ta” Bella replied. Andy picked his phone up off the table and removed his bank card from the pocket in his phone cover and putting his phone back down on the table he went inside. “Thank goodness for that” Bella thought and quickly picking up Andy’s phone she put it in her hand bag and went inside. “I’m just going to the loo sweetie” she said as she passed Andy at the bar. “Ok” Andy replied.When she got into the toilet she entered one of the cubicles and took Andy’s phone from out of her bag. She knew the pin for his phone was 1508 and unlocked the screen, she then switched off the phone returning, burying it at the bottom of her bag, she left the toilet and returned to Andy outside.
“Have you seen my phone sweetie” asked Andy. “I thought you took it in with you?” Bella replied. “No, I just took my card out and put it back on the table, I think someone has stolen it” said Andy. “Bugger, are you sure you didn’t take it with you and you’ve left it on the bar?” said Bella. “No, I definitely left it on the table.” “Sorry sweetie I didn’t see it, I would have picked it up and given it to you when I went to the loo if I’d have seen it on the table”. Stressing, Andy said “What am I going to do now? I’m going to Scotland tomorrow and will be buggered without my phone!! It’s got all my contacts in I won’t be able to get in touch with anyone!” “Don’t panic” said Bella calmly, “I have my old phone at home, I keep it for a spare in case something happens to mine. It’s got a sim card in it and just needs putting on charge for a bit. You can use that whilst you’re away and as soon as you get back we can sort your phone out, I’m sure it will have turned up by then - it will probably get handed in and be here when you get back.” Although Andy was fed up about losing his phone, he really wanted to go on this trip and accepted Bella’s offer to borrow her old phone while he was away. At least he would be able to contact her– hers was the only number he’d committed to memory.
Now Bella was a perfectionist and every bit of the plan had to be executed with precision and she had taken Andy’s phone to make sure he would be limited by who he could contact whilst he was away, and she would need it to hand when he was picked up. She also knew that the fewer people he spoke to, the more convinced his friends and family would be that he was, indeed, suffering from depression – going to ground and wanting some alone time. She had been out a couple of days before and purchased a SIM card for her old phone that would allow Andy to only make calls and send texts; he would have no access to Facebook where he could post funny pictures as he often did, as this would make it look like he was in good spirits and that’s exactly what Bella didn’t want.
