Danger! Naked Woman Part 01 free porn video

Danger! Naked Woman – Part 1

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Copyright Oggbashan June 2004 The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.


It was dark and raining, the light rain that doesn’t seem much but soaks through everything in minutes. I was driving carefully along a side road on Romney Marsh watching carefully for the sudden right hand corners that marked the edge of a water-filled dyke. I had been to a committee meeting about a re-enactment event. The meeting had adjourned to a friend’s house and we had been chatting for hours. I was thinking hard about a plot for Nude Day that is National in the US but is celebrated as Bastille Day in Europe. I was more successful in the driving than plot construction. So far I hadn’t made any sudden stops or violent swerves. The plot was more elusive than the twists in the road.

‘Wouldn’t it be nice,’ I thought ‘if an attractive naked woman could appear in my headlights, flagging me down for help.’

That was unlikely as a plot and even more unlikely in real life. At two a.m. on a Saturday morning, in the rain, I was more likely to have an accident. If a naked woman occurred it would probably be a trap, a car jacking or something. But who would want my car? It is old, reliable, but had no real value to anyone but me. I’d probably have to scrap it when it finally started to become uneconomic to repair. And if a naked woman did appear she would probably be some ancient crone suffering from senile dementia who had escaped from her care home. She’d probably pee all over my car’s worn upholstery as I drove her to the nearest Police station.

Where was the nearest Police Station open at this time of night? Folkestone might be open or Dover perhaps, but Ashford, although in the wrong direction was most likely.

Thinking about naked women reminded me of my ex-wife Emma. Even though we had been divorced for more than two years we still made love once in a while, only when she wanted me. I never forced myself on her but if she wanted sex I was always willing. I had the feeling that this stage in our lives was coming to an end. I think she had found a new man and didn’t need me for sex. If that were true it would be good news for both of us. We needed to move on and rebuild our lives. I would be sad because making love to Emma was almost always great. She was passionate and noisy, always totally naked, and I managed to satisfy her almost every time. I could almost see her naked body lying against my shoulder, her hair spread over my chest…

Blast! I had to brake hard to avoid a sheep in the road. Where had she escaped from? Should I try to find out and put her back in her field? No. I didn’t know which field, it was pitch black under the low cloud, and I didn’t fancy trying to persuade a soggy sheep to go anywhere. Sheep are remarkably awkward when they want to be.

As I edged the car past the started sheep I thought that was it. I had met the naked female. The sheep was female, she wasn’t wearing any clothes, she was soaking wet, but she didn’t need my help. She was enjoying the usually inaccessible roadside grass.

Around the next bend a car’s reflector caught my headlight as it passed. An abandoned car, I thought, as the light passed on. Then I braked. The shape of the reflector was modern, too modern for a wreck. I reversed carefully. There were tyre tracks across the grass verge and the car was nose down in a dyke. This looked bad. I climbed out of the car and put on the key-ring torch. The car’s number plate showed that the car was only a year or so old. I went back to my car and reversed so that the headlights shone on the wreck. I had to leave my ignition on, so I detached the torch from my car keys.

I through the wrecked fence and scrambled down beside the ditched car. I shone the torch inside, expecting a mangled body or two. There was a body resting on the deflated air bag but it didn’t look mangled. It was female, her blonde hair splayed across the air bag, with her face away from me. I wrenched at the door handle. It opened easily but upwards because the car was tilted away from me. I gently touched the bare shoulder. It was cool to the touch, not dead but chilled.

The woman moaned and stirred. Her head lifted from the air bag. She turned towards me. Her eyes squinted against the feeble light of my tiny torch. She didn’t look like attractive at present, her make up smeared on her face; red lines where she had been resting on the creases of the air bag.

“Who’s there?” She asked.

“I’m Paul,” I said. “A passing driver. How are you?”

She lifted her head further.

“I don’t know... Paul. Where am I?”

“In a wrecked car on Romney Marsh. It looks as if you ran off the road into a ditch. Was anyone else with you?”

“Anyone else? No. I was alone.”

She unfastened her seat belt and tried to get out of the car. That was when I saw that she was naked, nude, devoid of clothes, not even a G-string. I couldn’t see any obvious injury so I helped her out into my arms. I carried her up the bank through the stinging nettles and brambles. I opened my passenger door and lowered her to the seat. Her arms were clasped around my neck. As the car’s interior light shone over her I was very aware that she had an attractive body and that she was naturally blonde. I looked carefully. I couldn’t see any injuries apart from a couple of grazes to her knees.

She became aware of my scrutiny. Her hands covered her pussy. I reached past her to pull the car rug from the back seat. She accepted it gravely and covered herself from the neck downwards.

I remembered enough first aid to check for concussion. I asked the usual questions. The answers that mattered: Her name is Julia; she lives alone in Canterbury; she had come to the Marsh to spend a weekend with a man she wouldn’t name but she had changed her mind and fled in HIS car which she had crashed. She knew the date, who was the Prime Minister, she could see my fingers – all that sort of thing. She had been drinking too much before she drove away.

I asked what she wanted to do now.

“Paul,” she answered, “HE will be looking for me. I don’t want HIM to find me today.”

“Does he know where you live?”

“Yes.”

“But if you have crashed his car, surely he is stuck – wherever he is?”

“No. He still has his four-wheel drive. I took his Porsche – and wrecked it.”

Julia started crying. I pulled her to my shoulder. She rested against it, burying her face and sobbing convulsively. I let her cry, stroking her damp blonde hair.

I was thinking furiously. An imaginary plot about a naked woman was one thing. A real distressed naked woman crying against my shoulder was different. I could see many problems for me. Julia might look attractive but what was she like? She could accuse me of attempted **** and I’d have little defence. She was still naked under that rug. How could I get her somewhere where she could get clothes if she didn’t want to go home? What did I do about the wrecked Porsche? Where exactly was I?

I scrabbled for a map. I knew where I was coming from and where I was heading when I stopped. Could I find the exact position on the map? I opened it and peered, using my key ring torch again.

Julia stirred from my shoulder. She wiped her tears with the edge of the rug inadvertently flashing an appealing nipple. I looked away. I didn’t want more trouble. She smiled at me.

“Sorry, Paul, did I reveal something? It doesn’t matter. You’ve seen all of me, haven’t you? Getting worried about being the knight in shining armour?”

I nodded.

“What are you trying to do?” she asked.

“Find out exactly where you crashed so that the car can be recovered.”

“Oh. The Porsche has GPS. Would that help? I don’t know how to use it but Jo…” She cut his name off. “…he was proud of it. He demonstrated it as we drove down but switched it off when we got to the Marsh.”

“If it is still working it would be useful.” I started to climb out of the car. Julia caught my arm. I looked back at her.

“There’s a torch in the Porsche. Much more useful than that tiny thing.”

“Thanks. I’ll try to find it.”

The torch was in a clip under the dashboard. It was expensive and powerful. I turned the ignition on and the GPS. I wrote the position down on the back of a credit card slip before turning everything off again. I took the torch and climbed around the car. Julia must have been travelling slowly. The ‘fence’ she had hit was two hurdles tied together with binding twine. They were under the front wheels. As far as I could tell the Porsche wasn’t even scratched. The front had slid down against soft mud. “Jo…” whoever he was, might have to pay for a new airbag but that might be all. I checked the interior and luggage compartment. They were totally empty. There wasn’t even a scrap of paper to give a clue to the owner’s identity. I wrote the car’s registration on the credit car slip, replaced the torch in the Porsche, hid the ignition keys under the passenger seat, and returned to Julia.

“The Porsche looks undamaged, Julia. How fast were you going?”

“Very slow. I was drunk, lost, and I didn’t know the road. I swerved to avoid a sheep and then the road wasn’t there. I think the air bag knocked me out. Silly, isn’t it?”

“OK. Now we need to talk. What do we do about the car? Tell him?”

“No!” She nearly screamed. “I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to see him again – ever.”

“OK. How about if I tell the police, anonymously, where the car is?”

“Maybe… If we are nowhere near it. I don’t want to meet a police car and answer questions, especially dressed in a rug.”

“OK, Julia. Let’s get to a main road first. Before we start one last question. Would you rather be dressed very conspicuously but demurely, or stay wrapped in that rug?”

“Dressed, please. What do you mean, conspicuous?”

“As Catherine of Aragon.”

“What!”

“As Catherine of Aragon. I’ve got my costume as Henry VIII in the car, and I have Catherine’s costume as well. The lady who used to wear it has moved and I’m to store it until we find the new Catherine. It should fit you, I think.”

“OK. I think I’d rather be Catherine than a naked floozy in a rug. Where is it?”

“In the back.”

I reached over and grabbed the large plastic carrier bag.

“Here you are. Want any help?”

“I think you have helped enough, Paul. I’ll get out and put this on in the headlights. Can you try not to look, please?”

“OK.”

I studied the map assiduously until Julia swept back into the car in her long dress. This time I looked. The sweeping cloth of gold dress accentuated her trim waist and breasts, yet the neckline was high. She looked regal except for the rain spangled and tangled hair or her smeared make up. I passed her a comb and tissue box and tipped the sunvisor down to reveal the illuminated mirror. Julia grabbed the comb gratefully. She used it to reduce her hair to a manageable condition before combing it with long steady strokes. She removed the wreck of her make-up with the tissues before settling down in the seat.

“I feel more like myself now,” she announced, “even dressed as a queen. I left her tiara in the bag. I thought that was too much.”

“Perhaps not,” I said. A tidied up Julia was attractive without makeup. With it she would be stunning.

“Let’s go.” She said.

“Where?” I asked as I started the car and drove off. “You don’t want to go home. We’ll go to a main road and report the Porsche, but what then?”

“I don’t know. We’ll think of something. Is your wife waiting for you?”

“What wife? I’m not married. I was but she left me for someone else. I’ve been divorced for two years. We’re still friends but nothing else. The bastard left her two months before the divorce was final.”

“That sounded like real venom, Paul. Are you sure you still don’t love her?”

“No. She doesn’t love me, either. We liked each other, we were young, we were great in bed, we got married. Only then did we find out that we didn’t love each other. He was the catalyst to end something that shouldn’t have happened. He treated her badly. How? She never said but I knew it must have been traumatic because she changed suddenly as if I was far better than him. She stopped treating me as an opponent and became much friendlier towards me. She still is. We went through with the divorce even after he had left because although we like each other there is nothing else. We are happier apart and respect each other more.”

“Sounds a sad ending…”

“Maybe, but better that we found out before we had c***dren. What about you? How…”

“How did I end up crashing a car while driving naked? It’s a long story.”

“We have time. It’ll take at least twenty minutes to get to a main road and then…”

“OK. He, I won’t give his name, had been chasing me for weeks before I accepted a couple of his invitations for a meal out, the theatre, that sort of thing. We were beginning to become a couple, I thought. He had been pleasant and hadn’t pushed me too far. A couple of my friends had dropped subtle hints but I thought I could handle myself. One friend was insistent but I diagnosed jealousy. Eventually…”

I kept quiet. I didn’t think Julia wanted a comment.

“…he invited me to his cottage for a weekend. I couldn’t invite him to my flat. It is far too small and the bed takes up most of the space. I could make love there, but it isn’t the place for a romantic dinner first. I stalled for a few weeks until I agreed to let him collect me yesterday evening. Mary, the friend I though was jealous, tried hard to put me off going. She said a lot but only now do I know what she was trying to say that he wasn’t safe to be with. I wish I’d listened to her, but I thought it was sour g****s because she had been his girlfriend for a few months.

We went to a pub in Dymchurch for a few drinks and finally arrived at his cottage about nine o’clock. He had told me to bring the absolute minimum because apart from the village pub there is nowhere to go and there isn’t much space in the Porsche for luggage. I wore a plain black jersey dress, ankle length, over a full slip. I had a long narrow golden belt that went twice round my waist and hung down the front like a medieval woman’s girdle. I took a couple of pairs of panties, a spare bra, a basic make-up kit, and a pair of slacks and a blouse. Oh, and a T-shirt nightie. He said that the cottage was basic and old clothes would be best.”

Julia stopped.

“I think that remembering my clothes is important to me. I chose them. They defined my identity and I think getting me out of them was his way of depersonalising me. He tried to turn me into any woman, or perhaps a particular woman he had a grudge against. Once I was naked he never said my name, only endearments such as ‘darling’. I suppose I’ve lost those clothes. They don’t really matter. What does matter is that I am me, not just any woman. I had taken nothing I really valued except my flat keys. I’ll miss the golden belt. I liked that but it is replaceable. I have a similar dress and I was wearing the older one. I didn’t take any money or credit cards. He told me not to because I wouldn’t need money. I don’t need to go back. That’s a relief.”

“Are you sure? What about the flat keys?” I asked.

“The block has a coded entry system. He doesn’t know the code because he has never been inside. The flat key? I can change the lock. I can get in because several of my neighbours have spare keys. We keep each other’s keys for deliveries and cat-sitting – that sort of thing.”

“Any cat waiting despairingly for you?”

“No. There’s no room in my flat. It’s the smallest in the block.”

I didn’t comment. It struck me that Julia had been incredibly trusting. She had taken no identification, no money or means of getting money. “Jo…” whoever he was, had isolated her with no means of escape from him, except by something very drastic and relying on the kindness of strangers.

“Did anyone know where you were going?” I asked.

“Not exactly where. Some of my friends knew I was going with him to his cottage. One or two even suggested I was foolish. Mary was much more emphatic. I wish I’d listened. No one knew, not even I, where his cottage actually is except that it is on Romney Marsh. I alone knew that it was somewhere near Newchurch.”

“Could you find it again?”

Julia shuddered.

“I could. I wouldn’t want to. I have a very good sense of direction usually. I was watching where we went and I’m sure he took a long way round on purpose. Now I’m sure he did. Yesterday evening I was just slightly puzzled that he didn’t drive the easiest way from Newchurch. When I drove away I was in Newchurch in a couple of minutes. I turned away from the main route in case he was following and took a few random junctions. I was drunk, I still am slightly woozy, and I got myself lost. I was aiming for Ashford and the A28 when I met the sheep.”

“You were going the wrong way, back towards Hythe.”

“Was I? It doesn’t matter now, does it? I want a day to let him calm down. If I can stay away from home until Sunday no one will know how stupid I’ve been.”

“I’ll know.”

“Yes, Paul, but you are a stranger, not someone who warned me and I wouldn’t listen to them. I’d be embarrassed to go back and admit they were right.”

“More embarrassed than being found naked by a stranger, or dressing as Catherine of Aragon because you have nothing else to wear?”

Julia giggled. That was a heartening sound. I took it to mean that she was feeling better about herself.

“I feel very comfortable as Catherine of Aragon, thank you. I feel queenly and cosseted. The lining of this dress is slinky and sensuous. What is it? Silk? It feels like it.”

“I wouldn’t know. Until tonight I had only seen the dress in use, gliding along graciously beside me. I was a last minute substitute as Henry VIII. Until the dress rehearsal I’d never met the lady who played Catherine, and now she’s moved away. I was concentrating on my part, knowing that she knew hers.”

Julia crossed and uncrossed her legs. The dress swished as she moved, distracting me from the road for a second or two. I moved my eyes back to the road hurriedly. I couldn’t have seen anything of her because the reflection from the headlights wasn’t strong and the dress swept well beyond her feet. Her hands plucked at the skirt.

“It’s got built in petticoats as well. Taffeta, I think.”

We reached the main road. I pulled off the road across a farm track and reached for my mobile phone.

“I’ll tell the police where the Porsche is. OK?”

The main road’s lights illuminated Julia’s nod. I rang the anonymous Crimestoppers number and reported finding the Porsche. I gave its registration number, its exact position, and the fact that the ignition keys were under the passenger seat. I said that the car was empty when I left it, with no trace of a driver nearby.

“You lied,” said Julia.

“Did I?”

“You said there was no trace of a driver.”

“There wasn’t. You were sitting in my passenger seat when I ‘left’ the Porsche. If I had said that there was no trace when I found the car I would have lied. There wasn’t a trace of a driver when I left the Porsche. That wasn’t a lie.”

“Semantics!”

“Can be useful sometimes. Anyway, I was anonymous. They might be able to trace this mobile phone but so what? I had reason to be on Romney Marsh and I have no connection with the car’s owner. I have done what a good citizen should do. If the police act promptly your friend can have his Porsche back in the morning. He might have to use his four wheel drive to pull it out, but I’m sure the Porsche is still roadworthy and almost undamaged.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For sorting out the problem of the Porsche.”

“That problem was easy. The real problem is Julia. What do I do with you?”

“What do you want to do?”

“What I’d want to do, I’m too much of a gentleman to suggest. I’d like to meet Julia when she is in her own clothes, not recovering from alcohol, and not feeling grateful.”

“I think I’d like to meet Paul then. If you want to meet me.”

“I do. But gathering up a naked woman from a roadside is not a good way to start a relationship of equals. We have to get you decent, and since you want it that way, look after you tomorrow and tomorrow night. How?”

“I haven’t any idea. Have you, Paul?”

“Yes. But you might not like the suggestion.”

“Why not?”

“I think I need help with you. The only person who might help and understand is…” I paused.

Julia looked at me. One of those looks.

“…my ex-wife.”

Julia’s eyes opened wide.

“You’d take a naked woman to your ex-wife?”

“Yes. It’s the best solution I can think of.”

“It doesn’t sound a good idea to me, but even if you think it is, surely she wouldn’t welcome us at…” Julia peered at the dashboard clock “…four o’clock in the morning.”

“No. That might strain our remaining relationship too far. We’ll have to wait until a reasonable time, perhaps nine, before I ring her. She can say ‘No’ but I think she is worth a try. I have helped her since we divorced. I even helped her move out away from her ex-lover and told him where to go when he tried to stop her. I nearly had to resort to v******e but I am much larger and heavier than he is so he backed off. She might see this as clearing a debt.”

“So what do we do until then?”

I looked at her.

“…and NOT that!” she added.

“Honestly, I wasn’t suggesting…”

“You were thinking it, weren’t you?” She accused.

“I can’t help my thoughts. I can control my actions. I think we should find somewhere quiet and have a few hours sleep, and I mean sleep.”

Julia found my hand and squeezed it.

“Thank you, Paul, for the thought and for the control. I feel safer in this dress than naked in your arms, but I’m also aware that I am alone with you and wholly dependent on you – until I get home.”

“Yet you don’t want to go home until tomorrow. Isn’t that trusting a stranger too much?”

“I don’t think of you as a stranger anymore. I think, no, I’m sure that I can trust you. I thought I could trust him but…”

“What happened to make you run away? You went to his cottage willingly. What changed?”

“I might as well tell you. I was prepared to have sex, and to enjoy it with him but several things began to niggle at me through the alcohol. I had drunk too much and I think he intended that I should. We had sherry while the meal was warming, wine with it – he kept topping my glass up even when I protested – and then more wine with the dessert and we were to have champagne afterwards. He then suggested that we play strip poker. By that time I was so drunk that I thought it was a good idea but…”

“But what…?”

“He made a real production of it. He set the rules. There was a large antique chest in the room. He said that every time we lost, the clothes we lost should go into the chest. He put my overnight bag in it before we started. He said that was to make sure I didn’t cheat by using more clothes than I was wearing. I had no intention of cheating. I came to have sex with him, so shedding my clothes was what I expected to do. The chest’s key was attached to the handle. We started playing while the champagne cooled in an ice bucket in the kitchen. I lost badly. I know I was drunk but I’m usually adequate at poker. I remember arguing that my pantyhose were equivalent to a pair of his socks and he couldn’t count each sock separately. Within a few hands all my clothes were in that chest. The chest was shut…”

Julia closed her eyes and shuddered. This time I held her hand.

“I needed the bathroom in a hurry so I went there. He went to get the champagne. When I returned he was still in the kitchen. I felt slightly cold so I thought I would wrap my T-shirt around me at least until he came back. I tried to open the chest. The key didn’t fit. There was a keyhole but it was full of old polish. I tried to open the chest. It wouldn’t open. Why? And why the charade of putting the clothes into the chest anyway? I was getting suspicious. I picked up the pack of cards and flipped them. They were marked. This seemed too much effort just to get me naked. If he had taken me to the bedroom, kissed me and asked me to strip, I would have. Why the elaborate arrangements? All I could think was that he wanted me not just naked but deprived of all clothing. I didn’t like the implications. My actions and thoughts had only taken a few seconds but seem much longer thinking back. I went towards the kitchen, thinking to ask him for something to settle my stomach. Because I was concerned about his actions I peered past the door first. He had poured the champagne into two glasses but he was adding a liquid from a small bottle to one of them. That really sobered me up. I rushed to the hall, grabbing his car keys as I fled. I hoped that there would be something I could wear in the hall. There wasn’t. I remembered there hadn’t even been a towel in the bathroom. I opened the front door, sliding back the bolts quietly, and pulled it to, but not shut. I got into the Porsche. There was nothing to wear in it. He appeared at the front door, shouting for me. I started the Porsche and drove off in a hurry. He ran a few yards after me but I was away. Then I drove until I saw the sheep and crashed.”

“Have you any idea what he intended?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. Whatever it was, I’m certain I would have objected. He wouldn’t have planned everything if it were something I would be happy to do. I don’t think he wanted normal sex. He had taken me to a place that none of my friends knew, he had ensured I had nothing to identify me, not even my clothes, and he had made me drunk. What the liquid was I don’t know but I wasn’t going to try it.”

Julia shuddered again. I pulled her head to my shoulder. She cried against it. She stroked my chest. I liked that.

“I can’t say that he actually did anything. I can’t prove anything against him. I’m happy that I got away safely. I think he had tried whatever he wanted to do before. He was too organised for it to be his first time.”

Julia turned so her breasts were pressed against me. I hugged her and tried to distract myself from her hard nipples.

“Well,” she said, “Where are we going for sleeping? Any ideas?”

“Yes. There is a quiet car park on the beach near New Romney. We should be there in five minutes.”

I drove to New Romney, past the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway station and to the sea. We reclined the seats and spread the car rug over us. Julia settled on my shoulder, her blonde hair spread over my chest, as we dozed.

I woke with a stiff neck. I eased myself out from under Julia and left the car for a short walk to look at the sea. When I returned Julia had raised the car seats and was watching me. I got back into the car. It was eight thirty in the morning.

“Want some breakfast?” I asked.

“Yes, but I can’t go anywhere like this,” Julia said plucking at the splayed cloth of gold skirt.

“There’s a convenience store in New Romney. They should have some sandwiches and coffee. That do?”

“Coffee? Yes please. Black and strong if possible. I’m too aware how much I drank last night. A washroom would be nice. But how?”

“No problem. We are parked next to the toilet block. A council workman opened it half an hour ago. The block is between us and the road so no one will see you.”

Julia was out of the car and into the toilet block like a frightened rabbit bolting for its burrow. She held up her flowing skirt as she ran across the tarmac. Ten minutes later she emerged fresh-faced and smiling.

“Led me to the coffee,” she ordered as she fastened her seat belt.

In New Romney I parked in a corner of the car park while I got the food and coffee and a few other things. Julia drank the coffee as if her life depended on it. I went back to the shop for a refill. As I left the shop I saw that a charity shop opposite was just opening. I handed the coffee to Julia and asked:

“What dress size are you?”

Julia spluttered.

“What dress size are you?” I repeated.

“14, sometimes 12. Depends on the store. Why?”

“There’s a charity shop open. If I could get you something to wear…”

“Please. This dress is great but not suitable for a Saturday morning.”

I found a plain denim skirt, a light blue cotton top, and a pair of sandals that seemed the right size. The bill was three pounds. Julia received them as if they were her best presents ever. I cut the price tags off with my penknife. Five minutes later Catherine of Aragon’s dress was back in its plastic bag and Julia was conventionally dressed if still without bra and panties.

“Can we go to the shop and get some more?” she asked.

“As long as you don’t mind a few odd looks. They’ll recognise what I bought.”

“Odd looks I can stand. They would be really staring if I was still naked.”

“OK. Do you want to go alone, or with me?”

“With you. You are paying.”

We went back to the charity shop. Julia bought another cotton skirt, a couple of bras, a handful of panties, a lightweight jacket, a pair of shoes, a small suitcase and a small plain handbag. I found a pair of Ladies jeans, size 14, on the reduced rail. Julia examined them carefully for holes and flaws before adding them to the heap. On the counter there was a basket of odd items of cosmetics at ten pence each. Julia sorted out a few items and a small plastic hand mirror. The assistant who served us was different. The lady who had served me before had retreated to the stock room so there were no ‘odd looks’ for us. This time the bill was seven pounds. Everything went into the suitcase.

Back at the car I carefully removed the labels. Julia wriggled seductively beside me as she fitted herself with bra and panties. I produced the brush and comb, ponytail holder, hairpins and pack of tights I had bought in the convenience store. She used the car’s vanity mirror to apply the make-up. Finally she turned to me.

“What do you think?”

I couldn’t answer at first. Her hair was shining in a loose ponytail. This morning’s fresh scrubbed look had gone. The imperfections I had seen last night were history. Apart from slightly redder lips Julia didn’t appear to be wearing make up yet there had been a transformation to a beautiful woman. How? I have no idea.

“Wow!” I said.

Julia kissed me.

“Wow is good.” She said. “Now I can face the world. Perhaps I could even face your ex-wife. Does she have a name?”

“Emma. Shall I call her?”

“If you think it is a good idea. Up to you. I haven’t got another suggestion.”

“OK. Do you mind if I call from outside the car? I might have to explain.”

“I’m sure you will have to. Go on. I’ll be here.”

I rang Emma. She wasn’t too surprised to hear from me but as soon as I started to explain about Julia she cut me short.

“Paul! You, and she, are in deep shit. There’s been a report on the local radio. A man was found dead in his cottage near Newchurch. A blonde was seen driving his car through the village about one o’clock. The police want her to come forward. Is she your Julia?”

“It certainly sounds like her. Oh hell! What do I do?”

“Go to the police…”

“Not without a solicitor. Your solicitor lives in Hythe, doesn’t he?”

“Yes…”

“Have you got his home number?”

“Maybe.”

I heard Emma flipping through pages.

“Yes. Got a pen?”

“No. Hang on.”

I went back to the car, opened the door and took a pen from the glove box. Julia looked at me. I held my finger to my lips. She nodded. She didn’t look like a murderess but how could I tell?

“OK, Emma. I have a pen.”

She gave me the number.

“Thank you. I’ll let you know what happens.”

“OK. Please ring me. I might know something about it…”

That puzzled me. How could Emma, in Hastings, know something about last night in Romney Marsh? I dismissed it as irrelevant.

“…And Paul…”

“Yes.”

“Look after yourself. We may not be married any more but you still mean a lot to me. I wouldn’t want you hurt.”

“Nor would I want you hurt either, Emma. See you.”

I switched the phone off. When I got back to the car Julia looked at me.

“Not as simple as you thought?” she said.

“No. We’re in trouble.”

“We?”

“Yes. We. The police are looking for a blonde who drove through Newchurch last night in someone else’s Porsche.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think it can be a coincidence. He… is dead.”

“Dead! He was very much alive when I left him.”

“I believe you. Will the police?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to him. Once I was away I couldn’t have cared. Someone else found him perhaps? What do I do?”

“What do WE do is the question. Emma gave me the home number of her solicitor in Hythe. We could ring him, go to see him, and get advice. He will probably advise you to surrender to the police but if you have a solicitor, and me with you, you should be treated reasonably.”

“Ring him! Now! Please! This is enough of a nightmare. I haven’t done anything. How could I kill him barehanded and naked? Did Emma say how he died?”

“No. I don’t think the radio report can have done either. If Emma thought I was with a murderess she would have been more worried. She was concerned but not worried, if you see what I mean.”

“I do. She trusts your judgement. If you think I’m not a murderess, she’d accept that. That’s nice and is the only nice thing about this situation. We need that solicitor. Please?”