Page 113 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection
His eyes spark, but the spark fades and he nods.
“Where?”
“Upstairs in her bedroom.”
“Did you go back to the party afterward?”
He shakes his head. “She got up to go to the bathroom or something. That’s when she found Nicky.”
“She found Nicky in the pond at the back?”
“That’s when she noticed he was missing. She came back and got me. We grabbed a couple others and searched the house. He shoulda been in his room. He had cake and his toys and the telly. But he was always getting out, wandering off.”
“Who found him, do you remember?”
He nods. “Mir did. She pulled him out of the pond, pounded on his chest, breathed into his mouth, but none of us really knew what to do.”
“None of you knew CPR?”
He shakes his head. “Do they teach Yanks that in school?”
I don’t remember learning it in high school, but I sure as fuck learned it in the Navy. “In some places, I think.”
“They teach it here now,” Fred says listlessly. “But not then. None of us knew. None of us could save him. Mir kept screaming at us, no ambulance, no police. She said she had it handled. So none of us called them. I called Tilly but I knew it was too late by then. His lips were blue and his eyes were open. He never blinked once while she pounded on his chest and breathed into his mouth. A little water came out of his nose but that’s all. He never made a sound.”
Because he was dead.
“What happened after you called your sister?”
“She came and got me. The Porters were home by then. I’m not sure who called them. It wasn’t me. Mr. Porter wrapped Nicky’s body up in a sheet and took him somewhere. Mrs. Porter and Miranda and a couple of the girls were sitting in the lounge, crying. I left with Tilly. I didn’t see Mir for a while after that. She went away with her parents.”
“Where did she go?”
“Switzerland. Her mother needed treatment.”
“Psychiatric treatment?” I ask.
Fred nods.
“Did Miranda get psychiatric treatment as well?”
“If she did, she never said.”
“When did you next see her?”
“She came back the next summer.”
“Did you see much of her after that?”
He lifts one shoulder. “Not as much as I’d have liked. She went off to the City for Uni. Became a doctor. Married that fella.”
“Did you and Miranda see each other after she got married?”
A spark flares and dies in his eyes. “Sometimes.”
“As friends?” I ask.
He nods.
