I gathered up my towel, sunscreen and drink and trotted down to the beach. The guys, having finally let me out, congratulated me on my lacklustre life and illustrious criminal record. I gave them all bored high fives and escaped.

"Hi Linda, Stella, where are the rest of the fam?" I waved at the girls as I wandered closer.

"Hello there Catlyn, all done with the FEDS then?

"Yes, wasn't that a lovely trip down memory lane"

Well you're still here so all good"

"Just..." I shook my head solemnly and ignored my life, and instead started helping Stella with her sandcastle, we made a road and she ran for some seaweed.

Linda gazed over the ocean then replied "Don't dwell on it-do!" Linda twisted her watch in wrist "Bummer, Stella huny, I'm sorry it's time for us to go pickup Heather. Maybe Cat can finish the sandcastle for you?"

Stella was such a cutie I couldn't let her down so I grabbed the buckets and little shovels with a promise to pop them at the back porch later. "Byeee"

The sun was quite high in the sky but it must be late-ish, about four. It would fade quickly to darkness before I head back to the lonely room at the top of the stairs. I had hopes of hanging around with Abe but he had a new 'friend' that needed his undivided 'attention'. I was superficial to his needs apparently; to his requirements of romantic night for two.

"Well isn't this a jolly sight, making sandcastles, swigging vodka, my, my, my I should be recording this" Lennon fell into the just wet sand and banged over a stick sign post of Stella's so I shoved his knee and repaired the damage.

I waved my hand over the magnificent sandcastle "This is a Stella Rat designer mansion and city and I, sir, am not swigging vodka – its water, have a bit if you are a non-believer"

Water?" He took a gulp and coughed "It is water- hideous stuff that" He passed the bottle back, patting my back "A very good girl, but why put water in a liquor bottle?"

"What can I say? I'm a Dreamer, I bet I'm not the only one"

"Very funny" He pulled his guitar round from behind him and started strumming nothing in particular as I created more designer castle roads and a totally wicked little bridge, then he abandoned the guitar to play sandcastles.

I recovered the lonely guitar and was just moving my fingers around; I could strum a little to make easy simple songs but nothing worthy of the boy's talents. "You can play a bit then" John leaned over the mansion and moved my fingers to the correct chord I was trying to play.

"Only if its three blind mice or some other insipid nursery rhyme"

"Well you'll be right for when ya have kids" He was now making a double sandcastle building towards one end, not bothering to see my tongue poking out at him.

"Bit late for that boat me thinks" I tried to move my fingers to get into Harrisons 'here comes the sun' intro- epic fail.

"Give me that before you bust a string"

"Well sorrreee"

He started the song properly this time, his fingers tackling and finding all the right positions with ease. His voice joined his guitar. The rough texture of his vocal made the song different- haunting, engaging, even more memorising to the listener. He finished with a flourish breaking a string.

"That was fantastic! I can help restring and stuff but can't play the things" I smiled and flattened a road out for the castle.

I swigged the water and gazed over the ocean wasting time in the afternoon sun.

"John..   what do you do when you're alive again"

"What?"

"Well do you go back and be with Mrs Lennon? Ride off back to Dakota and sit in your apartment baking bread? Do you start touring or...."

"I don't know luv. Mrs Lennon, as you call her, well we got divorced, that was part of the paperwork in this whole fiasco. I see Sean you know, he comes under the guise he is visiting the McCartney's. It's one of the reasons we need to go 'public'. Sean can't be quiet forever he's a kid, he doesn't understand"

"Julian?"

"Him too but he's a big lad now he understands and it's actually brought us a lot closer- he's coming next week, you can meet him"

"Oh I'd love that, thanks!"

"Who were you married to then?" The way he posed question's at first made me think he wasn't really bothered with the answer. Fiddling with the sandcastle, tugging the string from the sand covered guitar.... but another look at him, made me realise this was his way of niggling out the answers. I gave him a quizzical look then remembered the horrid interrogation and shuddered.

"No one important, it was a mistake, it was annulled after forty eight hours, a pretty crazy forty eight but it was a mistake nonetheless"

"His or your mistake" John wormed his way into my life strand by strand, this style of poking and prodding his signature special- do other stuff aka make a sandcastle, don't make eye contact aka refill bucket, don't push too hard aka just stare at me til I blab.

"Look it was Keith ok. I don't want to go there, we had a hell of a weekend in some far-flung place and when we woke up we realised, what we thought was a joke pretend 'mock' marriage, had actually been real"

John gave me a pat on the back and pretended to ignore me again.

"Are you pretending to ignore or actually don't give a hoot that I am here?"

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm waiting patiently for you to spill more wonderful tales of your escapades. Oh. OH. Madrid!"

I groaned and fell back onto my towel. "NO! Why was it a one-way mirror but the only room NOT soundproofed in that whole building"

"So, your rooms soundproofed, I'll have to remember that"

I ignored Johns last words.

"Madrid- well ok picture this. Holding a bottle, empty of course" He looked at me nodding for me to continue "Yes something alcoholic - ouzo I think" I banged my leg to forget the sight, bit silly though when I was about to recall it. "Bottle holding, man on ground, police show up, man turns out to be dead" I wait for the face and I am not disappointed!

"John, your face. Hilarious. Ahhh, I wish I had a camera"

"Get on with the story!"

"Story...." I smile a sinister smile and leer into his face, a murderer at the beach "Ha are you scared of itty bitty me?!"

"No... Maybe ... if you did kill the guy I might be. Did you know him or just a random date"

"Never forget....!" I warn with all the imitation heebie jeebies of scary thrown in.

I look around.

Left.

Right.

Behind me.

Over his shoulder in case someone is listening....

"I was in jail for four days. That's how long it took to piece together the guy, and my, movements. I didn't know him from a bar of soap. My mistake was to be drunk wandering about at night, I fell over him lying there, I picked up the bottle and stood up, BAM!" I smack my hands together in his face "Cops arrive and haul me away to the slammer"

He is visibly relieved.

"I'm still on the books, they couldn't solve the case so my name is there. Any new info about moi and I'm goonnnnne"

I stood up and shook my towel out a little "Thanks for the towel by the way" I shook it again getting sand all over him, he made a grab for my foot "This was the first thing I bought with the money!"

"Well I'm glad you bought something that won't harm you......."

He continued on but I was still stuck on the first bit of the sentence, he thought I was harming myself with drink and pills - wonderful. My own stipid fault though these 100% Englishmen don't get my jokes at times.

"Though at present, I am being sandblasted myself!"

My turn to ignore him.

"Too close?"

I pulled him to his feet and we squeaked through the wet sand gradually making our way to the dunes. He swung Stella's sandcastle buckets wildly as I carried the little shovel and all my stuff.

"I'm trying you know......water an' all" I said to no-one, John was now ten metres ahead of me. He just ignored me.

"Hey, feel like Chinese food? - my shout!" John turned and grinned, then was a bit put out "You'll have to go get it though, you know.... Though they might deliver to the front gate?"

"If it's not carrots -I'm in. Sure, I'll go get it; though can't you go out in drag or something"

"You mean disguise"

"No, I mean drag!"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me up the last of the hill towards his cottage. He ducked inside and came back out "Here, use this to buy it"

"I have money remember, put that away" I started walking off "You're not coming then?"

He hesitated then went back into the cottage again, another person walked out. No they didn't it was just John but to a stranger it was just some bloke out for a feed.

"Wow, I wouldn't know" We walked up and had a look in the garage. Assorted keys all hung in a row on the wall. I spotted Abe's Harley and hopped on.

"No"

"Sorry its Abe's, I haven't been on it in so long, I helped him pick it out you know"

"The jeep or the Lincoln"

I wrinkled my nose up at the hulking big vehicles.

What about that" I spotted the sleek lines of a mega horse under wraps towards the back, red and low.

"The Ferrari, that's Georges for when he's in the States" John explained.

I pouted and he shook his head an adamant no- bugger.

"I don't know..... the bicycles!?" He grabbed a bike out and rode it round me twice. Looks like it's bikes, Linda's had a basket big enough for dinner. I still had my shorts on from the beach, I made a mad dash and grabbed a t-shirt to cover my swimmers.

We headed for the gate and dinner, a few miles down the road.