Don’t Call Me Baby By Betty Byers

SMASHWORDS EDITION ***** PUBLISHED BY: Lia E. Borthwick on Smashwords Don’t Call Me Baby Copyright © 2010 by Lia E. Borthwick

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book is the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or non-commercial use without permission from the author. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only it may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase or download an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Adult Reading Material ***** Please note that I use British English spelling throughout. You will see doubled letters (focussed), ou’s (colour) and ‘re’ (centre) as well as a few other differences from American spelling.

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Chapter 1 Lola Gets a Promotion

What was my mum thinking when she gave me the name Lola? It wouldn’t be so bad if my surname wasn’t Hussey - but it was - and a name like Lola Hussey was not great to grow up with. A name like mine destined me to be a streetwalker or burlesque artist, not a piss poor private investigator, which is what I actually did for a living. I needed a name that would blend in, not raise smiles or worse terrible jokes that weren’t even funny. Actually, mum once told me that she had named me after my great-grandmother who was Spanish. Although I find this suspect as there seems to be no trace of Spanish ancestry in my family. I suspect she named me after the showgirl in Barry Manilow’s song and was too ashamed to admit it. As for the surname I couldn’t blame her for that as I inherited it from my dad. I did, however, blame her for coupling an already embarrassing surname with a name made famous by Barry Manilow. Regardless of the reasons my mum thought to name her daughter Lola, it gave a girl a complex growing up on a tough council estate in west London with a name like that. My best friend, Emma Rogers, would console me by telling me that with a name like mine I was bound to become an adult movie star and they made loads of money. That’s why I loved Emma - she always looked on the bright side even if it wasn’t quite what I wanted to hear. Thankfully Emma’s prediction did not come true. I had managed to avoid a destiny as a porn star and I was the first of my family to ever make it to university. After three years I left with a reasonable grade in Art History, lost virginity (which I was saving for some special occasion) and a huge student loan debt. OK, so the virginity wasn’t really being saved for a special occasion it was more that I was terrified of getting pregnant and becoming another single mother statistic. Plus, I guess, I wasn’t the most attractive girl on the block. Mostly I was too tall (5 feet 10 inches), had half a ton of metal braces on my teeth and was as skinny as a rake no matter how much my mum attempted to fatten me up with chips and sausages. Emma hadn’t managed to escape the statistics and, at just sixteen, she had become pregnant by a no good guy who happened to be my brother, and who promptly skipped the neighbourhood. Men in our neighbourhood were good at doing that. My own dad had disappeared when I was two, never to be seen or heard of again. So, I guess in mitigation of my brother’s awful behaviour he could blame his genes.

Eventually nature took pity on me, my figure filled out, the braces were removed but nothing improved on the hair front. My hair was a riot of black curls a heritage from African ancestors on my dad’s side. My complexion, when it finally shrugged off teenage pimples, was a milky tea colour with a dusting of freckles across a small wide nose. My eyes were my best feature, an evil green colour. Well actually I didn’t think they were evil, more of a dull khaki with a speckling of hazel, but apparently they got greener when I got mad, the hazel speckles disappeared and that earned me the nickname of Evil Eyes in the family. On a very good day I pretended I was a curly haired Sade and on a bad day, well I guess I was Evil Eyes. After finishing university I applied for jobs at various galleries and museums but somehow, despite my hard earned degree, I had managed to coincide my graduation with a lean period of gallery and museum hirings. I suspect that it also had to do with the fact that my name was Lola Hussey -because after all it’s hardly a high class, art gallery type of name is it? After three months on benefits I was getting desperate. I couldn’t take much more lounging around at home; circling jobs in the newspaper that I wasn’t even going to get an interview for; getting under my mum’s feet and her hinting about why I wasted my time studying at university given that I couldn’t get a job afterwards.

She had this way of

muttering negative vibes under her breath that was really irritating and I swear was driving me to thoughts of matricide. Plus she looked after Emma’s little boy Barney who was just turning eight, while Emma was working at her waitress job nearby making me clearly in the way in our tiny apartment. Things were getting bad when Emma told me her cousin, Pete Rogers, was looking for an office assistant. That was how it all started. Pete owned an investigation agency. It was mainly insurance claims and following suspected unfaithful spouses. Not that I got to do anything remotely interesting as investigating cheating spouses, or even checking up on bogus whiplash claims. My job was mostly filing, some typing with some occasional phone answering and being teased by Pete - especially with regards to my name. Jeez, he could use some imagination making fun of my name is not the most original idea - like I hadn’t already heard all the jokes possible. Still a job is a job and I had been doing it now for two years. I was 24, no boyfriend, a dead end job and still living with my nutty mother. Surely life had to get better? OK, well I wasn’t entirely honest about the boyfriend. I had this on-off dating arrangement with another cousin of Emma’s called Steve Rogers - she had a lot of cousins and most of them were male and all on the lookout to murder my brother if he ever showed

up again. It all started back when Steve took my virginity, accidentally. I know you’re thinking how could it be accidental? It happened after a very drunken party and neither of us remembered much of it. We had bumped into each other at university not realising we were studying at the same place and sort of gravitated towards one another as acquaintances in a strange environment tend to do. Anyway, in my book, it was an accident because Steve wasn’t really my type. I do remember I worried at being the only virgin at university enough that I must have thrown caution to the wind that night. The six pints of cider might have assisted in removing my inhibitions - it certainly made me feel queasy. So Steve and I were sort of friends first and occasionally something a bit more when either of us got desperate and things ran dry in the sex department. It wasn’t that Steve was unexciting, we managed to have fun mostly. It’s just that I’d known him forever, since I was ten and he was twelve. It’s hard to get all excited with someone you’ve grown up with. He was good looking in a pale blondish kind of way, but far too sensible a personality to spark any genuine sexual attraction in me. For some reason I was attracted to bad boys. Huh, me and about half the female population in my neighbourhood. I guess that’s the reason so many were single parents. It was in our genes to be demanding of the wrong type of men. Besides, Steve knew me before my breasts had appeared and the braces were off and I couldn’t forgive him for that. Plus he was known on occasion to call me Evil Eyes when we argued, “Stop with the fucking Evil Eyes,” he would throw at me and it would make me so mad I would usually throw something solid back at him. Some family secrets, like horrible nick names, just leak into the public domain. He had a good job which was a definite plus in our neighbourhood. Not that he lived locally now as he moved out to the suburbs a few years after he started his first job. He had studied accountancy and joined an accountancy firm when he graduated - see I told you he was the sensible type - so at least he was never a date who scrounged money off me. Not that I ever had any spare. Not that our get-togethers were really dates either.

*** After two years of working for Pete, I still hadn’t enough money to move out of my mum’s place. Saving money was virtually impossible given my horrendous student debt. Time was moving on however and, when I woke up this morning, I knew this was the day when I would challenge Pete over my pay.

I rose earlier than usual, showered and shuffled through to the kitchen for a quick breakfast in my pink bunny slippers. Probably, I thought depressingly, I should get new slippers; perhaps something a bit more grown up, if only I could afford it. I made a mental note to drop hints to mum and Emm as Christmas was coming up. I put the kettle on for tea, popped the bread in the toaster and ate a banana while I waited for the toast to pop up. Yeah, today was the day. I was a good worker. Pete had no reason to complain about my output, I was always on time in the morning if there were no problems on the tube. The four stop tube journey to South Kensington was an ideal time to think about how I would approach him and to practice how I would phrase my pay rise appeal. I began counting off the reasons on my fingers but, somehow, never managed to make it to the other hand. Ok, I lie again, I never actually managed to find enough reasons to get to the end of one hand’s fingers. The preparation was a total waste of time. Pete looked at me with incredulity plastered over his face, “A raise? What the fuck do you think I am? A charity? I pay you good for what you do. I can’t fucking afford to give you a raise over and above what you get once a year. No fucking way,” he was beginning to get worked up. The dream of having my own place was quickly disappearing. I could feel tears beginning to prickle my eyes. Shit. The last thing I want to do is cry in front of Pete. He’d never let me live it down. “Oh fuck! Are you crying?” he peered at me in surprise. “Don’t be fucking crying on me. I fucking hate crying women,” his expression turning from annoyance to discomfort. He started to pace up and down the office avoiding eye contact and throwing me the odd surreptitious glance to check if the tears had stopped. They hadn’t. It was 8:45am and no one else had come in yet. Thank god, as this could get nasty or even worse, highly embarrassing. I couldn’t help it. Me, tough Lola Hussey, was blubbing now. “Holy fucking cow! Stop it!” he ordered. “Sorry,” I squeaked. I explained, between blubs, how I had studied so hard to get to university; how I was so hopeful for a good job - not that this one wasn’t - but I really needed to find a place of my own; and how I didn’t have the money and sharing a place with my mum was killing my sex life. He actually looked over at me when I told him that last fact. I looked up my sleeve for a tissue because now I had snot coming out of my nose. Of course I didn’t have one. So I was going for embarrassing and messy. Bummer. I’d just have to sit there blubbing with snot bubbling out my nostrils. I’d have to resign now. The humiliation was going to be too much.

“Ok. Ok. Ok,” he approached me with a crumpled tissue. I couldn’t help, but wonder if it was clean as he’d taken it out of his back pocket. Still at this rate what was one more humiliation. I took it and blew my nose in the most unladylike way. “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll promote you! Yeah, give you a promotion. You can be a junior investigator. Dunno how the fuck I’ll manage to pay you or who the fuck will do the filing. Just stop the fuck with the tears,” he ordered emphatically beginning to panic. The tears had stopped immediately I had heard the word “promotion”. I was so shocked. He had finally succumbed. Victory! “I’ll still do the filing,” I offered feeling that I had to concede at least some gratitude. “You won’t regret it Pete. I’m not stupid. I’ll be the best junior investigator you’ve ever had. Promise!” I rose to leave the office before he could change his mind. As I reached his door he yelled at my back, “I’m only gonna give you an extra twenty quid a week so don’t bloody go thinking you’ve won the lottery.” Tough guy concession. Not bad though, I thought, an extra eighty a month. I went to the toilet to clean up my face ready for my new job. It turns out that the new job was pretty much like the old job - but with a grumpier boss. Still I had my victory, and that eighty quid was going straight into my Lola’s-new-apartment fund.

Chapter 2 My First Case Two weeks after my promotion I was on my hands and knees stuffing files into a low drawer when the bell sounded announcing someone had come into the office. A potential client. We hadn’t had any new ones since my promotion and Pete was beginning to look worried. We had a few cases currently but they were due to be concluded pretty soon.

I

looked up curious to see who had come in. It was a classy looking red-haired woman in her mid-fifties. Definitely high maintenance, I could see immediately. She glided into the office without even looking around. She got straight to the point, “I’m here to see Peter. I have a 10:30 appointment.” Her accent was as clipped and classy as her immaculate suit. Pete had emerged from his office and welcomed her in his best charming style, which wasn’t much different than his usual. I swear he even wiped his hand on his backside before extending it for a brief shake. He guided her quickly into his office asking Carolyn, his secretary, for two coffees before closing the door. “Don’t suppose I should serve it in the chipped mugs,” she mused. I agreed. “Don’t suppose you could run down to the café and buy two proper coffees?” she asked. Well, I thought, I’m a junior investigator now, I shouldn’t be fetching coffees, but then again Caro was a nice lady and I could do with a change of scenery. When I returned Caro took the coffees into Pete’s office. “Well?” I nodded my head towards the door when she came out. “Looks like a new case,” she informed me conspiratorially. “About?” “Dunno. They stopped talking when I went in there.” “Might be somethin’ big?” I suggested, “she looks loaded.” “Mebbe,” Caro went back to her typing. Maybe I’d actually get to do some investigation. I was the only investigator working permanently in the company as the other two investigators were freelance. OK so I hadn’t actually investigated anything so far except for the filing cabinet, but even so, I had managed to pick up quite a few tips and tricks from their infrequent stops into the office. I was starting to get excited at the prospect of some proper junior investigator work at last. Pete’s door opened and they both stepped out.

“Thank you so much for your time,” the redhead offered her expertly manicured and bejeweled hand to Pete. This time he didn’t wipe his hand before shaking hers, and he guided her to the door. As soon as she left he clapped his hands and spun around pointing his finger at me, “You! Office! Now!” he barked. I didn’t hesitate to scurry after him. “Well, Miss Blubbernose, looks like you are going to start your investigating career next week,” he announced. My heart started beating faster. “Really? You’re not pulling my leg?” I asked him mentally crossing my fingers, and actually trying to cross my toes inside my trainers unsuccessfully. “Really,” he grinned. Turns out the redhead was called Mrs. Lewis and was an upper class Home Counties girl who had married a rich Australian and moved to the antipodes decades ago. Their only child, Derek, was a bit wild so they had sent him to London to try to cool him down. He was working in daddy’s soft drinks company as a Marketing Director when six months ago he was found dead; allegedly having fallen off the building. The police said it was death by misadventure. Mummy disagreed vehemently.

“And that’s where we come in,” Pete

announced. “Well actually, that’s where you come in,” he pointed at me. “Me?” Oh my god, this was no simple case of a cheating spouse. I was going to be a genuine Miss Marples investigating a suspected murder. I sat down opposite Pete behind his desk so I could take in the news without letting him see that my legs were shaking. “You,” he pointed his thick finger at me again, “are going under cover.” “I am?” Nothing more intelligent passed my lips as I was dumbfounded. “You, are going to work for daddy’s company and report back on office politics on anything you think might be suspicious,” he spoke slowly for added dramatic effect, not that I needed it. “I am?” “And,” he paused for even more drama and emphasis, “you are not to do anything else.” “Like?” “Like take risks, go around accusing people, anything else at all. Just report back on office politics.” “That’s it?” No investigation, no accusing, no gathering evidence? I was a little deflated at that news. “It’s a simple job. Easy money for me, plus they pay you a regular wage so it don’t look dodgy. That should help out with the deposit for a new place cos I’ll let you keep it.” Oh my

god, double salary! I had hit jackpot. I was so elated I rushed around to Pete and hugged him tightly. “Woah! Easy girl,” he pushed me off. “You won’t be going in alone. There’s a PI from another firm too,” he frowned at this, “a bloke. He’ll be here tomorrow afternoon to meet you and he’ll be giving us a proper debrief.” It sounded OK to me. If there was indeed a murderer lurking around the office I’d want someone watching my back. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting more instructions from Pete, being coached in my cover story, and day dreaming about getting a new place to live, when I should’ve been listening to Pete waxing lyrical on the challenges of being a star investigator over a useless one. When I finally emerged from his office it was 6:30pm and Caro had already gone home. I waved goodbye to Pete who was going to linger on a bit, doing some on-line investigation but, I rather suspected, surfing porn sites in reality. *** It was raining, dark, and cold when I briskly walked to the tube station. I hugged my thin coat around me. After the overheated office the blast of cold made me hold my breath. The lights from the traffic and shops twinkled, and were reflected in the puddles of the uneven pavement. When I got to my stop I popped into a shop to grab a bottle of cheap wine. I went straight round to Emm’s flat and rang the doorbell. Emm lived on the same estate as I did, actually in the same block of flats. It was a fairly modern council estate named after the Labour party’s first Prime Minister, Kier Hardy. There was movement in the late 80s to rename it after Neil Kinnock, but that failed much to the relief of my mum who hated him. Everyone referred to it as the Hardy Estate and it suited its name as its residents learnt to be very hardy. Petty crime was a way of life and drugs, their consumption and their sale, was a major occupation of a lot of residents. The buildings themselves were quite respectable looking from the outside but inside the lifts smelt of the obligatory urine and the stairways were occasionally decorated with syringes. But you know it was home to me. I knew most of the long term residents and we had a camaraderie built by the knowledge that most of us were trapped there for life. Emm lived next to old Mr. Wilson who was rapidly growing deaf, which was just as well as on the other side of him was a single guy who liked to blast out hip-hop music until 2:00am or later. Emm had tried to talk to him about it, but gave up in the end. She was a Hardy lifer and with a little patience he would be gone or locked up before long.

I popped the Evening Standard through Mr. Wilson’s letter box, the one I had picked up on the tube abandoned by another passenger long gone. He liked to read the paper and I knew his mobility, plus the wet cold weather, probably meant that he hadn’t had a chance to go and get one. Barney, my cheeky faced nephew, opened the door to me. I could see the resemblance to my brother and my mum in his happy face. He was still wearing his school uniform, minus tie and shirt half un-tucked. “Hi Lola, whatcha got there?” he asked eyeing up the carrier bag I was carrying. “Oh never mind,” he said when he saw the bottle of wine inside. I took out a paper bag of chocolate bars from my coat pocket and quickly gave it to him before Emm could catch me. He took the bag, giving me a cheeky grin, and wandered off to watch TV in the living room. Inside was only about two degrees warmer than outside. Emm apologised and invited me into the tiny kitchen which was a bit warmer. “Soz. Haven’t got the money for the bloody metre have I,” she shrugged. Like most residents her energy was regulated by a metre in a small cupboard and she had to top up a key at the local newsagent when her electricity ran out. I offered to lend her a fiver which she gratefully accepted. Emm and I often lent each other money. Neither of us kept tabs we just knew we’d be there for each other. I gave it to her in coins and she popped out quickly to top up her key. By the time she came back I had fished out two tumblers and had unscrewed the bottle of wine, making myself at home. I poured two generous glasses. “What’s with the celebration then?” she asked as she saluted me with the glass of wine sitting at her tiny kitchen table, which just about sat two. I excitedly told her all about my afternoon. “Oh my fucking god,” she screamed, “that’s crazy good news.” She hopped about her tiny kitchen nearly knocking over the remains of the wine. My good news was her good news just as my tragedies were felt almost equally by her too. “Fuck me,” she exclaimed, “you’ll be able to get your own place soon. No more sharing a place with your mum,” she giggled. Well maybe not soon I thought depressingly of my humble savings. We then launched into a bitching session about my mum. Don’t get me wrong I love my mum and the only person allowed to criticise her to me is Emm. Anyone else and I would whack ‘em one, but Emm is mum’s other daughter she never actually gave birth to. She used to hang around our place after school and take her dinner with us. Emm’s mum was a drunk and mostly forgot about Emma. My mum loved brushing Emm’s long blonde hair and managed to sober her mum up whenever the social services came around to check up on Emm’s welfare.

Then of course there was Marley, my brother, and yes, before you make the connection he was named after Bob. (See where I'm coming from when I suspect I was named after a Barry Manilow song?) My mum obviously chose music as her inspiration in naming her kids. Marley was our hero growing up. He was two years older and looked out for us. He was streetwise and handsome. He was a natural athlete and many thought that as a teenager he could make it into the local youth football team at Fulham, although life never gave him that break as by 18, and about to become a father, he went AWOL. He was popular with everyone and Emm and I adored him. When she became pregnant at 16 and finally confessed that Marley was the father I was devastated. We fell out big time, but when Marley skipped, and Emm was alone and frightened, I was there to help her through it as much as I could. Barney was born and our adoration of Marley quickly found a new target. By the time I left Emm's to walk up to the tenth floor where I lived with mum, because the lift was broken yet again, it was past midnight. Mum was already in bed and the apartment was dark except for the hall light on that she had left for me. Once I was in bed I was too excited to sleep so I turned on my bedside lamp and took out my notebook, checking through the notes I’d made on the case. I set the alarm for the morning, read a few chapters of a biography of Paulo Ucello that I was reading (well I did study History of Art) and finally fell asleep halfway through a chapter on The Battle of San Romano.

Chapter 3 Lola Meets Adonis The next morning was pretty much déjà vu. Toast, pink bunny slippers, and banana. Mum had woken up just as I was leaving. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek goodbye and headed for the tube station. The London weather didn’t disappoint. It was slightly warmer than yesterday, but only because of the fine drizzle that was too light to open an umbrella. It still managed to dampen the spirits and one’s clothes. The sun was struggling valiantly to remind everyone it existed, but I have to say it failed miserably, remaining invisible behind a blanket of grey clouds. Standing room only on the tube, and the smell of damp clothes pressed close to my own equally damp ones, was enough on normal days to depress even the most cheerful of people. Today however, I was excited and nothing was going to dampen my spirits. Not even my hair which had bushed in the drizzle, the tightly curled ringlets standing out in a halo around my head. People tended to stand a tiny bit further from my personal space due to my hair because, otherwise, it was prone to tickle their faces. If it weren’t so useful for this reason I would be very tempted to crop it short. It couldn't quite be categorised as an afro, but it gave a damn good imitation of one. As usual Pete was already in the office and greeted me with a gruff “Mornin’.” Must be a good day I thought otherwise I’d normally be lucky with a begrudging grunt. He wasn’t the world’s best morning person. I popped the kettle on. Caro came in fifteen minutes later carrying a carton of milk, which she put away in the small fridge behind her desk. The morning passed quickly. After lunch it passed slowly. I was waiting for my ‘partner’ to arrive at 2:00pm. Pete called me into the office at 1:30pm. “Lola,” he barked, “Come into my office please. I want to brief you before that bloke gets here.” Dutifully, nay eagerly, I bounced into his office and sat down in the rigid and uncomfortable chair in front of his messy desk. “Right,” he said, “The other firm is called Baxter and Makepeace an old investigation firm based in Bond Street.” My eyebrows raised in surprise at the address. Bond Street could only mean money. Somehow I couldn’t quite see how a Bond Street firm was working with ours and I told Pete this. “An old army mate contact of mine. Well, actually, my commanding officer, decent bloke considering.” As if being an army officer was something that should count against you in life. “He’s a partner in the firm and he thought of me, seeing

as we’re in the same line of business.” Same line of business, I thought, but light years apart I bet. I kept my mouth shut. Something told me Pete was a little anxious at feeling out of his league and it’s not a good idea to rattle your boss’s cage too often. “Bloke he’s assigned to the case is called,” he looked down at his notepad squinting, “Julian Davenport,” I could tell from his face that he found this name ‘poncey’ as he liked to call anything that smacked of upper class. “Hmm,” I helpfully responded. “Yeah well, guess a bloke can’t help his name. Guess we’ll reserve our judgment for when he gets here.” Pete, despite his prejudices and his awful manners, was fair. “You’ll be working together, but separate, if you know what I mean,” no I didn’t. “This Julian bloke will be working as a Director in the company, while you’ll be,” he looked away, “filing and such.” Great no change there then. “The aim is to get to know as many people as possible. Find out what the gossip is about the, umm, death and report back to Julian.” “Won’t it be a bit obvious if we, like, socialise?” I asked. I could see Pete thought this a good question. “I’m sure, umm, Julian has an idea on that.” I could see that even saying the name Julian was difficult for Pete. In Pete’s world men weren’t called Julian unless they were army officers, in which case, they were called Sir. “In fact,” he continued, “the Baxter firm will be leading the investigation.” “OK, but why us? Surely a big firm like theirs have lots of people?” I asked. Pete squirmed a bit, “Well, seems like they normally investigate white collar crime cases and don’t have an investigator that fills the profile of what is needed in this case.” Now I got it. Their people were too high class to be believable in a job filing stuff. They needed someone more menial and I fit the bill. I was affronted, “I have a degree you know,” I said indignantly. “I know, I know,” said Pete uncomfortably, “just that you’re a good working class chick and ain’t nothing wrong with that. Just don’t go letting on about your uni education and knowing about art and shit,” he instructed, while I winced at the use of the word ‘chick’. “I’m not stupid Pete. If working class menial is what they want then working class menial is what they’ll get, but don’t expect me to go curtseying to Mr. Davenport or nothin’.” I sulked, crossing my arms, and Pete smiled at that. I think he quite liked the idea of me bobbing curtseys given that I was usually quite opinionated and argumentative. I was still in Pete’s office when Mr. Julian Davenport was shown in by Caro. She poked her head around the door to announce him and see if it was ok to let him in. Her face looked excited. Pete rose and in walked Julian.

I must admit my eyes widened considerably. Julian Davenport looked like he had stepped out of a Burberry advert. He was that good looking. Not like my bad boy type, but in a highly polished blonde, chiseled way. Did I say chiseled? Ok, so it sounds cheesy, but if you saw Julian you would instantly know it was the right word. High cheekbones, square jaw, straight blonde hair and straight up six foot of movie star good looks. You could just imagine him climbing mountains in some fjord in Norway. He was dressed immaculately in a grey suite and expensive blue shirt. He reeked of class. He extended his long fingered hand out to shake Pete’s, “Hi, I’m Julian Davenport,” he announced, like we needed to be told. His voice was deep with a slight accent I couldn’t quite place. Pete waved to a chair near mine and for once I saw him quite speechless, which made me grin and earned me a sharp glare. Pete introduced himself, like Julian didn’t already know his name, and then introduced me. I shook his hand and noticed that his shake was firm and dry - I have a thing about men with sweaty palms - don’t like them. There was not a hint of amusement as Julian was told my name so he either knew it already or he was as cool as he was classy. He quickly looked me over, lingered on my wild hair, still springy from the drizzle that morning, but didn’t smile. I thought he was either cool or cold, probably both, totally professional and totally unreadable. We got down to business and Julian briefed us. I was to be his secretary in order to give us an excuse to discuss progress on the case, daily if possible. His position would be as Marketing Director. I was to follow directions on the case from him and no one else. He managed to emphasise that I was to do as I was told by him without actually explicitly stating it. At this remark I glanced at Pete, but he nodded in agreement his eyes fixed on Julian. He took some files out of his briefcase and gave one to Pete and me. “The list of people who are our initial targets are in there with a brief bio on each.” He’d been there a month already and I would be interviewed as his secretary and naturally be given the job. The interview was scheduled for 10:00am the next day and I would start the following Monday. “It will give you time to review the file,” he said as he looked over at me. It was then I noticed the colour of his eyes. They were green too, like mine! There are not many green eyed people in this world and I had never met anyone else who had eyes as green as mine, but Julian’s were almost a match without the hazel bits which made his all the more greener.

As he wound up the briefing he asked if there were any questions. Pete shook his head, but I asked, “If this is a murder why did the police say it was death by misadventure? You haven’t mentioned that.” “Good point,” he conceded and turned to me again - oh gosh that face was distracting. I was used to being the one to flash my green eyes at others not have a pair looking back at me. “Derek was found in rather, indelicate circumstances, which did not indicate any foul play.” It was clear he was going to leave it at that, but he had my curiosity piqued. “What indelicate circumstances? Dead circumstances? How can falling off a building be indelicate? Sounds rather nasty to me,” I said challenging him with my green eyes. “Very well,” he seemed to be uncomfortable at answering my question, “Derek was found on the ground with his trousers around his ankles. It seems he had ‘fallen’ to his death in the middle of an alleged solitary sexual act.” My eyebrows arched at this news, Pete hadn’t told me this, and who the hell described masturbation in that manner? “His underpants, were they around his ankles too?” I asked curiously. “He wasn’t wearing any,” stated Julian as a matter of fact. Personally, despite the seriousness of the 'crime' I found it hard not to smile inappropriately. “So how can the police be sure he was indulging in a 'solitary sex act'?” I began. “Right, right, I think that’s about all we need to know at the moment,” Pete started to move the conversation along visibly uncomfortable, shuffling the mess of papers on his desk. “But...” I continued. “Lola, no buts, ok? You’ll find out more I’m sure during the investigation,” clearly Pete felt uncomfortable discussing male solitary sexual habits with me present in the room. For all his indelicate nature he was an old fashioned boy at heart and this type of thing was clearly off limits in his office, and especially in front of me. Julian rose from his chair and handed me his business card. “Please call me if you have any questions while reading the file. In the meantime I look forward to working with you.” he said formally giving me a stiff smile, shook my hand and left. If he found the last little scene amusing he failed to show it. “Really Pete,” I embarked as soon as he was gone, “what’s the matter with you? I’m not an innocent virgin and surely it’s important to know the facts.” “The fact is his mum thinks her little boy was murdered. The police don’t, and,” he paused for effect, “she’s paying us a bunch of money. No doubt the sordid facts will be told you in glorious detail once you get to work,” and with that I was dismissed.

*** After work I went around to Emm’s. She insisted on cooking for me in celebration. She had just been paid and wanted to treat me, and as she couldn’t afford to pay for a meal she said she would cook me one instead. Emm was a great cook. My mum had taught her well and passed on the talent that she had so clearly failed to pass on to me. If it was left to me I’d live on toast and bananas. Barney was staying around my mum’s. He loved his grandma. She spoilt him rotten as grandparents are prone to do. That meant it was a girl’s night in so I splashed out on two bottles of cheap wine this time. With the rest of the wine left over from the other night we were set. Emm had baked a lasagne, my favourite, made a salad to go with it, and an apple pudding with ice cream for dessert. While we were eating I told her as much as I felt ethically able to about the case, which of course, meant most of what I knew including the ‘indelicate’ nature of dead Derek. She couldn't help her laughter, “Shit, I know it’s wicked to laugh at the dead, but seriously....” she guffawed. “How did they know it was - what did you call it? - a ‘Solitary sexual act’, and not just the murderer playing a practical joke?” She asked assuming already that dead Derek was the victim of murder. I explained how I never got to know because of Pete’s embarrassment and she laughed even more. “So what’s this Julian guy like?” She asked. “Kinda cold, professional like,” I replied casually. “Age, looks?” she looked closely at me and sensed, the way only a friend of such long standing can sense, that there was more to this than I wanted to let on. “Oh early thirties I would say. Tall, blonde good looking,” I responded casually. That was it. She knew that ‘casual’ was not the right response. We had this game, ever since we were verging on adolescence, a typical raging hormonal teenagers’ game, of ranking the male talent from a 1 to 10. 1 being wouldn’t shag him if we were paid, and 10 being we would pay for the pleasure. “Ranking?” she asked shamelessly. “Emm,” I responded indignantly, “it’s a professional partner thing. I couldn’t rank him that way. Just wouldn’t feel right.” I tried avoiding the subject. “Right,” she said like she really meant 'bullshit'. When I didn’t go any further she started scooping up the empty plates like she was hurt. “Emm...”

“It’s ok. You have this important job, you know, the one I begged my cousin to give you,” she bitched, “and it’s all strictly professional. Couldn’t possibly share it with your best friend who happens to live this very boring life...” she trailed off looking hurt. “For fuck’s sake,” I was now backed up in a corner, “he’s drop dead gorgeous in a golden, clean smelling, polished kinda way. Like he stepped outta Burberry ad,” there I’d said it now. “You smelt him?” she stopped scooping up dishes. “What?” “You said in a ‘clean smelling’ way?” “I didn’t go up and sniff him, if that’s what you mean. I’m not a bitch on heat,” I was beginning to get pissed off when I saw her cheeky smile forming. That was it. We burst out laughing at the image of me sniffing my nose around some gorgeous, posh guy that obviously scored a 10 on the shag-o-meter. As we settled on her sagging sofa Emma brought the subject back around to Julian. She was obviously intrigued. Neither of us had any dealings before from the likes of Julian’s world. We talked some more then she mentioned she had seen Steve earlier in the day. “He was asking about you,” she said. “What about me?” “Oh you know how you were doing? What was keeping you so busy? He said you never call him,” she glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “Oh like he calls me,” I bitched, “now he’s a qualified accountant, busy counting beans, he only calls me when he wants some action.” Actually I wasn’t bitter, Steve and I had a cosy arrangement, but it didn’t quite come out that way. “Oh Lola, that’s not fair! He cares about you, he really does. He works so hard poor thing he hardly ever has time for a social life,” Emm parried. “Right,” I couldn’t think of a single thing he did that showed he cared. “Well he asked me if you had found your own place yet. When I said no he kinda hinted he would help you out.” “What financially?” I asked surprised. “I dunno... maybe.” We sat in silence for a while thinking about this. I couldn’t quite picture Steve as a Sugar Daddy. Firstly, he wasn’t old enough and secondly, I doubted whether he actually had the money. Well not enough money to buy me a palace anyway. Not that I wanted a palace just somewhere small I could call my own and not have to listen to my mum's mutterings.

“Anyway,” said Emma finally, “maybe you should call him. See what he has to say.” “Maybe,” I replied and I left it at that.

Chapter 4 Undercover Beginnings

The company was called Australis Beverages Ltd. It was housed in a modern block of offices in Hammersmith so not too far for me to travel. According to Julian’s briefing file the two main brands were Kanga Kola and Koala Kola. I guess they weren’t aiming at the high end soft drinks market then. Kanga Kola had a higher than average caffeine content and was marketed as the Kola with a bounce. Koala Kola was aimed at a younger drinker and was less fizzy and caffeine free - apparently not really a cola then. It was pink, “made with 100% real raspberries”, and came in a transparent plastic can - so definitely not a cola. Well I’d never heard of anything less than a 100% raspberry - it either was a raspberry surely, or it wasn’t in my book. I was immediately distracted by the footie game on TV and tossed the case file side. I found the office easily and by 9:50am was sitting in reception feeling nervous, and picking off the bobbles on my black sweater, despite the fact I knew I was a sure bet for getting the job. To pass the time I was mentally calculating how long it would take me to save enough money for a down payment on a mortgage. Lola Hussey wasn’t going to rent, she was going to buy and be a fully-fledged member of the landed class. This thought made me smile. I’d been dreaming of this for years and now it seemed within my grasp. To keep me motivated I made plans to start looking for a place, maybe a small one bedroom flat within walking distance of my mum. After twenty minutes of day dreaming a curvy blonde with large breasts, serious surgical enhancement I guessed, walked up to me. “Lola Hussey,” I swear she smirked at the name, “can you follow me please, Mr. Davenport is ready to interview you.” I followed her swaying hips encased in a too-tight bright pink skirt. I had noted how her lipstick matched the shade of the skirt and her heels were black, shiny and very high, despite which, she barely reached my shoulders. Suddenly I felt decidedly underdressed and overly tall. Let’s not even mention my lack of curves. I had borrowed a long black skirt from Emma and wore a black crew neck sweater that had bobbles with age. I wore low heeled shoes, no jewelry and no makeup. Perhaps I should have made more of an effort. Ok, the shoes were my mum’s, black, flat and very much unglamorous so I certainly felt out of my league with Miss Pneumatic's tight clothing

setting the standard. In fact, if I were honest with myself, I was dressed for a funeral not an interview. I consoled myself by noticing how short she was. If I took her shoes away she would be struggling to reach over five foot. Julian’s office was large and he was busy at his PC when we entered. “Can I get you a coffee?” Ms. Pneumatic asked me. Why did I get the feeling she didn’t really want to fetch me a coffee? I declined. “Julian?” she asked. He also declined with a shake of his head his eyes fixed on his screen. She pursed her lips, I suspect more to do with the fact he didn't glance at her than his refusal at her coffee fetching skills and left shutting the door none too quietly behind her. “Give me a minute,” he said. That was fine with me. It gave me a chance to look around the room. There were Kanga and Koala merchandise scattered around the office and it amused me to think of serious Julian wearing a baseball cap with Koala ears. He was wearing a black suit today. His shiny, straight golden hair combed back neatly. A pale pink shirt with expensive looking cufflinks was peeking out of his suit. I did have to admit, despite the fact that my preference was for dark hair and a more muscly physique, that he did raise the speed of my heart beat. A girl would definitely have to be dead in the sex department not to be attracted to Julian. “So, here we are,” he opened. He turned to me and inspected me from head to foot. He frowned slightly. What? What had I done? Not even opened my mouth yet. “Did you read up on the file?” he asked. “Sure,” I bluffed because by the time I left Emma’s it was nearly 1:00am and I was slightly drunk. Ok, a bit more than slightly. Plus I slept on the sofa because Barney was asleep in my bed. “Good,” he relaxed a little, “so you’ve just met one of the other secretaries. That was Pam.” Pam? “Yeah. I read about her,” I bluffed thinking that this might be a tricky conversation. “I want you to become close to her. She tends to keep to herself when it comes to other women so she’ll be the hardest to get to know.” Oh great, Ms. Pneumatic, or should I say Pam, was about to become my best office buddy - couldn’t wait. “What is your take on the others?” He asked. “Others?” Hell, I should’ve read the file. “Yes, the other ladies in the file. There’s only three of them to mark and the file wasn’t that detailed so it shouldn’t be hard to assess them.” I think he noticed my blank look valiantly trying to look thoughtful instead and failing through my hangover.

“You didn’t read the file did you?” he asked me sternly. “I was busy last night. I’m sorry. Won’t happen again. I promise to do my homework.” Why did he make me feel like I was at school again? “Let’s get this very clear Lola. Our client is paying very good money. I am responsible for getting the results for that money and if I give you instructions I expect you to follow them. No lame excuses. Your boyfriend can take a back seat for a few months I’m sure you can explain it to him.” He suddenly didn’t look so appealing and I swear his green eyes looked... evil. “I, umm, don’t have a...” “Not interested in excuses,” he cut me off. Wow he was brutal. “By next Monday I want you so familiar with the backgrounds for Pam, Delia and Sharon that you could pass an exam on them. Do I make myself clear?” 150% clear Mr. Teacher. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Yes. Clear. Very clear.” I stammered resentfully just managing not to add ‘Sir’ to the end of my reply. “Good. Now how’s your typing?” The rest of the interview was just that - an interview. We went over my office skills, apparently they too were lacking, but we discussed ways we could disguise the fact that my typing was slow as my filing was exemplary. Lord knows I’d had enough practice working for Pete all these years. We agreed I would get hardly any typing to do. It wasn’t as if what he was doing was real work anyway, I thought, he’s there for completely different reasons. However, I wasn’t getting a warm and cuddly feeling that I was a partner in this investigation. He made it clear that he was the boss and in control. I was clearly nowhere near in control not even having done my homework. “Finally Lola, you are going to have to get some more suitable clothes. I can’t have my secretary looking as though she just came from a funeral as the chief mourner.” Ok, this was an insult I wasn’t going to take. “What the...” I stared, eyes wide and starting to change colour. “I’ll give you five hundred pounds and want you to go shopping this weekend,” I quickly backed down. Five hundred quid wow! “I’d like you to wear some makeup, not too much, but you need to smarten up. Pam, Delia and Sharon are career secretaries and you need to look the part which, quite frankly, you don’t at the moment.” I never said I did, I sulked to myself, but then I remembered the money.

“Actually,” his eyes bore into me again, “I think I’ll take you shopping. I don’t think you look the type who would know these things.” “Actually,” I angrily countered, wondering if he was going to be in the habit of insulting me, “I know how to shop for clothes and don’t need you to help.” This wasn’t true. I’d never really cared much about clothes, in fact I tended to stick with black; never had the money to spend anyway. Besides if everything in my wardrobe was black I didn't have to worry about whether things went together, that way everything other than my jeans mixed and matched. He looked sceptically at me. I had a feeling this was a battle I was about to lose. “I’ll meet you Saturday at 10:30am outside Kensington High Street tube and don’t be late. You can go now,” I was dismissed. As I was leaving he told me again not to be late. I also had this feeling I was going to end up hating him drop dead gorgeous or not. *** It took half an hour to get back to my office and Pete was waiting for me. I debriefed him on my ‘interview’. “Good, good,” he mumbled. I then told him that I didn’t like Julian and that he was a control freak and a stuck up shit. “Good, good,” he repeated. “Did you hear what I said about him?” I asked, starting to take out my humiliation on Pete. I told him angrily about Julian taking me shopping and to make me really mad he agreed with Julian. “Well Lola, it’s not like you really know how to dress is it? You wear jeans and baggy tops most of the time.” “Well if you paid me a decent bloody wage maybe I’d make the time to learn.” Ok, low blow, but hell how could he agree with that arrogant control freak? Pete lost his patience. “Lola, you’re getting double wages for this job and it’s your first assignment. If I were you I’d put up and shut up before I get Caro to do the job instead.” Pete didn’t handle complaining women well. Actually, I was yet to meet a man who did. I had clearly rattled his cage too much and my day looked like it was going down the toilet quickly. I huffed out of his office and slammed the door. Needless to say Caro had been listening. She came over with a mug of tea and placed it diplomatically in front of me. “You know,” she said tentatively, “I could think of worse jobs than to be taken shopping by the Adonis of private investigators; bought new clothes that I don’t have to buy myself; and do as I’m told by a man that most women would drop their knickers for without being asked.” She smiled and I broke out into a grin. Trust Caro to

point out the funny side and make me realise that my quick temper was really silly. She did have a point after all. Julian was delicious. I did need new clothes. Our giggling was interrupted by my phone. It was Steve. He wanted to know if I was busy on Saturday and did I want to meet up. I told him I was busy during the day, but free in the evening for a few hours. “A few hours?” he asked disappointed as a few hours clearly meant no sleepover at his place. “Yeah I got work I have to do over the weekend, but I can spare a few hours,” actually I was intrigued as to what his plans were to help me find my own place. “Cool. Ok then. I’ll pick you up at your mum’s then.”

Chapter 5 Lola Learns to Shop Saturday morning breakfast; toast, banana, and just for the hell of it I didn’t wear my pink bunny slippers. I regretted this as it was winter and my feet soon became frozen enough for me to trot back to my bedroom and put them on. It was 8:30am and normally I would still be asleep on a Saturday morning, but I wanted to have a shower and then select carefully what I would wear on this shopping trip with Julian. After my shower I opened the doors of my small wardrobe and suddenly realised how meager my collection of clothes actually was. I was listening to some old reggae classics and it reminded me of Marley. I wondered where he was and how he could not at least be curious about Emm and his kid. Let alone the fact that mum was totally devastated when he disappeared. These thoughts distracted me from the job in hand so in despair I threw caution to the wind and pulled on my favourite pair of jeans and a white T-shirt under a black bolero style cardigan. If I was honest I really didn’t have much choice anyway other than age of jeans and style of T-shirt. I brushed my hair and tried in vain to contain it all in a scrunchie. Finally I gave up and put on a black velvet alice band instead, hoping it would do the job of keeping the ringlets out of my eyes. Next I thought about makeup. Did I have any? Of course I did. Somewhere in a drawer there was some mascara and some pink eye shadow that Emm had given me. Yup, there it was hiding under some old socks that had lost their partners years ago, but that I had never quite got around to throwing away. Actually I had learnt some years ago the art of only buying black socks so if I lost one I could pair it up with another odd sock and of course there was the added advantage of black socks not getting discoloured in the wash. I was nothing if not frugal although, unfortunately, not by choice. The mascara had gone all clogged up so I discarded it and stuck with the eye shadow. I wiped some on my eyes and looked in the mirror. Not that bad, I thought, although I wasn’t quite convinced that pale pink was my colour. A roll of lip gloss and I was ready. I grabbed my tatty leather jacket from the hook; grabbed the messenger bag with Chairman Mao’s face stamped in red on the flap that served as my handbag; door keys and left a note for mum telling her I’d gone out. I didn’t tell her about the shopping trip. I didn’t want her getting bossy, I could hear her now “I’ve told you a million times to stop dressing like a mechanic”, which is strange because I swear I was dressing like a student, and being

compared to Emm who was super girly in her clothes and managed to achieve that despite having no money. Emm just thought it weird that someone so in love with art could be so disinterested in fashion she thought they went hand in hand. She was always telling me how beautiful I was if only I could look in the mirror and stop seeing that flat chested, skinny kid with braces looking back at me and see myself for the woman I’d become. Yeah, yeah I would say, because you’re hardly gonna tell you best friend that she’s ugly, and change the subject. The truth was I did like nice clothes and colour, but I was poor and practical. If I pretended that clothes didn’t matter then it wouldn’t hurt so much that my mum was a single parent on benefits and I didn’t have a job where I could splash out on stuff. Every spare penny I had went into my Lola’s new home fund and there wasn’t much of that by the time I gave my mum money. I had to admit I was excited at the thought of new clothes. I secretly vowed to be on my best behaviour with Julian and to do as I was told. I could do humble, passive, and obedient, couldn't I? I had read the files last night, and on the way to meeting Julian I reviewed what I had learned in case Julian interrogated me, which was highly likely. Pam Henderson was 28 years old. She came from Harlow in Essex. Her dad (deceased) was a builder and her mother a professional housewife. Her dad had been successful and Pam apparently lacked for nothing as an only child. She was currently single and preferred to befriend men rather than women. Delia Stephenson was 48 and also single. She had worked in another Lewis family owned company in London for the past fifteen years and was well regarded by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. When they set up Australis Beverages Mrs. Lewis had requested that she transfer to the company to help out Derek - probably as a spy to report back to mummy and daddy, I thought. Delia was Derek's secretary. Sharon Tartt was the youngest at 23. She was Australian like Derek, born in Sydney moved to London at the age of 20 and lived with her maternal aunt in Hammersmith. This was her first job in London. She had a boyfriend that she’d been with for the last two and a half years who was a marketing manager in a rival beverage company. Could that be significant I wondered? *** By the time I got to Kensington High Street I was fifteen minutes early so I decided to window shop in the stores close to the entrance. I was amusing myself with the thought of

wearing a tight pink skirt when Julian came up behind me. “Hello Lola,” he took me by surprise and I was flustered. “Oh, hi,” I replied. He took me gently by the elbow, as if he thought I would try to escape, and guided me into the shop whose window I had been staring at. Actually Julian, although not fun to shop with, was nevertheless not unpleasant. He did have an eye for clothes and before long I had a few outfits, only one of which was black, and like a gentleman he carried the shopping bags. Surprised that I was really enjoying myself shopping, without the guilt of knowing how much all this cost, I didn’t really care if Julian was having fun or not. Although he didn’t seem to be miserable and took the whole thing quite seriously, and yes, it was nice because the shop assistants clearly thought he was my boyfriend and drop dead gorgeous. None of the clothes were exceptionally pricey or sexy in a Ms. Pneumatic type of way, although still above my usual budget. I lost count of how much he spent when he suggested some lunch before some final shopping for some shoes and makeup. “I have make up,” I lied to him. He gave me that sceptical expression I was beginning to be all too familiar with and so I decided not to argue. I had promised myself to be a good girl. We went to an Italian restaurant he knew behind the High Street and they obviously knew him because they greeted him warmly. We took a table near the window and stowed the bags under the table. He asked me if I liked Italian food and I confessed to a love of lasagne so he ordered it for us both. “Shopping makes me hungry,” I confessed. “That’s strange I had the impression you didn’t shop enough to make that discovery,” he commented. I flushed. He was mean. I scowled and stared at him. I realised from his expression that he didn’t mean to be bitchy and that it was just an observation. “I do shop,” I retorted, “I shop for art materials. I’m very fussy actually on what type of paint and canvas I buy.” “You paint?” he seemed surprised. “Art History undergrad, so yes, I do paint. Not so much now though I’m busy with work.” Actually this is a white lie. It’s not about the time, I don’t paint anymore because I don’t have the room for it and our flat is dark mostly, even though it’s on the tenth floor. One of my criteria for Lola’s new palace is large windows and natural daylight. “So who is your favourite painter?” he asked me. Wrong question buddy - people in my social circle don’t ask about art so when given the opportunity to wax lyrical on Renaissance art I jump at it. That got me talking and talking and by the time we had finished our lasagne I think I had bored him silly with why Piero della Francesca was my favourite painter of all

time. He was nothing but professional though and didn’t show his boredom at all. I wouldn’t say I was beginning to warm to Julian, but I didn’t hate him quite as much. “How about you?” I asked him. “What do you like to do when you’re not snooping around other people’s business.” I snapped a breadstick in half and began chomping it greedily. “Snooping around other people’s business?” he queried. “Well when you put it like that....” “Julian, how lovely to see you darling,” a leggy woman had stopped at our table to greet Julian. She was elegantly dressed, late twenties, discrete jewelry, smelt wonderfully floral with polished nails and flawless makeup. She was attractive without a doubt and curious about me without a doubt too. She flashed me a glaring and inquisitive glance before pouring her attention back on Julian who had risen from the table. She held onto his arm possessively with both hands. “Francesca! How delightful to bump into you.” They air kissed. Julian failed to introduce me as they exchanged small talk. I noticed though that he didn’t look particularly comfortable seeing her, was it because he was with me? Neither did he explain to her why he was in an Italian restaurant with a scruffy black girl. Francesca was obviously as curious as hell, but too polite just to ask him. When she realised she wasn’t getting any more information from him she threw me a dirty stare as Julian was busy sitting down again, carefully making sure he wouldn’t notice. Oh, she was smart this one, I thought, and I’m the one that gets called Evil Eyes. “Well Julian darling I must dash. Are you coming down to Jasper’s next weekend? Should be a great shoot and there’s the charity dinner.” Julian told her he would think about it, but warned that he was rather busy lately. She obviously wasn’t happy with this answer, nor at catching him having lunch with a woman she didn’t know, and nor I was I happy with him for completely ignoring me as though I was too unimportant to introduce to his snooty friends. My growing friendly thoughts towards him disappeared as quickly as they had appeared and I became frosty for the rest of the meal. If Julian noticed he was too polite to mention it or probably just didn’t care that much. We sat in silence for a while other than ordering dessert because, if someone else was paying, you can be sure I’m going to have pudding. I couldn’t help it, “Do all your type have names like Julian, Jasper and Francesca,” I asked him. He looked a bit startled at this question. Yes! I thought gladly, you weren’t

expecting that one. If he weren’t sitting in front of me I would have notched one up on the invisible scoreboard with my finger. “I guess,” he confessed, “except Julian isn’t my first name - it’s my middle name.” “Oh,” wasn’t expecting that answer, “don’t tell me your first name is Rupert or something?” even he smiled at this. “No it’s Bjarne.” “Oh,” wasn’t expecting that either. I was obviously nonplussed because he set out to enlighten me. “I am Danish on my mother’s side. I grew up in Copenhagen until I was eighteen. My parents divorced when I was six and my mother got custody.” Wow, I thought, is he opening up? Fat chance, that’s as far as he went. That explains the accent though, I thought. Dessert came and the conversation stopped for a while. “So,” he asked me after a few more minutes of silence, while I contemplated licking the plate and thought better of it. “Are all your type of woman called Lola?” Touché, I asked for that one. “No my best friend is called Emma actually.” I retorted wondering if I could surreptitiously unbutton my jeans as I had eaten so much. I had this intuition that Julian wasn’t mean because he deliberately meant to be, but rather he lacked any empathy at all with his fellow human beings. I made a mental note to discuss this with Emma. She likes to be an amateur psychologist, but amusingly misses most times preferring the fantasy of second guessing why people are the way they are instead of looking at the actual facts. I looked at Julian sneakily. He was breathtakingly handsome, I did have to give him that, but I’d never met a person who is such a... cold fish, as my mum would say. It was as though god had blessed him with such good looks he decided to be fair on the rest of us mere mortals by giving him a totally deadpan personality. It seemed to me that Julian was interesting only because he didn’t talk about himself, and it made one curious to discover more behind that generously handsome facade. “I grew up without my dad around too,” I said in the hope of getting him to open up more. I told him about my dad and one thing led to another and I told him about Marley and how non-committal men seemed to run in the family. “I bet you don’t have scandals like that in your social circles,” I stated challengingly. He looked at me curiously and replied, “Oh you would be surprised,” but failed to elaborate further. He got the check then we went back to shopping with a vengeance. Two more outfits, three pairs of shoes, a handbag (because clearly my Chairman Mao bag wasn't going to cut it)

and a carrier bag full of expensive make up, apparently I should wear plum or bronze eye shadow, and I was beginning to feel pooped. We waited to call a cab to take me home. “Thanks for all the clothes and stuff,” I said. “Don’t worry Mrs. Lewis will be sent the bill,” he informed me. Somehow this pissed me off. I suspected he wasn’t personally paying for these things and I know he wasn’t like a boyfriend or a husband treating me, but somehow I didn’t expect him to make me feel kind of cheap. I don’t know why it made me feel that way, but it did. He could see I was unhappy at the remark, “She instructed me to do this, remember she met you at Mr. Roger’s office and realised you might need the right... accessories to blend in properly,” he informed me. “Yeah, whatever," I said ungraciously and stepped into the cab without a goodbye or backward glance.

Chapter 6 Lola Receives a Shocking Proposal When I got home mum was out, which was just as well. I rushed into my bedroom, quickly unpacked, ripped off labels, and packed all the rubbish into a bag, which I went into the hallway to stuff down the rubbish shoot. Hopefully it would be a while before she noticed and grilled me about where I got all the clothes from. I put the water on for a long bath. I was stuffed and tonight I was going to have to eat more at my meeting - was it a date? - with Steve. It would undoubtedly involve food as he was picking me up at 7:30pm. As I soaked in the bath I pondered on which of my new outfits I would wear tonight. I was looking forward to testing my new image out on Steve. Most of the clothes were strictly office type clothes, mostly separates that I could mix and match, but there was one dress, a red wool jersey dress. It had long sleeves and a full skirt with a V-neck which, if I wore a push up bra, would show some cleavage. Not that I had a push up bra so actually I couldn't guarantee that I would have a cleavage unless I crossed my arms and leant forward. I bet Pam never had to worry about having a cleavage. Oh Lola Hussey, I thought to myself, I really do have to learn to take more care of my looks. I took the dress off the hanger and slid it on over my head. It fit wonderfully. I could see why Julian had insisted on buying it for me. I looked, well, I looked hot. The doorbell rang. It was Emm. “Fuck, girl you look hot,” were the first words out of her mouth. I could hear my mum coming down the corridor so ran into my bedroom and pulled Emm in with me. While I sat on my bed applying my new makeup I told her about my afternoon shopping with Julian. “Maybe his mum never gave him cuddles,” she said. “Posh people are like that you know. They don’t love their kids they give them to nannies to bring up.” “Don’t be silly Emm of course they love their kids,” I argued “Just because you and I love Barney doesn’t mean every parent loves their kid. Look at your dad pissing off when you were little. Look at Marley, he never even waited for Barney to be born,” at this thought her eyes started to tear up. Oh Lordy, please Emm, pull yourself together, I prayed silently, deliberately omitting to remind her of the fact neither my dad nor Marley were rich and had nannies to abandon their kids to. They just abandoned them. As if she heard me she cheered up immediately opening my wardrobe and pulling out the outfits one by one.

“Emm I have to get some underwear, I can’t be wearing this nice stuff and still have my grey baggy knickers on underneath.” “What?! He didn’t buy you underwear?” she exclaimed. “Emm he’s not a boyfriend. Of course he didn’t buy underwear. Or perfume. Or grown up bedroom slippers to replace my pink bunnies,” I didn’t miss the opportunity to get that hint in, “just work clothes.” Emma looked at me curiously I wasn’t sure if she was wondering about the pink bunny slipper comment, or musing over why he never stretched to purchasing new underwear for me. “That dress is a bit OTT for work though isn’t it?” she asked. Obviously she had not seen Ms. Pneumatic. “It’s called smart casual Emm,” I corrected her. The hemline came to mid-calf and it covered most of my body how could it be OTT? “Smarty tarty more like,” she giggled. I was worried though. “Do I look like a tart?” I asked her frowning. “No,” she hugged me, “I was only joking. You look lovely. Really stunning, actually. I’m jealous. You have a lovely figure Lola - you should definitely show it off more.” She said this in a totally un-jealous way. We didn’t have a long mirror at home the only one we had had was on the door of my wardrobe and that got smashed during an argument between mum and my dad when I was little. So I had to guess what I looked like full length and take Emma’s word for it. “OK Emm, listen up. When Steve calls me you go divert mum so I can slip out without her cross examining me on what I’m wearing, OK?” “OK.” As if on cue my phone rang and I told Steve I’d be right down. I grabbed my new long camel-coloured wool coat from the wardrobe, very grown up, grabbed my new black shoes in my hands, no way was I going to dash down the stairs wearing them, I might fall and break my neck, and rushed out the door just as I heard my mum yelling my name. I could hear Emm telling her I’d just left because I was late - good on you Emm I thought. *** I had opened the door to Steve’s car before he even realised it was me. He turned and just stared. It was a bit uncomfortable so I broke the silence quickly, “So mate, where are you taking me?” He came to his senses and started the engine.

“Well I was gonna take you down to the local, but I don’t think I should when you’re dressed like that.” Typical of Steve that he couldn’t pay me a compliment without it sounding like a criticism. “Only joking I thought we would go to that Italian you like,” I inwardly groaned at the thought of Italian food again. We were nearly the same age, but I had a feeling that Steve was at least twenty years older than me. If he declared that he was going to run as Tory MP in the next general election I wouldn’t be at all surprised. He was that... well pedestrian really. We drove the short distance to the Italian restaurant on Fulham Road. Steve had sweetly remembered I loved lasagne, but the third time in one week might defeat me and my heart slowly sank at the prospect. The waiter took my coat and Steve finally saw me in my red dress properly. He said nothing, but his eyes were surprised and ravenous. I was secretly pleased as punch. In fact I noticed the darkly handsome Italian waiter was watching me too and this made me feel like a million dollars. Yes, shamefully, being lusted after by the waiter was more thrilling than being lusted after by Steve. Skinny kid with braces be gone, I thought triumphantly as he led us to our table. The waiter flicked open the napkin and took a little bit longer than necessary to place it on my lap for me. It wasn’t gone unnoticed by Steve who immediately told me, “Lasagne here is great darling", with emphasis on the ‘darling’. I knew the lasagne was great because it was about the third time we had eaten here, although the waiter was definitely new. I guess it was man talk for hands off she’s mine or something like that. “We’ll have the lasagne,” he told the waiter dismissively without consulting me first. My belly ached already at the thought. Oh well, mustn’t look a gift horse in the mouth; lasagne three times in one week and twice in one day should not be groaned at. We made idle chit chat then Steve broached the subject of me staying with him tonight. I politely turned him down, although, I was feeling rather frisky after all the admiration, but if I didn’t do some planning and reading up before Monday I could be facing another humiliation from Julian. “You know Lola,” he said taking my hand in his. Steve rarely made romantic gestures like hand holding, ours was much more a strip off jump into bed rough and tumble, with the rough replaced by amateur fumbling. “Why don’t you leave your mum’s place and come live with me?” I swear I nearly spat out my lasagne, but instead I choked on it. The waiter immediately came over and began rubbing my back, but he backed off when he saw Steve glaring at him. Once I recovered I answered him, “Live with you, Steve? Not possible.” I

wasn’t good at dealing with things from left field, which didn’t bode well for a career in private investigation. He looked hurt. “Why not?” He argued. “We’ve been an item for years now. I earn decent money, my career is about to take off and you need to get out from your mum’s place - it would be ideal.” I could see he was working himself up to pleading if I didn’t head it off right now. “Because, firstly we are not an ‘item’ and secondly, we are not in love Steve,” I said gently pointing out the blindingly obvious, “we are just friends who... fuck occasionally. We are not even girlfriend and boyfriend.” I could be brutal too. “We’re not?” He winced at my language, but there was no other way of putting it. I could see the longer this conversation went on the more I was going to hurt him and I really didn’t want to. Ok, I could have phrased it differently, softened the blow, but I felt that bluntness was called for lest it give him some hope. “I love you,” he corrected me. “No you don’t,” I corrected him. “How can you say that?” he looked hurt all over again. “You’ve been the only girl in my life since, since I lost my virginity to you,” he blurted out. “Woah! Back up,” I had my hands up by now, “what do you mean, you were a virgin?” “Yeah. I thought you knew,” he was speaking in a hushed urgent voice now. “No,” I said, “as far as I was aware, I was the virgin.” “You were a virgin?” he seemed incredulous “No way. That’s so not what the boys were saying about you.” “Oh?” now I was curious in an angry sort of way. “And just what were the ‘boys’ saying about me then?” “That, you know, you.... put out,” there it was, out of the bag, Steve had thought I was an easy lay. “I... put... out?” I had raised my voice without realising it and eyes were turning my way. Lady in red dress stating loudly that she put out! If they knew she was called Lola Hussey that would just seal the deal of disdain. I could see the waiter out of the corner of my eye smiling hopefully now. “I did not put out,” I hissed back at him. “In fact not only was I a virgin, but you are the only man I’ve ever had sex with.” I realised this was the wrong thing to tell him and would probably only encourage him further.

“They used to joke with a name like a hooker that you probably knew a trick or two,” he looked so innocent I almost felt sorry for him, but the old Evil Eyes were now blazing away, and I threw the napkin on the table, hands on hips. “So why, Mr. Clean Cut, would you want me to move in with you? If, after all these years, you’ve been thinking that I’m an easy lay?” That was a bit stupid given that when he asked - how about it, Lola? - I usually gave in. The only mitigation in my defence was that he didn’t ask that often, and without another man on the horizon I had to do something to stop becoming sexually frustrated. Steve looked unbelievingly at me, stumped for words, or not stumped, but too frightened to say what was on his mind. I was fond of Steve, it wasn’t love, but it was a deep affection and I couldn’t help but compare it to being the same feeling I had towards my pink bunny slippers, which probably was an unfair comparison. If the truth be told I was inordinately more fond of my slippers. He was like a harmless bunny, and at certain rare times he was kind of cute and always dependable. He did have a good job and he wasn’t mean or fat, or in fact anything really and that was the problem. He was just too bland. Even Emm admitted this. His dad was the odd one out in the family she told me. The only one who never got into trouble with the Police. At the time it sounded a definite plus. Now it just sounded like a terrible bore and I wasn’t ready to be buried in suburbia trying to learn to cook, watch the clock for him to come home whilst bouncing babies on my hips. I was young, I wanted a bit more. My career as a sleuth was only just beginning and besides that I’d only ever had one lover and that was Steve. I felt sure there must be more on the horizon. How could I be sure I'd only want to eat at home if I'd never tried the food in restaurants? Well, you know what I mean. “Oh no! Steve, no way!” I looked as sad as he was. “It wouldn’t work.” “Why not Lola, I can make you happy? You wouldn’t want for anything,” he told me sincerely. I would, I thought to myself, I would want for excitement and escape. In fact, I really wanted to escape right now. Did Emm know about this and, besides, how did he think he could make me happy? Did he make me happy now? I’d never even thought about it. He was just there like a pair of worn pink bunny slippers. Something to keep my feet warm when needed. He slipped a small jewelry box onto the table. “Lola I’m 26, I have a good job, my own house. I love you. I know I’ve never said it before, but I do. “

I stared down at the box in horror. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, I kept on chanting in my head. It gets worse! I was going to tell him that we were too young, but then Steve had never really been young. I was going to tell him he was just someone I had sex with because I was too busy to find someone else and at least I trusted him, but I knew this would hurt him more. “Why do you think I’ve been working so hard since Uni? To get myself established, Lola. To prepare for the moment when I’m gonna ask you to marry me,” he glanced down at the box on the table. I refused to follow his gaze. I just, just, just didn’t want or expect this. I closed my eyes tightly. “Lola? What are you doing here?” It was Julian. Fuck me if my night wasn’t just about to get worse I’m sure. Steve looked up at Julian. Julian looked down at the box on the table and at me with my eyes screwed tight. It was obviously, not a happy moment. I opened my eyes slowly. “Julian, how nice to bump into you here,” was all I could manage in a small, not-at-all-nice-to-meet-you voice. I didn’t bother to introduce them. See if he liked that. I had told him I didn’t have a boyfriend, well I had tried to, but that gilt edged box on the table obviously didn’t drop from a cracker, even if it had been Christmas. It seemed that Julian knew the owner and had just popped in for a quick drink and a catch up. Steve was looking totally forlorn and insecure. I was horrified to see that he was on the verge of tears. The last thing he needed was Mr. Adonis showing up at the point his girlfriend - which I wasn’t - was about to reject his marriage proposal - which I was. Julian took in the situation immediately and made a hasty retreat. “Nice dress,” Julian commented and I didn’t appreciate it at all, “and lasagne again?” I swear he was smirking, if indeed he knew how to. “See you Monday,” he said pleasantly to me, nodded to Steve and left. My dislike of Julian went up a notch or two. “Who was that? What was all that about lasagne?” asked a worried Steve. “My sort of boss partner thing,” I answered hastily, “Look Steve why can’t we just leave things as they are?” I said changing the subject from Julian. I didn’t feel like answering any questions about Julian to Steve, but he noticed my eagerness to change the subject. “He seemed a bit more than that,” Steve said accusingly, “the way he looked at you in that dress, and why on earth would you wear a dress like that Lola?” “What is wrong with this dress?” I demanded. “Well, it’s... revealing,” he stumbled to find a word that wouldn’t inflame me but failed. “It’s nearly down to my ankles and covers my arms,” I pointed out. “I don’t see why I can’t wear a red dress, and I don’t see what’s wrong in looking nice. It makes me feel good.” I said defiantly.

“It clings to your body and you’re showing cleavage. Men will stare.” “Let them,” I had got over the mortification of bumping into Julian at a very personal and embarrassing moment of my life and was now getting irritated again. Steve had opened up the box and turned it around to me. It was a sapphire and diamond ring, looking like a replica of Princess Diana’s ring. I snapped the box closed, nearly catching Steve’s finger in the process. “Get the bill Steve, let’s go home to your place.” I have no idea why I said that. I have no idea why getting angry also makes me frisky. Nor why I stayed the night with him. Maybe it was pity. Maybe some warped sense of defiance or, maybe just a need to be desired. Most probably, in truth, a combination of all three. I told him to put the ring away. After we had sex he cried, while I held him and told him again I was fond of him, but not enough to share the rest of my life with him. That he deserved someone better than me. That neither of us had really experienced life, and so on. As I drifted off to sleep, I had the oddest thought that I bet nothing like this ever happened in Julian’s life.

Chapter 7 The Morning After The Night Before I woke before Steve did. It was a beautiful morning, bright sunlight illuminating the curtains told me the sun was out in full glory. belying the temperature outside. Sometimes England did that. It gave us sunshine that wouldn’t be amiss in the Caribbean, but keeping us shivering in the cold. I looked at Steve sleeping peacefully beside me his arm wrapped around my midriff, his head on my shoulder making my arm feel dead. He really wasn’t bad looking I thought and he’s really quite sweet and sincere, but there’s more to a relationship than filler sex and watching someone sleep. Much more! I gently moved him aside and got up, wrapping his bathrobe around me, I trotted downstairs to make tea and breakfast. OK, so my breakfast making efforts stretched to bread in the toaster and Steve had no bananas, but I make a mean cup of tea. By the time I had finished buttering the toast Steve wandered down in boxer shorts and a T-shirt. He smiled at me sheepishly, but I didn’t smile back. “Sit, we have to talk,” I ordered. He looked crestfallen, and sat at the table and reached for his mug of tea. I could see he was hoping that I had changed my mind. We talked, well I talked and he mainly listened. I told him again about not being in love with him. How us marrying would be selfish because it would end in tears and divorce. How I couldn’t remain faithful to someone I didn’t really love and wouldn’t hurt him like that. He did point out to me that so far I had been faithful to him, but shut up when I told him that was by default and not design. By the end of our talking the tears had dried up, and I could see his heart was broken. I felt like a rotten bitch. My final words on the whole subject, was that we would still be friends, but best not to be friends with benefits. It seemed a lame substitute for what he had been hoping for. I hoped I was doing the right thing. Maybe being Steve’s wife would be a comfortable life. Certainly, I thought, if I had been twenty years older, with the hurly burley of youth behind me it would have been a tempting offer, but I wanted more. I wanted independence, some adventure, and going from my living with my mum to being Steve’s wife was not going to give that to me. ***

Steve dropped me off outside the Hardy estate. I looked up at the forbidding concrete buildings in the bright sunlight and wondered if I would ever come home to a different place. I was sad. Steve was sad. Mine was suddenly a sad world despite the sunny day. Mum and Emm were in the lounge conspiring on the sofa, and when I opened the door they turned with expectant faces towards me. So they knew. So Emma knew and didn’t warn me - how could she? I didn’t have to say anything the lack of joy on my face said it all. “Oh Lola,” Emma started but I held up my hand. “I don’t want to talk I’ve got work to do and am going to my room.” Which I did for the rest of the day. To keep myself occupied I buried myself in the case file determined to do some serious study this time. A substantial amount covered the history of Australis Beverages and some more covered the Lewis family holdings. It seems like the bulk of Lewis money actually came from mining, but they had considerable holdings across a variety of businesses. I learnt that Australia has the largest deposits of something called rare earth, which were minerals in demand in the high tech industry. Reading between the lines the drinks company was set up to keep Derek occupied and for a hobby business it was doing well, sales were up, market share was increasing slowly. It seems like the only son wasn’t keen on the mining industry. The Lewis family net worth was estimated at 4 billion US dollars. Wow. I’d never remotely even dreamt of that much money, but it explained how Mrs. Lewis could afford to have a team, albeit small, looking into her only child’s death. I felt less bad about the clothes now. Julian had told me there was no time limit to this case the priority was to confirm either one way, or another, the cause of death. There were biographies of the key Directors. As I knew Julian would be marking them I just skimmed over them briefly. There were two main directors whose details were quite extensive detailing their financial and career history. Both were married. David Partridge the Chief Operating Officer was 48 and had a solid career in the soft drinks business. His work mainly extended to inspection of production facilities so he was largely absent from the London office. Australis actually didn’t make their drinks they outsourced it to a small number of production companies, and likewise with distribution. He was married, his second marriage, with young two kids. Giuseppe “Joe” Da Luca was the Chief Executive. He was 58 and fourth generation American-Italian. He too had a solid background in consumer goods with a career that

spanned the big American names. His son, Joe Jr. also worked for the company - apparently they had come as a packaged deal according to the file, which failed to elaborate further. The final part of the file was Dead Derek himself. I should probably stop referring to him as Dead Derek otherwise it would slip out one time and I would get into trouble. Was a bit tasteless too, I suppose. Poor fella he can’t help it if he died. In the last week my career had just suddenly changed from going nowhere to a fast sprint of change and excitement. Now I was a fledgling investigator I felt I should behave with a bit more gravitas. Besides which, the ‘incident’ with Steve had suddenly made me feel more worldly wise for some reason. Derek was undoubtedly dead. The fall it seems killed him according to the autopsy. He suffered a fatal impact to the head and several broken bones. He had fallen twenty stories and hit pretty much head first. Yuck - was probably not a pretty sight. The file contained a photo of Derek when he was alive, thankfully not one of the accident. Good looking in a rugged kind of way. He looked stocky and had red hair and lots of freckles. It was a beach photo and he had a surfboard under his arm. I could see he was muscle bound and welltoned. I thought it odd that the photo wasn’t of him in a business suit. Derek was 27 and an only child. Hmm, I thought, the heir had no spare and Mrs. Lewis was obviously too old to drop another one. It appeared that Derek was a ladies’ man, but managed to extricate himself from any permanent commitment. The number of casual relationships he had was substantial as was to be expected by a young, very rich, ruggedly good looking man of his age I suppose. He lived in a large apartment in Knightsbridge, had a live in housekeeper, Mrs. Jones, who was still in situ. The apartment was still full of Derek’s possessions and for the moment there was no intention of clearing it out. No doubt it had been searched, but it might be worth taking another look. I’d never seen inside a millionaire’s house. Wait, scratch that, a billionaire’s house. There was one part of my personality that was suited to investigation and that was my natural nosiness and curiosity. I’d have to hint to Julian about searching the apartment. My phone rang, I didn’t recognise the number but answered it anyway. “Yeah, Lola here.” “Hi Lola it’s Julian,” that smooth voice with the slight accent was quite sexy I conceded. “Oh right, wassup?” I was surprised I didn’t give him my number he must have got it from Pete or Caro.

“I just rang to check that you were covering your homework,” what a prick I thought and, when I really thought about it, he was weird. “As a matter of fact I was just thinking about doing some reading,” no need to tell him I’d already read through the file and was on my third reading. “But I was feeling a bit tired,” I added to see how he would react. “I see,” was all he said. Strange I was preparing for a lecture. “Well I’ll see you in the morning 9:00am sharp,” and with that he ended the call. No goodbye. Boy needs to learn some manners. He made Pete look like a gentleman sometimes, and I hoped he wasn’t in the habit of calling over the weekends. Oh wait, I suppose investigators worked all days, I forgot. Emm poked her head around the door and I scowled at her. “Can we talk?” she asked sheepishly. “No. I’m busy. I have to catch up. Don’t you have Barney to take care of or something,” and with that I buried my nose back into the file. OK, that was a bitchy thing to say, but hell she let me walk into that dinner with Steve with no warning. “Lola he made me promise not to say anything,” she pleaded. “I don’t care Emm. I really am busy. Maybe some time during the week, Ok?” “Ok,” she left sadly. Making her wait to unburden her guilt and learn the gory details of the Steve encounter was my way of punishing her, and I knew it would. I knew she would be desperate to find out why it so obviously had gone wrong. I was beginning to feel hungry. The drama of the day before had taken away my appetite so far, but now my stomach was grinding. I wandered through to the kitchen, having to pass through the lounge where my mum sat watching TV. She looked up but knew better than to say anything. Instead she pursed her lips and went back to watching her soap opera. I popped some bread into the toaster and scouted around for a banana. No bananas, shit I thought, I couldn’t be bothered to run down to Tesco’s and get some. I slapped some peanut butter onto the toast instead, made a cup of tea and wandered back to my room. After an hour more reading and note making I decided to make it an early night. I was mentally exhausted. My life was changing and I just hoped that it was a good thing. My almost non-existent sex life had just taken a turn for the worse, my career, if I could call it that, had taken a turn, but I wasn’t convinced it was for the better other than the money. I drifted off to sleep dreaming about Lola’s palace and made a mental note to start the search tomorrow. I had to know what I was aiming for and by now, after three years

scrimping and saving, I had reached a grand total of three thousand pounds in savings. I calculated that if I put away ninety percent of the money from this case and it lasted three to six months I could maybe move into a new place in spring. I went to sleep happy.

Chapter 8 Working Nine to Five Wet, cold, miserable, Monday morning. I had toast for breakfast, no bananas. I think my mum is taking out her revenge on Steve’s behalf by withholding the purchase of bananas. I stood by the sink sipping my morning tea watching the rain wash down the kitchen window. Damn, I noticed that an eye had fallen off one of my bunny slippers. I decided to wear the blue pencil skirt with a white blouse to work and to tie my hair up as best I could. The journey was short and uneventful, no desperate people throwing themselves in front of trains and causing delays. I got to the office and waited in reception for Ms. Pneumatic, sorry Pam, to come pick me up. She kept me waiting, but eventually turned up in tight yellow trousers tucked into black stiletto boots and a tight white fluffy jumper. I wondered if all her clothes were tight. Probably. Her blonde hair, almost definitely bleached, was held back tightly into a pony tail. An Essex facelift for an Essex girl. Miaow, I was feeling bitchy this morning. Probably something to do with my hormones and pre-menstrual tension. Then I remembered I had to make friends with her. How the hell I was going to achieve that, when we were clearly opposite types, was beyond me. Moving down the office we passed several desks some were occupied some not. “Hi Joe,” Pam had stopped in front of a man, such that he couldn’t pass without stopping too. She was obviously an expert at ambushing by breasts. He was tall, curly dark hair cut short, blue eyes and tanned skin. Hmmm, a bit yummy, was my first reaction. Must be Joe Junior, I thought. “Hey Pam, how was your weekend?” definite American accent. He looked at me and beamed me a smile. Perfect teeth. Yup, American. “And you are?” “Lola.” “She’s Julian’s new secretary,” Pam informed him. “Lucky guy,” he smirked and winked at me. Oh! This did not go un-noticed by Pam who stiffened a little, but she hid it well. “Cool meeting you, Lola,” he waved a goodbye and went off humming. I blushed when I realised he was humming Barry Manilow. Need I spell out the song? There were just under thirty people working at Australis and I think Joe Junior was definitely one to watch and not in a bad way either. I turned to watch him retreat thinking what a fine backside he had. Unfortunately, he turned back at the same time and, as

if reading my mind, flashed me a dirty smile. Ok the smile might have been a friendly smile, but somehow it seemed loaded with more than just friendliness. I blushed deeper. Hormones have a lot to answer for, I thought, but a guy who can make his smiles seem like a sexual invitation needs watching out for. I bet he ate women like me for breakfast and decided to keep my bad-boy radar on full power when he was around. Julian was waiting for me outside his office glancing at his watch. “Good morning Lola, you’re late,” I was about to say actually I was early and had to wait for Pam, but thought better of it. She was still standing there and I didn’t want to drop her in it, given that my mission, that I had accepted, was to befriend her. It would definitely get me off to a bad start. “Sorry,” I mumbled and glanced Pam’s way waiting for her grateful look, but got none. “Get settled and then come to my office please,” he turned and left. There were four separate desks in an open space with four offices behind them. I guessed these belonged to the other Directors. The desks were sufficiently far apart that you couldn’t see what the other secretaries were typing, but near enough to have a conversation as long as it wasn’t whispered. My new work home, I thought. Vastly different from Pete’s shabby but cosy office. I was missing it already. “There’s a small pantry down the hallway,” said Pam, “you can get drinks there. The china cups and saucers are for the directors and guests. Ladies loo is to the right of the pantry. We cover each other over lunch, taking it in turns. The one who covers the 1:00 to 2:00 lunch hour goes early at 12:00. I’ll be covering today.” Pam swayed over to what was obviously her desk. How does she do that? I mean sway like her hips are some type of fairground ride that swings from side to side. I got motion sick just watching her walk. “Thanks,” I mumbled setting down my new bag under my new desk, hanging up my new coat and powering up my new PC. Someone had thoughtfully laid out a new note pad and other stationery on my desk. My life was suddenly flooded with all things new. I grabbed a note pad, a pen, and went into Julian’s office. “I’d appreciate it if you knock before entering.” Oh shit, why is it that I always seem to get it wrong with Julian? I stood there uncomfortably. “Sit,” he ordered. I took a chair at a small round table. “Over here,” and he pointed to a chair nearer to his desk. There he was again, Mr. Bossy Teacher, me timid schoolgirl and I resented it enormously. He stopped tapping on his PC and sat looking at me for a few seconds. I was uncomfortable. “You look....” he was searching for a suitable word, “respectable.” Right, like that’s a surprise. Well he chose the clothes so that was bloody obvious. I didn’t reply. My talent at sarcasm was probably best left back at the Hardy estate and not brought into the office. At

least not Julian’s office and other than a sarcastic remark at his comment I could think of nothing else to say. I could tell that Lola’s new palace was going to be hard earned. He asked me a few probing questions, testing to see if I had done my homework and I answered him with ease. He seemed pleased. Like I care, I thought. Well I guess I should though after all he was kind of my boss. It was patently clear that there was no partnership going down in this investigation it was strictly Bossman and Underdog. Still a girl has to do, what a girl has to do. “I’m sorry I interrupted you on Saturday evening,” this took me by surprise. One that he was apologising and two that he brought up Saturday night when really anyone with a sense of diplomacy wouldn’t have brought it up at all. “I didn’t realise that you were discussing something private when I interrupted.” That was my opening to tell him about it, but I decided to pass. I frowned instead. So he had seen the box and had caught the tension at the table. Of course he had, stupid me, he’s a private investigator and you would have had to have been blind not to have picked up on that one. I sat in moody silence. “Lola, I think we got off on a bad footing,” gosh he’s observant. “Let’s try at least to get along together? We are going to be working very closely and good partnerships require trust.” “I don’t think this is a partnership,” I retorted, “more like you boss me around and I have to do what you say.” Oops, couldn’t help that one slipping out. He looked surprised. “Is that the way you see it?” he asked curiously. “You mean you see it differently?” I was working my way up for an argument. “I guess I can be a bit, domineering,” he conceded. “A bit,” I interrupted, “try adding annoying and arrogant to that.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “But in here I am your boss. That’s our cover. I am going to be bossy because that’s what bosses do, but I want you to know that I am also going to very much depend on what information you can gather out there,” and he pointed his pen to the four desks beyond the door. “You’re an inexperienced investigator,” see he didn’t need to point things like that out. That’s what I meant about him being all superior, arrogant and annoying. “I can teach you a lot, but I’m not a patient teacher, I’ll admit that.” True right. “So if I sometimes seem a bit....” “Arrogant.” “Umm, ok, arrogant,” he didn’t like to admit that - one point score for Lola! “then I’m sorry, but this is a serious case, it’s not a fraud, not a cheating spouse, but a murder of a

young man.” I was quite well aware of that. I’d been reading up on it all day yesterday and I did see the tragedy and pain it must have caused Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, who for all their money couldn’t stop fate taking their only child. He then went on to explain how partners had to watch each other’s back, how it was important that they trusted each other, knew how each other ticked. So he was referring to our working relationship as a partnership, interesting way of dealing with it then, I thought sarcastically. “Well, you see, that’s where it goes a bit awry with us,” I pointed out, “I hardly know anything about you so how on earth could I know how you ticked?” “Well, you know I’m arrogant and bossy,” he smiled at this. I couldn’t help a giggle. “I guess,” I felt I had to lay it on the line to him though, “But let’s not kid ourselves that we are going to spill our live stories out to each other, ok? We might be partners, but what I do outside of this place is my business and that starts with who I was with and what I was doing on Saturday night. Ok and for the record I don’t think we’ll ever make it to best buddies either.” Oh go girl, a new Lola, a professional, no nonsense Lola was emerging. He looked at me thoughtfully. “Deal,” he agreed. “Now there is one fact that wasn’t in that file that you need to know,” I sat up intrigued. My antennae for gossip had just shot up. “I am personally involved in this case,” of course he is he’s one of the investigators, I thought, “Derek Lewis was my cousin.” Well you could’ve knocked me down with a feather. Slapped me with a wet fish I would have been less surprised. I was speechless. I don’t remember seeing a family resemblance in the photo of Dead Derek at all. “Mrs. Lewis, Donna, is my aunt. My father’s sister. That’s why this case is very, very important to me and why we must trust each other and share information. It’s personal for me Lola,” he looked concerned almost upset. “Wow,” was the only thing I could say in response. “Derek and I weren’t close as adults, but we did occasionally socialise. We shared some friends. One of whom is Francesca whom you met on Saturday.” I was going to correct him and tell him I didn’t meet her because he failed to introduce me, but I bit my tongue. I figured I had pushed my limits of sarcasm today. “I’m telling you this because this weekend I’m going down to Wiltshire for a shoot and charity dinner, and she will be there.” “That bloke called Jasper?” “Yes, that bloke called Jasper,” and the point was... “And I’d like you to come down with me.” “What? Why?” I had planned to have a busy weekend sulking.

“I’d like you to see if you can pick up some information from the house staff and other guests. Derek spent the last weekend before he was killed at Jasper’s. It might be nothing, but there might be something. Anyway you’ll be coming down as my assistant. I’ll tell them we have a big project on and you’ll be working on it with me when I’m not out shooting with the other guests.” “I don’t approve of shooting animals,” I told him, “I don’t want to go,” I protested, and I certainly didn’t want people thinking I was his servant either. “We will be shooting clay pigeons Lola not helpless animals.” Oh bummer that excuse won’t work then. “It’s all arranged. Jasper’s place is huge there’s plenty of rooms. There will be a formal charity dinner on Saturday evening and I hope you forgive me, but I bought you a suitable dress. It will be delivered to your place this evening.” Oh another dress. Maybe having to put up with arrogant Julian was worth it after all. “So my mission is to see what people think about, um, Derek’s accident?” “Ok, let’s get this straight Derek didn’t have an accident he was murdered. It was not death from misadventure as the coroner stated. My aunt, uncle and I are convinced of that. Just that we don’t know the truth. We have no motive and no murderer. Yet.” The way he said that I felt slightly sorry for the murderer. Wouldn’t like to be in his shoes when Julian catches up with him. “Ok, what am I going to tell my mum about this weekend?” Oh dear, I sounded like a teenage girl on a short leash, but seriously what would she say? Turning down Steve and running off for the weekend with Mr. Hoity Toity. She wouldn’t understand it was just work, her brain just didn’t function that way. Julian was amused, “You have to ask your mum’s permission?” “No. well, no but... no. It’s ok. Nevermind,” I felt it was best I stopped right there. “Good. ok, we’ve been talking for over an hour now. You better get started on the cover work before the other ladies start gossiping. There’s a pile of papers on the table for filing. Anything else?” Actually there were a million and one questions I had about him, his family, Derek and all the other people in the file, but he was right I had been in the office long enough. “Just one thing,” I said as I turned to leave, “Pam. I don’t think she likes me. In fact I think she definitely doesn’t like me, which might be a bit of a problem.” “Lola that’s for you to work out, but I would say Pam isn’t going to like any female let alone one who is attractive,” did he just call me attractive? “She would’ve already seen the

reaction that you meeting Joe Junior caused and she won’t be happy. You’ll find out she likes to be the centre of male attention around here.” So he noticed my introduction with Joe. “Talking of which, be careful of Joe, he has a more than deserved reputation with the ladies.” “I can take care of myself,” I retorted, but when I thought about it Joe was very tempting, like a big cream cake to someone who had only had lasagne to eat. *** So Julian was Derek’s cousin. I was still in shock. Less than a week ago I knew nothing about either of them. After years of boredom and struggle my life had suddenly turned around and was getting more interesting by the day. I forget about Steve, mum and all the unfinished business at home. I noticed that the other two desks were now occupied. I went up to the first one. It was occupied by a very smartly dressed woman in her late forties. Must be Delia I thought. She was rather plain, wore minimal makeup and was a little on the plump side. I introduced myself and she welcomed me to the company and explained that she worked for Mr. Da Luca. Somehow she managed to make that fact also convey that she was the senior secretary and I wasn’t to forget it, without actually stating so. Hmm, she may look like a mouse but she was a hawk in disguise I reckoned. Sharon on the other hand was completely different. She was all smiles and friendship. We were around the same age and I warmed to her straight away. Mind you Ms. Pneumatic wasn’t much older than me and I didn’t warm to her. Sharon didn’t work for anyone directly at the moment, but Australis was recruiting a Finance Director, they were doing second round interviews at the moment and she was going to work for him. Sharon had long dirty blonde hair neatly held back by an Alice band and was conservatively dressed. She offered to show me around the neighbourhood at lunch time and I accepted. Not that I needed showing around Hammersmith as I only lived up the road. Now that I had met my main marks I set about doing some filing. It would give me some time to absorb all that I had seen and heard this morning. I’d been doing the filing for about half an hour when Joe Junior breezed in. He went up to Pam’s desk and immediately had her undivided attention. He asked her if his dad was in, and when he got the negative response he look around and came over to me. “Hi there Lola, how’s it goin’?” he flashed me a seductive smile leaning casually on my desk. Well at least I read it as a seductive smile. Guess my brain works that way when a handsome man shows me some attention.

“Oh, hi there. Fine thanks for asking.” He made idle chit chat whilst eyeing me up. He had this way of making me feel like prey without actually making me feel like it was a bad thing. In fact he made it feel like a good thing. Seriously dangerous, my bad-boy radar was flashing warnings at me. But I was hard wired to like bad boys unfortunately. It ran in the family just like breeding them did too. I flashed him a few smiles and laughed obliging at his jokes. I couldn’t see that Pam was casting daggers my way, as Joe Junior had blocked my view of her, but I was feeling them all the same. And then he asked me if I were free for lunch. “Actually no,” I said looking over to Sharon. He was a fast worker, I'd give him that. Clearly he was not used to being rejected I could tell. “Joe your dad will be back around 1:30 Delia booked you a slot with him,” called Pam from across the room. “Yes that’s right,” added Delia, “he said he wants to review the sales figures for France with you.” “OK cool,” he told her without turning back, his eyes were still boring into me, “Too bad Lola, but maybe next time, huh?” He made it sound like it was my loss not his and maybe he was right. “Sure next time,” nothing else to say really. Sometime later Sharon was at my desk with her coat and handbag. “Come on then Miss Busy Beaver, we’ve only got an hour,” Sharon was beaming her super wattage Aussie smile my way. How time flies when you’re happy filing I thought. I hadn’t even noticed that Pam had left and had already returned from lunch. I grabbed my coat and bag and Sharon and I left. Julian’s door had remained closed and there wasn’t a peep from him. I knocked on his door and put my head around. He was busy tapping on his keyboard. “Julian, I’m just going to lunch now with Sharon.” He had a lunch appointment too and said he’d walk down with us. We passed Joe Junior who smiled at me seductively and ignored Julian completely. I had a feeling there was no love lost between them. Once outside Julian hailed a cab and told me he wouldn’t be back this afternoon and to take care. Take care? Did he mean Joe Jr.? I think he did. Sharon took me to a small café where we ordered a sandwich and cappuccino each. She was a vegetarian, super healthy exercising regularly. She missed the Australian weather and gushed about her boyfriend. I let her talk nonsense for a while and then confided to her that I think Pam hated me. “Oh don’t let her rattle your cage. She was like that with me. She likes to be the centre of male attention,” well that was stating the obvious, “but once she finds out you’re no threat to her she’ll back off.” Ok, well Sharon obviously thinks I’m no threat in the attracting males

department. “It’s because of Joe, he’s a big flirt and Delia and I think they have a thing going on under his dad’s nose,” she confided. “Really, they’re both single, why would they want to keep it a secret?” “Because Mr. Da Luca, Joe Sr. is a bit of a bully. He treats Joe like a little kid and he gets real touchy when Joe chases the women in the office. Rumour has it that Joe got into trouble in his last job, which is why he’s now working here where Joe Senior can keep an eye on him.” I made a mental note to inform Julian of this. “So you get along with Delia? She’s seems a bit standoffish to me,” I observed. “Oh, Delia is a doll. She’s lovely don’t you let that image of hers give you the wrong impression. She has a heart of gold. She was a real trooper when Derek died.” “Derek?” “Oh. I forgot you wouldn’t know about that,” oh wouldn’t I? I felt a little uncomfortable about pretending to Sharon who was so open, but I waved it away. She told me about it. How Derek was found shortly after midnight when luckily no one was at the office. He’d been on the roof apparently and fallen. She failed to mention the trousers and what he was doing up on the roof. “What was he doing on the roof at night?” I prompted her. “Nobody knows,” she paused thinking whether to continue and I was wondering if I would pass the trust stage with her or if the need to gossip would get the better of her, “although there are some people who think he was meeting someone up there.” “Why on earth would people meet on a rooftop of an office?” “Well that’s when things get interesting because some people are whispering that he was meeting a woman up there.” “But why the roof, it was late at night why not just meet in an office? No one would see; they could just close the door.” “True,” I could see she hadn’t thought it through. We wound up lunch and headed back to the office. “Next time I’ll invite Delia to join us,” said Sharon. “That would be cool,” I replied. The rest of the afternoon passed swiftly and uneventfully. Mr. Da Luca introduced himself when he popped out of his office. He welcomed me and then quickly popped back into his office shouting for Pam to follow him. He was much shorter than Joe Junior and fatter. By the time 5:00pm came around I was tired and ready to go home. Sharon and I left together and Delia and Pam stayed on. Sharon’s favourite topic of conversation was her boyfriend and by the time we got to the tube station I felt like I had met him already.

Chapter 9 What? No Dining Room? When I got home mum was out. Usually she cooked and if I was late she would leave it in the oven. I couldn’t smell any food so I searched the kitchen. Nothing. I immediately thought of going to see Emm, but then remembered I wasn’t talking to her either. I was desperate to chat over my day with her too, but stubbornly I refused to give in so easily. She had really upset me and I needed to make my upset-ness felt. I resolved to take some clothes down to the launderette and order a takeaway to eat, while I watching my clothes go round and round in the machines. Better than the crap on the TV I thought. I grabbed my bag of laundry and my book on Paulo Ucello and left the flat. I was into the third chapter of my book when my phone rang. It was Julian. “Hi, Lola here,” I answered. “Lola, Julian here.” I sometimes wondered why we did this little introduction thing on the phone. Of course it was me he had dialed my phone; of course it was him my caller ID told me that. “Where are you? It’s noisy in the background.” “Launderette,” I responded. “Launderette?” He repeated curiously. “Yeah, you know that place you go to wash your clothes,” come to think of it I bet he didn’t have to wash his own clothes, and even if he did he would have a machine at home. My mum’s apartment was too small for a washing machine and dryer, and just about everyone who lived in Hardy went to the launderette. “Oh,” he was surprised. Yup, as I thought he obviously didn’t do every day normal things like the rest of us mere mortals. Adonis did not do laundry, not even his own. I gave him a debrief on my conversation with Sharon and he was interested in who was the source of the rumours and could I try to find out? Sure I would try, I assured him. He asked me where the launderette was as he had a file he wanted to drop off to me with some background information I would need for the weekend. Also, the courier company refused to deliver to my home address, that figures, I thought, and he wanted to drop the dress off with me too. “Seriously Julian,” I complained. “My brain is a bit fried already can’t I have a night off?” Silence. Guess not, and I gave him the address of the launderette. I was wearing a pair of baggy old sweat pants and an even baggier jumper, my laundry uniform, when he arrived. There were a few other people in the launderette and they all

turned their eyes to him. He hadn’t changed from work and I must say he looked like an alien from Mars in our launderette - all shiny and expensive. “Julian, next time you come watch me do my laundry can I suggest you might wanna dress down,” I advised him. He looked surprised but then realised the sense of what I was saying as by now the looks he was getting were of jealous hostility. “Quite frankly,” I added, “you’re a walking advert for a mugging.” I had begun to fold my clothes from the dryer and he had seated himself on the uncomfortable wooden bench. I thought he had come to drop a file off not stay and chit chat. I gave him his cue to leave, “where’s the file?” He patted the file, which was sitting on top of a red box beside him but didn’t seem to move. Hmm a bit of a harder hint might be required. “Cool, you don’t have to stay.” At this point I was removing my underwear and I seriously didn’t want him to see it, but he still didn’t move. “I thought we could go for a drink and I could let you know about what I found out,” he asked me from behind my back. “I did say we would be partners and exchanging information goes both ways,” he added. Well that was a move in the right direction. I suppose a quick drink wouldn’t hurt and I was curious to know what he got up to, while I was busy getting into the swing of office gossip with the girls. “Sure,” I hid my underwear as best I could shoving it into the laundry bag as quickly as possible, but I think he saw it anyway. As we left I realised I couldn’t take him dressed like that into my local pub and didn't want to drag my laundry bag with me either. “Where are you parked?” I asked him. “I got a cab,” he was looking around the neighbourhood and I could see he was wondering where I lived. “You don’t have a car?” I asked. “I rarely drive in London, too difficult to park,” sensible boy I thought, but ok, this was awkward. I couldn’t leave him on the street, and I had to change quickly and dump my laundry. What to do? “Here let me carry that,” he made a grab for my laundry. “It’s Ok,” I held onto it, but he insisted. So that was that. Now I would have to take him home if I wanted my laundry back. Hell. “I guess you’ll have to come up to my place. You can’t wait on the street. You’ll get mugged.” I sighed unenthusiastically. We began walking towards the Hardy estate and I cast a glance at him from the side. He looked surprised when he saw where we were heading. “Do you live here?” he asked. “Yeah and one day I”m gonna live in a palace, but for now I call this place home. You’ve never been on a council estate?” I asked him, “Never mind, stupid question.”

Obviously he hadn’t. Why would he? I was just praying my mum wasn’t at home yet. Should I warn him my mum would probably be at home? Fuck it, he led himself into this and damned if I was gonna help him feel comfortable. We went through the double security doors and started the climb to the stairs. “Why don’t you take the lift?” he asked. “Because it doesn’t work and it smells of piss.” “Oh.” “Besides it’s the only exercise I get.” “What floor do you live on?” “Tenth.” That will teach him to be chivalrous and offer to carry my laundry. Actually, the lifts were working, but I was feeling mean. If they worked I always took them because climbing ten flights of stairs was no joke, and as a rule I don’t do stairs. I just held my nose and some days the urine smell was disguised by the smell of disinfectant. It backfired. I was more out of breath than he was by the time we reached the tenth floor. He was obviously very fit because he didn’t even have sweat on his brow. “You should exercise more,” he observed casually as he handed me back my laundry bag. “Right,” I huffed, “next you’ll be telling me to cut back on lasagne and eat salad.” He smiled back. *** I opened the door and could smell food. So mum was home. She must have been out at the shops when I was home earlier. Our hallway was so small there wasn’t much room left over from me, Julian and a bag full of clean laundry. “Just a sec,” I said to him as I opened my bedroom door and threw in my laundry, the dress box and the file. “Lola, is that you?” came my mum’s voice from the kitchen. I took Julian into the living room just as mum was coming out of the kitchen. If she was cooking it meant she had either forgiven me or she was on to a new tactic. I guessed the latter. The look of surprise on her face when she saw Julian was classic. I wish I had had a camera. “Mum this is Julian from work,” I announced. “Pleased to meet you Mrs. Hussey,” he said holding out his hand and she wiped hers on the dishcloth before taking his. Barney had been in the kitchen and he bounced out, curious to meet the visitor - we so seldom had them.

“Hi, I’m Barney,” he bolted towards Julian to peer up at him. “Lola is my Auntie and she’s going to marry Uncle Steve so you can’t marry her you know.” That earned him a clip round the head from my mum and a furious look from me to my mum. What nonsense had he been overhearing? Blushing furiously I quickly told Barney not to talk rubbish. Julian looked completely bemused and I gave him my best sorry and mortified look. “Barney, go into the kitchen please,” mum ordered him. “Have you eaten?’ she asked Julian. “Yes,” I quickly answered for him knowing what was coming next. “No,” Julian corrected me and I looked daggers at him. “Oh you have to stay for dinner then,” mum insisted and Julian didn’t seem to put up much of a fight. Actually he didn’t put up any fight. “I’d love to,” he responded. I must admit that the food did smell lovely. “I’ve cooked a lasagne,” mum announced proudly from the kitchen and Julian giggled. He actually giggled. I had never heard him giggle before. Not that it made me any less furious with him. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I sat down dejected on the sofa next to Julian and when my mum went back to the kitchen I hissed at him, “Let’s get out of here please.” “Why?” he whispered back. “Because.” I said petulantly. “Because?” he said looking puzzled. I felt like yelling at him, because you don't belong here; because I’m embarrassed; because my mum is going to grill you; because mum is going to get the wrong idea; because Barney is going to tell Emm and Emm is going to tell Steve; because everyone is going to draw the wrong conclusion; because other than Steve there are no men in my life. Not that Julian is in my life; because mum and Barney are going to talk about Steve and I don’t want you to know about it, and finally, because, because, because it’s just wrong, wrong, wrong and I don’t want to be here. Actually I don’t want you to be here. Now that this had all be whizzing around my brain I fell into an exhausted silence. Mum shuffled back through with steaming plates of lasagne. Our place was too small to squeeze in a dining table and mum preferred to use the room for our outsized sofa instead of getting a table, so we ate on our laps in front of the telly. She handed Julian a plate and I could tell, call it intuition, that he had been expecting a dining room to eat in. Welcome to my world I thought smugly. Council flats don’t have dining rooms. After a few minutes of silent eating, while watching telly mum’s curiosity got the better of her, and she started firing questions at him. Julian seemed quite happy to answer them which took me by surprise. By the end of it I had learnt more about Julian than ever. He told

mum that his mother had died when he was eighteen, which was when he came to the UK to reunite with his father. He had a younger sister, Elsa, who lived with their dad and who needed him nearby otherwise he would have stayed in Denmark. He studied Economics at university in London and afterwards he had joined the Danish army before returning back to England for family reasons. He lived in Knightsbridge and no, he did not have a girlfriend at the moment. He had a housekeeper Mrs. Jones who did his laundry and kept his flat clean. I stopped eating. That name was familiar. Wasn’t that Dead Derek’s housekeeper’s name? I looked at him curiously. What little spare time he confessed to he exercised, ran, and went to the gym. He used to be a mountaineer, this fact got Barney interested, “Wow, you climb mountains, how cool is that Lola?” he asked me. I shrugged like I could climb mountains and it was no big deal. Anyway didn't I imagine him climbing mountains in a fjord somewhere? He certainly knew how to charm my mum, complimenting her on her cooking. I could almost feel her tingling with pleasure. I handed my empty plate to Barney as one of his chores was to clean the dishes when he ate at our place. I gave a huge yawn and stretched knocking my arm into Julian hoping he would take the hint. “Well Mrs. Hussey, I’ve taken up quite enough of your time and should get going,” he made a move to go. Mum tried to delay him, but he had taken the hint from me. “I’ll see you out,” I perked up dashing to the door before my mum could make him change his mind. Mum was a bit put out, but she tottered through to the kitchen to pack him some cherry cake she had baked. Jeez just let him go - I felt like telling her. I stood awkwardly at the door with Julian, while mum was busy packing the cake up. “That was fun,” Julian told me in a low voice. “Hmm,” I looked disinterested, but then hissed, “so, the next time we meet after work make sure you give me plenty warning, ok?” Now who was giving the orders huh? Mum came back with a carrier bag and he thanked her again and kissed her on the cheek. He kissed my mum! Bloody hell! I didn’t offer to walk him down or see him safely in a cab, he could damn well take his chances, I thought. If he could survive my mum he was able to find his own bloody cab. I rested against the front door, looked up, closed my eyes, and took a deep sigh. What Julian didn’t know was that now my interrogation would begin. Sure enough mum was waiting for me. I was mentally prepared for my grilling as she threw a million and one questions my way about Julian, none of which I could answer - well I hardly knew him did I? Then she, not so subtly, brought up the subject of Steve. “I would think Steve would be a bit upset about him though,” she pondered.

“Why?” I asked mischievously. “Well, you know.” “No, I don’t actually.” “Don’t be all prissy with me young lady. Emm told me all about Steve’s proposal.” We then started to argue, her telling me what a stupid woman I was for turning him down, me telling her I was too young. She countered that by telling me that she was only nineteen when Marley was born. I parried, explaining how I wanted more from life than being a young mother. She attacked, accusing me of being all superior and looking down my nose at her and Emm. Me, on the defense, telling her she misunderstood and so on and so forth. She had the final word, “And don’t think a man like Julian is going to look twice at you young lady, except for a quick tussle in the hay.” she pursed her lips and having said her piece went into the kitchen to supervise Barney who had wisely stayed there. Tussle in the hay? We lived in the city, there was no hay. This wasn’t feudal times with him the squire and me the milkmaid. If I wanted to get it on with Julian who was to tell me I couldn’t. Not that I wanted to in the first place, remembering Joe Junior and thinking he was more my type. I resolved that I had to find my own place as quickly and as humanly as possible. Sometimes my mum made the Steve option look attractive.

Chapter 10 Lunch with the Ladies Tuesday morning. Raining again, but at least my bunny slippers hadn’t lost another eye and my mum had restocked on bananas. I ate one, while waiting for my toast to brown and thinking about all the disclosures Julian had made to my mum last night. I couldn’t picture Julian in an army uniform, but it did explain his bossiness. I didn't even know that Denmark had an army. I couldn't actually picture him with any family either - perhaps he was an alien and that was why he lacked any empathy - I chuckled to myself at the thought of Julian being beamed down from a flying saucer in a tight silver space suit. That thought somehow cheered me up no end. I was beginning to like imagining Mr. Snooty in unusual scenarios. I wandered through to my bedroom and spotted the red box that he had handed over last night. I'd forgotten all about it and the box had slid onto the floor. I suppose I should take a look. I opened the box carefully wiping my buttery fingers on my pajamas in case I got grease stains on the dress. Inside, wrapped in delicate tissue paper was a plain white dress with spaghetti straps. I pulled it out and held it in front of me. It was long and made from heavy jersey silk. I turned it around and got the shock of my life to see there was no back to the dress. I don't think I could wear this. For a start I couldn't wear a bra with a backless dress. Secondly, I wasn't used to showing much skin. Surely a black dress would have been far more... well... me. I sighed at the thought of arguing with Julian about wearing this dress and figured I'd just take the red dress along instead and tell him a little white lie that I'd forgotten to pack it. I tossed it back into the box and promptly forgot all about it. After taking a quick shower, kissing mum goodbye, I left for the tube station. It was cold and I was grateful for the new coat which kept me warm. I was hoping that Pam would be on lunch duty today and that I would manage to have lunch with Sharon again. I felt sure she knew something more about Derek that she wasn't quite confiding in me yet. Maybe she knew who he was meeting up on the roof? It was standing room only on the tube and my feet were beginning to ache in my new shoes by the time I reached the office. I would be much more comfortable if I could wear my trainers and jeans. Pam was wearing another tight skirt this time lime green with matching heels that I swear were six inches high. How on earth she managed to move at all was a mystery to me let alone that wiggle she had when she walked. If I were her I'd be terrified of

bending over and bursting out of the skirt. Perhaps, I thought watching her walk down the corridor, the tight skirt was the cause of the wiggle. "Normally watching a woman's butt is the prerogative of the male species," Joe Jr. whispered to me catching me by surprise. I blushed. "Umm, I wasn't. I was thinking," I retorted hoping he believed me. I turned to him, "Although I prefer my women taller," he flirted. My, oh my, he was handsome I thought. Those deep blue sparkly eyes, perfect white American teeth and broad chest, this job did have its benefits too. "Really," I replied, "Do you make it a habit to flirt with all the women in the office?" I asked him. "Only the good looking ones,'' he replied with a wink and walked away. Oh Lola Hussey better be careful of that one! I got to my desk and before I could even remove my coat Julian's head popped around the door of his office. "Good morning, Lola. You're late," he said unsmiling, "when you're ready I have some dictation for you so come to my office please, and oh," he turned back as an afterthought, "would you bring me some coffee, black no sugar." I scowled, I was only five minutes late and now I'm a bloody waitress too? What's wrong with his legs, I thought. Sharon was watching, "Don't worry," she said, "being a dogsbody is what we get paid for," she smiled then suggested we go to lunch, "Delia is on duty today so maybe Pam would like to join us?" She turned to Pam expectantly. Pam looked surprised to have been asked and took a while to respond, "Hmm I was going to work over lunch I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, but if it's quick, ok." I was surprised she agreed and maybe I could take this opportunity to get to know her better, which was going to be a huge challenge. She managed to be frostier than Julian and that was quite an achievement. I took Julian's coffee into his office resisting the temptation to spit into it. Actually, I wouldn't do anything so disgusting, but the thought alone was pleasing. "Close the door and sit down please Lola," he motioned to the seat in front of his desk. "It was very nice to meet your family last night," he started. I frowned not wanting to be reminded of the embarrassment. "I think you're right," he continued, "it makes for a better working relationship if I get to know you a bit better." I kept my face expressionless and my mouth shut. "Well," he continued when he realised I was not going to respond, "let's review the objectives for this week then." So we reviewed once more what I had learnt from Sharon last week and agreed

that I would continue to probe her, especially if she knew anything more about Derek's alleged meeting on the rooftop. I asked him if he knew more about Joe Jr. and what trouble he had got into back in the US. "Joe Jr. is a womaniser," he began, "he got his father's secretary pregnant and then denied responsibility. There was a big scandal and investigation when she took the matter to HR." Hmm, I thought, I know that type of man well. Let's see my dad and my brother for starters. "Joe Sr. decided to resign as a consequence taking responsibility for his son's behaviour. He's a very experienced operations manager so we decided to hire him and Joe Jr. came as the package. Perhaps not an entirely smart move, but Joe Sr. certainly knows his stuff." Julian looked at me directly, "I would suggest you steer clear of him Lola." "Oh I can handle myself thank you very much." Why did he insist on treating me like a child? "I'm sure you can, but there's something about Joe Jr. that's ...." "Dodgy?" "Yes, I suppose that's the word for it." Dodgy was not a Julian type of word and I could tell it perplexed him. "Well," I began, "I would think that is all the more reason we should try to find out more about him and it's clear that you two don't get along so I think it should be me." There could be worse things in life than getting to know Joe Jr. better and I was rather pleased at coming up with the excuse to get closer to Joe. "No, I don't want you to get to know him. There's enough on your plate with the other secretaries. We can deal with Joe Jr. later. For now I want more intel on the ladies please." Why did I find his bossiness so annoying? If it wasn't for Lola's palace fund I would be having serious doubts about this job. I told him I was having lunch again with Sharon, but this time Pam would be joining us. He seemed pleased with that news and told me he was going to be out from lunchtime onwards as they were meeting with the new Finance Director who would be starting the job after the weekend. "Ok. If that's all I'll be getting back to my thrilling filing work then," I got up to leave. *** We went to the small Italian café again for lunch. As we sat down with our panini and cappuccinos Sharon entertained us with gushing praise about her fiancé. Pam was mostly

silent. I wondered how I was going to get the conversation around to Derek. Oh hell might as well come right out with a question. "So Pam, did you work for the dead guy Derek?" Pam look startled, then I saw a flash in her eyes of emotion - was it anger, pain? "No. Delia worked for Derek. Why?" "Oh, you know, just wondering. It must have been really horrible. Quite shocking; I'm guessing not much happens like that in an office usually," I tried to keep my face all innocent and casual. "Yes it was," she replied not volunteering any more information. I got the feeling she was wary of me now. "Oh my god, it was so awful," interrupted Sharon whom, I observed, liked to dominate any conversation, "you were quite distraught weren't you Pam?" Pam flashed an angry glare at Sharon who completely ignored it, "Pam had to take two weeks off work. Actually, I wanted to as well because we were all shocked." "Actually," Pam corrected her, "I wasn't well Sharon. It was sick leave not because of Derek." "Oh well, I know, but also..." "No also. Derek's accident was terrible yes, but I was having some gynae problems and had hospital visits." Pam was clearly uncomfortable with the conversation and over eager to set the record straight I thought. I decided not to push it too much given that she already seemed a bit hostile towards me. Well, actually, she seemed hostile to any member of the female species. "Is everything ok, now then," I asked, "with your health I mean?" "Fine thanks. Well ladies I did say I could only have a quick lunch so I'm going back to the office," we all began to rise from the table, "No don't worry, you two carry on." She obviously didn't want our company now. I wasn't sure if Sharon was an advantage or a disadvantage when I was trying to get information from others. "Is she always so frosty?" I asked when she had gone. "Oh don't mind Pam," she replied. "She's actually got a heart of gold," she informed me. "Really? You could have fooled me. I don't see it somehow." "Oh she has. When she came back to the office after Derek's death she was so sweet to Delia. Delia obviously was most affected because Derek was her boss. She felt really guilty because his dad had asked her to watch over him. She was like a mother hen with Derek too.

Apparently Delia had known Derek since he was a teenager, and Pam was an angel and took her out to lunch for quite a few weeks after." "Did you go with them?" I asked her. "No. They didn't ask me and to be honest," she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I don't think I would want to. I can imagine the discussion was quite depressing." We finished up our lunch. "Lola, I hope you don't mind me saying, but I think Joe Jr. has a thing for you," she smiled. "Sharon I have a feeling Joe Jr. has a thing about most of the women in the office," I replied. "Well maybe not Delia," I added. Sharon giggled, "That would be funny, but no I think he's after you so be careful he's a real Romeo." "Anyway, what makes you think he is?" "Oh the way he looks at you. Like a wolf," she giggled again. She was a real giggler this girl. "And he was asking a lot of questions about you from Delia." "Why was he asking Delia?" I was curious. "Oh Delia I think Delia has a soft spot for him." "So did Derek and Joe Jr. get along?" I asked. "Yeah, they were friendly. They went out together sometimes I know that. I think they belonged to the same gym too. Oh well, back to work," she stood up grabbing her handbag. I was pleased about the information I had gleaned over lunch. I also hoped that Julian would be as pleased when I reported back to him.

Chapter 11 Girls' Night In Tuesday and Wednesday passed uneventfully. I updated Julian on Monday's lunch discussion and he seemed pleased, but reiterated his orders to stay away from Joe Jr. I was covering lunch hour so didn't get a chance to interrogate any of the other secretaries again. Joe Jr. was making frequent pit stops in our office, and Sharon was right, he was making excuses to ask me inane questions and flirt with me. I hate to admit it, but his wolf's stare sent a thrill through me causing me to waste several minutes each day wondering what it would be like to be his meal. Stop it, Lola! Hell, I am only human and to be stalked by such a stud wasn't the most unpleasant thing that had ever happened to me. I was just wondering how on earth I would resist. Time to make up with Emm, I thought and get her advice of course. Not that she was the world's expert in avoiding bad boys. Thursday morning rolled up and Julian asked me into his office for another briefing session. He told me that we would be leaving for Jasper's place in the morning and it would be a long weekend. "Won't the others find it strange I'm coming down to the country with you on a long weekend?" I asked him. "Maybe," he said. "They, umm, might think that we're, you know, having a fling or something." I said with a flush of embarrassment. He looked at me curiously, thinking about that. "Perhaps, but we are all working on a big project to look for a European distributor for the drinks and one of Jasper's guests is a potential partner so I don't think it will be too suspicious. Besides," he pointed out, "it will give Joe Jr. something to think about." He smiled at this thought. Is he getting territorial with me? His phone rang before I could think of an objection to his comment. "Julian," he answered abruptly. Boy, could I tell how he had been in the army. "No I think don't think that would be a good idea," he said frowning, "No I can handle it... well, if you insist then Joe. Ok, but if he messes up the deal you take responsibility." he slammed the phone down and scowled. "Trouble?" I asked him. "Yes. Joe Sr. wants Joe Jr. to come for the weekend too. He insists that Joe Jr. knows the best about the distribution network we need as I cover marketing." I could tell Julian was irritated. "This complicates things," he said. Sure does, I thought, a weekend with Mr.

Frosty and my stalker. "But in a way Joe Sr. is right. Joe Jr. has the experience of this business. I've only been doing this role a few months after all and Joe Jr. already knows Jasper and Bernhard Horst the potential distributor. We may be under cover, but this is still a business that has to be run." "How does he know Jasper?" I asked curiously, "I thought he was your friend?" "Jasper was more Derek's friend and so Joe knows him through Derek. Derek went to school with Jasper and was good friends with Joe Jr. too." "Oh," everyone knows everyone else it seems. "So let's talk about what we need to cover off this weekend." He told me that Derek's last weekend was spent at Jasper's. That if the opportunity presented itself I was to hang out with the staff to see if they noticed anything unusual about that weekend as Julian wasn't there. "And, umm, Lola," he looked uncomfortable. "I'd like you to especially get to know Jasper." "Especially?" "Yes. He was Derek's best friend. He might have useful information about whether Derek was afraid of someone or being threatened." "Why don't you just ask him?" "Good point, but I'm afraid I don't really get on with Jasper very well." Now there's a surprise. I bet he couldn't even count his friends on one finger. "Oh, why’s that?" I was curious. "Umm because of Francesca," he was looking seriously uncomfortable now disclosing more to me about his life. Haha! Mr. Military Man, now I find out more about your private life. "Francesca?" I asked innocently. "Yes. We once dated, but it didn't work out. Jasper likes her but, she continues to like me." There he managed to get it out. Wasn't that painful was it Mr. Oh-So-Private? "I see," well not completely, but anyway. "So the point of my getting especially to know Jasper is what?" "So, Jasper like Joe Jr., has an eye for women," Oh so it's ok for Jasper to chase me, but not Joe Jr. This man has serious double standards. "Aren't you forgetting that Francesca will be there too?" I asked. "He's over her now. Male ego and all that. He got the message that she rejected him and Jasper doesn't like to be second choice."

"So why is she going to be there too?" "Francesca is a difficult woman to say no to," hmm, I thought, he seems to be speaking from experience there. "But Julian, how do you know that Jasper will be interested in me? I'm hardly the same league as Francesca," I really didn't want to admit that. "Lola, I don't think you see what others see when you look in the mirror. Joe Jr. isn't chasing you for nothing you know," is he paying me a compliment? "We will also pretend that we might be closer than a boss and his secretary, which will make Jasper competitive and maybe take the opportunity to pay me back for Francesca. Besides, the point about that dress I gave you is to make sure he does notice you." Quite frankly he was losing me in this convoluted plot involving spurned and jealous exes. "Oh yes, and about that dress… No way can I wear that," I protested. "Why?" "Because." "Because?" "Because it's indecent! It's backless, it obviously clings. I won't be able to wear any underwear!" Julian just sat there and looked at me. "Julian, I'm a black girl my nipples are going to show through a white dress if I don't wear a bra," I blushed furiously. "I might as well walk about topless," I hissed. "My mum would have a fit! I wouldn't hear the end of it." "I don't recall that your mother was invited to come too," he said cool as a cucumber. "Lola, it’s important that Jasper gets to know you. I'm not asking you to sleep with him. Just don't get drunk and do anything you'll regret. Enjoy the attention you will attract and get Jasper to talk. It's not so difficult." Oh right, well he isn't the one walking around like a halfnaked baby lamb in a den of starving wolves showing all his bits and pieces is he? "And, wait, rewind," I held up my palm, "you said we will pretend we might have a closer relationship than a working one?" "Yes, just subtle hints. So don't be alarmed if I put my arm around you occasionally. It's important that Jasper will think he's taking you off me. I'm sure you won't mind? " He asked the question like he was asking me if it was ok if I fetched him a cup of coffee. My head was bursting. I'm not a Pam, having men chasing after me is not part of my life experience. For fuck's sake I've only ever slept with one man in my life, and never really been in a relationship - Steve doesn't count. Julian could obviously see the fear and the worry on my face.

"Lola," he said reassuringly, "don't fret. The very fact you are such an ingénue is part of your attraction." That thought didn't actually make me feel any better. "Yes you're feisty, but your unworldliness, to put it bluntly, makes you more desirable to a dominant male." I was decidedly uncomfortable with this conversation and analysis which, I have to say, I wasn’t entirely buying. It was like he was some presenter on a nature programme espousing on the mating habits of a naïve species. On the one hand he's paying me compliments and with the other he's telling me I'm completely well, inexperienced and stupid, when it comes to men. Well, I guess he has a point there, but it's just not nice having it pointed out to me by such a good looking man who also happens to be one of my bosses. I'm speechless. "Lola, look just be yourself. Do the job. I'll be around to watch over you. I promised Pete I wouldn't let you come to any harm." "You've discussed this with Pete?" I'm mortified he's discussed this with Pete of all people. I'd never live this down. "Yes, obviously. Pete is your employer he needs to know what you'll be doing. So we discussed it yesterday. I asked if he'd be cool with you playing this role." Huh? What role would that be? Dish of the Day to a flock of predatory men? I stood up. "OK." I said huffily, "I'll play this game and do my job. Just know I'm not a hundred percent cool with this ok? Despite what you and Pete discussed." I stormed out. *** I went round to Emm's that night. I should've been packing for the weekend, but after I told mum I was going away I wanted to avoid her million and one questions. So still being huffy I left for Emm's. She listened as all good friends do to my complaints and protests and waited until I got all my angst off my chest. "But you know Lola babe," she hugged me, "I've said this before there are worse jobs to have. Just go and be yourself and have fun being chased around by a bunch of handsome rich men. Jeez I wish it were me hun. The only flirting I get at work is by horny old men ordering sausage rolls. Life could be worse." Once more she had a good point. I think my main anxiety was the fear that I wouldn't be able to cope, be professional. Ok, tell the truth Lola, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of Joe Jr. After all being in an office with these men was one thing. Spending a weekend under the same roof for three nights, trying to seduce one of them to spill the beans while avoiding another, was a completely different proposition. I

remembered the thrill I felt whenever Joe Jr.'s wolf eyes fixed on me and realised this might be harder than I thought. All this change in my life was overwhelming. From totally hum drum and boring to suddenly exciting and scary. My total experience of dealing with men had begun and stopped at Steve. "What if this Jasper guy isn't attracted to me?" I asked Emm. "Jesus Christ, Lola," she protested, "you're fucking gorgeous. Your problem is that you never believe what's in the mirror just as Julian said. There were always guys chasing you at school" "No there weren't. I was too tall, had braces and no tits," I reminded her. "You stupid blind cow," she punched my arm, "there were always guys sniffing around you, but you, stubborn bitch that you are, refused to notice them. Then eventually they gave up cos they thought you were a lesbian; and then when you got into uni they all thought you were stuck up too." "No, that's not true!" "What the lesbian or the stuck up bit?" she laughed and continued "It was so. Remember Mark Price? How he used to always manage to sit next to you in maths? Well babe let me tell you now it wasn't because he thought you were good at maths and wanted to peer at your answers, because you sucked at maths and, then there was Dave Stevens. He was totally mad about you he even tried to be nice to me so you would notice him and then there was..." "OK. I get the picture but I seriously never noticed," I replied perplexed. "Because, babe, you're different. All you have ever wanted to do, since we were ten, was to get outta Hardy estate and find a life that didn't consist of benefits and babies and you'll get there babe. Just don't forget Emm and Barney when you do." I hugged her tight, "I'll never forget you Emm, ever."

Chapter 12 Off to the Country I woke early on Friday because I hadn't packed the night before. Bunny slippers on, I trotted through to the kitchen for my toast and banana ritual. I looked out the window at a bright autumn day. What few trees were visible in the city had brown leaves being blown off by the brisk wind. Julian was picking me up at 9:30 so I had another hour to shower and pack. I carefully packed my clothes into a small suitcase that I had borrowed from Emm and as a last minute thought I packed my bunny slippers too - after all I'd need something to keep my feet warm, and as long as I kept them in my bedroom no one would know that Lola wore pink bunny slippers. At 9:30 on the dot Julian called to tell me he was waiting downstairs in his car. I kissed mum goodbye and reassured her I'd be fine. Ever since I turned Steve down she was worried about me being 'taken advantage' off by squire Julian showing me a comely haystack, no matter how much I reassured her it was a working relationship, and that it wasn't going to happen in a month of Sundays. Julian's car was a huge black Range Rover and I threw my suitcase in the back and jumped in the front seat next to him. Thankfully I didn't have to wear office clothes so I was back to my comfy jeans and trainers with a black polo neck jumper. I was wearing my new camel coat though as I didn't have anything warmer and had pulled my hair back into a pony tail, trying unsuccessfully to tame my curls into behaving. Julian was dressed for the countryside in corduroys and a navy blue Barbour jacket. The dark colours setting off his golden hair. I noticed some neighbours staring at me and I smiled and waved. Good that will give them something to gossip about I thought smugly. Julian had opera playing on the stereo and I recognised it, "Offenbach's Barcarole," I commented. Julian's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Just cos I live on the Hardy estate doesn't mean I'm uncultured," I said smugly. "In fact," I added, "it's from The Tales of Hoffman and also, although it is sung by two women, one of the characters singing is actually male, the other being a courtesan." Now I couldn't hide the smugness behind my smile. "I didn't take you for an opera buff," Julian commented, "you obviously have hidden talents."

"Oh I do indeed so don't go thinking I'm as unworldly as you might believe." Point made I crossed my arms as we pulled out into the London traffic. In fact I was more of an R&B woman, but I wasn't going to tell Julian that. I knew about three operas in total so I hoped he wouldn't call my bluff and ask me any opera questions. I had first heard that piece watching the Italian movie It's a Beautiful Life and had researched the song which I found so beautifully moving. Emm and I had watched the movie together blubbing in unison. We drove in silence until we hit the motorway. "So where are we going exactly?" I asked him. "Wiltshire. It will take us about two and a half hours." "Well I hope Jasper has a big house because I'm not sharing a room with you," I joked. Although why I bothered mystified me as I'd already learnt Julian didn't have a sense of humour. "Joke!" I stated the obvious resisting the temptation to thump him on the arm. "It's a beautiful house," Julian ignored my comment. "I think you will like it." "What's not to like about a country estate," I replied as though I was familiar with them, "Isn't it obvious I often spend my weekends at my country pile when I get fed up of the scenery on the Hardy Estate?" I really don't know why I tried my humour on him again. I spent the rest of the journey staring out the window looking at the cows and sheep in the fields. Actually I don't think I had ever spent any time in the countryside. I was a city girl born and bred, and the thought of a weekend in the country was now beginning to excite me despite the fact that I was obviously going to be served for dinner. After a few hours Julian turned off the motorway and we soon found ourselves rolling down a country road edged by trees and hedges with a few houses dotted here and there. He drove a bit fast for me, but then I wasn't used to driving fast. In fact I wasn't even used to driving around in a car except with Steve. Certainly not an expensive Range Rover. Few people in my circle had cars. I was a public transport baby and usually the type that went underground too. Scenic journeys were a novelty to me, and I was lulled into a sense of peace seeing so much green and brown flash by my window. I had almost fallen asleep when we turned into a gateway guarded by a small, but beautiful little house, and drove another half mile down an avenue of trees before it opened onto a wide expanse of green where an imposing Georgian mansion stood. It was impressive indeed, and beautiful without a doubt. The house was huge. In fact it wasn't really a house it was definitely a mansion. Its sand coloured stone, columns on the front and tall sash windows definitely put it into the mansion category. I was glad we had arrived as I was beginning to ache for a stretch of my legs. Julian pulled up the car to the side

of the front door and took both our suitcases from the back of the car. I went to take my suitcase off him. "I've got it," he told me. "It's ok, I'm capable of carrying my own luggage," I replied reaching for the handle of my borrowed and battered suitcase. He wasn't letting go. Nor was I. "It's normal to let a gentleman carry the luggage you know," came a female voice from the doorway. It was her. Francesca was dressed in tight fitting beige corduroys tucked into knee length leather boots and a tweed jacket. She was looking bemused upon us, twirling her Hermès scarf. "Julian, darling, it's about time you got here. We were holding lunch for your arrival and I'm starving," she glided up to Julian to air kiss him and I took the opportunity to wrestle my suitcase from him. He turned back to scowl at me, but had no choice to give it up as Francesca had grabbed him by the arm and was walking him firmly towards the house. Naturally she had completely ignored me so I trotted after them. She was certainly proprietorial with Julian whispering in his ear as she led him inside, leaning into his arm. I grudgingly saw the attraction in her. She was long limbed and slim, had long light brown hair with honey highlights that she tossed and flicked frequently over her shoulders when she wasn't fiddling with her scarf. There was something in the way she walked that reminded me of something. That was it. She had the Pam wiggle. I smiled to myself. Class differences aside there was a common denominator between Pam and Francesca. Julian left his suitcase in the large hallway and so I followed suit. I think he had forgotten I had never actually been introduced to Francesca, but hell, like I cared, she was a snooty cow and the less I had to interact with her the better in my opinion. We entered a large, beautifully decorated room. It was a room from a magazine like Country Life. Not that I read such magazines. Oh wait, I lie, once in my dentist's waiting room it was my preferred reading to old copies of Reader's Digest or the Journal of Dental Hygiene. Joe Jr. had already arrived and was lounging on one of the over-stuffed floral sofas. He immediately perked up when he saw me lingering by the doorway or was that just my imagination? There were two other men in the room. One, around Julian's age, rose to greet us. This must be Jasper. Indeed it was and Julian introduced me as his assistant. He gave me the obligatory air kiss and lingered just a little bit too long with his hands on my shoulders. He was as tall as Julian and Joe Jr. - were all snobby men so tall? Well at least I didn't feel so much of a giraffe beside them. Jasper was reasonably good looking too and was blonde like Julian, but instead of a shiny blonde his hair was wavy and dirty blonde in colour. He had a strong jaw and a large

nose which gave his face a distinctly masculine character like a young Gerard Depardieu. He had a heavy build, but wasn't fat, more like a rugby rather than a tennis player. So this was the man I was meant to capture the attention of. Emm was right there were worse jobs I could have; Emm's job for a start. Jasper then introduced me to Bernhard Horst who instead of greeting me with an air kiss held my hand up to his lips. Bernhard was by far the oldest man in the room. He had to be in his late fifties with dark brown hair going grey around the edges. He was sophisticated, elegant and obviously charming. I had never had my hand kissed in greeting before and it was girlishly pleasing. Bernhard hooked my arm in his, led me into the dining room for lunch and sat me next to him. I had Joe Jr. on my other side with Francesca opposite seated between Julian and Jasper. Great, I thought, I get to sit opposite the hair tossing bitch from hell. Lunch was a light consommé with poached chicken salad to follow and fruit for dessert. A young waitress served us. Are they called waitresses? This was such an alien word for me I didn't even know the job titles of the servants except for butler, cook and maid. As she clearly wasn't any of the former she must be a maid I concluded. The lunch was delicious and I hadn't realised how hungry I was. The conversation was mostly business with a little bit about the estate. While the men conversed I took the opportunity to observe Jasper and ponder over how I was meant to attract his attention let alone pump him for information. "Penny for your thoughts," whispered Joe Jr. in my ear. There he was, at it again, whispering in my ear. I turned towards him startled from my day dreaming. "Oh, just thinking how beautiful this house is," I replied loudly refusing Joe's cue to fall into an intimate conversation with him. See I can behave! "It's 250 years old," informed Jasper, "been in the family since it was built. Not quite as beautiful or as old as Julian's place though. Eh, Julian?" What? Julian had a country house too? "Actually, Jasper, Julian's father is still alive so strictly speaking Oakleigh doesn't belong to Julian yet," Francesca corrected him. "Oh of course, and how is the old boy Julian?" "He's well." Julian looked as though he wanted to avoid this conversation. "Ah I see," added Jasper, "so you two still aren't on speaking terms then?" "Really Jasper, I don't see how it is any of your business, but my family is well thanks."

"No need to be so touchy, my good man, just making enquiries, after all Oakleigh's land borders mine and I haven't seen your old man for a while. My estate manager was just commenting the other day that he hadn't seen you father for ages, that's all." The conversation drifted back to business and Joe Jr. and Bernhard were talking across me as I felt increasingly out of my depth as they chatted about distribution channels and logistics. "Well," broke in Jasper, "I'm all eager to start shooting so I'll get Hardy to show Julian and Lola to their rooms and then they can join us in the lower paddock." Hardy? As it turns out Hardy was the butler. He was ancient and I really felt like taking my suitcase back off him. I felt guilty letting an old man carry it up all those stairs to the first floor. The staircase was a grand carved stone affair that swept in a wide circle about the hallway. I calculated there must have been at least a fifty stairs to the next floor. In all honesty I had expected to be put up in the servants’ quarters somewhere near the top of the house not in the beautiful guest room Hardy showed me to. It was decorated in yellow silk brocade, and the tall window looked over the carefully manicured back lawn which led down to a lake. "What a beautiful room," I commented. "Indeed. Family history has it that Queen Victoria stayed here once as a young girl so it is referred to as the Queen's bedroom," Hardy informed me. Bloody hell, I thought, wait until I tell Emm that I slept in the same bed as Queen Victoria. Julian had the bedroom next to mine. We shared a Jack and Jill bathroom as apparently these old houses weren't built with en suites to all the rooms. I hoped this wasn't going to be awkward, but Hardy informed me there was another bathroom down the corridor third door on the left, and also discretely pointed out to me that the doors had keys. "Would you require assistance to unpack?" he asked. I declined. Seriously, did he think I couldn't unpack my tiny suitcase myself? Besides which, I had packed the bunny slippers and I certainly didn't want anyone unpacking those! I washed my face to freshen up and rubbed some vaseline on my lips and eyelids. Otherwise I was make up free not having the will to slap some on this morning, nor having the time to apply any because Julian was knocking at my door. "Let's go," he said and began to walk ahead down the stairs. "Hey, wait up," I called after him picking up my coat from the bed. "I'm worried Julian," I confided once I'd caught up with him. "Why?" "This Jasper guy doesn't seem to be that interested in me. How am I meant to get him to confide in me?" Julian stopped walking and turned around to look at me.

"Give it time Lola. Jasper will be interested believe me." "How do you know?" "I just know," he began walking again this time even faster. Outside it was cold, but not uncomfortably so and by the time we reached the lower paddock I had built up a heat so I opened up my coat. The men and Francesca were already equipped with shotguns, hanging open over their arms and chatting. "There you are, hurry up," Francesca beckoned, "You've brought your shotgun I see Julian, good, saves you using one of Jasper's crappy spares," she laughed. "I’ll have you know I buy my shotguns from Holland and Holland," Jasper retorted. I hung back as, never having gone shooting before, I was clearly going to be an observer this afternoon. Maybe I would go for a walk or discretely head back to the house and hang out with Hardy. Although I couldn't be sure that Hardy was the hanging out type of guy. Probably not. "Hey Lola," Joe Jr. bounced up to me. "Want me to teach you how to shoot?" I shook my head, "Aw, come on we Americans are born with guns in our hands. Ain't nobody here better qualified to teach you." He pulled me firmly by the hand over to a trestle table that had a spare shotgun on top and began to show me how to hold it. He stood behind me with his arms around my shoulders placing my hands around the barrel. "Right there," he whispered in my ear "Grip it firmly yet gently, just like you would a man." What is it with this man and his whispering in my ears? The things he whispered were getting more and more suggestive too. Although, if the truth be told, rather than irritate me it excited me. I could feel his breath on my neck and that tingling feeling starting again in the middle of my belly. "You need to hold it tight to your shoulder, just here." He pressed, no truthfully, he caressed my shoulder, and I swear he inched so close to me his body was touching mine. I was as embarrassed as I was thrilled. "Lola doesn't want to shoot, Joe," it was Julian who had snuck up to us, while Joe had occupied my attention. "Sure she does and I'll bet she's a natural too," did he mean at shooting? Just to annoy Julian I said, "Actually, I would like to learn to shoot. You never know when it might come in handy."

It turns out that I was a natural and once I got going I only missed the clay pigeon twice. The men were impressed and even Julian had to grudgingly admit I had yet another hidden talent. Needless to say Francesca was secretly livid at the attention my success brought me from the men. "Beginner's luck," she hissed cattily when we were walking back to the house. I ignored the bitch. "Oh ladies," Jasper called back to us, "dinner is informal tonight. Posh frocks tomorrow though we'll have other guests for dinner, but tonight it's just our cosy little group," he winked at us. We had a few hours to spare before dinner so I asked Jasper if he minded if I explored the house. "Of course, be my guest," he graciously told me, "in fact, wait let me be your guide. Julian tells me you're an art graduate and I must show you our gallery." "You have an art gallery?" Was there no limit to the way rich people lived? "Yes, you know family ancestor portraits et cetera. Meet me down in the hall in say twenty minutes?" "Sure!" *** I went upstairs to freshen up and have a pee. I was desperate and the house was so unfamiliar and I didn't want to ask where the toilet was, although I'm sure there was one somewhere behind the multitude of doors on the ground floor. I noticed my hair was looking wild so I decided to take it down, give it a quick brush, not that you would notice, and wear it loose. Jasper was waiting for me by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs. Smiling at me he took my arm and led me through what seemed like hundreds of rooms. We went upstairs in the west wing, yup this house was so big it had an east and west wing, where the gallery was situated. It was long about fifty feet in length with tall windows down one side and what seemed like hundreds of oil paintings on the opposite wall. "You know this is where ladies used to come for their exercise when the weather was inclement," he informed me. "It's fantastic," I told him, "I would love to have so many paintings. You are so lucky." I genuinely meant it. He seemed pleased with my enthusiasm. About halfway down I caught my breath, "Wow, a Canaletto!" I grabbed his arm in excitement, pulling him towards the picture. "Fucking hell, that's amazing," oops I couldn't help the expletive escaping my lips. "It's real!" I squealed, examining it closely.

"Of course," he chuckled. "One of my ancestors did the grand tour and brought it back. It’s apparently one of the finest of his Venetian scenes. Over there you can see the Doge's palace," he moved closer to me to point it out putting his hand gently on my shoulder. The painting was small by Canaletto standards, but was nevertheless beautiful. The detail was spectacular. "How I wish I could go to Venice," I sighed softly to myself. "How I wish I could take you there," he said softly back to me. I stiffened slightly. Had I just heard right? Did he just say he wished he could take me to Venice? I turned to him and we were almost nose to nose as he hadn't moved his hand from my shoulder. "You have the most beautiful green eyes, Lola. As green as the Venetian canal in this painting." I was speechless. I hardly knew him. Yes, I was meant to attract his attention, but this soon? My brain was ticking furiously. What should I do? Was he going to try to kiss me? Oh crap, it looked like it he was moving his head nearer to me. "Ah, there you are!" It was Bernhard. I couldn't have been more pleased to see him if he was wearing shining armour and riding a horse down the gallery. "I've heard you have an excellent Canaletto, the finest one in private hands, so they tell me." Jasper looked crestfallen, but he turned around to the advancing figure of Bernhard. "Yes, indeed, I was just showing it to Lola. She's an Art History graduate and was just telling me what a fine painting it was, in particular, the green of the canal." What a liar, I thought, but so charmingly done. I took the opportunity to extricate myself from the situation. "Thanks so much Jasper. If you don't mind I'd like to come back and do some sketching in here tomorrow. Julian told me you're all going hunting and I'm afraid I don't ride." "Of course," he replied "Make yourself at home." I could never picture this place as home. Yes, I was saving up to buy Lola's palace, but never if I lived for centuries, would I have enough money to have a home like this. I scurried out of the gallery leaving him disappointed and alone with Bernhard. I rushed back to my room, closed the door and leant against it. My heart was pounding, but I was also strangely excited. First Joe and now Jasper. A girl had years of no men on the horizon (Steve didn't count) and now they were falling out all over the place, and not just any common or garden men but handsome, testosterone laden, rich, hunks of men. It was like I had won the lottery and rich, handsome men were the prize. Unbelievable! I was startled by a knock on the bathroom door. Who on earth was in my bathroom? Then I remembered that Julian shared the bathroom. He must have heard me return to my room. I went to the door and let him in.

"How was it?" he asked walking into my room. "Was what?" I asked innocently. "Your tour with Jasper naturally," he seemed impatient. "Well, he has the most amazing Canaletto," I told him breathlessly. He scowled. "You know what I mean. Did he try anything? Did you get any information out of him?" he asked impatiently. "Well, almost," and I told him how apparently I had eyes the same colour green as a Venetian canal. How I thought he was going to try to kiss me, but Bernhard had interrupted me. "Damn," was his reaction. "Actually, Julian, you didn't mention any kissing. That was not on the agenda or any other hanky panky for that matter. I thought it would involve some harmless flirting, but I had no idea he would try anything more." "For god's sake Lola get real. He's a man you're a woman and neither of you are gauche teenagers. Of course he's going to try more," he said irritably. "Well if you knew that why didn't you tell me because I don't think I would have so readily agreed to your cosy little plan," I was getting angry. "You told me I would be safe." "He's not going to rape you if that's what you're thinking," I could tell he was getting uncomfortable with this conversation, and that it was beginning to annoy him. "I never said that. I just mean you could have been more, I dunno, explicit. Like what the fuck am I meant to do if he tries to kiss me?" "Kiss him back, of course, don't be stupid." "Fuck you! Don't call me stupid." I hated being called stupid. Being called stupid was like waving a red flag to a bull to me or, like calling Mike Tyson a sissy, it was positively dangerous. It was enough to bring out my Evil Eyes. "Well don't be so stupid then. I thought it was perfectly obvious when we spoke about this back in the office," well we were obviously not having the same conversation then, I thought. "Maybe I don't want to kiss him," I was almost shouting by now, piqued at his words. "It's only a goddamn kiss, just a bit of encouragement." "I'm not a whore you know." "Did I say that you were? It's just a goddamn kiss, don’t over react." How we got to this point I have no idea, but we were almost eye to eye squaring each other off. I swear his eyes turned greener, and I bet mine were glowing enough to light up in the dark. This was turning

into a dangerous glaring competition when another knock, this time at my bedroom door, interrupted us. I stomped towards the door and opened it roughly. Joe Jr. was standing in the doorway. He saw the fury on my face then glanced back into the room and spotted Julian. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, "I just wanted to know if you wanted to go see the horses down in the stables, but if I'm interrupting something it can wait," he turned to go. "Wait," I told him, "I'd love to come." I looked back at an angry Julian, grabbed my coat from a chair and left shutting the door none too quietly behind me. I could just imagine how furious going out with Joe Jr. would make Julian and it helped to assuage my own anger. "Really Lola, if you'd rather stay and finish off what was going on between you and Julian it can wait," he offered. "Not at all," I replied grabbing his arm, "I'd really like to see some horses. I've only ever seen them on TV before and besides nothing was going on between Julian and I." "Seriously?" he asked bemused. "I mean, you've seriously only seen horses on TV?" "Yeah. So I hope they don't bite," I said with a worried expression. "Oh, you'll be quite safe with me," he assured me, but somehow I didn't quite believe him as he squeezed my hand. "Well, Baby, I won't ask you what Julian was doing in your bedroom or what you were arguing about." "Soap," I quickly informed him. "Soap?" he was confused. "Yes we are sharing a bathroom and I swear he used my soap." "You're some woman, Lola, quite some woman," Joe Jr. chuckled.

Chapter 13 Horses and Haystacks The stables were a five minute walk away from the main house and in that time Joe Jr. had managed to interrogate me on whether I had a boyfriend or not. I conveniently forgot that Julian and I were meant to kind of pretend we were an item, I was still so mad at him, and I think Joe was hinting specifically at Julian. He seemed pleased with my negative response, but I felt slightly anxious. Perhaps I should have said yes. I didn't want him to get the wrong impression - that I was available - well only partially. Joe was an incredibly sexy man and I couldn’t help my attraction to him. Like fire to Julian's ice, I thought. Just don't get burnt Lola, I told myself. "I was impressed with your shooting ability Lola. I've never seen anyone take to guns like you did," he complimented me. "Thanks, it was fun." He opened the stable door and I could smell the sweet smell of horses' breath and hear the gentle snorting sounds as they stirred in their stalls. There were about fifteen horses in all. Most of them incredibly large and Joe told me this was because they were hunters. "I bet you'd be a natural at riding too. Horse riding I mean," he added with a sexy grin. "It just needs an empathy with animals and strong legs," he looked up and down at my legs and I blushed and looked away. I could guess what other kind of riding he was implying. This man was the biggest flirt I'd ever come across - he was shameless and yes, I fell for it hook, line and sinker. His stunning good looks would make any woman forgive him for the corniness of his flirting. We patted some of the horses and I fed them a carrot or two. I loved the feel of their soft velvet noses, but unfortunately most of them thought my hair was hay and tried to eat it. One of them managed to snag a mouthful of my hair and started pulling. "Ouch!" I exclaimed. It hurt and he wasn't letting go. Joe Jr. laughed and came to my rescue. "Stay still," he instructed me as he reach for the horse's mouth and began to gently pry my hair from between its teeth. He was standing over me, his arms above my head. My nose was buried in his shoulder and my breasts were pressed against his chest. Was that my heart I could feel thumping or his? As the horse released my hair, his hands dropped to my shoulders and he moved me gently out of the horse's reach, but he didn't let me go.

"You know Lola, you fascinate me," he pressed me closer to him and I started to back away. The thumping in my heart started up again. I was mortified in case he could actually hear it, or even feel it. I kept inching away. "You're like this innocent siren who doesn't know her own powers of attraction," he lowered his voice and his tone become dangerously intimate. "Why do all you men think I'm some sort of virgin?" I asked him curiously not daring to look directly into his eyes. "Well, are you?" he asked. "None of your business," I retorted. I felt trapped. Trapped by his body and by his words. Neither of which were a completely horrible experience, but I was feeling drawn down a path of no return. He was more tempting than a tub of chocolate ice cream during a depression. He was now staring at my mouth and began to pull me gently towards him. Oh Lordy, I should so not be doing this. I wanted him to stop. No, not correct, I won't lie I was hoping he wouldn't stop. I wanted him to kiss me. This was nice. Too nice! I was beginning to feel all gooey now. My small steps backwards were becoming more and more reluctant. As he reached down towards my lips I closed my eyes and at that moment tripped backwards over a bucket of horse feed and fell. Joe Jr. who was grasping my shoulders and pulling me towards him, was unbalanced and we both went down with a thud. Luckily our fall was broken by a pile of dirty straw. Jeez mum was right to worry about me and hay as Joe was directly on top of me - just that she got the wrong man. I could feel that, yes I could, he had an erection. Oh boy, I'm in trouble, flashed through my brain. I closed my eyes partially in horror and partially because I didn't want him to see the excitement so clearly beaming in my eyes, or maybe I didn't quite want to see desire glowing in his. Whatever. It didn't stop him and he kissed me, his tongue parting my lips easily. Strangely enough I was expecting his kiss to be hard and passionate, but he was surprising gentle and exploratory instead. He held his weight off me, but kept his groin pressed into my jeans. Oh boy, I thought, the wrong man is kissing me. He stopped and took my head in his hands, "Look at me Lola," he whispered, "open your eyes, your beautiful eyes," he insisted. I opened them slowly and it was at that point that I heard my name called out loud. "Lola!" Oh holy shit it was Julian. I turned my head. Oh fucking hell, double shit he was with Francesca. "What the hell is going on here?" he shouted moving rapidly down the stable block towards us.

"Chill Julian, it's not what you think," Joe told him rising off me. "A horse grabbed Lola's hair and I went to rescue her, but she fell back over that bucket," he pointed to the upturned bucket. "And you conveniently fell on top of her?" I could see Julian hardly containing his fury. "Actually, yeah, because I was moving her away from the horse's mouth at the time." Joe got up and gave me a hand to stand. "Besides," he lowered his voice threateningly, "she's not your girlfriend so no need to get so bent out of shape." I could swear they were on the verge of a fight. I was mortified and could see Francesca smirking on the sidelines. I was praying that Julian didn't spot the bulge in Joe's jeans. Before the situation had a chance to get worse I piped up, "It was an accident. Seriously Julian, the horse took a mouthful of my hair and it was hurting and Joe came to the rescue." I pointed out some of my torn out hair on the stable floor. "I can see why they would mistake your hair for straw it looks like a haystack," Francesca giggled. Her catty remark made both men look daggers at her. "Just saying," she added, "it is rather, um, bouncy." That was it. I'd had enough of her and Julian, and not quite enough of Joe, but never mind. "I'm going to take a bath, I stink of horse," I said angrily and stomped off out of the stable leaving them all behind me. *** I decided to take a hot bath and wash away the smell of horse shit and the day's drama. I really didn't feel like joining everyone for dinner. I was exhausted the day having been a roller coaster of events. I yearned for my sedentary life of filing back again. Luckily I had remembered to lock the door to Julian's room as I heard the bathroom handle being turned. "Lola, it's Julian," well there's a surprise, I thought, although I wouldn't put it past my luck to make it Bernhard, then that really would make a hat trick for today's farce. I really wasn't up to talking to him so decided to ignore him in the hope he would go away. "Lola!" he called again. "Look I'm sorry." I sat up in my bath. This was interesting, Julian apologizing? "I should hope so," I hissed back at him. "I believe you, about it being an accident," he continued. He did? Thank god he didn't walk in at the moment Joe was counting my teeth with his tongue. "You must admit, it looked bad," he stated. "And I specifically told you to avoid Joe." I got out the bath and

wrapped the bathrobe around me and opened the door. Julian was standing there like some Greek god that had been told off for stealing the cookies. OK, weird analogy I know, I'm sure Greek gods don't eat cookies, and I guess he couldn't help his looks, but he did look suitably chagrined. "Do you often start conversations with women having baths?" I asked him. He smiled. "No, that's not one of my habits, but dinner is soon and I wanted to clear the air before we went down." "I'm not going," I told him scowling. I had done a lot of scowling today. In fact I was convinced Julian triggered my scowling muscles. "Lola," he began. "No Julian. I've had enough excitement for one day. Seriously and what were you doing in the stable anyway? Were you following me?" "No, well, yes." He admitted, pulling on his earlobe nervously. "I don't trust Joe around you. I've told you this." He looked perplexed as though he wasn't used to things not going how he had planned. "Look Julian, this is work, right? You've told me to steer clear of Joe, right? If you hadn't made me so mad I wouldn't have gone down to the stables with him. It's simple, I fell, took Joe down with me, it was all perfectly innocent," I reassured him lying through my teeth. I just couldn't handle another scene. "You look tired," his eyes softened. "Are you OK?" "Yeah, just had enough fucking drama for one day, 'scuse my French." "Just come down to dinner please, Lola. We only have three days here and I'm convinced that Jasper knows something. It's important. I promised my aunt I would give her peace of mind." He looked sad. I was actually touched. I had never seen a vulnerable side to Julian and it was quite cute. "OK, seeing as you've asked me nicely," I smiled at him. "Thanks," he took my hand, "I appreciate this." I looked at him standing there looking down at my hand in his and my heart flipped. Is it natural for a woman to have the hots for two men? And one a cold fish like Julian? I shook the thought out of my head. Lola Hussey, I chided myself, aren't you in enough trouble already. "Well, I guess I should get ready then," I said pulling my hand away from his.

Chapter 14 Lola Makes a New Friend I dried off in my room, and because I was in need of some comfort slipped my feet into my bunny slippers. I shook out my red jersey dress as it was the only other decent thing I had to wear down to dinner other than the ridiculous white dress, which I was meant to keep for the big dinner tomorrow night. I was smoothing it down over my hips when I heard a scratching at my door. Jeez, what now? I thought. I went to the door and opened it a crack and peered around the door. It was Joe. "Umm, maybe that isn't such a good idea," I began. "Please Lola, can I come in? I don't want Julian to catch me hanging around your door," he whispered. "Well then just go away," I hissed at him. "Lola baby, that's the point I don't want to go away," he looked at me pleadingly. Well, I thought, I'm dressed it can't do any harm, and I really didn't want Julian to see him hanging around my door either. I opened the door to let him in. He looked me up and down and smiled when he spotted my bunny slippers. Damn, I had forgotten to take them off. "You're so damn cute," he told me. "Yeah right. Well what do you want?" I asked. Gorgeous or not I just wasn't in the mood to deal with him. Ok, I wasn't sure I could trust myself around him either. "Lola, I just want to say that I'm sorry if I got you into trouble with Julian, but I'm not sorry for kissing you," he stepped nearer to me. "Baby, I gotta say, you drive me crazy," he went to pull me closer, but I backed off. "Look Joe. I've had enough drama today. Seriously, you're a really nice guy, but if anything happens between us Julian would be really angry and I could lose my job." "We're grown-ups. Why would Julian be angry, it's none of his business." "Well," I began, he had a point, what excuse could I say? "Julian and I are, well - we're secretly dating!" I blurted out. I just couldn't think of anything else and, after all, Julian did say that we would kind of pretend that we were an item. "Oh," Joe looked crestfallen. "I had no idea Lola. You said you didn't have a boyfriend. You guys hide it well," there was a note of suspicion in his voice. "I really thought you liked me, that the feeling was mutual between us?"

"Oh no! Absolutely not!" Liar Lola! I felt like I had been asked to put the cream cake back on the plate. "Strange, when we were kissing I could swear you were enjoying yourself," he looked sideways at me seductively. "And why are you and Julian so secretive?" "Because," I paused to quickly think, "because, we knew each other before I came to work at Australis and he didn't want others to be mean to me because he gave me a job." "Ok, well it kinda makes sense I suppose," he conceded reluctantly. "So," I began pushing him gently towards the door, "nothing is gonna happen between us Joe. I'm sorry, but there it is." We got to the door and he turned around to ask me one more question. "Do you love him?" he asked me hopefully. "Don't be silly," oops it slipped out before I thought about what I was saying. He grinned as I gave him a final push out the door. I really just wanted to go back home. Things were getting too complicated. I changed out of my bunny slippers, applied some light make up and made my way downstairs. *** Jasper was pouring drinks in the drawing room and a log fire was blazing in the impressive fire place. Francesca was amusing the men with some story that involved ducks and a tractor so I quietly slipped to a position near the fire and sat down. Joe kept glancing my way, but he stayed by Francesca and I was pleased that my excuse to avoid him seemed to be working. Julian hadn't yet arrived, but he shortly appeared and came to sit close beside me. "Lola, I've been thinking," he spoke in a low voice so we wouldn't be overheard, "It's my fault that Joe thinks he has a chance with you." Well, actually he kind of has more than a chance, I thought, and I don't think he totally believed me when I said I wasn't interested in him either. "And, when we discussed this weekend I did say that we would give the others hints that we are in a relationship. If I had made this obvious I don't think he would be trying so hard with you." "Mmm," was all I could think in response. I wasn't so sure of that. I think Julian being in the picture only added spice to the chase for Joe. Besides, wasn’t pretending to be his girlfriend meant to encourage Jasper to chase me too?

"So," he took my hand in his, "I think it's about time we got back on track with our investigation. We have a plan to follow." I don't think I had had my hand held by so many men in less than 24 hours before. "Agreed," I replied, "All this nonsense with Joe is distracting us from our plan." I looked over towards the others and noticed that Joe continued to throw glances our way. I turned to Julian and whispered in his ear telling him I had already told Joe we were dating. It wasn't an ideal situation because Julian didn't want rumours starting back in the office, but we decided that we'd just have to deal with that. Joe was not meant to have been here anyway so pretending we were dating shouldn't have been a problem initially. To anybody looking our way it looked as though we were in an intimate conversation. I have to admit having Julian sit so close to me, holding my hand, and speaking in a low voice sparked my excitement. This is work, Lola, he's holding your hand for a purpose, I told myself, but regardless I realised he could be quite charming when he wanted to. My mood had lifted and I was beginning to relax at last. Hardy came in to announce that dinner was served and Jasper came up to us. "Julian, don't be so selfish with Lola," he joked. "My dear," he took my hand, "I think you should sit next to me at dinner and we can discuss my Canaletto." He winked at me and patted my hand as he led me through to the dining room. I looked back to Julian and noticed that Francesca had already pounced on him. Once more over dinner the conversation strayed to business. Jasper, although he had a small interest in Bernhard's company, was clearly bored. He suggested to me that I might like to finish my tour of the gallery after dinner. I glanced towards Julian who had heard him extend this invitation and saw him slightly incline his head, so I agreed that I would love to. Dinner broke up shortly after and while the rest of the guests returned to the drawing room Jasper took me by the arm and we began the climb up the stairs to the gallery. "I'm sorry Lola if I stepped out of line before," he apologised, "I suppose I just got swept up in the moment." "That's fine Jasper," I replied graciously, "it was a lovely compliment all the same." "I guess your enthusiasm for the painting rubbed off on me," he continued. Although to be honest I could hardly see how my excitement over a painting had got him excited over me. "So," I diverted the conversation, "how do you know Julian?" "Oh, he was the cousin of a best friend of mine," Jasper told me looking thoughtful. "Was?"

"Yes, I thought he would have told you. His cousin, Derek Lewis, we went to school together, but he died several months ago. Very sad." We turned into the gallery and Jasper turned the lights on. "I'm so sorry, I suppose it must have been sudden?" I hoped my face looked suitably concerned and I put my hand on his arm. "Yes, it was rather," he coughed changing the subject. "Over here are the Gainsboroughs. Some long dead distant aunts I suppose. I guess I really should get someone to catalogue these paintings," he pondered. "Indeed. I would have thought you had already for the insurance." "Good Lord Lola, I can't afford to insure all these. Only the Canaletto. Which, my dear, I'm sorely tempted to sell. The insurance premiums are astronomical. This estate is a huge millstone around my neck. It cost a fortune to run not including the house itself," we wandered back to the Canaletto and sat down on a small sofa opposite it so we could view it in comfort. "I had no idea," I told him. "Not many do. They just see all this," he waved his hand around the gallery, "and think that we must have millions in the bank, but they couldn't be further from the truth. When my father died three years ago I had to give up my job. This place is a full time job and mother couldn't wait to leave it all up to me." "Well Jasper it could be worse," I pointed out, "you should see my place. My mum's place should I say." "You still live with your mother?" "Yup. I can't afford to move out. There's the two of us in the tiniest apartment you've ever seen." I told him about Julian's visit and how surprised I think he was that we didn't have a dining room. We both laughed. "I do like you Lola. I know I've only just met you, but you're down to earth. Genuine," he observed. Oh dear, if only he knew I was here for a purpose. "I feel I can talk to you. You're un-judgmental and uncomplicated," he continued. "Are you saying I'm simple?" I asked mischievously. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," he looked at me and could see I was teasing him. He laughed again. He looked younger when he laughed, more handsome, less stressed. "Actually, Derek's parents are fabulously wealthy. You know he was going to buy this estate." "Really?" This was an important piece of news.

"Yes, he knew that I wanted out from this life and his mother grew up at Oakleigh and wanted to buy an estate nearby." "Oakleigh? Isn't that the country house that belongs to Julian's father." Of course Mrs. Lewis was Julian's aunt. Doh, I was a bit slow tonight. "Yes. It's magnificent about twenty miles from here. It's older than this place although the house itself is quite a bit smaller. It's Elizabethan, super old. You should get Julian to take you there. Oh, but then again he hardly ever goes there as he doesn't get on with his father. The old Earl is a bit irascible." Earl? "Are you saying that Julian's father is an Earl?" I was gob-smacked. "As in, like, nobility?" "Yes, I assumed you knew. Julian is a Viscount himself and will inherit the Earldom when his father dies." Well, you could've have smacked me with a dead duck I couldn't have been more surprised. Never mind finding out more about Derek I was finding out more about Julian. "He never told me," I confided. "Really? I'm surprised seeing as you two are an item," he did look surprised. "Yes, well, we've only really just started dating and you know, it's nothing serious," I smiled back at him. Joe must have told him about Julian and I being an item. "So is Derek's mum going to buy your estate then?" I continued to interrogate him gently. "Not sure to be honest Lola. Unsurprisingly it's all gone quiet since Derek died. He was the one negotiating with me and we were about to draw up the paperwork when he died unexpectedly." So there's no way then that Jasper would have a motive to kill Derek then. I could see the poor guy was deeply upset both at Derek dying and at losing the opportunity to escape this house. Although I wouldn't want to escape it; but then again I had no idea about the pressures of maintaining a place like this. I did know I wouldn't want his electricity bills though. I couldn't imagine how much it must cost to heat a place like this. "I'm sure another buyer will come along," I comforted him. "But are you sure you would really want to sell up? I mean your family has been here so long." "Lola, I couldn't care less in all honesty. Let's face it they're dead and gone. I'm only 29 I want to live more of life and this place is like a golden prison. Anyway I spent most of my childhood at boarding school." I was reminded of what Emm said about rich people giving their kids away to others to bring up. "When my father died I was living in the Caribbean running a small charter boat sailing around the islands. He would lecture me about wasting my life, but Lola, that's where I want to return. I was happy then. I really don't want to be

here in this dull, cold country surrounded by old paintings of dead people. With the money from selling this place I was going to open up a charter boat operation on the British Virgin Islands. Derek was going to be my partner, like me he wanted to escape his destiny too, we had it all planned then he died." Oh shit, I swear he had tears in his eyes. I put my arms around his shoulders. "Everything happens for a reason," I whispered gently to him, "One day Jasper I feel sure you will return to the life of a happy go lucky sailor." He looked at me with gratitude in his eyes like a puppy that had been starved of comfort and hugs. "I hope you're right Lola, I really hope you're right," he kissed me gently on the forehead. "You're a wonderful woman. Julian is such a lucky man," he told me softly. "It's so nice to meet someone that listens. Maybe one day Julian will let me take you to Venice." "Only if we can ride in a gondola and have Offenbach's Barcarole playing on loudspeakers," I joked. "If I could have a woman like you to share a gondola with Lola I would have an orchestra following on a boat serenading you," we giggled like school kids. "What about Francesca?" I asked him. He frowned. "Well I wouldn't want her in the gondola with us if that's what you mean," we laughed horrified at the thought. "Francesca is an altogether different woman than you Lola. She led me on a merry dance and I don't mind telling you she fascinated me. She's beautiful, but she's also not a nice person." "Tell me about it," I giggled. "She said my hair was like a haystack." "Yeah, she can be really bitchy. I guess the estate was my main attraction for her and then, when Derek introduced her to his cousin," "Julian?" "Yes, Julian. Well she dropped her interest in me like a hot brick. I guess his estate was bigger and of course I don't have a title either. I suppose Julian did me a favour in taking her off me. Although I must admit it took me a little while to get over it." "So they dated?" I was eager to know more. "Oh yes, they were together for nearly two years. He proposed you know," he confided. "Seriously!" "Yes. He was smitten. Then all of a sudden he broke it off. Just like that. Most women would be heart broken, but Francesca was livid. His father was furious too. He adores Francesca. Thinks she's definitely Countess material." Actually, I could see Francesca flaunting around a palace bossing around servants.

"Maybe she wasn't broken hearted because she doesn't have a heart," I suggested and we giggled again. "So what happened?" I was on tenterhooks so keen was I to get the gossip on Mr. Icicle. "No one knows. I guess it's between those two, but I don't think Francesca has given up on him. Clearly she is not only a gold digger, but a title digger too. I suspect you've noticed how she shadows him like a wraith?" "Yeah, she is kinda always where he is," I observed. "You don't mind?" He asked. "After all he is your boyfriend." Good point. I suppose I should be showing signs of jealousy. "Oh well, I'm not the possessive kind," I told him hoping he would believe me. The door to the gallery opened and Julian and Francesca walked in. "Talk of the devil," I muttered under my breath and we giggled again. "Oh here they are," announced Francesca, "looking like two love birds on that sofa." Jeez she could win the Bitch of the Year contest no problem. I noticed Julian extricate her arm from his. I stood up and held Julian's hand. "Thanks so much for fetching my boyfriend for me," I smirked at Francesca, "I was missing you darling." I kissed Julian lightly on the lips which took him by surprise. "Although Jasper and I were having a great time discussing art, life, and relationships weren't we Jasper?" Jasper stood up, "that's wonderful woman you have there, Julian. Take care I don't steal her away," he smiled mischievously. I kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks," he whispered to me and I gave his hand a friendly squeeze. I felt bad about leaving Jasper with Francesca, but I really couldn't bear to be in the same room with her and I wanted to debrief Julian before I went to sleep. We said our goodnights and headed for the bedrooms. *** I told Julian to come through to my room via the bathroom as I wanted to debrief him. Two minutes later he appeared from the bathroom. "You know Lola, if we're dating I don't think I have to sneak into your room via the bathroom," he had a point there, but then again if we were truly dating wouldn't we be sharing a room? Perhaps that's what made Joe suspicious of our cover story.

"We're not dating and I like to see you sneaking about," I teased him. He sat down in a chair by the window and I sat opposite him and debriefed him on my conversation with Jasper. He seemed please. "My aunt didn't mention her interest in buying this estate," he told me, "but it does make sense. I'll ask her and check his story out, and you're right, if it's true this clearly gets Jasper off the hook. It's certainly not in his interests that Derek died." He looked contemplative, digesting the information I had got from Jasper. "You didn't tell me you were a Viscount," I told him casually. "I didn't think it mattered. Does it?" "Well no. I guess not, but I still think you should have told me," I really hated this about him. The way he didn't tell me things I think I should know about, and he clearly didn't think were any of my business. "And you didn't tell me you were engaged to Francesca either." "Ditto. It's not relevant." "Well I think it is," I countered. "How?" "It just explains a lot," I told him. "About?" "About her hostility towards me for one and why she follows you like a lost lamb for another." "The thought of Francesca being a lost lamb is incongruous," he said and I must admit I did agree and giggled. "Francesca is a persistent and somewhat annoying woman who does not take rejection lightly, but she has nothing to do with this case," he insisted. "So are you going to tell me what happened then between you two?" "Certainly not," he said, "it's none of your business." It probably wasn't actually and I couldn't think of an excuse to make it part of my business so I dropped it. I guess that was fair given that I didn't tell him anything about Steve either. We fell into a silence. Clearly Julian's hunch that Jasper might know something about Derek's life and death had not borne fruit. "You know," I tentatively began, "I think that Joe might know something. After all he and Derek hung out together, worked together." Julian remained silent. "And he does like me," I ventured further, "I'm sure I could find out something from him." "Find out what, Lola? That you give him an erection when he's lying on top of you?" he stated crudely and clearly annoyed that I had brought the subject up again. I blushed, oh shit he had noticed the bulge after all.

"That's a low blow," I told him. "It's the truth," he said irritably," Look Lola, I'm tired. The deal with Bernhard isn't going well, I've been trying to shake off Francesca stalking me all day, keeping my eye on you from the ravenous clutches of Joe and it's nearly 1:00am. We're hunting at 8:00am. I ought to get some sleep." He rose from his chair. He looked down at me sadly and added, "If you want to sleep with Joe, after this case is done, it's none of my business. You don't have to ask my permission then, but I promised Pete that I would keep you safe. So please don't let me have to disappoint him." "I don’t want to sleep with him," I protested. Who was I kidding? "Lola, I'm not a fool. It's clear there's a mutual attraction between you both. All, I'm asking is that you wait, ok?" I'll give it my best try, I thought, but he didn't ask me to promise.

Chapter 15 Hanging with the servants I was woken at 8:00am by the noise of dogs in the courtyard. I pushed aside my curtain and looked out at the spectacle. There were about twenty horses and riders some in red jackets some in black with about fifty hounds patiently waiting. The riders were passing a flask around and I could see their breath in the cold late autumn air, but I couldn't quite make out who was who. It was a drag hunt of course as fox hunting had been banned for several years now. Although as a typical city dweller I didn't agree with hunting foxes anyway, I had to admit it was a fine spectacle. The horses looked majestic and despite my opinions on hunting being an anachronism we could well do without, I did secretly admire the sight. The countryside I had decided was an altogether different world than the city. I trotted back to bed, but couldn't get back to sleep and when eventually the Hunt Master blew his horn and they rode off I decided to get up and explore the gallery some more. My bedroom was a bit chilly and I suspected the rest of the house was no warmer so I dressed in several layers, grabbed my sketch book and pencil case in my Mao satchel, and set off for the kitchen. Hmmm, all very well and good I thought, but where on earth is the kitchen? I bumped into Hardy and the maid who were carrying the remains of breakfast. "I'm sorry Miss Hussey you've missed breakfast," he informed me. "That's cool. Perhaps I could help you take those down to the kitchen and make myself some toast," I held out my hands. "Oh no Miss," he protested as I took hold of the tray. "It's ok, Hardy, all the posh people have left and I won't tell," I winked at him. "Well I suppose it would save me coming back again for the rest," he said handing the tray over to me and popping back for the remaining dishes. The kitchen was large and must have been the warmest place in the whole house. Hardy introduced me to Mrs. Mac the cook and Katie the maid. Mrs. Mac offered to make me a cooked breakfast, "Oh no, toast will be fine and if there are any bananas?" I asked expectantly. Well I couldn't break the habit of a lifetime could I? I settled down at the kitchen table with a steaming mug of sweet tea, toast, and two bananas - I could tell Mrs. Mac was woman after my own heart. Hardy joined me and we chatted about the weather. Turns out that Hardy was an East London boy and we had a friendly debate about whether East London was better than West London. Mrs. Mac was

from Scotland and found the conversation amusing because to her all Londoners were the same, at which point both Hardy and I protested. As I finished up my breakfast I asked Hardy if he would pose for me, taking my sketch book out of my satchel in anticipation. He protested, but in the end I managed to get him to agree as long as it wouldn't take long as he had his duties to do. "You must get a lot of guests down here," I commented to him as I began to sketch. "A fair few," he told me, "Although, not as many as when Mr. Jasper's father was alive. His mother liked to entertain she did. Mr. Jasper has a few friends down now and again for shooting and hunting mostly." "Friends from London?" I asked him trying to engineer the conversation so I could bring up Derek. "Some are and some are old school friends," he replied. "Like Julian?" "Oh no, Mr. Julian has only been down a few times, but his cousin Mr. Derek, god bless his soul, was a frequent visitor. Australian, but a nice chap all the same," he added as if being Australian would count against him normally. "Oh Derek, yes Julian told me about him, he died recently didn't he? Very sad," I said trying to sound both sad and encouraging. "Oh yes, we were all upset to hear that news. Mrs. Mac was particularly fond of him, weren't you," he turned his head around to pose the question to Mrs. Mac who was busy at the sink. "He liked my fruit cake," Mrs. Mac told me, "would sneak into the kitchen to steal a piece and then stop and chat to us. Not like the other posh ones," she added conspiratorially. "Yeah," I said encouragingly, "that Francesca she's a real bitch," I added pulling no punches. Katie giggled at my language which earned her a stern look from Hardy. "I am sure she has her nicer moments," Hardy tried half-heartedly to come to Francesca's defence, but I could tell from his expression he had never experienced any 'nicer' moments from Francesca. "Well I ain't seen 'em," Katie protested. "Nor me," I agreed. "Now, now," admonished Hardy, "we shouldn't be gossiping about the folks upstairs," he looked my way warily. "Oh don't worry about me," I assured him, "I won't be carrying any tales back up there," I motioned with my head upstairs. Well, I felt slightly bad about that because the truth was I

was going to report this conversation to Julian. "In fact," I added for extra reassurance, "she hates me because I'm Julian's girlfriend." "That's why that nice young man Derek never brought his girlfriend down here," said Katie. "Cos he knew that Francesca would be all snooty about her." Derek had a girlfriend? Well, I knew he was a player, but there was nothing in the reports about a regular girlfriend. "And how do you know young lady?" asked Hardy. "Well, he told me innit?" Katie said. "We used to talk cos Mr. Derek weren't like the others. He said he liked to chat with us normal people," she giggled. "He had a girlfriend?" I asked her as innocently as I could. "Julian didn't mention that he was dating. Must've been real horrible for her when he died?" "Suspect it was," she mused, "only no one knew who she was. He kept it quiet, he did. Wouldn't even tell me. Mind you, I think he met her at work." "What makes you think that?" I asked. "I work at the same place maybe I'll know her?" "Well, there was this phone call once. A woman said she was from the office and couldn't reach him on his mobile. Said it was urgent. That was the last weekend he was here. He took the call down here in the kitchen. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I could tell he was upset and not, you know, like in a work way. Like I thought he was gonna cry. I asked him what was wrong, but he just rushed out." We all looked at her in amazement. ""That explains why he left in a hurry then," mused Hardy. "I was wondering what had happened because he just up and left. He didn't even wait for Mr. Jasper to return. We never saw him again," he looked down sadly. Wow, this information was hot. A mystery woman called him from the office. In all probability it was his secret girlfriend. Jeez who could it be? Who was I kidding it could only be Pam! And that would explain the expression in her eyes when I asked her about Derek's death, but why would they be dating in secret and what, if anything, did that have to do with him being found dead a week later? I suddenly felt the urge to find Julian. I needed to pass this information by him and try and work out its significance. I finished off my sketch of Hardy and showed it to him. "That's very good Miss Lola, very good." He complimented me. Mind you I had deliberately made it flattering taking at least ten years off his age, and making his double chin rather smaller than it actually was. "You can keep it Hardy. In fact let me sign it maybe one day when I'm a famous artist it will be worth money," I winked at him. "I'm sure you will," he said, "you definitely have talent there young lady." I made my excuses and told them I might go for a walk seeing as the day was bright. Hardy informed

me there were spare wellingtons in the boot room as he looked down at my white trainers. Mrs. Mac wrapped me up a packed lunch of ham sandwiches and some of her famous fruitcake, "In case you get peckish on your walk," she told me as though I was assured to get peckish, which, when I thought about it I most probably was.

Chapter 16 Lola Takes a Ride I wasn't expecting the others back until around 3:00pm. They were going to have lunch on a neighbouring estate so I had at least four hours to kill. As I had never been to the country I decided that it would be good exercise to take a walk, so equipped with a pair of borrowed wellies and tweed cap, I left the house in high spirits. After the events of the day before it would be nice to spend some quiet time alone and I would be safely away from any predatory men. Hardy had told me there was a walking trail easy to spot just beyond the lower paddock where we were shooting the day before, and I made my way there. I must say that even for a city girl I could really appreciate this beautiful autumn day. Even the odour of manure that I could faintly detect on the wind didn't dampen my newly growing love for the countryside. I was appreciating the pollution free air and the fresh soft breeze in my hair, and after an hour decided to find somewhere to eat the packed lunch that Mrs. Mac had made for me. I spotted a tree trunk in a meadow so climbed over the wooden fence and made my way there. I was finishing up Mrs. Mac's fruit cake with a swallow from a bottle of water when I could hear horse's hooves in the distance. A lone rider was making their way towards me. The horse was large and black and had a streak of white sweat on its chest. The rider was a man I could see now, dressed in a red hunting jacket. As they got closer I could see it was Joe! He was a hell of a persistent stalker I thought waiting for him to reach me. "Lola baby," he shouted in greeting as he reined in his horse and dismounted. "I got separated from the others," he explained. "And, oh boy, now I'm glad I did." He grinned. He dismounted, tied his horse to a branch sticking out from the log and came to sit close beside me. We exchanged pleasantries. I must admit I felt a little anxious and at the same time excited about being alone again with Joe. He took his riding hat off and his curly dark hair blew in the wind. Yup my heart flipped again. It seemed to jump a lot these days. I edged away from him slightly and he noticed. "Don't worry Lola, I won't eat you," he said, "not unless you want me to." Oh Boy! I blushed. "Besides, your 'boyfriend' won't like it." I almost blurted out that actually Julian wasn't my boyfriend, but I managed to control myself. I didn't respond and we fell into a silence. Eventually he said, "I know you two aren't dating Lola." I turned to him startled and began to protest but he held up his hand. "It's obvious. You're not his type. There's no spark

there like there is between us." He was presumptive as well as sexy. There was actually a spark between Julian and I, but it was icy not hot like with Joe. With him it was all smouldering carnal anticipation. "How do you know what his type is?" I asked, curious not confirming his suspicions. "I just know," he answered. "Look Lola, I don't know what you two are up to, but I really don't think it should stop us from getting to know each other better." He put his hand up to brush my hair out of my face. Oh dear, this is how it starts Lola, I cautioned myself. He suddenly pulled my head towards him. I just didn't know how to stop him. Nor did I want to. I stared at his full generous lips that were beginning to part, remembering how wonderful his kiss was in the stables yesterday. He kissed me gently, "Lola baby, you shouldn't fight it, don't fight the inevitable," he instructed. Some instinct told me the contrary, that I would regret this bad boy a lot, but I didn't fight it. Some cream cakes just need to be eaten. Sometimes in order to get rid of a temptation it was best just to succumb to it, I thought as he wrapped me up in his arms, tongue probing gently, as he pulled me into his broad chest. For a brief second, Julian's scowling face popped into my head, but Joe managed to sweep it away as he began giving me soft kisses behind my ear and down my neck. He took my hand and gently moved it down towards his jodhpurs so I could feel his excitement. "That's how a boyfriend should show how much he likes his girl," he murmured. "This much baby, this much." I had never been seduced like this before. Had never actually had another lover other than Steve and, I thought gleefully, I could get to like this. Joe was obviously experienced with women. Instinct and his actions rather than the gossip about him told me this. His gentle yet firm touch in contrast to his hard body and insistent manner was turning me on. There was no saying 'no' to this man. As he moved his hand to make soft circling motions around my nipple I let a low moan escape. My breath was catching and I had to make a conscious effort to breathe. Something inside me wanted him inside me so badly. He broke away, "Come," he said pulling me up by the hand, "Let's go back and find somewhere more private." I was total putty in his hands now. Speechless putty! If he had asked me to take all my clothes off here in this field, on this cold day, I would have without protest. He untied his horse and mounted, "You can ride behind me," he said taking my hand and pulling me up behind him, it was a bit of a struggle as the horse was so tall, but Joe was

strong. "Hold me tight," he instructed me in a husky voice. Oh don't worry, I will, I thought. He pushed the horse into a canter and we headed back to the house. When we arrived at the stable yard he dismounted and then helped me down. "Stay there, don't go," he told me anxiously, "I have to unsaddle the horse. I'll be two minutes." I stood in the yard wondering momentarily if I should flee. Julian would be furious, but then, I hadn't actually promised I wouldn't do anything with Joe had I? He'd asked, but I hadn't promised, I rationalised. Joe was quickly back and took me by the hand before I had a chance to whip up any feelings of guilt. We went upstairs to his room. As soon as we got inside he kissed me again. This time hard and passionately. He took off his jacket and threw it onto a chair, began to unbutton his shirt and came back to me. He was so good looking in that sizzling bad boy way. His body was muscled beneath his now opened shirt and yes, I could see his well-defined chest and abdominal muscles and those hairs that trailed down towards his jodhpurs... I had felt his strength earlier when he had pulled me effortlessly up onto the horse so his muscular body didn't surprise me. His curly hair flopped over his blue eyes, but couldn't hide the desire I could see drilling into me. "I'm going to undress you Lola," he told me, "Just stand still, he instructed as he tugged his boots off. For once Lola was still speechless. I was the proverbial lamb offering myself eagerly as the feast. He unzipped my jeans bending down to pull them off and flicking his tongue towards my crotch. He peeled off my jersey and my T-shirt slowly devouring me with his eyes as I began to pant slowly again in anticipation. How does a man do that? Caress me with just his eyes? I was soon naked and could clearly see his lust bulging again in his tight jodhpurs. He saw me looking down and I closed my eyes. "Oh no you don't baby, open your eyes," he pulled my head towards him. "You gotta see how excited you make me, makes a man feel good," he grinned kissing me again, stroking me in all the places I was now longing to be stroked. He picked me up and carried me towards the bed. "You're wet, but I'm gonna make you wait for it Lola," he told me growling. "First I'm gonna kiss you all over. Then I'm gonna taste you. Then when you're ready I'll fuck you soft and gentle, or hard and fast, whatever you want baby." Was this man for real? I hoped so because by now my body was as taut as a wire, arching towards him provocatively. The fact that he was still dressed and I was naked on his bed only turned me on more. "Do you want me Lola?" he asked as he knelt over me undoing his shirt. I nodded. "Tell me, tell me you want me. I want to hear you say it," he commanded huskily. "I want you!" I barely managed to whisper the words.

"Show me, Lola baby, open your legs and show me," and I did, shamelessly. This was total surrender. *** Joe was an insatiable lover; skilled, horny, tireless, passionate, exciting and, for the next three hours, entirely focused on my physical pleasure. He blew my mind with sex. He could tell I was inexperienced and he guided me into returning the pleasure, showing me what pleased him and I was only too glad to comply. We only paused to take brief showers before he would carry me back to his bed. I felt like I had died and gone to sexual heaven. Having sex with Joe was like a marathon gymnastics session as we tried different positions, our mutual excitement in exploring each other's bodies sparking each other alight again and again. Yes, Joe was indeed a fire, a fire that I didn't want to ever go out. Eventually, sticky with sweat, we fell into a deep sleep, a tangle of arms and legs and bed sheets. I woke first and looked out the window. It was growing dark. Shit, I thought, the hunt must have come back hours ago which meant that Julian would be looking for me. I slipped out from under Joe's arm and started to get dressed. Joe roused, "where are you going baby?" he asked me, looking all mussed up and irresistible. I looked back at him as I was putting on my trainers sitting on the side of the bed. "I have to go, it's getting late." I didn't add that Julian would be looking for me. "Please don't go baby," he went to grab me, but I managed to dodge him. "I have to go," I insisted. "Why? The dinner doesn't start until eight we have a few more hours until we have to get ready," he appealed rising onto his elbows. Jeez he was hard to resist, but I would have a hard time explaining to Julian where I was if I didn't make an appearance soon. "Laters," I blew him a kiss and slipped out of his room back to my own. I went straight to the bathroom, locking it on Julian's side and turned on the taps for a bath. I took a look in the mirror. My hair was wild, my lips looked swollen and I could smell Joe on me, but I admired the shine in my eyes. I felt like a million dollars even if my body was a bit tender in places. As I undressed for the bath I noticed a small hickey on my breast and I blushed at the memory as I lowered myself gently into the bubbles. What had I done? I asked myself as I soaked and soaped myself clean. What would happen now? Was this just a moment of mad, crazy passion or would I be starting on the beginning of a wildly passionate relationship? How could I have fallen for him when I was

meant to be working this case? How could I not have fallen for such persistent chasing by a man like Joe? I had a million and one thoughts whirling around in my brain. Some were pleasant, and some scary. I chewed my bottom lip as I reminisced on the afternoon. Like what would happen when Julian found out? Well, as it happens, I didn't have to wait long to discover that. There was a loud knock on the bathroom door. "Lola, it's Julian, we need to talk," he didn't sound very friendly. Uh oh! Could I pretend I couldn't hear him? I sunk under the bath water in the false hope that it would make him go away. "Lola now! Get out of the bath!" he drummed his fist on the door again. He was angry. Oh shit! "Give me ten minutes please, I have to wash my hair," I stalled. Ten minutes later, wrapped in the fluffy bathrobe with my hair in a towel, I opened the door nervously. Julian stood there, still in his riding jodhpurs, boots and black jacket looking stern yet startlingly handsome. He was obviously agitated pulling on his earlobe. I had noticed that gesture before. "Come into my room," he ordered holding the door open for me. "Can't this wait until I'm dressed?" I asked dreading this conversation. "No, you've kept me waiting long enough," he said sternly pointing me in the direction of a chair. "Where were you this afternoon?" he asked me. "I was busy, umm, sketching in the gallery," I stumbled out my excuse. "Liar," he told me, "I went to the gallery when I got back and you weren't there," his look was accusing. "Well not all afternoon," I began, "I went to my room after and had a nap," I lied. "Do no lie to me Lola," his accent was more pronounced when he was angry I noticed. He was standing over me menacingly, and as he looked down I saw him glance at the hickey peeking from beneath my bathrobe which had parted a little when I sat down. I saw him wince as I pulled the robe tighter. "You fucked him didn't you?" he could barely contain his anger, "after I told you not to." Julian rarely swore, even though I swore often, and it shocked me and scared me too. "I...," I could feel tears beginning to prick my eyes. Was he going to sack me? He turned away from me in disgust, took out his phone and dialed. "Joe, it's Julian, we need to talk can you come to my room please," he hung up. I stood up ready to flee to my room. "Stay there," he commanded and I sat back down terrified. We waited in silence. I dared not look his way but I could feel his anger fill the room. There was a knock at the door

and Julian strode over and opened it. Joe walked in and didn't see me at first but when he did he turned to Julian, "What's all this about?" he asked warily spotting the expression on Julian’s face. "You tell me," responded Julian. "I don't know what you mean, man" he said. "I think you do Joe and I think now is the time to tell Lola the truth." What truth? There was clearly something going on here that I wasn't aware of. The tension in the room rose and I was confused. Joe looked at Julian sizing him up. He could see his barely contained fury. "I don't understand," I stammered, "what truth?" I looked from one to another as they stared at each other. "Tell her your real name, Joe," taunted Julian. I could see Joe momentarily taken aback, but he kept silent. "Real name?" I mumbled. I was totally lost as to where this confrontation was heading. Joe turned to me. "This has nothing to do with what happened between us, Lola, you have to believe that," he told me in earnest. "What? What's going on, tell me," I had a sense of hysteria coming on. "My real name is Aldo, Al Calabrese, I'm a private detective hired by Mr. Lewis." "I don't understand," I was totally confused this conversation was surreal. "It's simple Lola," Julian explained angrily, "Mr. Lewis also hired Al before we came on the scene to be Derek's bodyguard and generally watch out for him and keep him out of trouble, but you failed didn't you Al," I could see Al bristle. Al? Joe? How could this possibly be? "It seems my aunt's husband decided to keep Al on, despite his failure, to give him a chance to redeem himself by finding out the truth about Derek's death," he turned to me and said softly, "he used you Lola. He knows about us and he used you to find out information." I couldn't help it. I burst into tears at the realisation that I had been used, that this afternoon’s events must mean nothing to Joe. "That's not true, Lola, don't listen to him," Al/Joe turned to me. "What happened between us has nothing to do with the case, believe me," he appealed. "Please, don't cry," he said to me softly. I was feeling completely betrayed. By Al/Joe and by Julian. Why didn't Julian tell me that was the reason for not going near Joe? Was he right, did he seduce me only to get to know what I had found out? I stood up. I was feeling like they had treated me

like a child or some bone two dogs were fighting over. I felt manipulated and upset. I wiped the tears from my eyes. Al moved towards me, but I held up my hands, "Don't fucking touch me," I hissed at him. "So all this time you both lied to me," I accused them. "You," I pointed at Julian, "have always treated me like some kid, like I couldn't be trusted to know everything or even anything and you," I turned to Al/Joe, "you," I sobbed. I couldn't get the words out and fled the room slamming the door behind me.

Chapter 17 The Aftermath I sobbed my heart out on my bed and it did me good. Questions, self-pity, selfrecriminations mingled with my tears. I couldn't actually believe what had just happened. I couldn't believe Julian didn't tell me about Al/Joe. I still couldn't think of him as Al. I fell into the comforting, but ultimately hopeless act of wishing that if I closed my eyes tightly the clock would rewind and I would wake up to the sounds of the hounds barking this morning. Why had I turned off my bad boy radar? Why had I not demanded Julian to treat me as an equal? What could possibly be the reason for either of them not telling me the truth from the beginning? Was Joe right? Was what happened between us this afternoon really nothing to do with this 'truth'? Eventually, the questions became louder in my head than my tears and I was exhausted, lying face down on the bed, still wrapped in the bathrobe, wanting answers, but daring not to seek them. Julian had entered the room and he sat beside me on the bed. When I realised his presence I turned my head from being buried in the pillow and looked at him through my swollen eyelids. Snot was dribbling from my nose, but I didn't care. The sobs had subsided to hiccups. He looked sad and sorry, and so he should. "I'm so sorry Lola," he began, "I was angry I shouldn't have made a scene like that," I hiccupped back a sniffle in response. It was all I could manage. "I won't say that I tried to warn you," well, uh, you just did buddy, but heck I was too tired to point that out to him. "I just don't understand why you can't do what you're told?" he sounded perplexed rather than angry. There was nothing I could say without falling into the temptation of a tirade of verbal abuse at him, nor was I going to let him off the hook by contradicting him either. I just lay there, head to one side, staring at the pattern on the bedcover. "I guess I owe you answers," true right, I thought, the words never quite reaching my lips. He told me that the agreement was that Al would carry out a separate investigation and as such his undercover position would be kept a secret. Julian only found out about Al/Joe because his aunt told him. Since Derek's death her marriage was on the rocks. Derek was their only child conceived after many miscarriages, with the loss of their only son she felt no reason to stay with Dan Lewis, her husband, as they had grown apart, not least because he was a serial philanderer. There was a lot of animosity that had been brewing as she had clearly married Dan in the first place for his money; it was not a love match.

She got to live a certain lifestyle and he got an upper class wife. His aunt and his mother were best friends as teenagers. It was how his parents had met and she took care of Julian and his sister when they returned to live with their father after their mother had died. He owed Mrs. Lewis for years of financial and emotional support, while he was growing up. Without her help his mother, who had received a pittance from the divorce because all the family money was wrapped up in trusts, would have struggled to bring up two young children. So Julian, like Jasper, was another rich young man without actually having any money. Well that explains him having a job, but it didn't make me pity him because no matter how much his mum might have struggled he still grew up in a home with a dining room. His aunt had told him about Al's position and his separate investigation because she looked out for Julian. It was like a competition between husband and wife and now Julian was involved. He couldn't tell Lola before because it would have betrayed his aunt's trust. If her husband had found out she had been snooping through his papers - which was how she found out about Al - then she might get into trouble and it could weaken her position in the divorce. Therefore, Jasper disclosing the fact she was interested in buying this house made sense. "I'm sorry Lola, I should have trusted you to be able to keep a secret, but I hardly know you," I made a gurgling groan but it never quite made it into speech. He turned to me, "I suspected that his motives were ulterior, that you were a pawn he was well positioned to take advantage of, and when he became separated from the rest of us this afternoon, and I couldn't find you when I got back, I put two and two together." I rose slowly and wiped my nose on the sleeve of the robe. Hell, I didn't care if it was ladylike or not, I had no dignity left. I sat up and pulled the robe around me, still making the occasional hiccup. Julian moved to take my hand, but I moved it out of his reach. No, I thought, it won't comfort me and it would only make you think I might forgive you. "Well," my voice hitched, "well it's... in the open now," I stumbled the words out. "Yes," he looked sad and worried, "It is now and no doubt Al will be making a report to Dan Lewis as soon as he left my room, but I don't care, my aunt will manage. What I couldn't live with though is the thought of him using you as a pawn in all this. I made a promise to Pete." I wasn't entirely sure I could trust him. He exposed his aunt because he made a promise to Pete and he didn't want me to be a pawn in Al's game plan - could I believe him? Was he trying to tell me he was a man of integrity, because at this moment in time, I wasn't buying it one little bit.

He offered that if I no longer wanted this job he would ensure I was well paid. No fucking way, I thought, I want to buy my own place and I'll see this through to the end. I didn't have a rich aunt to rescue me. I was not going back to Pete's having failed miserably at my first case because I happened to be seduced by the office Romeo who also happened to be some American PI bodyguard fucking bastard. "He had a girlfriend, Al must know about her," I really didn't want to talk any more about the scene in his room so I changed the subject. I couldn't face any more analysis, confessions or accusations. I'd had enough. "Derek?" Julian was taken aback at the change of topic. I think he was expecting more drama from me, but I had had about all the drama I could take quite frankly. "Yes," my voice grew a little bit stronger. "How did you find this out?" I told him about the conversation in the kitchen and what Katie had told me about the phone call. I could tell Julian was excited at this piece of news. Well about as excited as a cold fish, who has just been really mean, can actually get. I stood up from the bed. "So Julian, I suggest we join resources with Al because the girlfriend can only be Pam and let's face it he's the best one to get information from her." I could tell that Julian didn't like this one little bit, but on the other hand it made perfect sense too. He told me he would give it some thought. Truth be told, Julian no matter how handsome, was not the type to seduce information from the likes of the Pams of this world, Francescas maybe, but not Pams. He had looks in abundance, but seductive charm, not one iota. "I'm going to get ready, wear that ridiculous dress you bought me and then we are going to talk about this tonight," I surprised myself that I was giving him instructions now. Thatta girl Lola, come back fighting! I didn't grow up on a tough estate in London to let this whole incident knock me down permanently. I lifted myself off the bed. "I know you think I'm naïve, and with regards to Joe you might have a thing there, but I'm not as stupid as you clearly think I am," I went to the wardrobe and took the ridiculous dress from the hanger. "So if you could leave now I'd like to get ready." Get lost Mr. Icicle because Lola is about to embark on a mission and nothing is gonna stop her. *** One of my favourite aphorisms in life is, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite highbrow enough of a phrase to be labeled an aphorism,

but hell I'm no snob. As I got ready I thought of how Emm would deal with this, what she would say. I could almost hear her words in my head, "Well Lola babe, it could be worse right? So you were used, but you also got to have great sex with a man who has a body to die for and you didn't get sacked so the palace fund is still safe," yup that's how Emm would look at this and so that's how I would too. I stood naked in front of the mirror before I slipped the dress over my head. Fuck it, I thought, who needs underwear. The dress was actually lovely on. It did cling and it did show a hint of my nipples underneath the dull shine of the silk. I did a twirl and thought that I actually had a very shapely back. This thought made me laugh. Most women thought of their assets as their butt, boobs, face or legs and here's me thinking my best asset was my back. I wore no jewelry - I had none suitable for a dress like this. I brushed my hair and my corkscrew black ringlets bounced around my face and shoulders. I stroked some vaseline onto my eyelashes, I was lucky in that they were long and curly, so no need for mascara. A quick application of lipstick, a deep pink colour, and I was ready. Oh wait, a squirt of body deodorant and now I was ready. Who needs expensive scent, hell I bet most men wouldn't know the difference anyway.

Chapter 18 Don't Call Me Baby I knocked on Julian's door, "I'm ready," I shouted through to him. He opened the door and stopped in his tracks when he saw me. Yup, I thought smugly, I look drop dead gorgeous. Ok, well my eyes were still a little bit puffy, but I could tell from his expression that he wasn't expecting me to scrub up so well. The dinner was a black tie charity event and Julian looked rather dashing in his well-tailored suit. "You look beautiful," he paid me the compliment as he took my arm in his. "Why thank you," I responded gracefully. I was going to tell him he scrubbed up well too but, nope, he didn't deserve me to be nice to him so I kept quiet. I had never been to an event like this before. The only time I had ever seen a man in a tuxedo was, just like the horses, on TV and despite all the drama today, I was actually looking forward to the experience. As we headed towards the stairs we could hear the hubbub of people gathering in the hallway below. There must have been about one hundred guests milling around. Julian and I were late. As I glided down the stairs I was aware of glances upwards towards us. It seemed we were making quite an entrance. I was guessing that there weren't many black people living in the country because I didn't see any. Guess I would have to fly the flag for my black brothers and sisters I giggled to myself. I couldn't see Joe amongst the crowd, but Jasper came bouncing right up to us. "Lola, you look ravishing," he beamed at me. "Trust Julian to have the most beautiful woman in the room on his arm." "That's because I got his arm before Francesca could get it," I laughed shrugging off the compliment, not caring about the grimace this brought to Julian's face. "My dear," he took me from Julian smoothly, patted my hand and began to whisk me away, "she's hardly human so she doesn't count," he whispered to me. I laughed aloud. I was beginning to really like Jasper. We seemed to be on the same wave length as far as sense of humour was concerned, and of course, our common dislike of Francesca. I decided that I was going to forget all the betrayals of the day and enjoy myself so I gladly went with Jasper as he toured the room introducing me to the country set. Not once did I look back towards Julian nor did my eyes roam the room seeking out Joe.

I took a glass of champagne from a passing waitress and was being entertained by Jasper, Bernhard, and a lovely portly older gentleman who was the Chairman of the local Rotary Club on whose behalf Jasper was hosting the event. I could feel the champagne flushing my cheeks and the heat of so many bodies, despite the cavernous room, made me grateful for a dress which was cool if somewhat lacking in material. The venue, being surrounded by men dressed up in what Emm would call penguin suits; the chandeliers glittering; and the women in their evening dresses made me feel like I was at some Hollywood party rather than middle England. I was enjoying the mild flirtations of the men who were on their best chivalrous behaviour when I heard Joe behind me. I had decided that he would remain "Joe" for the time being. Not least, because if I started to call him Al now it was bound to slip out in the office. Besides, he definitely looked like a Joe to me. "Lola," he said softly to me in greeting, "Can I have a word with you," he asked. A small frown creased my brow. "Oh no you don't," protested Jasper good naturedly, "we are enjoying her company far too much for you to drag her away." Bernhard and the Chairman nodded in agreement and Joe backed down. He drifted off to one side in a sulk. I decided to ignore him to punish him. Between him and Julian I was not sure which one I had felt had betrayed me most. In fairness though, I had listened to Julian's excuses so I did decide to give Joe a chance to give his side of the story at some point. After all, we had been so intimate earlier in the day I felt that I probably should give him the opportunity. I flushed at the memory. Probably, on balance, I had had a lucky escape. With my propensity to be attracted to bad boys I had almost sunk to the point of no return after our afternoon of wild sex. In a way, despite the hurt, I was guessing it was a good thing I found out sooner rather than later. Dinner was announced and the chubby Chairman claimed me to sit beside him at dinner. He sat me on his right and Bernhard sat on my other side. As it was a gala dinner there were going to be several courses and I was grateful to remember having read somewhere that you started the cutlery on the outside and worked your way in. The multitude of glasses however had me confused so I surreptitiously waited to follow Bernhard and the Chairman's lead. As the meal and wine progressed Bernhard's flirting got a little bit fruity and any excuse he could find to place his hand on my arm or bare back he took, as though I wouldn't notice! I observed with amusement that Julian hadn't managed to shrug off his stalker and was sandwiched between Francesca and a very large bosomed older woman who, I later understood was the Chairman's wife. I also noted that Francesca was frequently touching

Julian's arm and completely ignoring the gentleman on her left. I was wondering if I should admire her tenacity when Bernhard engaged me in conversation. "So, Lola, have you ever been to Germany?" he asked in his near perfect English. "No, never," I informed him. "Ah, well I invite you to come to Frankfurt to visit," he smiled encouragingly at me. "Oh that's very kind Bernhard, but I only type and file things. Business trips, well umm, to be honest they aren't in my job description." "That is too bad. If you could come to Frankfurt then maybe this deal would be much more attractive," he suggested provocatively. My ears pricked up. He was undoubtedly flirting, but then again Julian said the deal was going badly so maybe if I could do something about it I would earn myself some huge brownie points. I also, wickedly, thought of an opportunity for revenge. "You know Bernhard," I began slowly, as though I was thinking through an idea, "If you signed this deal I've thought of a way that I might be able to come to Germany," and we discussed my idea for marketing the drinks in his supermarkets. "What an excellent idea," he took my hand and kissed it. "I think that would work because I was worried about the marketing being restricted to just posters and baseball hats with funny ears." He kept hold of my hand and I noticed Joe looking our way broodily. I gave Bernhard a full wattage smile and encouraged him to talk to Julian or Joe to seal the deal as soon as possible taking full advantage of him being tipsy. To finish up the gala dinner there was a charity auction and then dancing. Chubby Chairman dragged me onto the dance floor for the first dance. I must admit, I never thought an overweight, past middle-age and definitely middle class man could strut his stuff like he could, and I was having fun matching his moves on the dance floor. If there was one thing I could do well it was dance. I guess we must have made quite a picture as we wiggled our hips towards each other to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie as I towered above him in my heels. Him so round and me so tall and skinny. He then handed me over to Bernhard who managed to behave himself. I liked Bernhard, he was a gentleman. His flirting wasn't insidious and he accepted my let down like a true gentleman. He even good naturedly admitted he was old enough to be my father whilst informing me that older men had other things to offer a beautiful young woman as he spun me around to Justin Timberlake. As he wasn't married and wasn't a letch I took the information graciously and gently informed him that I had recently had my fill of

men and was going to avoid them for a while. He looked at me a bit sadly, "That is a shame, Lola, a woman like you should enjoy having so many admirers." Well, there was the point, I had never really had admirers and, quite frankly, my performance in handling them was appalling as I had managed to be successfully seduced by the first one that came along. One who had also proceeded to badly bruise my ego. Ok, so Emm had pointed out that some boys at school were keen, but I had never really been chased. Not until Joe and not chased like he chased. In fact, I wasn't so much chased by Joe as hunted. Maybe that's why I fell so quickly, avoiding being pursued was not actually in my realm of experience. I really had no frame of reference to expertly dodge him. Ok, so who was I kidding, I wasn't really wanting to dodge him. This weekend, with Jasper, Joe, and Bernhard was a totally novel experience for me. Maybe it was the clothes? Maybe the different social setting? I can't say, despite the drama, that I didn't like it. I had never flexed my feminine charms or had the opportunity to either. In fact, I was also secretly pleased that Joe was slouched against a wall watching me dancing with his moody dark looks. I felt, for the first time in my life, a sense of sexual power and when Bernhard cracked a joke I threw my head back and laughed a big toothy, enjoyingmyself-without-you laugh, sensing that Joe's eyes were still glued to me. Kayne West's Gold Digger came booming out of the speakers as Jasper interrupted Bernhard for my next dance. "Lola," he cheered, "we have to dance to this song. It was written about our mutual friend," he cast his glance towards Francesca who was still hooked on Julian, like literally hanging on to his arm still, and we both burst out laughing. Jasper clearly had two left feet and was definitely challenged on the dancefloor. I was really having fun teasing him on his dancing and showing him how to move. The earlier upset and tears were becoming a distant memory. After a few more dances with some other guests my feet were beginning to ache and I was thirsty. I headed alone to the bar area and asked the waiter for a glass of water. I moved to lean against the wall watching the dancers and didn't notice Joe move towards me from the side. "Lola," he softly called my name and I turned to him my glass held up to my lips. I didn't say anything. What was there to say? "I'm sorry. I want to explain please?" he pleaded. I took a long sip from my water and looked back at him warily. He looked just as sexy as ever with his curly black hair flopping over his blue eyes and his broad shoulders filling out his tuxedo. I let out a deep sigh. "I was having fun," I said, as though that was the case until he came along and I frowned. He stepped closer to me, but when I stepped back he stopped

advancing. He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," his eyes looked anguished, but my bad-boy radar was flashing me warnings. "Just give me a chance to explain, please?" He touched me gently on the elbow and a small frisson of electricity went through my body. If I thought his betrayal would cure me of his attraction, I was obviously wrong. My body and my head were obviously not aligned where Joe was concerned and my radar was now going off on full alert. "Ok," I eventually conceded and actually curious as to his excuse. "Not here please," he asked, "let's find somewhere more private." He saw the alarm in my eyes because he added reassuringly, "the library." *** The library was empty and I sat myself down in a worn green leather chair, avoiding the sofa so that Joe couldn't sit next to me. Proximity to this man was positively dangerous. The fire had nearly burnt out as it was getting late and the sweat I had got dancing my ass off on the dance floor was now chilling on my skin and I shivered. Joe noticed and whipped off his jacket and put it round my shoulders. I did feel like refusing, but in this dress, alone in a room with Joe, I figured the more I was covered up the better. "I meant what I said Lola," he began as he sat opposite me leaning forward his elbows on his knees, "What happened between us earlier today has nothing to do with this case." I pursed my lips, but kept silent. I would give him a chance to explain. "I'll start from the beginning," his blue eyes looked directly into mine and that distracting curl flopped over as he leant forward. Concentrate Lola don't get diverted by his bad boy good looks! I scolded myself silently. "Three years ago I was working as a PI in New York when I was hired to be Derek's body guard. As he didn't want to draw attention to himself it was agreed that I would do this undercover. Joe Da Luca agreed to my being his 'son' and I came to London. Derek was a cool guy and the cover story worked well. It was easy being his body guard and the undercover job too. Seems I have a talent for office work too," he smiled. "Derek was a player and one of my jobs was to make sure that I filtered out the gold diggers and tidied up any romantic mess he got himself into. I'll be straight with you it wasn't the most unpleasant job in the world and it was very well paid. I got a rent free apartment and two salaries." Well we had that in common. The money for this job was very good.

"And you got to chase off lots of women or take them off Derek's hands. Gee, I bet that was a hard task for you," I threw at him sarcastically, my eyes flashing green. He hung his head momentarily. When he looked up I nearly gasped at his lovely blue eyes looking into mine. "Sure it was fun. You English women are cool. I'm a man Lola, ain't no denying beautiful women attract me... like you," he looked up at me and my heart did a flip, but my eyes remained a burning green. "But I didn't sleep with Derek's cast offs," I raised my eyebrows sceptically. "It's true," he continued, "Lola my cover story was as a womaniser. That way it made it easier for me to deal with Derek's harem and believe me that man chased women like nobody's business," he smiled at the memory. "Carry on," I instructed him. "When it happened, Derek's death, it came as a complete shock obviously. Julian was right, I had failed. Totally failed," he looked both sad and puzzled. "Believe me I was that man's shadow Lola and, he was a friend, we became friends. I had access to almost every part of his life." "Obviously not every aspect though he had a girlfriend," I informed him. He looked at me wide eyed. "No way! He was a player, but his relationships never lasted more than a few weeks." "Well one did and I think it was Pam," I added. "Jeez," he ran his hands through his hair. "They flirted, but a relationship? How do you know?" I told him what Katie the maid had told me. I must say I was quite smug about it. It seems that Derek wasn't allowed to chase the women in the office. That was strictly off bounds as a rule set by his dad. So that's why they kept it a secret. "So you think that Pam is the key to this?" he asked me. I was secretly pleased that he asked my opinion. Julian never asked me what I thought. "I'm not sure I would go that far, but she certainly knows something and the evidence is pointing at her making that phone call. Who else could it be?" I confirmed. Joe looked up towards the ceiling lost in thought. "We are going to have to find out," he looked at me. "I don't think she'll confess anything to me," I added, "we are hardly best friends and she doesn't seem to like me at all," he nodded his head in agreement. "In fact," I continued, "I think you stand the best chance." He looked surprised. "I don't know why you look so surprised. She likes you. She obviously thinks you're, umm, hot." He smiled at that. I suggested to him that we pool our resources, work together, him, Julian, and I. He didn't

seem keen on that idea at first, the divorce between Mr. and Mrs. Lewis would complicate any agreement between us to work together. "Well that's ridiculous," I stated, "what do they care about most? Getting to the bottom of Derek's death or their own selfish bickering?" "Fair point," he agreed. "I guess I could talk to Dan. As you can imagine he's not that happy with me, but, you know, Derek was my friend. I owe it to the guy regardless. I'll call Dan tomorrow." "You didn't call him earlier?" "No my mind was preoccupied on you, Lola," he confessed. "Please don't tell him that Julian found out," I asked him. "I don't want to get Julian into trouble with his aunt." Joe looked up. "You like Julian don't you?" he asked me. I blushed slightly. "Not like that," I kind of lied. Julian and I? Not gonna happen in a million years. Would I even if he offered me a chance? Possibly, I don't know, beautiful he is, but the lack of charm was off putting. Besides which I'd had my fingers burnt already with this pretty gorgeous guy sitting in front of me right now. "I'll keep it quiet for you, not for him, Lola." His eyes narrowed and unconsciously he licked his lips. Oh boy! I pulled his jacket closer around me. It smelt of Joe and by now I was very familiar with that scent. I was beginning to get unnerved watching my resolve about Joe wobble as images from this afternoon flashed through my brain. "Lola, it's true that I knew about you and Julian. Dan told me. Mrs. Lewis had to ask him in order to set up Julian's position in Australis, but I want you to know I didn't chase you because of that," he said emphatically. "Well Joe it looks mighty suspicious," I raised my eyebrows, crossing my arms under his jacket. "Yeah, I won't deny it, but if you recall I never asked you anything relevant to the case right? Lola, I'll confess something, I've been celibate, since I've come to London," my mouth dropped open in surprise. "Pull the other one it's got bells on," I accused him. "It's true. I'm not asking you to trust me or believe me. It was this job. Dozens of women to deal with just kinda put me off having a relationship. It kinda destroys your trust in women when you see them chasing Derek so eagerly because of his money. Besides which, if I did date, what woman would put up with me having to deal with all these women?

I would have to tell her everything and jeopardise my job." Did he have a point? I'd have to think about that one. "The point being Lola baby," he continued, "you came along and I thought, wow!" I didn't know whether to squirm or grin. Probably should err on the side of caution my conscience told me warily, so I scowled instead. "I'm not sure this is relevant," I warned him, "and stop with the 'baby' please." When he called me baby it brought on that gooey feeling inside. It was the way he said it. "Well if we are going to work together, it probably is relevant," he replied. Maybe he has a point there; we should certainly clear the air. "I really like you Lola. This afternoon was amazing, I don't regret it, do you, baby?" I blushed as he edged closer. "I'll keep my opinion on that to myself if you don't mind and I told you not to call me 'baby'," I warned. I wasn't about to let him back into my knickers, not yet anyway. "But one thing I will say Joe, Al, whatever your name is - that it won't be happening again anytime soon, so I'd be really happy if you keep your hands to yourself." There, I said it, but did I mean it? At this moment I did. The image of his mouth on my body flashed into my head and I shook it away. Yes I do mean it! "So If I talk to Julian and get him to agree to us all working together, then you'll sort it out with Mr. Lewis right?" I asked. "Sure, I guess it's the least I can do and I think you're right. If we work together we can probably crack this one and I can set my conscience to rest." He seemed to be sincere so I was pleased that we had had this talk. "I'll discuss it with Julian then," I told him. "Discuss what with me?" it was Julian! He had entered the library and his eyes flitted from me on the chair, wrapped cosily in Joe's jacket, to Joe with his elbows on his knees leaning towards me. He did not look pleased. Well no change there then, I thought. "Working together on this case," I told him. "I said I would think about it," Julian replied cautiously. Joe stood up. "I'm sorry man," Joe began, "about Derek. He was a friend as well as my client. I really want to find out what happened to him." "To save your job," Julian accused him. "Actually, Julian, since Derek's death I'm not being paid. I don't want to be paid until the truth about his death is discovered. I told Dan this. I'm not doing it for the money I'm doing it because Derek was a friend who was in the prime of his life. It's a personal thing, I want to find out the truth," either Joe was an excellent actor or he really meant it from his expression.

Julian looked surprised and thoughtful, but the look he gave Joe was still rife with suspicion. For a moment I almost regretted this idea of us working together. The frostiness between these two was palpable. I was going to have my work cut out keeping the peace. "So, gentlemen, I suggest we meet here tomorrow morning to discuss a plan of action." Go Lola girl, take control while these two men repair their egos and pussyfoot around each other. "I suggest Julian, you might try to find a way to shrug off your stalker so we can discuss this in private," he looked at me with an amused expression. I stood up and took Joe's jacket off my shoulders. Both men stared at me. What? Was this dress really that revealing? I suddenly became very self-conscious and blushed. The super confident Lola was a fragile woman. "I'm tired I'm off to bed. Oh, I forgot," I announced, "Bernhard will sign the deal. We worked it out over dinner." I left the room with their shocked expressions plastered to their faces. I didn't care they were watching me, I notched up a score with my finger in the air and gave a Pam wiggle as I exited the room. *** Once inside my room I rested my back to the door and took a deep breath. What a day! I strolled over to the mirror to take a look at the new Lola. Yup, I looked the same, but totally different, if that made any sense. What stared back at me was a tall, beautiful, confident woman dressed in a sexy, barely-there dress. Oh, that was me! Well, I'll give Julian this, he has excellent taste in clothes. I peeled the dress to the floor and stood naked. I had never seen myself naked in a full length mirror before and I was surprised at what I saw. Ok, I was a tad on the skinny side but it was a woman's body reflected back at me. Not the flat chested, boney adolescent that I still thought of myself as. I was dog tired and I slipped between the cool cotton sheets. As soon as my head hit the pillow I fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 19 Teamwork I woke up feeling fresh and full of energy. We had agreed to meet in the library at 10:00am so I slipped down to the kitchen to have tea, toast, and a banana; old habits die hard. Hardy and Katie were upstairs supervising the catering staff cleaning up after the party. So I was alone with Mrs. Mac, the cook. I thanked her for breakfast and made my way to the library. I was a bit early, but noticed that Joe had got there already. He was dressed in loose jeans and a white shirt, un-tucked with a navy sweater over his shoulders. He looked delicious. He smiled when I entered. "Morning, Lola." "Hi," I responded tentatively waiting for my heartbeat to slow back down. How does he do that to me? "I saw Julian with Bernhard this morning so he might be a bit late," he informed me. "Oh, ok," the super confident Lola of yesterday was disarmed by Joe's handsome smile and I resolved to go hunt for her. I walked over to the window and looked out onto the lawn. It was so lovely here. The early morning mist was lifting and a gentle breeze was waving in the trees. Joe crept up behind me. "Lola, before Julian arrives I just want to say something," he spoke in a low voice, which sent a tingle down my spine. "I don't think I managed to say all I meant to say yesterday. About us I mean," he continued. "Us?" I turned around to face him not realising how close he was. I was staring directly at his full moist lips. Distracting or what? Pull yourself together girl, I scolded myself. Don't let a pretty face disarm you! "Joe," I began, "there is no us. We had an afternoon of fun. Clearly there can't be a repeat now," there confident Lola was coming back. He looked hurt. I wasn't quite expecting that look. I wasn't used to upset Joe; super confident sexy Joe, yes, but not vulnerable Joe. "I..." he looked lost for words and ran his hand through those curls. "I... please Lola, give me another chance," he was so close I could feel his breath on my forehead as I looked down. I don't think I could do this, but on the other hand I was finding it hard to resist him. I wanted to move away, but I was up against the window. What is it with this man and cornering me? He made me feel hunted and I'm ashamed to admit it, I liked it. What was wrong with me?

"I haven't felt this way about a woman in a long time," he confessed softly and my eyebrow rose, so he's felt this way before and what way is he talking about? I looked up at him through my eyelashes and heard him catch his breath. He put his hands on my arms, "Oh Lola, let's start again, huh? Give me a chance to show I'm sorry baby?" Was he begging me now? I think so. Wow, that's a new experience. Ok so Steve did kind of beg me to marry him, but, I keep reminding myself, Steve doesn't count. I also wished he would stop calling me baby. I liked it too much. "Joe, I... it's just too complicated." "Lola it doesn't have to be," he said gently, persuasively. "It is though. Julian wouldn't like it," I protested looking away from his piercing eyes. "Julian has nothing to do with this," he insisted. "He does though, he's my boss. We are working together. It's not, umm, not professional." Why was I finding it so difficult to just say no and mean it? "Is there something going on between you and Julian?" he asked searching my face with a worried expression. "Good God no," I protested. "Do you want there to be?" oh jeez, did I? "No," but maybe I hesitated too long as I could see Joe didn't quite believe me. "I see," he stepped back. "Really no, Joe, you've got it all wrong." "But you're attracted to him, right?" "No it's not like that at all," I protested. "Not like what?" it was Julian, he had arrived. Looking all golden and god like as per usual. "Nothing," I told him quickly. "Let's get down to business!" I was relieved to see him as the conversation with Joe had taken an uncomfortable turn. We sat around the table in the library. Julian began by updating us on his conversation with Bernhard. "It seems Lola has a talent for brokering business deals," he said with an amused smile. I grinned. "I'm not sure I entirely agree with all the terms though," he looked at me and cocked his eyebrow, "perhaps you'd like to tell Joe what you discussed with Bernhard last night?" "Well," I hesitated. "It seemed like a really good idea," I was smiling now having a hard time holding in my mirth. I told Joe that the deal was sealed if Julian, Joe and I went to Germany to promote the launch of the drinks in his flagship supermarket and gave an interview on German TV.

"That's not all is it Lola?" prompted Julian. "Well, there was one small condition," I was now a bit embarrassed to confess the terms of the deal. Joe looked at me expectantly. I certainly wasn't going to be able to explain it with a straight face either. "Umm, I thought it would be a really good publicity stunt if two top Directors of Australis promoted the drinks personally and Bernhard thought it was an excellent idea and that the press would be really interested." I was desperately trying to hold in my giggles. "Lola, cut to the chase and tell Joe why the press would be really interested in this story." "Well," I giggled, "I thought it would be a really good idea if you both dressed like, you know, a kangaroo and a koala," there it was out of the bag now. I couldn't help it I burst out laughing. Just seeing the expressions on their faces was a payback for all the pain they had caused me the day before. I wish I had a camera. "Say again?" said Joe not quite believing what he had just heard. "Yes, Joe. Lola agreed that we would wear costumes and promote the drinks on national TV and then be interviewed in our costumes. Dressed as a kangaroo and a koala." Julian's expression was deadpan. "You gotta be fucking kidding me?" Joe exclaimed incredulous. I burst out laughing again. I was holding my sides this was so funny. "No fucking way! On TV? No way, man, no way." He thumped the table to emphasise his point which just made me guffaw even more. "Exactly what I thought too," said Julian, "but Bernhard insists. No costume is a deal breaker." I was bent in two still laughing. I really couldn't stop. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. "He said it was something to do with the Germans liking eccentric Brits. I did point out that you were American and I was Danish and this was an Australian company, but he insisted," Julian was beginning to see the funny side I thought. Heck I didn't care if he did or not, I saw the funny side. "Fucking hell, Lola. What the fuck!" Joe was running both hands through his hair. "This isn't even our day job," he appealed to Julian. "I'm on your side on this one Joe, but Dan is going to insist. This deal is important and is the gateway to Europe for these drinks. Even my aunt will want me to do it as this company was Derek's baby. Lola stitched us up." He nodded my way. "Congratulations Lola, I underestimated you," he conceded.

"Fuck! Fuck! In that case I insist I'm the kangaroo," Joe said at last laughing reluctantly. "Jeez, I can't believe I'm saying that. Lola I gotta hand it to you, you know how to get revenge." "Revenge?" I raised my eyebrows innocently. "This is not about revenge. You guys couldn't hook the deal and what was worrying Bernhard was the marketing." Neither of them looked like they believed me. Nor did I care quite frankly. I was really looking forward to seeing Joe as a kangaroo and Julian as a koala. Oh, yes indeed, I couldn't wait. Our conversation moved on to what our tactical plan would be with regards to Pam. I could tell that Joe was still bemused as every now and again he would mutter "kangaroo" under his breath and shake his head in disbelief. It was agreed that Joe would try to get closer to Pam using his usual charming or should that be seductive, talents. I would continue to see if I could get any more information from Sharon about the rumours of an alleged meeting on the roof that night. Julian would try to work on Delia as, given her closeness to the family and friendliness with Pam, she might know more than she originally let on and he would also check over the apartment again and interrogate Mrs. Jones the housekeeper. Someone must know more about this secret relationship. We had a plan. It was time to get back to London. We adjourned back to our rooms. Joe was going to call Dan Lewis and Julian his aunt. Jasper was out so, as I had some spare time, while the guys made their calls, I wrote him a thank you note on paper from my sketch pad. I drew a little caricature of Francesca, which I knew would amuse him. Dear Jasper, I've made a friend this weekend. Don't lose hope and one day I will come and sail on your boat around the Caribbean even if we never make it to Venice. Thanks for all your kind hospitality. Love Lola.

*** We met down in the hallway and Joe offered to drive me back to London, but given the events of the weekend I felt it safer to travel with Julian. He left first, muttering "kangaroo" under his breath much to my delight. Julian stored our suitcases on the back seat and I was surprised that Francesca wasn't there to kiss him goodbye and told him so. He flashed me a

warning look, but mentioned something about having a word with her. I decided not to push it and jumped into the front seat. As we pulled out of the driveway Julian turned on the stereo. I wasn't in the mood for opera so I asked him if I could plug in my iPod and choose the music this time. He graciously decided to humour me, and so we drove back to London listening to R&B and hiphop. I sang along to my favourites, dancing up and down in my seat much to Julian's amusement or annoyance. It was hard to tell with him. I could, however, tell it really wasn't his type of music, but I didn't care I was so happy that Julian and Joe would be dressing up as a koala and kangaroo. The new assertive Lola was going to get her own way on occasion I had resolved. "So I noticed you don't dance," I asked him, as I hummed away to Janet Kay's Silly Games, trying to reach those impossibly high notes in the song, and jiggling around in my seat to the reggae beat. "No I don't dance, Lola," he agreed. "So don't you, like, ever have fun?" I asked him curiously. "Well I don't fuck around for fun," he replied brutally. My mouth fell open. Wow he can be a real bitch. Touché. "Well maybe you should try it sometime it might loosen you up and, by the way, at least I don't dress up as a koala or stick ice cubes up my ass either," I retorted fuming at him having made my point. We spent the rest of the journey in icy silence and I suddenly regretted not taking Joe up on his offer to drive me back instead. When he dropped me off at the Hardy estate I grabbed my suitcase without a goodbye or thanks and slammed the car door.

Chapter 20 Lola Confesses to Emm I was relieved that mum was out with Barney when I got back so I threw my suitcase into my room and took the elevator down to Emm's. She had cooked spaghetti, and after she fed me I told her all about my weekend. "Oh my god," she squealed when I told her about Joe. Well obviously not every detail. "But what about Steve?" she asked. "Emm, it's over with Steve for fuck's sake," I said irritated. "Oh yeah, I forgot," she said. "Oh my god, was he, you know, good at it?" I blushed. "If you mean was he a good lover? Then yes. Not that I have much to compare him with, but yeah, he rocked my boat." I was grinning at the memory. Then my face fell as I realised I wouldn't be getting a repeat performance any time soon. "What's up?" Emm was so attuned to my moods. I told her about him being undercover, about the scene with Julian, well pretty much everything. "I think he really does like you Lola," oh no, I knew the warning signs when she was about to embark on her amateur psychoanalysis. "Who?" I asked her teasingly. "Joe, or Al, or whatever, of course," she turned to me, "oh, why did Julian make a pass at you too?!" "No, no," I confirmed, "he's not the pass making type of guy." "Yeah, but he came to comfort you when you were lying on your bed right? In your bedroom, sitting on your bed, with you only in a bathrobe," she raised her eyebrows. "Umm, Emm, I was sobbing it was hardly a romantic moment," I reminded her. "Yeah, but still, he held your hand a couple of times and I bet if you let him hold your hand, you know, while you were in your bedroom he might have," she suggested nudging me with her elbow. "Emm, really, do you think I would have sex with two different men on the same day both of whom I work with?" I raised my eyebrows at her this time. "Well, I dunno, kinda hard to not eat the candy when it’s all unwrapped and on offer," she grinned. "Besides, you're clearly confused which one to pick so if you had both then it might make it easier to decide." I picked up a cushion and thumped her with it. "Emm I am not a slut," I told her. "And, I pick neither, thanks."

"Oh right, that's why you let Joe fuck you to next Sunday," she laughed. I blushed and thumped her again protesting that it wasn't like that at all. Wasn't it? Julian's words in the car journey on the way back had hurt me, but I didn't tell Emm what he had said. Did he really think I was a slut? I knew Emm was just teasing, but I knew that Julian was deliberately nasty to me. Jeez, Joe was only the second lover I had ever had and I was certainly not a woman who slept around. "Anyway, makes no difference it ain't gonna happen again," I told her. "Oh yeah, right. Gorgeous, bad boy, fucks you like a demon and you are not gonna drop your knickers again. Yeah, I believe that one," she scoffed at me. "Emm, true right, it's not gonna happen again. I'm really determined." "My lips are zipped, say no more," she teased, eyes twinkling as she got up off the sofa and collected the empty plates. Well I was determined. I could resist him couldn't I? As Emm washed up the dishes I recalled the conversation with Joe in the library. Both conversations. How he had seemed really contrite and genuine. The bad boy radar began to throb gently at the direction my thoughts were wandering to. Hmm, throbbing gently are not the words I should be thinking of where Joe is concerned, I thought wickedly. What was wrong with me? Duh, I found a lover who quite frankly blew my mind with sex only to lose him the same day. Only he still wants me, but I'm also attracted to another man who is a complete icy asshole while at the same time still having the raging hormonal desire for Mr. Hot Lover and really, I should so not be mixing business with pleasure. It complicates things. Jeez, understatement of the year there. Maybe I do need to go see a head doctor or one that can calm my hormones down at the very least. It was all so depressing yet exciting too. "Well," continued Emm as she flopped back down next to me on her sagging sofa. "I think, after years of denying the call of your body, you should just throw caution to the wind and see where it takes you." "With Joe you mean?" I asked. "What? Who else? You mean you still have the hots for Mr. Icicle as well? Oh, Lola girl, you are in trouble," I blushed. I would only admit my attraction to Julian to Emm. I was almost in denial to myself. "But he's such an asshole," I complained, "a beautiful asshole though," I thought biting my lip in confusion.

"Oh girlfriend, you need to go home and take a cold shower. Methinks Mr. Fuck-MeLips has opened up your sexual Pandora's Box, and you want Mr. Icicle to play with your toys." "Huh, you going all literary on me Emm?" "Yeah, well I went to school too ya know, Miss Brainbox," she pushed me off the sofa. "Besides, Barney will be back soon with your mum. So sorry to have to kick you out babe, but I gotta make sure he's done his homework." *** Mum returned about ten minutes after I got back. I was slouched on the sofa catching the last of the football match on TV. I was physically and mentally exhausted even more so after replaying the whole weekend to Emm this afternoon. Mum took one look at me slumped on the sofa and made a tutting sound. "Well, how was your weekend?" She asked. "Fine," I grunted. "Just fine?" she interrogated, "why don't you tell me about it then?" "Oh mum, I'm a bit tired to be honest, I was gonna have an early night after this match was over." "Well," tut, tut - how does she manage to make that sound with her tongue without moving her lips? "I hope you didn't get up to anything you're gonna regret in the morning?" Oh mum, if only you knew. I could see my silence was getting to her. "Because," she started up again, "men like Julian are not for you, you know." Oh boy, if she knew he had a title that would be it. I would never hear the end of it. Not that I was going to hear the end of it anyway until I managed to escape this apartment - permanently. "Mum, I've told you before there’s nothing going on. Julian is my boss for fuck's sake," I sat up grabbing the cushion to my chest in defence. "Language, young lady!" she scolded me. "I just don't want to see you get hurt." Too late Mum, I thought with some chagrin. My iPhone began ringing, yes! Saved! I answered without taking a look at the screen to see who was calling because, quite frankly, I would answer the phone to the devil rather than continue this conversation with my mum. I rose up from the sofa. "Lola speaking." "Lola, it's Julian," oh shit, I really should have taken a look at who was calling after all.

"Huh?" was my grunted response. "I just called to say I was sorry. What I said in the car was out of order." "Huh?" This was Julian right? He was making a habit of saying sorry to me. I actually pinched myself to make sure I wasn't day dreaming as I wandered through to my room. "Lola, are you OK," he asked concerned. "Umm, yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a bit surprised that you called that's all," especially to say sorry! Again! "Yes, well, I realised that what I said was provocative." "Nasty." "Well, yes I suppose it was," he paused as though waiting for me to say it was ok, but I didn't because it wasn't ok. What he said was bitchy beyond bitchiness. "I think Francesca is a bad influence on you," was what I told him instead. "She's obviously been giving you lessons on bitchiness," there I said it. He laughed gently. Quite frankly I was gob smacked at his reaction. "Yes, she is the queen of bitchiness," he agreed. "Olympic Champion I would say," I was beginning to enjoy bitching about Francesca with Julian. "World Record holder I believe," he added and we giggled together. "So," he continued, "my aunt is very impressed with you getting the deal with Bernhard settled and she did find the 'condition' of the deal hilarious," I smiled picturing his discomfort. "She said it would do me good to have some fun." Fun, Julian? Really? "So tomorrow you are going to have your work cut out looking for a koala suit that would fit a six foot two Dane." Oh shit, I didn't think about that. "I also asked her about whether she was seriously contemplating buying Jasper's estate and she said she was. She is flying over to London in a few days’ time and would like to meet with you." Oh. "Sure," I mumbled. Heck she scared me, but I guess as she was paying my wages it was the least I could do to meet up with her in person. I was pleased for Jasper though. "Good. That's settled then. Ok, well, goodbye Lola. I’m sorry again and thanks for all your hard work this weekend." My god he was being civil. "Sure. Anytime. Umm see you in the morning. Bye." I hung up. That was just plain weird. It was like he was a totally different man. A nice Julian. Wow. My phone pinged with a text message. I opened the message, it was from Joe. I read it. Lola, I miss you. Please listen to this song, he sings how I feel. Al.

I pressed the link and my browser fired up to YouTube. It was a song by Robin Thicke, “Lost Without You”. I listened to his sweet voice. Nice song. So like Joe, to send me a sexy and seductive song. This was kind of new, a romantic Joe, not a horny predator, but a lover. What is it with men and their capricious personalities? I didn't reply, but I went to sleep that night with the song on loop.

Chapter 21 Working Girl After my usual breakfast and shower I dressed for the office in a navy pencil skirt (not too tight) and white silk blouse. I managed to tame most of my hair into a scrunchie pondering if I should get it straightened. Maybe I'd ask Emm if she could blow dry it straight to try it out first. Getting it straightened permanently would cost a small fortune and that would have to come out of my palace fund. I kissed mum goodbye and it amused me that I could see she was itching to continue the interrogation from last night, but you know, the new Lola was a busy Lola, and I had to rush otherwise I'd be late. Well that was my excuse for avoiding her and I was sticking to it. The weather had turned colder and as I looked up at the depressing grey sky I pulled up the collar of my coat, grateful for the fact that it reached my ankles. Julian had arrived before me and I thought irritated whether, just for once, he could possibly be late. I bet he had never been late in his life. He always seemed so composed. Well, that's not true, I somehow managed to un-compose him this weekend several times and that thought made me smile. Rattling Julian's cage was a skill I was developing rapidly and I was secretly proud of the fact. He called me into his office for our usual briefing session. Well, despite the 'nice' call he made last night, it was back to business this morning. He rattled off instructions regarding my extracting more information from Sharon. He was annoying me, this was my plan after all, like I needed him to tell me what to do. I cheered up though when he told me he would take me back to his apartment tonight to do another search through Derek's stuff. Then, of course, there was my major task of sourcing kangaroo and koala costumes. I couldn't help grinning at that. It even raised a smile from Julian. We could hear some activity going on outside the door and I looked out through the narrow glass panel in Julian's office wall. Fuck! Steve was out there. Yes, Steve, of the please-marry-me-here's-the-ring-Lola, Steve. I turned back horrified to Julian. "What's wrong?" he sensed my alarm. "Fuck it's Steve!" "Steve Rogers? Our new Finance Director?" "I can't believe you didn't fucking tell me," I hissed horrified at him. "I don't understand - you know him?"

"Julian, are you fucking blind?" My anger was building up. Not least of all because Steve knew what I did for a living and could blow my cover, but because this was going to be really awkward. The only two men I'd ever slept with working in the same office as me! "Italian restaurant; lasagne; ring on the fucking table - that Steve," my eyes were almost popping out my head in panic. "Oh," murmured Julian, "I didn't recognise him." How could he remain so calm. "I guess this could get complicated," he mused. "No shit Sherlock!" I swear I saw the glimpse of a smile cross his lips. "He didn't mention he recognised me when I interviewed him last week," he informed me. "Ok stay here Lola, I'll handle this," and he left the room closing his door after him. Oh my God, what are the fucking chances of Steve being the new Finance Director? I was wringing my hands in anxiety. How would Julian fix this? What the hell would I do? I know I wanted to melt into the carpet or run away. I would have to come off the case, my palace fund! This was a huge disaster and I was almost in tears. Julian came back after twenty minutes and sat back down behind his desk. "Well?" I needed to know. "It's sorted Lola. I had to take him into my confidence and tell him that you were working undercover although I didn't go into details. I don't see we really had a choice unfortunately," he said with a frown. "But Julian it's fucking awkward," I complained. I wasn't entirely satisfied with Julian's 'sorting it'. "Lola he's really keen on this job and he knows not to jeopardise it." "Julian, you do realise that I have a 'history' with Steve?" "Well, I had figured that out Lola, but it doesn't have to interfere with the case as long as you both keep up the pretense and I am assured that Steve will," he looked at me challengingly, his eyebrow raised. "He proposed to me!" "Well the ring box was a bit of a giveaway Lola." I was beginning to suspect Julian was enjoying this. "I said 'no'." "Clearly, as you slept with Joe this weekend." Ouch, low blow or what? "Unless you're in the habit of cheating on your fiancé?" How could he remain so calm? There were times when I could just slap him. Slap him and enjoy the pleasure of it too. "Can't you get rid of him?" I pleaded.

"Lola, we have been looking for a good Finance Director for six months now. Steve fits the bill perfectly. He’s very talented. You and I won't be here forever, we'll be gone once we wrap this case up. Australis will need Steve's talents long after we are gone especially now the deal with Bernhard is going to be signed. Besides isn't it a bit selfish if he loses his job on his first day just because you cannot handle the embarrassment? So no, he stays and you stay. End of discussion." I had to concede he had a good point. I couldn't really ask for Steve to lose his job when he hadn't even started it. I would have to deal with it. We both would. I suspected he was as shocked as I was. "Well you'd better get started," Julian dismissed me. I couldn't move though. "Lola?" "I don't want to go out there," I was biting my lip in worry. "Lola, I told you I sorted it. There will be no trouble from Steve. Now go and get busy!" I was still glued to my chair looking down at my hands. "I really hurt him, you know," I said softly. "I feel so bad about that." Julian was now leaning against his desk in front of me and I looked up at him. Tears were beginning to prickle my lashes. "I'm... ashamed. I feel awkward and bad. I hurt him and I've known him, since we were kids." I confessed. "You're not good at relationships are you Lola?" Julian asked me gently. "No, I'm not," I confessed looking down again as I wrung my hands together. "I've never really been in a relationship. It wasn't really a relationship with Steve. He was my first and only lover before this weekend," oh me and my big mouth. TMI - too much information - I kicked myself silently. Why the hell did I blurt that out? I'm confessing my sexual history to my boss who also happens to be heart-stoppingly handsome. How would an icicle like Julian even begin to understand how I was feeling? "Lola," he lifted my chin up so I could see his green eyes staring down in sympathy, "it will be ok. Trust me, ok? This is life. We have to deal with past relationships not run away. I should know," he smiled and I knew he was thinking of Francesca. "We can't just wish the other person away. No matter how much we might want to." "I guess," I agreed reluctantly, but not quite managing to banish the desire to wish Steve away. "If you want to talk about this we can do it tonight, ok? But I need you to go out there and get started otherwise people will start to wonder why you are in my office for," he looked down at his watch, "two hours!"

I reluctantly rose. It was nice of him to offer to listen, but there was no way I was going to talk about my disastrous love life to Julian. I had already said too much. "Do I look ok?" I asked him referring to the fact that I had just wiped tears away. "Lola, you always look more than ok," he smiled. Oh, Mr. Frosty paid me another compliment! I suspect though it was more to do with the fact that he felt sorry for me than he really meant what he said. I was relieved that Steve was in his new office with Sharon who was of course his secretary. I could see him at his desk through the glass panel. He must have sensed that I was looking as, at that moment, he looked up and gave me an awkward smile. I matched his awkward smile then sat down at my desk to start my impossible task of sourcing kangaroo and koala suits. Where to begin? *** I was totally absorbed in my task which was proving really, really difficult. It seemed that there were no suitable costumes in the whole of London. Well not any that would fit a human above the height of three feet. Not even short Pam would fit into them. Hell I would have to look at getting them made instead. I was relieved that Joe was in a meeting with his 'dad' and Bernhard all morning. At least I wouldn't have to deal with him too. I spoke too soon, my phone pinged - it was Joe. Lola, miss u. Can we talk l8er? Joe. I noted he signed off as Joe this time. I replied, Really busy 2day not convenient. Pls? 2morrow mayB. 2night? No busy. Will pass by l8er. Hv 2 wrk on P but want u. What part of 'no' u no understand? The part u don't really mean. Arrrrgh. Go away. Pest. Miss u baby. Stop w the baby.

I reckon Joe's middle name must be Persistent, but secretly I liked his persistence. I definitely liked his flirting and, I loved his body. I sighed out loud. Men! What a challenge and a nuisance they were proving to be. *** I went to lunch with Sharon and Delia as Pam was on lunch duty which gave Joe a chance to work on her, and I wouldn't have to watch a man I had the hots for chasing another woman. Wow, that could be awkward. I mean I know I was trying to brush him off, but I still liked him. And the thought of him leaving a trail of little kisses down her neck was enough to make my eyes blaze green. Besides, I was coming around to the fact that our sleeping together really did have nothing to do with the fact he might have wanted information from me. We were a team now anyway. We went to the usual Italian café. I was a bit nervous about this lunch. I was expecting a grilling from Sharon about the weekend, but she surprised me by not asking me anything. She was too excited about her new boss. "Oh my god, he's really sweet!" Steve sweet? Nicely bland maybe, but sweet? Ok, well I guess he could have his sweet moments. "Your new boss?" I asked her as Delia and I exchange raised eyebrows. "Yeah. He's really lovely. I really like him. He's so good looking!" Really? Were we talking about the same man? Umm, with Julian and Joe walking around the office was she wearing blinkers too? Takes all sorts I suppose and I guess attraction is subjective. "Really Sharon, he's your boss," admonished Delia. "I know, Delia, but doesn't mean I can't fancy him," she giggled. Weird or what to hear her talking about Steve in that way? I was going to remind her she was engaged to get married, but felt it would be a waste of breath and I wanted to keep in her good books. "He's really interesting too," Ok, so we obviously weren't talking about the same man. "Did you know that he coaches the local school's soccer team at the weekends?" And that was interesting? "So Delia, how was your weekend," I asked trying to change the subject as I took a large bite of my panini. "Oh, and," gushed Sharon before Delia could reply, "he said if I was really interested in accounting he could, like, give me advice about night school and stuff," Jeez couldn’t she at least try to shut up for five minutes?

"I had a quiet weekend thanks Lola," Delia managed to say. "And, oh, he's only 26! That's so young to be a Finance Director. He must be really talented," I wondered if she had discovered his shoe size too. Size 9 I felt like telling her. "I met up with Pam actually we went to the Tate Britain gallery," Delia ignored Sharon. "Oh you two like art?" I asked her eagerly. Now we were talking my subject! "Well I'm not really into it, but Pam wanted to see this picture...Ophelia by Miller," she told me. "Millais," I corrected her. "That’s a really lovely pre-Raphaelite painting. The detail in the flora in particular is fantastic." "Bit depressing for me to be honest," she confessed. "Oh, I'm so glad my new boss is young, I was dreading some stuffy old goat," she just wasn't going to give up was she? "I guess so, seeing as it is a painting of a suicide," I agreed with Delia. We had somehow mutually agreed to have our own conversation. "And he was really interested in knowing all about Australia too," yup she was on a roll. "Yes, I did say to Pam that she ought to try and cheer up," Delia looked thoughtful. "She's depressed?" I probed. "Well you know, looking at morbid paintings and stuff. Doesn't seem right." "Oh Pam's been moody ever since Derek's death," Sharon interjected suddenly realising there was another conversation going on. "You would think she was in love with him or something," she pouted. I noticed Delia wince at this and when I looked at her she looked away quickly. So she does know something about them I thought. I figured though that I wasn't going to get any more information from her with gushy Sharon with us. Lunch over we quickly returned to the office. I had just about had my fill of Sharon's superlatives where Steve was concerned. I felt like telling her to put a lid on it, but then I could kind of see the funny side of it. Steve was standing by Sharon's desk and he nodded my way. "Lola." "Steve." "You two know each other?" Asked Sharon surprised, with her eyes darting from Steve to me. "Yes." "No," I corrected him quickly.

"I mean when I met Julian," Steve rescued himself, "he told me his secretary was called Lola so naturally this must be Lola." And here's Julian thinking it wouldn't be a problem. Steve can't dissemble. It's not a talent he has. Straight as a parking line on a road, that's my Steve for you. Oh, well he's not my Steve, silly me. I broke eye contact with him before he got a chance to betray himself as I could sense that Sharon's suspicions were not quite dismissed by his explanation. Pam had been waiting for us to come back from lunch for her turn when Joe pitched up in our office. I must admit he looked hot. He was wearing a smart black suit with narrow trousers and a blue silk tie the same colour as his eyes. His eyes quickly flashed my way, but he went straight to Pam's desk. "Ready?" he asked her giving her his best bad boy smile. "Yes," she looked up at him her head tilted right back as even with her heels she was tiny to his six foot three frame. He was taking her out to lunch! Why did that make my stomach crunch? Sharon could gush all day about Steve and I wouldn't bat an eyelid, but Joe taking Pam out to lunch, even though it was part of our plan, riled me. Shit, jealousy over a man was not something I was used to even when I knew he was doing his job. This was clearly not going to be easy. Being a private investigator was as much about being an actress as it was about sticking my nose into places it wasn't wanted. She was wearing a tight black dress that clung to her curvy body with her blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She was actually naturally very pretty despite the heavy make-up and tight clothing I realised, as Joe gently put his hand on the small of her back guiding her out of the office. He didn't even look my way, dammit. I had to give it to him though, he was a quick worker. Just to help ground myself back into reality I took out my phone and looked through the SMS conversation we had earlier, put my headphones on and listened to the song that he sent me again. I threw myself back into my headache of a task of costume hunting so my imagination wouldn't run amok thinking of what they were up to over lunch. Jeez, it's just lunch Lola, I told myself. It's not like I was actually dating him either. Plus, let's face it, it was my suggestion that Joe be the one to try to get information from Pam. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. Pam returned to the office around 4:00pm. Long lunch, I thought, breathing deeply and trying not to let it get to me.

I was burning

with curiosity too to discover what Joe might have found out. Should I send him a message? We had decided earlier not to use email as it might not be private. Given that we had already gone through the last two months' emails of Derek's this was probably a wise move. By the

end of the day my fingers were twitching and I sent Joe a message. I was still waiting for a reply when Julian came out of his office half an hour later. Sharon and Delia had already left and Pam was busy typing away probably making up for lost time after that long lunch. "Lola, let's go," he called to me. Oh right we were going to search the apartment.

Chapter 22 Childhood Memories Julian flagged down a black cab at Hammersmith Broadway and we jumped in. His apartment was in Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge. Talk about serious money I thought. My phone rang shortly after we sat down. It was Steve. "Hi," I greeted him. "Lola, what a shock to see you today!" he began. "Well, I’m not sure I totally believe that. Surely you recognised Julian when you saw him last week?" I mouthed Steve's name to Julian who had looked over at me when he heard me mention his name. "Well, yes, but I didn't quite put two and two together," he was trying to wriggle out of admitting he knew that Julian was my boss. "Steve, you don't lie very well you know." "I just didn't want to lose the chance at this job, Lola. It means a real lot to me. They are paying me well. That's why I was able to ask you to marry me," oh, shit. I could hear the hurt in his voice. I lowered mine, conscious that Julian could hear everything I could say. "Steve, it's over. It's all for the best. You know it would never have worked." "Are you alone?" he had noticed I had lowered my voice. "No." "Who's there?" "Steve, it's none of your business who I am with." "You're with him aren't you? Mr. Blonde Big Boss. What does he have that I haven't got Lola? Is he rich?" Umm, he clearly doesn't look in the mirror in the mornings. "Jeez, Steve just get over it will you please? Besides there are a lot of nice women out there, you deserve better. Sharon really likes you!" I was hoping to divert him. "Look I really gotta go ok?" I hung up on him and slumped back against the seat closing my eyes. "He loves you," commented Julian. "No shit," I responded not in the mood to discuss my love life again with Julian, given that I had made the mistake of disclosing too much earlier in his office. "You should go easy on him. Rejection is hard for men to take." "Oh like it's easier for women?" I looked at him incredulously. "I was real easy on him anyway. You should see me when I'm real pissed. Besides which, it's none of your

business." Did I see a smirk on his lips? He had turned his head to look out the window, but I swear he did smirk. We had hardly moved in the traffic when my phone went off again. I looked at the screen to make sure it wasn't Steve calling back. It was Joe. "Hi," I answered. "Hey baby, how are you?" "Fine." "Where are you?" "In a cab with Julian." "Oh, ok. Where are you guys going?" "To his apartment to search through Derek's stuff again." "Need me?" "No we got it covered." I was thinking that being with those two in a room was best avoided at all times if possible. "Have a nice lunch today?" I asked innocently. "Yeah. It went ok." "And?" "Not a lot to add really. She wasn't really forthcoming where Derek was concerned." "Uh huh, and that took like two and a half hours to find out?" "Oh Lola baby, are you jealous?" I could hear the amusement in his voice. "I thought I told you not to call me baby?" I said irritated, but lowering my voice again. Damn it was hard having a private conversation when someone else was with you in the back of a cab. "I can't help it. Do you blame me?" he teased seductively. "You can help it. It's easy you just don't say it," I was hissing now. "Oh baby, when I think of you, it just kinda slips out. You do that to a man." I could tell he was about to get fruity on the phone even though he knew I was in a cab with Julian. Probably, precisely because he knew I was in a cab with Julian. "Ok let's talk tomorrow. I gotta go," I hung up on him and slumped back into the seat with a sigh. Julian giggled. I turned to him, with a frown. "Did you just giggle at me?" I accused him. "No," he held up his hands in an innocent gesture, "would I?" but he was smirking. Huh, I crossed my arms and pursed my lips for the rest of the journey. ***

The cab pulled up at the curb of an elegant townhouse. Yup, as I thought, serious money. Julian paid the driver and we got out the cab and went up the steps to the front door. Turns out it was the penthouse apartment and Julian said he always took the stairs. It wasn't quite ten floors with a bag of laundry, but I was wearing heels and by the time we reached the five flights to the top I was puffing. "Really Lola, you need to exercise and get fit. In this game you never know when you might need to run," huh? Like he normally investigated white collar crime, who would he have to run away from, overweight accountants? The black door opened as we reached it and a middle aged women dressed in a grey dress with a white apron opened the door. Heck, he has a housekeeper who wears a uniform! Talk about a different world from mine. I wondered mischievously if I could get my mum to wear a uniform next time Julian is around for dinner. Not that I would be inviting him to dinner anytime in the next decade. "Hello Mrs. Jones, this is Lola Hussey," he motioned my way as he shrugged off his overcoat. She took his coat for him and put out her hand for mine. Man, imagine not even to have to hang up your own coat. "I'm making sole meunière for you sir," she informed him. "I can serve it in twenty minutes?" "Yes, that would be nice Mrs. Jones, I'm starving. Lola, are you hungry?" "Umm, sure," I was totally taken aback by this. Ok, so it wasn't Jasper's mansion, but still I didn't think people in London lived like this. Well maybe rich Arabs or Russians. Jasper needed Hardy, Katie and Mrs. Mac because his house was so big, but this was just an apartment. Well, maybe that was a bit of an understatement as I looked around I could see the place was huge. The foyer was about the size of the apartment I shared with my mum with a floor of black and white marble. A large table with a beautiful display of flowers stood in the middle on a pale blue persian carpet. "Come," Julian ordered, "let's have a drink before eating," and he led the way into the drawing room. I remembered that posh people called their living room, drawing room, something I had learnt at Jasper's at the weekend. He poured two Bombay Sapphire and tonics without asking me what I wanted and handed one to me. I sat down on a large black leather sofa. The room had very modern decor and I remembered this was actually Derek's apartment. I sipped my drink as Julian looked through his mail. My eyes were drawn to some sketches framed on the wall and I stood up and wandered over to them. Hockneys. Not prints either,

they were original etchings from his Rake's Progress. There were more etchings on a far wall and I wandered closer to take a peek. Wow, Picasso this time erotic works of naked women. "There's a small fortune on these walls," I commented to Julian. "They belong to my aunt, she collects modern art," he informed me. "Come let's eat then I'll show you Derek's room." "You don't sleep in his room?" "No. There's four bedrooms here plus Mrs. Jones' rooms." I followed him through to the dining room. "You have a dining room," I smirked. "Yes," he caught my expression and laughed, "I have a dining room." The food was delicious and I ate like a horse and when Mrs. Jones offered me seconds of her lovely raspberry pavlova I succumbed and said yes. This amused Julian who had skipped dessert. "Do you eat like this every day?" I asked him. "Most days, although I'm not a lover of desserts." "Jeez it's a wonder you're not as fat as a house," I commented. "I exercise, Lola. You should try it sometime," he teased. "Gyms are expensive in London," I told him. Obviously he may have to work for a living, but really he knew nothing of how most Londoners actually lived. "But you have a well-paying job now," he commented. "Yup, but who knows how long it will last. I think we are nearly at the end of this investigation," I stated. "What makes you think that?" Oh my, he was asking my opinion. Our working relationship seems to have advanced in leaps and bounds. "Well," I began tentatively, "although we don't have a suspect or even a motive I think we have to ask ourselves why that is?" I had been pondering over this all afternoon while waiting for Pam to return from her long lunch with Joe. "And what do you conclude?" Julian's interest was definitely piqued. "I don't think he was murdered." I could tell he wasn't quite buying it. "I know you and your aunt think he was. But maybe, just maybe, that's what you want to believe." I could see him tense up. "Look bear with me, ok?" I continued. "You have been looking at his life, inside and out, for months now and not one reason or suspect has emerged." "What about Pam?" he asked. "Julian seriously, I'm not her best friend and she's a bit of an ice queen, but really can you see her pushing Derek off the roof? She's tiny and besides she was in hospital when he

went over. I know you think that Joe failed at his job, but do you really think that he wouldn't have at least detected someone who would want to threaten Derek?" I could tell what I was saying was hitting a chord in Julian. He threw his napkin to the table and sighed. "That's what is so perplexing about this, Lola." He said exasperated as he tugged on his earlobe. "Derek was loveable, so affable, and really had no enemies. He also had no reason to take his own life. So why? What happened? I can't believe he was masturbating on the office roof, do you?" Ok, I think he was beginning to listen to me. "Now, about Pam," I continued ignoring his questions for now. "Without a doubt he was having a relationship with someone. The evidence points very strongly at Pam. Now she may not have had anything to do with him falling from the roof, but I do think she does know something. She has to if they were in a relationship. She had to at the very least know what his state of mind was. I think, if it wasn't an accident, then his death might be related to his relationship with her." I could tell that what I was saying was making sense to him. "That's what we have to find out. That's why we need to work as a team - with Joe." I was speaking softly to him, using my best persuasive abilities. "When we were little, Derek and my aunt came to visit us and spend one summer with us in Denmark," he began. "We were both ten, the same age. My aunt rented a house in the country and took us away from Copenhagen. She said the fresh air would do us good. I didn't know it at the time, but my mother had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. My sister Elsa has cerebal palsy and I don't think mother was coping very well, she was worried what would become of Elsa. My father wanted to put her away in a home, but my mother wouldn't have it and that was the start of their arguments which led to their divorce." He took a sip of his wine and continued. "I remember how Derek, who didn't have any siblings, immediately took her under his wing. He liked to brush her long blonde hair and would braid it." Julian looked softly into the distance as he recalled these childhood memories. "She was his sister too that summer," I could hear the break in his voice as he paused to collect himself. I waited silently for him to continue. "I remember we went on a walk near to a village. We were on our way to look for frogs and there were some other boys on the road who began to make fun of Elsa's walk. To this day I can see Derek clench his fists by his side as he stared down the biggest boy in the group blocking our way. They didn't speak English and Derek didn't speak Danish, but it was clear they were looking for a fight. Before I could stop them, Derek jumped forward and hit the biggest boy in the face. There were five of them, we didn't stand a chance, and Elsa started to

scream. Two against five is a hard fight. Elsa ran back to the house as best she could and by the time my mother and aunt reached us we were both unconscious and bloody." He closed his eyes. "I had concussion, but Derek had his arm and ankle broken. When he came back from the hospital he said to me, 'Julian, don't let anyone make fun of Elsa ever again.'" There were tears on Julian's cheeks as he was telling me this. He turned to look at me, "After that summer, after I had promised him to look after Elsa, he became my brother. Even though we never saw each other again for years, I never forgot, never..." I took Julian's hand and squeezed it. He squeezed me back. "I have to know, Lola, I have to find out what happened to him. Do you understand me?" He looked bleakly at me. "Yes," I whispered, "I understand. We will find out. I promise Julian," I told him gently. Mrs. Jones came in to clear the plates and the spell was broken. Julian looked away and wiped the tears from his face. "Let's go search through his room," he got up from the table and led the way.

Chapter 23 Love Letters Straight from the Heart Julian turned on the lights and I could see Derek's bedroom was huge. Julian had removed his tie and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. He looked so handsome and so, vulnerable, after confessing those childhood memories to me. I felt that he was beginning to trust me. He sat on the huge double bed. "I've looked everywhere in this room Lola. Looking for any clue," he waved his arm around the room hopelessly. I reeled off a number of places and he confirmed he had already looked. Nothing. Not a single item that might belong to a woman. No correspondence that might hint at any relationship romantic or otherwise. We started searching all over again and it felt strange going through someone's possessions. Someone I had never met and that was now dead. After an hour and a half of searching it was getting late. I flopped down despondently on the bed and lay back staring up at the ceiling. Julian sat down next to me. "Nothing, there is nothing here," he said dejectedly. "When I was a kid," I said, "I had this crush on a boy at school." Julian looked down curiously at me as I looked up at him. "I was really little, like ten or younger. My brother used to tease me about it because he found a love letter I had written to this boy and never sent. Actually I wrote him several love letters." I propped myself up on my elbows as I remembered Marley's teasing. "He was brutal to me." "The boy?" "No silly, my brother. He read the letter out aloud to Emm and they laughed at me. I was so humiliated." I blushed remembering the embarrassment. Anyway," I continued, "I still wrote the letters. About ten of them in all, but I obviously needed to hide them from my brother." I pushed myself off the bed and started to walk towards the walk-in dressing room. Julian followed me. "Well, the trick is, where was there a good hiding place, right?" I walked into the room and Julian flicked on the light switch behind me. There was row upon row of clothes. "Now," I turned around to Julian, "the best hiding places are the ones in plain sight. Ones that are there staring you in the face." I could tell I had Julian hooked. "Where, Lola, where did you put them?" he eagerly asked me. "I hid them in the pocket of my winter coat, under some dirty tissues." We both turned to the racks of clothing and quickly started to check all the pockets.

"Yes!" I jumped up and down in excitement as I held some letters up in the air. Julian grabbed them and scanned them. "These are love letters!" he exclaimed. "From Pam!" He suddenly grabbed me to him in a big hug. "Lola, you wonderful woman!" He was beaming down at me and I was enjoying being held in his arms. His sparkling green eyes looked into mine and that's when he kissed me. A full on, lip on lip, tongue in mouth kiss. Our eyes wide open, green on green. I was melting, turning rapidly into quivering jelly in his arms, when he released me suddenly. "I'm sorry," he exclaimed quickly, "I shouldn't have done that," he turned away in embarrassment clutching the letters. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I put my hand gently on his shoulder, "It's ok," I reassured him, "we just got carried away. It was an in-themoment thing," I told him. "An in-the-moment-thing?" he turned around to face me again. "Yeah, you know, one of those spontaneous, seems-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time moments," I smiled up at him, but he didn't smile back. "I knew what you meant Lola. I don't have those moments, I'm not a compulsive man." What was he trying to say? That he planned to kiss me? Why can't this man just admit that he does have a compulsive side to his character? "Well there's a first time for everything," I laughed lightly suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "I wanted to kiss you," he tenderly moved one of my curls that had fallen over my eyes and was tickling my nose and stepped closer. "I've been wanting to kiss you for a while now." He has? Since when? Since he's been bossing me around, since he shouted at me, since he bitched at me in the car? When? He saw my perplexed expression. "Why do you think I told you to stay away from Joe and I was so angry when you slept with him? It's been so hard to keep my desire and jealousy under control," I could tell he was pained telling me this. "Julian, I..." I didn't realise. Am I so stupid? Well, clearly I am. I have a bad-boy radar but clearly not one that tells me when I’m reading the messages wrong with Mr. Frosties. "I'm really attracted to you Lola, but Joe got there before me," he shrugged sadly, "and of course, I told Pete I would look after you." Oh that old chestnut again. "And seducing you wouldn't be looking after you." How was it that Pete was managing to interfere with my love life and he wasn't even on the scene? I couldn't think of anything to say to him. I do know that I wanted him to kiss me again.

"Do you still want Joe?" he asked, searching my face for denial. "I...I don't know," I told him honestly. "I like you both," there I said it. He scrunched up his eyes as though he was in pain. "I see," he said when he opened them. He turned and went back into the bedroom. I followed him. "Julian, I'm so confused. You told me this afternoon I was so inexperienced with relationships and it's true. I am attracted to both of you. A lot." I wasn't sure this was working out at all. That I was saying the right things. I didn't want to hurt him. I wanted him to take me in his arms again, badly. For some reason I recalled Emm's joking advice to try them both and then choose. I brushed that thought away. It wouldn't work. Neither Julian nor Joe were the sharing type that was patently clear. Nor was I capable of having a relationship with two men at the same time! "How about we just pretend this never happened," he asked me sincerely. "You are right, I had one of those 'moments' where I lost self-control," I realised he was asking for a way out of this situation. "If that's how you feel?" I asked him. "Yes, Lola," he looked into my eyes and held my gaze, "I'm your boss, you're seeing another man, I don't want to cause you problems, complications. Not now. I was wrong." We held gazes for a few minutes trying to read each other’s minds and failing. I was incredibly attracted to Julian, but we just didn't seem to be thinking on the same wave length - ever. I couldn't tell what he was thinking unlike Joe. Umm, well that's pretty obvious I suddenly thought; Joe's a pretty one track mind kind of guy whilst Julian is a heck of a lot more complex. Joe was fun and horny and what you saw is what you got with him. While Julian was complexity incarnate, he was many layered, difficult to get to know he intimidated me and yet, I felt that the depth to Julian would be more sustaining. I felt he was capable of offering me more than Joe ever would. I didn't mean financially, which was pretty clear he had that bit covered, but emotionally; even though, from what I had learnt about him in these last few weeks, he was carrying around a large trunkful of buried emotions. Julian piqued my curiousity. I wanted to understand his complex character. He broke eye contact first, "Come let's read these," he sat on the bed and I sat next to him. ***

Pam had round almost girlish handwriting. It was clear that the letters were partly to avoid detection, written to avoid the use of emails, but also because she found it romantic to write them. I found myself wistfully regretting the advent of email and the demise of the old fashioned love letter. It felt so wrong reading them and I could tell that Julian was uncomfortable reading them too, but it told us a lot about their relationship. Despite the fact we only had her letters we could tell they were madly in love. She wrote about his fears that Joe would find out about them and tell his dad and that Derek would be cut off financially, but that she didn't care whether he had one dollar or one hundred million dollars. In other letters she chided him about not standing up to his father and expressing her fears that they would never find a way to be together. She mentioned that when his mum bought Jasper's place she would have enough money to give them both the opportunity to start a new life in the Caribbean. She wrote of his enthusiasm of the boat charter business he was planning with Jasper. She also wrote about how hard it was seeing him chase other women as a cover to their relationship, how she wished they could just run away and the tension of keeping things secret. Julian reminded me that Derek had been banished to London to behave and that Dan was trying to get him to learn about business. Effectively, Derek was on his last chance with his father. I read about a different woman than the Pam of the office. A woman that truly loved him with a passion, and one who was eloquent in the written word as she wasn't in speech. The Pam of the letters and the woman in the office were hard to reconcile. When I came across one of the last letters, dated less than two months before Derek died, I couldn't help the tears. She wrote, And when we are old and grey and still madly in love I hope we read these letters again and maybe give them to our grandchildren to read so that they know love's path is not an easy one. They will know though, because we will be old and wrinkly, but still together, that the obstacles life throws at us were overcome and that love is worth fighting for. Julian looked up at me when he could hear my sniffles. "Sorry," I wiped my tears away, "It's just so sad, so romantic. Who would have thought..." he looked sad too. "These letters, they," he hesitated looking for the words, "they change things." "Yes, they do," I agreed. Not quite knowing how they changed things, except that they moved me enormously, and opened my eyes to what kind of person Pam really was. Strangely enough I thought she was very similar to Julian. That there were hidden depths to her, hidden vulnerabilities that she disguised under a layer of superficiality and frost. He took my hand tenderly,

"Come," he said pulling me up from the bed, "It's late. Let me drive you home." "I'll take a cab," I told him. "No. I will drive you, that way I know you get home safely." "Couldn't I stay here? With you?" Why on earth did I say that? It just slipped out. I was tired and my brain and mouth were not communicating properly. He looked at me in surprise. We were standing so close I could smell the faint aroma of his aftershave, could see the golden stubble forming on his chin. I avoided eye contact with him, but he lifted my chin so I had no choice, but to look into his deep green eyes. "I think that would be a really bad idea, Lola," he whispered and leant down to kiss me gently on the lips. A chaste kiss when what I really wanted at that moment was passion. I closed my eyes and when I opened them he was already by the door with his jacket in his hand.

Chapter 24 Change of Plan I was knackered the next morning. The emotions of the night before had drained me and even though I fell asleep as soon as I got into bed, my own bed, my sleep was restless. I wore a black pant suit to work and, in the mirror that morning, noticed that I had dark smudges under my eyes. I was relieved that Julian was late that morning and hadn't yet arrived. Normally, the fact he was late would give me a smug feeling, but today nothing would lift my mood. I avoided looking at Pam. I felt uncomfortable having read her intimate letters the night before. Last night, as he drove me home Julian and I had switched back into business mode and we agreed to debrief Joe today. He was still going full steam ahead on the seduction plan and we had to take stock of the letters' revelations and work out whether this tactic would still work. My phone pinged it was Joe, Hope you behaved last night, baby? What? Alone w J at his place ;) We have to meet Oh? We found something - lunch? Can't lunch w P Again? Yup. I wrk fast. :) After wrk then? Can't movies with P Meet kitchen now pls OK I got there before him and was annoyed to find Sharon fussing around at the coffee machine. "Oh, hi Lola, I'm making Steve's coffee, he likes it really sweet. Sweet for a sweet guy," she giggled. Good grief! Joe came in and it was a bit of a tight squeeze with all three of us in the small kitchen. His blue eyes caught mine and he gave me a querying look. I raised my eyebrows towards Sharon who was still pottering around with cups and saucers. Joe was

wearing a blue and white striped shirt today tucked into faded blue jeans. I could see his chest hairs peeking out from the undone buttons and I clenched my insides as I wickedly thought about burying my nose in that hair. Stop it Lola! At last, Sharon left the kitchen, and we were alone. "Wassup Lola?" he smiled at me. "We have to talk and not here either, someone might come along at any moment." "How about this afternoon? After I get back from lunch with Pam." "Can you make it a quick lunch today please?" I was annoyed. "Hey, I'm working you know," he lowered his voice, "I'd rather be watching you eating me, baby," he grinned suggestively. "Cut it out," I told him, "seriously we found something last night and it changes things." "OK sure then," he got serious. Pam came into the kitchen. "So," I quickly said, "if you and Julian are free at 2:00 this afternoon I told the costume maker we would go see him to get you measured up." There was no costume maker yet. I still had to find one. "Sure," said Joe turning around to Pam with a smile. "Hey baby," he whispered to her, but within my hearing. I bristled, quickly grabbing a coffee I didn't want, and squeezed past them both. Pam was standing close to him and he looked over her head as I turned around when I was leaving, my eyes flashing green at him. He winked back at me. As soon as I got back to my desk Julian came in. He asked me to fetch him a coffee and meet me in his office. Jeez, I had just left the kitchen and I didn't want to go back there just yet with Joe and Pam still there, but Julian drank black coffee and the one in my hand was white with sugar. Hell, I stomped back to the kitchen just in time to see Joe with his arm around Pam's waist bent down whispering something in her ear. "Sorry for interrupting," I said cattily not able to stop myself, "Julian wants coffee do you mind if I get some?" Pam looked startled and quickly left the kitchen embarrassed that I had caught them with Joe's arm around her. Joe stayed leaning against the kitchen counter which meant I had to lean across him to get a cup down from the cupboard. "You smell nice," he said. "Cut it out, Joe." I said annoyed. "You're jealous, must mean you still like me baby," he whispered as I was still reaching for the cup. "Don't flatter yourself," yes I was jealous.

"It's a job baby, just a job," he reminded me watching my every move as I tried to pretend it didn't matter but not doing a really good job of it. He didn't have to appear like he was enjoying his job so much did he? Was I being unreasonable? Probably, but I couldn't help it. "You look tired," he observed, "did you have a late night last night?" "As a matter of fact, yeah it was a late night," I informed him smugly. He didn't reply, but I could feel his eyes boring into me. Those predatory blue eyes. I refused to discuss things further. He lowered his voice, "Did you sleep with Julian?" his question had a threatening quality to it. "No she didn't," it was Julian. Why did he have this habit of constantly interrupting me and Joe? Did he have us on some kind of radar? The temperature in the kitchen immediately dropped by about ten degrees. "OK, so we have a costume measurement appointment at 2:00 this afternoon with both of you," I said a bit too loudly, my voice tight, trying to defuse the tension in that tiny room. Julian and Joe were eyeing each other up and I can't say the looks were friendly. I couldn't quite believe this. I wasn't even dating either of them. I went to leave the kitchen, but Julian was blocking the way, still having a stare down match with Joe. "Please Julian," I whispered and he turned to go back to the office with me following. *** Julian sat down at his desk clearly riled as I closed his office door gently and sat down. He took a few moments to compose himself. He told me he was late as he was questioning Mrs. Jones again. She only worked weekdays, but as she lived in she might have had the opportunity to observe any coming and goings at the weekend. She said she didn't, but that most weekends Derek didn't stay in the apartment and, of course, she never questioned him on where he was. I reminded him that I had a strong feeling that Delia knew more than she had disclosed. Julian told me he had discussed this with his aunt and had decided that she would question Delia when she got into London that evening as she had known Delia for many years. She was due to arrive this afternoon having immediately got a flight when Julian had called her to tell her about the letters late last night. They had agreed not to scan and email them as she was sure that her husband was monitoring her emails. I was surprised she had managed to

get a flight so quickly, but then Julian told me she was taking the company jet. Of course, silly me, who doesn't have their own jet? I reminded him again I had arranged for us to debrief Joe at 2:00 that afternoon. I desperately wanted to ask him to behave himself at that meeting, but telling Julian to behave just didn't seem, well, he just wasn't the type of guy you could give orders to. Besides, if I did tell him to behave it would open up the discussion about why he wasn't behaving, which in turn would bring up the subject of last night. No wonder I had dark smudges under my eyes. Just this last week was a roller coaster of stress for me. I wasn't sure I was going to manage meeting his aunt tonight let alone the trip to Germany which was planned for next week. Jeez, that reminded me I really had to find someone to make the costumes. As if he read my mind Julian asked me, "Have you found the costumes yet Lola?" I frowned back at him. "It was your brilliant idea," as if I needed reminding, "and a condition of this contract." He leant over his desk and handed me a card. I read it, Françoise Pallet, Costumier. "Call her," he instructed me, "she's a friend of mine and might be able to help." I breathed a sigh of relief. I could see the strain of the last week were showing on Julian's face too and wondered if he would bring up the subject of the kiss last night. Like the gentleman he was he didn't bring it up and I was a little disappointed. I wanted to hear him confess his attraction to me again and at the same time I didn't, remembering how I had wanted to bury my nose in Joe's chest hairs. These men were rapidly turning me into a schizophrenic. I let out a sigh. "Are you ok, Lola?" asked Julian concerned. "Yeah, sure, just a bit tired that's all," I smiled back. "Exercise," he advised. "You what?" "Exercise, it will help energise you, give you more stamina," he informed me. "Yeah right, so you keep saying. I'll think about it," I rose to leave disappointed that he didn't have anything more romantic to say to me. *** At one thirty we met down in the lobby. Joe was fifteen minutes late from his lunch with Pam. They walked in together. She was laughing at something he had just said and was looking up at him in admiration. I had to hand it to him, he really did have a way with

women. It was another five minutes before we managed to get a cab. I was squashed between Joe and Julian on the back seat. "Where to?" the driver asked us. Oh shit, there was no appointment it was just an excuse so we could debrief Joe. Julian rolled his eyes when he realised and asked the driver to take us to Claridges Hotel. We didn't talk on the journey there, but Joe started to stroke my hand which was on the seat next to him. I tugged my hand away. I really wasn't comfortable with his displays of affection in front of Julian. When we got to the hotel we sat down and ordered afternoon tea. There was a string quartet playing which meant that our conversation would be relatively private, which was a good thing. Julian started to debrief Joe on the letters that we found. Joe asked if he could read them and I could tell that Julian was reticent. "Come on man, it will help me understand her better. We're a team right?" Julian conceded that he had a point and he handed them over to him. We nibbled on delicate sandwiches in silence as Joe read through the letters. "Wow," he said as he finished up, "powerful," I could tell that even he was moved by their contents. He ran his hand through his hair, "I need a drink a little stronger than tea," he announced calling the waiter over to our table. After his whisky arrived and he took a gulp he looked at Julian and me. "So, I guess this changes things?" he asked. "I'm not sure," I answered. They both turned to look at me in surprise. "Well," I continued, "I've been thinking about this. What does it really change? We know they were in love, that's clear. We aren't however any the wiser about what happened. We only know that it's highly likely Pam knows something, but we don't know what." They sat in silence. No arguments so far so I carried on. "So, if we go over the facts again. Derek got a phone call, most likely from Pam, it upset him and then a few days later he was dead." "So we continue with the plan?" asked Julian and I think he was pleased that Joe would have to keep pursuing Pam. I was sure it was because he realised I didn't like it. "I think so," I said. "I'm not so sure," countered Joe. "Oh why?" I asked. "Well, I'm the one who's been spending some time with her right?" Julian and I nodded in agreement. "She's strange," he told us, "I think she's a bit, well, to be frank, I think she's a bit unhinged and that worries me." "What makes you say that?" Julian asked.

"Just, you know, instinct. Like when she laughs it's a brittle laugh verging on hysteria. She's also, umm, very sexually aggressive," he looked uncomfortably at me. Oh like he wasn't? Well, maybe that thought was a tad uncharitable, but only a little. "And I'm not sure I wanna go that far, man," he stated looking at Julian this time, but I could tell his words were meant for me. Julian's eyebrows shot up and my mouth fell open. "What?" he stared back at us, "I'm not a fucking womaniser or a gigalo ok? It's a cover." Yeah, but he does it so well, too well, I thought. "Then what do you suggest?" Julian asked him. "I don't know, man, I don't know." We were all stumped what to do. Clearly we couldn't force or even ask Joe to sleep with her, that might be a step beyond the call of duty, and one I really didn't want him to take either. Plus there was no guarantee having sex with Pam would make her talk. "Well, if we don't have an alternative plan I don't think we have much choice, but to carry on for now and Joe, you will just have to do your best to manage the situation," Julian concluded. Joe blanched. "I can't man, I just can't," he stated emphatically. "Why? Surely you can handle yourself?" I asked. "I told you, she's sexually aggressive," he squirmed in his seat, "she grabbed me under the table at lunch time," he said worriedly. I couldn't help it, I laughed. "Grabbed you where?" I enquired hardly able to hold in my giggles. "Fucking hell Lola, it's not funny, she has long fingernails," his brows creased in annoyance. I could tell even Julian was amused. "You'll just have to make up an excuse then," I told him. "Like what?" he asked. "I don't know, think of something." "We are meant to be going on a date tonight, I don't think I can do this," he ran his hand through his hair again. "You can't tonight anyway," Julian told him about his aunt arriving. Apparently she wanted to meet with all of us, Joe included. "In fact I have to go now to meet her at the airport. You both need to be at Lowndes Square by seven thirty tonight for dinner please." He rose to leave telling Joe to put the bill on expenses. Julian left and Joe fell back into his chair. "Oh Lola, Lola," he sighed, "you have no idea how hard this is," he looked at me. "Come on Joe, methinks you protest too much," I smiled in amusement at him.

"Seriously, baby, you don't want me to sleep with her do you?" he appealed to me reaching for my hand and this time I let him hold it. He was clearly stressed. "No. I don't." He seemed relieved at my answer. "But we need to crack this case Joe." "I know, I know, but there has to be another way. I mean it Lola, she's seriously unhinged." "She knows you were undercover right? We know that from the letters. Maybe it’s all a play. Maybe she’s getting back at you." "No, I don't think it's that. There's something deeper driving her than that. Call it a man's instinct." He got up to sit beside me on the sofa. "You drive me crazy, but she is crazy," he laughed softly as he played with my curls. "Be my woman Lola," he asked me in a low voice as the waiter took the plates away. "I'll carry on if I know that I can have you," he kissed me tenderly on my ear lobe, "give me the strength to see this through, baby. Please?" I turned towards him, admiring his violet eyes beneath his thick black lashes. How could I refuse, especially when he went all tender and pleading on me. I kissed him in reply. "Come back to my place," he moaned throatily as he motioned the waiter for the check, "we have time."

Chapter 25 Tete-à-tete with Mrs. Lewis I was surprised to discover that Joe lived really near me in a small apartment off the Kings Road in Chelsea. It was a typical bachelor's pad, and he wasn't very domesticated, as I could see taking in his messy living room. Joe had to call Pam to cancel their date and I decided to take myself off for a tour of his tiny kitchen. This was a conversation I really didn't want to hear. He joined me in the kitchen as I was stirring sugar into two mugs of tea. "I made us tea," I told him cheerily. He stood in front of me, gently took the spoon dropping it into the sink, and took my face into his hands. We never made it to his bedroom. Well not the first time, nor the second. There wasn't a third time because it was getting dangerously close to six thirty and I really needed to take a shower before we went to meet Julian's aunt. We took a shower together to save time, although that might not have been such a good idea as Joe got all excited again, and I ended up having to leap out of the shower. I was going to have to rush home to change. Joe came with me and I was hoping mum wasn't home. No such luck. I was contemplating sneaking Joe into my room, but mum heard us enter and trotted out quickly into the hallway. "Lola, where have you been? Dinner's ready. Oh," her jaw dropped when she saw Joe standing there. "Mum, this is Joe," I waved in Joe's direction. "Soz, I have to change then rush out." Mum was still speechless. "Hi Mrs. Hussey, real glad to meet you," he gave her his best all American beaming smile and I swear mum's mouth fell open even further. "Joe, I'll be five minutes tops. Do you mind waiting in the living room?" "Sure, I'll keep Mrs. Hussey company," and he winked at her - so he uses that charm on all women! I slipped into my red jersey dress again as my wardrobe was still limited. I was less than five minutes, and when I went to pick Joe up in the living room they were laughing at some joke. "Right, I'm ready,” I announced. Joe got off the sofa, "Well it was a real pleasure meeting you Mrs. Hussey," he shook her hand and I noticed she was reluctant to let it go. "I hope next time we meet it can be for a bit

longer. Don't worry I'll make sure Lola gets home nice and safely too," he reassured her winking again. Like really? Am I a teenager or something? Mum beamed up at him. "Thank you," she simpered. Jeez, this was way too much and I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. In the cab on the way to Julian's I was interrogated by Joe. "So you invited Julian around to dinner to meet your mum?" "No it wasn't like that," I told him. Mum, such a gossip! "So it didn't happen?" "He sorted of invited himself," I told him, “I made him carry my laundry up ten flights of stairs too." Was he jealous? Of course he was, and he showed his jealousy by grabbing me in the back of the cab and kissing me possessively. Oh boy, this man was hot. He ran a caressing hand up my dress. "Well, now you're mine," he growled sexily. "Mmm," I managed to say which was no mean feat given his tongue was in my mouth. I pushed him off. "Joe we're in the back of a cab!" We had reached Knightsbridge and would be at Julian's in about three minutes. "But," I said, "Can we keep this to ourselves for now? There's no point in broadcasting it." He looked at me suspiciously. "You mean don't let Julian know? Why?" I could see a flash of anger in his eyes. "You do like him, don't you Lola?" he asked me accusingly. "Joe, I'm having sex with you not Julian," I said avoiding his question. "Besides, if I recall you told me I wasn't his type." "Well I lied. Are you avoiding giving me an answer Lola? Don't play me woman," he growled, "I didn't take you for a tease," he added menacingly. "Fuck Joe, just chill will you, that's not what I meant," I tried reassuring him, "Julian has this thing about mixing work with pleasure," I explained. Well it was kind of true right? "I need this job OK?" He seemed to settle on that for an answer for now, but he had cooled and was now pouting. Joe had very generous lips, thick and sensual, and when he pouted it turned me on. I ran my finger along his bottom lip. "I'll be your woman, if you'll be my man," I whispered to him and he grabbed my finger and bit it smiling. See I can do corny lines too. He paid the cab and I told him that Julian had made me walk up the five flights to the penthouse, probably to pay me back for him carrying my laundry up ten flights. Joe took it as a challenge and he grabbed me, hauling me over his shoulders as he began to take the stairs. I was squealing in delight, thumping him on the back, begging him to let me go.

"Oh no baby, if Julian can carry your dirty laundry up ten flights, then I can carry you up five," he insisted. "It was clean laundry," I protested again. "Whatever, baby, I'm gonna take you to the top no matter what!" "Joe you've taken me to the top several times today already," I squealed. That did the trick, he put me down by sliding me against the wall and pressed me up against it. "Oh Lola," he moaned into my ear, "I could fuck you again, right here, right now," he said pushing his tongue into my mouth, grinding his hips into mine. He stopped for a moment to look into my eyes and I took the opportunity to push him away and run up the rest of the stairs laughing. He began to chase me nearly catching me before we reached the top. We were still laughing and trying to catch our breath, well ok only I was breathless, when Julian opened the door. He had his best Mr. Frosty look on his face as he opened the door wider to let us in, taking in my flushed face and Joe's grin. I think he must have heard us running up the stairs laughing. I really think he didn't do fun. Joe and I took a moment to compose ourselves before following Julian into the drawing room. Mrs. Lewis rose from the sofa. She looked so elegant in a long grey cashmere dress and pearls, but she also looked tired after the long flight. "Hello again Lola," she held out her hand for me to shake. Actually, we had never been introduced when she came to the office, but I didn't remind her as I felt that was a bit petty. She turned to Joe, "Hello Aldo," she greeted him. "Mrs. Lewis." He nodded in response. I couldn't think of Joe as an Al. Somehow I knew I would always call him Joe. "Bjarne has been updating me on events, she motioned for us to sit down." Jeez, of course, Julian's first name was Bjarne. Well, he'd always be Julian to me too. Perhaps I should change my name I pondered. It seemed to be the modus operandi in this PI business. Julian was fixing gin and tonics and he handed one to me and Joe. "I wanted to meet with you both tonight. Firstly to thank you for the good work and then to discuss progress," she began. "I've read the letters," she was clearly moved by what she had read as she paused for a few seconds to compose herself before continuing, "and quite frankly I'm surprised that you knew nothing of this relationship Aldo," she admonished him. Joe opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it. "I do know, however, that Derek could be very secretive. It was a trait that seemed contrary to his open nature although one that I knew about. So don't be too hard on yourself,

Aldo" she smiled at Joe. "In fact Dan has told me that you blame yourself over Derek's death, but I want you to know that I don't. It's important to me that you know that." I could see Joe visibly relax as he cast a furtive glance towards Julian. "Bjarne, has also told me that you have been very cooperative, and I want to thank you personally that you did not tell Dan how I found out about you being undercover. I am sure that was a hard call for you to make, as Dan has told me many times how loyal you are." She took a sip of her drink then turned to me. "And Lola," she smiled, "I want to thank you too as Bjarne has told me, that if it were not for you, there would have been no progress on the investigation," he did? "His admiration for your work, is matched by mine. I am so glad that we took the risk and hired you. I don't want you to think I'm patronising you, I really am very thankful." Julian remained silent during Mrs. Lewis' speech. She had a very formal manner of expressing herself which made me naturally sit up straight, on my best behaviour. Mrs. Jones entered at this point to announce that dinner was served and we went to eat. To be honest, Mrs. Lewis made me nervous. She was every bit the aristocrat that she actually was, and I didn't have much of an appetite for the beef wellington, delicious though it looked, I played with my food pushing it around my plate. Mrs. Lewis told me that Julian had told her I had learnt to shoot, and it wasn't lost on Joe or me that he seemed to have spoken a lot to her about me. She added that Jasper passed on his regards. "Will you buy his estate?" I asked her eagerly. "I would really like to Lola, but I won't be in a position to make an offer until the divorce is settled. Jasper did say he wouldn't accept any other offer until I got back to him on that front though." He doesn't have much of a choice, I thought, there were no other offers. "They were going to run away together to the Caribbean," I told her. I didn't have to mention Derek or Pam by name, we all knew who I was referring to. "Yes, I read that in the letters. So like Derek," she smiled wistfully. "So," she continued as Mrs. Jones brought in the dessert. "I understand, Aldo, that you are trying to extract more information from Pam, and that this situation is a little bit awkward?" Joe nearly choked on his dessert and looked Julian's way. I could tell he was wondering exactly how much Julian had told her. Apparently everything. "I don't want you to do anything you are not prepared to do willingly," she said, "I am not my husband, and I do not force people to do things they do not want to do." Joe coughed and replied to her candidly.

"Mrs. Lewis, Derek was a friend. Maybe not a confidante, but I want to find out the truth, and I will be doing everything I can to do that. Of everyone involved in this, I feel that I failed him most of all, and I have a personal need to set that right. “I could see that Mrs. Lewis was touched by his words, but I was slightly alarmed. How far would he go? "Now, if the men would like to take some port I would like a chat with Lola in private," she announced. In private? With me? What on earth for? She rose from the table, "Mrs. Jones has served tea in the drawing room if you would like to come with me Lola?" I glanced at Joe nervously. I didn't really want to leave him in the room alone with Julian. Who knew what would happen? I remembered the staring match in the kitchen. Plus, I didn't really want to be alone with Mrs. Lewis, she was intimidating. It must be a trait that ran in the family, I thought, I could see where Julian got it from. As we left the dining room she turned to Julian, "I will call you when we are finished." She led the way back to the drawing room and closed the door. "Do sit Lola, would you like milk and sugar," I nodded. Words were failing me. "Don't worry I won't bite," she smiled, sensing my nervousness, and sat down next to me on the sofa. "You are every bit as lovely as I remember, and as Bjarne has told me, more than once, I might add." I swallowed hard. I was feeling really uncomfortable. Julian had been discussing me with his aunt? He had told her I was 'lovely'? I was having a hard time reconciling the way that he had been treating me, other than a few nights ago in this very apartment, and what she was saying he thought of me. "You clearly have a positive influence on him. He is, shall we say, becoming a more relaxed man." Well that was news to me! "In fact, Lola, I believe he is trying his best not to fall in love with you." Whoa! "What?" I squeaked, squirming on the sofa, it was the only word that managed to move from my brain to my mouth. She ignored me and continued, "Bjarne is like a son to me. His mother and I were very close. He has not had an easy time in life. My brother is not a good father unfortunately. Rather old school aristocracy, I'm afraid. Doesn't believe in showing his love to Bjarne. And, let's face it Bjarne is not good at expressing his feelings either." "Umm, Mrs. Lewis, Joe and I..." "Shh, let me continue. I know about you and Aldo too. I sincerely hope that it works out for you both. I just wanted you to know that if Bjarne ever declared himself to you that I would fully support him. Life is too short, Lola, to waste our time hiding our feelings." This was weird. Who used these expressions, 'declared himself', in these modern times? Well, I

thought, he had actually 'declared himself' the other night, but then he backed off. That's the frustrating thing about your nephew I wanted to tell her. "Does Julian know what this talk is about?" I managed to blurt out. "Good God, no! He would be mortified. He would hardly forgive me if you told him I had, which I am sure you won't," she said patting my hand. "Who knows what the future will hold and, if there is a chance of any happiness between you and Bjarne, I just wanted you to know that I would not stand in the way. His happiness is more important than social niceties." Was she referring to our difference in class or the fact that I was a black girl? I think both. "In fact," she continued, "I rather wish I had known about Pam. Maybe I could have helped Derek when he clearly needed me." Tears pooled in her eyes. "You know, I don't think he was murdered?" I told her tentatively. "Yes, Bjarne told me," she murmured, "and as much as I don't want to face that fact, I think you are right. We both do. In fact, it is beginning to look like he took his own life Lola and that, as a mother, has broken my heart again." She was openly crying now. I reached out to her. "We didn't come to that conclusion, it might still have been an accident," I reassured her. "No, but I have, Lola, I have. I just wish he had come to me, that's what I find so hard to understand. Was I such a distant mother he felt he couldn't tell me about his troubles?" We sat for a few moments in silence. Mrs. Lewis lost in thought about her failings as a mother, and I lost in thoughts about my conflicting emotions regarding Julian. "Please, Lola, finish this investigation. Find me answers, whatever it takes. I have put my faith and hope into this team." Whatever it takes? Did she mean Joe sleeping with Pam? Was I being overly sensitive to this whole Joe/Pam scene? "We will, Mrs. Lewis." I assured her again. "Good. Now why don't you go and get the men. I don't trust them in the same room for long," she laughed as she could tell from my expression that I felt the same way. I was relieved that our tete-à-tete was over and went to fetch Joe and Julian. Much to my surprise they were laughing! Well wonders will never cease, I thought to myself. "You guys wanna come through and join us now?" I interrupted them, puzzled. "Sure, baby," Joe beamed at me. I flashed a warning look at Joe and he held me back in the room as Julian left and whispered to me, "It's cool Lola. Julian knows about us. He's ok about it." He is? Wow Mrs. Lewis is a great influence on him I thought. Well, I guess my spending the afternoon with Joe, and Julian telling him that he was cool with us, kind of

made Joe and I official. I visibly relaxed dismissing the kiss between Julian and I a few nights ago, as an aberration not to be repeated. We were relaxed and making small talk when Mrs. Jones entered to announce that Delia Stephenson had arrived, and she had shown her to the study as instructed. Mrs. Lewis rose to go and meet her, instructing us to wait for her return. Julian and I spent the next half an hour trying to educate Joe on soccer and trying to get him enthusiastic about the 'beautiful game'. We were failing miserably, but there was a lot of laughter at his silly questions. It was refreshing that we were all having fun without any underlying tension or rivalry going on. *** When Mrs. Lewis returned she had a serious expression on her face, she had obviously learnt something that had shaken her. "Well," she began as she sat back down next to Julian, "even I am not beneath doing a little investigatory interrogation." She smoothed out her skirt as our curiosity built expectantly. "It seems that Delia also knew about their relationship and I was very disappointed to hear this, given that she has her position here to watch over him too." She glanced at Joe as she said this. "I suppose her actions were well intended as she only wanted Derek's happiness and he had sworn her to secrecy. She was reluctant at first to admit that she knew about them, but once she knew that I knew anyway, and after some hinted threats, she told me all she knew." Delia had told Mrs. Lewis that the relationship had begun shortly after Derek arrived in London to work at Australis. As it could put Derek in a worse position with his father she helped them to hide things, acting as a go-between, and letting them stay in her spare room at the weekends. It seems that she was not, however, a total confidante when it came to their relationship, as it appears that Pam had fallen pregnant. Mrs. Lewis brushed away more tears as she told us this fact. However, Pam did not confide this fact to Delia who found out only after Pam had an abortion. Twins. That was why she was in hospital the day of Derek's death. "I could have been a grandmother," she couldn't help a sob in her voice and Julian put his arms around her in comfort.

We all sat in absolute silence, shocked at this news. Only the noise of traffic in the distance below us could be heard and the ticking of the ornate clock on the console table. I broke the silence. "But why get an abortion?" I was incredulous, "they were so in love. Surely they would have managed somehow? She wrote about having his children. It just doesn't make sense." "Only Pam knows the answer," Julian commented. "It would appear so," Mrs. Lewis added. "This information is, quite frankly very upsetting for me. It doesn't really change the objective, but it does give it some context." She suddenly looked very tired and all of her fifty something years. Joe stood up, "We should go now Lola," he said to me. I stood up as he walked up to Mrs. Lewis. "Mrs. Lewis, I'm so sorry. Trust us we will get to the bottom of this. Whatever it takes." Julian looked towards him gratefully. *** The ride back home was subdued. I told Joe how the more we discovered the sadder it all was. "Get used to it baby," he told me gently, "people don't usually need things investigated for happy reasons." I guess he had a point there, and I wondered if I could really get used to it. If I was cut out for this type of work. As if sensing my thoughts he put his arms around me and kissed me gently on the forehead. "I think though, that you make a mighty fine PI, Miss Hussey," he teased me gently. He told me that he and Julian had decided that Pam should accompany us on the trip to Germany next week. They thought getting her out of the office into a different environment might make her conducive to talking more. Sensing that I wanted to know what else they discussed he touched on the subject of us. Apparently it was Julian who mentioned it first. He said that given all the pressures of this case, and as it was nearing its conclusion, that if we really wanted to be together it was none of his business as long as we didn't let it interfere with the investigation. "He's actually a pretty cool guy," Joe commented. I could hardly believe my ears. After this morning in the office kitchen I could have sworn there would have been a fight if I hadn't been there. It seems like men can make peace and not hold grudges far better than we women. Or maybe he was being magnanimous because he got the girl - me - and Julian didn't. "He's a bit uptight, but I guess that's just the way the man is made. You know, British aristocracy crossed with Nordic sang froid."

"Sang froid? Why that's a mighty sophisticated expression for you," I teased him. "Well, Miss Hussey, I'm a mighty sophisticated man beneath this beefcake exterior," he responded. "You think you're a beefcake?" I grinned at him. "Want me to show you?" and he grabbed me for a kiss. *** Joe insisted on seeing me up all ten stories to my front door, after bribing the cab driver to wait for him. When I turned at the door to say good bye he could see that I was still sad, trying to absorb the revelations of this evening. "Baby, start learning to compartmentalise things," he stroked my cheek, "it helps. How else do you think I can chase Pam when I really want to be chasing you," he pulled me closer to him to kiss me goodnight. "I guess I'll have to start doing that." "So does this mean I can call you 'baby' now?" he murmured looking into my eyes. "Yes, you can call me baby," I told him as I kissed him back.

Chapter 26 Back to Work I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. As I ate my banana, staring out the kitchen window on the same unchanging street scene I observed every morning, I contemplated how funny life was. For what seemed like years nothing happens; job remains static, boyfriends non-existent and then, wham, within a few weeks my whole world was totally different. No two days remained the same; my life suddenly flooded with new people. I grinned to myself realising that one of those new people was Joe. I now had a boyfriend! The thought of which gave me a thrill and put a smile on my lips. Well about bloody time too, I told myself, 24 years old and the only man I had managed to squeeze into my boring life was Steve. I was so busy trying to be a success in a non-starting career that I had managed to be a total failure in the romance department too. Maybe Joe would buy me a new pair of slippers for Christmas, I thought happily, looking down at my forlorn pink bunnies. Boyfriends did things like that didn't they? Oh, what if we're not still together by Christmas? I suddenly became paranoid. Well why wouldn't we be? I scolded myself for my insecurities. I was going to be a new, confident and assertive Lola, of course Joe and I would still be together by Christmas. I realised that I was going to have to find the opportunity to tell mum and Emm that I would be away next week in Germany. I decided to put it off telling mum until the last minute as she was undoubtedly going to grill me about it, but that if I got the opportunity, I would pop around to Emm's and tell her tonight. When I tell mum I was going there with both Julian and Joe I am sure I would never hear the end of her lectures. Well, Julian was going to tumble me in a haystack I wondered what dangers she thought Joe would pose to me. Fumbling in the back of a Cadillac? I was cheered up at the thought of telling Emm about Joe though, she still thought I was playing the field so I was dying to update her on that front. No doubt she would have her usual words of wisdom to bestow on me, after, of course, she had psychoanalysed our relationship. Mum was up early and wandered into the kitchen in her dressing gown. "Mornin' Lola," she seemed cheery today. "I like your new boyfriend, what a nice boy he is, so polite too." How did she know Joe was my boyfriend? "How do you know I have a boyfriend?" I asked her surprised.

"Joe told me last night while you were changing," she smiled at me. He did? But it wasn't a done deal at that point. See he's so presumptive, that's a side to his character that could turn out to be really annoying, I thought. It smacked of bad boy arrogance just like Marley and half the men in the neighbourhood. That male over-confident cockiness that I just loved to hate, but actually kind of thrilled and attracted me too. I left the kitchen before she could interrogate me further about Joe as I realised that, actually, I really knew very little about him. No doubt mum knew more about him than I did. Mothers were able to do that. Look at the way she managed to get more information from Julian in one evening than I had managed in days. And Julian was a hard nut to crack, Mr. Icicle was not naturally forthcoming with information. Perhaps mum should also become a PI? That thought made me giggle. *** As his aunt was in town Julian wasn't going to be in the office for most of the week except to come in for a few meetings to finalise the contract with Bernhard, so I was relatively free. I didn't really have to work on Sharon or Delia. We knew now that the answers lay with Pam so it was up to Joe now. I busied myself instead with arranging the costumes for the trip. Julian's costumier friend was very nice. She told me that all she needed were their heights and any other special requirements as she said that the costumes were hardly going to be needed to fit snugly. I giggled at that thought, especially when she asked how long to make the kangaroo's tail. I knew Joe was going to take Pam out to lunch again today. That thought though didn't worry me unduly. I was managing to control my jealousy, compartmentalise, now that I knew he was all mine. My phone pinged with a message from Joe. It was another link to a song. This time the Isley Brothers, 'Between the Sheets'. Listen to the chorus, this is how I feel when I call u 'baby'. Careful I will make you sing it to me. O I can sing but rather do diff things w my mouth when Btween the sheets w u. Behave! Make me! Don't tempt me! U don't resist temptation well - so bring it on baby!

Yup, I had a boyfriend! Steve and I had never had this type of teasing, flirting conversation, but then again Steve had never really been my boyfriend. Spookily, just then, Steve came out of his office. Sharon's eyes immediately followed him as he walked up to my desk. He stood in front of me for a good half a minute and I could see he was wrestling to say something, "Umm, can I help you Steve?" I broke the silence before it became too obvious something was up. "Oh, hmm, yes Lola, I was wondering...." "Where Julian is?" I quickly blurted out before he gave the game away, "his aunt is in town I don't think he will be in the office for the rest of the week." I cast a furtive glance Sharon's way. She was listening attentively. I looked back to Steve and flashed my Evil Eyes at him. "Oh right, well then, never mind," he muttered and wandered back to his office. Phew, this was a lot trickier than Julian thought it would be. I did warn Julian that Steve wasn't going to be cut out to keep up the pretense. My phone pinged again and I looked at the screen eagerly anticipating another flirty text from Joe. Are you d8ing him? Jeez, Steve wasn't gonna let it go. Who? Blondie His name is Julian and btw u r blond 2 & we are def not d8ing so stop it Well, no way could I tell him that I was dating Joe and not Julian. I think he would have an apoplectic fit. At least he didn't ask what the investigation was all about. He'll get over it, I thought. Joe came into the office to pick up Pam for their lunch date. He went straight over to her without glancing my way today. He looked yummy in a black suit and white shirt open at the neck. Internally, I held my breath and kept chanting to myself that it was only work and he really didn't mean to give her such a seductive smile, or place his hand on the small of her back, or even look pleased to see her. I suddenly hoped that next week in Germany would conclude this case as I wasn't sure how much longer I could last watching them go out together. Then again, once this case was wrapped up, it was back to a single wage and doing Pete's filing. I was already fantasising about slapping that simpering smile off Pam's face; the one that she wore whenever she looked at Joe. Compartmentalise, Lola, control yourself! I couldn't avoid having lunch with Sharon unfortunately as Delia didn't appear to be in a socialising mood this week, probably due to her grilling by Mrs. Lewis. I was exhausted

after lunch, having to sit through Sharon going on and on about Steve, and also her gossiping about Joe and Pam. When she told me they made such a lovely looking couple I nearly choked on my coffee, and when she pondered on her mistake when she had thought that he was after me, I decided that it was time to call it a day on lunch and made an excuse for us to get back to the office early. *** I left the office early having called Emm who said she was finishing at 4:00pm and that mum was picking up Barney. She said she would ask mum to babysit him at our place tonight so we could have a girl's night in. When I got home mum was out, probably shopping with Barney, so I left her a note to say that I was spending the evening around Emm's so she would know where I was if she needed me. Emm was cooking my favourite, lasagne, so I popped open the wine and sat down in the kitchen while she finished up cooking. While she was catching me up on Barney being chosen for the school football team, a talent he had obviously inherited from his dad, my phone rang. I didn't recognise the number, but I answered it anyway. "Hi Lola, Jasper here. Hope you don't mind, but Julian gave me your number." "Hey Jasper! Great to hear from you!" Emm, looked at me and raised her eyebrows in query. "I just wanted to say thanks for your note, loved the drawing of Francesca, and sorry that I wasn't around to say goodbye when you guys left on Sunday," he said, "I'm actually in London. I had a meeting with Mrs. Lewis and wondered if you were free to go for a drink?" "Oh Jasper, I'm at a friend’s tonight, I can't," damn what a shame. Emm butted in, "Ask him over if you like?" she told me. "Really?" "Sure, if he don't mind slummin' it," she giggled. I invited Jasper to join us at Emm's and he said he would love to so I gave him directions. He must have been nearby as, less than half an hour later, the doorbell rang. I went to let him in. Well, I was going to discuss Joe with Emm, but I figured I could do that at the weekend instead. It was nice to see Jasper again. I could tell Emm was well impressed with him. She went all girly. I noticed that her charms did not go unnoticed by Jasper either, and when she offered him some lasagne and told him she made it herself, he accepted eagerly.

Well there was a turn up for the books; Jasper fancied Emm and I had the suspicion it was mutual. It appeared that Jasper was an Arsenal footie fan so they had that in common and were ganging up on me because I was a Fulham fan. It was gone ten when I realised I had not heard from my new boyfriend. So I sent him a text message. Hey how are u? what u doin? Usually he sent me an instant reply, but after twenty minutes there was still no answer. I decided to call him but his phone was turned off. Suddenly, my mood dropped and I worried about what he was up to and who he was with. I realised that Julian was right, I didn't do relationships very well. Maybe that was because this was effectively my first one. Was worrying like this normal? I had never bothered about not hearing from Steve for weeks at a time but a few hours without hearing from Joe made me uneasy. "You look tired Lola," Jasper commented, "I should go." "Oh you don't have to go," Emm protested. "No I should," he stood up and smiled down at her and I suddenly felt like a gooseberry. "OK, well, it was lovely meeting you Jasper. Next time you are up in London do pop by again," she told him. He looked like the cat that had got the cream. "If you mean that Emm, I'd really like that," and they exchanged phone numbers. Jeez, maybe I should just go stand in the hallway for a while and give them some privacy, I thought, rolling my eyes. I told Emm that I would walk Jasper down to the street and wait while he hailed a cab. "That's ok Lola, I'll be fine," he assured me. "Not in this neighbourhood you won't be," I insisted. I kissed Emm bye and left with Jasper. While we waited in the cold for a cab to drive by Jasper told me how much he enjoyed the evening and, more importantly, questioned me about Emm. I gave him as much information as was appropriate in the circumstances. I teased him about the fact he was obviously smitten by her, and when he asked me if it was ok with me if he called her I laughed. "Jasper, you don't have to ask my permission, if you like her then call her. It would do you both good to have a bit of fun," I told him as he climbed into his cab back to his hotel. Mum and Barney had gone to bed by the time I got back so it was sleeping on the sofa again for me. I couldn't sleep though. I was worried about Joe and recalled his words about Pam being 'un-hinged' when my phone rang. It was 1:00am.

"Baby, sorry I missed your call," Joe said, "and for calling so late but I wanted to hear your voice," he sounded tense and stressed. "Are you ok?" I sat up, alarmed at his tone of voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. I had to go to the movies with Pam. I've only just got home. I couldn't avoid it honestly baby," he confessed clearly worried about how I would take it. "Oh. I guess that's ok." No it wasn't! "I managed to survive but only just," he said, stressed. "How so?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could. I was dying to ask if he had kissed her, but really didn't want to hear the answer so decided the less I knew the better. "She grabbed me again." I had no response to that. "She got angry that I wasn't responding." "Responding?" "Yeah, you know, I was umm, unexcited. Even if I wasn't seeing you baby, she still doesn't do it for me," his voice had softened. "She's going to think something is up with you," I said. "Well not something that she wants up, that's for sure," he joked but I could still hear the tension in his voice. "Listen Lola, Julian has to help me out here. I need to avoid her for the rest of the week, at least until we get to Germany. With all of us there it should be easier to lead her on without having to go any further because going any further just ain't doable. Besides she ain't sayin' a thing." "Ok, call him tomorrow. I'm sure he can find a reason for you to be busy for the rest of the week," I advised him. "I can manage lunch times as I can make an excuse to rush back to the office, but I can't do a proper date with this woman, she's scary." He asked me about my evening so I told him about Jasper being in town, but I could tell his mind was preoccupied and he wasn't really listening. "Stay with me this weekend Lola?" he asked me out of the blue. "Sure," I told him. "Really?" "Try stopping me." "Oh baby, that's the best thing I've heard all day."

Chapter 27 A Romantic Weekend I was busy the rest of the week at work preparing for the trip to Germany. As Julian was the Marketing Director it fell to me to do all the travel arrangements. He gave me his credit card to book everything online. I had to work with Pam as she had to prepare all the marketing material we would be taking along with us. Joe Sr. had been briefed by Julian and had made excuses for Pam to work late most evenings that week, relieving Joe of having to think up excuses not to spend another evening with her, much to his relief. He had also told her he had a friend in town over the weekend so he couldn't meet up, but that it would be ok because they would have plenty of time to hang out when we got to Germany. She seemed to buy his excuses although she did express her disappointment, he told me later on Wednesday evening when he called me. Joe called me every night so far, just to chit chat as we didn't talk now in the office. We had decided not to meet up until the weekend as we were both busy, him in the gym to relieve the stress that Pam had given him, and me getting my laundry and packing done. He did offer to carry my laundry for me but I declined. Actually, on the Thursday night I was going to do some late night shopping for some new underwear, and I didn't want to confess that I was buying it for his delight. The last thing I had to do was to pick up the costumes which were packed up in four heavy boxes. Just as well the men were young and fit as these costumes weighed a ton. We packed them off via courier on the Thursday to Bernhard's office. I hardly saw Julian, he popped into the office for some meetings with the lawyers on the final details of the contract with Bernhard's company. I sensed he was avoiding me, but I was too busy running around getting things ready to really notice his absence. We did, however, agree to a rendezvous with Joe at the Knightsbridge apartment on Sunday evening. I was excited. Not just because of the trip to Germany, and what the outcome of that might be, but because Joe and I were going to spend the weekend together. I had managed to let mum know about the trip and was surprised she was actually cool about it. She felt sure I would be safe because Joe was going too! She didn't even bat an eyelid when I told her I would be staying at Joe's at the weekend either. There was no mention of a Cadillac either wonders will never cease!

*** Joe left the office early on Friday he sent me a text saying that he had some errands to run and to come around to his place at seven, he added his address as a reminder. I left the office at 5.30pm and said goodbye to Pam adding that I would see her at Heathrow Terminal 5 at 7:00am on Monday and to have a nice weekend. I rushed home to pick up some clothes for the next two days, including my new underwear. I showered and dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, not forgetting to wear some of that underwear too! As a last minute thought I also packed my bunny slippers. They took up quite a bit of room in my small backpack, but I managed to zip the bag up after squeezing them up. I was so excited I decided to splurge on a taxi to Joe's and got there just after seven and rang his bell. He opened the door, dressed in a white shirt, loose and half undone, and jeans that hung around his hips. He looked good enough to eat. "Hi," I beamed at him a little shyly. "So good to see you baby," he grabbed me for a passionate kiss and pulled me inside. He had tidied up and lit some candles around the room, there was a table lamp switched on that was the only other source of light. Marvin Gaye's 'Til Tomorrow' was playing softly on his stereo. "I tidied up," he announced. "I can see, I'm flattered you bothered," I smiled at him. "For you, baby, it was worth the effort." He stood there staring at me and I felt kind of awkward so I put my bag down and took off my coat. Joe and I hadn't actually done a date. No holds barred sex, yes, but actual dating not yet. "Well," he ran his hand through his hair, "I thought we would stay in this weekend if that's ok with you?" "I'm up for that, I think we both need a lazy weekend to recharge." I could smell food. Was he cooking? "I'm cooking," he grinned. "You cook?" Wow! "Yeah, I'm Italian American remember, I cook a mean pasta," he turned to go through to his tiny kitchen and I followed him. It was hot in the kitchen because it was so small, and I realised that it was probably the reason his shirt was half undone.

He did cook a mean pasta which we ate with a bottle of pinot grigio at the small dining table, replete with candles. We had settled into an unspoken agreement not to talk about work and instead we exchanged stories of our childhoods, our mutual love of R&B, and the differences between British and American cultures. He tried to educate me on American baseball, I think in revenge for when Julian and I tried to convince him that soccer was the best sport in the world. We shared a language, but we discussed the many things that were totally different about our two cultures. He didn't share my love of reggae so I promised that I would fix that and he looked sceptically at me. I said we would start with something he could relate to easily. "Oh?" "Yeah, I think Bob Marley's 'Stir It Up' is something you would find enjoyable to dance to," I could tell from his expression that he was unfamiliar with the song and I was looking forward to his education. I went over to my bag and took my iPod out. My bunny slippers bounced out of the bag and I could see Joe's eyes crease into a smile when he spotted them. I blushed and held up my iPod, "Can I plug it in?" I asked him. "Sure," he looked at me amused. I took off my sweat shirt as it was hot from the heat from the kitchen and searched for the song. I held out my hand, dancing towards him, "Shall we dance?" "I've never danced to reggae before," he told me. "Well there's a first time for everything. Besides," I whispered to him when we were close, "this is easy, you just grind your hips into mine," I murmured as my lips brushed his. "Oh I can do that, baby," he murmured back. *** We slept in the next morning. Joe was up first and back from the shower, he jumped, naked, onto the bed waking me up. I'm not good in the mornings and I tried to hide my head under the pillow, exhausted from the night before, but he wasn't having it. He had put The Temptations, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" on loud, and with the music, and the bright winter sunlight streaming into the room, I woke up. Actually, it was probably more due to the fact that he was lying naked beside me giving me butterfly kisses up my arm. What a way to start a day!

We spent the rest of the weekend doing girlfriend / boyfriend stuff. We went for a long walk along the Thames, taking advantage of the unusually bright winter's day, and in the afternoon I dragged Joe to Leighton House to look at Leighton's art and the romantic Arab Hall. It is one of London's smallest and least know museums and I figured that we wouldn’t bump into anyone we knew there. From Leighton House we walked through Holland Park and ate falafels at a Lebanese restaurant in Notting Hill Gate, wandering down the flea market to take the tube from Ladbroke Grove back to Sloane Square. I bought him some Rastafarian coloured laces for his trainers and some matching sweat bands, now that he was a reggae aficionado. He bought me a silver and perspex pendant. It was a small figurine of a girl with an Afro, her hair was the perspex part, and the jewelry maker assured us her hair would glow under ultra-violet light. We spent the evening watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' getting in the mood for Christmas, it seems we shared a love of Jimmy Stewart movies. I wore my pink bunny slippers as we shared popcorn and made out on his sofa. At the end of the movie when I blubbered, as I always do at the end of that movie, Joe kissed my tears away and carried me through to the bedroom. Seems like Lola was falling for the tender boyfriend Joe, just as she had fallen for the lustful, swaggering Joe. On Sunday morning, Joe took pity on me and left me for a long lie in while he went for a run. He returned with the Sunday papers which we read leisurely while munching on the croissants he had picked up at a local patiserrie. The last 24 hours was an oasis of rest, tenderness and getting to know each other and I was sorry it was quickly coming to an end. *** Dinner at Julian's with his aunt was delicious and I ate with a ravenous appetite this time around, feeling a lot more relaxed after the last few days respite. At dinner we discussed the plans for Germany. Mrs. Lewis and I laughed again at Julian and Joe's worry at wearing costumes. Neither of them had had a chance to try them on nor even see them, so they were placing their trust in me. I told them not to worry, but I wasn't sure they bought that. The first day would be spent in touring around some of the major outlets of Bernhard's department store and getting the displays set up. Day two would see the first of the in-store promotions and a few interviews with local newspapers. Day three would be the TV interview and by Thursday we would be heading back to London.

After dinner, in the drawing room, the conversation turned to more serious matters. Mrs. Lewis asked Joe whether he had made any further progress with Pam. "Not really, unfortunately," he told her. "She manages to avoid any questions about Derek on the whole. She does ask a lot of questions about Mr. Lewis though," he added. "Really, I wonder why?" mused Mrs. Lewis. "She says it's because she's never met him and, you know, seeing as he owns the company and I know him, it's her natural curiosity." "Well, as she knows you were Derek's bodyguard and that your office job is just a cover, maybe you should confide this to her?" suggested Julian. We all paused to digest that suggestion for a few minutes. "Actually, that might not be such a bad idea," Joe agreed. "We certainly need something to jolt her into giving you some information," Mrs. Lewis added, nodding her head. "Ok," agreed Joe, "it's sure worth a try. Otherwise, there is really no point in my continuing with her," he looked my way and smiled. "And how is she mentally?" asked Julian. "You mean is she still unhinged?" "Yes, that. Any more incidents that have your worried," he added, noticing the frown on my brow. Joe followed Julian's eyes and cast a furtive glance my way, "No more than before," he said and I got the feeling he was avoiding saying something. I looked over to him sceptically. "Really, Lola, it's cool," he told me reassuringly. "Well, Aldo," Mrs. Lewis said, "I want to give you some money. I know you've been unpaid for the last four months." Joe began to protest. "No, I insist. It may be acceptable to my husband that you have gone without a salary, but not to me. Whether you volunteered or not." Every time she called him Aldo I had to stop myself looking around for another person. We had discussed this over the weekend, and he had told me it was ok if I wanted to keep calling him Joe. He had laughed even saying he thought of himself as Joe now and joking that when his mum called him Al, he wouldn't know who she was calling he had got so used to it. Mrs. Lewis asked Joe to go with her to the study while she wrote him a cheque. Julian and I were left alone. "You look happy Lola," he remarked. "Thanks. I am." "I'm pleased for you. I'm glad that you and Joe are happy together."

"Really? No hard feelings?" I recalled his words about men finding rejection hard. Well I hadn't really rejected him. It was Julian who had turned down my appeal to stay with him the night we found Pam's love letters. I wondered what would have happened if he had said yes? Would I now be falling in love with him instead of Joe? I looked at his impossibly beautiful face and his greener than green eyes. Yes, he still did it for me, I thought guiltily. He took a bit too long to answer my question. "No hard feelings Lola. Not for you." he smiled gently. His words made my heart jump. "Nor for Joe either," he added as an afterthought. I was spared further from this awkward conversation by Joe and Mrs. Lewis returning from the study. Joe looked happy and we left shortly afterwards as it would be an early flight to Germany the next day.

Chapter 28 Koala and Kangaroo It was a very bleary eyed Lola who turned up at Heathrow the next morning. I wasn’t a regular traveler. In fact the only time I had been on a plane was when I was at uni and there was a field trip to Florence. Otherwise I had never been abroad. Girls like me were not born to be jetsetters, and when I entered the terminal I was immediately confused as to what to do and where to go. I was relieved when Julian found me standing in front of the flight display clearly looking perplexed. "This way Lola," he instructed, taking my elbow to guide me forward, with a bemused smile on his face, sensing I was bewildered. Joe and Pam had got there slightly earlier and we joined them in the queue. Pam was standing very close to Joe. It looked like she was holding his hand surreptitiously and, as I was grumpy having to wake up extra early this morning, I was not happy to see this. We handed over our passports to the ticket attendant and waited for our boarding passes. The flight was short, only an hour and by 10:00am we were at the hotel ready to check in when disaster struck. Inexperienced at booking travel arrangements online I had apparently only booked two hotel rooms and not four. Everyone turned around to glare at me. Apparently there was a banking conference in town and there were no extra rooms, not in this hotel or any other nearby. One of the rooms was a double and the other a twin. Dilemma time! After conferring, in which I was not allowed an opinion suddenly being in everyone's bad books, it was agreed that Pam and I would share the double and the men would take the twin. Well, duh, that really was a foregone conclusion as heterosexual men are rarely in agreement to share a bed! We had about an hour to freshen up as Bernhard was meeting us down in the lobby to take us to lunch before our tour of his stores started. When we got to our room Pam couldn't miss the opportunity to poke fun at my organisational skills. Whatever! I thought rolling my eyes, get over it. Like I really wanted to share a room, let alone a bed, with Miss Pneumatic. I quickly washed my face, tied back my hair and left the room in a mood. As I was down in the lobby early I met Bernhard first. As usual, he was at his most charming, gentlemanly self, kissing my hand in greeting. At last, someone to cheer me up. I warned him the others were a bit annoyed and when I told him why he laughed. He told me

the costumes had arrived safely at his office and were giving his staff some amusement when they unpacked them and hung them up. "You got them specially made?" "Yeah, someone Julian knew. Thank goodness as I was having a hard time sourcing them." "I thought so when I saw them." "They are good aren't they?" I smiled in amusement. "Very good. And remind me Lola, who is the Koala?" "Julian," "Ah, well, I am sure he will be... very happy to wear it." We laughed again. The others joined us and we went off to lunch. The afternoon went slowly. It's not very exciting touring supermarkets. I was in an especially bad mood as Pam insisted on holding hands with Joe when she thought no one was looking. It didn't pass me by, or Julian either. "Don't worry Lola, it's just a job," Julian reassured me as we watched them touring an aisle of soft drinks. "Yeah, so you both keep saying," I said uncharitably, stomping off to be on my own. Julian was the last person I wanted to discuss my jealousy with. There was a dinner that evening with the top sales people in Bernhard's company so I wore the red dress again. I really should have shopped for more evening wear and not just underwear I thought. However, I was pleased that Pam and Joe were separated at dinner and when we returned to the hotel we all had a quick nightcap in the hotel bar and then decided to have an early night. So Pam's nightwear was a pink baby doll thing that just about covered her butt and breasts. She certainly hadn't brought it for my benefit, and my hostility towards her grew as I knew she had probably packed it in the hope that Joe would be taking it off her. My nightwear in contrast was one of Joe's T-shirts that I had snuck into my backpack this weekend, and which still faintly held his scent. I had a horrible thought that Pam was the type of woman that would wear pink bunny slippers and I resolved to throw mine away as soon as I got back to London. For a woman who had been so in love with Derek she sure forgot him quickly, I thought, as I tried falling asleep. I was restless. Pam in contrast had fallen asleep pretty much straight away. I noticed she had taken a sleeping pill. In fact she had a toiletry bag that seemed to have quite a few bottles of prescription pills. I had noticed them as she removed each bottle from the bag to

look for the right one to take. I counted at least five bottles of pills. She was either a raging hypochondriac or on serious medication. Joe and I wouldn't be able to send each other texts given that I was sharing a room with Pam and this thought just made me even moodier. Not even the thought of how awkward it was for Joe and Julian to share a room could cheer me up. I wondered if I should search her possessions while she was asleep. As I was weighing up the risks she suddenly stirred and called out in her sleep, "Derek, Derek, Derek, no, no, no!" I stiffened, not daring to move. "Mummy, mummy, not true, not true..." she fell back into a deep sleep. Crap. What was all that about? Maybe I should stay awake the rest of the night to see if she called out again? *** When the alarm went off at 7.30am I felt like shit. I had tried to stay awake to see if Pam talked in her sleep again, but had eventually fallen asleep. Pam stirred and I let her use the bathroom first as I buried my head under the pillow and wished the world would go away. I was last down to breakfast, looking the worse for wear after a lack of sleep. "You look like shit," Joe commented. "Oh thanks," I made a face at him. Whose boyfriend is this again? He smiled in amusement causing me to want to wipe the smile off his face. When Julian let out a giggle I was sorely tempted to go and find another table to eat breakfast at. Pam got up to go to the breakfast buffet, and I quickly told Julian and Joe what I had heard her call out last night. Joe said he was going to try to get her to talk this morning as we were free until later this afternoon when the first costume promotion was arranged. We didn't have a chance to discuss plans any further because Pam returned to the table. Joe and Pam planned to visit the Main Tower, two hundred metres tall, it had a panoramic view over Frankfurt. I wasn't convinced of the wisdom of visiting such a tall building given the circumstances of Derek's demise. When he politely asked if Julian and I wanted to go with them I declined. "I don't do stairs," I informed him. Both Julian and Joe smirked at that. What? "I was planning on visiting the Städel Museum. It has a great collection of Old Masters." Julian said he would go with me. We agreed to rendezvous at Bernhard's office at 1:30pm so that the men could have plenty of time to put their costumes on for the first promotion at 3:00pm.

As it was in a supermarket right next to Bernhard's office they would be able to walk there, in their costumes of course, I thought smugly. It was nice touring the gallery with Julian. He didn't get bored and he largely left me alone to take in the paintings without complaining if I paused too long at any in particular. We decided to have a quick lunch in the museum restaurant. I expressed my worry about Joe and Pam visiting the Main Tower, pointing out again the fact that Derek's death from a fall might make Pam uncomfortable. He told me that he and Joe had discussed this last night and that was precisely why he was taking her there. This was the opportunity that Joe would tell Pam about his real role, without letting her know he was actually trying to get information from her, or that he knew she had been in a relationship with Derek. I was worried that he wouldn't be convincing, it was all so convoluted, but Julian reassured me that Joe was an experienced PI who was very good at his job and wouldn't be taking any unnecessary risks. I was grateful for Julian's attempts to reassure me, and told him so placing my hand on his briefly. Oh, I shouldn't have done that, I wasn't thinking. He flinched and withdrew his hand from the table. "Come, let's go," he rose from the table, "I don't want to be late for my costume." *** We arrived at Bernhard's office slightly early and Joe and Pam arrived twenty minutes later, slightly late. I could sense a change in both of them, but there was no opportunity to talk about it without Pam there. Joe definitely looked on edge and Pam looked, well, it was difficult to tell, but she definitely looked unsettled. Bernhard was very happy to see us all and informed us that the TV crew would do the interview today instead of Wednesday, after the men had spent a few hours giving away sample drinks in their costumes. I was nervous how Julian and Joe would react when they saw their costumes, but there was no backing out of it now. Bernhard ushered us through to a meeting room where the costumes were laid out. "Oh no, Lola!" was Julian's immediate reaction, instantly tugging on his ear lobe when he saw his costume, and Joe's face wasn't much happier. "What?" I asked innocently, "Koala Kola is made from 100% pure raspberries," I explained, "so Françoise and I thought that it was natural the Koala costume should be raspberry pink, right?" I tried to shift some of the blame to Françoise and felt sure she would forgive me.

"Fuck no! No, no, no, no. This is so wrong," exclaimed Julian shaking his head, one of the rare times I had ever heard him swear. "Nonsense, it is an excellent idea," reassured Bernhard clapping Julian on the back. "And, Lola, what's up with this kangaroo's head?" asked Joe not finding his costume any better. "And how the fuck am I meant to walk with a three foot tail?" "Well," I said trying my best to explain in a serious tone of voice, but not managing it very well, "Kanga Kola is high caffeine right, so it's only fitting that he has a big grin on his face. As to the tail, I can't help it if kangaroos have tails," I shrugged. We all stood staring at the Kangaroo head, which was huge, and had a stupid grin from ear to ear. "This is a million times worse than I thought it would be," Joe exclaimed and Julian nodded his head in agreement. "At least your costume isn't pink!" He reminded Joe while glaring at me. "Ja," agreed Bernhard clapping his hands in delight. “The target age group will adore these. The TV crew will love these too. It will cheer up their viewers on a dreary weekday and we are going to get lots of wonderful publicity," he grinned. We left them to get changed. It took a good half an hour, of which, half of that I suspected was spent getting the courage up to put them on. There were some definite benefits to this trip, I thought happily. The camera crew was waiting outside Bernhard's office building, and already a crowd was gathering wondering what they were doing there, when out walked a bright pink Koala and a beaming Kangaroo. With the costume heads they were nearly seven feet tall. The crowd quickly grew for the short walk to the supermarket about twenty yards down the same side of the street. People began to take out their phones snapping photos. See, it was a good publicity idea! Bernhard told Joe and Julian to wave at the crowd and I could tell they did so reluctantly. Too late to change their minds, and too impossible to run and hide dressed like that! I must admit it was every bit as funny as I knew it would be. Pam and I wore, Kanga and Koala baseball hats with appropriate ears and branded T-shirts so they wouldn't feel so bad. Haha, who was I kidding? The promotion was timed for when kids had finished school for the day. Joe and Julian were surrounded by young kids who kept asking in German for Joe to bounce up and down like a kangaroo. The girls in particular liked Julian's costume and started stroking its pink fur, hugging him whenever they could. I could only imagine how uncomfortable he was inside not so much from the heat of the costume, but from being stroked and hugged by dozens of little girls. By the time the samples ran out, and it was time to take the heads off for the TV interview, my face was aching from grinning.

Although they were both flushed from the heat of the costumes I could tell their good looks stopped some of the housewives dead in their tracks. The two hours of sample handouts had given them a chance to calm down and they gave a good interview. The interviewer was female and was clearly surprised that underneath all that synthetic fur were two drop dead gorgeous men. She was suddenly very interested in her interviewees. Bernhard was beaming. He was clearly over the moon about the success of the whole event. Joe and Julian put their costume heads back on and waddled back to Bernhard's office to change. We hung around until the news came on and watched the interview go out as the last item. Bernhard translated and said the news readers were very happy and delighted, playing up on the eccentric British. "Danish," muttered Julian. "American," added Joe. "Classic," I summarised, grinning. *** When we got back to the hotel, we agreed to meet in the lobby at 7.30pm for a quick drink before dinner. Bernhard was meeting us there at 8:00pm and we were going out for dinner to celebrate. After taking a quick shower I came out of the bathroom and Pam was lying on the bed. "I don't feel well Lola," she told me, "I think it was something I ate at lunch time," she moaned. "Oh no. Do you want me to get you a doctor?" I asked her. "No, no. It's just a bad stomach. You go out with the guys and give them my apologies please?" she pleaded. "Sure, if you're sure you'll be OK? I can stay in if you want? Keep you company?" I really didn't want to. A night stuck in a hotel room with a sick Pam was not top of the list of things I wanted to do - ever. "No, honestly, I'll be ok. I’m probably just coming down with 'flu or something. Been so busy the last few weeks with this trip," she gave me a weak smile as she put her arm down from shading her eyes. "Just turn the light out when you leave please," she instructed reaching for her pills.

Chapter 29 Death and Denouement When I got down to the bar only Julian was there. He told me that Joe wasn't feeling well. I raised my eyebrows and told him that Pam was sick too. I asked him if he had a chance to find out how Joe's morning with Pam went. According to plan, Joe had told her his role in being Derek's undercover bodyguard, and she had acted surprised. Then Joe, acting on instinct rather than plan, had asked her if she had been having a relationship with Derek. She had vehemently denied any relationship with Derek, and even after Joe had reassured her it didn't matter she was still unnerved. Joe had tried to calm her down and she had bitten him. "She bit him? What do you mean?" I asked. "Well he, umm, kissed her," I blanched. I could tell he hadn't wanted to tell me. There were many men who might have been only too willing to make the most of this in his circumstances, but Julian didn't want to upset me and I appreciated that. "Lola, he was doing what he thought was needed; trying to distract her." I was silent. "She bit his tongue, hard, apparently,” Julian looked worried and told me so. "I don't like how they are both ill. It seems too convenient that they fall ill at the same time." I was still absorbed in the fact that Joe had kissed her. He kissed her! My boyfriend had kissed Ms. Wiggle Hips. "Maybe we should cancel tonight?" Julian asked. I was lost in my own thoughts. "Lola," he shook me gently by the shoulders, "shall we cancel?" Just then Bernhard entered the bar and it was too late. We explained that Joe and Pam were unwell, probably something they ate, and left for the restaurant. Julian called Joe from the cab to make sure he was ok. I couldn't hear the conversation because Bernhard was gushing about the success of the promotion, and I was struggling with my emotions on hearing that Joe had kissed Pam. The meal was a subdued affair. Bernhard didn't notice as he was too busy telling us how his sales department were predicting huge sales of the drinks. He had brought along photos of the event and passed them around, but not even the photos of two hairy creatures, one of them bright pink, could shake the ominous mood from my mind. I could tell that Julian was agitated too and we both rushed our food. Even so, the meal still took over two hours and we found it difficult to find a cab back to our hotel. It was over three hours, since we had

left. Our attempts to shake Bernhard off were unsuccessful and he accompanied us back to the hotel. Julian told me that Joe wasn't answering his phone and my panic began to rise. When we got back to the hotel, Julian made an excuse to return to his room. He was in such a hurry he had left his phone and wallet on the bar table but returned quickly. "Lola, Joe isn't in the room and there is no answer from your room." I stood up, rooted in silence, and a sudden wave of vertigo hit me. Bernhard noticed the looks being exchanged between us. "What is the matter?" he asked and followed us, grabbing Julian's wallet and phone, as we rushed out of the bar. In the elevator I frantically searched through my handbag for the hotel keycard. "Please, please, please," I began to chant softly, unable to locate my keycard as I was panicked. Eventually I found it tucked into a side pocket. Joe's words about her being unhinged and scary began flooding back. I could tell from Julian's expression that he was thinking the same thing and neither of us were answering Bernhard's questions. When we reached our floor Julian, grabbed my keycard and ran down the corridor. I followed with Bernhard not far behind me. There was a ‘Do Not Disturb’ hanging from the door handle. The lock opened but someone had used the chain on the inside. Immediately, Julian began to force the door open. Bernhard sensing that something was seriously wrong began to help him without having to be asked. I stood there, my heart beat rising with every second that passed, panic making me feel sick. At last the door chain was broken. Julian put the keycard into its slot and turned on the lights. *** They were lying side by side on the bed which was covered in blood. I was rooted to the doorway, silent, unable to process the horror of the scene in front of me. Pam was staring up at the ceiling a huge gaping cut in her throat. In her hand was a cut-throat razor. I thought I would have screamed at seeing something like that, but I couldn't get any noise out of my mouth. It was open, but no sound would come and I was shaking from head to foot. It was all I could do to stay upright and fight the overwhelming need to vomit from the smell of blood. And there was so much blood. So much horror before our eyes. Pam's blonde hair was soaked dark by blood. Her ridiculous pink nightdress soaked. I noticed blood spattered on the wall by the bed. I couldn't bring my eyes to linger on Joe's body beside her. I didn't want

to look for any injuries he might have. That beautiful body, that only a few nights before I had kissed all over. Julian immediately went to Joe as it was clear Pam was dead. He quickly checked for any injury and felt for his pulse. "Thank god he's alive," he said. Bernhard, like me was rooted to the spot. "Bernhard, call an ambulance immediately. Lola close the door." I couldn't move. I couldn't function. Julian walked over to me rapidly, reached behind and closed the door. Bernhard, reached into his pocket for his phone, his fingers fumbling with shock. He seemed to collect his senses as, after he got off the phone, he said he would handle the police and dialed again. Julian went back to Joe. He pried open his eyelids. Joe's eyes were glazed, but they didn't roll back. "Joe, can you hear me?" he asked him, shaking him gently. Joe's eyes fluttered. Seeing his eyes move snapped me out of my immobility. I rushed to his side. Tears were rolling down my cheeks; I hadn't even noticed them begin to fall. "Joe, oh Joe, baby, baby, baby," I murmured to him, kissing him gently on his lips, wetting his face with my tears. "Roo..." he was struggling to say something. Kangaroo? "Roof..." he said again. Roof? Was he referring to Derek's death? He licked his lip. "Roofie." He closed his eyes again. Julian was rummaging through Pam's toiletry bag and pulled out an empty bottle. "Rohypnol. Roofies. She drugged him." He told me holding up the bottle. "He should be ok if we get him to hospital soon." I closed my eyes in relief and fainted. *** When I regained consciousness I was lying on Joe's hotel bed. Julian was sitting on his bed waiting for me to wake up. He had carried me through. He told me that Bernhard was dealing with the police at the moment, but that we would have to both give a statement. Joe was in hospital, the paramedics said they would have to pump his stomach, but that he should be ok. How much he would remember, was unknown as Rohypnol could easily cause amnesia. Julian had called his aunt and she was on her way already to Frankfurt in the company jet.

Why Pam had done it we wouldn't know until Joe was fully recovered, and only then if he remembered anything she had told him. I told Julian I wanted to go to the hospital to see Joe, but he told me he had already called and not to panic, but that Pam had given him a very large dose so he was currently under observation. By the time he had got to the hospital his respiratory system wasn't functioning properly. I sat up at this news. Julian reassured me he was out of danger, but sleeping. Probably for a long time. Julian suggested I try to do the same as he had to go talk to the police now. He would try to delay them questioning me until tomorrow after we had gone to see Joe in hospital. "Don't leave me, please..." I whispered, pleading, my eyes widening in fear. I started to cry again and Julian came over to me. He held me in his arms and stroked my hair until, the tears subsided. I was physically and mentally exhausted and soon fell asleep cradled and rocked gently by him.

Chapter 30 The Truth at Last I woke. Slowly blinking my eyelids open which were swollen from tears. Mrs. Lewis was asleep on Julian's bed. I turned to see Julian slumped in a chair, still wearing the clothes he was wearing last night. I sat up and Mrs. Lewis stirred. "Lola, how are you," she asked me, waking Julian up from his light slumber. He rushed over to me. "Joe?" was all I managed to say. "He's ok. I got an update from the hospital a few hours ago. We can go and see him this afternoon." I was bewildered, still in shock. Mrs. Lewis rose and called room service to bring some coffee and tea. We moved around the room in silence and after we had our drinks, I said that I needed to have shower and change. Julian told me I wasn't able to have any of my possessions, the Police had taken them. This made me cry all over again. Mrs. Lewis asked Julian to go and see if he could get me some new clothes. There was a store next door to the hotel and he left. "Lola," she said, "Look at me. Everything is going to be ok now." I still blubbered. She wiped my nose for me as I was incapable of doing it myself. "You've had a big shock. This whole thing has been awful." "He told us," my voice was trembling, "Joe told us she was unhinged. He was scared." "I know, I know," she said trying to calm me. "He was very brave, I think he probably knew it was more dangerous than he told us. She could have..." she didn't need to finish off the sentence. We both let that thought hang in the air. At least he was alive and would recover pretty quickly, but the thought of what could have happened sent a shiver through me. Julian returned within half an hour with a bag of clothes for me. I went into the bathroom to shower and change. When I got out Mrs. Lewis suggested that we wait for Julian down in the lobby. Julian said he would be no more than half an hour. When he met up with us he told me that Bernhard had arranged for the Police to come to the hotel to take my statement. Julian told me to tell them everything; that we had nothing to hide and to not worry because Bernhard had already found out that the Police didn't suspect Joe anymore, it was clearly a suicide. The hospital confirmed that Joe was in no state to move let alone kill her.

The detective who took my statement and questioned me was very kind. Julian had already called the office to get Pam's mother's details and Mrs. Lewis said she would arrange to go and see her. After trying to eat a light lunch and failing, we all three then left for the hospital. *** Joe was in a private room. He was awake and propped up on the pillows looking tired, pale and weak, but ok. I ran to him and cried, hugging him closely. "Hey, hey, baby, I'm ok, I'm ok," he whispered softly into my hair, stroking it gently. "I thought you were dead. I thought she had killed you. There was so much blood..." "Shh, Lola, it didn't happen. It's all gonna be ok, baby." It took me a few more minutes but eventually I stopped crying. Mrs. Lewis and Julian sat down by his bed. "Do you remember anything?" Julian asked him. "Yeah, most of it luckily," he said. "It's not a nice story," he looked over to Mrs. Lewis anxiously. "I've told the Police that I remember nothing, ok?" he looked at us all and we nodded. "This is not a story that we want leaking out." Pam had called him from the room shortly after he had spoken to Julian on the way to the restaurant. She said she wanted to tell him something important. Something related to their discussion at lunchtime. Joe was excited, and even though he was suffering from stomach cramps, put on his clothes and went to the room. He realised he probably should have called Julian to let him know, but in his eagerness that Pam was finally talking he forgot. She was waiting for him and insisted he have a drink with her as she needed some courage to tell him what she had to tell him. He sat down on the bed, as she had taken the only chair in the room, sipping a whiskey that she had poured. It was likely she had spiked his drink at lunch time and now, again, with Rohypnol. She confessed that she and Derek had been in love. That they were making plans to join Jasper in the Caribbean just as soon as Mrs. Lewis had bought the estate. That Derek didn't care anymore about his dad's money he loved her and they were going to start a new life together. That the only thing that mattered was that they were in love and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. When Pam got pregnant Derek realised that something had to change and he called his dad and told him about Pam's pregnancy and that the scan had shown two babies. His dad

was angry at first, but eventually calmed down and said it would be ok with him, but if Derek could wait a few days while he had a chance to discuss it with Mrs. Lewis. Derek then called Pam and was so happy. They were so happy. "Dan never told me," Mrs. Lewis said both angry and sad. "When Pam got home that night her mum was waiting for her. She said that she had something important to talk to Pam about," continued Joe. "You see, Pam's mum had gotten pregnant by her married boss, an Australian entrepreneur, and got married to another man in order to give the baby a father," he told us. Mrs. Lewis stood up and cried out, "Oh my god, no, no, no." I looked over at her, puzzled. Then I realized what Joe was saying. Derek and Pam were half brother and sister. Mrs. Lewis broke out sobbing and Julian went over and hugged her to him tightly. Joe and I watched them, knowing that there was nothing we could do to take her pain away. When she calmed down a little Joe continued. "Pam decided that she wasn't going to keep the babies. Not under the circumstances. Derek was away at Jasper's the next week and she had booked herself into a clinic for the termination. She called Derek afterwards, she said she did it after as she didn't want him to make her change her mind." "The phone call that Katie saw him take," I said and Joe nodded. "She called him to say it was over and that she had got rid of the babies. She couldn't bring herself to tell him why. She was overwhelmed with guilt and shame, but she did say he should talk to his father." "The bastard," Mrs. Lewis exclaimed. "I swear I will get my revenge on him." "According to Pam, Derek must have spoken with his dad. Derek made a final call to her, but she let it go through to voicemail. In his voicemail he had told her his dad knew nothing and that he couldn't understand why she had done what she had done, but that as far as he was concerned his life was over. His last words to her were bitter, sad, and angry that she had aborted his babies. She had thought if she had taken the call, made herself tell him the truth then maybe he wouldn't have killed himself. And of course, as Derek's phone was smashed in the fall no one had known about his last call." I couldn't even begin to imagine how she must have felt when she got the news about Derek. I couldn't even imagine how Derek must have felt and I remembered Julian's words that men don't do rejection well. "She said she had listened to that voicemail over and over again," Joe said sadly. “That his last words to her were torture.” He told us that by this point, that the Rohypnol was taking rapid effect and he was feeling woozy and immobile. He fell back on to the bed unable to move. He said she blamed him for not finding out about their relationship and not

stopping it before it all became too late. She also blamed him for not stopping Derek from killing himself. That he should have known, and at this point, I could see from Joe's expression that he thought this was true. "You were not to blame, Joe," Julian told him. "You see," Joe continued and I could see he was finding this really hard, his voice choking with emotion. "Dan didn't tell Derek the truth. Pam knew that from the voicemail. Maybe Dan doesn't know that Pam was his daughter. Derek killed himself because she had aborted the babies and had called their relationship off. He never knew why and that's what sent her crazy. She had wanted him to know she had no choice, but never got the chance to make that right. She had a breakdown and was seeing a psychiatrist." That explains all the pills and her having access to Rohypnol, I thought. "Dan must have known Pam was his daughter. It's too much of a coincidence that she ends up working at Australis," Mrs. Lewis said bitterly. "Yes," agreed Julian, "and why else was Pam's mum telling her the truth about her birth now, after all these years? Dan had obviously phoned her and told her to put a stop to it." No one could fault that logic. "She then came to lie beside me on the bed. At this point I was floating in and out of consciousness. I've no idea how much she had drugged me." "A lot," Julian told him. "I saw her do it," he said finally. We saw the horror he was reliving reflected in his eyes. We all went silent for several minutes before Joe managed to find the strength to finish his story. "She told me that life had no meaning for her anymore. She had tried to go on. That this was her revenge...I couldn't stop her...I felt her blood soaking the bed..." he couldn't continue. I could see from his eyes that he was picturing her in his mind. I shuddered, but squeezed his hand. "It's over," I whispered to him. "It's all over."

Chapter 31 One Door Closes and Another Door Opens The next few days went by in a blur. The Police insisted the Joe remain in Germany until the forensics had conclusive proof he didn't kill Pam and that it was suicide. He was released from hospital and we moved hotels. Julian and Mrs. Lewis went back to London and we followed the next day. Joe was still suffering from some side effects of the drugging, but more than that he was clearly affected by the trauma of watching Pam cut her own throat and being unable to stop it from happening. His sleep was restless and although he didn't call out, he tossed and turned in his sleep, sometimes violently. Joe asked if I would stay with him at his apartment for the time being and I agreed. We spent the next week subdued, going for walks, talking and watching movies. On the Wednesday Julian called me. "Lola, I wanted to ask if you think Joe is up to meeting with Dan." I looked over at Joe who was staring out the window. He looked over at me and I mouthed Julian's name to him. "He's doing ok," I said, "You can ask him yourself." I handed my phone over to Joe. *** We left later that evening for Julian's apartment. Joe held my hand in the cab, and I could sense his nervousness. We both knew that this meeting should go ahead. Julian and Mrs. Lewis had not told Dan Lewis yet what they had discovered. We needed closure on this. Joe needed the closure most of all. Mrs. Jones let us in and we entered the drawing room. Julian and Mrs. Lewis were there already. Apparently, Dan was on his way, he was staying at Browns Hotel not far away, obviously not welcome to stay in the apartment. Mrs. Lewis had aged since Germany. She looked gaunt and pale. Julian was sombre, his mouth set in determination. Joe and I sat down and we all waited for Dan Lewis to arrive. I had never met him before, and I hope never to meet him again. He was a powerfully built man in his early sixties; loud and brash, just as I had expected. He walked into the drawing room as though he was expecting a fight. His eyes, spotted Joe. "Who's she?" he said pointing at me. Julian explained who I was.

"What's all this about then?" he sat down, as though he owned the place, well he probably did, I thought grudgingly. Mrs. Lewis began, "Dan, we have found out the truth about Derek's death, which is what this is all about." He looked around at our faces in suspicion sensing this was going to be a hostile meeting. "Derek had a girlfriend, a serious relationship," Mrs. Lewis began. "Did you know about it?" "Yeah, he called me to tell me a couple of months before he died." We all looked at each other in surprise. We had thought that Derek had only confessed about the relationship when Pam had got pregnant. "Did he tell you her name? Who she was?" Mrs. Lewis asked. "Some, gold digging tart in the office, Sam or something? Then he called me shortly before he died to tell me she was pregnant and he wanted to marry her," he said angrily. "Pamela Henderson," said Mrs. Lewis. "Her name was Pam. She was 25 years old. Dan, a young woman in the prime of her life just like Derek," she said her voice heavy with infinite sadness. "Never met her," he said, and I could tell he was telling the truth. He had never even met his own daughter. "I paid a visit earlier this week to Essex, to meet with her mother, Mrs. Henderson." Dan Lewis paled ever so slightly on being told that his wife had met with Pam's mother and he knew instantly that we knew. "So? What's that got to do with Derek?" He bluffed, but he was growing nervous, tense. "You know exactly who she is, you bastard," Julian was also tensed, fists clenched, ready to spring, and I could tell he was having a hard time controlling himself. Dan flashed him an angry glare, but didn't say anything. Mrs. Lewis continued, "Last week, Pam, your daughter, the daughter you never met, killed herself." He sat in silence at first and we could see him calculate his response. "I don't know what you're talking about," he was going for outright denial. Wrong choice. Julian had risen from his seat and Mrs. Lewis held up her hand to stop him. "Do not lie any further Dan. We know. Just stop it, for Derek's sake," she told him sadly. "Ok, so she was my daughter. It was a long time ago. I took care of it." "You knew for two months before you found a way to put a stop to it. You sick fuck!" Julian shouted at him in anger. He rose from his chair and Mrs. Lewis didn't move to stop

him this time. He struck Dan in the face, hard. He was about to hit him again when Joe stopped him. "Julian, it's not worth it, man," he said restraining Julian's arms. I could see Julian struggling to get free. Just then Mrs. Jones entered the room. She took one look at the situation and backed out discretely. It was enough to sober Julian up and Joe let him go. Dan Lewis took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the blood from his nose. He suddenly looked older. "Get out of this apartment Dan, before I beg Bjarne to kill you," Mrs. Lewis hissed at him. "Get out of this apartment and get out of our lives. I never want to see you again as long as I live." He knew it would be dangerous to retort and he staggered out of the room. I held my breath and didn't exhale until I heard the front door close. Mrs. Lewis broke down and sobbed. *** Two days later Joe's doorbell rang. I went to answer it while Joe finished up cooking us pasta in the kitchen. We were both at a loose end now the case was finished, but were in no rush to sort out what we were going to do next. We were enjoying the opportunity to have a normal life of domesticity. It was Julian. "Hi Lola, do you mind if I come in? I'd like to speak with you and Joe." "Sure," I opened the door to him. Joe had come out of the kitchen to see who it was, he rarely had visitors. Joe invited Julian to join us for lunch and he accepted. Over dinner he told us that his aunt's lawyers had concluded the divorce negotiations. It went uncontested by Dan Lewis and he settled half of his wealth on her in an out of court settlement. It was an empty victory and we all felt it. He told us she was also finishing up the purchase of Jasper's estate and trying to build her life back again. She would take possession of Australis as well as the apartment in Knightsbridge and several other businesses and properties around the world. She had asked Julian to run them, but he had declined. "Why?" I asked him. "Because, Lola, I like what I do," he said. "And that's really why I'm here." Joe and I looked at him curiously. "Baxter and Makepeace, the firm where I work is also owned by my aunt now. I told her I wanted to continue in this business that it gave me a high level of satisfaction. Her idea is

the firm would set up a branch specialising in more, shall I say, challenging investigations." Joe and I were intrigued. Julian continued, "So, it would be an agency that would handle difficult and sensitive cases for customers who wanted discretion above all. One that would have access a lot of funding, but also access to the expertise of a company like Baxter and Makepeace if needed." Joe and I agreed that it sounded great. "My aunt and I would like you both to work for it. Well, with me," he asked nervously. "Seriously?" I asked. "Seriously, man?" echoed Joe. "Yes," he said smiling, "I think we work well as a team. What do you say?"

*** THE END ***

Coming Soon… Don't Shed A Tear by Betty Byers When Lola Hussey, newly fledged Private Investigator, was on a night out at a ragga party in London she spotted someone who looked like her long lost brother, Marley, on the dance floor. As she pushed through the crowd to reach him, two shots rang out and there was alarm as screams replaced the boom of the music. Party goers immediately dropped to the floor in panic. Lola's second case had begun - and this one was much closer to home.

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