Aftermath to an Accident · Part 2 (2/2)
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“You’re with a good firm I see,” was his comment, “And appear to have a good position. They’re a rising star and going international. They’ve already got affiliations with EuroWest.”
She looked at him sharply on hearing this. This was classified information. Very few people knew about it. “How do you know this?” she asked.
He laughed, “My people have their sources. They have contacts in many places.” She was beginning to wonder about these “people” of his. Who were they?
They talked for a while about an aspect of far eastern finance her firm was getting into, including an international figure, whom she knew, very few in this country had ever heard of. This man spoke knowledgeably about this personage’s association with the Middle East. She began to think there was more to him than she had thought.
The last object on the bureau was another framed photograph. Taken at a wedding, the newly married couple in their going away clothes were about to leave the reception to go on their honeymoon. The bride, a happy Rosemary pictured perhaps fifteen years before.
He looked at this and then asked quietly and with interest, “You’re divorced? Or perhaps widowed?”
Rosemary had been thinking carefully.
This man had come into her life suddenly and without warning. It was pure chance, he might have invaded any apartment in this building. Or he might have gone to any other unit block in the entire area. And he would go eventually, just as quickly. Rosemary assumed he was just as eager to leave her as she was to see the last of him. And once he was gone, she would never see him again. But for the meantime they were stuck with each other for at least two hours.
So she must make the best of this situation. Which was not of her choosing.
She answered his question. “A widow. For well over five years now.”
Though apparently on the run from the law, he did not come across as a common criminal. Perhaps white collar crime? She decided she could tell a little of herself.
“Married nearly fifteen years ago. We were gloriously happy for two years. And then cancer. I couldn’t leave him. We stayed together. I ended up nursing him in his last years. He finally went about six years back.”
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” He sounded sincere. Was he?
“But,” he went on, “You seem to have put it behind you. You own this place I gather? Not the grandest address in the City but a very long way from being the worst. Upper middle class, I’d call it. You’ve done very well.”
She smiled sadly, “There was enough from the insurance and what was left from his estate for me to set to set myself up here. I know it’s a long way out but I didn’t want a mortgage. I wasn’t earning much at the time.” She nodded towards her business cards. “It’s different now.”
She sat there, her wrists tied behind her back, her ankles securely knotted. Bound with strips of her own towelling. Their relationship, captor and his lady captive. Yet she felt despite this he was a sensitive, perhaps even a caring man. In any case he would go soon. She continued to talk.
“Unfortunately I’ve picked up a local reputation for being a wealthy widow. Largely untrue, but you know how rumours take hold in these isolated suburban backwaters.” She laughed, “Be assured though, I’m working on it. I’d certainly like to become a lady of means. Meanwhile, I get a certain amount of attention.”
He nodded sympathetically, “I can imagine the attention you’re getting. Penniless adventurers, fortune hunters on the make. The born losers with half a working lifetime behind them and nothing to show for it. All looking for a profitable marriage that will enable them to live in the style they would like to become accustomed to.”
She agreed ruefully, “True enough. This area seems to have more than its quota of divorced males who came off second best in a property settlement. They blame femininity for their troubles and are looking for a comfortably off woman to make it all up for them. Well, they haven’t found one in me.”
He nodded thoughtfully. On impulse she decided to put the ball into his court. "And yourself? Do you have a partner?” She did not really expect an answer to to this.
Surprisingly, he told her. He was silent for a moment and then said quietly. “Many years ago a very fine lady and myself had a relationship which went on for nearly a decade. It was heavenly most of the time and we even talked of marrying. But in the end we decided the old saying applied. ’They had a wonderful relationship but spoiled it all by getting married.’”
"We parted company about three years ago. We’re still friends and see each other from time to time, after all we’re both with the same organisation (these ‘people' of his). We’ve been lovers on occasion. But the old fire’s just not there,” he concluded with a wry smile, “Just as well we didn’t marry. We might not have been able to stand one another by now.”
She was silent for some moments and then said softly, “I’m sorry.”
“It seems we’re both sorry. We’ve both used the expression.”
Silence from Rosemary. She gave the impression she was choosing her words very carefully now. “Perhaps we’re the same sort of people.”
They stared at each other.
He sat up and leaned towards her. He put his hands on her wrists, whether to check her bonds, tighten or loosen them was not clear. Their faces moved very close, their cheeks brushed. And then their lips met. Nothing happened for some seconds and then – a kiss. To which they both responded.
They parted. She was thinking. I’ve got nothing to lose here. He’ll be out of my life forever soon. By now he probably wants to fuck me and at this stage, I’d like it too. And why not? I’d enjoy it. It'll be the first time in months and perhaps it’ll be a good one. Why not? It’s been a rotten, lonely time ever since Adrian went. Why not, indeed?
He spoke first, hesitatingly. “Look. Do you feel that we..? It’s been a long time since I’ve had…”
“Yes,” she said firmly, “I do feel. I certainly do feel we could. And it’s been a long time for me too.” She leaned back, “If you would be so good as to untie me I’ll be able to respond to your caresses.” Without a word he undid the towel lashings around her wrists and ankles.
They stood up and embraced. A long and satisfying kiss. “I think perhaps it will be most satisfactory for both of us,” she whispered. She turned and pointed at her bed behind them, “And I think this will be a suitable place.” She gathered up every one of the towel strips which had been used to bind her and put them on the floor. “A little neatness on the love couch,” she smiled. Her vaginal orifice was already beginning to moisten. By the same token he was getting an erection. He took off his shirt, then slipped off his shoes and placed them neatly beside her boots. Lastly he removed his jeans.
Rosemary carefully unbuttoned her blouse, then unfastened her blue suit skirt and stepped out of it. Both of them placed their discarded clothing on the wooden chest of drawers containing the three objects they had discussed before. Each did this with some care. Neatness, it seemed was another thing they had in common.
Wordlessly, they faced each other in their underwear. They embraced, kissed each other and began to remove each other’s undergarments.
The next hour was pure heaven.
About an hour and a half later they were both back in the lounge room. He in his shirt sleeves, she wrapped in a white fluffy dressing gown with her hair tousled, rubbed dry after a hot shower in the last fifteen minutes. They were seated each side of a small table with cups of strong black coffee in front of them. Both looked calm and relaxed, all signs of strain and tension gone.
He spoke. “It’s nearly time for my people to be here.” These people again. “They won’t be happy about the accident out there,” he went on, “It’s meant some information’s fallen into the wrong hands. But it’s not the end of the world. There’ll be a few strings pulled here and there and it’ll all be smoothed over.” He concluded, “No one could’ve predicted a careless driver would lose control and run into a parked car that wasn’t even occupied at the time.”
She wondered what this was really all about and then decided she didn’t care. It had all worked out well for her. Very well indeed.
At that moment the unit intercom sounded. Someone at the front door wanted to talk to the occupants of the apartment. He got up saying, “That'll be my caller. I’ll answer it if that’s OK?” She smiled her agreement. He spoke into the mouthpiece and then admitted the party to the building. “She’s on her way up. And look, if you also don’t mind, I’d better open the door to her.” She nodded understandingly.
The lady who had just entered the building was Beryl. She was about the same age as the man she had come to pick up, possibly slightly older. She had a firm, athletic figure and a determined face with straight brown hair in a page boy cut. Tonight she was wearing a heavy raincoat spattered with raindrops. Clearly the weather was taking a turn for the worse.
She and the man embraced wordlessly in the opened doorway, her trench coat rustling as they did so. He stepped back and said, “I won’t use names for introduction here, it’s hardly appropriate. This lady,” he turned toward Rosemary who was standing a few feet away, “has been my hostess for the last few hours. And I will say, she's been very gracious. And here,” he indicated Beryl, “Is my courier. Come to take me away.” Both householder and the newly arrived visitor nodded to each other.
Beryl spoke. “The weather’s worsening.” Her damp trench coat testified to this. She turned to the man, “I see they’ve established a crime scene at the site of your accident down the road. There’s a car parked there now with two officers in it.” Her expression softened somewhat, “As to those papers they found, there’s a few old favours being called in in high places about them. It’ll be sorted out in the end. And,” she smiled, "The general opinion seems to be you ought to avoid parking organisation vehicles on busy roads.”
“Indeed,” he commented, “Well I’m glad it’s being taken care of.” He looked at Beryl, “And I suppose you’ll want to be off now.”
“We do have a long way to go. I’m parked in a visitor slot in the parking area downstairs,” she looked around the apartment. “But is there anything you need to do here?” This last to the man.
“I’ll get my coat. It’s in the bedroom.” He turned and left the room.
Beryl turned toward Rosemary and faced her. “I hope you haven’t been too greatly inconvenienced by all this,” she took her by the arm and led her into the lounge room, “I can see you’re quite comfortable now,” she glanced at the soft dressing gown, “But did he bind and gag you at first? I can well imagine how he must have felt when he found himself suddenly on his own in this part of the world. Which was quite unknown to him.”
Rosemary could see no harm in admitting this. These people would go soon. “He did tie me up but we later came to an agreement. Let’s say it all worked out very satisfactorily.”
“I’m glad you’re taking it that way,” said Beryl. She looked closely, “He's a decent man. I know that. And gentle too.” Rosemary wondered. Was this the woman her recent partner in love had spent almost a decade of his life with? The visitor continued, “And was there any damage to your property?”
Rosemary laughed, “Only a threadbare old towel which should have been thrown out long ago, torn into strips.” At this moment the man came back to the room.
He was wearing his leather coat and holding the strips used to tie Rosemary up with in his hand. Beryl looked at these and said “We’d better take those with us.” She produced a plastic bag and stuffed the pieces of towelling into it. “We don’t need to leave anything behind.”
The man stopped and looked at Rosemary. “Back in there I took the liberty of taking one of your business cards out of the box.” He removed it from his jacket pocket, displayed it and then put it away. She merely nodded, though well aware it contained both her business and private telephone numbers. “I’ll take very good care of it. No one else’ll ever see it.”
She smiled, “Very few people have one of those. They haven’t been given to everybody.”
“That will make me treasure it all the more.”
Beryl watched this exchange thoughtfully. “Well then, if there’s nothing else we can be on our way.”
Rosemary, still wearing her white dressing gown, walked with them to the front door of the apartment building. She watched them hurry through the the increasing rain to the car Beryl had driven up in. As they drove off she raised her hand.
She walked back up to her apartment, wondering. Will anything come of this?
She hoped so.
Aftermath to an Accident · Part 2 (2/2)
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