Saz?”
Saz shook her head, “Just a sister. But I’m quite close to my brother-in-law. We have an understanding. Doesn’t involve a lot of physical interaction though.”
Peta nodded. “Right. Well, I’m the youngest of five. Four big boys and then me. Alex is the oldest and I love each and every one of them to pieces. And he is a bastard too, Alex. An angry young man, even at his age. This, the being with them, playing about with them, I love it. It’s like being at home again.”
Peta smiled as she walked out of the room, “I make every man my big brother, Saz, that way I’m not tempted to fuck any of them.”
That evening Saz described her day in minute detail for Molly. As they sat down to eat Molly poured Saz a generous glass of Chilean Pinot Noir and asked her if she thought she was likely to be affected by big brother syndrome.
“I don’t know, Moll. I mean, I can see that Siobhan is stunning, it’s common knowledge and confirmed in real life, and I suppose I’d noticed that the boys were good looking too. But I can’t say watching them on telly prepared me for meeting them in the flesh. Their size, their energy. And they’re funny too. To tell the truth, I was impressed. Dan in particular is very beautiful.”
Molly left her Spanish omelette to go cold while shebodily reminded Saz that testosterone or oestrogen, whichever hormone is only as impressive as its results, and Saz went to sleep that night smugly thinking it might not be a bad thing if she could manage to make Molly a little more jealous just a little more often.
TEN
Having spent her first day helping in the office, thereby setting herself up in Peta’s and the boys’ minds as the general help, Saz was itching to get on with her real work. But when she met Siobhan the following morning and asked for access to her and Greg’s old correspondence and some time to talk about any other leads either of them might have—not so friendly old friends, for example—she was met with Siobhan’s claim that they were far too busy to go through all that “old stuff”. When she volunteered to go through their things herself, the response was icy. The shutters came down on Siobhan’s usually smiling huge grey eyes and the dimples fled her chiselled cheeks.
“Saz, I’m perfectly happy to have you rummaging through my past, if you must, but there’s nothing about me and Greg—as a couple—that could possibly have any relevance to the case.”
Saz tried to disagree, “Surely if someone is out to have a go at you, then all your relationships are relevant …”
She was cut off by Siobhan with a wave of the hand, “Greg is not the one being hounded here. I am. This is about me and I’d like to keep him out of it as much as possible. Greg and I are very private people. I don’t like being asked about him, I don’t like being asked about my past. What I do now is public, that’s fine. What I’ve done, what I’ve been, that’s old news.”
She carried on talking, not giving Saz a moment to interrupt, “Believe me, no one I grew up with has ended upwealthy enough to send huge great bunches of yellow roses. And as far as Greg goes, I can’t imagine it’s anyone in New Zealand. Do you have any idea how much it costs to order yellow roses on Interflora these days?”
With that she twinkled a “See you later, must work” while slamming the basement door on Saz, ending the conversation with a bang. Saz stormed back to Peta’s office more certain than ever that Siobhan was hiding something and determined to look into Siobhan’s history at the earliest possible moment.
Alex walked into the office half an hour later looking for his little sister. He looked tired and dishevelled and didn’t bother wishing Saz a good morning, simply growling, “Where’s Peta?”
“She’s gone to the Post Office. Anything I can do to help?”
“Got any drugs?”
Not especially prudish, but all the same surprised at his audacity, Saz didn’t
Saz shook her head, “Just a sister. But I’m quite close to my brother-in-law. We have an understanding. Doesn’t involve a lot of physical interaction though.”
Peta nodded. “Right. Well, I’m the youngest of five. Four big boys and then me. Alex is the oldest and I love each and every one of them to pieces. And he is a bastard too, Alex. An angry young man, even at his age. This, the being with them, playing about with them, I love it. It’s like being at home again.”
Peta smiled as she walked out of the room, “I make every man my big brother, Saz, that way I’m not tempted to fuck any of them.”
That evening Saz described her day in minute detail for Molly. As they sat down to eat Molly poured Saz a generous glass of Chilean Pinot Noir and asked her if she thought she was likely to be affected by big brother syndrome.
“I don’t know, Moll. I mean, I can see that Siobhan is stunning, it’s common knowledge and confirmed in real life, and I suppose I’d noticed that the boys were good looking too. But I can’t say watching them on telly prepared me for meeting them in the flesh. Their size, their energy. And they’re funny too. To tell the truth, I was impressed. Dan in particular is very beautiful.”
Molly left her Spanish omelette to go cold while shebodily reminded Saz that testosterone or oestrogen, whichever hormone is only as impressive as its results, and Saz went to sleep that night smugly thinking it might not be a bad thing if she could manage to make Molly a little more jealous just a little more often.
TEN
Having spent her first day helping in the office, thereby setting herself up in Peta’s and the boys’ minds as the general help, Saz was itching to get on with her real work. But when she met Siobhan the following morning and asked for access to her and Greg’s old correspondence and some time to talk about any other leads either of them might have—not so friendly old friends, for example—she was met with Siobhan’s claim that they were far too busy to go through all that “old stuff”. When she volunteered to go through their things herself, the response was icy. The shutters came down on Siobhan’s usually smiling huge grey eyes and the dimples fled her chiselled cheeks.
“Saz, I’m perfectly happy to have you rummaging through my past, if you must, but there’s nothing about me and Greg—as a couple—that could possibly have any relevance to the case.”
Saz tried to disagree, “Surely if someone is out to have a go at you, then all your relationships are relevant …”
She was cut off by Siobhan with a wave of the hand, “Greg is not the one being hounded here. I am. This is about me and I’d like to keep him out of it as much as possible. Greg and I are very private people. I don’t like being asked about him, I don’t like being asked about my past. What I do now is public, that’s fine. What I’ve done, what I’ve been, that’s old news.”
She carried on talking, not giving Saz a moment to interrupt, “Believe me, no one I grew up with has ended upwealthy enough to send huge great bunches of yellow roses. And as far as Greg goes, I can’t imagine it’s anyone in New Zealand. Do you have any idea how much it costs to order yellow roses on Interflora these days?”
With that she twinkled a “See you later, must work” while slamming the basement door on Saz, ending the conversation with a bang. Saz stormed back to Peta’s office more certain than ever that Siobhan was hiding something and determined to look into Siobhan’s history at the earliest possible moment.
Alex walked into the office half an hour later looking for his little sister. He looked tired and dishevelled and didn’t bother wishing Saz a good morning, simply growling, “Where’s Peta?”
“She’s gone to the Post Office. Anything I can do to help?”
“Got any drugs?”
Not especially prudish, but all the same surprised at his audacity, Saz didn’t
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