us.” He hid himself by getting close up to the canvas.
“You live in a completely different world to me, Erik. The business world is so conventional and if anyone wants anything unusual they have to pay money for it. What was it like?”
“Sex with Craig?”
“I’m more interested in hearing about the threesome. I would hate two women and a man but I can imagine two men and a woman.”
“I expect it could be arranged. Do you have two men in mind?”
“No, I don’t mean me, I mean in theory. What was it like with Xena and Craig? Did Xena enjoy it?”
“I’ll tell you when we’ve done it. It hasn’t happened yet. It has to happen naturally. We’re going out tomorrow to a party, the three of us. Maybe then?”
“A party? How long is it since I’ve been to a party? I mean a proper one with music and dancing and interesting people. I only go to business functions where everyone’s brown-nosing and pretending to have a good time with people they don’t like at all.”
“Come along with us then. The music should be good – it’s at Omar Zidane’s place in Notting Hill. They’ve gone to his concert tonight.”
“Wouldn’t Omar mind me turning up uninvited?”
“It’s not that sort of party. We won’t be sitting down to dinner. It’ll be a load of people hanging out. You don’t have to decide now. It wouldn’t hurt for you to let your hair down, Caroline. You seem jaded. That’s it for tonight. Get dressed.”
She stood up and walked round to look at the emerging picture. It shocked her. Is that what he saw, stripping off the layers? Her body was hunched, her shoulders rigid with tension, her toes pointing like they did in a meeting. And was that her face? Yes, it was. It was her work face. Tight, bland and false.
♥ ♥ ♥
Robert worked away on the desk in the undercroft. He was now two-thirds through Regina’s confessions. She had remembered some details – ornaments on fireplaces, gilded mirrors in bedrooms – which would send shivers down the victim’s back, if they were true of course. He might need to check one or two details out for himself to make sure that Regina had not just penned elaborate fantasies.
He tried to imagine asking a director’s wife if she had a small rose tattoo on her left thigh, or checking with the pension fund manager that he only had one testicle. Perhaps the wife of the human resources director could confirm or deny that he smelled of cheese and needed to watch an hour of Japanese pornography before he could engage in the sexual act?
He tapped notes into his tablet for later consideration. A draft announced that someone else was descending to the undercroft. Regina’s morning teaching had finished and Georgina wanted her coffee and smoke.
“Shall I make enough for two?”
“Rather,” said Robert. Georgina pulled out some boxes of dried beans and removed her secret supplies and a small cafetiere. She carried them, stooping to avoid disturbing her hair, through to the dungeon where there was a sink and a calorgas stove. Robert followed.
“Christ, it pongs a bit,” said Robert. “It reminds me of the gym.”
“That’s because Ness uses it for exercise at night. He does pull ups from the manacles and lifts the rack up and down. He must be extremely strong because I can’t budge it an inch.”
“Who is this Ness? I heard his name whispered a few times at breakfast.”
“Regina brought him over from Barlinnie. You must know it, the Glasgow gaol. That’s the story, anyway. None of us have actually seen him. He’s in seclusion – through there.” She pointed at a large steel door. “It’s the gaol pit of the castle. They used to throw the prisoner down into it from the courtyard above. Regina’s turned it into an isolation cell.”
“Does he need representing?”
“Regina says he’s there of his own free will. Apparently he’s doing the programme alone and he’s not allowed to ejaculate until the moon ceremony. Regina
“You live in a completely different world to me, Erik. The business world is so conventional and if anyone wants anything unusual they have to pay money for it. What was it like?”
“Sex with Craig?”
“I’m more interested in hearing about the threesome. I would hate two women and a man but I can imagine two men and a woman.”
“I expect it could be arranged. Do you have two men in mind?”
“No, I don’t mean me, I mean in theory. What was it like with Xena and Craig? Did Xena enjoy it?”
“I’ll tell you when we’ve done it. It hasn’t happened yet. It has to happen naturally. We’re going out tomorrow to a party, the three of us. Maybe then?”
“A party? How long is it since I’ve been to a party? I mean a proper one with music and dancing and interesting people. I only go to business functions where everyone’s brown-nosing and pretending to have a good time with people they don’t like at all.”
“Come along with us then. The music should be good – it’s at Omar Zidane’s place in Notting Hill. They’ve gone to his concert tonight.”
“Wouldn’t Omar mind me turning up uninvited?”
“It’s not that sort of party. We won’t be sitting down to dinner. It’ll be a load of people hanging out. You don’t have to decide now. It wouldn’t hurt for you to let your hair down, Caroline. You seem jaded. That’s it for tonight. Get dressed.”
She stood up and walked round to look at the emerging picture. It shocked her. Is that what he saw, stripping off the layers? Her body was hunched, her shoulders rigid with tension, her toes pointing like they did in a meeting. And was that her face? Yes, it was. It was her work face. Tight, bland and false.
♥ ♥ ♥
Robert worked away on the desk in the undercroft. He was now two-thirds through Regina’s confessions. She had remembered some details – ornaments on fireplaces, gilded mirrors in bedrooms – which would send shivers down the victim’s back, if they were true of course. He might need to check one or two details out for himself to make sure that Regina had not just penned elaborate fantasies.
He tried to imagine asking a director’s wife if she had a small rose tattoo on her left thigh, or checking with the pension fund manager that he only had one testicle. Perhaps the wife of the human resources director could confirm or deny that he smelled of cheese and needed to watch an hour of Japanese pornography before he could engage in the sexual act?
He tapped notes into his tablet for later consideration. A draft announced that someone else was descending to the undercroft. Regina’s morning teaching had finished and Georgina wanted her coffee and smoke.
“Shall I make enough for two?”
“Rather,” said Robert. Georgina pulled out some boxes of dried beans and removed her secret supplies and a small cafetiere. She carried them, stooping to avoid disturbing her hair, through to the dungeon where there was a sink and a calorgas stove. Robert followed.
“Christ, it pongs a bit,” said Robert. “It reminds me of the gym.”
“That’s because Ness uses it for exercise at night. He does pull ups from the manacles and lifts the rack up and down. He must be extremely strong because I can’t budge it an inch.”
“Who is this Ness? I heard his name whispered a few times at breakfast.”
“Regina brought him over from Barlinnie. You must know it, the Glasgow gaol. That’s the story, anyway. None of us have actually seen him. He’s in seclusion – through there.” She pointed at a large steel door. “It’s the gaol pit of the castle. They used to throw the prisoner down into it from the courtyard above. Regina’s turned it into an isolation cell.”
“Does he need representing?”
“Regina says he’s there of his own free will. Apparently he’s doing the programme alone and he’s not allowed to ejaculate until the moon ceremony. Regina
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