It was another hour before Sofia emerged through the double glass doors.
“Have you seen him?” asked Anna, before Sofia had even shut the car door.
“I have, yes. And he’s in good spirits considering. I hope you didn’t mind me taking so long, I just thought you would appreciate Anton having a bit of company for a while.”
“Does he not have friends in there?”
“He has made a few acquaintances, but it didn’t sound like he has any good friends. Anton seemed to appreciate a bit of female company for a while.”
“Are they going to release him?”
“Uumm… no. He has applied for assisted voluntary return. He has also asked them to do it as fast as possible.”
“But…”
“Don’t panic, Anna. He thinks it is better to go back to Latvia and then come back again. He’s probably right, it probably will be better than waiting for the wheels of justice to go through due process.”
“But that will cost money.”
“Kevin knows someone who will help. We’ll sort something out on the money front. You’re right, it will cost a few bob now he is in the system. We won’t be able to get him in on a tourist visa, like you should have done in the first place. You were both well ripped off by those guys.”
“How long will it take to get Anton back to England?”
“Six months, tops. Maybe four if things go well.”
Anna’s brain spun round inside her skull. Was that good news, or was that bad news? She would be getting her Anton back, but even four months seemed an awfully long time to be without him again.
“We’ll look after you, don’t worry.”
“I worry for Anton, not me.”
“He’ll be alright. They’ve got gyms, television, computers and bloody art classes in there. The only thing he hasn’t got is a woman to fuck.”
Sofia’s crudeness shocked Anna a little. “A woman to love.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” smiled Sofia, leaning across slightly. “He gave me something to give you.”
“He gave you something…”
Before Anna finished her sentence, Sofia planted a hand on her left breast and playfully squeezed it.
“No, don’t move. Anton was insistent about squeezing both of them.” She squeezed the other one. “There, favour delivered.”
“Anton… asked you to do that?”
“Pass it on, is what he said.”
More cogs turned inside Anna’s head. “Did he squeeze your tits?”
“Oh Anna, it was a bit of fun. I let him have a discrete fondle. For pity’s sake, the guy is locked up with God knows how many blokes. It absolutely stinks of testosterone inside that place. And bleach.”
“I didn’t think Anton would do something like that.”
“Is he not a bloke then?” She started the car’s engine. “Let’s just get back home and I will give you a blow-by-blow account of what we said.”
“Okay, I need to know.”
“Of course you do babe, but there is no point getting uptight about the situation. You chose to come here, just like I did.”
“But you are married to your lover. You live in a nice house together.”
“Oh Anna, don’t be so naive, I don’t love Kevin. He’s a meal ticket, a new shoes voucher. I get on with him, but I don’t love him.”
“So when you married, you did not love each other?”
“We loved to fuck each other, but we didn’t love each other.”
“You only married him to get to England?”
“Well, America was also towards the top of my list. Look, why don’t I be straight with you. I was going to put you straight once before, but for some reason it didn’t happen. Would you like me to explain Kevin and me?”
“Yes please.”
“Right, here goes then. A reality check is probably what you need right now.”
“A reality check?”
“Never mind that. I’ll start back in Estonia with Alexie. When I was seventeen I used to go into town at weekends. My friends and I didn’t have any money, so we would sit on walls, chat and watch the world go by. And one day Alexie went by. He also turned round and came back again.”
“Even though he was almost twice my age, I was thrilled to bits when he asked me if I wanted to go for a beer. As we walked away from them, I imagined how jealous my friends would be. He was good to me that night. It was my first taste of the good life. I gave him a blowjob to say thank you.”
“Sofia, what are you saying?”
“It was no big deal. I had given plenty of lads a blowjob before then. Fooling around was all part of an evening’s entertainment. Besides, it gets worse. Just a mo, I need to concentrate here.” She pulled out into the middle of a roundabout, not quite sure why the M3 was being signposted back in the direction had just come from.
“Where was I? Oh yes, Alexie. Well, to cut a long story short, he used to entertain me every time he was over on business from Russia. And I used to entertain him in return.”
“He was Russian?”
“Yes, he was Russian. I lost my virginity to a Russian business man, who also turned out to be married. Mind, I didn’t find that out until he took me on holiday to Egypt. Light bulbs were his thing.”
“Your mother let you go to Egypt with him?”
“Oh, I was eighteen by then, she couldn’t stop me. She tried mind, bless her.”
“How did you find out he was married?”
“Ah, I’ve got it now. I see what we’ve done. Sorry, I wasn’t sure we were going the right way. But we are.”
Sofia continued her story. “We stayed at the Hilton in Sharm El Sheikh. It was like living in paradise for a fortnight. All I had to do was play the glamour girl when we were out and about together, and play the whore when he was feeling horny. I was probably better at the whore bit,” she laughed. “I was never sure if the next bit was by chance, or design, but one of his colleagues was staying at the same hotel. He also had a young woman in tow. We were on the beach, topping up our tans together, one afternoon.”
“You and Alexie?”
“No, me and this other girl. That was when she told me both men were married and she was being paid for her services.” Sofia laughed again. “She couldn’t believe I wasn’t raking it in. I didn’t know whether to feel used, abused, or just plain jealous.”
“Needless to say, Alexie and me had a flaming great row that night. Go on then you bastard, cut in front of me. I panicked a bit though, I can tell you. The bastard had my return ticket, where was I going to go if I walked out on him? I calmed down and I sulked for a while. He went out that night without me, leaving me to stew over what he was up to, and who with.”
“What he did was; he hired another room for the night. Well, they were like mini-villas really. After lunch the following day he came to see me, and to be fair to him, he gave me a choice. He laid a re-booked ticket for a flight home that night down on the table. Next to it, he placed a pile of Russian money. ‘Either take the ticket, or stay and take your first daily allowance’. I took the allowance. And that, Anna, is how I became a prostitute.”
“You did not go home?”
“I went home once the two weeks were up, but I looked around me and said to myself, I deserve better than this. So I flew back to Egypt about a month later. I also went to Dubai a couple of times. It all seemed so exciting at first, but then I started hearing stories and they were not nice stories. I got friendly with a girl in Dubai. She got locked up for spending the night in a hotel room with an Aussie.”
“I went back to Sharm, but soon realised I was no safer there, for different reasons though. Some of the men were absolute bastards. You really had to be careful, I can tell you. And then my knight in shining armour approached me in a hotel lounge-bar one evening. We chatted, and I dropped my price considerably once I realised he was not rolling in it. He had a British passport though, that’s the key point.”
“You mean Kevin?”
“Yes, Kevin. I snared him by giving him my mobile number on an otherwise blank card, and offering two additional nights for the price of one. He loves special offers does my Kevin. And he treats me well.”
“I see.”
“Does that shock you?”
“Shock, no. I do have trouble… I am sorry; I do not know the word.”
“Relating to it, empathising with it, maybe?”
“Maybe.” Anna looked towards the driver of the car they were passing on the motorway.
“Well, I have no regrets. If I hadn’t done it, I would still be a poor girl and most likely married to an alcoholic husband back in Estonia. I am also proud of the fact that I was always in control, I never allowed myself to be pimped, and always walked away from anything that smelt of trafficking. I kept my destiny firmly in my own hands.”
Anna did not respond. The eyes of a lorry driver dropped down onto her as they passed his truck in the middle lane. Anton is a good man, he would not pay for sex, she thought.
“You must have thought about it as a solution to your problem.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about Anton.”
“I was saying, you must have thought about making a bit of money that way. You certainly could use some money right now.”
“I would prefer to have good work. I am not a lazy person.”
“No Anna, I know that. All I am saying is, I bet it has crossed your mind.”
“All I am thinking about is Anton. I want to have sex only with Anton.”
“Well, I don’t regret doing it. The men are distant memories now. What I did with them is neither here nor there. I did it to get where I wanted to be, and then I moved on. Maybe you should do the same.”
“Hello, do you speak English?” Harrington had the phone to his ear and a pen hovering over the notepad on his desk.
“A little.”
“I am hoping to speak to Francoise Fournier.”
“Who are you?”
“DS Harrington. I am with the Metropolitan police in London.”
“And why do you want to speak to me?”
“Ah,” he chuckled. “To make sure you are alive.”
“Why, am I in danger?”
“No. Well, not that I know of.”
“I do not understand this Mr ‘arrington.”
“Are you the same Francoise Fournier who started her nurse’s training in Cambridge, England?”
“Well why, yes.”
“And you had an attic bedroom in a house on Mill Road?”
“I did, yes?”
“And you did not complete the course.”
“No, I did not.”
“Well, that is good then.”
“It was not good Mr ‘arrington. It was not a nice place to live. The English are so prejudice about a woman’s sexuality.”
“I think we’ve improved a bit since then. But the main thing is that you are alive and well. You may remember another nurse went missing around the same time…”
“I did not go missing! I returned to a civilised country, France.”
“Well, there was none of that on the records, so I wanted to check nothing untoward had happened to you.”
“Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s all Madam.”
The phone went dead.
Harrington put his phone down and wrote ungrateful lesbian bitch under the name Francoise Fournier. He then crossed through lesbian and wrote French in its place. Finally he tore off the top sheet, screwed it into a ball, and tossed it into the bin.
“I guess I could be disciplined for that,” he muttered. “All that bloody research and that’s how I get treated.”
Chapter 13
“What are your plans for the day darling?” asked Daniel Wilkinson, as they sat at the breakfast table.
“I am riding with Rosemary at eleven.”
“Huh,” he rolled up his napkin. “If I didn’t know you better, I would wonder if you were having an affair with that filly.”
“Oh darling, why would I want an affair with anyone? I am just so grateful you married me.”
“Come here darling.”
Felicity rose from her chair and went to her husband’s side. He planted his hand on her rump. “You would never leave me, would you darling?”
“You silly old fool, I would never do anything to jeopardise what we have.”
“I am so glad to hear that.”
Felicity leant down to kiss him. As their lips engaged, he squeezed her buttock a bit harder.
“Shall we have an early night tonight?” asked Felicity.
“That would be wonderful. I hope not to bring too much paperwork home.”
“You work too hard Daniel. Give yourself a night off.”
“I will see what I can do.”
As Felicity stood up straight, her husband kissed a breast through her blouse.
“You seem a bit friskier than normal. What has brought this on?”
“I think I have been neglecting you. I want to spend more time with you. The truth is Felicity; I am frightened of losing you.”
“And why should you lose me?”
“You are a beautiful woman, you deserve to be pampered and cared for, you deserve to be loved more than perhaps I have done.”
“Well, don’t you worry about losing me. It is I that should worry about losing you. I will show you how much I love you later tonight.”
“Good morning Felicity,” chirped Sarah. “I was not expecting you so soon.”
“I needed some air.”
“Are you going to wait for Rosemary? Should I tie Lester up?”
“No, I will take him for a trot around the paddock and over a few jumps while I wait.” She placed her riding hat on her head and secured the strap under her chin.
Once she was up on Lester’s back, she struck. “Sarah, is it true that you shagged Phillip in his Range Rover?”
“I guess your girlfriend told you that.”
“Mind your words young lady.”
“Or what?”
“Or I shall have words with Lord Kearsey.”
“Are you telling me you don’t know?”
Felicity did not respond. She just looked indifferent.
“Phillip bought the stables from him six months ago.”
“Well, I shall have…” She swallowed the end of the sentence.
“So whatever Phillip and I did, or did not do, is between him and me.”
“Come on Lester,” Felicity kicked him a little harder than necessary, and pulled the reins sharply. “Tell Rosemary I will meet her at the airfield.”
“As you wish, ma’am.” Sarah saluted mockingly.
As she rode out of the yard, a fuming Felicity pondered on Sarah’s motive for the incident Rosemary had observed. Was it because she was attracted to Phillip, or was it in some way connected to him being her new boss, or maybe, both? She came to the conclusion that whatever Sarah’s motive, Phillip’s motive centred upon him being a philandering bastard. He was a philandering bastard who had not mentioned his purchase of the stables, despite how close they were. She would get her revenge somehow.
Some twenty minutes passed before Rosemary rode up the track skirting the airfield. “Hello, Felicity,” she shouted.
“Hello, Rosemary. I was beginning to think you were not going to make it.”
“Sorry, I had trouble getting rid of someone. How are you?”
“Oh I’m fine. You?”
“I’m good.”
“I am intrigued. Who did you have trouble getting rid of?”
“Her name’s Deborah. Or I should say Debbie, as she insists on being called. She seemed worth getting to know at first.”
“Are we talking about a cyber friend?” Felicity struggled to disguise her amusement.
“Yes. And you can stop smiling.”
“Oh, I’m sorry Rosemary. I know it can’t be easy for you. Tell me more about this Debbie. I need something to cheer me up a bit.”
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�You need something to cheer you up, so you want a joke at my expense?”
“I just need something to take my mind off things. And as I say, I do not blame you for doing the internet thingy, but you may be wise not to take it too seriously yourself.”
“Well, I have to say, you certainly have to filter out some weirdos. I will tell you a tale or two in a minute. First, tell me what is bugging you.”
“Did you know Phillip has bought the riding school and stables?”
“He hasn’t? Well, he certainly kept that one quiet.”
“That is what I thought.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Sarah told me when I arrived this morning.”
“Well, if anyone would know, she would.”
“Do you think they are still, you know?”
“Oh no, I meant because she works there, that is all. They probably are still shagging though.”
Felicity gulped. “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t think what I saw them doing was a one-off shag. No, you would not let a man put a rein and bit on you if you were not in at least some kind of relationship with him. And Phillip will regard her as a young bit of skirt, so he is bound to go back for more. You know what men are like, if she is still game, he will be. Though, why she lets him do things like that to her, I will never know. It is not as if she won’t be aware of what he is like.”
Even though Felicity knew she would not like what she heard, she still wanted Rosemary to spell it out for her. “What is he like?”
Rosemary laughed out loud. “He will shag anything with a fanny. He would even shag Desiree given half a chance.”
“Desiree?”
“A butch bitch that keeps sending me photos of her naked on a building site.” She giggled. “I will show you the one of her wrapped round a cement mixer if you are interested. I have it on my phone.”
“No thank you.”
“What is the matter with you Felicity? You look almost ready to cry.”
The urge to confess to her affair with Phillip was overwhelming. She just managed to prevent herself from doing so. “I was a bit sharp with Sarah earlier; that is all.”
“You don’t need to worry about that, Sarah’s a tough cookie. Any woman who allows Phillip Hetherington-Jones to put his todger up her fanny, has more to worry about than you being a bit sharp with her, I can tell you.”
Down in the Woods Page 18