He's Talking Secrets

by Rose, taylor

  Marty arrived before Brandon had finished his coffee. Gee he was quick he hadn’t even changed into his customary suit. Brandon got straight to the point. “I am looking at acquiring some property here in England.”

  “You are joking surely, Brandon. You called me in to discuss a property acquisition? With all that is going on around you?”

  “I have nothing to hide. I was well gone before Fleur took those tablets. She had her Manager and a doctor in the rooms with her when I left and she was fine. I am desperately sorry that she tried to take her own life but I was not there.”

  “The police are apparently on their way to talk to me. I have nothing to hide and I don’t really know if I can tell them anything others would not be able to.” Brandon shrugged. Maybe he was not taking this seriously enough.

  “Right before we talk about real estate, tell me exactly what happened last night………..”

  Thirty minutes later the lift doors opened and two suits walked out into the foyer. Brandon could see them from his office which had a glass frontage. Lisbeth walked out to meet them and showed them into his offices. He stood up as they entered the door. He was introduced to them and he introduced Martin to them but they seemed to know who he was already. But then in London didn’t know him especially in the legal profession. They all sat down and he waited. One of the Officers asked about his movements, which he told them. They asked about his relationship with Fleur, of which he told them. They asked about Fleur's mental state, which he told them, in his unprofessional opinion. Both officers kept glancing at Marty and Brandon knew how it must look to have “Lawyered up” so soon. One of the Officers looked around the spacious office and commented that Brandon had done well for himself. Asked about how he could afford all of this. Brandon thought that he was branching off into an area that was not related. But he answered the questions with limited information. You could never be sure where personal information could end up these days. Marty jumped in and told them just who Brandon was and whilst one of the officers seemed impressed, the other didn’t. Detective Unimpressed asked why Brandon had called Martin into the office on a Sunday morning if he had nothing to hide. Brandon’s answer was truthful in that he had other legal matters to deal with and this was a good time for both of them. The two Officers were leaving when it occurred to Brandon to ask, “How is Fleur doing? I should have asked earlier.”

  “As far as we know her condition is the same. Miss Marriet is in a coma, serious but stable. The hospital got some of the tablets out of her system but most were partially absorbed. It will be a wait and see. If we have any further questions we will be in touch.” Detective Unimpressed turned at the lift and flippantly said “Oh, don’t leave the country until this is sorted. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter, Sir.” With that they left.

  Brandon turned to Martin and said “Right I have a number of things I need you to do for me as well and I need to buy a property….. “

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Sophia went down stairs on heavy feet. She felt desperately empty. She should have realized that the bubble would burst. But in one day! That was extraordinary. In fact it must be some sort of record. Maybe she should contact the Guinness Book of Records? She would add it to the list of things to do. As she came through the kitchen door her hackles went up. Why? Agnes turned towards her as Harold busied himself with the Sunday papers. In fact he was folding them up and about to throw them in the recycled paper pile. Something was up. Agnes went white and suddenly looked like a cat caught in a cars headlights. She was never good at lying. This often worked to Sophia advantage.

  “OK, what is going on?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just tidying up a little after yesterday. By golly it was a good day, wasn’t it?” Agnes gushed. Then perhaps she realized what she had said.

  Sophia shrugged her shoulders, she knew what Agnes was trying to say. “Actually, it was a good day. Have you any idea how the villages went with extracting funds from the event?”

  Agnes jumped on the opportunity to fix her gaff. “No, not yet but by all accounts it was a really good day. When you think where the Hunt was only a few years ago to now, well it’s impressive. You have done an amazing job. You know, we all can’t thank you enough for all that you do for us.”

  “Agnes, you know I would do just about anything for you and our little community. But I will not let you put those papers in the bin thinking that I do not know that you are both trying to stop me from reading them. So hand them over, and tell me what it is that you are protecting me from.”

  Harold and Agnes looked at each other and then Harold picked up the paper and walked over to the kitchen table. He held onto the paper and looked at Sophia. “It may not be what it looks like. You know the Sunday rags. They are notorious for scandal.” He folded the paper out and said ‘Take a deep breath and it’s on page three.”

  “I’ll get you a cup of tea.” Agnes headed for the stove.

  Oh good God. Bad enough she had made a complete fool of herself with a man she barely knew but to have it plastered all over a national paper for all to see. What would everyone think? She read the article again to see if she had missed something. No, she caught the fact that she was a page three girl. The article didn’t name her and there was speculation about her identity. She was described as the British gold digger. That hit too close to home having spent years with people saying exactly that about her. She could not stop the tears from forming and sliding down her cheeks. Harold was there and wiped them away silently with his linen handkerchief. She took a deep breath and sat up straighter. All right…..she thought. She started to voice her thoughts. Her name was not mentioned. No one knew who this mystery woman was and it didn’t seem to matter. The article was mainly about Brandon and Hollywood Fleur. There seemed to be great conjecture about how Fleur would take Brandon’s indiscretion. Harold added that these things blow over quickly when the next supposed scandal arose. That was true. She mentioned the things that Brandon had said in the Pub last night including that he would be in touch and that Fleur had never meant anything to him. Both Harold and Agnes agreed that he seemed honest and genuinely keen on her. She blushed at that.

  “OK. I’ll sit it out and wait for him to contact me, as he said he would.”

  Harold put his hand on her shoulder and gave a squeeze.

  “I think that is the way to go. I was outside the pub last night with him, this actress woman does not hold Brandon’s interest. I can assure you, My Lady. I do not think you have anything to worry about.” It didn’t make her feel any less sad.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Lisbeth I love you but if you keep waking me up I think I might start to dislike you immensely.” Brandon hadn’t realized he had fallen asleep again. He was having trouble staying awake but then he had only had 6 hours of broken sleep since Friday morning and a fair bit had happened since then.

  “The Police would like to see you at the Station. I have contacted Martin again and he has kindly agreed to give up his entire Sunday for you.” She handed him another cup of coffee and a slice of cake. “Eat, drink and I’ll organize your car.”

  He was shown through to an interview room with Marty. Brandon had no idea why. But it had suddenly become serious. The two detectives wasted no time in getting down to business.

  “It would appear that the information you gave us was incorrect Mr. De Lecour. Would you like to shed some light on that?”

  “Alright, but which fact did you not like? You’ll have to tell me because what I told you was the truth.”

  “Mr. De Lecour, it has come to our attention that Miss Marriet’s manager was not called until you had left and she has stated that she did not consult or engage the services of a doctor, any doctor. So we would like to know where you obtained the three bottles of sleeping tablets?”

  “What?”

  Marty stepped in and asked what information Fleur’s manager had given. Brandon zoned out. How could this be happening? Then he thought that
he rang the Manager from Fleur’s phone, he mentioned this only to have Detective Unimpressed say that Fleur’s phone was missing. Brandon had another thought……what about the Hotel surveillance system. The police were looking into take. Martin spoke up and suggested that they work a little harder. Martin also suggested that they stop harassing Brandon until they had all the facts at hand. He stood to leave. The police then mentioned that they wanted to hold Brandon in custody until this was all cleared up. Martin came up with all sorts of legal jargon as to why that was not going to happen and eventually the Detectives attempted to get him to surrender his passport. Martin changed their mind on that too and finally they settled on him promising not to go anywhere in case they had any further questions.

  As they walked out of the Station Brandon mentioned that he was pleased he knew Marty. Martin laughed and said this would cost him and cost him big. Brandon laughed at that. He would have to pay for two theatre tickets to a show. As was standard payments between the two of them for services rendered.

  Brandon and Martin went their separate ways as Martin had work to do thanks to Brandon’s earlier requests. Brandon headed for his apartment. He rang Lisbeth to tell her what had happened and told her never to ring him again as he was going to get some sleep.

  Brandon’s thoughts drifted to Sophia and his body had its’ own reaction to the thoughts. He had to spend some minutes trying to get some control of himself. He wondered how she would go seeing the article and photos. He would do anything to not have her hurting but he knew how it looked. And it didn’t look good. He’d left the pub with a Hollywood super star hanging off his arm and next thing he was leaving her Hotel in the early hours of the morning. He had to ring her and let her know what was going on. At that point he realized that he didn’t actually have her number. He wasn’t even sure if she had a mobile. He’d tried to look up her number on the Internet, but she wasn’t listed. No surprise there when you think of who she was. He wasn’t listed either. Alright he’d have to think laterally. Ian at the pub……. He looked up the number and had success. He rang Ian and was handed a very frosty response indeed. Ian, it would seem had reviewed the papers and taking into account Brandon’s public persona of a womanizer added his opinion that Lady Sophia was better off without him and promptly hang up.

  Brandon was amazed at how loyal these villages were towards Sophia. He had to admire her hold over them and she had no idea how much they all seemed to love her. It didn’t help him with trying to find a phone number for her.

  The car pulled into Brandon’s apartment. He needed sleep and more than an hour. He would think of a way to contact Sophia later. Again Brandon fell asleep fully clothed and face down on the bed. As his head hit the pillow he had the vague thought that he had been here before.

  When he woke it was completely dark outside. His bedside clock told him it was 10-50pm, too late to ring Sophia now even if he did have her number. His stomach rumbled. It occurred to him that he had only eaten a piece of cake all day. He needed something to eat before he fell over.

  Sophia lay in bed that night and looked at the clock for the thousandth time in about 30 minutes. It was 10-50pm. He wasn’t going to ring tonight, it would seem. The day had dragged along and nothing seemed able to distract her from the fearful thought that perhaps he was never going to ring her. For the thousandth time she berated herself for being so weak and pathetic. Why was she feeling so desperate? He was the first man to show her some attention in years and she had fallen all over herself in response. Maybe he was a smooth mover. She didn’t really believe that of him. But she also had to admit she was no expert on men.

  No matter how often she told herself that it was an interesting experience and the sex was mind blowing she couldn’t rid herself of the thought that she had fallen in love with him. He just needed to ring before she completely fell apart. She slept badly, waking often. The only good part about the night’s sleep was the dreams about Brandon and what he (and her imagination) did to her in this bed. It meant that she woke up exhausted, stirred up and not at all fulfilled.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Monday

  Brandon woke with the world’s biggest erection. If only he could control his dreams. Whilst he liked the dreams that involved Sophia naked underneath him screaming out his name as he drove her over the edge……..it meant he woke up looking like this.

  The morning also brought a new idea with it. Steve the vet, he had to have his number listed. He is a vet after all. Brandon found the number on the Net and rang only to be put through to Message bank. He left a message and hoped that Steve would give him a better reception than Ian had. Then the phone started ringing. Ah, work.

  It was mid-morning when he checked his phone. Steve had rung and left a message. Brandon’s heart was banging against his rib cage that he looked around the office because he was sure that people would be wondering what the noise was. No? Only he could hear it. When he listened to the message he again looked around the office because surely everyone could hear his heart sinking. The message was so broken up that Brandon couldn’t make out the number that Steve had left. Wherever Steve was when he returned the call from was clearly in the middle of nowhere.

  Brandon left another message for Steve and had to wait for a clearer reply. Lisbeth had been hovering. Brandon called out to her to come in. When she entered she looked worried. “Alright, bring on the next disaster.” He said.

  “It is a bit that way. This is what you get for going away for a week. The Police have rung and Fleur is awake and asking for you. Detective Unimpressed, as you call him, would like to know if you would meet them at the hospital, with your lawyer friend, as he put it.”

  Brandon started to look up Marty’s number when Lisbeth said she had already rung him and he would be there in an hour. Lisbeth then mentioned that Marty could have been there sooner he wasn’t running around putting together a challenging deal. “His words, not mine. Oh, your car is ready to go.”

  As she reached the door she turned and she “Thank you Lisbeth for all you do for me. I really appreciate it every day of my life.” Just as the door closed he caught a glimpse of a smile. Brandon called through the door “That’s why you get paid the big bucks.”

  “Yes, yes it is” came the reply, through the door.

  Brandon never liked hospitals but this was extra not fun. He didn’t want to seem heartless but Fleur was just a little bit too unstable and not really his problem. Marty had met him at the entrance and asked him why they were there? Brandon really didn’t have a clue. He did ask Marty to keep him out of the “big house”. “I’m too pretty to go there you know.”

  “You are the most modest man I know.” They entered the lift, laughing.

  The Police were waiting for them in the Private ward where Fleur had been moved. They all went into Fleur’s room together. “Darling, I knew you would come. Come sit with me. Oh, I missed you, Darling.”

  Brandon stood where he was. Although the room was large by hospital standard it was suddenly too cramped for his liking.

  “Miss Marriet, we are Detectives from the London Met and we would like to ask you some questions if you feel up to it.” One of the officers gushed. Brandon watched a man who was falling short of professional and was more of a fan.

  “Yes of course, darling.” She really was an actress.

  “Miss Marriet, can you tell us about the night of your……. Incident?” Well that’s one way of looking at it, thought Brandon.

  “Of course, Darling, of course. But first we must start from earlier in the day. I had been worried about where my lovely Brandon was. He seemed to have disappeared from the world. You are a naughty boy for doing that too me. Me!!! But a friend found a photo of him on a social network page. It had been taken at a hunt. You can only imagine how very disappointed I was when I saw him standing too close to some little trollop of a girl…..”

  Brandon was about to interrupt her and explain just how crazy she was when he felt Martins hand o
n his arm. He stood still and clamped his mouth closed.

  “Brandon was obviously looking besotted with this little tart, but I knew something was wrong. You see, he was at a Hunt and from our endless hours of talking I know how much he hates animal cruelty. So I had my driver take me to this little place in your England. It was an awful little place by the way. And Brandon had disgraced me again by being there with the same funny little women. I have never been more humiliated.” She placed her hand on her forehead and then used a tissue to wipe away imaginary tears. She really was not a great actress, thought Brandon.

  Brandon was wondering what it must be like to live in Fleur land because she was clearly not living on the same planet as the rest of the world.

  “Brandon realized he had made a huge mistake and rushed me out of the grimy place and we booked into a Hotel suite. That was it. He spent the night with me and left in the morning.”

  “Did you or Mr. De Lecour contact your manager?”

  The smallest of a flicker of truth crossed Fleur’s face but she covered it instantaneously. “No. We were there alone all night.”

  “Would it be possible to have your phone?”

  At this Fleur leaned towards the Detective and whispered that Brandon took her phone off her. She then went on to say that it was because when they were together he wanted her all to himself. She nodded her head in agreement with her own statement.