by steve higgs
I had come through my door a few minutes after six with a deep need to get a lot done in a short space of time. I had stopped at the metro supermarket around the corner to grab wine. I knew I was only buying cheap stuff compared to what Brett might turn up with but didn’t want to fall into the trap of assuming he would provide the wine, especially after his comment about paying my bills for me.
Now home, I had to quickly tidy the place, get a shower and make myself sexy. Patience had all kinds of advice on the subject, but I was going to do things my way and not put on the nurse outfit she had offered to loan me.
I was hungry to the point that if I didn’t eat something, we would be disturbed by my belly grumbling. However, I wanted to order take out to be delivered so couldn’t spoil my appetite by eating now either. I settled for an apple and a pint of water which I devoured while I put magazines back under my coffee table and polished the coffee rings from my coasters.
I checked my watch again and set the shower to run while I went into my bedroom to get undressed. Patience thinks I am prudish because I don’t want to talk openly about sex and about what I like to do. I’m not though. I think I am sexually aggressive once I am comfortable with a man and I know how to misbehave. As I put my clothes into the laundry basket, I opened my underwear drawer to select what I was planning to answer the door in.
I don’t spend much on underwear, but I have some tasteful pieces. The question in my head was whether Brett would prefer a negligee with heels or a bra, thong, suspenders combination with stockings and heels. The extra height from the heels would make it fun for doing things standing up as I would be a better height for him.
I left my options on the bed and went for a shower where I used a fresh razor to take care of fine detail and employed an abundant amount of shampoo and conditioner to calm my paranoia over the smell of cow dung. I had been walking around in it for half the day and was convinced the scent had penetrated my hair.
By a minute to seven according to the clock on my oven, I was sipping a glass of cold, white wine and just starting to feel the cool air as I was standing around in my underwear. I had gone with the negligee option as it fell to my upper thighs and meant I could dispense with knickers which I was sure would have been off me in moments anyway. I clomped across the kitchen area tile in my heels which echoed in the quiet. It was too quiet I decided.
A knock at my door startled me even though it was the only thing I was waiting for. Quickly, I grabbed the remote for my speaker, found some relaxing music and went to the door.
‘Hey, sexy.’ I purred breathlessly as I opened the door.
‘Wow.’ Said Jack Hammer.
OMFG!
I slammed the door shut, caught my breath and opened it again. ‘What the Eff are you doing here?’ I asked through a tiny crack, so I could hide myself behind the door.
‘I wanted to invite you along to the show tonight. It is going to be mega!’ He was bursting with excitement. ‘Get dressed, I can wait. Or, you know, you could come as you are. It wouldn’t do the ratings any harm.’
I squinted my eyes at his suggestion. ‘I have a date tonight.’
‘I could have guessed that.’
‘Go away, Jack.’
‘What about the show.’
‘GO AWAY.’
I could hear someone coming up the stairs toward us. The next moment, Brett rounded the corner and his head came into view as he jogged up the last flight to reach my floor.
Jack turned to see who it was, then looked back at me.
‘NOW.’ I hissed.
‘Will you come on the show if I do?’
‘If you don’t go away, I will remove your nuts and make you eat them.’ I was practically vibrating with a need to choke the life out of him.
As Brett approached, Jack held up his hands in supplication. ‘You sure know how to negotiate.’ I flared my eye at him. ‘See you tomorrow?’ He asked.
I opened the door and mimed ripping his nuts off, aggravation driving me to expose myself. The annoying man danced back a pace, threw me a final smile and swept down the stairs, dodging Brett as he went.
‘Who was that?’ Brett asked as he reached the landing.
I took a pace forward to grab his jacket and pull him into my apartment. ‘No one of consequence.’ My plan to open the door and take his breath away had been ruined, but I could make up for it now.
As I pushed the door closed, I grabbed the bottom of my negligee and pulled it over my head. As my blonde hair settled back on my shoulders, Brett gawped at me. I was wearing a pair of heels and nothing else. My nipples would have been hard against the cold, but all my thoughts were on what he had inside his pants, so they were erect anyway.
Before he could recover his composure, I stepped into his personal space, kissed him deeply as I grabbed his hands and placed them on my hips, then broke the kiss and took him to my bedroom.
Alien Quest’s Big Moment. Friday, November 11th 2100hrs
Brett was in the bathroom taking a shower while I waited for the takeaway delivery guy to arrive. I was famished and desperate to get something to eat. If he didn’t turn up soon, I was going to start delving into my chocolate bar stash. I had burned a good few calories this evening and had been hungry long before Brett showed up.
Sitting on my couch wearing a towelling robe, I was trying to find the channel on my laptop that would show tonight’s Alien Quest feature.
I found it at exactly the same point that the knock at my door finally came. I skipped across to the door in my bare feet, snagged the bag of delicious smelling goodness as I handed the delivery guy a handful of notes and closed the door with a brief thank you.
I was trying to do everything at once as I grabbed the laptop to place on the kitchen counter and opened the bag while simultaneously grabbing a plate.
Thirty seconds later I had eaten ten prawn crackers and had a spring roll to my lips as Brett emerged from my bathroom.
‘Hungry?’ He asked as I shoved the rest of the spring roll in my mouth. I nodded. Some of my appetites had been well tended to. For now. But I had ignored the empty feeling in my belly for too long.
‘What are you watching there?’ He had wrapped a towel around his waist and took a seat next to me on the couch where I had taken the plate and was watching Jack Hammer. ‘Hey, isn’t that the guy that was here earlier?’
I cleared my mouth. ‘This is Alien Quest. It's a crap show about aliens visiting earth hosted by an idiot called Jack Hammer.'
‘Jack Hammer? Is that his real name?’
‘Apparently so. My current case…’ I stopped and looked at him. ‘Do you want to talk about this? About what I do?’
‘Sure, I want to know all about you. About what you do and what your hopes for the future are. I guess we have talked plenty on our dates but not about anything significant. I don’t know that much about you.’
I forked a spoonful of crispy chicken satay into my mouth and pressed pause on my laptop while I thought about how to start. ‘You know I am a paranormal investigator, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I investigate cases that have no natural explanation from the client’s perspective. Sometimes they are easy to solve and there is no crime being committed, just a confused person that believes they are being haunted or something. My current case revolves around an alien invasion conspiracy.’ Brett eyed me sceptically. ‘Crop circles led to aliens and spacecraft being seen, milk at the farms starting to glow and a death by apparent freeze ray earlier this week.’
‘You must be kidding.’
‘I wish I was. The farmers are going bankrupt because they cannot sell their produce and they are scared as much as anything else. The frozen person was the wife of one of the farmers.
I made a mental note to call Neville and see what he had determined during the autopsy. I should have done that already but had forgotten to.
‘So, what’s the link with Alien Quest?’ He asked.
That’s what I am t
rying to find out. Jack is involved somehow. I think he might have faked the alien sighting and the spacecraft footage we are about to see. He might be to blame for all of it, but I don’t see him as a murderer. Not that one can tell from appearances.’
I fell silent.
‘Shall we watch?’ Brett asked.
I forked up some more of the delicious satay and rice as I clicked the play button once more.
Jack was on a stage with a large screen as a backdrop. I didn’t know where they were filming but it looked very professional for once. He was explaining to the audience that what they were about to see was the full, uncut clip captured by Milosz Kyncl just a little more than twenty-four hours ago. While he was speaking, there was dramatic music playing quietly in the background. It was slowly building in volume until it shut off suddenly when he stepped out of the way and the video footage started playing on the big screen.
Brett was quiet while it played. I had seen it before, so this time I was watching more closely, trying to find the thing that was wrong: A wristwatch on the alien, a fuzziness around the outside of the craft where it had been superimposed by a computer over the background. There was nothing though. It was still as convincing as it had been the first time I watched it.
It ended, and Jack launched into more talk about what the viewers had just witnessed and what this meant for mankind.
‘What do you think?’ I asked Brett.
‘I think two things.’ He said, sounding serious for a moment. ‘Firstly, the footage looked very real, so whoever faked it has gone to a lot of effort and therefore has something to gain. Secondly, the Chinese food is gone, and my batteries are recharged so I think it is time you had some dessert.’
When I didn’t react, he whipped his towel off and stood up. Hanging in front of my face was, well, let’s just say it was dessert.
The Awful Truth. Saturday, November 12th 0945hrs
I awoke in bed next to Brett for the second time that week. It was something I could get used to. I was almost giddy with happiness and trying to keep my feet on the ground. When he woke up, we needed to have the conversation about where this relationship was heading. It had almost happened last night when he said he wanted to know all about me, but we had been sidetracked by Jack's show and then by round five. Or was it round six?
I got up to go to the bathroom and found Brett awake when I returned.
‘Hey, babe.’ He said as I smiled at his beautiful face. ‘Did I snore last night? I don’t remember falling asleep. You kind of wore me out.’
I slid into bed and kissed him. Just a peck, not the deep, slow version I wanted because it would be an instant prelude to more rolling around on my bedsheets.
I wanted that but wanted to talk first. ‘Last night we started having a proper chat but didn’t get very far. Can we pick that up?’ I asked. I had come to rest partly on top of him. He was laying on his back, so I had sprawled diagonally across the bed with my chest across his tummy and my face against his chest. He was having to look down his nose at me a little bit but if he felt inclined to move, he made no attempt to do so.
‘What do you want to talk about?’
I met his eyes. ‘Big stuff, I guess. The future. What you want. What I want. Things that might make us incompatible.’
He sat up a little more now, so he could get a better look at me. ‘Like what?’ He wanted to know.
‘Well, like my role in your life and my job. Your comment about me not working was pretty scary.’
‘How so.’ He sat himself up a little more, so he could look at my eyes.
‘I’m independent, Brett. I have lived by myself since I was twenty-two. I earn my own money, I pay my own bills.’ I could hear Beyoncé in my head. ‘I don’t think there will ever be a time when I will not want to have my own income.’
He sighed. ‘You’re right, Amanda. It was wrong of me to suggest it. I got carried away with the big picture and convinced myself you might want to stop chasing bad guys. I like that you are independent. I will never bring it up again. Is there anything else you want to know? Fire away.’
I played with his chest hair. ‘Do you want kids?’ This was the big one for me. I wouldn’t say I was desperate for kids, I still felt that I was young enough to not worry about my biological clock, but I knew that I wanted children. I wanted them more than anything else in life.
I looked back up at him, waiting for his answer. ‘God, no.’ he replied, breaking my heart. ‘Nasty, annoying little things that poop everywhere and then learn to talk. Do you?’
A single tear rolled down my right cheek. I didn’t brush it away and he saw it. ‘That was the wrong answer, wasn’t it?’ He asked quietly. He could see my face.
I shook my head, struggling to find words. The perfect man beneath me was everything I wanted him to be but didn’t want the one thing I wanted more than anything else in life.
We were completely incompatible.
Instead of speaking, I lay my face against his chest and closed my eyes. I wasn’t going to cry about it. I was telling myself I should be glad that I had found out now and not later. That had been the point of asking the question.
I levered myself off him. ‘I need coffee.’ I kissed him once on the lips and left the room.
When he found me a few minutes later, I had composed myself and had a mug of hot coffee waiting for him. ‘I made you one, but I wasn't sure how you take it.' I sipped at mine as I offered him sweetener, sugar, and milk.
He asked, ‘Can we talk?’ He looked miserable, but I think he understood that we had reached a wall we could not get over.
‘Of course, Brett. I want kids though, and it’s too late now to tell me that you do.’
‘I might come around to the idea.’ He suggested.
‘I can’t take that risk, Brett. What if you don’t? We get married, I wait a couple of years for you to decide it’s what you want and then you decide that you don’t. Where would that leave me?’
‘But I think I love you, Amanda.’
I hung my head and bit my lip. I wanted to say that I loved him too, even after only a couple of weeks of dating. I wouldn’t though. I stayed silent instead.
An hour later, I was in my apartment alone. Brett had left forty minutes ago after I told him I didn’t think I could see him again. As the door closed, I had started crying, no longer able to keep the wall up that had been holding the tears inside. Now the blotchiness was finally receding from my eyes and I was forcing myself to get on with my day. I still had a case to solve.
I sat down to have a look at the information Jane had sent me yesterday. She had been chipping away at this case with me for the last few days, constantly gathering new details as I asked for them. I thought she was worth her weight in gold, an opinion that was quickly proven when I read through the latest pack from her. The first interesting item I came across was information pertaining to Glen Adongo. I had always doubted his story about being a farmer in Kenya. Maybe the part about his father's farm was true. It didn't matter. The fact was that he had lied about his background. He lied about his past as well. He said he was a farmer back home in Kenya and continued farming when he moved here, but Jane found that he was educated at the University of Nairobi where he received a first in geology. He then went on to teach in Kenya before he moved to London ten years ago.
Jane had been as thorough as she could be, which in her case meant including a full list of all the staff employed across the three farms and basic information about each of them. For some, this was nothing more than birth date, criminal history, and prior employment. She had indicated if she thought any of the people were interesting.
Then I reached the bit about Jack Hammer. As I read the research Jane had performed, the details she had been able to find as she delved into what he was doing, I couldn’t help but let a smile creep onto my face. It was time to confront him. I called the number he had given me.
‘Jack this is Amanda.’ I said when he picked up.
‘Ah,
good morning, Amanda. I was expecting your call. The position is of course still open.’
‘What position?’
‘Co-host on my show, of course. that is why you are calling, isn't it? It should be. The phone has barely stopped ringing all night. I am on a BBC 1 talk show tomorrow evening. If you say yes now, I might be able to get you on the show with me. Massive publicity, massive. Watch the sponsors roll in now.'
All I said was, ‘Meet me at the office in Rochester in thirty minutes.’ I never gave him a chance to argue. He had been pursuing me so doggedly this week that I was certain he would drop everything. On top of the information Jane had provided, I had spotted something myself. Something I was going to make Jack look at and try to deny.
I had dressed already, but I was unhappy with my outfit choice. Today's tasks demanded something that suggested I shouldn't be messed with. Off came the comfortable boyfriend style jeans, t-shirt and Jack Wills hoody I had been slouching around the house in, and on went sheer, black tights, my red and black checked form-fitting dress with the mini-skirt and cuffed sleeves and a pair of black Caterpillar boots that looked like they could kick through doors. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail as if I were going running, added a swipe of mascara and a three-quarter length black leather jacket. My reflection screamed killer-bitch and the boots would be handy if there were anyone that needed to be kicked today.
A little voice from inside told me I was compensating for the loss of yet another promising boyfriend and trying to look tough when I wasn’t. It got kicked in the whatnots and told to shut up. I was going to win.
Somehow, I was going to win. Winners make it happen, right?
Rochester High Street. Saturday, November 12th 1115hrs
Saturday morning in Rochester High Street is much the same as any other morning. As a tourist destination, it attracts people from all over the world, but its proximity to Dover meant that most of them were European. On any given day, a walk through the historic streets of Rochester will yield a plethora of accents and dialects. I was a big fan of the place myself, it was so pretty with its centuries old buildings and quaint cobbled streets. The pokey alleyways that hid wonderful shops selling baked goods or artwork were all marvels to explore. Somehow, when winter came, it was even more romantic and when it snowed it looked like a fairy-tale setting.