He believed her when she said it was always safe sex, which was false, after David was given a clean bill of health by the clinic, and Natalie took the pill religiously, and preferred sex without condoms anyway.
But the big one, was the one that made Ben think he was at fault for this recent blip in their relationship, with his bout of depression, the neglect of his girlfriend, the way he spurned her sexual advances and left her needing and seeking that special attention from elsewhere.
She apologised for using David to satisfy her needs, but knew that David and Ben no longer saw each other, and thought that it would just be until Ben got his life back together, pulled his socks up and got on with things.
Then she asked him to marry her.
Natalie had gotten on her knees in front of him, pulled out a small jewellery box and said that it was time to do things correctly, in the proper manner.
‘I chose it myself,’ she said, smiling cheekily, as she opened the box and gave it to Ben.
He took out the ring, inspected the shining diamond set on a platinum ring and nodded his head, then slid off of the sofa, down onto his knees and there they were, kneeling in front of one each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
He slipped the jewellery onto her ring finger.
‘No more cheating,’ he said.
‘I promise,’ she replied. ‘And let’s do it soon, before I start to show. I don’t want a big bump ruining the wedding photos.’
Typical Natalie, thought Ben.
They hugged for a brief moment, then Natalie, wanting to seal the deal, gently pushed Ben down onto his back, undone his trousers, and pleasured him orally.
An hour later, Natalie had prepared herself some food and sat alone in the kitchen, eating, after Ben had declined the invitation to join her. She knew he was still a million miles away from the Ben that she first fell in lust with, but she didn’t care. At this point, he had forgiven her, on the surface at least, for her infidelity, he believed she was pregnant and he was the father, and accepted the marriage proposal without too much fuss at all.
Was she really that good at manipulating? Was he just too weak and confused over the whole affair and just agreed so as to not rock the boat further? Did he just want the easy life?
Natalie preferred to think that she could keep him wrapped around her little finger, like most men. It pleased her to think like this, that she was all powerful, almost as much as the thought of marrying him and getting her filthy little hands on his inheritance.
His inheritance…
Natalie had to make a decision about the letter that she’d opened, it was dated, so she knew she had to do something fast. Could she just get rid of the letter, hope that the solicitors send another one without phoning Ben about the first one, thus arousing his suspicion as to where the first letter went, or just give the Ben the letter, say that she opened it by mistake, and be done with it.
She figured that with the pregnancy story going down so well, that it wouldn’t matter too much if he was sceptical about her change of heart about children and marriage, the decision had been taken out of his hands as she was carrying his child.
She finished her food and put her plate in the sink, then went and fetched the letter, the letter that told Ben he was to receive a life-changing amount of money in the very near future.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, as she handed over the envelope, ‘I opened it by mistake earlier on.’
She sat down beside Ben, who hadn’t moved from the front room since he’d been told of the baby. He opened the envelope and read the letter. Natalie noticed the lack of excitement, or shock, or anything whilst he read the letter. She put her arm around him.
‘Look, I know the baby is out of the blue, and the last month or two have been difficult for us, but this is a chance for a new beginning. Your dad left you this money and he wanted you to enjoy it. So enjoy it,’ she said, as she moved in to cuddle him, until a loud knock at the front door interrupted her advances.
Ben answered the door and his heart stopped beating.
Summers, Kite and two uniformed officers stood before Ben, and invited him to the station to answer some questions. He wasn’t under arrest, but it would be useful if he would accompany them and help with their enquiries, as his boss had just been murdered, and he was seen at the office just yesterday.
Summers looked at Ben as a thousand thoughts whizzed around his head.
‘What was he thinking?’ she thought. ‘Was the shock on his face due to the news of Charles Peacock’s death? Or the fact the police had already found their man?’
She was sure she had seen his face before, as Ben reluctantly agreed to go to the station. He told Natalie not to wait up, it was clearly routine procedure and there was nothing to worry about.
Natalie looked out of the kitchen window as they descended the steps and Ben was ushered into the back of a police car, noticing the worried look on his face as it happened. She watched as the two non-uniformed police talked briefly before getting into a different car and following their colleagues down the road and into the distance.
Ben couldn’t be responsible for the death of Charlie, she thought, even if he did lose his job rather unfairly. Ben was no killer. He was too soft to do something like that.
Natalie’s phone rang, it was David. She’d already ignored two of his calls earlier that day.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, abruptly as she answered the call.
‘You’d better watch your tone, you conniving little cunt,’ replied David. ‘Tanya said that you think you’re pregnant. No fucking way. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I want a piece. You’re going to meet me tonight, you’re going to suck my cock, and then we’re going discuss why you are involving my wife in one of your schemes!’
‘Fuck you, David,’ Natalie shouted down the phone.
‘If not, Natalie, Ben will know everything about you and your business. We’ll find out just how much he loves his little Natalie once he knows you’ve fucked half the city,’ he said.
Natalie hung up the phone.
So far, she had convinced Ben that she had made a mistake, but if David followed through with his threat, all would be lost. She couldn’t risk that, and within moments dialled David’s phone.
‘Ok,’ she said, ‘I’ll come and meet you. Give me thirty minutes.’
34
Upon arriving at the station, after viewing the crime scene of Charles Peacock, Kite was annoyed not to have the information he had requested from the Office of National Statistics. He had instead an email promising the info first thing in the morning.
But, he had also received an email from the secretary of CEM, which contained a detailed report on the times and length of calls for all the staff in the office that day.
Charlie had a good team, or he did when he was alive, all the workers had been hard at it. They were all driven salesmen who wanted to earn money, not leaving their phones hung up for more than a few minutes at a time, which was hardly enough time to make a coffee, and certainly not long enough to follow their boss down to the car park and stab him to death.
What interested Kite more was in the main text of the email, the secretary had mentioned that a certain Ben Green, who had not worked for around two months at CEM, had been into the office the day before, and she had heard the exchange between him and Charlie.
‘Ben left the office without saying a word to anyone, he was clearly upset,’ she stated.
After showing the email to Summers and discovering that Ben lived almost ‘dead’ centre in the crime hot-spot, they made the decision to pay him a visit.