SEVEN
Stone was gradually awoken from a warm fussy slumber by Linda’s gentle kisses on his mouth and eyelids. She was wearing his sweatshirt again and sitting on the edge of the bed. The early morning sun was shining brightly through the open curtains. As Eric blinked and sat up, Linda smiled and kissed him fully on the lips — then she made a face.
“Yuck — morning breath! Come on Stone, get up and brush your teeth. I’ve made breakfast.” She hopped off the bed, pulled off the sheets, and with a giggle, ran from the room.
Breakfast was eggs, toast, and coffee. Stone was usually a ‘morning person’, rising early with a big smile and a cheerful demeanor as he went for his morning run. However, today he seemed unwilling to wake fully. He wondered if perhaps he was subconsciously hanging on to the events of the previous night, just in case they were a dream. Gradually the caffeine began to work its magic and he felt better able to assess his surroundings. They ate without speaking for several minutes, sharing the occasional furtive glance. Finally, Linda offered a shy smile and broke the silence.
“I… err… I… Look, about last night.”
“I know what you are going to say,” Stone said. “We had both had a lot to drink, I understand if—”
“Oh no, it’s not that,” she interrupted, “I wanted to — I really wanted to. It’s just that… I didn’t want you to think… well you know… we had only just met and… that’s not normally something… ” She stopped talking and bit her bottom lip. Stone could see that there were tears forming in her eyes, he quickly stepped around the breakfast bar and hugged her fiercely.
“I wanted to as well. I wanted to hold you and kiss you — and the other things — as soon as I first met you.” The words flooded out of him with sudden and surprising emotion. “I’m glad that we met. I want to see you again — I really want to see you. I want to see you tomorrow. I want to see you every day!”
Linda smiled and kissed Stone, and he kissed her back eagerly. They hugged for a while longer, before she wiped her eyes and spoke in a mock business-like tone of voice.
“Ok Stone, today I have to go home and change, but you can see me tomorrow. I’ll start stalking you first thing.”
She held up a hand for a fist bump.
“Deal?”
Stone responded with his own clenched fist and they touched knuckles.
“Deal! Now let’s hit the shower.”
“Ok, if you’re a good boy, you can wash my back.”
Inevitably, their shower took a long time. The delightful combination of firm wet bodies and slippery shower gel, made them both feel as horny as hormonal teenagers. Their passionate coupling would probably have continued all day, had the water not begun to run cold. They were in the bedroom getting dressed when a disturbing thought struck Stone.
“What day is this?” he asked.
“Err… It’s Saturday. Why?”
“Saturday? Shit, it’s half ten already!” Stone said hopping on one leg whilst trying to pull up his jeans, “I have a meeting at midday and its miles away!”
“You’d better hurry!” Linda laughed, “Was it important?”
“Kind of. Oh, crap! I’d forgotten. There’s probably some stuff I’ll need to do. I may not be able to see you tomorrow.”
“Ha! Dumping me already?” She stuck out her tongue. “Can’t it wait — or better yet, can I come with you? If you’re not too long, I could wait in the car and read a book, then we could go out afterwards.”
“Ah… It’s not as simple as that, it may take all day — or even several days.”
“I don’t mind waiting a while,” Linda said, her eyes pleading, “really.”
Stone found himself torn. On the one hand, he wanted to see Linda again as soon as possible. On the other, he was feeling guilty that he had almost forgotten his commitment to Charles Rathbone. He suddenly felt the need to share his burden and found the words pouring out before he could stop.
“The truth is it might be dangerous — very dangerous.”
He sat back on the bed, one leg still stuck inside his jeans. He gave a long sigh and ran his hand across his head.
“You remember my friend Charles Rathbone?”
“Of course — the one who committed suicide,” Linda said, sitting on the bed next to Stone.
“Well, the thing is… well actually, he didn’t kill himself… well he did, but really he was forced into doing it,” Stone stammered.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“It’s complicated, but the detail doesn’t matter just now. I can tell you all about that later. The thing is… well there is this group of very bad, very dangerous people that made up a load of lies about Charles. They put my best friend in such a bad position that the only way out was for him to kill himself.”
“My God, that’s awful!” she said, putting her hand on his arm.
“Before he died, he sent me all of the information he had about these people, and he asked me to put things right.” Stone looked Linda in the eye and held her hand. “You see, the thing is, I made a commitment to try and stop them — so that the same thing can never happen again. That’s what my meeting’s about.”
“Who are they, are they like a biker gang or something?” Linda asked.
“I wish, but that would be too easy. No… this is actually a respectable business — or so they would have you believe. They actually make their money from bribing and stealing from other businesses and things like that. They’ve even killed people that were in the way of governments’ and businesses,” Stone said shaking his head sadly.
“My God, that’s just bizarre. It sounds like some kind of Mafia group or something.”
“That’s a good analogy, but as far as we can tell they aren’t connected to any other criminal gangs. Most of the work they do is for crooked businessmen and Politicians. They’ve done things like burning down competitors’ factories and discouraging environmental activists. They seem to be very good at what they do; sort of guaranteed results for hire.”
“Shouldn’t you just call the police or something?” Linda asked. Stone shook his head firmly.
“We would if we knew who we could trust. That’s what Charles was planning to do and look what happened to him. He was going public, but somehow they found out. I know this all seems like some loony conspiracy theory, but the evidence Charles compiled is rock solid. These people have contacts all the way to the top — the very top. The guy I’m meeting with, he is a friend and an ex-cop, but he agrees with me. He and I are the bottom line on this.”
“So what are you going to do?” Linda looked serious, but sincere in her interest.
“Find out who and where they are, and then stop them — once and for all,” Stone said.
“When you say stop them… ” Linda queried carefully.
“Once and for all — for Charles,” Stone replied sternly.
“Oh… ” Linda said quietly.
“So you see — I can’t see you tomorrow, and probably not the day after either. In fact, you should stay away from me until this is over.”
“No,” Linda said crossing her arms firmly.
“No, what?” Stone asked, puzzled.
“I want to help.”
“I can’t let you do that!”
“I want to help — I mean it.”
“Look Linda, I appreciate the offer, but these people are dangerous — really dangerous. I can’t let you expose yourself to that kind of risk. It would be crazy.”
She shook her head firmly.
“I’m a big girl Eric, I can look after myself, and if needed, I can walk away any time. Let me help you.”
“Why… Why would you do this? We just met, Linda. Come on — I appreciate the sentiment but be serious!”