Secrets

Victoria was visibly shocked and left the courtroom almost trance-like as the full implications of the County Court Judgement against her hit her, she had been sued, successfully sued, for thousands of pounds she did not have.

"You lost?" Her friend asked as Victoria burst into tears in the lobby. She put her arms around her and cuddled the distraught ex-girlfriend before turning to face Matthew emerging from the courtroom. "What the fuck did you do that for?"

Matthew shrugged. "Because she owes me," he said firmly, although he knew there was a macabre, vengeful enjoyment he got from the court victory that went beyond a normal financial recompense. "And it felt good."

"I can't afford all that," Victoria wailed and Matthew bit his lip.

"I know. And if I am not paid, I will instruct bailiffs," he said with a malevolent smile. "To remove, I don't know, designer handbags, and jewellery and stuff like that." Victoria wailed and her friend stared at him open mouthed. "I'll be in touch," Matthew said with a grin.

"I want a divorce," Charlotte shouted over the angry voice of her husband. They had spent the last two weeks fighting and arguing, she had had enough. She blamed him for his infidelity, but had erroneously admitted that her unwanted liaison with Ethan had led to her having an STD afterwards that required treatment and that she had passed onto Joseph.

The rowing continued, Charlotte blamed Joseph for Lewis's attempted marriage to Anna, and then his drugs, then Katherine getting pregnant and finally of allowing Paul to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds from the company.

"Have a divorce," Joseph shouted. "You fucking lied to me over the last year."

"You lied to me. You were fucking that tart," Charlotte spat back and leant against a chair, waving her finger towards her husband. "She was more important to you than this family."

Joseph puffed and glanced at her. He stretched his arm out in front of him. "Yeah, she didn't lie to me. You did. Fucking Paul did. Everyone did, but she didn't."

Charlotte scowled. "Get out. Get out of my house."

"My house," Joseph corrected her. "I paid for it."

Charlotte wiped her nose and sniffed. "Get out. I don't to be in the same house as you."

Joseph looked at her and strode past Charlotte, stopping to pick up his mobile phone, dialling the second number on speed dial. "Hey love," he said the moment Sarah answered. "Can I come and stay with you for awhile." Charlotte huffed and yelled at her husband that he ignored and went upstairs to pack.

He would be gone before Katherine or Lewis returned home.

"Get on the floor," the voice shouted and Paul scrambled out of the bed and looked out of the window. "Get on the floor, Paul Mason."

Paul threw his trousers over his legs and peered out of his bedroom. He could hear footprints on the stairs and he closed the door locking it. He looked at the naked thirteen year-old servant in his bed and swore. "What is eet Paul."

"Some people from Britain don't like me," he warned. "They think I took some money."

The girl twisted her hair around her finger as Paul threw open the window and slid onto the roof. "Paul," she shouted and there was a crash at the door.

A heavily armed man burst into the room and yelled downstairs, just as Paul dropped onto the ground into the arms of Guv who threw him onto the ground. "Take a look at this," he said with a grin. "It's daylight. You aren't seeing this again."

Epilogue

"Pardon?" Katherine said and looked at Matthew holding the sleeping child. The naming ceremony had drained their daughter and as such she was happily sleeping in the arms of her father.

"Move in." There was silence and then Matthew confined. "Look I know not as partners but I have a big flat, I'd love to see our daughter every day and I can't be worse than a council house, can I? There is plenty of space."

Katherine hummed. "I'm nowhere near a council house yet, I am not a priority. But I dunno Matt. It'll be a big move, I mean, I'm cool with you now but I still feel a bit ... well worried. Uncomfortable."

Matthew took a deep breath. "Look, I know I was a bastard for not telling you, for taking advantage, but I was scared. Now I know that is no excuse but I am still responsible for Evie and I owe you." He looked down at the baby asleep in his arms and then back at its mother. "Think about it, your parents sell this house in a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, well Dad and Sarah are off to Scotland, Mum and Lewis are getting a tiny house, so at the moment I have a couch and that's it, so I might need to."

Matthew smiled at his child and then glanced up. "Well I would want you to want to, not have to, but I would like you to move in anyhow. I'll look after you, and Evie."

Katherine cocked her head and grinned at Evie stirring. "I'll think about it," she promised. "And thank you for offering but I dunno, it is a big step."

Matthew bit his lip. "I'd really want you to, but it's up to you."

Paul was thrown into the small windowless room that reeked of stale tobacco and a young black guy pushed him down in a chair at a table. "You can't do this," Paul moaned. "I am a British citizen and I have rights."

The door flew open and the large frame of Curtis filled the room. "Guv," the young man nodded and watched as his boss strode into the room with a file and sat down at the table, clicking a box in the corner.

"Paul Mason," he said in a firm voice. "Shut the fuck up." Paul scowled and went to speak when the file came down on the table and he opened it. Paul was sweating, his palms were clammy and he could feel his heart beat. "You were arrested for child molestation, sexual assault and rape." Paul gasped.

"You what?"

The Policeman smiled at him. "Oh, and some fellows from London want to talk to you about a fraud. We've been watching you for some time." Curtis pulled out half-a-dozen photographs and slid them across the table to the widening eyes of Paul. "They are both fifteen," he told the Englishman who grunted and shrugged.

"Well what is it to you? And I want to see the British Consul."

Curtis's smile flickered and he rubbed his hands together. "The British Consul is not available until tomorrow. I can put you back in the cell or you can see what we are going to charge you with. You see you come from Birmingham like me, but I came over here twenty years ago to build a better life, not mess with kids."

Paul sniffed, and ran his hand through his face. "Well I didn't know they were under age," Paul countered and Curtis took out a cigarette and lit it, pulling out a small Dictaphone, pressing play on it.

The voice of Dwayne, slightly muffled and Paul came through the speaker, with Paul clearly asking for under age girls and the rotund businessman went white.

"Yeah, but, what, it, no," he spluttered and shook his head. "It's entrapment."

Curtis withdrew another piece of paper from the file, puffing on the cigarette in his hand. "It's the testimony from the thirteen year old in your bed. You, you are going down for a very long time."

Paul bit his lip, looking at the young policeman standing next to him and the large detective on the other side of the table. He took a deep breath and swung his arms back wildly, catching the junior man in the waist, before jumping up and pushing the table back into the chest of Curtis.

"Fuck you," Paul shouted and bolted to the door, opening it and running straight into a fist from Oli, knocking him back into the room.

"Interview terminated at sixteen nineteen," Curtis said with a smile. "When the defendant attempts to flee." The recorder clicked off and Curtis nodded towards the young constable who had straightened himself out of pride, his stomach hurting. "Take him away," Curtis bellowed to his two subordinates, pointing to the prostrate gentleman. "I don't want to see him."

Anna giggled as Lewis wrapped his arms around her, he had pulled her against the wall outside the auditorium and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Eet, eet nice film," Anna told him and Lewis nodded, moving in to kiss her on the lips. Anna returned the embrace and they locked their lips together.

It was not their first kiss together, nor their first date, but it was their first "French kiss" and their tongues explored and caressed. Lewis and Anna looked coyly at each other, her hands gripping the buttocks of her partner.

"Oi," came the voice of a cinema employee, pointing towards the amorous couple. "Not in here, get a room."

Lewis whispered in Anna's ear and as the employee walked towards them, they broke their embrace and strode confidently towards the exit, hand-in-hand. They were scarcely less loving on the bus back to the small suburb and, expecting there to be near silence in the house, opened the door.

"Anna," called the voice of Maria, the "lady of the house," and they both groaned.

"Hi. Lewis, he here. OK?" Anna asked as she poked her head around the door to the lounge and Maria nodded, beckoning them both in.

Anna was a little perplexed, Maria said she was going out with her husband to a new restaurant and Maria took a deep breath looking at her. "I came back early because I didn't feel well," she admitted, "and I took a pregnancy test." There was a small silence until Maria smiled and her hands shook. "I'm having another baby."

Lewis and Anna both gasped and congratulated the woman who wiped her eyes. "I haven't told Adam yet, but we've tried." Maria smiled at the two in front of her and nodded gently. "You two go upstairs, I know you want to."

Lewis blushed at the inference, but Anna looked into Maria's gleaming eyes and grabbed the arm of Lewis, almost dragging him out of the room.

"Thank ooo," called the voice down the stairs as Anna guided her boyfriend into her room and closed the door. Anna had every intention of taking Lewis's virginity; they had spent enough time cuddling and kissing, she was going to make Lewis a man.

There was a tyre squeal and Kelly Bachmann slammed the stolen car into first gear. She had never had a driving lesson in her life and it was her father's car but she knew what she was doing, having waited at the end of the road for over an hour. The car took off, and Kelly kept her foot on the accelerator, changing into second gear with a grating of the gearbox, she was a little late with the clutch.

She reached 45mph and pushed harder, the car engine was squealing and crying out as Kelly mounted the kerb and drove the car into the back of the running figure of Ethan Salisbury who disappeared under the vehicle with a jolt. Kelly broke hard, and turned the car around at the mini-roundabout two hundred yards up the road, catching a couple of parked vehicles and snapping off the wing mirror. She accelerated fast, beeping on her horn as a couple of local residents hurried down their path to the prostrate man lay at the bottom of their garden.

They paused and Kelly mounted the kerb again, the 23-year old powering the vehicle over the seriously injured man killing him instantly, braking hard and ramming the car into a tree. She leapt out of the battered wreck and ran down the road, tears streaming down her face.

She launched a violent kick at the body of her money lender screaming obscenities and abuse at the dead man. There was a siren in the background as the local residents debated about trying to restrain the killer who pounded the corpse with venomous screams and ferocious kicks.

The Police arrived within thirty seconds and bundled Kelly Bachmann into their vehicle, attaching a pair of handcuffs to her. They charged her with murder a few hours later but Kelly showed little remorse during questioning. Once the officers had heard her story they could understand why she acted as she did but she had committed cold-blooded, pre-meditated murder and she would be going to jail for a long time.

Kelly had borrowed some money from Ethan when the Benefits Office had made a mistake and not paid her correctly when she had left work to care for her terminally ill father. They needed to eat, and her initial loan of £50 was just to tide them over. Ethan's repeated and unmet demands for money, often with spurious and extortionate amounts being added, had culminated in her being kidnapped and imprisoned in her house, being beaten and raped repeatedly. Her father had fallen down the stairs when he heard her screams and died; Kelly was unrepentant about her revenge, Ethan simply had to die.

"Locks," Matthew boasted as he carried the last box into the second bedroom. "Both your and Evie's bedrooms have locks on them, and I don't have a key."

Katherine spluttered in surprise. "You what?"

"Well you said you were worried and I know I broke your trust so this is how you can stay without getting worried. When you are in your room, I can't see you, be with you or anything."

Katherine smiled and put her hand on Matthew's arm. "It's not that sort of worry," she told him and kissed him on the cheek. "I know you wouldn't hurt me or little Evie, I am just not sure I want to get too close that is all."

Matthew grunted. "Oh. Well it seemed like a good idea. Are you OK with pasta for tea," he asked. "I have a bolognase sauce. Oh and white wine."

Katherine looked at him with a sly look. "You better not be trying to get me drunk Matty because you did that before and it caused all sorts of trouble."

Matthew responded in horror. "No, it's not. It's just," he stammered and Katherine giggled.

"You are so easy to wind up. Bolognase would be lovely."

"Right," Matthew replied quietly and got up to prepare dinner. Evie was too young to eat their dinner so he prepared some mashed banana and avocado for her as the meat sizzled in the pan and he added the tomato sauce. Katherine smiled as she fed Evie and then sat down to eat her food, complimenting her companion on his culinary abilities; their dinner was nice.

Matthew and Katherine bathed Evie together, the baby happily splashing her father with the soapy water until she went wrinkly and was then put in her cot.

"So what are we then?" Katherine asked as she returned to the lounge and took the glass of wine Matthew passed to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Are we partners, flat mates?"

"Would I be wrong to call you my friend?" Matthew asked and Katherine gave a raffish smile.

"No, no you wouldn't. But aren't we more than that?"

Matthew hummed, he did like Katherine and he would not have invited her to stay if he didn't, but wasn't going to scare her off. "Parents?"

"Co-habitees?"

Katherine giggled and looked at the small pile of boxes in the lounge, the remnants of her "stuff" that needed moving into her room and sorting out. She was tired, she had moved everything into Matthew's flat that day and needed to just relax.

She yawned and looked at the television playing a re-run of a sci-fi film and then at Matthew. "I'm going to go to bed," she announced. "I've had a long day and I'm shattered."

Matthew smiled and bade her goodnight awkwardly, watching as the teenager left the room. He reflected on her behaviour, she seemed curiously happy and relieved to be living with him, and there was little reticence to her at all; she almost seemed to relish the idea.

Although she had little choice, her father had run off with Sarah and was currently house-hunting in Edinburgh (he rationalised that the lower cost of salaries made it an attractive place to write software) and her mother had been reduced to a small two-bedroom house on the outskirts of the town.

Matthew had seen the state Charlotte had descended into, even Lewis barely spent much time at "home," and her gambling addiction was fuelling alcoholic binges. In short, Katherine had little choice, but she seemed happy.

He wondered why, Katherine wasn't his partner, or even a close friend – although he had to agree that they had got a lot closer since she had found out the true parentage of little Evie and certainly since they had arranged Evie's naming ceremony. Even Joseph and Charlotte were civil to him and his new colleagues cooed over the baby, Katherine and him got on well, and not a cross word was said all day.

Matthew was certainly happier, he would get to see his child every day and while Katherine had said told him before she moved in that she would want to live in her own house eventually, he was determined to savour the time he did have with her and his daughter.

This also gave Matthew another problem, he wanted to treat Katherine to make her feel at home, and he wanted to get her something nice, but didn't want to send the "wrong" signals. He liked the young girl, he liked her a lot, but she was completely out of his league and certainly didn't want to scare her off. He had wondered whether he would see her go out on dates or be babysitting while she went out with her boyfriend, but this was something he would have to be happy with. He wanted Evie and his friend to stay with him and to live with him. They weren't there to be with him, as much as he might have wanted it; Katherine simply didn't find him attractive.

Matthew flicked off the television, he was at work the following morning and it would not have been good to sit down until midnight dreaming about Katherine and her motives. He wearily cleaned his teeth and shut his bedroom door. He threw off his clothing, he was used to wandering around his house half-naked but had remained clothed all evening because of Katherine, who he did not feel would appreciate it. He turned his light off and climbed into his bed, turning over and feeling the warmth of someone else.

Matthew shrieked and Katherine put her arms around him. "I thought you'd never come to bed," she whispered and kissed him on the cheek. "You watch way too much telly."

"What are you doing here?"

Katherine snorted. "Because I want a cuddle before I go to sleep," she told him. "And I like you." Matthew tensed and Katherine slid her hands up his chest. "It's OK," she cooed.

"I thought ..." Matthew whispered and then trailed off.

"I think, for little Evie, that it would be good if her parents could try and be together," Katherine told him. "I mean, I do like you and I think you like me."

Matthew felt his mouth go dry. "Very much," he whispered hoarsely and Katherine smiled in the dark.

"No promises," she told him. "But it would be good to try, yes?"

"Yeah," Matthew replied breathlessly. "Yes it would. I'd love to."

Katherine ran her hands over him again and licked her lips. "And unlike your other dates, I promise I am not going to turn into a leather-clad dominatrix," she teased in a low voice and kissed him again.

Feedback

So you reached the end, congratulations.

I would like to know what you thought of it. Did it work as a stop/start book, or was everything too disjointed? Were the characters believable? Did you find it easy or hard to read? Were there any spelling or grammatical errors?

But most of all, did you enjoy it?

Many thanks and kind regards,

John