Beware the Roasburies! Pt. 06

The sight of her young neck started a reaction which I would have preferred not to have happened, because when she turned and kissed me on the lips, pressing her body against me she must have felt my arousal. She smiled knowingly, then went to the door and locked it.

"I've wanted to do this since I met you," she said pulling her top over her head, and slipping off her micro skirt. She was standing in a scrap of dark blue lace and nothing else but a predatory look. Her body looked primed for sex.

"Caroline!" I shouted. "Put your clothes back on and unlock the door!"

"Oh, go on!" she said. "You've been staring at my knickers all week, and your prick has a stiffy. I want you. I want a man who knows what he's doing. You won't ever see me again, no one will know." Her hands went to her knickers, ready to push them off.

"Caroline, stop this. I'm engaged to be married, and in any case you're too young and this is a place of work. It's wrong."

At this she looked annoyed. "Graham, your cock is hard. You want me. I'm eighteen and an adult, don't be such a hypocrite!"

"Caroline, you just stripped naked, you're a very pretty girl and I'm a man, so my body's response is natural, but I don't want you – I don't want this."

"You don't want me? Aren't I sexy enough for you?" she sulked with an exaggerated pout. I thought it was put on.

"Caroline you know exactly how sexy you are, but I love someone else and so, no, I don't want you that way."

"No one will know, your girlfriend won't know. We're alone. What d'you think your boss would say if I said you made advances to me? Touched me up? Fingered me?"

"First of all," I said doggedly, "I would know and therefore so would my fiancée. I don't keep secrets from her; we love each other. Secondly, I think you are straying into blackmail, and I'll have to take my chances on that."

"OK." she said with a sigh and another pout. "Here, have these as a souvenir." She stripped off her dark blue lace and threw them on the desk. She really was very pretty in the nude; her skin just glowed. Down boy.

"Come on Caroline, please, get dressed."

She dressed, and with an angry scowl left the room. No goodbye.

Zena came in immediately. "Wow!" she said. "That was some seduction. Hey, I like the knickers. Yours?"

I laughed, and picked them up, spinning them round my index finger.

"Put them away, Graham. It gives the wrong impression to clients!" she giggled. I put them in my drawer.

"I don't suppose we'll need the tapes, but you've got them?"

"All safely locked away. As you say, she'll go off and find some young lad to fuck her eyes out and forget all about us. She had her bit of fun. It was just a teenage crush."

When I got home Penny was there and they both laughed as I told them what had happened. They did not believe me!

"There's no need to make up stories, Graham," said Penny. "We both know how handsome you are and how good in bed!"

"It's true!"

They snorted.

Monday and Tuesday passed by and the incident was forgotten. Until Wednesday morning.

Wednesday 19th April 1972
We were all appalled at the report published by Lord Chief Justice Widgery exonerating British Troops for massacring unarmed protesters in the Bloody Sunday demonstration.

It turned out that for me, my own helping of injustice was about to be served on me, and it would certainly take my mind away from the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mid-morning, the phone rang. It was Kieran Walsh, senior partner.

"Proctor, I want to see you right away. In my office."

I thought his demand insulting, but that did not surprise me.

Mr Kieran Walsh, senior partner, during that week was the only partner of the three in the office. Mr Patrick Jenkins was in London for the week, and Mr David Reich was on holiday. Mr Walsh of incriminating report fame was in sole charge.

Now I think I have mentioned that I had progressed well in the company and it seemed I was due to be offered a junior partnership, probably to stop me going elsewhere. It was rumoured that Messrs Jenkins and Reich were in favour, but Walsh kept vetoing the proposal. He didn't like me and to be honest I didn't like him either.

To be blunt he was a self-righteous little prig. I said prig, not prick. Though come to think about it... Of course, I now knew he was Lucy Roasburie's brother.

He was a stiff shirt, very proper, with severe, rigid sexual morals. Further he lacked a sense of humour. He certainly did not approve of my association out of hours with three of the most attractive female employees, and made it clear he thought my morals (and theirs) were loose.

He had a thin angular face, receding grey hair, large ears and bushy eyebrows which met in the middle of his face. His mouth at rest seemed to turn down in a disapproving grimace, as if he resented any happiness occurring in the world.

He asked me to sit, and began to tear my happy life to shreds. He made it clear he was not happy, but what was new? Was he ever? I wondered throughout the subsequent meeting if he saw a possibility that he could now get rid of me altogether from the firm.

"I have had a complaint about your behaviour with one of the ancillary staff, and the complaint is so serious that I'm afraid your position here has come into question."

That seemed to give him some satisfaction for he grimaced a tight smile which instantly disappeared. "It's her family who've brought the complaint."

He stopped and looked at me over his glasses, a technique I had become used to. He wanted to intimidate me into a grovelling apology. For what? I simply remained seated and silent.

"Have you nothing to say?"

"No, Mr Walsh. I haven't."

"So you admit it?"

"I understand that silence can indicate consent, but no, I certainly do not admit anything. I was merely waiting to find out exactly of what I've been accused."

"Don't play games with me, Proctor," he snapped. "You know you are in serious trouble. This time you went too far."

"So it appears," I replied peaceably, "but I still don't know what I'm alleged to have done."

"Would attempted rape be serious enough for you? Would taking advantage of the youth of a work experience girl? Would physically interfering with her after locking the door to your office to ensure no one caught you? Would pulling off her underwear and touching her intimately?"

"Yes." I replied. I just love answering questions accurately (and yes, pedantically). He was a lawyer, he should have seen that I had answered the question exactly!

"So you admit it?"

"No, you asked a question and I answered the question. You asked was all that activity serious enough for me, explaining as you did so, of what I have been accused. I answered that yes, it was serious enough."

"You're playing games. Not a good tactic in your position."

"Mr Walsh, the last thing I'm doing is playing games. I'm a little disappointed that you seem to have accepted completely the young girl's serious accusations as the truth."

"Your reputation in this company regarding women is well known. You are known to have an 'association' with at least three women in some sort of group hedonism which is most inappropriate in a practice such as ours."

"Mr Walsh I think you've said enough. I would like to hear you say that outside the door of this office in front of witnesses. I'm sure the women concerned will be happy to sue you for slander."

"I don't need your impertinence. You'll be suspended pending a full enquiry into your actions. You will leave the building immediately."

"I need that in writing," I snapped. "I will not leave until I get it, and have responded."

"So be it. Wait in your office."

I left his office and went to mine, stopping only to see Zena.

"You know that thing we said might never happen?"

"Eh?"

"Caroline?"

"Oh, yes?"

"It has. I think she's lodged a formal complaint against me. Walsh has suspended me without once asking for an explanation. Once I get the suspension in writing, I'll write a reply and leave until he sees fit to reinstate me."

"But the tapes?"

"Will you hold on to them, Zena?" I asked. "That pompous little prig needs taking down a peg or two."

"You've got at least two really big contracts and one legal action pending. What about them?"

"His problem not mine," I said peevishly. "He was in too much of a hurry to get rid of me to even think about that."

"Ooh dear!" she grinned. "Someone's going to be in the shit and it ain't going to be you!"

The notice of suspension until an enquiry was held was delivered within the half hour. I replied with a complaint of my own that I was suspended without an opportunity to respond to the charges, which was against agreed procedure in our practice. I stressed that three outstanding pieces of work I had to leave behind were of the utmost importance and required urgent and immediate attention. Carbon copies to the other Partners.

I typed it myself and gave it to our clerk to take back to Walsh, asking him to ask if there was to be a reply. Walsh dismissed him with a gesture. As soon as our clerk returned with the news, I left the building, leaving the copies with Zena for when the other partners returned.

The inquiry would have to wait until the other two senior partners returned to the office, and then they would have to give me notice to attend. At least another week. I looked forward to the time off with full pay.

It would be good to be at home with Connie before I took her back to Keele at the weekend for the final drag to the end of her second year.

Well it wasn't – good that is. I arrived at eleven thirty, a good time for a cup of coffee.

"Hello!" my fiancée greeted me. "What's happened? It's not even lunchtime yet."

"I'm home until next week," I said. "I've been suspended by Walsh, subsequent to a complaint about me."

"You've been what?" she gasped looking startled, as well she might.

"That girl I was telling you about – the one who was flirting with me and then undressed in my office? Well, she, or her father or mother or some relative, has made a formal complaint about me, that I attempted to rape her or at the least was sexually aggressive."

Her mouth dropped open, her books forgotten. Then her face clouded.

"Did you do it?"

"Did I do what?"

"Did you make inappropriate advances to her?"

"Pardon?"

"You heard." Her tone was abrupt, accusatory.

I was astounded, then very angry. Connie believed I could have done it.

"Well, thanks a bunch, Connie. Great to have your support in my hour of need. Get on with your reading, I don't want to talk to you. I told you what happened on Friday."

"Graham, that was a typical male fantasy. That just doesn't happen. A young girl of her age stripping in front of a older man? Begging for sex? Don't make me laugh! So why don't you tell me what really happened to get a complaint made?"

I turned and walked out of her room and into the kitchen. She followed me.

"Graham you can tell me. Did she flirt at little too much and you made a pass at her? Felt her up?"

I did not answer. I put the kettle to boil and prepared the teapot and mugs.

"Don't be so childish. This is serious!" Now she was angry.

I looked hard at her. Serious? Too right it was: what was serious was that she did not believe me.

I said quietly "Oh yes, Connie, this is very, very serious, and it's nothing to do with what happened at work.

"You've all but accused me of being unfaithful to you, by seducing a young teenager. Hell! Not just that but being a rapist! Shows how much faith and trust you have in me, doesn't it? So where does this leave us? In my view, nowhere. You have attacked my morals and my character at the most basic level. I think it's goodbye, Connie."

I was very angry but my own words surprised me. I could see the effect on Connie. She shivered with what I assumed was fear, perhaps realising how important this issue was, and how dreadfully she had failed me. There was also hesitation: she didn't seem to know whether she could trust me and believe my story.

"Graham, I..."

"I think I'll take you back to Keele and we'll say good bye there. You won't be coming back. I can't trust my whole life to someone who thinks I'm a fantasist and a liar; you have no loyalty to me: you are unsure whether I'm a rapist, for God's sake! I can't stay with someone like that. So I think that it's fair we part. Keep the ring."

She began to tremble, then the tears came. "P-p-please Graham." No more.

"Please what?"

"I'm so sorry! It all seemed like a joke when you told us, but now I can see this isn't a joke. You mean she really did strip? Lock the door? You were being serious?"

"Yes. I'd have thought you'd have known me well enough by now to know I don't cheat. You've plenty of time to find yourself somewhere to live after university. I assume you'll have your flat until the end of next year."

"Please Graham, my darling," she said weeping. "Please don't send me away! I'm sorry."

"Too late, Connie. When someone in trouble turns to the only person he can totally rely on, he looks for support, loyalty, sympathy. He doesn't need her attacking him and accusing him. We're not married, but you've shown what might happen in the future if we were. You don't trust me. How can I trust you to be on my side after this?"

She sat heavily onto a kitchen chair, she was trembling with fear, and had nothing to say. She looked pleadingly into my eyes.

"You need proof before you'll back me up? Before you can trust me? OK, Zena and I recorded each of Caroline's visits via the intercom. We have all the evidence we need to show her to be the liar she is."

"You mean you thought it odd as well? So it wasn't so surprising that we thought your story was a fantasy?"

I'd not thought about it that way, but now she said it, I could see that.

I nodded. "All right, I'll concede that much, but that doesn't excuse your reaction. Your first response was to call me a liar and a sexual predator."

"I really am sorry," she whispered.

"Perhaps in something this serious, just saying sorry over and over isn't going to work. The damage has been done."

She gave a cry, got up, left the kitchen sobbing, and went back to her room. Then she emerged and left the flat without another word.

I shrugged. What to do now? Had I over-reacted? I had just told her effectively to get out. Was what she had done so heinous as to break us up?

She was so lovely in her nature and physically beautiful, and so artlessly loving. I had thought after all we'd been through she would trust me, but her accusatory reaction came as a fundamental shock. No support, just an assumption that I must be at fault in some way. I knew I didn't want to lose her, but when push came to shove she didn't believe in me. Could I live with that? No.

I sighed.

The thing about being suspended on a Wednesday late morning is that everyone else is at work. I was alone. Like Connie, I wanted to get out of the flat, but where to go? Not to a pub. Drink was not the answer. In any case being alone in a pub would merely be emphasising how alone I was.

I did what came naturally to me. I packed a bag and a couple of novels, and drove into the hills towards Bakewell, coming across a hotel on Monsall Head, and finding they had a room overlooking the Dale and derelict viaduct, I booked in for one night. I sat in the bar and drank three pints of their bitter, before returning to my room, where I read half a novel, fell asleep, woke after half an hour and then thought things over. I went to the dining room and had a palatable dinner, then I went to bed.

Thursday 20th April 72
Next day I checked out, loaded my car, and leaving it in their car park, went for a long hike. After more rain and high winds than anyone wanted or needed in the first half of the month, that week the sun shone from a cloudless sky. Perfect and pleasantly warm. I did a circular hike of eight miles and had a sandwich at the hotel before driving home..

Did I feel better for it? Yes. Did it affect my attitude to Connie, yes. I had blown the whole thing out of proportion, though her lack of faith in me worried me. Now it didn't seem like a relationship breaker.

I arrived home at five o'clock to find Penny in the living room, and no sign of Connie. Penny looked apprehensive.

"Can we talk?" she asked. "Please?"

"Of course," I said, sitting down. "You start."

"I've come to beg you not to finish with Connie. She's distraught. She came to see me after school. We talked and then she came back here, but you didn't come home. Honestly Graham, she's out of her mind with worry."

"Did she say what she'd done?" I asked.

"Yes, and she's well aware how horrible it was of her. I think it was the shock of you arriving mid-morning and telling her you'd been accused of molesting a teenager. You know her picture of men's characters is pretty poor: she told you what men did to her, and she was about the girl's age then.

"I think she just felt it was her time in London all over again. I think she was afraid that while you were very good to her, deep down you might just be a predatory male like all the rest. She's still got a lot of damage to sort out even after all this time. Graham, it was the damage talking."

She sat forward while she spoke and remained on the edge of the seat when she finished. She was clasping and unclasping her hands as I remembered she did when she was anxious.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"At mine. She came and stayed the night."

"The thing is," I said, "This is a serious complaint, and if it's upheld I will lose my job and I'll be blacklisted. I stand to lose everything – this flat, my car, everything. I won't be able to practise law. There's even a likelihood of the police being involved."

"But she said you've got recordings," she said with animation.

"Yes, as long as they're accepted."

"Oh."

"That's not the point, this was a matter of my livelihood, reputation and everything I have, and she was not on my side. Her first response was not to stand by me."

"Yes, I see that, but as I said–"

"Yes, yes, she has a history with men. By the way, those recordings will be admissible. It won't go beyond the hearing."

"Oh, I hope so!" she said. "So where–"

"Tell her to come home. You can say we'll talk some more. We'll get over it."

"Oh, that's a relief. Thank you so much. I don't know what we'd have done if you'd sent her away." She came over to me, sat on my knee, and planted a long and sensuous kiss on my lips.

"Careful, Penny!" I said when I got my breath back. "If you're not careful you'll bring out my inner predatory male!"

"Perhaps that might be a good idea?" she laughed. "Connie goes on about how good you are in bed, and I never really got the chance to try you out properly."

"You could always ask her to lend me to you," I grinned – I hoped lustfully.

"Fat chance of that!" she exclaimed with a pout as she stood. "She's so bloody possessive where you're concerned."

"I imagine Martin might have something to say about it as well."

"You've got a point there."

She pulled me up to see her out. At the flat door she put her arms round my neck, pressed her curves against me from neck to ankles and gave me another long and erotic kiss. I was getting to like it, a certain growing presence between us proved it and she knew it. Bad idea – good feeling. Mind you she'd obviously picked up a number of good moves since going with Martin, I somehow doubted it was banana man's doing.

"Go and rape Martin, young woman. I'm spoken for."

"Aww!" she laughed, giving my bulging trousers a caressing rub, and left. So forward!

As I wandered back to the living room, I wondered about Penny. She had certainly loosened up in the year or so since we were going out together! She seemed very free with her embraces and her kisses. Was she hoping...?