Sticking My Nose In

"What's the name of her partner?"

"Dorothy Palmer."

"The famous Dorothy Palmer QC?"

"The very same."

"Shit, they don't come much higher than that. I must call Gareth."

"Gareth who?"

"My future father-in-law, my intended's father." I called Chandra. "Hi darling, yes I miss you," raised eyebrows from Sydney, "I have some important information, can you get your father to arrange a meeting with the police, here at my work as soon as possible?"

All of us sat around a rather spectacular polished wood dining table that was destined to grace a mansion in the not too distant future. "What is the news that brings us here?" Detective Sergeant Russell asked.

I introduced Sydney. "I have it on good authority that Jacinta Tomlinson has not been working alone on this scheme." This statement had their attention. "It was cooked up by none other than the Honourable Dorothy Palmer QC. I think that the police should, not only investigate this connection, but look into the possibility that, should the investigation gets too close, they'll cut and run. I will provide you with as much information as I'm able. I'm certain that I can provide significant corroborating evidence if needed. In the circles in which I move, it would take little time for the connection between what I do and this investigation to be made. I am concerned that, should I be seen entering the police station, word would get around very quickly. Any contact should be through Stefan and Chandra, a foot in both camps, at least until you are ready to move. I know that I'm not up with police procedures, but my first move would be to seize their passports so that they can't skip town."

"I'll take your advice on board." D0S Russell said as he stood to leave. He looked from one to the other of us. "We'll need to take a statement from you outlining not only your information, but its source. I'll get the ball rolling, expect a call by the end of the day."

"Well," Gareth said, looking from me to Chandra, "You two seem to have opened up a very large can of very smelly worms." 

"Can I stay here, to confer with Stefan?"

"If I say no I won't get any work out of you, so you may as well stay."

"Thank you." She kissed him. It was a strictly platonic farewell kiss, not like the one she planted on my surprised, and pleased, lips.

"I suppose I'll have to put up with the two of you carrying on like a couple of lovebirds. It's all too sick-making. Go home, get out of my sight." He dismissed us with an imperious wave.

We had little option but to obey.

We had the day to ourselves. "I'm beginning to think that you're more interested in him than me." I said as she got up close and personal with my cock.

"He forces me to concentrate on a small part of my body, and that makes the experience more intense. You, on the other hand, provide the overall loving experience that makes this possible. Without you in your entirety, I would not be having such a wonderful time. I am going out on a limb here, given the short time that we've known each other, Stefan, I love you."

"This giving of ourselves to the other is contagious, Chandra, I'll join you on that limb, I love you." I kissed her, which began another hour or several of intense, whole of body lovemaking. What made this special for us was that making love was not just a case of me sticking my boy bits into her girl bits, that was only a small fraction of the whole experience.

The news that greeted us the next day was somewhat more than interesting. Gareth called at some ungodly hour to tell us that the Honourable Dorothy Palmer QC, had thrown Jacinta under the bus and disappeared.

We headed for his office, but not before I made a call. "Sydney, what does your rumour mill tell you about the relationship between Jacinta and Dorothy Palmer?"

"If I told all you'd never believe me."

"Try me."

"They were partners in more ways than one. They were both sexually ambidextrous. If you really want to find Dorothy, assuming that she hasn't left the country, I'd start by finding her husband."

"That's going to be difficult if she has kept her maiden name."

"Dorothy was never a maiden. Ooh, I am awful, I must punish myself. Seriously now, he has a large property somewhere out west along the Barwon River, he breeds cattle among other things, nothing illegal mind you. My guess is that she'll head in his direction hoping that the police will not look that far away."

"They will if we tell them. Thanks, Syd." I ended the call before he abused me for calling him that.

Gareth listened while I told of my conversation with Sydney. He called DS Russell. "Sergeant, we seem to be doing your work for you to the point where I am considering billing you for the time. Calm down, let your humour gene crank itself into life. We have discovered that Dorothy Palmer has dropped Jacinta Tomlinson into it and hung her out to dry."

"Don't tell me how you managed to find out about this before the information has been released, I don't want to know, it's probably illegal and therefore inadmissible."

"It is neither, we have our sources that are unavailable to you. They have also told us that Dorothy has done a runner."

"How? We have only just now sent a car to fetch her."

"Too late. We do however have a lead as to her whereabouts."

"Are you going to give us this information or just sit there and gloat?"

"Word has it that she has flown to her husband. We do not know her exact location, suffice it to say that it is somewhere on the banks of the Barwon River. Her husband has a cattle property there."

"That'll keep him busy for a while. Now, what do you two have planned for today, work-wise?"

"Nothing." Chandra said. "Work-wise that is." She added quickly.

"Nothing officially work-wise," I said, "we do have something personal to do."

"Don't tell me you're going to race off to get a Marriage License?"

"No. Not yet at least. No, we are going to take a close look at my apartment. I can hardly expect Chandra to live there with its overtly macho image."

"I don't know, I like macho. Chandra said. "I must have been distracted, I can't recall any discussion on this."

"I haven't discussed it with you, but if you're living with me, I no longer have to project that image to re-enforce my heterosexuality."

"Getting ahead of yourself there aren't you mister?" I was about to respond when she cut into my response time. "Not that this is without promise." She kissed me. "If you ask nicely I might say yes."

"Chandra, will you move in with me?"

"Yes." 

I kissed her.

"Get out of here before you defile my desk." Gareth said. The smile on his face spoke of his approval.

We managed to find time, in between doing this and that, to work on the re-design of my, our apartment. 

"Stefan, we have to go to my apartment and get at least some of my clothes."

"Why, do you plan on wearing any?"

"I need clothes to wear to work, you know, that thing I do to earn money."

"Can't it wait until morning?" My fingers pleaded my case for me. Chandra conceded defeat and we adjourned to our bed.

Over the next two or three weeks, time was something of a blur, we divided our time between Chandra's work and mine. Gareth was in constant consultation with the police and Chandra and I worked on getting as much background information on the relationship between Jacinta and Dorothy. This came in handy to the police who were able, acting on the information provided by us, to play both sides against the middle and gather enough evidence to bring charges against both for the murder of Jacinta's last three husbands.

A distrust built up between Jacinta and Dorothy to the point where Jacinta had to seek new legal representation for the upcoming trial.

We reasoned that, to establish individual innocence, they would both need to establish the other as the sole guilty party, and so it proved, but the result was not what either expected.

"Sergeant Russell, can you explain to this court the sequence of events that has led to these persons being charged with the offences of murder and conspiring to commit murder?

 Jeffrey Somerton, the Police Prosecutor asked.

"On July the seventh, this year, we received a phone call from Mister Gareth Chambers of the Legal firm of Chamber Hallston and Associates, advising us that one of their Paralegals, in the process of serving papers on Mrs Jacinta Tomlinson in regards to the property at Wahroonga where she resided, and which had been owned by her deceased husband."

"These papers, what did they refer to?"

"They were being served to prevent her from selling or in any way interfering with the property. The property had been left, unbeknown to her, to the National Trust and due to restrictions to the nature of work that could be carried out on National Trust properties because of the heritage status that applied in this case, an injunction had been taken out preventing her from carrying out any work prior to selling the property."

"Were these papers served on Mrs Tomlinson?"

"Not initially, no. Mrs Tomlinson had gone out for the day and left an Interior Design Consultant at the house to formulate a design proposal for her."

"Why were you called to the property?"

"The Paralegal sent to serve the papers had informed the Senior Partner of the legal firm of information that she had received that raised questions concerning the death of Mrs Tomlinson's former husband. While there, two workmen arrived to remove boxes from the basement of the home. Ms Chambers, the Paralegal, informed the workmen they were not to remove the boxes because, under the terms of the bequest, all property apart from the personal property of Mrs Tomlinson, was now the property of the National Trust. While waiting for the return of Mrs Tomlinson, Ms Chambers, in the presence of Mister Stefan Baptiste, the Interior Design consultant, opened one of the boxes to find it contained laboratory equipment that we have been able to link to the death of Mister Tomlinson."

"When you say that this equipment was linked to his death, what do you mean?"

"We have established that the cause of death was that the defendant produced placebos that she administered to the deceased instead of his prescribed medication. The initial forensic examination established that there were no drugs in his system that could have caused his death. Acting on the information given, the investigation examined the body on the basis of the existence of prescribed medication in his system. There were none. With this in mind, we re-opened our investigation into the deaths of her two previous husbands who had died under similar circumstances. We were able to establish that they too had no evidence of the drugs that they had been prescribed to prolong life."

"That will be all sergeant."

"Sergeant, the forensic examinations that you carried out, how long after the deaths were they conducted?"

"They were all conducted using tissue samples taken at the time of death. From these samples, the Pathologists were able to establish an accurate toxicology that identified the lack of essential drugs in each sample."

"That will be all." 

"Miss Chambers," It was Chandra's turn on the witness stand. "The information that led to you examining the box, where did that come from?"

"From Mister Stefan Baptiste, the Interior Design Consultant."

"What is your connection to him?"

"Two days before I arrived at the Tomlinson residence, I was saved from an attempted rape by Mister Baptiste. That matter is currently under investigation. When I arrived at the Tomlinson residence I found him there. On explaining that he was now unable to carry out any work there, I accompanied him to his place of work to explain to his business partner the situation. It was his business partner who provided the information that we relayed to Mister Chambers, who then relayed the information to the police." 

"Ms Chambers," It was the defences' turn. "Do you normally take notice of rumours?"

"Not normally, no, but in this case, when we examined the box in the basement, we found equipment that we thought could be linked to the death of Mister Tomlinson."

"When you say 'we' to whom do you refer?"

"Mister Baptiste. I needed someone as a witness when I opened it."

"And he, conveniently, was there?"

"Yes."

Ms Chambers, what is your relationship with Mister Baptiste?"

"Objection!" Gareth interjected. He was acting on behalf of both Chandra and myself.

"On what basis Mister Chambers?" Justice McLelland asked.

"Relevance."

"Sustained."

"That will be all."

"Why would he have done that?" I asked Gareth.

"He was hinting at collusion or bias or both. I'd watch him if I were you, you're up next.

I was. "Mister Baptiste, you were in attendance at the Tomlinson residence in your official capacity."

"Correct."

"This was not the first such project that you have carried out for her, is it?"

"No, this is the third."

"Was there anything unusual about this project?"

"Yes. Usually in projects, we are contracted to renovate the entire building, but in this case, there was no mention, at least in the initial discussion, of the basement. If not for the arrival of the workmen to clear the basement I might not have known of its existence."

"Are there any similarities between this project and the others?"

"At first I would have said no, but on making this discovery I came to realise that in each of the previous contracts there was one room that had been cleared of any furnishings and thoroughly cleaned."

"That will be all."

"Mister Baptiste, what is your relationship with Ms Chambers?"

I held up my hand when Gareth was about to object. "Since meeting Ms Chambers two days before this meeting at the Tomlinson house, I was attracted to her, and she, it would seem, to me. We are now lovers."

"Despite the fact that you are homosexual?"

"You have no proof of that. On what basis would you make such an accusation? Are you suggesting that, because of my job that somehow that makes me a homosexual, not that it is relevant to this case, but why don't we ask Ms Chambers? Ms Chambers, am I a homosexual?"

"No, you most definitely are not."

"Not even a little?" I was enjoying his discomfort.

"Not even a little."

"That will be all." He gave up that line of enquiry.

"Mrs Palmer," the Prosecutor stood as close to her as was allowed under the present medical circumstances, "can you describe to the court the nature of your relationship with Jacinta Tomlinson?" 

"Mrs Jordan, as she was then, approached me seeking legal advice on a hypothetical situation. She sought my opinion on the legality of whether she could be charged with murder if she withheld essential medication from her husband and he died as a result."

"Your advice, what was it?"

"That is privileged information under the lawyer-client provisions."

"You informed her, did you not, that while it was illegal it would be impossible to prove."

"I cannot confirm or deny that I told her that."

"But that would have been the advice that you, as a lawyer, would have given her?"

"That would have been my response to a hypothetical question of that nature, yes."

"But you will not tell the court whether that was the opinion that you gave Mrs Tomlinson?

"I cannot divulge whether I gave that information to Mrs Tomlinson."

"What is your relationship with Mrs Tomlinson?"

"We were, for a time, lovers."

"You were for a time, does that mean that this relationship no longer exists?"

"No."

"You bitch!" Jacinta shouted at her.

"Order!" Justice McLelland called. "Any further outbursts of this nature will not be tolerated."

"Which of you came up with the scheme whereby she would seek future husbands with a similar precarious medical condition with the view to marriage and a similar outcome to that she put to you?"

"I know of no such scheme."

"The lying bitch." Jacinta said, not loud enough for the judge to hear. "It was all her idea, I was to cut her in on the inheritance when he died."

"You did not, in any way, benefit financially from her inheritances?"

"No."

"I draw your attention to this, it is a printout of financial transactions between you and Mrs Tomlinson. Can you explain the nature of these transactions?"

"They were payment of legal fees."

"If you look at the dates of these highlighted transactions you will notice that they correspond with the probate of her husbands' wills."

"A coincidence, nothing more."

"That will be all for now."

"Mr Palmer, do you have any questions?" Justice McLelland asked. 

"No questions your Honour." Eric Palmer QC was both her husband and legal representative. 

"Your Honour." Bevan Bracken QC, Jacinta's legal representative, rose to his feet. "If I may, I have a few questions for this witness.

"Go ahead."

"Mrs Palmer, you stated under oath that those payments were for legal fees, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you happen to have invoices for these transactions?"

"No, the payments were a verbal agreement between myself and Ms Tomlinson."

"Why would that be, in order to avoid paying tax on that income, without an invoice you could claim it as a gift, is this not correct?"

"Now that's a tempting idea, but no. The arrangements were made between us as a part of the relationship that existed at that time."

"And that relationship no longer exists."

"That relationship no longer exists." She looked directly at Jacinta and the words of hate that were about to burst forth were now frozen in her lips.

"In your evidence, you stated that my client sought legal advice from you, which you provided. You also stated that you would not divulge if you advised her that, while it was illegal it would be impossible to prove, leaving the decision on what to do with that information entirely up to her."

"How you infer my testimony does not necessarily coincide with what happened in this case."

"So, if my client gives evidence, under oath, that you, in fact, encouraged her to proceed down that path, she would be committing perjury?"

"That is correct."

"Could it be that you have committed perjury in your evidence?"

"It could, but it isn't."

"Your honour, we find ourselves in something of an impasse here, What we have here is a case of two witnesses giving conflicting evidence under oath, with no possible way of ascertaining which, if any, is telling the truth. My client is facing a murder charge that resulted from her taking your legal advice that her course of action would be impossible to prove. Your legal opinion did not take into consideration recent advances in forensic pathology. If she is found guilty of that charge, it would be reasonable to expect that you will be found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder."

"You may expect that to be the case, I do not."

"No further questions."

"That's very clever," Gareth said to us, "Jacinta will give her evidence that Dorothy encouraged her to follow that path and pay her a portion of the inheritance as her fee for the advice. Unless she has evidence that no-one knows about that can confirm her story, the police are up shit creek without a paddle."

The court was adjourned for the day and Chandra and I went home. We had work to do de-machoing my apartment. I was surprised at some of her suggestions. I don't know why, but she allowed some things that I thought were too overtly macho to remain, and none of the changes she proposed was overtly feminine. We managed to come up with a perfectly balanced apartment.

It was quite late when we eventually crawled into bed. "What a day," she said, "I'm almost too knackered to allow you into my body."

"You said almost, does that mean...?"

"Put it in and we'll see." I slid it into her and we slowly moved toward our climax. It was close to perfect. "I think we should save what little energy we have left 'til the morning... She was asleep.