Choosing Her Lover

“Us?”

“Charlotte, myself and Michael.”

“Right, so….?

“I’ve been quite impressed with your performance….”

Really?

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I liked the way you dealt the situation out on the street the other day, and Ben in the downstairs lobby; even, dare I say it, the situation when Ben dragged you to our home, although I’ll admit, that’s with the benefit of hindsight.”

I flush. “You didn’t seem very impressed at the time.”

He rolls his eyes ceiling-ward. “Yes, I’ve never apologised for that, have I….”

“I don’t think you have a lot to apologise for, Sir. I feel terrible about it….”

“Well, get over it. It’s in the past. I want to talk about where we go from here. It seems to me that you handle yourself rather well in awkward situations and that being the case, I have a favour to ask of you.”

What’s he talking about?

“Right…. what is this favour?”

Perhaps I look suspicious. For a moment, he meets my eyes, his gaze level, expressionless; then he says, “Don’t misunderstand my motives, Kirstie. I’m not about to go dipping my nib in the office ink. It would be horribly unprofessional of me, and also, regardless of what Ben might think, I’m a married man.”

I flush. “I didn’t mean that at all.”

“Good. But for the avoidance of doubt….”

change the

is this

You see everyone who comes in or out of the building; workers, visitors, delivery men, couriers.… everyone. They all must go by you. You also see a lot of what passes by the building or

Choosing his words?

want you to do what you already do naturally and as part of your job, but do it deliberately and

“To you?”

my eyes and ears down

my coffee, digesting his words. “So, you want me to…. what? Be a spy

asking you to do something underhand or illegal and that’s not it at all. Really, all I’m asking you to do is something which comes easily to you, which is to watch the people around us for any kind of threat. I think you are a ‘people-person’, good at assessing them, weighing them up, gauging their intent. That’s perfect in any case in the work you are

suspicion crawl through my stomach. “Is

“No, it isn’t. I can handle that kind of thing myself rather easily, even when I have to take Michael’s feelings into consideration. Despite Marcie’s remarks to the contrary, I am not so far over the

what Marcie said, and it doesn’t faze me. That female has been trying to get her claws into Michael for years. It must have come as a nasty shock to her to realise that some other woman had

laugh. “A

laughter dancing in his eyes.

am I watching for,

other threats to

that leaves me thinking of the proverbial swan; all calm grace above

“James….”

think you have to tell me more than that. It

Other people, myself

sort of

answer that, but I can’t. In short, I want you to watch for anything that….” He holds up both hands in a gesture of helplessness, “…. anything that doesn’t seem right.

you want? For me to report what

all

how do I make these

you look under your desktop, you will find a second panic button has been installed. If you hit that alarm, Kirstie, it will come directly to my phone, and those of a number of other

“Which other people?

“Michael for one….”