Dory's Avengers (25 page)

Eyebrows raised, Theo lifted his trouser leg to reveal the electronic security tag clipped firmly to his ankle. Lord William removed the tagging bracelet and laid it down on Theo's bedside table.

‘Follow me!'

‘What, out there?' asked Theo, waving a hand vaguely towards the open door.

‘Yes, out there.'

Too surprised to think of his usual smart answer, Theo followed Lord William out of his bedroom and walked freely down the stairs for the first time in nearly ten years.

‘Sit down, there!' commanded Lord William when they'd reached his office. Theo, being Theo, completely ignored the seats in front of his father's desk, and headed instead for a large armchair. When a timorous knock sounded at the door a few minutes later and Stephen Dyer entered the room, Theo was comfortable and relaxed in the large chair. Not as good at hiding his surprise as the St Benedict father and son, Dyer started violently at seeing Theo in the armchair; long legs stretched out in front of him, hands clasped over his stomach. So calm. So devastatingly good-looking…

‘Sit down, Mr Dyer! Thank you for, er, coming so quickly.'

Not having anything like Theo's nerve, Dyer sat down exactly where instructed and waited fearfully for the difficult interview to commence. Catching his father's innuendo and failed attempt to disguise a snort of laughter as a cough, Theo had a fair idea what had happened. Oh boy, he thought, I am going to enjoy this.

‘No problem at all, Your Lordship, and I can explain…'

‘Yes, Dyer, I would like some explanations. Theodore, would you be so good as to explain why you were prancing around naked in front of your security camera?'

‘It amuses me, Your Lordship. I believe it amuses other people too. Did you enjoy the show?'

‘No. However, you are correct in your assumption that it was entertaining to a certain member of the household. Were you aware that Stephen here masturbates over you?'

Dyer spluttered and went crimson. Smiling, Theo said, ‘I thought there was a distinct possibility, Your Lordship, yes.'

‘Don't you mind?'

Theo unclasped his hands and spent a few moments looking at his fingers. Finally, he said, ‘It beats being buggered on a regular basis.'

Tick-tock went the grandfather clock into the deafening silence that followed Theo's statement. Lord William's frown deepened as he grasped the implications of his son's words; Dyer looked absolutely petrified. Only Theo remained calm, continuing his study of his fingers before raising his head to smile at the two older men.

‘Stephen,' said Lord William quietly after a while. ‘Have you been sexually abusing my son?'

Tick-tock, tick-tock. Please let me wake up from this nightmare, thought Dyer.

‘Stephen? I'm waiting!'

‘I, er, I thought it would be all right, Your Lordship. I thought, er, that you, er…'

‘You perhaps thought I'd totally given up on my son? What gave you the right to make such an assumption?'

‘Well, er…' Once again Dyer broke off, waving helplessly at the iron rings on the wall where Theo had taken so many beatings.

‘Ah, I see. So, because I have ordered you to punish my son when I see fit to have him punished, you thought you could take matters into your own hands any time you wished. No wonder there've been times when the camera's been off in Theodore's room. I should have questioned it sooner.'

‘With respect, Your Lordship, I thought…er… Theodore…'

‘Lord Theodore, Dyer.'

‘Yes, Your Lordship. I thought, er, Lord Theodore enjoyed it.'

‘Do you enjoy it, Theodore?'

‘No.'

‘Do you fancy men, Theodore?'

‘No, Your Lordship. I see many nice-looking people walking by outside, and it's always the ladies who catch my eye.'

‘Do you fancy men, Dyer?'

‘No, Your Lordship, I'm no bender…'

‘Yet you seemed to find my son extremely sexually stimulating a short while ago!'

Lord William was silent for a while, leaving Dyer to suffer more of the clock's infernal ticking. Finally, his boss spoke.

‘I've always been happy with your work, Stephen. You carry out your duties with enthusiasm and an attention to detail which I find pleasing. Therefore I'm not going to take this matter any further. I rather think this interview has been punishment enough for you.'

‘Thank you, Your Lordship,' stammered Dyer, looking for a second as though he was going to throw himself from the chair and prostrate himself at Lord William's feet.

‘However, Dyer, I can't have you in charge of the security in Lord Theodore's room any more. If you would be so good as to find Lee Fellows and ask him to come and see me, I shall make arrangements for him to take charge. Also, any abuse of Lord Theodore must stop, immediately. If he needs punishing, it shall be carried out on my orders and my orders alone. Understand?'

‘Yes, Your Lordship. Thank you, Your Lordship.'

‘At all times, Dyer, remember that Lord Theodore is my son and not your sexual plaything. Now go! Send Fellows up!'

Dyer almost ran from the room, so great was his anxiety to be away from Lord William's disgust and Theo's obvious amusement. Chuckling to himself, Lord William muttered ‘Sycophant' as the door closed, causing Theo to roar with laughter.

‘Couldn't have put it better myself, Your Lordship.'

‘Why didn't you tell me?' asked Lord William. Theo didn't reply; he just gazed steadily back at his father in silence until His Lordship said, ‘You're driving me mad with your constant chatter, Theodore. Make yourself scarce, will you!'

Rising slowly from his comfortable armchair, Theo said, ‘As you wish, Lord William,' and strode from the room. Theo wasn't surprised in the slightest to find Dyer hovering at the top of the stairs. Grabbing hold of Theo's lapels, Dyer slammed the young man into the wall.

‘You little fuck! Don't think this is over…'

‘Get your hands off me, Dyer! Didn't you hear Lord William? The abuse stops, now! Unless you want me to inform His Lordship that you are disobeying his orders, I suggest you remember that.'

As Dyer reluctantly let go of Theo's collar, Theo smoothed his clothes and continued.

‘Good. Now, I believe Lord William instructed you to find Lee Fellows. Don't you think you'd better carry out His Lordship's wishes? Oh, and one more thing; it's Lord Theodore to you, not ‘‘you little fuck''.'

Dyer watched Theo return to his bedroom, finding everything about the way the young man moved almost irresistibly sexy. Sighing as he realised there would be no more fun with Theo, Dyer's mind became more confused, angry and resentful than ever.

‘I don't want him, I hate him,' he said to himself as he went off in search of Fellows. ‘I don't fancy him. I do fancy him, I do NOT fancy him, I hate him! I want him so much…'

In the run-up to Christmas Theo's life continued to improve. Lee Fellows was instructed to give him the run of the house rather than keeping him confined to his bedroom, and Theo thrived in his new-found freedom. He still had to wear a security tag to prevent him from leaving the house, but Theo was quite used to restrictions on his freedom. Roaming around the big, old house, he found a wealth of new experiences to keep him amused as the days passed. The staff of the household, so long wary of the
fourth floor and the crazy St Benedict boy, were pleasantly surprised to discover that Theo was actually a completely sane and highly entertaining young man. Marina was absolutely delighted to have day-to-day contact with her brother, and the two of them were often to be found together.

‘Watch this, Mari,' Theo would say, sometimes grabbing fruit from the fruit bowl to show off his expertise as a juggler, sometimes producing a battered old guitar from his room and playing a series of well-known songs for them to sing together. On occasions, Lord William almost found himself joining in with the singing. Theo was completely enrapt by television, watching everything from old spaghetti Westerns to the latest goings on in the land of soap operas. His favourite programmes, however, were children's cartoons, and the house often rang to the sound of Theo's infectious laugh as he watched the antics of the various characters. With the exception of Stephen Dyer and the furiously jealous Lady Rosanna, everyone in the St Benedict household agreed that it was a far happier place with Lord Theodore free from his room.

In the weeks following Stephen Dyer's humiliation, Theo found himself the owner of a whole new wardrobe of clothes thanks to Lord William's declaration that his son couldn't go around ‘looking like a tramp!'

‘Who cuts your hair, Theodore?' barked His Lordship, looking in disgust at Theo's untidy, shoulder-length locks.

‘Nicky Clarke?' replied Theo cheekily, naming a well-known hair stylist. ‘Who do you think, Your Lordship? I cut it myself!'

A couple of days later, a nervous hairdresser sat in Lord William St Benedict's office getting strict instructions from the great man himself to ‘give the boy a short back and sides.' Like the St Benedict household staff, the hairdresser had heard many rumours about His Lordship's strange son,
none of which turned out to be true. Again like the household staff, the hairdresser found Theo to be an immensely likeable young man, chatting amiably the whole time his hair was being cut and declaring himself delighted with the results.

If the members of Lord William's inner circle were surprised at finding Theo suddenly very much in evidence whenever they came to visit, they were all too polite to say so. That is with the exception of Lysander Trevelyan who, on first encountering the newly free Theo, said, ‘Good to see you, Theo! You look a lot better than the last time we met.'

‘Thank you, Lysander. I feel a lot better too.' Lord William, realising that they were alluding to the ferocious beating Theo had taken in the summer, put a stop to their chat straight away.

As Christmas approached, Theo found himself rediscovering sights, sounds and smells almost forgotten from childhood. The house was fragrant with the smell of pine as trees and garlands were brought in to adorn the rooms. Almost beside himself with excitement, Theo helped decorate the trees with infectious, childlike enthusiasm. Even Lord William found himself constantly drawn over to the drawing room's windows, where Theo and Marina were unpacking top-quality decorations. Laughing at his son's attempts to hang ornaments from every inch of the impressive Christmas tree, Lord William said, ‘Tone it down a little, Theodore, or the tree will collapse. This is the one people can see from the road, so it needs to be a work of art.'

‘Don't let that prick near it then,' said the sardonic voice of Lady Rosanna, who was sitting aloof in the corner of the room pretending to read a newspaper. ‘Life was so much nicer with him out of the way.'

‘Popular opinion would disagree with you, Rose darling.
Our adoring public is delighted that we've managed to nurse poor Theodore back to full health, and good popular opinion is always good news for the Scheme.'

‘Does he have to be so much in evidence, though, Father? He's…'

‘I am here, by the way,' Theo cut in.

‘Rosanna,' replied Lord William, ‘as I thought I'd just explained, Theodore's reappearance into the public eye is good for the Scheme. Besides, I find it quite refreshing having him around the place. Now, have you any more to say on the matter?'

For a second, Lord William hoped that Rosanna would prove herself to be as stimulating company as her brother and argue back. Therefore, he found himself a little disappointed when she replied, ‘No, Father. Of course, you're right. The Scheme comes first.'

‘Hmm. Good. Theodore, I thought I said enough!'

Caught trying to put tinsel on the already heavily laden Christmas tree, Theo replied mockingly: ‘Of course, Your Lordship, you're so right Your Lordship, may I kiss your arse now Rosanna's finished, Your Lordship…'

‘THEODORE! If you're going to insult your sister, I suggest you go to your room. Ah, actually no. Stay! That'll be the photographer.'

Every year Lord William commissioned a top photographer to take pictures of his family, the best of which were made into Christmas cards for people considered worthy of receiving a seasonal greeting. This year, for the first time in a decade, Theo was to feature in the photos along with his sisters. Theo watched with great interest as stylists touched up his sisters' hair and make-up, and household staff rearranged the Christmas tree decorations.

‘OK,' said the photographer when everyone was ready to go. ‘Do you want a few with all of you, Lord William? Or just the youngsters?'

‘I think we'll go with just the youngsters for now.'

The photo shoot took a lot longer than expected; Lord William wasn't sure whether to be amused or exasperated at Theo's disruptive influence. The young man questioned every pose he was asked to make, laughing out loud when the photographer suggested he hand a gift to Rosanna.

‘How about I smash it over her head? That'd be a great picture!'

‘Father, do I have to…'

‘Yes, Rose, you do! Can you two please at least try to look like members of a happy family?'

In the end the photographer gave up on any attempt to get Theo and Rosanna to interact, settling finally on a series of shots with Marina in between the two of them. He then took some family photos including Lord William, even Theo behaving himself once his father was included. If it struck the photographer as odd that Theo always referred to his father as ‘Your Lordship', and never ‘Father', the man was far too wise to mention it. The formal photographs done, Lady Rosanna stalked off to mix herself a gin and tonic and the photographer got some shots of Theo and Marina relaxing together by the stunning Christmas tree. These shots turned out to be by far the best of the lot.

The photographer was still packing up his equipment when Lord William's guests started arriving for the drinks party scheduled for that evening. As he and Rosanna greeted the guests, Lord William was annoyed at the sound of the television going on as his son once again indulged his addiction. The polite buzz of conversation in the room was constantly interrupted by Theo's helpless laughter at the antics of Tom and Jerry, and eventually His Lordship snapped.