Eye for an Eye (15 page)

He lowered
himself carefully onto the leather couch and sat looking wan.

‘No, nothing,
thanks.’

‘Should I call
a doctor, do you think? Or would you like me to stay for a while
and take care of you?’

‘No, that’s
very kind of you, but I think I’ll just have a shower and go to bed
for now. I’m sorry our day out was cut short like this…’ He broke
off, looking strained as another spasm tweaked his intestines.
‘I’ll make it up to you another time. Thanks for all your help
Robyn, you’ve been a tower of strength.’

He heaved
himself up from the sofa and moved towards the bathroom. ‘Can you
see yourself out? I’ll give you a call as soon as I can, OK?’

‘Sure Colwyn,
no problem. Goodbye!’ she shouted to the closed door.

Before she
left, she pulled out her bleach-filled water pistol and tiptoed
into the bedroom, where she placed a couple of tiny dribbles on
each of his suit trousers, right by the zipper. The rest of the
liquid she squirted below the surface of two of his biggest,
glossiest pot-plants.

Then with one
last look round, she gathered up her bag and left the
apartment.

CHAPTER 6

Once safely
back in Mike’s living room, she triumphantly recounted her exploits
while he listened patiently.

‘Tell me about
his computer,’ he said when she finished. ‘Desktop or laptop? PC or
Apple Mac? Was he using flashdrives or DVDs? Was it plugged in or
wireless?’

She smacked her
forehead.

‘Doh! Sorry
Mike, no idea about most of that - it’s all Greek to me I’m afraid.
Can you show me what to look for so I’ll be more use next
time?’

He looked
doubtful. ‘What experience have you had with computers so far?’

‘So far? Within
the last twenty-four years? Er, one. Nothing flash, just enough for
my pictures and email.’

He rolled his
eyes. ‘Great! This will be a challenge. OK, come over here. I’ll
start at the very beginning.’

‘A very good
place to start.’

He pointed with
exaggerated care as if explaining to a dull child. ‘See this? This
is the on switch. I is on, 0 is off.’

‘Yeah, why is
that? I’ve always wondered why they didn’t choose O for On.’

‘That’s just
the way it is, Robyn. Come on, mouth shut, ears open, OK? You
should see a standard start-up screen like this, with the icons for
different programs. Now, pay attention. The programs we want will
probably be on spreadsheets, so look for this one, this one, or
that one.’ He indicated three of the icons on his screen. ‘They are
the three most commonly-used database programs.’

‘And what do I
do when I see one of those?’

‘Download the
files to a flashdrive.’ He paused. ‘I take it that blank look means
you wouldn’t know how to do that. OK, let’s stick with what you
know. Email will do if you have enough time. Select email and send
me all the files in that program as attachments, then delete your
message from the Sent file.’

‘Mike, this is
way too complicated. I’m not going to know what I’m looking at even
if I do manage to get Colwyn’s programs open. This really is
something you’re going to have to do yourself.’

He sighed.
‘You’re probably right. I can’t teach you enough to do this quickly
and without leaving a trace - and any interference with his
computer is going to put him on the alert straight away.’

He stretched
his arms wide, and Robyn heard a crack from his shoulder joint.

‘How long have
you been sitting here at the computer?’ she asked sternly. ‘Have
you had any proper exercise today?’

‘No, but I’ve
only been working a few hours. I’m fine, really.’

She probed his
shoulders with her fingers. ‘The hell you are! Your muscles are
tied up like mating snakes. Let me at least loosen them up a bit
for you.’

She started to
massage his shoulders, gently at first but with increasing
firmness. His body was surprisingly hot beneath his shirt, and so
lean she could feel the shape of each sinew. He started to ease
away from her, but she pushed him back in the chair and worked even
harder with her fingers. He groaned, but she couldn’t quite tell
whether it was from pleasure or pain. After a few minutes of
vigorous massage she could feel that she’d freed up the worst of
the knots so she stopped and patted him briskly on the back.

‘There you go,
that’s better. You don’t want to go getting RSI or OOS or whatever
they’re calling it these days, do you? You need to look after
yourself better, mate.’

‘Yes. You’re
probably right. Thanks for that,’ he said stiffly. ‘But if you
could excuse me now, I’m going to do a few more calculations
tonight and I need to concentrate.’

‘Oh. Right,
sorry. Goodnight then.’

She left the
room, puzzled by his sudden change of mood. She’d only given him a
shoulder massage for God’s sake - surely that hadn’t gotten under
his skin?

She shrugged it
off and prepared for bed, knowing she’d need a good night’s sleep
to face job hunting the next day. She’d already prepared a list of
photographic studios from the yellow pages, and had worked out a
route through the city that would visit the greatest number with
the least travel cost.

It was a hot
night. She lay with just a sheet over her and tried to sleep, but
she couldn’t close her mind to the sound of Mike working in the
next room. He was a moody bugger, she mused, you could never be
quite sure what he was thinking. One minute he’d be warm and funny,
then the next minute he would turn away and retreat into cool
formality for no apparent reason. It did nothing for a girl’s
self-esteem.

Later she heard
him getting ready for bed. One shoe dropped to the floor, then the
other. There was a creak of bed springs. After a while she heard
the sound of a fan starting up, and she imagined how good it would
feel to have air blowing across her overheated body.

She got out of
bed and knocked on his bedroom door.

‘Just a
second,’ he called, opening it after a few moments.

She grinned at
his short Chinese silk robe. ‘That’s pretty!’

‘Thank you.
What do you want?’

‘I heard the
fan going, and I wondered if you had another one tucked away
anywhere. It’s bloody hot tonight isn’t it?’

‘You can have
this one.’ He went to unplug it.

‘No! Don’t be
silly! You’ve got far more right to it than I have. Please keep
it.’

He carried it
into the study and plugged it in, despite her protests.

‘It’s part of
being a good host,’ he said, averting his eyes from the fact that
she was wearing nothing but a long T-shirt.

A spirit of
devilment prompted her to say more than she should.

‘And what else
would you provide if I asked for it, Mike?’

He flushed. ‘I
have my limits. I’m sorry.’

‘Oh for God’s
sake, I was only joking! Don’t take it so seriously!’

But he was
gone, and the door to his room was closed firmly behind him.

Next morning
she set about phoning the studios on her list, and on the third
call she was invited to visit for an interview.

‘So what can
you do?’ asked the personnel manager of Prince and Bond, leaning
back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head.

‘Well, I can
set up and shoot product or portrait shots, I can design and set up
lighting, I can arrange props, build sets, run errands and make
coffee - which skill can you use?’

He dropped his
hands and leaned forward eagerly.

‘You can build
sets? Really? Like, set up walls, plaster them, paint them - the
whole deal?’

‘Sure, no
problem at all. I’ve done plenty of building work back home.’

‘Well in that
case, you’re hired! We’ve got a rush job on that we’re running
behind with. Nobody’s free to get the room built and we have to
shoot in two days. Can you start right away?’

Robyn grinned.
‘Just hand me a hammer!’

She followed
him through a cavernous dimly-lit warehouse where every few yards a
camera and a group of lights were set up facing towards a different
subject. Some were just tabletops where sets of screwdrivers were
laid out in neat arcs, others were corners of fully furnished rooms
with windows, curtains, and pictures on the wall.

‘Most of this
stuff is for mail order catalogues,’ he called over his shoulder.
‘Bread and butter work, really, though there’s not too much butter
these days. The fashion guys downstairs get the jam assignments,
mostly outside the studio, working with the beautiful people - it’s
a whole different world down there.’

Robyn thought
what a great place the room would make for a kid’s game of
hide-and-seek, with so many dark corners and things to lurk behind.
Pete would have loved it.

He stopped at a
large empty space. ‘OK, here’s where we need the set built. It’s a
pool room, you know, like a games room kind of thing – a drinks bar
across here, window there, light above the table, juke box on that
side. All the props are supplied, and the carpet – so what we need
right now is three walls to put it all in. Here’s the art
director’s sketch with the measurements. Can you handle it?’

Robyn ran her
eye over the pencil sketch, then checked the space in front of
her.

‘Yes, I think
so. Can I have a look at the tools and building supplies?’

‘Sure, I’ll get
Tony to show you - he’s our construction guy but he’s flat out
right now on another job. He’ll give you everything you need to get
started. Come with me.’

He introduced
her to a bear-like man who was working on a winter garden set.

‘Tony, this is
Robyn, a new wonder-worker come to help us out. Get her started,
will you? I figure she can take the games room off your plate.’

‘Hi Robyn, nice
to meet ya,’ said Tony. ‘Hold on a second.’ He turned and bellowed
towards a doorway. ‘Sanjeev! I said two boxes of grade three snow,
NOW - not next week!’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Like training a tortoise
- although that’d be quicker. So you can build, eh? Come along to
the tool room so you can show me if you know what you’re
doing.’

She obeyed his
instructions, selecting a piece of straight timber, sawing a short
length off the end, and checking it for accuracy. He nodded in
satisfaction, and took her over to the first of several large heavy
metal machines.

‘Know what this
is?’

‘Bandsaw.’

‘Used one
before?’

‘Yep.’

‘And this one
here?’

‘Planer.’

‘Used one
before?’

‘Nope.’

‘Doesn’t
matter, you won’t need to.’

‘I could
learn,’ she offered willingly.

‘No time to
show you. You can use a drill, router, sander, all that stuff?’

‘Sure.’

‘OK then, we’ll
let you loose on the games room set. Just holler if you have any
problems, all right? Scrap timber’s stored under the bench, panels
and wallboards over against that wall, mouldings and architraves on
those racks, window frames in the storeroom, along with doors,
hinges, catches and knobs. Nails and screws are above the
workbench, and the hand tools you can see. Any questions?

‘Yeah, where
can I go for a pee?’

He roared with
laughter. ‘I suppose you want to know when you get a coffee break
too, eh? Like you’ll get the chance. The washroom’s right over
there, you can get a hot drink in here, and the coffee truck comes
round at lunch-time - they’ll call it over the intercom. Anything
else you need to know?’

‘I’ll be sure
to ask you if there is,’ Robyn assured him solemnly.

Tony handed her
a leather tool-belt and shambled back to his winter garden, still
chuckling.

Robyn looked at
the rows of tools and her imagination started to work overtime.
Just imagining the variety of damage she could do with them in
Colwyn’s life made her eyes light up with an evil gleam. She pulled
a scrap of paper from her purse and listed all the most devious
ideas she could come up with before buckling down to work on the
set she was to build.

His ‘to do’
list wavered in front of Colwyn’s eyes as he struggled to focus on
his executive planner. Kate and Alan McNamara would be arriving at
any moment, and he simply didn’t feel up to taking the last vital
step in persuading them to hand over their money. The spadework for
the deal had been done on the boat trip the previous week, but they
were still being extremely cautious about handing over their
nest-egg and needed more encouragement than he currently felt able
to give. His head ached and his anus hurt and nothing in between
was feeling very bright either. He slumped on the couch wishing for
the day to end.

When the door
buzzer sounded he stood up, took a deep breath, and with a
superhuman effort assumed the necessary charm-filled persona to
greet his guests.

‘Could you
explain it to us just once more please, Colwyn?’ asked Kate, when
they had been talking it through in his apartment for over half an
hour. ‘I want to be quite sure I understand exactly how the plan
works. Sorry to be such an old fool, but you know we have to be
careful, don’t you. We’ve got no kids to look after us, it’s just
Alan and me, and that money is really all we have.’

‘Oh honey, give
the guy a break, will you? He already explained the darn thing
three times today and Lord knows how many times last week. Do you
get it or not?’

‘Well, I’m not
really sure. I guess the plan is clear enough, and I’m hoping that
Colwyn wouldn’t give us bad advice. But the thing is, we don’t know
very much about him personally, do we? Sorry, Colwyn, you seem a
very sweet boy, but that’s just how I feel.’

‘But honey,
what more do you need to know? You’ve met him several times, you’ve
seen his boat, you’re right here in his darn apartment - what more
is there? He’s obviously a successful guy, just look around you!
C’mon, let’s sign already.’ Alan reached into his jacket for a pen,
shaking his head at his wife’s uncertainty.