Tell Me (11 page)

“I was thinking I’d go to an agency.”

“Can I suggest Mrs Metcalfe? She’s been David Lister’s assistant for two years so she knows the job. And there’s no evidence linking her to his scam.”

Tony was silent for a few moments. Thea suspected he was trying to place the name. “She’s rather young…”

“Twenty four. She’s bright, and she’s honest...”

“Well that counts for something I suppose.”

“I think so. It’s your choice, but from what I’ve seen in her personnel file I’m happy to recommend her. And she could start immediately.” Thea made her way into the kitchen. She wedged the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she clicked the switch on the kettle and hunted up a cup and the caddy containing Earl Grey teabags. A few seconds later the gentle hiss of soon to be boiling water lent its own comforting tone to the silent room. Still, she couldn’t entirely reconcile herself to not appearing at the office at all that day. It would be pleasant though to take her tea back upstairs, snuggle up in Tony’s king size bed, maybe have a shower later…

“Okay. You’re my corporate services director, I guess it’s your call. Mrs Metcalfe it is then. Will you talk to her tomorrow? I suppose we’ll have to brief her on what’s been going on.”

“I’ll handle that if you’re happy to leave it with me. I’m confident about the outcome, but these are still just allegations until the police have conducted their enquiries so we need to be careful what we actually say.”

“Fine. Understood. I’ll get started phoning round to tell the rest of the team to come back in. And you Mrs Richmond, can just chill out, watch some daytime TV. Relax.”

Thea smiled as she dropped her teabag into the cup and poured the hot water over with her free hand. A day off was starting to sound particularly attractive, though she would pass on the daytime television. “Maybe I’ll take a bath. When will you be home?”

“Not late, Around sevenish I expect. Will you still be there?”

“Do you want me to be? I could go home…”

“I want you to be.”

Something squeezed and warmed, low down in her belly. Thea’s pussy moistened.

“Should I cook? I could probably find something…”

“I’ll bring a takeaway.”

“Okay. Shall I wait for you in the dining room?”

“Now there’s an attractive thought. I’ll bring something we can re-heat.

Would she take the hint? He hoped so. He could give her explicit instructions, she would obey him, no question. Given the twist their relationship had taken he probably needed to spell out his expectations in more detail, and he would. Soon. Still, it would be interesting to see how she interpreted their conversation this afternoon.

She’d be in the dining room when he arrived he was sure of that. But would she be perched on a chair, fully dressed, the table laid for their meal? Or would he find her kneeling, naked, her collar to hand ready for him to fasten it around her neck?

His cock swelled and hardened in his trousers at the thought. He shifted in the driver’s seat, trying to make himself more comfortable. He was still thirty minutes from home.

It had been an eventful day. He’d grabbed a couple of hours sleep when he and Thea first got back to his house, but as he’d been dozing most of the previous night while she worked he wasn’t that tired. He got up around mid-morning. Thea was in a deep sleep, but still he crept around the bedroom so as not to wake her, and he left for the office.

He’d picked up a take-out coffee on the way, and arrived at his office just before lunchtime, to find the staff wandering around bemused. He couldn’t blame them really. The place was rife with gossip and rumours, most of which seemed to arrive at the conclusion the firm was about to close and they’d all be out of a job.

He’d called an immediate staff meeting in the canteen. It was standing room only. He explained that there had been some accounting and admin irregularities, but that everything was now under control and they should all continue their duties as normal. The absence of the entire finance section did not go unnoticed, but he opted to make no reference to that. No one else saw fit to point it out either, with one exception.

“Come on. Spill. What’s going on?” Isabel had followed him back from the canteen and into his office. She plonked herself in the chair across from his desk and crossed her legs. She was going nowhere without an explanation.

Tony had regarded his most trusted employee, the assistant who had mopped up his messes for the last ten years and whose loyalty was not in doubt. “Fraud. It’s a police matter. Or it will be. I’m about to call them in.”

“Shit! What? But how? Who…?” He’d allowed himself a quiet smirk. Isabel was rarely rattled, let alone lost for words. She hadn’t seen that coming though.

Not that he’d had any notion either. But for Thea this bunch of thieves would have carried on making a fool of him for a while yet. He’d have cottoned to it eventually, but they’d have got away with a lot more of his cash before he did. As it was, he reckoned Thea’s estimate of around a hundred and twenty thousand pounds between them, over two to three years, was conservative. In his experience thieves were greedy people. Once they got their little scam set up, they’d have milked it for all they could get. He had much to thank her for. He would see to that. Later.

“Tony, what’s been happening?” Isabel had leaned forward in her chair, demanding answers. Tony sighed. Where to start?

“Remember Mrs Richmond? The woman I wanted to headhunt from Kershaw’s?”

Isabel had nodded. “The one you managed to scare off?” There was a derisory note in his PA’s tone. She had been less than impressed on first meeting Thea. Tony could understand why, but it had rankled even so.

“That was a misunderstanding, and entirely my fault. I ran into Mrs Richmond over the weekend. We talked, and I managed to convince her to give us—me—another chance.” It was sort of the truth. Near enough. As near as he was going.

“Right, And…”

“And I briefed her on the problem areas, as I saw them. Finance and human resources. She agreed to have an initial look at our financial management processes and something caught her eye. She spotted a serious fraud going on. It involves Janet Benson and Shirley Reece, and David Lister.”

“But when? When did Mrs Richmond do all this?”

“Yesterday, mostly. We were here all day, and all night.”

“You were here all last night? Working? Why didn’t you call me? I’d have come in.”

Why indeed?
The truth was, it had never occurred to him but he didn’t think his loyal PA for the last ten years, his right-hand woman, needed to hear that.

“I know you would. But there was no need. We just went through everything—well, Mrs Richmond did—and isolated the three culprits.”

“I see.” She offered him a smile, but it had a brittle quality about it. Tony resolved not to exclude her again. He needed Thea’s special skills to set his ailing company in order, but Isabel was invaluable too. She continued, her expression softening to a more thoughtful look. “I know Mr Lister of course, but the other two…”

“Janet works in Purchasing, Shirley in Dispatch. Or they did. They’re suspended right now and likely to stay that way. I need to alert the police and pass on Mrs Richmond’s findings. Do you want to sit in on that?” His last question had been a concession to Isabel’s wounded pride and a deliberate, if belated, attempt to involve her.

“Too right I bloody do. Christ, I can't believe this. Where’s Mrs Richmond now? Shouldn’t she be here? With the police, I mean…?”

“She was up all night checking our systems and working out what had been going on. She’s at home. In bed.”

“She must be exhausted. I’ll give her a ring later, see if she’s alright. I think I have her home number in a file somewhere.”

Tony had offered a tactful cough. No point in trying to explain to his PA why the formidable Mrs Richmond was at his home, asleep in his bed and not her own. Maybe another time.

“Can you find me a number for the fraud squad, please? I want to get this ball rolling. The sooner we report it and hand over this file, the sooner I can get what’s left of my finance team back to work.”

“Are you sure we need to involve the police? Surely we could deal with this in house.”

“That’s not what Mrs Richmond is advising, and this is her area of expertise.”

“I see. Well if that’s what Mrs Richmond says…” She shook her head in apparent disbelief. “David Lister—shit. By the way, he’s tried four times so far this morning to call you. Should I put him through next time?”

“No. He’s been hanging around all weekend, ever since I phoned him to say his department was being investigated. He was even waiting for us when we left here at seven o’clock this morning. He was pretty agitated. I’ve said all I’m going to as far as he’s concerned. He can discuss it with the police.”

“Right. Talking of which, I’ll get you that number.”

Three hours later Tony leaned back in his chair and stretched.

Christ, what a day. The police had left, Thea’s file tucked under the inspector’s arm. Inspector Collywood seemed impressed though, and did at least understand the data she had printed off. So did Tony, after a fashion, but the fine detail escaped him as it always did. He lacked the patience to drill down into it, preferring to rely on Thea and now the police specialist fraud investigators. They intended to interview Thea, and following that they would talk to the three suspects. Inspector Collywood was content to leave his further enquiries until the following day, observing that no one would be going anywhere, and he wanted to study the details in more depth himself first.

Tony had dragged his phone from his pocket and found Thea on speed dial.

That had been a few hours ago. After talking to her and convincing her to take the rest of the day off he’d spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone to his finance staff, asking them to return to work the next morning. Just before five o’clock he took a call from Shirley Reece who had no doubt been alerted by the finance grapevine that most of her colleagues had been reinstated. She apologised, said she had been out shopping and must have missed his call earlier, and asked what time she should come in the next morning.

“That’s quite alright, Mrs Reece. Thank you for calling. But we won't be requiring you back at work tomorrow.”

“Oh. When then?”

“We’ll be in touch soon.”

“Am I still being paid? I want my money. It’s not my fault. None of this is my doing.”

“None of what. Mrs Reece?”

“This. Whatever. I don't know. But there must be something up, else you’d not be carrying on like this. Just don't be trying to pin it on me, that’s all.”

“I can confirm that you are still on full pay, Mrs Reece. And we’ll be in touch with you in the coming days. Goodbye.”

He replaced the receiver. Such remaining doubts as he might have been clinging to—and those were slender enough—now dissolved. In his experience people never denied something they had not been accused of, unless they’d done it. Shirley Reece was in a lot of bother.

And he had a lovely submissive waiting for him at home, but first he had a couple of errands to see to on the way there.

Tony pulled up in his driveway alongside Thea’s car. He glanced up at the windows but saw no face watching for him. A good sign. The dining room was on the other side of the house. He picked up the carrier bag containing a takeaway selection of Chinese dishes and mounted the steps up to the front door to let himself in.

Silence. He put his briefcase down on the floor in the hall and sauntered along the polished wood floor. The dining room door was closed, but he knew she was there as surely as if the solid ash panel was made of glass. He carried on along the hallway to the kitchen where he deposited his carrier bag. His footsteps echoed in the quiet hallway as he strode back to the dining room. He turned the handle and pushed the door open.

Thea knelt on the floor, her back to him. She was naked, her slender back ramrod straight. Even so, her posture looked relaxed, practised. She was at ease in and with herself, and this pleased him. He didn't speak, but of course she was aware of his presence. He saw that in the slight tilt of her chin, the almost imperceptible clench of her fingers as they rested on her thighs.

He walked past her and sat on the sofa. Her head was bowed but he knew she watched him, her eyes following him as he moved. He removed his suit jacket and draped it across the seat next to him, then he loosened his tie. His cuffs were next. He unfastened them and rolled back his shirt sleeves, then he leaned back.

“Do you feel rested now, Thea?”

“Yes, Sir. Very. I had a bath too. I feel very pampered.”

“You earned it. So, Thea, how would you like to spend the evening?”

“With you, Sir.”

“Yet you offered to return to your apartment. Why?”

“You said you like to live alone, Sir. I don’t want to crowd you, if you need your space.”

“I have plenty of space here, whether you’re in the house or not.”

“Yes, Sir. I can see that.”

“So, just to make sure there’s no misunderstanding between us on this matter, you’re welcome to stay here as often as you like. You can sleep here every night if you want to.”

“In your bed, Sir.”

“Of course.”

“What about my apartment?”

“Keep it. Sub-let it if you want. Or you might want to sleep there sometimes too. I’m not the only one who said they like to live alone.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Why are you thanking me, Thea?”

“For being nice, Sir.”

Tony chuckled. “I wonder if you’ll still feel like thanking me when I have you tied to my bed and you’re begging me to let you come.”

“There’s only one way to find out, Sir.”

*****

Thea stretched, tugging at the ropes that held her immobile. She lay spread eagled across the mattress, her wrists tied to the headboard and her ankles secured to the foot of the bed. Her hips were raised. A pile of several pillows shoved under her bottom arched her back, rendering her body accessible for whatever her Dom might choose to do to her. She was blindfolded too, her remaining senses acutely attuned to whatever stimulation might be served up. She wasn’t gagged, but he had instructed her to remain silent unless asked a direct question, or unless she wanted to safe word. She would not be doing that. He might as well have stopped her mouth.