Sleepwalk (28 page)

‘We’ve been looking under the bridge and we should have been looking outside it. Come and take a look.’

Sure enough there were dark blue paint marks on the outer skin of the wall but they had gone unnoticed because of the bushes growing in front of and around them. The same blue paint had been etched into some of the leaves on the bush growing there. Further investigation proved worthwhile when Carter carefully pushed his arm into the thorny bush and came out with a small piece of the cars rear bumper that had broken off. He dropped it into a bag then took a pair of cutters from the back of his car and cut away a small piece of the shrub bearing the blue paint mark putting that into another bag. Pleased with their days haul, they returned to the station to file their reports and set forensics to work on their findings. Slim watched them leave and went to the corner of the bridge. He scraped a little of the paint off the wall and rubbed it on his fingers…….. blue. The car wasn’t black after all; it was dark blue.

Felicity had been off work for two weeks. Charles Denton had told her he would talk to her in a couple of weeks and as much as she liked being a free agent, she needed to know she still had a job to go back to; that she would still be able to pay her mortgage and loan payments. Her fingers hesitated as she dialled his number. The call went through to his voice mail.
You have reached the voice mail of Charles Denton of
Denton
Fairfax
. Please leave your message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you
…………

‘Mr Denton Hi…….. It’s Felicity Breen here. Just to let you know that everything is in hand with the house etc and I’m ready to come back to work. As you are not yet in the office to confirm this is ok I am going to come in to work this morning anyway so will be at the East Barton office at
8.45am
prompt. Thank you.’

‘Wow. That was a very impressive call Flick. Very ….. um …….. professional.’

‘Well Darling……. I am a professional person don’t you know. Ollie love shall I help you?’ Felicity took the spoon from Oliver’s tray and scooped up some weetabix making train noises which made him smile and open his mouth wide and at least it kept his fingers out of the bowl.

‘You spoil that boy Flick’ laughed David. When he’s sixteen and he goes out on his first date he’ll have to take you with him so you can spoon feed him in the restaurant.’

‘Oh don’t be silly. He’s only two.’

‘Wish I was two then you could feed me too.’

Felicity grinned, put the spoon into Ollie’s hand and guided the spoon in to the weetabix. ‘There you go, clever boy!’ Oliver put the food into his mouth and then spat it everywhere and slammed the spoon down on his tray.

‘Mummy do it……. Train!’ He screamed. His words had not gone unnoticed by either of them as she guided his hand once more. ‘Right last one and then Ollie do it ok?’

‘Ok.’

‘There, Good boy. Now then, Vic’s got to go to work so I’ll see you later. Be a good boy for Nanny ok?’

‘Ok.’

She kissed his forehead then she kissed David, picked up her handbag and she was gone.

‘Good luck Flick’ David called to her.

‘Thanks…… I may need it.’

Felicity got in her car and sighed. Today the builders began in the loft at her cottage. They estimated two weeks to completion. She had settled in here with David so easily and felt so happy here it was going to be incredibly hard to even think about leaving. And little Oliver……. How would it affect him? He’d called her Mummy. He was used to her being there now. She had tried not to become too involved with the child but he was so adorable and she loved to spend time with him.
As she drove out of
Rose Lane
and headed toward town she realised she didn’t give a fig what Charles Denton thought of her, or anyone else; but she did care what David thought of her. She cared very much indeed. Felicity had fallen head over heels in love with David and with little Ollie……..
and she didn’t ever want to leave
.

Felicity got to the office at
8.25am
, unlocked the door and turned off the alarm. Her desk was a mess with little piles of paperwork and post it notes stuck everywhere. She turned the office lights on, locked the front door and switched her computer on. She had
a pile of unopened post
and she sifted through them quickly prioritising the important from the not so important
. There was a
management circular regarding the web site
and
notification of a managers meeting to be held in
Exeter
at the end of August. There was nothing from higher management to suggest her job was in any way threatened by what had happened. She put the kettle on; poured herself a coffee; went back to the circular and read the title;

Internet Advertising soon to be standard p
ractise at
Denton
Fairfax
……. She read on …….
Over the coming months
Denton
Fairfax
will be going liv
e with an internet advertising c
ampaign and we would like to welcome Peter Hendford as our new
web site c
o-ordinator. Peter, as some of you will know, has been on hand for
the past two years with our PC s
upport team and will be coming around
to all of our branches in the south w
est upgrading your PC’s and setting up your branch to work on the new system. After a successful pilot scheme at our East Barton office in
Devon
we are now ready to link all our branches to the World Wide Web. Peter will be on sit
e to offer training during the i
nitial set up process and will be on call to offer training and support whenever required in the future
………… The circular went on listing branch names and dates for the switch over. Not once did it mention her or all the hard work and effort she had put into her research for this scheme.
Credit where credit is due, eh
?

She sifted through the paperwork on her desk and filed ‘To do’s’ into her in-tray and filed the rest away into the various customer or property related files in the filing cabinet. She checked the clock in her office and scanned the front office. Karen and Grahams desks seemed relatively tidy. She checked the current property details on display in the waiting area to keep abreast of any new details and checked the ‘Sold’s’ and ‘Under Offer’s, disappointed to find only one ‘Sold’ and only three ‘U/O’s. Adding this to only two new properties on display, Felicity wondered who the hell had been in charge here in her absence. At five minutes to nine Graham was knocking the door and looked shocked to see her there.

‘Hi Flick. I didn’t know you were back today.’ He remarked as he hung his coat in the staff room.

‘So who has been looking after you for the past two weeks?’

‘Well, no one really, and it’s been really busy. I had to cancel a couple of site visits to stay here and answer the phones and the leads from e-mail because Karen couldn’t cope on her own. I know the racks look a little bare but there is more to go out; I just haven’t had chance to print the details and keep up with the paperwork.’

‘I see.’ Felicity sighed, ‘I really dropped you in it then. I’m sorry. I thought they would have sent someone over to manage in my absence’.

‘No. We managed, not brilliantly though. Think we’ve probably lost out to other agents in a few cases. Because I’m not allowed to do the valuations we had to send all the details to HO with pictures of everything and wait for a valuation to come back via e-mail and it all took too long. By the time I got back to the client they’d already gone with someone else. Anyway; we’ll soon get back on our feet now you’re here Flick. How’s it all going?’

‘Slow, but it’s getting there. Thanks Graham, for holding the fort. I’m going to give HO a piece of my mind.’

‘Go Flick! Nice to have you back.’

‘It’s good to
be
back Graham. Look, I’ll leave you to catch up and I’ll get the phones this morning and if you’re overloaded you can bring me some work.’

‘Thanks Flick. There are a few details need putting together and you might want to check these four HO valuations because I think they’re too high for the area. I didn’t want to go back to the clients with false hopes.’

Graham was right. As she sifted through a mountain of paperwork Felicity realised that HO were basing prices on inner city valuations and not the outer lying rural areas like East Barton. Luckily he had not yet approached the clients. She just hoped it wasn’t too late. She contacted all four clients and told them she would have a valuation and property details with them by mid morning and subject to their approval, would be on the net by close of business today. Only one of the three was dissatisfied with this and she had to offer a special discount to win them back. But win them back, she did. Felicity had to forego her lunch break to meet with clients and finally; their details approved, went back to work and put them online. She was finished by mid afternoon and then she phoned Charles Denton but was told he was in a meeting. Felicity wrote him an e-mail;

Mr Denton

A
s you kn
ow I am back at the East Barton o
ffice today and
was shocked
to find that no cover had been provided for my compulsory two week leave. As I’
m sure you will appreciate our o
ffice is ex
tremely busy at the present time with branch profits already increased in the last quarter by one third. Therein I believe my idea for the web site has already proved its worth. In the current climate other a
gents are jumping on the band wagon and expanding their businesses to suit
; and I see you have now decided to link up to all of the other branches
.

Graham Bond, my trusted employee, photographer and second key holder at this branch has managed remarkably well although he has had to follow certain routes via Head Office due to his lack of qualifications
in the valuation department
which has prolonged the process of what should be a perfectly simple instruction and has had a detrimental effect in that it has cost our branch time and lost us prospective clients.
I have asked on two previous occasions for Graham to have this training as I am to understand
that although the course is not a certified one, I am apparently unqualified to teach him myself.

I ask t
hat you enlist Graham Bond on a v
aluation course at your earliest convenience
. He is a valued member of our team here at East Barton
whose hands have been tied with ‘red tape’ for these past two weeks.

Kind Regards

Felicity Breen – Branch Manager

Felicity clicked ‘send’.
There, stick that up your shirt
Denton
…. She felt quite pleased with herself; Charles Denton wasn’t the only one who could play with words. He did not
phone or
reply to her e-mail, but later that afternoon she got an e-mail from his personal secretary Shirley Coombes, who had sent an appointment through for Graham to attend the surveyors valuation workshop at Head Office on September 3
rd
.

‘How was work Flick?’

‘Shocking….. but productive in the end. They’d not sent anyone in to cover my leave.’

‘That’s ridiculous. I expect it’s all gone to pot then in your absence?’

Felicity explained her day to David while they both prepared dinner. Ollie charged up and down the hall on his little bike shouting, ‘Look at me Vic!’ and she felt so happy.
It was so nice to come home from work to this happy little trio. She peeled carrots while David peeled potatoes and every now and then they looked at each other and smiled that knowing smile. Later they sat at the kitchen table; David sitting opposite her and Ollie in his chair between them. The child seemed happier; more settled and more confident. Felicity sat with him in the lounge after dinner and helped him with his puzzles or
puddles
,
as Ollie called them. Going back to work today had made her realise how much she had enjoyed the company of David and his son; and how much she would miss them when she moved back to the cottage. At least while she stayed here she could still be with them in the evenings, and be in David’s strong arms as he held her close at night. Leaving didn’t bear thinking about.
Later when Ollie was in bed; as if he could read her thoughts, David broached the subject.

‘Have you heard from Bob Croft today?’

‘No. I may pop over there after work mid-week, just to see how they’re getting on.’

‘I bet you can’t wait to move back in.’

‘No. No…….. I’m not actually. In fact, the thought of moving back in scares me.’

David looked her straight in the face and took her hands in his.

‘Flick……… babe, you don’t have to move back in yet. You must know that.’

She looked into those eyes like the deep blue sea and her heart melted. She could feel the warmth of his hands on hers, could feel the closeness of his breath and at once her senses rose up within her and she knew what he was going to ask;
what she wanted him to ask
…….