Chapter 33: Chapter 33

I scrutinize that crack in my footprint.

Need to get new boots soon…

Or I’ll have wet feet…

“I'm scared,” I admit.

His voice is soft. “Of what? Committing? To him?”

“No, not exactly. What if it all went wrong?”

I know that I sound like some spoiled child, complaining about homework or the wrong cookies with my milk, but the words keep coming… “What if I lost my job? Or Ryan was doing badly? If we couldn’t pay, we could lose everything.”

Klempner shrugs. “So, what’s the difference with that to paying rent for the rest of your life? That’s always going to be money down the drain. If you’re on a mortgage, you’re building it up.” He sniffs, scratches his nose. “It seems to me, that you need to sort out your priorities; to decide what it is you really want…”

He’s making a lot of sense…

But he keeps talking. “… Too many people go through life making do. If you fuck up what you really want, you could spend the next twenty years of your life regretting it, before you get another chance.”

“Like you did?”

His gaze goes distant, staring off down at the lake. “Like I did.”

Why are you talking to me like this?

Lawrence Klempner in the role of agony aunt…

However, my good sense rules and I keep that thought firmly inside my head where it belongs.

But I do keep speaking. “It’s just… it’s such a huge amount of money. I’m really worried we can’t afford it.”

Klempner sucks at his cheeks. “You work for Haswell? Do I have that right? And he’s arranging the purchase for this Mill you want to buy?”

“Yes, that's right.”

“And your Ryan, what does he do?”

“He owns his own company. They make heating and ventilation systems. He's doing a lot of contract work right now for James and Richard.”

“He’s the company director?”

“He is, yes.”

“So… his files are a matter of public record. Haswell probably has a very good idea of what he's worth too. And he knows what size of orders Ryan’s company is likely to pull in over the next few years?”

“I suppose so.”

Klempner huffs. “There’s no suppose about it. You don't get into Haswell’s position without having a knack for putting a value on people.” He levels a finger at me. “If he thinks you can afford it, you can afford it. And he’s the one offering you the sale and setting the price.”

Still I hesitate.

He lets out air. “Kirstie, you do realise that Haswell's selling it to you under value?”

He is?

“Richard said he was selling it on at the same price he paid for it.”

“Perhaps so. But I heard what he’s offering you. With the terms of payment, the agreed interest rate and the time period… he's… well, if he's not losing money, he could have made a lot more by following his original plans for the site.”

“He said he didn’t have any plans for it.”

He arches brows, tilts his head. “Really? So why do you imagine he had an option on the place? He heads a multi-company international corporation, not a charity for retired friends and impecunious secretaries.”

My hackles rise. “I’m not a secretary.” Then what’s he’s saying to me sinks in. My mind races. “But why would he do that? He’s an important man. He doesn’t have to help me.”

Klempner shrugs, pursing his lips. “I’ve not truly worked out what’s going on with them all in there…”

He thumbs back into the house… “Jenny, James, Haswell and his wife… But they’re clearly all looking out for each other… Haswell seems a decent enough man. But you can be sure that to be where he is, he’s been playing the game at the edge. Still, he pays his debts…”

I turn his words over in my head.

Lawrence Klempner…

How much does he know about Richard?

And the rest of us?

“You talk as though you've looked?”

“Oh, I did.” He eye-flashes me, suppressing a smile. “Once… in my previous life… I went looking for skeletons on Haswell and I couldn’t find any. So far as I can see, he's as honourable as big business ever allows.” He aims a finger at me. “You helped to protect Jenny, so he's trying to protect you.”

He sniffs. “I’d say you’ve been pulled under the collective family wing. Haswell’s making his best effort to do you a favour. A big favour. No offence meant, Kirstie, but there're not too many women in your position who would be made an offer like that by a man like him; a billionaire, one of the super-rich.”

“I didn’t do that much…”

“You raised the alarm when Ben might have murdered Jenny and Mitch. And you identified Baxter as Jenny’s kidnapper.” He muses then smiles. “Haswell aside, I’ll not forget that. If you ever need my help, Kirstie, you can remember that I pay my debts too…” His gaze turns distant again… “… or I’m trying to.”

Then I realise that he’s not simply staring into space. He really is looking into the distance, scanning over field and lake and wood and road.

“You’re not just taking the air, are you? You’re watching for something.”

Klempner slants sidelong at me. “Baxter’s still out there.”

“You’re worried about him? I thought…”

“Of course I’m worried about him. He’s tried his best to hurt my family, in the worst possible way, as a way of coming back at me.” His eyes flash fury. “I have no reason to believe he’s given up on that.” He chews his lower lip, staring out and down over the frozen hillside.

My mouth drying, “You think he'll come here?”

“Almost certainly not. He knows I'll be looking. But...” He rocks his hand back and forth... “Just in case...”

His words hang, half-said…

“There’s something else though,” I say, “Isn’t there?”

He curses under his breath, then breathes in, lets it out. He paces, circles, then meets my eyes.

“Since we’re sharing problems, Kirstie, alright…” He swipes a hand back over his head. “Baxter insisted that I betrayed him, and I still don't understand why. He said I’d abandoned him. Left him for the police. We've known each other a long time. He knows I wouldn't behave like that. Or he ought to.”

“The two of you were friends?”

“Not friends exactly, but long-term colleagues. We knew each other well.”

“Perhaps it's someone else, then?”

He blinks, his head inclining. “Like who?”

“Someone who knows him better than you, perhaps? A partner? A brother? A lover? Someone close enough to get inside his head… Is Baxter married? Is there a wife?”

Klempner sucks at his teeth. “Not that I’m aware of. But I’ll think about what you say.”

He lapses into silence and I begin to feel awkward. “You didn’t mention Michael,” I say.

He shakes his head, jolting slightly. “What?”

“You talked about everyone else; James, Richard, Beth, Charlotte. You didn't mention Michael.”

Larry snorts, but his eyes are cracking a laugh. “I understand why my daughter is married to Eye-

Candy there.”

“You don’t like Michael? Everyone likes Michael.”

“I didn’t say I don’t like him. I simply don’t think it’s a meeting of minds Jenny was opting for when she married him. It’s not as though he’s the brains of the operation is it?”

“You’re not being fair on him.”

He cocks a brow. “You think not?”

“James may be the one with all the academic qualifications, the letters after his name, but whatever he feels inside, James isn’t good at expressing it well. And he doesn’t always read people properly. But Michael...”

“Michael… what?” Klempner seems genuinely interested.

“Michael… has emotional intelligence.”

The brow rises further. “Emotional intelligence? Really? That's an idea I have trouble with.”

Slaver... Trafficker… Murderer…

“I realise that. It doesn't mean it's not real.”

“Yes, I realise that too.” He muses. “It's something Mitch is strong on. Reading people.”

“Because she was a hooker? I suppose if you can read people it's got to make you better at the job…”

Then I choke on my own words. “Oh, God… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…”

But he doesn’t seem offended. More amused. “Perhaps. Still… she didn't read me right.”

“You sure of that?”

Klempner gives me a long, slow look, but doesn’t reply.

Am I playing with fire?

I opt for cowardice. “In any case, whatever you want to call it; emotional intelligence, empathy… even tact, maybe. It’s not an area of strength for James. The fact is, many people find him a bit…” I hover over my choice of word. “… scary.”

Klempner blinks. “They do? James doesn't seem… scary… to me.”

I laugh. “I said people, not you.” Then the heat rises up my neck.

Oh, crap…

He remains unoffended. “You do have a big mouth, don't you, Kirstie. Ever considered engaging your brain before you speak?”

I sag. “Sorry.”

He shrugs away my apology. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll admit, it’s a refreshing change to speak with someone who actually speaks their mind.”

“Alright then. We’re both out here, standing in the snow. What’s really bothering you? Is it Charlotte? Or Mitch?”

He heaves in air, gets that distant look again. “I'm unsettled by Jenny's domestic arrangements, yes.”

But there’s something else in his eyes. He’s avoiding something. “Why? Because she has two husbands or because James is her Dom?”

He doesn’t reply. Instead, his eyes slide my way. “Your Ryan…”

“He’s my Dom, yes.”

His eyes roll further. “Doesn't anyone around here have a normal relationship?” he mutters.

“Like yourself, for example?”

He huffs a laugh, but there’s a bitter edge there. “I suppose I have to take that one on the chin.”

I persist. “Anyway, what's the problem? What does normal mean? The only real difference between a normal relationship and a D/s is that between a sub and a Dom, the boundaries of what is acceptable are discussed and agreed. Normal couples make it up as they go along and that can lead to all kinds of chaos.”

He squares on to me, folds his arms. “Are you trying to argue that a… what did you call it?”

“A D/s relationship.”

“Alright… a D/s relationship, is more stable than the standard kind?”

“It can be, once the parameters are agreed. Trust and honesty are at the core of a D/s relationship. It's vital that the Dom understands what the sub can handle. And equally vital that the sub trusts the Dom.

But would it be a bad thing to have that at the heart of any so-called normal relationship?”

He ponders that. “Are you trying to say that you and Ryan can’t disagree or quarrel?”

“No, of course not. But I am saying that if we did, it would have to be because we’d not agreed on what could happen between us… I think maybe something like that happened between James and Charlotte in their early days.”

His head jerks my way, something dangerous in his eyes. “What do you mean? Are you telling me he hurt her?”

Meg appears at my feet with a stick and drops it at my feet. I ignore her. “No, I’m not telling you that. I don’t know what happened, except that somehow James overstepped the mark. Charlotte left him, but they made it up again.”

Klempner settles again. “I’m glad about that. I… think of James as a friend.”

Wonder if James feels the same?

Meg picks up her stick and with a throaty grumble, shoves it at my knees.

“I get that,” I say. “You and he have things in common. To love someone beyond all reason and sense.

James would do anything to protect Charlotte. Come to that, I’m sure Michael would too. How would you react if Mitch was threatened?”

He swings his gaze on me and I step back from the glow in his eyes…