Ghost Story

by J G Jerome

  “How are you doing, Darling William?” she asks. “I've been worried about you since Viktorija told me about your break up. Do you need me to comfort you, Darling?”

  I smile at her sadly. “Tempting, Bernadette. I remember you as a fantastic lover, and you look just as awe-inspiring as you ever have. I have three ladies waiting for me at home, so I suppose I should pass.”

  “I would be happy to help, Darling. Your endowment made quite an impression on me, as did your skill. It would be absolutely no hardship for me,” she says with a seductive smile.

  I chuckle instinctively. Then I lean down to claim her mouth, and raise my hand to claim her left breast. I fondle her and kiss her until she moans. Then I release her breast and hug her as I release the kiss. “Bernadette, I am sorely tempted. I love my ladies, but your charms are sinfully alluring.”

  “Oo, sinful! Appealing to my heritage, William.” She turns her head and cocks an eyebrow coyly. “Diabolical! You should know what that does to me.” She raises two soaked fingers to me, and I suck them into my mouth.

  “Hmmm.” I pop them out of my mouth. “Yummy. Bernadette, I almost said ‘you’re too much,’ but honestly, I think you’re perfect.” I kiss her quickly again. She releases me and buttons her robe.

  Bernadette reaches inside her lapel and adjusts her plump breasts as she walks around to sit behind her desk. She pulls up her chair and floats gracefully down into her chair and pulls the two folders that rest in front of her closer. Opening the top one. She looks at it and turns it to face me. Bernadette holds a finger in the air before picking up the bell from her desk and ringing it. The shades slide down into place. The screen also drops over the door.

  She begins to review the file in front of me without looking at it. “Rebecca Silverstein. Born Angela Marie Olsen on November 2, 1999 at the general hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. She was handed over to child services on November 4, and she died November 6th. Her birth mother looks enough like your Rebecca to be a close cousin. Her legend is that she was adopted on 05 November, by Jacob and Lenore Silverstein of Littleton, Colorado. Her parents bought a house shortly after, and she lived there until she disappeared the day of her eighteenth birthday nearly two years ago. Her adopted parents died two months later in a car wreck.”

  She takes a breath before continuing. “Rebecca went to school in Littleton, attending high school there, excelling at science, math, English,and music. She played piano for the school choir. She was not very popular, and few of her classmates remember her. We do have a six of them lined up. She didn’t have a job, but worked on a variety of fundraisers. Ms. Levinson organized many of them and still loves talking your ear off about all of Rebecca’s good works. There is a Ms. Levinson, and she will provide bona fides. Rebecca never learned to drive, but she did get to take a trip to the UK for an ‘English Literature Tour’ the summer of her junior year of high school. We found her State ID, issued when she was sixteen, her passport, and her Social Security Card. We also got a copy of her birth certificate from the state.”

  Bernadette raises a finger and winks her eye at me. “We also engaged a private investigator to find her trail from Littleton. She flopped in Denver for about six months, spending Christmas in a Salvation Army shelter. She disappeared before New Year. He picked up her trail in Winter Park where she ran one of the ski lifts for the season. She worked housekeeping in a Motel 6 in Fort Collins after that for a couple of months and then disappeared again. She showed up as a lift operator at Sunrise ski resort in Grier, Arizona this winter and disappeared in mid-March. That’s where we found the documents. There was no trail again until you found her in Prescott walking up the hill at Carlton and Cortez.”

  I am amazed. “The private investigator’s a nice touch.”

  “He owed me a favor or a thousand. He’ll back it up. My forger is an artist, don’t you think?” she asks.

  I nod. “They look like they were left in a random drawer by a vagabond.” I smile. “They will definitely work. I’ll get her enrolled to take the GED and then community college. That should be enough to get her an official ‘Real ID’ driver’s license.”

  Bernadette taps her lips. “Maybe you should put the two foundlings up in that little apartment officially. You and the other one shack up officially, and they come to visit their good friend…”

  “Marissa,” I clarify.

  “...Marissa regularly. Then they build some history of holding a residence. That will help with the new ID, too.”

  “If everything goes well, I will be able to afford it.” I grin, “I need to be back to Prescott by four in the afternoon to sign the sale contract of my house.”

  Bernadette waves her hand at me dismissively. “You have nearly three hours before you need to leave. Maybe you will join us for lunch. Vanessa and Clarice are making some creole dish with shrimp and whitefish. It sounded delicious.”

  “Maybe,” I answer. “Let’s talk through Josie’s legend.”

  Bernadette smirks at me sexily. “We found a Josephine Carroll born in Springfield, Missouri on April 6th, 1995. The original Josephine left for New Orleans after she turned eighteen, started calling herself Toby Cox, had the surgery, and was shot by police after killing his girlfriend. He died of his wounds before he was charged. We have a clean break in the trail between Josephine and Toby.”

  Bernadette shows me a trio of pictures. “Josephine at seventeen. Her mother. Her father. It’s not much of a stretch from this Josephine to yours.” She lays out two more pictures. “This is your Josephine. This is a composite my artist made blending it with the image of the seventeen-year old version. The composite becomes Josephine as she was a waitress in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was there for two months before picking up another waitress job in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She followed the same pattern until she landed in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There she got her GED, and she took math and English at Santa Fe Community College. She dated a guy there that was part of a drug ring. She was questioned and released. Months later she appeared in Colorado Springs. She was there for seven months, then Boulder for nine months. Four months later she showed up in Saint George, Utah, Indian Springs, Nevada, Kingman, Arizona, and then Flagstaff - each time working waitress or housekeeping jobs. She left in July and showed up in Prescott two weeks ago.”

  She sits back in her chair and crosses her shapely legs. “We have a birth certificate, driver’s license, and social security card. We have school records from Santa Fe and a GED certificate. Fortunately, Toby never did an official name change, and he died without the police documenting the connection. That means a records check on the social security number will find no crimes. We created a record in Santa Fe of her questioning. You’ll need to teach her to drive.”

  I think out loud. “I’ll need to get her some basic education so she can actually pass a GED, too. From what she told me, she never went to school. I don’t know if she can read. Yet, she is smart. I think given opportunity and support, she will soar.”

  Bernadette nods. “I suspect you are right.”

  There is a knock at the door of Bernadette’s office. The screen in front of the door rises. “Would you check that, William Darling?”

  I get up. “Certainly.”

  I open the door to find Audrey standing there in a knee-length orange sundress with tears running down her face.

  I pull her to me, and she hugs me tightly to her. “Master, I’m so sorry. I made a mistake.”

  I kiss her forehead. I murmur, “Welcome to humanity, sweetheart. Would you feel better if I recited the litany of mistakes I have made? We could stand here for days.”

  She sobs a laugh, “As long as you hold me, I’m okay with that.”

  I breathe in the scent of her as I hold her close. “Audrey my love, I’m in the middle of a business transaction with Ms. Bernadette. You may join us if you like.”

  “Please, Will. I will have to go back to my apartment tonight, and my parents will probably stop by to check on me - they’re worried b
ecause I’ve been such a wreck since Sunday. Until then, I want to spend as much time with you as I can. I think I damaged my soul by breaking away. I need you to hold me.” Then she looks up at me. “I might need you to claim me again, Master.”

  I throw my head back and laugh hard. “God, I’ve missed this woman!” I look down at her. “I already feel healed just having you back in my arms, but I’m sure we can arrange a quick claiming before I have to leave.” I look over my shoulder to Bernadette. “I brought cash, but I can add a check for room rental.”

  She stands and lets her gown open to show her glorious body as she walks around her desk. “Oh pooh, William,” she says as she waves a languid hand in dismissal. “You don’t have enough time to create a thorough mess. Just use the chaise lounge here in my office.” She waves a hand languorously and shrugs, which creates a delightful motion in her right breast. “ I’ll get the benefit of being able to savor the smells of you two rutting for days, and then I can use the cleanup to discipline one of my wards.”

  Bernadette closes on us and wraps us in a hug. “Come back inside and have a seat, William Darling. We need to finish our business, so you can progress to pleasure.”

  I release Audrey and reach for the door as Bernadette guides Audrey inside. I see Viktorija across the entryway in the door of the salon. She has a melancholy smile on her face as tears run down her cheeks. I comment “just a moment” over my right shoulder as I walk across the foyer to stand before the Latvian beauty.

  “Viktorija, sweetie. Who has hurt you? I will end them.”

  Her eyes saucer as she sees how serious I am. She quietly answers. “Sir, I am only hurting myself. I’m happy Audrey finally returned to you, and I want something I can’t have.” Her smile breaks and she cries, covering her face in her hands.

  She starts to turn away, but I grab her shoulders and pull her to me. I wrap my left arm around her waist and pull her left hand to my mouth. I kiss it dry of tears. Then I lean in and kiss her cheek dry, then her eyes, the other cheek, and finally switching hands, her right hand.

  I place a finger under her chin. Her expression is very ‘deer in the headlights.’

  “Viktorija, my love. I intentionally have not pursued you while you work for Bernadette - especially after you told me about your journey to get here. But know, dear Viktorija, that I am here for you. There is always room in my house for you, and in my heart for you. When your service to your Mistress is done, I hope you will come find me. Whether you need a father, a brother, or a lover - it doesn’t matter. I am here for you. I always will be.”

  I cup her right cheek in my hand as I lean in and press a tender kiss to her left. I look at her eyes. “You deserve to have a single man or woman that will love you unreservedly with their whole heart. I can’t give you that. If you want that, I will help you find that. Regardless, I will always love you unreservedly.”

  “William,” she answers with anguish in her voice. “I am a whore. You can’t love me.” Tears threaten to spill.

  I hold her gaze. “I can, and I do. You have had to make hard choices. All of Bernadette’s boys and girls have. I think submitting to her was a harder choice for you than it was for most of her wards. I can’t judge you for your choice - I won’t judge you even if you decide it’s a long-term career choice. I only get to choose whether to love you, or not love you. I chose to love you...as though I have any real choice in the matter. Your strength of spirit and your kindness pretty much took the choice away from me.” At that point, I have to kiss more tears dry, this time with her arms wrapped around my neck.

  I see a flash of orange in my periphery before Audrey rests her chin on Viktorija’s shoulder and wraps her arms around her. She tells Viktorija, “Keep faith, Tori. I am your friend forever. You really are my best friend, so - BFFs, right?” Viktorija laughs lightly. Audrey continues, “Will is not the only one holding back until you finish your obligations. I dream of a long happy life with you and Will - raising each other’s babies and growing old together as we make the world our bitch. I would love nothing more than to make a family with the two of you and his happy harem in Prescott. Remember that, Tori.”

  Audrey kisses her friend’s lips gently before stepping back and pushing the spaghetti straps of her sundress off her shoulders. It falls in a pool around her feet, and Viktorija and I are mesmerized as Audrey steps out of it. I have a moment of déja vu when she squats to retrieve it and throws it over her shoulder as she struts naked back to Bernadette’s office. She calls over her shoulder in an uncanny Bernadette impersonation. “William Darling, don’t make me wait. I need you to claim me, Darling.”

  Viktorija and I laugh. I kiss her cheek before I follow Audrey’s taut buttocks back to Bernadette’s office.

  I see Viktorija standing rooted with her hands in a prayer pose pressed to her lips. She has a hopeful smile on her face as I close the door.

  Audrey’s dress is hanging on a hat rack, and my lover is propped on the edge of Bernadette’s desk with her legs crossed - reminiscent of a pinup model pose. I walk over and resume my seat before I beckon her to sit in my lap.

  “Kitten, were you in the parking lot of my hotel? Floppy hat and big black shades?”

  “Yes, Master. I stood there sobbing like an idiot thinking you’d dropped me for that MILF I saw you with rather than running into your arms to have you claim me back,” she confesses.

  I kiss her passionately and cup her left breast. Then I turn my attention to the Venus across the desktop. “What else do we have, Bernadette?

  Bernadette shrugs prettily, and she smiles when she sees my eyes follow her breasts. “Not much more, Darling. Stand by for a moment.” She picks up the bell from her desk and rings it. The screen drops over the door. Finally, Bernadette continues. “I wanted to ask if you want us to change the names in the police files for Rebecca to match her legend. I would need some additional funds for that. I’m afraid I underestimated the cost of the private investigator work, so I have nothing left to cover the expense of the additional work.”

  I ask, “Didn’t you say that was a favor you called in?”

  She nods slowly, “Of course, but that was to get him to do the parts that were illegal. He still had to be paid. Plus, I burned a favor from a valuable asset. Fortunately, he owes me more than one measly favor can erase, and he knows it. I really need to press you for another ten thousand whether we do the additional work or not.”

  I nod back as I roll Audrey’s hard nipple between my fingers. “For consulting? I can put that on a check, and then give you the additional cash. Oh! As to your question, let’s not change the police records. Higher risk for little reward. The legend is she was muddled, Silverstein and Silberschmid are close enough that I think we can play it off as an honest mistake.”

  Bernadette agrees. “Sounds good. As for payment, I can take a check for twenty thousand for ‘consulting services.’ You keep the cash on hand. It’s always good to have money available. I like to keep both cash, metals, and gem stones on hand.” I can’t argue with her logic. Audrey stands so I can pull my checkbook from my bag and write the check. Bernadette rings the bell again as I write the check.

  I hand Bernadette the check and put the two folders into my attaché. She stands and walks around the desk and opens her robe to present her body to us. Audrey and I both wrap her in a hug and she laughs coyly. Audrey pops a nipple in her mouth, and I claim Bernadette’s mouth with my own. This reminds me of some fun times the three of us have had together in the past.

  I release my kiss, and Bernadette pulls Audrey’s mouth to hers for a kiss. When they break, Bernadette looks wistfully at each of us. “I better go. If I stay, I’m going to make this all about me.” She looks at Audrey. “Congratulations, Audrey. I’m glad you had the courage to show up. I’m proud of you.”

  She marches to the door at a stately pace. As she backs out, pulling the door closed, she leaves us with one parting instruction. “Please make a big wet mess on the chaise lounge. I’ll en
joy it later.” I swear I see a quick flash of red in her eyes as she pulls the door closed.

  I pull off my jacket and kick off my boots as my eyes burn into Audrey. “Somebody needs to be claimed.”

  Audrey backs toward the chaise lounge, turns, and mounts it on her hands and knees. “Ready, Master.”

  26 - Connecting

  (The entry foyer outside Bernadette’s office)

  Viktorija is leaning against the doorsill of the salon as Bernadette turns towards her after pulling the door closed.

  “Gathering wool, my dear?” Bernadette queries as she stalks toward her ward.

  Viktoria stands straight and checks the door of the office before sketching a curtsy. “I’m afraid you caught me daydreaming, Your Grace.”

  Bernadette extends the signet ring on the index finger of her left hand. “Rise, dear.” Viktorija kisses the ring of the offered hand as Bernadette continues. “You know the rules, Precious. I appreciate the use of my honorific, but you are only to use it when we have no guests. What penance shall I assign?”

  Viktorija curtsies again. “Whatever you wish, Mistress.”

  Bernadette hooks Viktorija’s arm. “Attend me, Precious. We are going to watch a show from my suite.” Bernadette guides her through the salon, through the dressing room and up the stairs to the bedrooms. They enter through the open French doors of Bernadette’s suite. “Close the doors, Precious.” Bernadette moves behind the screen in the corner and removes her gown, and hangs it carefully. She calls out to Viktorija, “Put the cameras from my office onscreen please, Precious Viktorija.”

  Bernadette kicks out of her heeled sandals and places them on the shelf. She walks out to see Viktorija raptly watching the two other people on the planet that she loves, her hand is over her gaping mouth.

  Bernadette walks up behind her ward, pressing her bare breasts into Viktorija’s exposed back. The older woman slides her hands inside the bodice of her ward’s jumpsuit and forward to cup her breasts. “They are glorious, aren’t they, Darling?”