The Millionaire Falls Hard

by Fredricks, Sarah

  As he played with the pups his thoughts returned to the peculiar events of yesterday. He'd been surprised when Carrie's son had come up behind him while he took the puppies from his vehicle. He'd recognised him immediately and was surprised by the boy's friendliness, especially as he'd done a spectacular job of frightening him that day at the loch. An action he'd since regretted but hadn't yet found the chance to apologise for. Obviously the lure of puppies was too great for Charlie to be nervous about being in his company.

  Jake smiled as he recalled Charlie's first sentence. 'Hello, I'm Charlie Gillespie, and you're the man with ideas above his station. Can I see your station after I've seen the puppies please?' Jake had been quite taken aback by that, but it gave him more of an insight into his mother's thoughts about him.

  He was surprised at how much he'd enjoyed Charlie's company, he was a bright, amusing child who was clearly being brought up to respect his elders. A rarity today, Jake thought, if news headlines were to be believed. Charlie had been helping him with the pups, who now had the names of Skippy and Pongo, for half an hour when Jake discovered that no-one knew he was with him.

  That phone call had been one of the strangest things about yesterday, he recalled. Why would a woman scream when he said Charlie was with him? Maybe she was frightened by what Carrie's reaction would be if she found out that she hadn't been looking after him properly. Jake found himself getting angry at Carrie for seemingly having so little regard for her son. What kind of mother was she, leaving him with someone who found it so easy to let him out of her sight like that. Part of him hoped she was a brilliant one, but he pushed that away. Being a careless mother fit better somehow with Gemmell's description of her.

  The other strange, well, unsettling, if he was being honest with himself, thing about yesterday had been the man who came on the line and then came to collect Charlie. This one was younger than the one who had been with Carrie at the airport, but he still didn't seem right for Carrie. He'd offered no explanation as to who he was, merely thanked Jake for looking after Charlie. The boy had seemed happy enough to go with him, so he clearly knew him quite well. How many men did Carrie have in her life and what was her relationship with them, he wondered. Not that it should matter to him, but somehow it did.

  He didn't like this attraction he felt towards Carrie especially given what he thought he knew about her, but he couldn't deny it was there. His body stirred as an image of Carrie with her flaming hair spread across his pillow and her green eyes smouldering up at him flashed into his head. His erection hardened and throbbed painfully as he vividly saw himself slamming into her until they both went over the edge. As Jake came out of his reverie, he realised he was breathing hard and fast. He didn't know how he was going to get Carrie into his bed but it was definitely going to have to happen, and soon.

  *

  Carrie had had a busy week and put the events of the previous weekend behind her. There hadn't been any more threats and they were all beginning to relax a little. This was a break in the pattern as up 'til now, they'd been very regular. Perhaps it was just a crackpot and he or she had got fed up playing their little game. Because there had been no more threats Carrie and the police had decided not to replace Charlie's protection officer while he was on holiday. Although Steve was good company and Charlie was clearly taken with him, life felt as if it had a sense of normality about it without Charlie's 'shadow'. She hoped Steve was enjoying his holiday and not in any rush to return.

  Charlie was playing with Lynne's son, Josh, in the garden and Carrie was catching up with writing on her latest novel. It was friday afternoon and she was looking forward to a weekend of doing very little, just spending quality time with Charlie. He had been on at her all week to see the puppies again but Carrie just couldn't bring herself to ask Jake. She'd discovered from Charlie how great Jake had been with him and every other sentence seemed to begin with 'Jake this' or 'Jake that'.

  Carrie was jolted out of her reverie by the sound of a child screaming. She looked up to see Josh running towards the house. She realised that Charlie wasn't with him and panic set in. Josh was hysterical and she couldn't get him to explain what had happened. Fearing the worst, she put in a shaky call to Alan and then to Lynne.

  Within fifteen minutes, Alan, Moira and Lynne had appeared and Josh had calmed down enough to explain that he and Charlie had been playing hide and seek when Charlie had just disappeared. He'd been looking for him for ages before he'd got scared in the woods and given up.

  'The woods! What do you mean the woods? You were supposed to stay in the garden,' screamed Carrie, herself now hysterical.

  'Charlie's been kidnapped, I know he has. Oh God, how could we have ever thought the danger was passed?' Carrie sat down heavily at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands.

  Whilst Moira tried to calm Carrie and Lynne took care of Josh, Alan put in a call to the station to organise a search.

  If Charlie had been kidnapped, it was a waiting game but in the meantime it was eminently sensible to organise a search of the Estate. The police kept it low key, a few of them assigned to the woods where Josh had last seen him, whilst others went to search the other properties on the Estate.

  *

  Jake finished up at the office, relieved to be heading home with a free weekend ahead of him. As usual this week, he was the last to leave. He was looking forward to seeing his dogs and putting his feet up with a beer. His week had been one of the toughest yet. Perhaps he was getting too old for the cut and thrust of international negotiations. He'd almost met his match this time, but he'd pulled it off at the eleventh hour.

  With the negotiations having been protracted he'd not had as much time as he would have liked to prepare for the political TV programme and had faced some difficult characters in the studio audience last night. He felt bone weary, which was most unlike him, and desperate to chill out.

  Part of his tiredness could be because a certain flame haired beauty disturbed his sleep every night. He really was going to have to engineer a meeting soon. Perhaps he could invite Charlie up to see the pups again. Yes, that sounded like a natural way to see her. He felt a little less tired as he decided that was his best course of action.

  Just as he came out of the shower he heard banging at his front door. He quickly threw some clothes on, irritated at the intrusion to his solitude. He was surprised to see two policemen at the door asking if they could search the place.

  He was so dumbfounded he let them in and then felt his anger rise when they started searching all his rooms with no further explanation. All he could get out of them was that Charlie was missing.

  Whilst they were searching, they started to ask him questions about how well he knew Charlie, how many times had he seen Charlie, where had he been that afternoon and many more. Jake tried to keep a lid on his temper and answered them as best he could. It seemed an interminable amount of time by the time they took their leave, seemingly satisfied that Jake didn't have the boy holed up somewhere. By this time Jake was seething with anger, at the accusations that he'd heard in their voice and the complete ruination of his evening.

  Without thinking he stormed down to Carrie's house to give her a piece of his mind.

  Unusually for him, he was blinded with rage and all he could think of was telling her what he thought of her as a mother. He didn't notice the extra activity at her house or the tears streaming down her face.

  'You seem rather careless with that child of yours. First last weekend and now this. I do not appreciate having police banging at my door insinuating that I'm a common criminal. If you weren't so busy with your boyfriends, maybe you'd have time to keep an eye on your son.' Having laid vent to his emotions, Jake turned and stormed back the way he'd come. Why this woman brought out a side in him that no-one else ever saw completely dumbfounded him.

  On his way back to his place he thought he should feel a whole lot better for having vented his emotions but strangely he only felt worse and couldn't figure out why.
>
  *

  'We've found him,' Alan called out to Carrie.

  She was still in a complete state of shock over the way Jake had addressed her on the doorstep and didn't manage to take in what Alan was telling her. At that moment she hated Jake Calderwood as she had never hated anyone in her life.

  'Carrie, we've found him. He fell into a disused animal pit in the woods and couldn't get out. He's scared and hurt his ankle but otherwise he seems OK. I've phoned for the doctor and he's on his way.' Still Carrie just stood there. Moira put her arm round her shoulder and at her touch, Carrie collapsed against her and sobbed with relief.

  The weekend hadn't turned out to be anything like she'd expected, but at least Charlie seemed recovered from his ordeal. In fact he was chatting away about it to anyone who would listen as if it had just been one huge adventure that any child might have made up and acted out in the comfort of their bedroom.

  As time distanced itself from friday evening Carrie became enraged at the way Jake had spoken to her, without firstly knowing any of the facts. Not being able to face a confrontation with him was all that stopped her from marching up to his property with a piece of her own mind. She just resolved to avoid him like the plague in future. She only hoped that would be possible when it looked like Lynne's relationship with his finance director was getting serious.

  When she'd told Lynne about his behaviour, she'd sounded surprised. Lynne had found him to be good company and generous when she'd finally met him. It was clear, she'd said, that Phil thought the world of him.

  Carrie didn't think her thoughts could get any more confusing and turned her attention back to Charlie.

  Chapter 4

  Carrie jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang. It was nine o'clock on a Friday evening and she wasn't expecting visitors.

  Damn those threats she thought, I'm becoming frightened of my own shadow. There had been another letter today and she hadn't been able to tell anyone - Alan and Moira were away for the weekend and when she'd tried to speak to Lynne, she'd just blanked her.

  Now she thought about Lynne's behaviour, it had been out of character all week. She'd done her job with her usual efficiency and she'd chatted, but she'd been quieter, lost in her own thoughts sometimes. Every time Carrie had asked if anything was wrong Lynne had put on a smile, a false one now she thought about it, and carried on with her work.

  They'd been planning for the next story telling session Carrie was going to do at the primary school. Carrie loved spending time with the kids there, just as they seemed to love having her there. They lapped up the stories and had great fun dressing up as some of the characters and play acting in their own tales. Carrie was a great benefactor to the school, having donated thousands to help with much needed fundraising. It felt good to give something back to a place that Charlie clearly loved being in.

  The doorbell rang again, this time more persistently. Carrie started to shake, feeling, suddenly, very isolated. She went through to her office and surreptitiously looked out the window. Relief flooded through her when she realised it was Jake until she remembered that they still didn't know who was sending the letters and she still didn't like Jake. As her body told her differently, she hoped she could trust her body, even though she wasn't comfortable with the way it responded.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself and knocked against the glass to get his attention.

  'What are you doing here?' She called out.

  'I want to talk to you about Phil and Lynne. Will you let me in before the battery on this bell runs out?' Carrie realised he still had his finger on the bell. She also realised that his manners weren't improving. She sighed and with some reluctance and curiosity, opened the door to him.

  *

  Part of Jake didn't want to spend any time with Carrie but another part of him was excited at the prospect of seeing her in her own environment. He was getting very impatient waiting for her to open the door.

  'What the hell is that woman up to?' he thought. Probably in the middle of something with one of her 'men'. He didn't like where his thoughts were taking him as he leaned on the door bell.

  Finally, she was there. He thought he caught a look of fear but it was masked so quickly he must have imagined it.

  By the time Carrie finally opened the door to him, he was not in a great mood. Not that it had been very good to start with. His best friend was close to the edge because the first woman he'd ever given his heart to had rejected him and Jake wasn't going to stand by and let that happen.

  'What's going on with Lynne?' he demanded pushing past her and standing in her hall.

  'Good evening to you too, why don't you come in?' Carrie said sarcastically. She could do without this kind of attitude. Jake turned back to look at her.

  'Phil is completely distraught because of Lynne. What's going on?' His manners were no better but at least he'd provided a bit more information.

  Carrie took a few deep breaths as she shut the front door and locked it. That had become a habit since the threats had started and it never dawned on her that she was locking Jake in with her.

  'I was just about to make a cup of tea, can I get you anything?' she asked smoothly.

  That caught Jake off guard, he hadn't expected her to be hospitable. 'Er, yes, please, that'll be fine. Just milk.'

  Carrie showed Jake into the living room. Normally she would entertain one person in the smaller garden room but she wanted to be able to create some space around her and Jake and so invited him to choose one of the seating areas in her expansive main room.

  Carrie went off to the kitchen to make the tea. She couldn't believe he was in her home and fought to keep her thoughts under control. Lost in them, she jumped when she heard Jake right behind her.

  'I thought I'd invited you to stay in the living room?' Carrie continued to concentrate on making the tea.

  'I'm just curious about the rest of the place. Why so much space Carrie? It's no wonder you keep losing Charlie.'

  Carrie's head shot up at that barb and Jake thought he saw the fear there again.

  Before Carrie could respond he apologised. 'Sorry, that was out of order.'

  'Go back to the living room Jake. I'll be through in a minute.' Carrie sounded weary. She didn't have the strength to fight with Jake just now. She wasn't sure why she'd let him in, except her curiosity about what he had to say regarding Lynne had got the better of her. It's funny he should ask about her just when Carrie had been thinking about her.

  She carried the tray of tea into the living room and found Jake on the sofa beside the glass wall looking out into her garden that was tastefully lit in amongst the bushes and plants, giving an almost ethereal look to the view. She smiled despite herself. He'd chosen her favourite spot in the room. She sat the tray on the coffee table and took the chair to the left of the sofa. Carrie poured Jake's tea, having made herself a mug of rooibos.

  'Why the different tea? Has mine got poison in it?' Despite herself Carrie laughed at that comment. If only she had thought of it she might have been tempted!

  Jake was silently pleased that he'd made her laugh. There was a haunted feel about her that unsettled him. He had to remind himself that this wasn't a social call and having taken a mouthful of tea, asked again what was going on with Lynne.

  'I don't know what you're talking about. Why should there be anything going on with her?'

  'Oh come on now, you're her best friend, she must have talked to you. You've probably had a good laugh at Phil's expense.' Jake sounded irritated.

  Carrie looked genuinely puzzled. 'I really don't know what you're talking about. I've had a lot on my plate recently so Lynne may have decided not to worry me further. Why don't you tell me what you think is up with her.'

  Carrie suddenly felt guilty that her friend may have needed her support and she hadn't been there for her. She should have acted on those signs she'd noticed during the week. Lynne hadn't been herself at all, since she'd come back at the beginning of the week from a
couple of days off.

  Jake noticed the worry flash across her face. She really was an open book as far as her emotions were concerned. Jake just didn't understand why she displayed so many negative emotions. Maybe she was just a dolorous person. That thought didn't sit comfortably at all. He forced himself back to the task in hand. This was about his friend not himself.

  'Phil's looked miserable for over a week now. He refused my offer of a night of beer and shooting pool last weekend, which he has never done before without good reason, and for the last couple of days he's been shouting at everyone at work, which, also, he never does. Next to myself, Phil is one of the most mild mannered people I know. He's shut himself down and wont talk to me. So, I repeat, what's going on with Lynne?'

  'And I repeat, I don't know what you're talking about.' This really was getting most tedious. Mild mannered! I bet you normally do the shouting at work.

  'I've never raised my voice to my staff.'

  Carrie was shocked to discover she'd spoken her thoughts out loud. Jake smiled at her embarrassment. 'You don't have a great opinion of me do you? Well I don't suppose I've given you much cause to think well of me. Much though I'd like to rectify that, that's not why I'm here just now.'

  Jake realised that if he was going to get anywhere he would have to apologise for being so curt since he'd barged his way in. 'Look, I'm sorry for my behaviour so far.'

  Carrie looked surprised.

  'Yes, I am aware of how I've behaved and it's not beneath me to apologise.' Jake said ruefully when he noticed her face.