A Dangerous Affair Chapter 45

A Chapter by Repgreece

Tom embarrasses Stephanie

Stephanie slipped behind the wheel of Robert’s car and opened her handbag with shaking hands, searching frantically for the instructions to Carlton’s house that she had jotted down the last time they went there. At last she found them and she lay the paper out on the seat next to her before starting up the car and speeding off. She figured that, considering how difficult it had been to find the house before, if she had the driving instructions and Tom didn’t she might just arrive there before him.

This whole project was getting out of hand. Before Tom was involved she rarely thought twice about the danger of investigating criminal activity but now she didn’t only have herself to think about, and if Tom was doing this just for her then it was wrong. Even if he wasn’t, she still wasn’t happy about him returning to the Carlton house. She had to stop him before he got seriously hurt, or worse.

Tom pulled up at the side of the road a little way from Carlton’s house and got out of his car. He made his way down the road towards the entrance to the driveway, peering through the hedge at the house as he went. He was just contemplating his next move when he felt a hand on his arm and he spun around, taking hold of the hand on instinct and twisting it behind the back of his assailant. He immediately dropped the arm when he saw who it was.

“Stephanie! What the hell are you doing here? Do you want to get yourself killed?” he said under his breath, pulling her into the shadow of the hedge.

“I could ask you the same question Tom,” she whispered back. “You’re not going in there!”

“Yes I am!” he grated back. “Or at least I was. But I can’t bloody well now can I? Not now that you’re here!”

“Good, so let’s go then before Brick fires you,” she said, grabbing his arm and moving to pull him back down the road towards the cars.

He resisted. “I have a better idea. You go back to the office and leave me to finish this!”

“Not on your life!” she said adamantly. “Either we both go back to the office or we both go in there,” she said, pointing to the house and playing her trump card. That was one way of stopping him.

Tom gritted his teeth in annoyance. “Stephanie! I’m not…” he began but stopped when he noticed that she was staring over his shoulder. She tightened the grip on his arm and pulled him back towards the hedge.

“Look,” she said, eyeing a car that was on its way out of the driveway.

Tom turned to look as the car pulled out into the road and headed past them. He peered with interest at the melancholy expression of the dark haired young woman in the back. The woman gazed back at him with a dazed, far away look.

“Come on,” he said, taking hold of Stephanie’s arm and pulling her back in the direction of his car.

“Where are we going?” she frowned.

“We’re going to follow that car,” he announced.

“Why would we want to do that?”

He turned to glance back at her with impatience. “Because it’s better than trying to persuade you not to go running into that house…and besides, you never know it may lead us somewhere.”

They got into Tom’s car and managed to catch up with the car which they had seen leaving the Carlton house. Following at a reasonable distance so as not to be spotted, they finally approached a building not far from the house and waited until the car had parked in the driveway before pulling up outside and getting out.

“Eden Lakeside Hotel, Country Club and Golf Course,” Stephanie said, reading the sign in the grounds.

“Nice,” he said, looking up at the building.

Tom was reluctant to follow the woman straight into the hotel in case they were spotted and so he suggested that they follow a group of people who were making their way down the gravel driveway leading from the car park at the front of the hotel to the extensive grounds and golf course at the rear. They ascended some steps which rose up to a large terraced area overlooking the entire complex. There was a row of white, wrought iron tables running along the length of the terrace and the diners there had a fantastic view across the rolling hills in the distance and the picturesque lake which dominated a fair amount of the view.

Stephanie was just about to reach into her handbag for her sunglasses to filter out the intensity of the sun when Tom suddenly backed into her, nudging her backwards and pulling her towards the sliding patio doors which led into the interior restaurant area.

“What on earth are you doing?” she asked. One of the waiters watched them with curiosity as Tom ushered Stephanie through the restaurant to a corridor at the other side.

“The woman from the house, she’s on the terrace with some guy,” he said under his breath, moving them away from the doorway to avoid drawing any more attention to their presence. “We’ve got to get closer to them so that we can hear what they’re talking about.”

“Why did you drag us back through here then?” she said, moving to glance through the door of the restaurant.

He pulled her back into the shadows. “The woman might have spotted us at the house.”

“Well how do you propose we get back onto the terrace without being spotted then Sherlock?” she sighed. As far as she could see this whole thing was a bit ridiculous. Who was to say that this woman would provide them with any significant information anyway?

“We’re just going have to be discrete and cover up a bit,” he announced, glancing around the corridor for inspiration.

“Cover up?” she frowned.

“Yeah,” he said, reaching for some garments that were hanging on a set of coat hooks in the hallway. Tom concluded that at least this would distract Stephanie for a while and more importantly, it had got her away from that house. He could always return there out of office hours. “Take this and this, and go disguise yourself. I’ll meet you back out here in five minutes.” Tom snatched a couple of garments for himself and disappeared into the men’s toilets, leaving Stephanie staring at the items in her hands with bewilderment.

Five minutes later Stephanie hesitantly emerged from the ladies toilets, bumping into Tom as she nervously glanced around the corridor. Stephanie looked at Tom, Tom looked at Stephanie, and both instantaneously burst into laughter at what they saw.

“What on earth are we doing?” Stephanie laughed, as she stood there dressed in an oversized beige raincoat and sunglasses. Tom grinned, reaching towards her and placing a rain hat on top of her head. “I look like Inspector Clouseau and you look like Herman Munster in a hat! I thought the idea was not to get noticed!” she said.

Tom tried to stay serious and went to reply but couldn’t stop bursting into laughter every time he looked at Stephanie.

“Okay,” he began, taking a deep breath to quell any more hilarity, “this is going to work Steph…you want to know why?”

Stephanie grinned. “Do tell.”

“Because they’ll just think that we’re a couple of those eccentric rich types that you get out here and well… let’s face it we do look a bit odd so I figure that everyone will avoid looking at us anyway.”

“Tom it feels like it’s thirty degrees out there and I look like I’m dressed for a severe downpour!” she pointed out, rolling up one of the sleeves that hung loosely past her hand. “Do you really expect me to go out there dressed like this?”

“Sure. Look, even I wouldn’t recognise you,” he chuckled.

She pulled down her sunglasses momentarily to speak to him. “You’re insane, do you know that?”

His gaze wandered over her face and he reached out to tuck a few stray strands of hair into her hat.

Moving his head closer to hers he whispered, “You want to know something?”

“What,” she whispered back.

“I could quite go for you in the Inspector Clouseau look,” he grinned.

“Shut up you idiot and get in there!” she exclaimed, pulling off the rain hat and pushing him away from her. Tom shrugged and popped his head around the restaurant door.

“Psst!” he said, drawing the attention of the restaurant manager and motioning for him to approach them. The man looked at him dubiously but joined them in the corridor nonetheless.

“Can I help you sir?” he asked, looking them up and down.

“Yeah,” Tom began, reaching into his pocket and slipping some bank notes into the man’s hand, “we are here to surprise that woman sitting on the terrace out there. It’s her birthday you see and we haven’t seen her for years. We want it to be a big surprise. If you could seat us behind them without them noticing us that’d be great.”

The man glanced down at the notes in his hand and looked up again at them, smiling. “How exciting, a surprise.”

“That’s right, so we need them not to see us,” Tom emphasised.

“Oh, of course sir. Follow me,” the man said, leading them through the restaurant to the patio doors and grabbing two large menus on the way.

The man successfully managed to seat Tom and Stephanie behind the young couple without them being seen as the couple were sat next to each other looking out across the lake. Tom grabbed the menus off the man, handing one to Stephanie and opening his to hide his face.

This was the most ridiculous thing Stephanie had ever done! She was sure that Tom was enjoying every minute of this.

Stephanie opened her menu and leant towards Tom, whispering, “We’re supposed to be professionals, I feel like I’m in a bloody spoof!”

“Ssh! I can’t hear what they’re saying,” he replied, straining to hear the couple’s conversation.

“What are you trying to say Samantha?” the tall man asked nervously.

“I’m trying to say that I can’t do this any more Jack. I can’t guarantee your safety anymore and I just couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt because of me.”

“But you can’t just give up on everything we have together. You must know how I feel about you by now, and I’m sure that you feel the same Samantha,” Jack replied desperately.

“That isn’t the point. We can’t carry on like this; you’re going to end up dead!” she said, putting her head in her hands.

“I won’t give up on you Sam. I don’t care what it takes. We’ll go away somewhere; get away from all of this.”

“Where? Where are we going to go? There’s nowhere he won’t find us. We don’t stand a chance! No, it’s best that we end it now before we get any more attached.”

“But we already are attached!” Jack exclaimed. “I can’t just leave it like this. I won’t do it!”

Stephanie glanced at Tom and mouthed, “Who’s the father in law? Carlton?”

“Probably,” he mouthed back. Both eyes widened as the plot thickened.

Tom moved his eyes away from Stephanie to see a waiter, who was carrying a large tray of empty glasses, staring intently at them. The waiter moved past their table but kept his eyes on them as he edged across the terrace. Tom cringed when he realised seconds before what was going to happen. The waiter was so busy looking at them that he tripped over a chair leg, dropping the tray and reaching helplessly for the glasses as they slid one by one onto the floor. Stephanie instinctively bent down to catch an empty bottle of wine that rolled towards them, coming face to face with Golding’s daughter in law in the process. There were a few tense seconds when Stephanie thought that they had been recognised before the woman sat back in her seat and turned again to speak to Jack.

“We’ll talk about this later, let’s just finish our meal,” the woman urged him, emptying her wine glass and picking up her fork.

Stephanie and Tom waited for the couple to pick up on the conversation again however they seemed to resort to little more than chitchat for the rest of the meal before they paid and left.

“Do you think she recognised us from outside the house?” Stephanie asked, lowering the menu as the couple exited the restaurant. “Or maybe she already knows who we are from Carlton.”

“I don’t think so. I don’t see how she would know what we look like even if she knew about us as reporters. And looking like we do, I doubt that she’d recognise us from just one quick glance outside the house anyway.”

He had a fair point. Stephanie was about to answer him when the restaurant manager approached them.

“I have a message for you,” he said, watching as both of them looked up at him in surprise. “The lady that just left here said to tell you that you can reach her on this number,” he said, passing Stephanie a slip of paper, “and she asked that you speak to her before you approach the house again. She said that you would know what she meant.”

“Oh yes, thank you,” Stephanie replied, a little embarrassed.

“Oh, and one more thing,” the waiter added before he left, “the gentlemen over there commented that you never know when the weather is going to change and they suggested that you leave their overcoats on the pegs where you found them before you go.”

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