Masters And Lovers 1-4
Chapter 33
Dawn is breaking, and my imagination is whirring, working overtime.
Jade…
“Talk to me,” says Klempner. “What are you thinking?”
“The blood on Charlotte's bag. I'm wondering how badly she’s hurt. She wouldn't go down without a fight. Ben’s a powerful man, physically speaking. He and Michael do a lot of work together on the house and in the grounds. If he got Charlotte by herself and out of sight, down in the parking lot… If he took her by surprise, he’d have been able to overpower her… But she’d have fought back. Unless he knocked her unconscious with a single blow, he’d have had a fight on his hands. There’s a good chance Charlotte would have done some damage herself before she went down.”
Hope she’s fucking castrated him…
“After that, Mitch and Kirstie would have been easy for him. Mitch is a lot older, and Kirstie, well, she has plenty of nerve but she’s not a physical fighter and judging by the way Michael was panicking about the blood, Ben didn’t care much about being careful.”
Klempner hmmms… “Jenny's pretty resilient.”
Do I tell him?
“She's also pregnant.”
He double-takes and the car weaves before he takes a hold on the steering again. But his voice remains flat. “Does Ben know?”
“Yes.”
“I'm guessing he wouldn't like it? Not being sure who fathered his sister-in-law's child?”
“He liked even less when Michael told him it was definitely me…” Klempner shoots me another look. “Christ… If it is Ben, this will crucify Michael.”
“They're close, the two of them?”
“They would be if Ben didn't keep fucking up.”
“What does he fuck up over?”
“Charlotte. Me.”
him. What’s
version of Michael.
“Right enough that the end justifies the means? He’d feel it was right to attack a pregnant woman and her
you have the moral high ground?” I snap. “With
was right,” he snarls. “Or myself. I just got
camaraderie shattered, I lapse into silence.
in more moderate tones, says, “You say Ben’s ordinary? So the big brother has all
brother. Michael is the younger
was it? A friend of Jenny’s? Would Ben have any problem
I press fingers to my temple. My headache is returning. “She isn’t just a friend of Charlotte’s. She dated Ben,
“Briefly? How briefly?”
enough that I suspect the problem was
flirting around his eyes. “Friday
“I suspect so, yes.”
Kirstie herself. What’s
free, liberated, shares the view that if it’s between consenting adults then get on
me is that Eye-Candy's boring
about the size
did he pick up
women, the aunties, certainly haven't led sheltered lives. They scare the shit out of me like nothing else ever
gives me an odd
Never had a family…
… which passes.
strongly does he feel
hates my guts. I suspect your arrival on the scene seemed like
he’d have
think about it, I’m