Chapter 31

We walked back to my bedroom as I wanted to check on Sasha before we ate. Quietly opening the door I looked in. Sasha was still sleeping. She was cuddled in Jo's arms like a baby. I quietly blew a kiss and shut the door.

There was noise coming from the dining room as we approached so we knew that a meal was being served. Umber and I just didn't know which meal.

We entered, I let Justine go first, Umber, of course, would only follow me. I saw Christine towards the head of the table. She jumped up and came to greet me. We hugged and kissed then she pointed to Justine, "Why's my toy naked?" she asked.

"I've been playing with it."

Christine then saw Justine's bottom, "Have you been beating one of my toys?"

"One of them?" I asked.

Christine stepped back, "Yes, one of them. I have three now. Justine, Pippa and Sam." She turned and gestured to her chair where two naked girls knelt waiting for their mistress. "Now have you been beating the big one?" Justine proudly thrust her breasts forward.

"Oh yes. It was fun. Umber helped me."

Christine turned to Umber who was kneeling at my side. "Umber?" she queried.

"Yes, Mistress, my Master already had Ela so I had to change my name."

"To Umber."

"Yes, Mistress," Umber smiled and looked up at me. "When I arrived I was dressed in rags and Master said I reminded him of Cinderella, and he called me Umber because of my hair."

Christine looked at me, quietly she said, "Umber Ella, my God, she hasn't twigged yet?" She smiled and kissed me. "You're a cunt, Paul."

I slipped my hand between her legs, together we recited, "This is a cunt, I'm a pillock," and laughed.

I sat at the head of the table with Umber kneeling beside me. Lynne and Susan who were already eating looked on in envy as I started feeding Umber.

Halfway through my casserole, liver and bacon today, Elastic came in, "Boss, there's a woman in reception is asking for 'Julia', says her name is Blakestone."

"Come to my office." With reluctance I left my casserole and went with Elastic to my office. There Elastic turned on a wall mounted TV and selected one of her security channels. The camera was tracking a stocky woman, though looking gaunt now. Her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed a little threadbare.

"Umber, get me Karolina. I want her here now."

Umber ran out of the room, though she returned almost at once, "Karolina is here, Master." And Karolina entered the office.

"Karolina, I want to know everything you can find out about this woman, name is Amanda Blakestone," I pointed to the TV. "Start from now and work backwards if you can. And check police and hospital records as well."

"Umber, get Julia." Again she ran out of the office.

I noticed that Ms Blakestone was getting a little restless waiting so long so I phoned reception, "Reception, how may I help you?"

"This is Lord Symington, pass a message to Ms Blakestone that Julia is on her way and will be down in a couple of minutes. Ask if she would like tea or coffee and prepare a private dining room for them to have..." I looked round.

"Lunch," whispered Elastic.

" ... Lunch." I continued.

Julia entered and I briefed her on what I wanted her to do. She ran away to get dressed.

Elastic and I watched as Ms Blakestone accepted tea and biscuits, hungrily devouring the later.

"Can we get sound on this?" I asked

"Yes, but it would be better when Julia gets down there. One of my girls will be giving her a wire and we'll be able to isolate them from the background noise. It will be fine in the dining room." Elastic was justifiably pleased with her security systems.

Then the screen jumped and the picture shrank to half screen size. On the right hand side of the screen was a still photograph of the woman we were watching, though obviously taken in better times. She was a few pounds heavier and her hair was shiny and well groomed. Below the picture was a section of rolling text giving details of that woman's life.

"THE FUCKING WITCH!" Elastic was pale, "How on Earth has she broken into my secure video system?" She turned to me, "That girl of yours of really freaky when it comes to computers, Boss. I was told that no one could break in to this video system. Fuck me, the suppliers are gonna have kittens when I show them this."

"Don't show them," I said, Elastic looked surprised, "Let's keep this our little secret shall we?"

"OK, Boss," she reluctantly agreed. "But I tell you, Karolina is scary, she just makes those computers of hers do anything she wants them to, anything at all."

I just smiled at her.

"But you've been told that before haven't you."

I nodded, then pointed at the TV. Julia came into the picture and held out her hand to Ms Blakestone.

She shook the offered hand looking a little unsure about the age of the girl who had come to greet her.

"Good afternoon, Ms Blakestone, my name is Julia. Lord Symington is very busy at the moment," Ms Blakestone's face fell, "and he has asked me to entertain you until he is free." Julia smiled at her. Ms Blakestone seemed a little happier that she wasn't just being fobbed off with an excuse.

"My Lord has asked me to offer you lunch from our private kitchens. Debbie, our Chef here, is rather good." Julia gesture to a half concealed door and Ms Blakestone followed her into the private dining room.

"Do you think he will see me?" she asked, we all could hear the desperation in her voice.

Julia held out her hands and held Ms Blakestone's, "Ms Blakestone," she paused, "may I call you Amanda?"

"Mandy," replied the older woman.

"Mandy, Lord Symington took me off some quite important work to come and reassure you that he is very interested in meeting you. I also know why you are here and a bit about your background. While I am quite young," and Julia smiled depreciatingly, "I do hold a position very close to Lord Symington."

The picture changed to another camera and we saw Debbie enter the room. "Good afternoon Ma'am, Julia, May I enquire as to your preference for lunch?"

Julia gestured to seating by a coffee table and she and Mandy sat down.

"I..." Mandy was a little confused, "I don't know, do you have a menu?"

Debbie smiled, "Ma'am, I run a private kitchen; I discuss with the family what they would like to eat and make suggestions as to the suitability of menu choices and wines. Perhaps Julia could guide you."

Julia turned to Mandy, "Do you like liver and bacon casserole? Debbie was making one this morning and it smelt delicious." Mandy nodded unsure of how to reply.

"Debbie, do you have any of the casserole left?"

"Of course I do, Julia, and plenty too. Shall I send side plates of country vegetables as well?"

"Yes please, Debbie, and I'm sure Mandy would like a glass of wine to accompany the casserole too, I shall have water as usual."

"Of course, Julia." And with a smile Debbie left the room.

Julia and Mandy settled to chat while they waited for their lunch. Suddenly another image was superimposed on the screen just below Mandy's head. It was a voice stress reading, a simple red / amber / green light with the legend 'Voice Stress Level' below it. The light spent most of its time in the amber band.

Debbie came into the office, "Boss, thought you needed to know, she hasn't had a wash for a couple of days, don't think she's eaten too much recently either. She smells, Boss, not too bad just yet, but she does."

"Thanks, Debbie. Don't give her too much for her lunch, if she's not eaten for a couple of days she'll be sick."

"OK, Boss." Debbie went to prepare their lunch.

The phone rang, there was a bit of a commotion in reception, four police officers were threatening the concierge with arrest if he didn't immediately tell them where Amanda Blakestone was. Elastic changed the security channel and we saw him being led out of the hotel by two of the police officers. One noticeable thing was that they weren't wearing their shoulder patches with their numbers on. Still we had their faces on video and we had their car registration.

"Get Julia and Blakestone up here, now!" I ordered.

Elastic pulled out her radio, "Cherub!" she called. She switched back to the dining room and we saw Gerry taking Julia and Mandy out through the rear door.

"Sweep up! Sweep up!" was her next message. I knew that one; it was the command for security to clear all of the corridors of people. We didn't have a public address system, I didn't like them and Elastic had kindly stripped it out of our floors.

Elastic reset the TV to a cable channel and switched it off. She looked round the office and, happy it was clear, gave me a quick hug and kiss then left.