Chapter 21: Saturday March 12: The confrontation

'Tell me what 'are' we going to do?' It was Saturday morning, the orgy had finished at the usual time and a bleary-eyed Anne had left to meet Nathaniel Bristoll and continue her role as Susan Dixon.

'Watch another episode in this long running soapie you're enjoying so much.'

'Do I need to? I mean I do have Meredith for company, and she is naked and she does feel nice with her arse pressed back against my erection and with my left arm around her waist.'

'Oh yes Fred you certainly do. Now just pretend you're asleep for now. But don't let that stop you from toying with her left breast while you're 'asleep'.'

I took a loose grip of Meredith's tit, kept my eyes closed and waited for the picture to appear in the now familiar fashion. Nathaniel Bristoll was out for an early morning jog.

'He's happy this morning little brother, since that little discussion between his uncle and Morrie last Sunday his uncle has lived up to his word, agreeing that provided he continues to manage his chores around the house he will be able to have a fairly free reign with his social life. Of course as would be expected with his aunt and uncle there is one proviso, if there is the slightest hint of trouble in the time leading up to his being free of their guardianship they would wash their hands of him completely and turn him into the police.'

He turned in a westerly direction off Chestnut Avenue and two schoolgirls also out for an early morning jog immediately attracted his attention to such a degree that he failed to see a man near the front gate of a rather palatial looking double-story house.

'Is that... ?'

'You'll find out, now listen!'

"Nice aren't they?"

Bristoll stopped as he realised that the man standing at the front of the double driveway. "I... er... I... that is..." His gaze was still flitting between the two pretty young girls and the man who asked such a seemingly innocent question.

He smiled as Bristoll turned to face him once the girls had disappeared from his view. "Girls never looked like that when I went to school." He moved closer to Bristoll and gave him a nudge and a wink. "Bet you'd like to stick it up them wouldn't you?"

Bristoll simply stood there staring with his mouth open, he was clearly surprised that the man would speak to him in such a familiar fashion.

'Oh he is Fred, he is.'

The man laughed. "Now don't deny it I saw the expression on you face. Oh your words may say no but your facial expression says that you'd fuck both girls given the chance, wouldn't you?" He held up his hand when Bristoll tried to respond. "No don't answer that. You can however accept my offer of a drink, I mean you certainly look as though you could use one."

The tall well-muscled man dressed casually in black denim jeans and a sleeveless white jumper that revealed deeply tanned arms held out a massive right hand that all but swallowed Bristoll's when they shook hands. "My name is Sherman Armstrong."

It was just as I suspected, just as my brother had anticipated, the man he had spoken about was indeed going to confront Bristoll. And then suddenly a woman turned up and stood beside the man.

"Yes you certainly must be thirsty young man," said the stunningly attractive woman with a pair of the biggest tits I'd ever seen. They were obviously fake, but even so they looked good.

'They certainly do little brother. And don't worry they do to Bristoll too though he's trying not to notice. It's always the same problem little brother, even with Anne's help he's still hopeless around the opposite sex, still unable to string two words together. And it doesn't seem to matter whether they're your plain Jane types, shy like him, spunky like Anne or worldly and big-breasted like this woman. She IS Erin Macintosh by the way.

'And do you see the way he's leaning against the picket fence?' I nodded. 'He's too scared to even look at her in the eye let alone look at her body with a man like Armstrong standing next to her. And nothing in the world would make him do it even though it's the thing he wants to do more than anything else. You know all it would take is one word. It's not as if there could be anything wrong, after all as far as he's concerned it is only for a drink, but he still can't say it, say the word yes.'

I watched the man disappear into the house and like Bristoll who relaxed slightly once the man had disappeared I turned my attention to the woman.

Her smile was slightly mysterious as she continued to look at him before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the open front door of her house. "My name is Erin Macintosh. Now we've got Coke, freshly squeezed orange juice or coffee, and the way you run and with your physique I'm guessing the O-J am I right?"

He nodded his head again, lifted his gaze and with a great deal of effort managed to look her in the eye while I gave her the once-over.

She was a very attractive woman who was, I would've guessed, in her early thirties. Her curly ash-blonde hair and fresh complexion gave her a youthful look, and the dressing gown with the sash pulled tight highlighted a shapely figure and those massive tits that that she was so obviously proud of.

'40DDs if you must know.'

'Thank you. I don't suppose there'd be any chance of getting our hands on them?'

'What Anne and Meredith and Connie and all the orgy girls not enough for you? Do you really have to have every girl you see?'

'Of course not. It was just a thought.'

'Well leave it at that, what we do and who we do it with is decided by me and not by you. Now carry on watching our young... er... friend.'

Bristoll was sweating but I'd bet the hot flushes didn't come just from the running.

"Nathaniel Bristoll. People generally call me Nathan," he said when he finally found his voice. "I'll wait on the porch, no sense me wearing these dirty runners on your nice clean carpet."

She just stared as she motioned for him to take them off, the beginnings of a smile showed on her face. "Oh I think it'll be okay if you come in." She moved to one side, waited for Bristoll and then gestured for him to walk in before disappearing momentarily and coming back with a yellow towel. She watched with curiosity as he wiped himself down. "The kitchen's through here," she added taking his hand and pulled him in that direction. "Sherman will be waiting, he's my boyfriend by the way."

Once there Erin Macintosh sat Bristoll at an expensive looking eight-seater table directly opposite Armstrong while she poured fresh orange juice into a cold glass from the fridge and place it in front of him. She then went to a bench and poured herself a coffee from what looked to be a freshly made pot before sitting at the end of the table out of Bristoll's line of sight.

It was at this point that Sherman Armstrong took over.

"You're a handsome young man Nathan." He was looking at him, his expression was calm and serene, totally at odds with what I knew — hoped — he was about to challenge him with. "And such a fine physique too. I'll just bet the girls go for you in a big way, don't they?"

Bristoll's reaction was to drop his gaze, to avoid eye contact with the man as he picked up his orange juice and took a nervous sip.

"And such muscles too," said Erin Macintosh as she came around the table from Bristoll's left and squeezed his upper left arm between the thumb and index finger of her right hand.

If she was trying to embarrass him she was certainly succeeding.

"Running would help keep you fit wouldn't it?" she asked.

I watched Sherman Armstrong sit back as his busty girlfriend asked another seemingly innocent questioning of Bristoll.

"And I guess working in that garage in Station Street and doing all that heavy work would help keep you in shape too." Erin Macintosh saw his surprise. "You know it's a wonder you haven't seen me and Sherman, we call in there now and again to get petrol, so do some of our friends."

The woman wasn't wasting any time changing the tenor of the conversation and I was beginning to see that my brother was right, beginning to understand why he wanted me to see and hear this.

'And believe me when I tell you that there's plenty more to come, listen.'

"I know you work long hours, I guess that's a bit of a drawback when it comes to exercising, am I right?" asked Sherman Armstrong takin his turn.

Bristoll took a long slow sip of his juice. "I've got... er... I've got this... er... treadmill at home, and I w-work out as well."

"What with weights and stuff?"

Bristoll was evidently finding it hard to talk as, this time, he nodded his head.

"Must be an enormous help being as physically fit and strong as you are. And being as shy as you are it must make you attractive to some girls."

This time Bristoll tried to respond but the man cut him off.

"You don't have to answer that one Nathan, I've seen you with that nice young girl, the one with the lovely long brown hair. Tell me, what is her name?"

"Susan Dixon. And yes we're... er... sort of friends." He looked at his watch. "Actually we've been going together exactly one month today." He smiled sheepishly. "She's been away a week, but I'm expecting her back tonight."

"I'll just bet you're happy about that," he said with a smile. "You know a week can be a long time when somebody you love is away."

A smile crossed Armstrong's face, but it was his eyes that caught Bristoll's attention and mine. There was a strange look in them, as if something was on his mind. Of course thanks to my brother I had a fair idea what that was, and that Anne/Susan was going to pay a price for Bristoll's indiscretion, but Bristoll didn't know, I mean how could he. He clearly knew something was up though, that much was obvious from the worried look that was beginning to appear.

"I guess it can be a little frustrating as well don't you think?" continued Sherman Armstrong with a condescending smile.

'You're right Winston he suspects that the man's leading up to something and he's determined to have it out in the open.'

I watched Erin Macintosh pour Bristoll another orange juice before he took a deep breath and asked the question that was so obviously on his mind.

"Would I be right in assuming that I'm here for more than just a drink Mr. Armstrong?"

He sat forward, placed both elbows on the table, clasped his hands together, tucked his thumbs under his prominent jaw and looked at him. "I was in a local solicitor's office yesterday morning conducting some business when I heard of two remarkable and to all intents and purposes unrelated incidents that took place this week from two secretaries who work there."

He stopped for a full three seconds and looked intently into Bristoll's eyes. "Would you like to hear about these stories Nathaniel?"

He wasn't smiling now I noted. The change from Nathan to Nathaniel was blatant, and so was the change in the tone of his voice from casual and friendly to slow, deliberate and very, very businesslike.

Bristoll shrugged his shoulders and struggled to effect a positive response.

"Humour me Nathaniel--" continued Armstrong "--and allow me to run a few coincidences past you.

"One," he held up the thumb of his right hand, "a girl, the daughter of an acquaintance of mine, is assaulted in her home some time after eight-thirty on Wednesday night.

"Two," he added the index finger to the thumb, "a young man is seen running up High Street carrying a dark-coloured canvas bag." He looked at Bristoll. "What nothing to say yet, Bristoll?"

Armstrong had gone from addressing him as Nathan to addressing him as Nathaniel and had now begun to use his surname. It was clear now that Armstrong had something on his mind.

"N-N-No, not really." Bristoll took a drink of his juice with a shaking hand which clearly wasn't lost on Sherman Armstrong. "W-W-Why sh-sh-should I?"

"That's for you to decide young man, in the meantime I'll carry on.

"Three," Armstrong added the middle finger to the thumb and index finger he was already holding up in front of Bristoll's face, "I'm in my car in Calderwood Road when I happen to see, under the illumination of a streetlight, a jogger carrying a dark-coloured bag that looked like it was made of canvas.

"Four," the third finger joined his thumb and the other two fingers, "it was around half-past-eight. He was wearing what looked to be a navy blue tracksuit with white piping, he was about six foot two and looked very much like you."

He leant forward even further then and spoke in a firm commanding voice. "Would you like me to tell you what the second secretary said, about a man with a similar build dressed in a similar tracksuit who she saw undressing and joining two naked women and a naked man in the fountain in the town square?" He then turned to his girlfriend. "Erin, I think you have something you'd like to say now don't you?"

The busty, grinning girlfriend of Sherman Armstrong moved around the table and sat next to him. "Of course there's a little episode that even those two secretaries don't know about.

"It's about a girl who was sexually assaulted in her bedroom some seven weeks ago!" Her voice softened. "Oh I know I couldn't prove anything and she's not making a big fuss about it, in fact if the truth be known part of her enjoyed what you did. But that's not really the point is it? I mean you didn't know that did you? And what about that sweet young Barbara Donovan?

"You know," continued Erin Macintosh, "I reckon if we mentioned your name and your past to her, not to mention all of this circumstantial evidence, between the two of us Sherman and I could make your life a living hell. What do you think?"