Chapter 41: Kelly Girl

I suppose I was cheating on Tricia but she was still off on some collection way up country and wasn't going to be back all week. I was bored and besides I was very interested in trying to think about the market from a different perspective. Least ways, that's what I told myself.

I was sitting in the coffee bar across the road from the office that I'd burglarised the week before. I don't really know what I was planning to do. Just see what happened, if anything, I guess. I watched as Kelly walked along the street on the other side of the road. She didn't look any the worse for our encounter but then apart from the embarrassment of being found with her clothes dishevelled, I didn't think she'd had to put up with all that much.

She stopped on the steps of the building and looked at her watch. Deciding that she had some time to spare, she skipped across the road towards me. She came into the coffee bar and went up to the counter. "Slim latte," she said, chirpily to the guy behind the counter. "Thanks."

I drew in my breath and decided to trust my judgement. "Hi, Kelly," I called. "Want to join me?"

She looked puzzled but came across to my table anyway. "Have we met?" she said.

"Sure," I said. "I came by your office last week."

She stared at me hard, right in the eyes. She put her coffee down and put her hands to her mouth. "Oh. My God," she said.

"It's going to be a bit difficult talking if you put a full stop after every word."

"It's Mr Burglar, isn't it?" she hissed quietly.

It was my turn to look puzzled. "I'm sorry?" I dissembled.

"OK," she said, composing herself. "Silly of me. Nice to see you again. I really enjoyed our last date, though I was upset when you ran out on me when you did. I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Or at all really." She smiled, stirring her coffee without really paying attention to it.

"I thought we might go somewhere."

She put her head on one side, thinking. "I'm supposed to be at work." She paused. "But I'm not really feeling up to it. I had a disturbing experience there last week. I'm having a flashback, right now."

"You look fine."

"Yeah, I know but I was thinking I'd call in sick. Tell the boss I was planning to spend the day in bed." She looked at me over her coffee, dark eyes staring out through a fringe of dark hair.

"I could make sure you got home safely. If you liked."

She looked me up and down. "Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath and following it with a big slug of coffee. "That would be good. You won't mind if we take my car though?"

"Fine by me," I said. "I came by bus. I hoped I might get picked up."

She gave me a long hard look, picked up her coffee and said, "Let's go."

I followed her out of the coffee shop and down the road towards a multi-story car park. We got into her VW Golf, she dropped some coins in the exit gate and we were on our way.

As we drove she clipped her Bluetooth earpiece on and punched a number on her mobile. "Mr Lewis? It's Kelly. I was on my way in but I don't feel like I can work today. I'm going back home ... Well thanks for being so understanding ... Sorry to let you down." She turned the mobile off and tossed the earpiece into the cubby hole between the seats.

"Why did you come back?"

"I enjoyed our last meeting," I said. "And I was puzzled."

"Puzzled?"

"By your reaction. That's not the effect I usually have on girls."

"Like I said, I like forceful men."

"Don't you think this is a little dangerous?"

"Yes," she grinned.

We stopped outside a small semi detached house in a tree lined street. "Do you know," she said turning to me. "What would really scare me?"

"Mice?" I suggested.

She shook her head. "If I was to be attacked in my own home. Much worse than being burgled in the office." She smiled as she opened the door. "Come on in," she said.

We got through the door, she shut it behind us and instantly we fell on each other. I pushed her back against the closed door, my mouth on hers, my hands running over her body and hers over mine. I kissed her, she kissed back. We paused for breath. "Not like that," she said, thickly, "like this." She turned her back on me, grabbed my hand and pulled it up to her mouth. I got the idea and pulled her hard back against me, crushing her mouth with my hand.

"Shuttup bitch, if you don't want to get hurt," I snarled. She pushed back, trying to pull her head away from my hand. She was struggling like she meant it but not so I couldn't keep hold of her. I grabbed her arms and swung her against the wall. She was winded and slid to the floor. I ripped the strap off of her handbag, rolled her over on her face and used it to tie her wrists.

"What, what do you want?" she gasped.

"Money," I said. "And maybe some fun."

"There's no money here."

"Then it'll have to be the fun." I pulled her to her feet, dragging her up by an arm. She yelped as the belt took her weight and cut into her wrists. "What's through there?" I nodded to a door off the hall.

"Living room," she coughed; getting her breath back. I nodded to another door. "Kitchen," she said.

"That'll do," I said pulling her down the hall and through the door. I pushed her down on the floor beside the cooker. There was a knife block on the worktop beside it. I picked out one with a 6 inch blade and held it to her throat. "You're going to be good." It was an instruction, not a question.

She gave a quiet, "yes," staring at the blade. She looked convinced. I found a tea towel on a rail by the sink and used it to gag her, ripped the power cord from her food blender and tied her ankles. "Stay there," I told her and left to explore the house.

I started in the living room. Nothing too interesting there. A collection of R 'n B CD's scattered on the coffee table meant at least we'd have some music to get down to later on. I looked back in on Kelly in the kitchen as I went back down the hall. She gave me a "Hnngh" from behind her gag and wriggled her shoulders, experimentally trying to loosen the bag strap around her wrists. It looked like I'd made it a bit easy for her so I went across and looped her ankle cord back to her wrists. I tipped her onto her face. She grunted and gave another wriggle.

I thought I'd check upstairs. After all, she'd said she wanted to spend the day in bed. Her bedroom was quite girly. No surprise there, I suppose; soft toys on the window sill, patterned eiderdown on the bed. I pulled out the top drawer of her dressing table and tipped it out on the floor. Underwear; pants, bras, thongs, tights, stockings. I chose one of her dark tan stockings and pulled it over my head. That would do for a mask, I thought. Time for some more play.