Decision time
Juggling the work I was now contracted to do for the motel and a couple of others, with getting to grips with my new status as a partner in the ‘firm’ and all the legal stuff necessitated by my mother’s fraud. Worse was the lawyer she hired who bombarded me with all manner of demands and threats. Those I handed over to the legal team my uncles had engaged. Even so it was fraught and I was stressing out. Dave was my lifesaver and anchor, and so were Greg, his wife and, surprisingly, Huw and Uncle George.
The legal bombardment from my mother stopped rather abruptly when it was suggested that there was new evidence my father hadn’t committed suicide … It arose from Dave’s having copied all the documents my mother had used to get control of the firm — among them the ‘suicide’ note.
“I ran this past our handwriting expert,” he said casually as we had lunch with Uncle George. “He’s convinced it isn’t the same handwriting that wrote the letter Jim has from his father.” Uncle George almost choked as he continued, “He reckons he’d lay odds its a very good forgery.”
“He would be prepared to swear to that in court?” Demanded George.
“He’d want to examine the originals first.” Dave nodded. “So far he’s only seen the high def scans I made, and he’d want to see more examples of verifiable letters, notes — examples of Jim’s dad’s handwriting, but he says there are some differences in characteristics and the pressure of the pen.”
“I think we’ve got her …” George smiled. “One thing about Albert — you could say it was a little fixation of his — he never typed anything personal. Letters, notes, cards … always written, never typed.” He laughed. “It must have given them a hard time to create that note. And explains why it was so short and explained nothing!”
Huw excused himself, and left the table already dialling on his mobile. He returned a few minutes later, smiling.
“Mr Yarrow says he has a handwriting expert. He’ll collect the letter and any other examples we can provide.” Seating himself again, he smiled. “He seemed quite excited by the prospect …”
Our meal over, we all went our several ways, Dave insistent I take extra care, and be very wary of any visitors I didn’t know.
Huw contacted me early the following week, and came to the flat where I was just finishing updating the accounts for ‘Howell Gardening Service’, the motel’s grounds and garden maintenance firm..
“It’s over, we think. Your mother has backed down — probably the threat of someone reopening any investigation into what had caused your father’s death.” He paused, “Dad says you’ll be perfectly justified if you want to push it and get the police involved …”
“I’ll have to think about it.” What would change if I did? It wouldn’t bring my father back, and my mother had already lost just about everything anyway. Besides, at the moment, I was still too angry, too hurt, and just too stressed to think straight on this. “I think I need to cool down a bit first.”
“I’ll tell Dad.” Huw watched me for a moment, “He says you’re very like your father — you don’t rush things, and you think it through carefully.”
“Don’t rush things?” I laughed. “I certainly didn’t think things through when I walked out of home and kicked this off!”
“If it helps …” Huw gripped my shoulder. “Dad has suspected something wasn’t right for a long time, and George has found a hell of a lot more that is unrelated to … So, don’t beat yourself up about it.” Squeezing my shoulder gently, he continued, “We all suspected you were, um, Gay, and it makes fuck all difference to us.” Laughing, he released his grip. “Dad’s right, you’ve more guts than any of us. You’ve confronted it, accepted it, faced down the dragon … and proved you’ve got what it takes to make your own way — that’s a lot more than I could do, Jim.”
“Thanks …” My eyes prickled. “Huw, that means a lot …” Without thinking I put my arms round him and hugged him. “Thank you … Dave’s been fantastic, but knowing that family …” Tears trickled down my cheeks.
“We’re all with you, chum …” Huw returned the embrace. “We’re family, and we’re going to get through this together …”
It still needed a lot of time and some difficult moments and decisions to get through the remaining time to the deadline Dave had set. To be fair, he offered to extend it, and I waived it away, but without telling him I’d made a decision. Instead I threw myself into the work I’d taken on. To be honest it was fun, provided an insight into the actual workings of these small firms and just what I needed to take my mind off all the legal problems my mother had caused.
The motel accounts now needed only a few hours twice a week to be kept up to date, and the same applied to the gardening firm, and the catering supplier. I had time to find a few more clients and discuss setting up a division within Buchanan and Partners to look after these small firms. The latest of these was a shop tucked away on an ‘industrial’ estate. It occupied a surprisingly large unit and was both shop and producer of rubber and leather goods.
“We’re a four man operation,” the owner, Josh, told me. He was heavily tattooed and looked a real rough diamond, but was in fact very well spoken, and, like me, had fallen out with ‘family’. “And none of us are good at bookkeeping.” He grinned in an embarrassed way. “Truth is we make money — at least there’s still money in the bank at the end of the month and we’ve paid the bills, but … well, you can see for yourself, we’re likely to come a cropper like this …”
“I can see that,” I agreed. It was a mess. “Okay, you say all your receipts, till print outs, invoices and bank statements are in these boxes? And you’ve been in business for eighteen months? Who did your tax and accounts for the last tax year?”
“I did. With Pawel. The tax office screwed us. Went through everything and found several mistakes.”
“Okay.” I thought about it. “I think I can set up a system for you that will be easier to manage. It looks like I’ll need several days just to sort out what belongs where in the accounts, and to get it all into the bookkeeping system I’ll set up for you. It’ll be invoice on completion at my hourly rate.”
“Okay,” a smile flashed. “I guessed it would be steep, but the Tax boys are likely to be worse. When can you make a start?”
“Now? I’ll need a space to work undisturbed.” I grinned. “And lots of coffee by the look of it.”
“Then you better use my ‘office’. I’ll take you to it.” Josh grinned. “It’s about the only place we have not stuffed with our products …”
This wasn’t the first time I’d been to this shop, Dave had brought me here to shop for a few light rubber things to wear, and Josh, the owner, was one of those people you instinctively like.
The heavy rubber strait jacket was the first thing that caught my eye as I followed him into the showroom. I knew immediately that I had to have it, and exactly how I would put it to use. The day for moving into Dave’s house, and my accepting his offer to be his partner, his lover and companion, was less than two weeks away. So much had changed in the intervening weeks, my head was still in something of a whirl, but this gorgeous strait jacket was just what I needed to present myself to him on ‘Der Tag’.
“How much is that?” I asked Josh. I’d just agreed a deal with him — the fourth client I’d found — to do his book keeping and accounts. My ‘office’ would be the flat at the motel for now, though I needed to look for proper premises as my ‘independence’ was now to become a fresh division in the firm — one that ran a bookkeeping service for small businesses.
“Like it?” He grinned. “It’s four-fifty, but I’ll give you ten percent off. It’s got a few special features, like this under strap with a cock ring, and a detachable plug …”
“It’s perfect for what I have in mind.” Frowning I studied the understrap and the array of ‘plugs’. “My only problem is I need to be put into it as a present for someone special …”
“Tricky.” He frowned. “I guess I could do that for you, but I would have to come to your place to do it.”
“Okay …” I thought about it. Dave had given me a key to the house so I could move whenever I liked, making it plain he would expect me to be ‘in residence’ on the thirtieth at the latest. If I moved a day earlier … “Yes, I can arrange that okay.” I grinned, feeling my cheeks burn. “Just one thing … How do I prepare myself for the plug and to … you know?”
“You’re wanting …?” Clapping me on the back, he laughed. “Damn, some body has hit the jackpot as your Top. Okay, I’ll sort you out an enema and all the lube you’ll need. Just let me know where to deliver it and when.”
The accounts for ‘Latex and Leather’ were not that difficult to set up, and went relatively smoothly — apart from the distraction of being surrounded by everything that I fantasised about. A week’s effort saw it finished, now, like the motel and the others, it just needed the daily entry of receipts and payments, and a monthly ‘reconciliation’ with the bank.
“Brilliant, Jim.” Josh pushed his chair back. “Greg was right, your services are worth every penny, and then some.”
“Thanks,” I retorted. “It helps that I’m enjoying doing this for such a diverse set of businesses. Oh, and thanks for the advice you gave me about … you know.”
“Pleasure.” He grinned. “Let Dave have a test drive yet?”
“No!” Laughing I explained. “That’s going to be a surprise for him when I … accept moving in with him.”
“And when do you plan to do that?”
“Actually, this Friday night. He thinks it’s to be Saturday, but I want to surprise him.” Hesitating, I plunged on. “I was wondering … I need a little help to prepare the surprise for him … Would you …?”
