Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:22:08 +0200
From: Amy Redek <adultreading@gmail.com>
Subject: Guinea Pig Chapter Six

    I didn't want Sheila to die for I enjoyed living with her and fucking
her whenever she wanted it and I was able to do so, but it came to pass
about six months later.
   It was one of the normal end of the month times when I had Trevor drive
me down to my parents house for our monthly dinner. Here, not only were
there my parents, but two other friends of theirs. He'd driven me down
there at seven that particular evening and I stayed until he returned and
picked me up at eleven that evening.
   On returning to the house, I thanked Trevor as usual and went upstairs
to our bedroom. I was shocked I must admit to actually see what I had
predicted had happened, for there, on the carpet next to the dressing
table, lay Sheila.
   Her face was contorted and it made her look really ugly and I shuddered
at seeing her like this. She was naked and had obviously snorted some
powder for there were still some traces on the table top. I admit I had
tears in my eyes as I knelt down beside her and put my finger up alongside
her throat as I'd seen done on the television. I couldn't feel any pulse
and her body was a bit on the cold side.
    I couldn't stand to see her face like this, her eyelids half closed
with just a shade of the eye balls showing, nor could I let other people
see her naked body like it was there on the carpet. I pulled a sheet off
the bed and covered her face and body but kept her left hand free. Here I
pulled off the wedding and engagement ring from her late husband and
quickly went and retrieved the engagement ring that I had purchased and put
this onto her finger. The other two rings I put into her jewellery box.
   With this done, I picked up the inter-house phone and rung Trevor.
   `Trevor,' I said when he picked up the phone, and putting a tremor into
my voice spoke to him. `Call the police. The doctor and an ambulance. Miss
Sheila is....is dead, here in the bedroom.'
   `Oh my God!' he stuttered. `I'll do that right away.'
   I put the phone down and went through to the study, taking my own copy
of her will with me and replaced it with her original. I also deleted my
copy from the computer. The original will, I tore up into small pieces and
flushed it down the toilet.
    Back to the study I went to phone her solicitor and accountant, waking
up the former, telling both of them of my finding Sheila dead and that they
should present themselves at the house first thing in the morning to sort
things out for I wasn't capable of doing this
                                                          *
   The police were the first to arrive, followed shortly by the doctor,
closely followed by the ambulance. Trevor let them in and I met first the
police at the top of the stairs.
   `My name is Detective Inspector Dawes,' he said, pulling out a wallet
and showing me his card. `And you are?'
   `Randolph Oates,' I stuttered.
   `You found the body?'
   `Yes sir. Here, in the bedroom,' I said, indicating the door behind
me. He moved past me and entered the room followed by his sidekick who
wasn't introduced. I too followed them into the room.
   `Was she like this when you found her?'
   `No...no. She...she's naked and so I covered her in the bed sheet,' I
stuttered again.
   `Did you touch anything?'
    `No. Yes. I touched her neck to see if I could feel a
pulse. When... when I couldn't, I phoned to our man to ring you.'
    `You say you found her. What time was this and where were you before
you found her?'
   `About fifteen, twenty minutes ago. I...I'd been having dinner with my
parents. Trevor, our man, delivered me there and picked me up about half
eleven.' The Inspector's eyes had been roving all over the room as he had
been speaking to me and I saw that he'd noticed the small grains of white
powder on the surface of the dressing table. He now knelt down and pulled
the sheet off of Sheila. I shuddered again but he didn't seemed to be fazed
by seeing her dead naked body there on the floor. His hand briefly touched
her right hand and as it turned, I did notice a rolled up money note for
the first time.
   `Is the photographer here?' he asked of his other man, turning his head
towards him.
   `Yes sir,' he replied, turning and beckoning another man with a camera
into my view.
   `Usual pictures. Especially the face, right hand and the table top,' he
said to the man before straightening up, removing the bed sheet completely.
   `Now Mr. Oates,' he said turning to me as the photographer started
taking his pictures. `Who can verify where you were during the hours six
and now?'
   `Well Sh...Shelia wasn't here when I left at seven. I don't know what
time she came home. Trevor....'
    `Is he the person who made the call to us?' he interrupted.
   `Yes. He's our butler and chauffeur. He took me to my parents house in
Kingston where I had dinner, and I didn't leave them till Trevor picked me
up at half eleven. It...it was a few minutes later that I found her here.'
I also gave him the names of the other two people that had been at dinner
with us, which no doubt he would check up later.
   The photographer had finished taking his pictures and I heard the
doctor, after he had examined Sheila, say to the Inspector, about three
hours. I also caught drug overdose or a bad one.
   The ambulance men who had been hovering just outside the bedroom door
were beckoned in as the Inspector turned to me.
   `We'll let you know of the autopsy report when we have it, but please be
available if we need to speak again,' he said. I knew then that I was high
on the list of being a suspect if they could prove it was murder.
   With the ambulance men taking the body of Sheila away, the Inspector
said goodnight and everybody just suddenly seemed to have disappeared,
except Trevor, who was still hovering outside the bedroom door.
   `Thank you Trevor. For the phone calls,' I sighed. `We might have the
press calling when this gets out. Only let in Miss Shelia's solicitor and
accountant who should be turning up in the morning. To all others, no
admittance and we have nothing to say.'
   `Yes Mr. Randolph. We, Alice, Anne and myself are stunned at this,
and...and...'
   `Say no more Trevor,' I interrupted. `You've all been very loyal to Miss
Sheila and I'm sure she appreciated it. Thank you for your help this
evening.'
   `It's all I could do in the circumstances. Coffee at the usual time in
the morning sir?'
   `Yes please, though I will probably be still awake, thank you.'
   He gave me a little bow and left me to shut the door and look at the
discarded bed sheet on the floor. The dressing table top had been cleared
of the residue of powder, no doubt for the forensic people to analyse
against what they found inside her during the autopsy.
   Even though I thought that this what might have happened to her in the
taking of these drugs, it still hit me hard as I got into bed and cried
myself to sleep.
                                                          *
   I felt like death myself when Trevor brought me in my morning cup of
coffee. He must have shed a few tears during the night for his eyes were
slightly puffed up. Mine looked worse when I saw my face in the bathroom
mirror.
   Anne looked just as bad at breakfast when I sat down to my lonely meal.
   `We're so sorry Mr. Randolph,' she said when she poured out my coffee.
   `Thank you Anne,' I said. `How's Alice taking it?'
   `She's still in tears sir,' she said, giving a sniff as tears appeared
in her eyes. She gave her nose a wipe and hurried off out of the dining
room.
   It was nearly half nine when Mr. Wilkes, her solicitor turned up,
followed by Mr. Austin, her accountant a few minutes later. I showed them
into the study to sort through all the paperwork that was there in the desk
and folders. I got Trevor to take them in tea or coffee as I left them to
get down to their work.
   I was back in the bedroom when the phone rang and Trevor said that there
was a Mrs. Oates on the phone for me.
   `Is it true?' were the first words mother asked of me. `That Sheila's
dead? That you found her?'
   `Yes mum. It's true,' I mumbled, tears blocking my throat a little.
   She went on to tell me that the police had only just left after asking
questions of my time at home and about my relationship to Sheila. Also
getting to know the names and addresses of the other couple I had dinner
with the night before.
   `It must have been hard for you to find her,' she finally said.
   `It was,' I sobbed. Truly, I did actually sob at losing
her. `Especially, especially.... We weren't going to tell you till later.'
   `Tell me what?' she asked.
   `That....that we were going to get married next year,' I stammered out.
   `What!' she exclaimed in almost a scream.
   `Mother! I loved her and she loved me,' I cried down the phone. I was
really crying now for I did love that woman. `We...we got engaged two
months ago and were going to wait till I was twenty one.'
   `I can't believe this!' she cried. `She was nearly twice your age!'
   Mum!' I cried. `She loved me and I loved her. We were going to tell you
when I had my twenty first birthday. She had said that she loved you,
and...and she now loved me.'
   `Did you tell the police this?'
   `No. But I will when they speak to me again,' I said as a knock came at
the bedroom door. `Hold a minute mum,' I said on the phone and called out
to enter whoever had knocked at the door. It opened and it was Trevor in
the doorway.
   `Sorry to disturb you sir, but there's Inspector Dawes to see you.'
   `I'll be right down,' I said to him before speaking again to my
mother. `I've got to go mum. The police are here again. I'll speak to you
later,' and put the phone down and went downstairs to see the Inspector.
   `Ah, Mr. Oates,' he said as I entered the lounge. `Please sit down,' he
said but he stayed on his feet as I sat down, noticing that his sidekick
was with him again. `Well we've confirmed your whereabouts last evening but
we want to know where the cocaine came from. Did you supply it? Do you take
drugs yourself?'
   `No!' I exclaimed aghast at the very suggestion that I was her
supplier. `That's no to both questions. I know she took drugs and had
complained many times that she shouldn't, but as you now know, she didn't
listen to me.'
   `Then do you know who supplied them?'
   `No. You'll have to ask her friends that took them with her.'
   `Who might that be?' he asked and so I gave him the names of Jacob and
Fiona.
   `Where do they live?'
   `I've no idea. Their addresses are probably in her diary in the
study. Her solicitor and accountant are in there now,' I said. The
Inspector gave a nod to his partner who left the room and I then answered
his questions like how long had I known Sheila and how long had I been
living in Hanover Square. I told him this as his other man came back into
the lounge with a piece of paper in his hand which he gave to the
Inspector.
   This he quickly read before handing it back where it was taken away
again.
   `That has thrown a new slant on things,' he said which led me to believe
it was the will he'd just read. `I'd noticed that Mrs. Justin-Forbes was
wearing a single ring on her left hand Mr. Oates. Can you enlighten me?'
   `Er, yes. Sheila, er, Mrs Justin-Forbes and I were engaged.'
   `When was this proposal made?'
   `About two months ago. We were going to get married next year.'
   `Who else knew of this?' he asked quite sharply.
   `No one, until this morning. I told my mother after she phoned me about
her visit from the police.....'
   `Why?' he interrupted me.
   `We were going to announce it after my twenty first birthday,' I
replied.
   `I see,' he said in a soft voice though what he saw, I've no idea. `Well
we'll check up on the two names now that we have their addresses and we'll
be in touch again later, so please be free to see us,' he said before he
left the room.
   I waited until they left the house before I went off to the study to see
the solicitor.
   `What was that bit of paper that was shown to the Inspector?' I asked of
him.
   `Mrs. Justin-Forbes will, though not the one that I drew up for her. It
looks like she did this one herself,' he replied.
   `The reason I asked this was because he, after reading it, asked me some
questions that nobody else knew about. Can you tell me?'
   `Well, it seems that she had made you one of the beneficiaries of her
estate. Please,' and he held up his hand. `I was told that I cannot divulge
the contents of the will until after the autopsy and probate.'
   `I can see now,' I said a little bitterly, `that after some of the
questions I've been asked, I'm a suspect if it can be proved that she
didn't just die from an overdose of drugs.'
   `I'm sorry Mr. Oates, but I cannot say one thing or another into their
motives or questions but as Mr. Austin here knows, there is a rather large
sum of money involved here.' Mr. Austin was nodding his head but didn't say
of the amount, which I knew to be in the bracket of quite a few million
pounds.
   `Thank you gentlemen,' I said before leaving the study. `I will see the
cook now for you to being given lunch with me. Trevor will tell when it's
ready'
   I went through to the kitchen to tell Alice of the other two staying for
lunch and was surprised when she took me into her arms and gave me a hug as
she burst into tears. It took me quite a few minutes of her speaking her
mind about the trauma that was in the household before I could get away.
   It was a solemn and subdued lunch with only mundane things talked about
during the meal. Why is the weather the most popular subject at times like
this?
   They had finished their work and declined to stay for dinner and I sat
alone at the table again, not really wanting to go home and face my mother
just yet.