Part 17

I knew when he got near as the disc started to vibrate so I started to thrash about a bit to work up a sweat. Not long after I heard the key in the door lock and he came in to the room.

I thrashed about some more and he grinned. “Samantha, dear heart, I’ve been looking forward to this moment from the day I saw you in the bitches office. You just drew me in and every time I saw you after that I could hardly keep my hands to myself. Now we are here and my hands are free to do whatever they want.”

“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he took off his jacket and hung it on a hook. “This is going to be such a wonderful experience. Well, for me, anyway. You may find bits of it – well, uncomfortable -- but rest assured, my darling one, I will finally take the pain away.”

“This time I won’t leave my seconds for Butcher to enjoy. You’ll be mine, tonight, and mine alone. Whatever you saw happen to your sister will be nothing to what I can do. Butcher, I know, does like to live up to his name but is far too unimaginative.”

As he was speaking he was taking off his trousers and then his shirt. I thrashed about and made muffled sounds through the gag. He had his shoes and socks off and finally stood over me and peeled his underpants down to allow his rampant cock to leap out.

My God, the man was built like a donkey!! It did not take much for me to look scared and thrash against the cuffs. He smiled and felt my breasts and then went towards the table to pick up the dressmakers shears.

“I took a keepsake from all the others,” he said, dreamily. “The odd finger or toe was fun to collect. Oh! How those beauties screamed, especially that bitch Cathy. But from you, I really think I’ll keep your nipples to join the other items in my safe at home. Before you can’t take any more I‘ll tell you that your friend David won’t have much time to look for you.”

“I’ll take back the recommendation for the tenders and Butcher will start finding problems with his existing buildings which will eventually get his licence cancelled. I’ve an inside man who’ll ensure that the company fails and he will buy it from the administrators cheap. He’s so looking forward to that day. What he doesn’t know is that I will own him, lock, stock and scaffolding.”

“Now,” he smiled, “Let’s see what you look like without those clothes”.

“Not as silly as you do,” said a deep voice from behind him. “Now, sonny boy, how about you drop those scissors or else I may have to Taser you. Oh, what the hell, I think I will anyway.”

There was a zipping sound and I heard a body fall to the floor and a distinct mewling sound.

The voice said, “Sorry about that sir, but I caught sight of your main armament and I pulled the trigger as a reflex. Forgive me?”

The policewoman came rushing in and released me and helped remove the gag. She took me out of the room and back upstairs to get me a stiff drink.

“You did well there, dear,” she said as she sat me on the sofa. “He was so taken with you I think we got everything we need.”

By the time I felt human again the Minister had been brought upstairs, still naked with his arms cuffed behind his back. He was blustering about who he was and how he would have everyones job by the end of the week.

He was taken out to a waiting police van and, as he got to the steps of the house, a number of lights went on and I could see a whole host of reporters and cameras.

The policewoman stood by my side as we watched him paraded, naked, in front of the press.

She said, quietly, “Holmes really was in public relations before he joined the force. You have to hand it to him, he can organise a circus that no-one will forget for ages. I’m so happy I was on duty tonight.”

Patterson turned up and called out to the press that there would be a full press announcement in the morning but, if anyone was interested, he would hold a meeting at the station in an hour.

We stayed out of sight until the press had followed the van. Then we were joined by David and Sarah who both enveloped me in hugs.

Watson followed up with, “Thank you for that, I think you can all go home, now.”

So that’s what we did. David was needed at home to make sure his mother was all right and Holmes was needed back at work so it left the two of us to put the clothes into the bin.

There was no way I could put them on again. I had a long bath and got into my nightie and we chatted about the events of the day before going to bed. We both slept in Sarahs’ bed as we couldn’t face the night alone.

When I woke on Wednesday morning I lay there with Sarah spooned into my back and thought about what all these events would mean.

I had a think about Davids’ business and wondered if the new Minister of Housing would pull the recommendations or whether he would just let them add to the tender process.

Roger was waiting in a cell to see just how deep in the shit he was and the old Minister was so far in it now I doubted that he would see daylight again. Butcher was dead and I felt sorry for his wife.

We just had to see what transpired but today it was work for the two of us so I gave Sarah a nudge and got out to head for the bathroom.

It was a bit of an anti-climax to be back at work and the day passed pretty quickly. The talk of the moment was the arrest of the Minister of Housing and everyone was a bit shaken by the pictures of him being paraded naked.

Some of the girls wondered about the size of the pixilation on his groin and most said his dick couldn’t have been that big. I knew otherwise but kept my knowledge to myself.

When we shut that evening David was there to take me home. When we got into the flat he held me close and kissed me for the longest time.

He then said that he wanted me to work with Zach in Devine Designs to put together the concept brochure that would be part of the tenders and, later on, a basis for the sales push if we won the jobs.

I agreed and when Sarah came home he took us both out for a meal. He made a text call on the way down in the lift and I was not surprised when Holmes joined us at the restaurant.

Over the meal he told the other two that I would be working full-time for the Devine group trying to complete the concept pictures and, maybe, having an input into the house designs as well. He then asked Sarah if she wanted to be part of it and she said that she had some leave owed to her and that she could take it to help out.

David asked if she could consider changing jobs to come on board as a legal eagle in charge of the developments should we win any and she said she would consider it. He then turned his attention to Holmes and asked him to consider coming as well in a dual role of Public Relations and head of site security, again dependent on the company winning the tenders.

I had to give a two week notice at the salon and much of that time was taken up with training the other girls in advanced make-up with them assisting me one by one and working with me on customers before the last customer of the day was their passing examination.

Ingrid was the surprise package; having been extra careful with her own make-up after being shown how good she could look. She took to the advanced work like a duck to water and was a natural to take over from me as she was also able to do the hairdressing as well.

Our Sundays were taken up with time with Zach, working on general landscape and shopping precinct sketches, things that tended to look the same in any development.

The police were working extra hard to keep Sarah and me out of the case, seeing as we had been instrumental in breaking it open but with the magical aspect that would not be believed readily.

Holmes kept us up to date as the evidence mounted up. They had searched the Ministers’ apartment and got a representative of the safe company to open his with a couple of press photographers on hand as ‘independent’ witnesses.

They found the bottles of formaldehyde with fingers and toes in them, as he had stated in the cellar. There were eight bottles, which matched the eight bodies that had finally been taken out of the cellar and all had been identified through DNA matching.

One was, as to be expected, the Cathy that had taken the photos of the Minister.

Oddly enough, those photos were sent to one of the national papers in a plain parcel a couple of days later and made quite a splash on their front page. The headline was ‘House that one, Minister!’ It was after that some developers started telling their stories of kickbacks and corruption.

I finished at the salon on the Wednesday so had a couple of days free before I started working full time with Zach. We had eight weeks to complete the riverside tender and an extra two to finish the one in the country.

I had spent several evenings with the whole Devine household talking about what we would be offering. The range of structures was varied; the biggest being the retail centres but they would be similar to all those that went before.

Next were the schools and medical facilities which were, again, standardised because of their functions. The third included the fire station, police station and council depot which would be specified by the relevant bodies.

Then we got to shared housing where it was decided that we would quote with flat-poured concrete tilt-slab construction for speed and cost effectiveness. These would be three story maximum, rendered with a wide range of colours and would all surround parks.

Then we got to the general range of houses and David had gone one further with the tilt-slab construction. He had an engineering firm cost the manufacture of three meter by three metre moulds, with the form of bricks, stone work and even overlapping boards impressed into the outer skin.

These could be set out inside temporary walls for the pouring and would allow a way we could alter the door position and the window positions as well as allowing services to be set into the walls during the pour.

He had organised a single mould and had a concrete sandwich made. When it came out of the mould the outside face looked like brick, especially as they had coloured the concrete. There was a layer of insulation and the inside wall which had some sample utilities embedded. This went off to a laboratory to be tested for strength and the ability to resist heat transfer.

It came through with flying colours and we could then build a row of houses that were all individual in appearance and structure. The other thing that could be done was to guarantee three metre ceiling height and the real icing on the cake was that each one could be built with just the main inner walls on the lower and upper floors.

The buyer could specify the interior layout which would then be quickly achieved with stud walls. Both Davids got a bit excited about the procedure as it would speed up the overall development with every house getting to lock-up stage a long time before the interior fit-out took place. Also, every single house would end up unique.

For the riverside project, the family had decided that there would be an upmarket section along the water’s edge, once the remediation had been completed. These would be a mixture of tilt-slab and brick and all at least four bedroom. The work here was able to be spread over both tenders with just some tweaking to the up-market houses to reflect their position.

The waterside ones would feature big balconies and David had his people draw one up with an ability to option the upper floor. One customer may like a party deck and I suggested that the rear being south facing, an artist’s studio would suit nicely.

The country project would have these houses on the outer edge, facing the countryside, and with the more organic look that I had put in our first picture.

Part 18

On that first Thursday after finishing in the salon I was going to go into the city to get some more business-like outfits as the family had asked if I could lead on promoting future projects if we didn’t win these.

I had the ability to listen to what a customer was thinking and draw it in real time. Something that David thought would clinch most deals. On my way to the station I was walking past the old shops when, once more, I heard a voice.

“Samantha, dear angel; would you please step into my humble shop?” When I looked there was, indeed, the S.R.U. shop with the old guy standing at the door.

When I went in and the door was closed, he asked me if I still wore the disc and, if I had it today, could he hold it? It had been moving from neutral to warm over the past couple of weeks, even though I was sure that I had used up the final wish in the cellar.

The wizard held it close to his forehead and closed his eyes for several minutes.

When he opened them and gave me back the disc. “You have been truly blessed by the magic this disc represents. Firstly it decided that the first wish was not instigated by you and built up the magic to give you a second. The second wish you used was so you could save your sister but I believe that there were thoughts in the head of Mr. Butcher; along the lines of how glad he was that you were well restrained because he could sense the emotions within you. As such, the magic seems to have decided that this was enough of an opposite for the wish to be accepted.”

“The disc is now taking power from around it again and the amount of love you have generated will keep it active. You may never have another wish granted but I can tell you that it is still generating an aura of peace and good will which will allow you to avoid the sort of evil that has tried to remove you from the world already”.

“I’m sure that it will warn you of evil people and my advice is that you use your contacts to fight them, rather than put yourself in danger. There are, of course, others for you to look out for now. I can tell you that they will be twin girls but I am sure you already knew that.”

He smiled and let me out of the shop, saying as I left, “Farewell Samantha, It’s been a real pleasure and a privilege to meet you. One, even in my humble netherworld, hardly ever meets a genuine angel.”

That made me think a bit as I continued to walk to the station. It wasn’t until we were getting near the city and I saw a toddler in a pram that the other thing he said hit me like a ton of bricks. Twin baby girls!

I was only a few days off my period so I had no inkling. “Wow,” I thought,” David’s certainly a dead shot with his first one right in the centre ring.” Now I was going to have to go to the chemist and get a pregnancy test kit. It did take the edge off my shopping for a little while but then I found some really classy pencil skirts and silk blouses that were to die for.

I met Sarah for lunch and then went back to her office where I spoke to some of the other girls. The painting that Sarah had done was now on the wall of the office and everyone was very happy with it.

Sarah told me that she had put in for her accrued holidays and would be joining me on Monday to start, maybe, her next career. I knew that I would also need to see how I went with it. I had been in seventh heaven using my knowledge of cosmetics and the full-time artistic activity was something very new, even if I had been dabbling in it already.

We went out for a meal and, before we went home, I got Sarah to help me take the pregnancy test in the restaurant toilets. She hugged me tightly when the strip showed that I was very likely pregnant.

On Saturday David picked us both up and took us to work with Zach. When we got there I held back when I got out of the car and positioned myself so that David had no choice but to kiss me.

“David, sweetie-pie darling. When are you going to buy me that engagement ring?”

He said that there was a lot to think about but we would get around to it as soon as we could.

“Sweetheart, please don’t wait too long, you know how people gossip when the bride has a baby bump.” That stopped him in his tracks!

After we had put in a good day drawing pictures Zach said that we now had enough to produce a professional brochure and David, instead of taking us to the tower, took us to see his parents.

I had sat with Annette a few times to help her get over her upset with Roger but I had to comfort her more when she was told she was likely to be a grandmother. Of course, that set the wheels of a wedding in motion but we luckily had most of it sorted already.

The wedding took place just a month later, after a doctor had confirmed the test strip result. It was in the White Garden and Sarah was my one and only bridesmaid while Holmes stood beside David, the two of them really hitting it off.

David Senior was there to give me away and Annette just did all the things every mother-in-law is meant to do. It was not a huge wedding, only about twenty or so guests in the marquee. We left in the Rover and the photo sits on our mantelpiece next to the drawing I had done months earlier. They looked as if they had been done at the same time.

We spent a week down in the West Country and I was introduced to Gertie in all her glory. I reminded David that if the painting was to be true to life as well he had better get it finished inside a couple of years because the children I had drawn would be about eighteen months old.

He expected that if we won the projects he would be able to throw money at the engine. We hadn’t set the procedure back with our honeymoon as the first tender documents with the brochure were being printed and the second set was not that far off. When we got back we moved into Davids’ apartment in his parents’ house.

I went with David and his father to lodge the tender papers and the secretary took them and then made a call on her phone. We were asked to wait a while and then were taken to see the new Minister of Housing.

He asked what had been paid for the old ministerial reference and David told him, straight out, that nothing had been paid, nothing had been agreed and, indeed, nothing of the sort had been implied.

He said that the signature was weeks before the old minister had been arrested and that if he had been asked to pay for it he would have refused point blank. It was his openness and his reputation that saved the day as the tender was received.

Two weeks later we took in the second set with no questions asked. In the quieter period Sarah went back to her office after telling me that she would be joining us if we got lucky with the projects and that Holmes had popped the question.

She admitted that they were off to pick a ring that weekend. I gave her a big hug and told her she was a lucky girl. Of course, once Annette got wind of that there was another wedding to organise Holmes was just carried along by the force of feminine pressure and, as David Senior had said that he would pay the bills, didn’t have much of a say anyway.

That wedding was a bit more traditional in the local church with a lot more than twenty guests, many from the force. Sarah was radiant and a friend from her work was the bridesmaid.

Well, by that time I was not in a proper shape to fit the dress. Watson was best man. It was actually a double celebration that day as we had heard on the Friday, that we had got the riverside project to build. I must admit that both Davids were a little under the weather during the service but woke up once the drinks started to come out.

By the time the happy couple came back from their honeymoon we had heard that we were the winners of the second project as well.

Sarah had seen already just how big it was going to be over the next few years and immediately tendered her resignation. Holmes could also see the opportunity of working with his new wife and resigned from the force.

After the rush of getting the papers sorted it was now a lot different as we had to get the sites fenced off, install workers huts and toilets, organise roadworks; sewerage; water and power supplies to both sites.

One good thing that we had a ready place to put any soil or rubbish into the remediation by the shore and the fact that we had almost double of everything gave us a cost saving due to volume purchasing.

The houses started going up in both sites with an amazing speed, once the technique had been finalised, and the sites took on an interesting air of progress.

David was true to his word and we had a lovely few days for the inaugural trip of Gertie, me with the twins in the stroller as depicted.

We had called them Danielle and Desdemona Devine so that they would be able to revert to Dan and Des should the old Samantha gene sneak through.

Sarah eventually gave birth to twin boys who were called Henry and Harold Holmes, just in case they wanted to be girls later they could become Henrietta and Harriette. Well, you do have to plan ahead, don’t you?

When the Riverside Project was nearly completed, David and Annette took possession of Number One River View Way, one of the up-market properties, and had it finished to their own specifications with wide doors and an internal lift so that they could enjoy their retirement, at last.

Zach and Zoe took over Number Two and had the artist studio option added.

David and I took over Number One Scenic Vista Circuit, a really beautiful house overlooking the hills and fields on the western edge of the West Downs Project.

Sarah got her own wish as she and her family moved in at Number Two. Both houses featured fully operational studios on the top floor.

With the obvious success of these two projects, the sales being absolutely manic, the company moved into the realm of go-to developers if something fresh was required.

Both Sarah and I were kept busy travelling the country with our husbands looking at green field sites and producing concept drawings. Beside that we were both turning out pictures that people wanted to see on their walls.

Every one of the up-market houses had a portrait of itself already in the house when it was sold and you know that if someone loves your work, they will always want to own more.

As the years went on our children played together in the playgrounds we had designed, went to the schools we had built and, if they hurt themselves or got sick, stayed in the medical centres we had also built.

I was thankful that they never showed signs of disliking the gender they had been born in but I did get the better bargain as my two never got as muddy as the boys.

Actually, I should say my four as three years later I had another set of girl twins. By this time, though, we had a live in nanny to look after them and Maise was, as always, there with a smile and a helping hand when the little tackers did something they shouldn’t.

Maise had reverted to her previous surname and had dropped the Butcher one altogether. She had spent some time in hospital being detoxed from all the things she had been given. It was no wonder she used to drop off to sleep in minutes. She also needed extra help to get over the trauma of her husband and his friends.

The disc stayed feeling just warm and hardly ever vibrated to warn us of any person nearby with less than nice thoughts.

David and I spent a lot of our days together and I couldn’t be happier, even when I was up to my elbows in grease or paint while working on ‘Fran,’ the new project with a name plate that would read ‘Frances Nightingale.’

It was one of the early Angel Pacers that had been donated to us in a rather dilapidated state. It had originally been called nothing at all so we had decided it would need a proper name when it was finished.

The disc became extremely warm on my chest when I thought of the name. Perhaps it recognised another angel.

Marianne Gregory © 2022