‘It’s Marcus, to see Lady Windsor,’ he yelled at the intercom.
‘Please drive up to the main entrance Sir, and the butler will greet you there,’ was the tinny reply. A buzzer sounded and the large metal gates slowly opened. The estate was enormous, and it took him a while to drive up to the mansion entrance.
A smart, elderly gentlemen regally approached his Mercedes. ‘Her ladyship will see you in the study, please follow me.’
The entrance was grand, full of pillars and statues, mosaic tiling, and faded paintings. Marcus stared up at the enormous sunny conservatory style dome above. ‘Must be a bitch to clean all that glass,’ he said quietly to the butler.
‘Quite!’ was the disapproving reply.
The butler led Marcus through a set of heavy oak doors into the study. A woman sat near the largest window in the room. Marcus felt like he had gone through a time warp. Her dress was incredibly old fashioned, all cream lace and frills. He was certain that underneath her garment there was a corset, pushing out and showing off all the right bits. Her cleavage was beautifully presented.
She was a lot younger than her title suggested. Her delicately pale skin complemented her long straight blond hair and crystal blue eyes. Her welcoming smile immediately bewitched Marcus, and he knew there and then what had to be done.
‘Lady Windsor, it is an honour to meet you,’ said Marcus in his best fake Rumanian accent.
‘Please call me Penny.’ She spoke quietly, and with all the heirs and grace that was expected of landed gentry. ‘The reason I called you here Marcus is to help me get in contact with my late husband, Thomas. I was at a tea party last month, and Lady Mortimor recommended you as having the ‘gift’?’
‘Ah yes, Lady Mortimor, I remember her well. Obviously I am sworn to secrecy and cannot divulge any detail of my meetings with Lady Mortimor, but suffice to say she was very pleased with the outcome.’ Marcus thought back to how he had managed to swindle Lady Mortimor out of sizeable fee for his fortune telling talent.
The fact was that he didn’t have a gift at all. He knew how to read people, and he knew how to do his homework. Thorough research into a client’s background was the key. He could then throw snippits into a conversation with the client and watch the reaction. He could get a client to open up to him completely, by teasing them with the tiniest morsel of personal information. The trick was always to keep answers vague, and to answer questions with more questions. His perfected technique had earned him a small fortune as well as a formidable reputation.
‘Good grief! I hope you didn’t think I was prying into Lady Mortimor’s affairs,’ said Penny feeling quite flustered.
He reached over and touched her bare shoulder lightly, ‘please madam, I can sense that you were not. I can tell that you are a very honest young woman, who loved her husband dearly. I would not have accepted your invitation had I felt otherwise.’ Already Marcus had the upper hand.
‘Thank you, Marcus.’ Reading her eyes, Marcus could tell that she was already impressed.
‘Now Penny, I must admit that I know very little about you and your late husband,’ he lied, ‘but I will help you in any way I can.’
‘All I really want to do is to tell him how much I love him,’ tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
‘I see. You wish me to contact the dead, and pass on a message, yes?’ he asked clasping his hands under his chin.
‘I would give anything to talk to him one last time, if only to tell him how sorry I was.’ She had started to cry but Marcus was more interested in her words than her emotions. She had already unknowingly passed him a valuable piece of information. He wondered if she blamed herself in some way for his death. He knew that the husband had crashed his car late at night, and that he had been alone, half dressed and speeding when he died. A lovers’ tiff perhaps?
He walked behind her chair and placed a hand on either shoulder and started massaging gently while taking in the view of her magnificent chest. He wanted to move his hand toward her tits and have a nice grope, but prison food didn’t agree with his taste buds.
His wealthy clients had all accepted his ‘touchy-feely’ mannerisms, assuming that ‘they’ must all behave that way in his country – whatever that country might be. The truth was that he originally came from London, but enjoyed creating an air of mystery with the accent being part of his con.
‘Contacting the dead is a difficult and dangerous journey. I am not certain that it is wise…’
‘Oh please!’ pleaded Penny, ‘I don’t care how much it costs, if there is any way I could speak to my Tommy, even for a short time…’
A wry smile appeared on Marcus’s face. Things were going better than planned.
He noticed a tear had splash on her chest, and was trickling down into the void between her breasts. Her hand reached for his, and she looked up at him with watery blue eyes.
‘I will try madam. I do not like to discuss money, as it is an embarrassing subject for me. Did Lady Mortimer tell you of the orphanage that I fund from my fee?’ A blatant lie of course, his funds went towards paying off his hefty gambling debt.
‘Yes she did tell me about the orphanage, you dear sweet man, will £50,000 be enough to help those poor under-privileged children?’
‘That amount of money will go along way, madam, thank you.’ Marcus clicked his heals and saluted at Penny.
Penny nodded, and began to write out the cheque.
‘I almost forgot, could you please make the cheque out to a Mr. Mark Hopkins? He is the, em, manager, at the orphanage.’ stuttered Marcus.
With the cheque firmly secured in his back pocket, Marcus began his performance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He outstretched his hands and let out a heavy sigh.
‘Nothing!’ I assume that your husband did not spend a lot of time in this study?’
Penny shrugged. ‘I am sorry Marcus, I do not know. We were only married a few weeks, and I had never visited this estate prior to our marriage.’
‘Well I tell you then, Penny, this room is empty of all spirits. I must be taken to a chamber that is personal to you both.’
‘Our bedroom?’ offered Penny.
Bingo, thought Marcus, following Penny up the staircase.
The bedroom was dark and full of antiques. A huge four poster bed dominated the space. Tom moved to the windows and opened the curtains to let in some light. He took hold of Penny’s hand and moved towards the bed. ‘Come sit with me,’ ordered Marcus, tapping the soft duvet.
Penny obeyed and needed some help from Marcus to climb onto the bed. He obliged willingly and was rewarded with another great view of her tits, as she crawled to join him. ‘I can feel something now,’ said Marcus, and he wasn’t just talking about the stirring in his trousers.
