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In a lot of ways, I was more a part of the family than just a typical associate. I watched his two sons grow up and work their way up the company ladder. Everyone expected them to take over the company, but their father still insisted that they learn the company from the ground up, quite literally, since their first jobs were shoveling dirt. It was like the golden years, the family was extremely happy and the company was very well respected and growing, but this is only an illusion.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Title Page
Confronted by the Wrong Person
Blame Ball
Jeremy McHarry
Confronted by the Wrong Person / 4th of series: Blame Ball / By Jeremy McHarry
Published 2023 by Bentockiz
e-book Imprint: Calkden Norsh
e-book Registration: Stockholm, Sweden
e-book ISBN: 9789198826739
e-book editing: Athens, Greece
Cover Images created via AI art generators
Table of Contents
Title Page
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Introduction
Through books we come into contact with everything important that has happened in the past, analyzing also current events and putting our thoughts together to predict the future. The book is a window to the world, acquiring valuable knowledge and sparking our vivid imagination. It is a means of entertainment and is generally seen as a best friend, or as a slave that carries together all valuable information for us. The book is a friend who stays together without demands, a friend you call upon at every moment and abandon when you want.
It accompanies us in the hours of boredom and loneliness, while at the same time it entertains us. In general, a book does not ask anything from us, while it waits patiently on a dusty shelf to give us its information, to get us out of dead ends and to travel us to magical worlds.
This may be the travel mission of our books. Abstract narration, weird or unconscious thoughts difficult to be understood, but always genuine and full of life experiences, these are stories of life that can’t be overlooked easily.
This may be the start of something amazing!
Chapter One
“You’re right. Okay, lift me down, old man.” When he looks at her a puzzled expression, she explains, “The consequences of your actions, you lifted me up here, you have to lift me down.”
While Klara chuckles in the background, he starts to lift her up, but Sharlene wraps her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and kisses him. As she lets him breathe, she whispers in his ear, “Carry me to the table.” Without responding verbally, he tightly hugs her, carries her to the table while he resists the temptation to slip an arm under her buttocks, pulls out a chair, and sits on the front edge. She unwraps her legs, gets up, lets him sit back in the chair, sits on his upper legs, kisses his cheek, snuggles up to his chest, and tells him, “Thank you, lover.”
As Klara follows and sits down, she’s shaking her head then says, “I don’t know which of you surprises me more.”
* * * * *
2147-09-05 (a2)
A few moments later, Klara redirects their thoughts to the business at hand and for the next hour or so, she goes over their statements while she asks them what they were thinking and feeling and what their impressions were. There are a couple of minor differences in their accounts, based on what they observed and remembered, which only enhances the validity of their statements since no two people will remember the same event in the same way or necessarily in the exact same sequence.
By going over their accounts together, they’re able to remember things they had forgotten or hadn’t noticed before, although none of it would be of any significance to the sheriff’s investigation, but it adds to the impression which Klara is gaining of Hektor, as well as her impression of George and of his relationship with Sharlene. When she’s done, Klara asks, “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
As Sharlene seems to sink further into his comforting embrace, she says, “Klara, I’m very glad you aren’t the prosecuting attorney in this case. I don’t think I could handle it without begin constantly comforted by George.”
“You probably could handle it, but you’re being spoiled because he’s so quick to comfort you. Of course, for you to know that he’ll comfort you as soon as he can would enable you to more easily handle a tough situation. I’m certainly not chastising you, because I can think of a lot of times when I wished I had someone to comfort me like you do. So enjoy it, revel in it, and know that you’ll be able to handle a tough situation, because you know that he’ll comfort you as soon as humanly possible.”
“Sometimes I worry that I’ll be so spoiled I won’t want to leave his arms.”
Klara exclaims, “Bosh! I suppose it might feel that way to you, but you didn’t let that affect you last weekend. You did what needed to be done, partially because you knew he was there to support and comfort you. I’ll bet it would have turned out significantly different if George hadn’t have been there to protect, encourage, and then comfort you.”
“I know the results would have been quite a bit worse without this wonderful man being with me. I suppose that’s why I seldom go out on my own. Between Mom’s warnings and some friends in college warning me, I pretty much avoid quiet lonely places unless I’m with other people. It makes it easier since I’m not a very social person to begin with.”
“That’s a good policy. Oh, I did have one more question. George, do you normally carry a handgun?”
“I didn’t used to, but with this lovely lady in my life, I need an edge in being able to protect her.”
“Does she need your protection?”
His pause is brief before he answers, “Probably not, but I would prefer to be prepared rather than have to live with the regret of not being prepared and unable to protect her when I needed to.”
“Thank you. That’s what I hoped you would say. Enough of my interrogation. How about some dinner, then I’ll go gossip with Paula and leave you two love birds alone.”
Sharlene assures her, “You don’t have to run off, Klara.”
“I know I don’t have to, but it’s been a long day and I think you would like to spend some time alone with George. Besides, for the next couple of days, you won’t have much time alone with him, so enjoy it while you can.”
“Thank you.”
Klara asks, “George, are you going to want some help with dinner?”
“No, thank you. Why don’t you two relax and enjoy each other’s company?”
Klara puts her computer away with the witness statements and sets it by the front door with her bag which George had brought in. As she comes back to the dining room, she says, “George, I was somewhat surprised to see a piano in the front room. Do you play?”
“Poorly. It’s been many years since I used to play, but I thought I would try to pick it back up again. Sharlene plays very well.”
“I know she used to.” Klara turns to her and asks, “Didn’t you leave your piano at your folks’ place?”
“Yes. I didn’t realize how much I missed it, until I came here and was able to play again.”
Klara turns back to him and asks, “In many ways you’re quite practical, so why a grand piano?”
“I was able to pick it up at an estate sale and I couldn’t see them throwing it out. So I bought it and had it restored. In the end, it didn’t cost much more than if I had purchased a slightly used upright.”
“Really? I would have expected a restoration to cost a lot more than that.”
“Well, almost all of the damage was cosmetic and it looked worse than it was. I think the person who restored it also gave me a good price because he would rather see a piano being used rather than being tossed out or ignored.”
“So even with something which appears to be extravagant, you have a practical explanation for it. You have me curious now, how could you afford such a large library? I doubt if you purchased all of those books since you won your money and that many must have cost a fortune.”
He explains, “If you had the time to look more closely, you would see that the vast majority of the books are used or public library discards. I doubt if I paid retail for more than a couple of hundred of those books and those were primarily textbooks from a few decades ago. When I bought the piano, they were also selling several hundred books which I bought for almost nothing. I usually go to the city two or three times a year for the public library’s used book sales or I buy books at charity thrift stores. If I’ve picked up most of a series and can’t find the last one or two, I’ll check out the used book stores, or once in a blue moon, I’ll buy it online.”
“Why not buy retail, you can afford it now.”
“After many years of using alternate sources for my book buying because I couldn’t afford it otherwise, I found that I kind of enjoy the treasure hunting aspect. Very seldom do I go looking for a specific book unless it’s to add to a partial series which I already have. I could borrow from the public library, but I like to have books around me and enjoy reading older books which libraries no longer carry. Or they get rid of the first book in a series before the last one is ever published. I suppose you can say that books are my vice. Actually, I spent a lot more on extending the house to comfortably hold the books than I’ve spent on all of the books themselves.”
“Interesting. I must say you have an impressive home.”
“Thank you. I hadn’t meant it to be impressive, just comfortable.”
Klara thinks for a little while then suggests, “You know, I think we ought to find a way for Mariam to take some hidden video or pictures of your place when she comes up tomorrow. I’ll bet her managers will want her to verify ‘Mr. G’s’ statements as much as possible and will want her to tell about her visit as completely as possible.”
Sharlene exclaims, “Damn.”
George asks, “What’s the matter, love?”
“I thought I had left my phone off, but it’s on and there’s no message from Mariam. She hasn’t called because I know I’m in area here.”
“Unless she called this morning while we were traveling. There are a few spots which don’t have coverage.”
“True, but knowing Mariam, if she had received an out of area message she would have just tried back later.”
“Maybe she just hasn’t had a chance yet . . . .”
Just then her phone rings and Sharlene almost drops it in surprise before she answers it, “Hello?”
“Hi, Sharlene, it’s Mariam.”
“Ah, Mariam, hello. We were just talking about you.”
“Good things, I hope. I wanted to call earlier, but I only got home a few minutes ago. What a day! I’m not sure whether the bosses thought the world was going to end or just begin. Boy, did you guys throw them into a tizzy. They made it clear, using both the carrot and the stick, that I was to accept Mr. G’s invitation to his cabin in the woods this weekend. They gave me a video recorder to record what I could, but when I objected to spying on my friend, they backed off a little.
“They also want a complete report on second-day, or whenever I get back from this weekend foray, of what I heard and saw. I don’t mean to babble, but I want to get this out before I forget. The way they carried on, I almost quit my job right then and there. At the same time, I’m vindictive enough to want to see this through and watch them sweat. There. Thanks for listening.”
“No problem. I’m glad you’re willing to let me listen. Relax, have a glass of wine and then get a good night’s sleep.”
“I’ve already knocked off one glass of wine and started sipping on a second. I was so agitated I had to wait for awhile before I called.”
“As long as you sleep it off before you try to drive up.”
“No fear of that, Sharlene. So how do I get there?”
“Do you want verbal directions or shall I send you an email?”
“Both, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I’ll give you directions to my aunt’s place because finding George’s driveway can be somewhat difficult. When you get to my aunt’s, give me a call and somebody will come and lead you to George’s. We have a meeting with some other people in the morning and I don’t know how long that will take. So sleep in if you want and enjoy the drive up. Are you ready for directions?”
“Pen and paper in hand.”
After she gives Mariam directions to Paula’s store, Sharlene says, “I’ll let her know you’re stopping there, so step in and introduce yourself if you want and give me a call.”
“That sounds easy enough. How much further is it to George’s?”
“A couple of miles. It’s an easy drive, except that the entrance to his driveway is hard to see. We don’t want you to get frustrated driving up and down the road and not finding it.”
“Thank you. I wouldn’t want that either. Is there any particular time you do or don’t want me to arrive.”
“No. I’m guessing that our meeting will run into lunch time, so take your time and come up when you want. If we aren’t done with our meeting when you get up here, gossip with Aunt Paula. She’s wanted to meet you for some time now. Tomorrow evening, we’ll have her and Uncle Paul up to George’s for dinner.”
“You’ve told me a lot about her so I’m looking forward to meeting her. Humm, I’d better get something to eat before the wine goes totally to my head. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”
“Goodbye.” Sharlene disconnects the call.
Klara quickly asks, “Well?”
“She’s coming and as you suspected, her bosses are real anxious for her to visit and report back. Mariam told me about a record feature on her phone and mine has it also, let me see if it worked. Yep. Let my download it to my computer and play it for you.” A couple of minutes later they listen to the entire conversation.
Klara smiles and proclaims, “Excellent. Talk about playing right into our hands. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to guide Mariam here because I want to check her vehicle and belongings to make sure her bosses didn’t sneak some other recording device in without her knowing about it. Before we bring her up, we’ll coach her some and let her video record some and then catch her and stop her. Let me work out the details overnight. Oh, I would like a copy of the phone conversation. It’s not direct evidence, but if something happens down the road, it’s strong circumstantial evidence of corporate espionage which is a legal no-no.” She gets out her computer and Sharlene downloads the conversation.
George announces, “Dinner’s about ready, ladies, so if you’re going to be good little girls and wash your hands, now’s the time to do it.”
When they both stick their tongues out at him, they look at each other in surprise. As they laugh, they go down the hall and wash their hands.
* * * * *
2147-09-05 (e1)
“That was good, George. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Klara. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“That was another surprise. I would have never guessed you were much of a cook.”
“Actually, I’m not. I can make some very simple meals, but anything more than that, I slavishly follow a recipe.”
“You must go through a few cookbooks to find good recipes.”
He shakes his head as he explains, “No, because for the most part, I can read a recipe and wouldn’t know whether it would be good, bad, or indifferent. Most of the recipes I use are from my ex-wife and a few are from my brother.”
“You don’t have trouble talking about you ex-wife?”
He briefly pauses before he answers, “Yes and no. No, because in many ways she was a good woman, but we were somewhat incompatible which grew over the years. Yes, because that was a past relationship and I don’t think it’s fair for Sharlene to feel as though she or our relationship is being compared to one from my past. If our relationship works, it should be because we’ve made the effort to make it work and it stands on its own, not because it’s better in some way than a past relationship.”
“I like that approach. Thank you, George. Well, I’ll leave you kids be for the evening. If I think of something important, I’ll call. Will I have any trouble finding your driveway in the morning?”
“Let’s just say, less trouble. The light shining from the east should more clearly show the gap in the trees. If it’s not clear, give Sharlene a call and I’ll drive the pickup down and guide you in. On second thought, we could drive down and meet you at Paula’s.”
“You don’t mind driving down and leaving your pickup there.”
“No. Maybe I can talk Paul into doing an oil change while it’s there.”
“Okay. That sounds like a plan.” Klara walks to the front door and picks up her computer and purse while George picks up her overnight bag and they walk out to her vehicle. After she hugs each of them, Klara gets in her vehicle, turns it around, and carefully drives down his driveway.
As they watch Klara go, George steps up behind Sharlene, gently grips her upper arms and pulls her back to him. As he begins to caress her upper arms, she places her hands on top of his to ride along and encourage his caresses. He bends his head down to kiss the top of her head then kisses down the side of her head to nuzzle down the back of her right ear. She hums in pleasure when he gently sucks on her earlobe and as his kisses and nibbles drop from her earlobe to follow her jaw line.
She reaches up with her right arm, places her right hand behind his head, and turns it to meet her turning head to begin a kiss which is broken when she gasps in pleasure as his right hand which drops from her lifting arm seems to fall directly onto her right breast. Before he can ask what has caused the gasp, she renews the kiss with hunger. When she lets him breathe, she struggles to get the words out, “Oh, yes, George. . . . So good. . . . Please, . . . my other breast too.”
He turns his head to look down at his frozen hand before he can respond, “Breast? I’m sorry.”
Before he can move his hand, she drops her arm and clamps his wrist in place. She grabs the back of his right hand with her left hand, briefly moves it away from her body, drops her right arm through the gap, deliberately places his right hand back over her right breast, and begins to move it to caress her breast. A moment later, she reaches across with her right hand to grab his left hand, places in directly on her left breast and begins to move it also. She seems to deeply sigh and moan in pleasure at the same time before she says, “It seems like I’ve waited so long for this moment. Please, George.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
When he begins to move his hands over her shirt covered breasts, she relaxes her grip on his hands and begins to caress the back of his hands and wrists in order to encourage him to continue to touch her and begins to slide her buttocks across his upper thighs. Her pleasure rapidly builds as his hands vary their movements across her breasts, up and down, left and right, and in circles. Hungrily, her lips seek his and when they meet, her pleasure escalates which drives the passion of the kiss until her cry of climactic pleasure is muffled by his lips which are still clamped to hers. They pause their movements in order to concentrate on catching their breath.
She turns in his arms, pulls his head down, and kisses him passionately, but keeps it brief before she strongly suggests, “Inside.”
Then turn and almost as one body, they quickly walk into the house and pause only briefly to close and lock the front door. Sharlene clasps his right hand to her waist and starts to lead him to the bedroom, but George steps close behind her, fully encapsulates her waist in his right arm, lifts her off of the floor, snugly holds her to him, hotly breathes in her ear, “Not yet,” and heads to the love seat. As he sits, he holds her close to him and when he reclines, he pulls her up him to where their heads are next to each other and they turn towards each other to hungrily kiss as his right hand returns to caressing her breasts.
Even through her shirt and the thin bra she had thankfully put on this morning, the waves of pleasure soon have her moaning and squirming in pleasure which intensifies when his left hand slides over her hip, partway down the fronts of her thighs then slips between her quickly spread legs to slowly move up the inside of her left thigh. The third or fourth time his hand slowly slides up the inside of her thigh, she can no longer contain her cry of pleasure.
After a momentary pause, his left hand slides up her side and begins to caress her breasts as his right hand slowly moves down the center of her torso and barely detours around her pubic area. As she recognizes his rapid breathing, that seems to intensify the waves of pleasure which are rolling through her, and as his right hand slides up the inside of her right thigh, the crescendo of her pleasure is barely contained as she bites her lip, but when his hand moves up the inside of her leg a second time and is accompanied by his hips thrusting her into the air, her cry echoes through the room as he holds the position until he slumps down with her right on top on him. They can only lay there gasping for breath in the afterglow of great pleasure.
When her breathing settles, she rolls over on him and tells him, “Thank you so very much.” Since she feels somewhat satiated, she kisses his neck and nibbles his ear without getting all excited again even while he firmly hugs her to him. For several minutes, they lay there as they soak in the warm glow of each other’s presence before she asks, “George?”
“Yes, love.”
“If I roll over, will you please touch my breasts again?”
“No, my precious, I wouldn’t want them to get sore the first time they were touched.”
“Is that likely to happen?”
“From what I understand, yes. The more sensitive the area of skin, the more likely it is to become sore when it’s touched too much.”
“What’s too much?”
“I don’t know. I think it would probably vary from person to person. I really don’t want to push you to that point the first time. It would be better to try to restrict the touching there to just a little longer each time until we find out what your limits are. I wouldn’t want to go too far too fast and have your breasts become very sore and not want to be touched again.”
“That’s a good point. It felt so good for you to touch them even through my shirt and bra that I wonder how much better it will be when your skin directly touches them.”
He hesitates then suggests, “I don’t like to say it, but it might not be as nice as you think it will be. The skin on my hands is kind of rough.”
“I don’t think your skin is that rough. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” For some time, they just lay there. Later, she says, “You know, George, if my breasts did get sore from being touched, you could always kiss them and make them feel better.”
“Oh, lady, don’t tempt me so.”
She pauses in surprise then asks, “You want to kiss my breasts?”
“Very much so.”
“Why?”
He briefly hesitates before he answers, “That’s a little hard to explain. I want to kiss you just about everywhere, but for some reason, your breasts hold a special allure. Is it because a woman’s breasts are more sensitive and hopefully give her more pleasure than kissing her elbow? Is it because a woman’s breasts are not exposed in our culture which gives them the allure of the mysterious? Is it some psychological regression to being a baby? Or is it some combination or something else entirely? I really don’t know why. All I know is that I do want to kiss your breasts and look forward to the appropriate time in our journey.”
“Thank you for trying to explain. Your willingness to try to explain or give a reason to questions I have is one of the things I really like about you. There are very few people I know who I would even feel comfortable asking the question to begin with.”
“You’re rather unique in even thinking there’s a question to be asked. Most people either accept the insinuation of what society seems to imply the answer is or they accept society’s unspoken taboo of asking such questions.”
“I often perturbed my parents with my questions and when I was rather young, I learned to direct most of my questions to Dad. Mom would either ignore the question, tell me to ask Dad, or just get up and walk out of the room.”
“That must have been tough on you to not have an older woman to go to in order to ask your questions.”
