Lavender

Janet suggested that when we went to fill up the LandRover I should look at the filling station's used cars before going to Plymouth. I agreed that it would be sensible to see what was available locally before driving a distance that might shake up my damaged leg.

We went to bed -- together. We settled for a snug cuddle entwined around each other and slept soundly.

After breakfast Janet telephoned her boss. He agreed to meet me at lunchtime, at their offices. Apparently he had heard of me and what I did, not directly from Alan, but through a mutual friend. According to Janet, he sounded depressed and as if meeting me was more in hope than expectation. Janet would drive me to the filling station, top up with fuel, paid by me as an advance on her salary, and I could look at their second hand cars. If none of them were suitable, she could run me into Plymouth after my meeting.

The arrangements caused another bout of crying from Janet. I had suggested that I could ring her mobile when I had finished the meeting. I couldn't. Her mobile account was frozen because she was in arrears.

A few minutes on my mobile, a transfer from my debit card, and her mobile was working again.

At the filling station, the arrival of Janet's LandRover caused a worried look from the office as she operated the pump. I limped into the shop clutching my debit card.

"I'm paying for pump 3," I announced.

The relief on the manager's face was obvious.

"And the balance on Janet's account..."

That produced a smile. It wasn't a large amount but the printout showed the account had been in arrears for two months. I asked if I could add a credit balance. Of course I could.

"Janet tells me you have some cars for sale," I said.

"Of course, sir. We have several. What do you want?"

"I'm more interested in comfort and reliability than age or price. A reasonable size car, preferably automatic. My leg wouldn't manage a clutch at present."

"If you can wait just a second, I'll get my wife to take over here. I might have something to suit your needs."

He pressed a button beside the till. A bell sounded in the distance. A few seconds later a woman emerged from the back, wiping her hands on her apron.

"This gentleman might be interested in buying one of our cars," the manager said. "Can you look after the till for a few minutes, please?"

"Of course." She looked out of the window at Janet parking her LandRover. Her concern was obvious.

"Janet's account is now in credit," the manager said in a quiet voice. His wife smiled weakly.

He led through a gate beside the office to the car lot. There were about thirty cars crammed into a small area with only about four visible from the road.

"I have five automatics at present. Two are small but..."

He pointed at a Volvo estate. There was no indicated price.

"That might be worth looking at," I suggested. "The others?"

"This BMW, and the Lexus over there."

The BMW was a smaller model and the Lexus was damaged on the near side. Both were at least ten years old.

"The Lexus could be repaired quickly if that's suitable," he hastened to explain.

"Can I get Janet, and walk around for a few minutes and look at your stock?"

"Of course. I'll go back and relieve my wife. She was in the middle of baking so she doesn't want to be away too long."

Janet joined me at the car lot. I dismissed the Lexus. I wanted a car, preferably now, today. The repairs would take a couple of days at least.

The Volvo was possible. I might have difficulty squeezing into the BMW. But at the back of the lot was a modern Jaguar. I peered inside. It was an automatic. Why hadn't that been included in the five mentioned?

"What do you think, Janet? Of the five automatics he told me about only the Volvo is a possible, but this Jaguar looks better."

"Ouch!" Janet said. "The three others would be under a couple of thousand pounds, possibly under a thousand. The Jaguar? Ten thousand? I know the car. It used to belong to the father of one of the company directors but he stopped driving in the Spring because his eyesight isn't good enough. His son was worried about his father's driving but getting him to give up was awkward. Now Dad relies on the local taxi companies."

"OK. I'll look closer at the Jaguar. I'll just check what it what cost to insure. Back to the LandRover, please."

I opened my laptop, and found a price comparison site. With the details from my previous car insurance, my age, the registration number of the Jaguar, I had a quote within a couple of minutes. Janet winced slightly at the figure.

"It is a Jaguar," I said reassuringly.

"But..."

"No buts. Let's go talk purchase price."

The manager called his wife again. She was happier. The cooking was in the oven. The manager was surprised that I was interested in the Jaguar. I assume he had thought that by arriving in Janet's ancient LandRover I was poor.

We haggled for a few minutes but I was more interested in getting a car on the road, now, than arguing about the odd hundred or so pounds. He was even more startled when I paid on the spot with my debit card, and arranged insurance to start within half an hour. I completed the necessary paperwork.

He also set up a fuel account for me, and would have the car filled up and cleaned by the time I came back from my lunch meeting.

Janet drove me to the agricultural company's works and dropped me. She would go to my brother's house to do some cleaning while I was in the meeting. Either I could walk back to the filling station, or give her a ring on her restored mobile and she would collect me.

The meeting with her boss, Simon, was complex and illuminating. Their bankers had caught a bad cold with another local company and had reviewed all company overdrafts, stopping most including Simon's. That meant they couldn't continue to trade, nor pay their staff, even though they had no outstanding accounts and ample stock in hand. Their customers originally couldn't pay them because the bank account was frozen.

He had prepared thoroughly for our meeting. They had tried other local bank branches but all of them were under instruction from their Head Offices not to accept new commercial business. The local banks' staff were sympathetic but unable to help.

After a couple of hours' discussion I was sure I could help with my contacts in the City of London. I asked to borrow a landline and an office.

A few phone calls and I had a financing package in place that I could offer to Simon, and discuss terms.

He was waiting for me.

"OK, Simon," I said. "I can help but I have two requests. The first is that I join your board as a voting director."

"Agreed." He said promptly.

"The second is that my price for helping is five per cent of your company's shares."

"But -- the company is worthless at present. You are asking for five per cent of nothing."

"You're not worthless. You have the buildings, the machinery, the stock. All that might not amount to much in a fire sale, but if you had to liquidate you would almost clear the money owing to the bank, certainly eighty or ninety pence in the pound."

"Can I talk to the other directors and let you have our decision later today?"

"Yes, Simon. I wouldn't come without their consent."

"And when could we start trading again, if we accept your terms?"

"That's up to you. The finance and banking can be available within an hour."

"An hour! You're joking! I can't believe that, Ian."

"It's all set up. I could give you a cheque book as soon as you agree. It will be on my company's heading until we get new cheque books printed, but you could pay your outstanding staff wages today, and get them back to work tomorrow. Except one. I want to borrow your secretary, Janet, for a couple of weeks. That OK?"

"Janet? Yes. I suppose so. I could use someone else's secretary for a couple of weeks."

"Then it's up to you. Here's my card with my mobile number. Call that, and if your directors agree I'll walk through your door tomorrow morning bearing a large cheque book."

"How large? Will it be enough?"

"The way your company has been trading, it'll be enough to cover you for six months easily, nine months probably and maybe a year even if your customers are slow in paying. But you won't need six months. You'll be back fully trading within three."

Simon rubbed his forehead.

"Ian, you make it sound so easy."

"That's because that's what I'm good at."

We shook hands and he escorted me to the gates. I limped slowly to the filling station. The Jaguar was parked near the office, newly cleaned, waxed and gleaming. The manager came out to meet me, beaming.

"It's all ready for you Ian. I must admit that your purchase is a relief. We've been near to closing down. Just selling one expensive car has given us a break."

"I hope you get some more breaks soon."

I climbed into the Jaguar. It was a relief after Janet's bumpy LandRover. I purred back to Alan and Angela's house. The LandRover was still outside.

"Well, Ian? How was the meeting with Simon?" Janet asked with Angela standing beside her.

"It's up to him, and his fellow directors now. If they say yes, then I'll be a director too."

"And...?" Angela asked.

"They could be back in business with all staff pay arrears ready to be paid," I paused. "...tomorrow morning."

"What!" Janet exclaimed.

"IF they agree," I repeated.

I was swamped in the arms of two women. Janet's head snuggled against my shoulder. Angela's was against my forehead.

"But now I'd like some lunch," I said plaintively. "It was a long lunchtime meeting but no lunch. I didn't want to embarrass Simon either by asking him to pay, or by standing him a lunch when he would be borrowing money from me."

"How much has he borrowed from you?" Angela asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, yet. Only if the directors agree. And even then only some from me. Most will be from people in the City of London."

"Let me guess, Ian. You're the guarantor."

"Yes. In theory I'm not the sole guarantor, but in practice it's some of my money and the rest is my reputation."

"You're risking too much," Janet said accusingly.

"No, Janet, I'm not. The company is really in good shape but cursed with stupid bankers. But taking risks on companies that are in trouble is what I do. This one is bigger, yes, but actually not so much of a risk as I usually take."

"We can talk more while you eat," Angela said. "Come into the kitchen and we'll feed up the local saviour."

"Not the saviour," I replied. "The next few months could be painful and I might be seen as the villain."

"Why?" Janet asked.

"Because I'll have to change some things at the company to recover their trading position and improve their cash flow. Those changes could hurt people. I'll try to make it painless, but I'll take the blame for the bad bits so the other directors can stay on good terms with the staff. They'll have to agree to what I want done, but I'll make it clear that the hard decisions are my responsibility."

I did become the villain, the most abused person in the South Hams for a few months. The staff were paid in full for the time that they were laid off, but their traditional Christmas bonus had to be dropped to compensate. Several people had taken other jobs during the lay-off. They weren't replaced because I had put a recruitment freeze in place. Others had to cover the vacant positions and most staff had to be more flexible in their tasks and hours.

But by the New Year the investment that I and my City friends had put in place was secure. The company was trading at a better ratio of cash to capital than it had before the bank's withdrawal of their overdraft. The local businesses were recovering, including the filling station, because the credit they had extended had been repaid.

Janet and I had become closer. We didn't last as boss and secretary. That was too much time together and too complicated. After two weeks I recruited an older lady, Mary, who had retired a year earlier but agreed to come back for some extra money before Christmas.

Janet and I were exploring each other as lovers. I now knew how she liked her coffee, what meals she liked to cook, and which she preferred to eat in a restaurant.

The building work on her house had been completed even if I had to finance part of it until she could repay me.

But I had offended Angela. Not only had I rejected the Lavender room because of Dorcas, but I had taken Janet away from her. Although Alan and Angela had only employed Janet because otherwise Janet would have been penniless, they missed her when she stopped working for them.

Angela's social life suffered because she had more domestic chores, even if Alan and I helped.

The builders had nearly completed their work on Alan and Angela's house. I would have been able to move into their spare room but what was acceptable for a short visit was becoming a strain after several weeks. I needed space of my own. They wanted their life back without an overstaying brother. Moving in with Janet wasn't a good idea either. We were spending too much time together at work, even if she wasn't working for me. Sometimes we needed a break from each other at the end of a hard working day.

I found and rented a holiday cottage close to the company's works. It would do for a few months until I found something more permanent. Some nights Janet stayed with me. Other nights I stayed with her for the night. Our sex life became too routine for real enjoyment and only sparked into life when we had spent some time apart. That usually happened after I had been to London for a few days.

I had almost forgotten about Dorcas but Halloween was approaching. Alan and Angela were going away for a few days holiday that they had booked months ago. They wanted me to house-sit for those few days because someone needed to let the builders in each morning, and answer any queries they had about work in progress.

I shut up the holiday cottage and moved back in to Alan and Angela's house, in their newly-decorated spare room. If I needed to, I used my laptop on their kitchen table. I wasn't convinced that even using the Lavender room as a study would make me safe from Dorcas.

Early on Halloween evening Janet was helping with the small children from the village. She and other adults, mainly their parents, were escorting them as they played Trick or Treat. I knew I was safe from a visit. The house was too far from their route.

I had eaten a take-away meal. A cooling cup of coffee was beside me. I was sitting on a stool at the dimly-lit kitchen table searching local houses for sale. I thought about buying a house to live in with Janet. That was a pleasant idea and I wished she could be here with me. Suddenly two soft arms wrapped around my upper body and a pair of soft breasts cradled my head.

"Janet? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"It's not Janet," a voice said from behind me. "I'm Dorcas."

"Dorcas!"

I should have known from the strong scent of lavender.

"Yes, Ian. I've missed you."

I knew I was in trouble. I was alone in the house and would be all night. Somehow Dorcas had changed so much that she was no longer restricted to the Lavender room. I would have to endure Dorcas until the morning. Would I survive that? I was in less pain than I had been when I first met Dorcas, but I was tired from long days sorting out the company and several nights of passionate sex with Janet.

"How?"

"How did I come downstairs, Ian? When you talked to me, you told me I was dead, as was Josh. Talking to you woke emotions in me I thought had gone. Instead of repeating my grief at Josh' departure, I was making love to a real human, you, not someone I thought was Jonas."

"Remember I'm a much older man, Dorcas. I can't be as energetic as Josh was."

"I know. You told me. But I've been watching you and Janet..."

"You have?"

"Yes. I'm linked to you now. I can be with you wherever you are. I've been in the room when you fucked Janet. I've been beside you at work. I've even been to London with you. Outside the Lavender room I couldn't touch you, couldn't do this..."

Dorcas pulled my head further back between her breasts. Her lips kissed the top of my head.

"...but tonight I decided to try finding you because you were never going to sleep in the Lavender room again, were you?"

"No, Dorcas. You are too demanding, too..."

"...passionate? Nonsense! Janet is just as demanding and passionate as I am. But she knows she can just raise an eyebrow and you would join her in bed. I've had one night with you. Janet has had what? Twenty? And she can have many more. If I hadn't found that I could leave the Lavender room to find you I would never have made love to you again, would I?"

I tried to reply. Dorcas invisible hand clamped across my mouth.

"You don't need to answer that. All I want is one more night of you, Ian. I'll be gentle, compassionate, considerate and understanding. One night with you changed so much for me. I'm sure another will set me free, forever."

"Free?" Dorcas' hand had relaxed from my mouth.

"Yes. I can travel beyond the Lavender room, beyond this house, and with you I can go anywhere you go even if you aren't aware of me and can't feel my arms around you, as you can now. But there is one thing more I want to try. Turn round and face me, please."

Her arms withdrew. I swivelled on the stool so I was facing the other way. Gradually I became aware of a shadow, a shape, forming in front of me. Slowly it defined itself, first as an outline of a woman dressed in a dark floor length skirt, and then the details became clearer. My eyes were looking into a cleavage between two breasts that were barely covered by a V-shape in the neck of a cotton blouse.

Dorcas pulled the blouse off over her head. She was naked down to the waist. I looked up into her face. It had a worried expression as if she feared rejection. But the resemblance to Janet was obvious. Dorcas was a relation. Her face was much younger than Janet's, softer, but Dorcas could be a much younger cousin or even a younger sister, in her early twenties to Janet's late thirties.

I leaned forward and kissed each breast's nipple, one by one. As I did they became erect. I pulled back slightly to see Dorcas' reaction.

Her arms pulled my face into her cleavage, wrapping around me and clamping hard. She was smothering me between her breasts. Could a ghost do that? Could she deprive me of breath?

Whether it was possible or not, I was running out of breath when Dorcas relaxed her grip just enough to allow me to pant for air.

"I'm Janet's," I protested when I had enough breath to speak.

"I know you are, Ian. You weren't. She and I are what modern people might call fuck buddies. I've fucked you. So has she. You didn't really fuck either of us. We fucked you until you couldn't take any more."

I wasn't going to argue that her use of fuck buddies was wrong. Her breasts were poised to smother me again.

"That fucking has built a bond between Janet and me. I know what she's doing. Tonight, for the first time, she knows what I'm doing and she will get here as fast as she can -- to save you from me. She won't. But you two will save me."

"How?" I asked, playing for time.

"Now I know that I am a ghost that I can appear as solid flesh, I can fuck any available man who is willing. I'm not stuck in the Lavender room, nor even in this house."

I was getting really worried. Had I changed Dorcas so much that she could terrorise the local community?

Dorcas pulled my cheek to her warm breast.

"There's no need to worry, Ian. There are hundreds of sex-hungry male ghosts a few miles away. Enough of them to keep me well-fucked for hundreds of years. I'm going to enjoy myself and leave living people alone -- after tonight."