The Landlord's Protégé Pt. 03

"Er... I told you, my mate saw it and told me it nailed him," Seth said. "You'd better keep a watch on his flat in case he comes back. Don't let him in here and don't let him near the kids."

"I won't," she said. "I still can't believe it of him. He's gentle and kind, and he never made a move on Gail or Carl."

"For God's sake, Suze," Seth retorted sharply, "They get you feeling easy with them, and then they work on the children."

"Well, he hasn't managed to get to either of ours," she said decisively. "I'd know."

"I hope not," said Seth. "Better be going. Got to get to work."

----

Chapter Sixteen

Next day, Victor and George Corrigan were knocking at Susan's door but there was no reply: she was out on her rounds and George knew that Thursday was her day at the flats furthest from the block they were in. They went to the office in the foyer.

"Let's look at those tapes," said George. "The top floor ones will hardly have been used -- you've not been here much since October."

"Didn't the police take them?" asked Victor, curious that since the tapes would have shown who entered his flat while he was away, they would have been good evidence.

"Seems not," said George, opening the cupboard and finding all the tapes for the top floor in place. "Wait a minute," he said, reaching for the last tape, which had a post-it note attached.

"Ah!" he said, reading Susan's neat writing. "Here -- she says 'police taken' and the date and 'returned' with yesterday's date."

They played the tape.

"That's funny," said George as they came to the point after they saw postmen, and later Susan. The tape then showed snow before Susan appeared again, and finally showed Victor returning.

"It's been erased," said Victor. "If no one had been up there, it wouldn't have played at all, there'd not have been any gap between Susan going to clean early on and then more recently."

"So," said George reflectively, "whoever had a key to your flat, also had one to this office, and presumably to the front door as well. It has to be Susan's keys. If it's Seth who's done this, how is it she doesn't know about it? Or perhaps she does?"

"If she doesn't know he's had her keys," said Victor grimly, "it's a serious breach of security on her part. If she gave them to him, it's worse."

"Do you want to see her," asked George, "or shall I?"

"You're her employer now, George, you do it. You need to know if anyone had access to her keys, and Seth in particular. At your office. This afternoon."

Susan was surprised to get a text from George, telling her to get to the office ASAP. When she arrived, depositing Carl with George's secretary as usual, she entered his office and was taken aback to find Victor sitting in one corner.

"What's he doing here?" she asked aggressively.

"Sit down Susan," snapped George. "He's here because it concerns him."

"I'm not staying here if he's here," she retorted and moved to the door.

"If you leave, you're sacked," barked George. "This is extremely serious!"

She stopped. Victor looked on impassively.

"Sit down," George repeated. She returned sullenly and sat down.

"Now," said George, "I need to know who has had access to your keys from September onwards."

"No one," Susan replied immediately without thinking.

"There are only three sets of keys to the flat. The owner has one. I have one. You have one. Someone entered Mr Freeman's flat while he was on holiday. You said yourself that you thought Mr Freeman had been there because they used a key, and only you, me and Mr Freeman have keys to his flat.

"They must also have used a key to the front door, and to the office," George continued. "The tape of the top floor has been erased during the period Mr Freeman was absent on holiday. Whoever did that had a key to the office as well. Neither the owner nor I have allowed the keys for the block to leave our possession, there's only one set could have been used. Yours. Did you erase the tape?"

Susan shook her head, and paled. This was serious trouble, she knew. This was a breach of security which was unforgivable. Her job was fading away. She thought hard, and then she knew.

"I'm sorry," she said looking only at George. "It's my fault. I'll resign."

"Did you erase the tape?"

"No."

"Did you allow your keys out of your possession?"

"There's only one person could have access to the keys, but not during September or October."

"Your lodger? Mr Grimshaw?"

"Yes," she said but added hastily, "but he was there in August, not September or October."

"When could it have happened?"

"I was ill for a couple of days. Seth did the shopping for me. I'd given him a block key, I had spares. My flat door key was on the ring for all the flats, so he took them all, but he brought them back. He's not had access to them since. After that I made a copy of my flat and the block keys after that so he could get in, but not of any of the others."

"Were the keys labelled?" asked Victor, knowing they were. Susan ignored his question.

"Well," asked George, "were they?"

"Yes," she said wearily, "they were all labelled. But..."

"So he could have cut a duplicate of my flat key," said Victor.

She turned to him, "Keep out of this," she flashed. "You're trying to pin something on Seth; you never liked him."

"It's either you or Seth that was in my flat," said Victor. "No one else."

"Susan," said George quietly, "Mr Freeman has been accused of a very serious crime. The police have found that the evidence for that crime was planted while he was away on holiday, to incriminate him.

"The evidence was dated at the time he was three hundred miles away in Scotland. You yourself said you thought someone had been in the flat, and he could not have been, he was too far away. So I'll thank you to treat him with the respect he deserves."

Susan looked uncertainly at the two men, but she said nothing.

"I'll consider this lapse on your part," said George, "but you have to realise your job is on the line, and the police might renew their interest in you as an accessory, as a result of this information. You can go."

She stood and was turning to leave when George spoke again.

"You have a key to Mr Freeman's flat?"

"Yes," she said, puzzled by the question.

"Hand it over," George said coldly. "You won't be cleaning his flat any more. Now go."

She gave George the key and then walked out without a second glance at either of them. She was frightened, not angry, and she was already asking questions of herself about this matter as she took Carl, thanked the secretary and left the building.

She sat in the car and trembled. She had a good job which paid well and which she enjoyed and now it looked as if she would lose it. Carl prattled to her but she wasn't listening. She was trying to process the information she'd gained from the meeting. She was intelligent and it did not take her long to start making connections.

She'd accused Victor of disliking Seth, but Seth had made no attempt to hide his dislike -- no, hatred -- of Victor. Seth had accused Victor of having an unhealthy interest in Gail long before this case had blown up.

Seth was always on the edge of the criminal fraternity. He had the opportunity to copy the keys, and they were labelled to help him. No one else had access to the keys. She had noticed that someone had definitely been in the flat.

Could it have been Victor? But he was how far, 300 miles away on holiday, they said? Her stomach knotted and she felt a cold finger of fear. She wondered what the evidence was that had caused all the trouble.

She started the car and drove to pick up Gail from nursery school.

----

"Well?" asked George.

"Well!" echoed Victor. "She certainly hates me now. She's found me guilty, but she's a bright girl; she'll put it all together. Now we have Seth with a hatred for me -- that's obvious; we find he has been able to copy the keys. I wonder if the police have made the connection?"

"I'll drop the key cutting information their way," said George, "though the evidence will be long gone. Still, they should know that he had access to the keys. Did you ever get your computers back?"

"Not as yet. They were supposed to be looking for DNA evidence, or fingerprints."

"I'll ask about that as well."

"What about Susan?" asked Victor.

"Sorry Victor," George answered, "I think she'll have to go. That was a serious lapse. Why the hell didn't she take her keys off the ring -- or keep them separate? He only needed the block and the flat ones. How do you feel about that?"

"Any friendship we had is over," replied Victor. "She convicted me without giving me the chance to defend myself. No trust. I've been acquitted by the police, but she clearly thinks I'm a pedophile. No. That's the end. But..."

"But what?" said George suspiciously.

"Look, George," he pleaded. "She's superb at her job. She's managing with two lively children and that's amazing to me. This was one lapse -- she trusted the father of her children. She had no way of knowing what he was thinking. I think she needs a good talking to and then let her get on with what she's doing -- the residents have never been so happy. And she'll never be careless with keys ever again."

"You're too soft hearted," muttered George. "I'll think about it. No promises though."

"Time to head for home," said Victor, as a vision of Angela flashed before his mind.

----

Chapter Seventeen

Susan was thinking all the time she was driving and when she got back to the flat, with Gail chattering away and getting absent noises from her mother. Gail went off to play with Carl and Susan thought some more.

The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach did not go away. She reprised her relationship with Victor in the light of what she had heard. She had been so angry to see him in the office with George, and wondered about it, but he had been cold and distant in his replies, and she remembered George's rebuke about Victor being innocent and about the intrusion into his flat while he was on holiday.

Victor had always been very reserved about dealing intimately with Gail, she kept coming back how uncomfortable he had been, and how insensitive she'd been to get him to deal with the child.

He always insisted Susan was there; he was always reluctant. He was always gentle with both the children, and the children's open loving attitude to him spoke volumes.

Then there were the keys. George had been right; the only keys that opened Victor's flat and the office had to have come from her ring, or been a copy of those keys. She felt a hollow fear as it became crystal clear that Seth had to have been the one in Victor's flat. She thought, as it happened erroneously, that George did not have a key to Victor's flat: Victor was an owner occupier, but his key was on the block's ring.

Suddenly she remembered the conversation when the police first arrived, denying her any information. Yet Seth had known about it, and about why Victor had been arrested. He'd said he knew people in the police, but now she didn't believe that.

She remembered his insistence that Victor be kept from the children. He was jealous, that was obvious now. She wondered with what lies he might have been infecting Gail.

It all came together. Now she burned with hatred for the man who had destroyed her friendship and perhaps something more with Victor. Then she realised why. Seth thought she was sleeping with Victor, and Seth knew he had been evicted from the flat after Victor's complaint. It was simple revenge.

She also realised that it was unlikely that Victor would forgive her for so easily condemning him, and on Seth's word of all people.

Seth. What should she do about Seth? She felt fear that he might abduct the children if he thought she suspected him, yet she wanted nothing more to do with him. She wanted her children free from such a man.

It was next morning after she had taken Gail to nursery school that she was in the living room working through some tenders for a new roof on one of the blocks, when her doorbell went. She went to the door and saw it was Seth and Claire. So it seemed he hadn't a key to the flat, at least not any more, but he must still have the block key to have got through the front door.

She opened the door and stood back to let them in. They went through to the living room.

"Thought we'd take Carl to the park while the weather is warm enough," said Seth, smiling at Claire.

"Fine," said Susan. "Coffee before you go?"

They agreed and Claire and she made the drinks while Seth played with the toddler.

"He's getting better with Carl," said Claire, looking over her shoulder at Seth who was on the floor building something with wooden bricks. "He's so happy to be seeing the kids more."

Susan made an approving noise, and they returned to the living room.

"George was saying that Mr Freeman hasn't just been let go," ventured Susan. "They're saying the evidence points to someone planting stuff in his flat -- trying to frame him. He really is innocent."

She saw Seth's face crease in anger.

"Don't believe a word of it," he snarled. "The bastard's rich enough to get the best lawyer in town, that's all. You want details? There were printed photos. And there were lots of pictures on his computer. My mate said it made him sick."

Seth got up and began pacing up and down. "He might have wriggled out of it, but some mates of mine don't like what he's been doing, and we're going to sort him out. He won't be bothering kids any more after we've finished with him!"

"They're vermin!" added Claire. "He deserves to be castrated. Evil fucking snake!"

Susan recoiled at their violence, but said nothing, shrugging her shoulders.

"Don't believe everything you hear," said Seth, sitting down again. "Keep away from him."

Susan said nothing, but now she knew. She had to see Victor. Warn him. Find out the real truth. When the two had left with Carl in his buggy, she locked up and phoned George from her car.

"George," she said without preamble, "I need to see Victor now. He's in danger. Where's his house?"

George smiled. He had known she would work it out. He gave her the address, and she drove off to find him.

----

Chapter Eighteen

Susan was surprised as she drove further out of town on that Friday into a neighbourhood of very large detached houses -- mansions more like. When she arrived at the address, she found herself faced with two large and solid-looking wrought-iron gates. They were closed, but she saw an intercom on the gate. She got out of the car and pressed the button. A woman answered.

"Is this the residence of Mr Freeman?" she asked. The answer was affirmative.

"I'd like to speak with him," she said. "It's urgent and important. It concerns his safety."

"Please wait in your car."

Inside the house there was much discussion and activity. Victor being summoned to the video screens saw on the CCTV that it was Susan, and told the team she was safe. He also said he didn't want her to know about the team in case she told Seth.

He asked Angela if she would talk to Susan since he had no interest any longer in speaking with her. Jeanette said she'd stay as well since Susan couldn't know about the team from her presence. It was agreed and the gates were opened. Victor left for his room.

Susan drove up the long drive, and stopped by the front door. The house was breathtaking, and she began to realise that this man was extremely wealthy. When he had said he had more money than he needed that was certainly true. She also realised he never said what he did for a living, and wondered about that. She realised she was still sitting in the car, and got out, walking to the large oaken double doors.

To her surprise these opened without her knocking or ringing the bell, and then she remembered the occupants had spoken to her at the gate. There was no one at the door -- but the woman who had been to her flat asking for Victor was standing in the hallway which was long and wide and led to an impressive staircase wide enough for three people to walk up or down abreast. The woman smiled.

"Hello," said the woman. "I'm Angela."

Susan noted the soft lilt of her Scottish accent, and smiled in return. "Hello," she said. "I see you found the house!"

No thanks to you, thought Angela, but said nothing, her smile remained on her face and she gestured towards the study.

"Please sit down." Angela indicated the large armchairs. "Would you like some tea?"

Susan nodded. "Thanks," she said. "That would be nice."

Angela pulled on a tasselled bell-pull and sat in another chair. A bell rang in the distance. "I'm afraid Victor isn't available, but he asked me to take care of anything that came up. You say he needs to know something regarding his safety?"

"Well," said Susan, "I also came to apologise to him. All I had to go on was what my ex-boyfriend told me he had learned from a police friend, and I had to protect my children.

"I did a lot of thinking after talking with my employer about it, and the only conclusion I could come to was that my ex-boyfriend had copied my keys and framed Victor while he was on holiday. So I wanted to tell him that."

"But the danger?" asked Angela.

They were interrupted by Jeanette bringing in the tea. She introduced herself as Victor's friend and stayed, pouring out the tea. When all was done, Susan replied.

"Seth, my ex-partner, came round today and I now know he hates Victor. He said that some friends of his were going to see to it that Victor never interfered with a child again -- but he's using that excuse to bring his friends here to attack Victor.

"I know Seth is jealous of Victor, and hates him for getting him out of my flat. I don't know who Seth associates with, but I don't think they're very nice people -- I think they're into protection and drugs.

"So as soon as he and his girlfriend took Carl to the park, I came to warn Victor. I'd hate for him to be injured. And," she added, "I'm so sorry I've lost him as a friend."

She looked unhappily at the two other women. "You will tell him, won't you? Convince him that he really is in danger? Now I must be going; I've got to get back before Seth and Claire bring Carl back."

They stood, and Angela assured her that Victor would take steps to protect himself, and that Susan need not worry about him. Susan was not so sure about that, but nodded and left,

As soon as Susan was out of the gate and it had closed behind her car, Angela called Victor and told him what had transpired. He immediately called the rest of the group together.

He asked Angela to repeat what Susan had told her, and the team realised that they would need to be extra watchful if what Susan had said was to be believed. Victor sat around morosely after he had heard what Susan had said. He had already contacted Gordon and told him what Susan had said, and Gordon in his turn promised he would notify the police.

They discussed tactics.

"If Seth turns up -- and I think he will soon, with friends -- I want him," muttered Victor. "I want him to think he's got me. I want to take him down before we turn him over to the police. He's fucked up my reputation, and he's got to pay."

"That can be arranged," said Terry. "If there is a group, we'll assess their threat, and then three of us will outflank them. They don't know how many we are. We let them into the hallway and come up behind them."

"Three of you?" asked Victor.

"I get it," said Gary. "One of the girls will be showing herself suitably half-dressed on the stairs. It'll keep the attention of the group forward. The other girl opens the door: they won't take account of her once they're in. The three of us can get nearer them that way."