Dressed To Kill Ch. 16

On the way to work Wednesday she stopped of at the supermarket to buy some fruit and yoghurt for lunch. She walked up to the cash register which was manned by her over blonde and pierced friend.

"Hi!" the cashier greeted her. "The boys will disappointed today. No stockings and suspenders today?"

Noella was modestly dressed in slim white pants and red scoop necked shirt, a white jacket and tall strappy heels with high ankle straps.

"Apologise to them for me, but I've got more important things happening today. Tell them I'll make it worth their while next week." she told the cashier with a wink a smile, handing over her credit card.

"Sorry it's declined." the cashier told Noella apologetically after swiping the card.

"Can you try again?" Noella asked her.

The cashier tried another two times before Noella reluctantly handed over some of her fast dwindling cash before walking of the store swearing under her breath.

That's it! The credit cards are the last straw! I'm going to kill you Damien!

Shaking with anger, she walked to her car when she spotted 'Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome' standing by his car in the aisle three cars over.

Blood rushed to her face, anger surging through her body. She opened the car door a little and dropped her hand bag and groceries on the seat of the car before closing it and walking towards the tall and imposing man.

"Are stalking me she started?" she called, her voice laden with animosity.

He looked towards her, startled by her venom.

"That's right! I'm talking to you!" she hissed as she pointed her finger.

Regaining his composure he looked at her directly.

"No I'm not stalking you and I mean you no harm. Quite the contrary." he told her in a smooth confident voice. She was now only two metres away.

"Well it sure looks like stalking!" she retorted walking around to the front of the car.

"If I see you again I'm going to ring the cops! And I've got your number plate so don't fuck me around!"

She stole a glance at his number plate, hoping the six characters would stay in her memory long enough for her to punch them into her phone. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I promise! I am no threat to you and I will stay away from you in the future."

"Good!" she told him as she walked back to her car, shivers of fury streaming through her body.

Still shaking, she opened the car door shifting her bag and groceries, before climbing in and quickly wheeled out of the supermarket with a squeal of tyres, wishing that 'Tall Dark and Handsome' would just go away. Arriving at work she sat in the car for a few minutes to calm down and get a handle on the fact that her credit cards had a stop on them and she was being stalked!

Finally she walked into the office and rang her Mum straight away.

"Hi dear," came the reassuring sound of her Mum, Julie, over the phone. "I hear you've had a rough morning."

"What?" stammered Noella.

"I hear you've had a rough morning,'" Julie repeated.

"Huh? How did you know?"

"Well I've been meaning to tell you," she started with a slight tremor in her voice. "But I've never seemed able to find the right time to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Tell you about Declan."

"Declan?"

"Yes Declan. Declan is the man you yelled at in the car park."

"You know him?" asked Noella, her voice filled with irritation.

"Yes, I knew you'd be upset, but Declan works for me."

"He works for you!" Noella was just about to explode.

"I knew you'd be angry, but I was just trying to protect you dear."

"How? Why do you need to protect me?""

"Well," Julie began hesitantly. "A few months ago I had a phone call from Damien."

"Why would he ring you? He knows you don't like him."

"Well that's what I thought. He wanted to ask questions about Muriel's estate. He gave some cock and bull story about how it had some effect on your divorce settlement."

"He is a nosy shit."

"You don't need to swear Noella!"

"Yes mum," Noella replied a teenage school girl.

"Well I told him it had all been settled and it was none of his business. But it made me worry. I know how driven he can be and I knew he wouldn't be asking questions for no reason. And he's given you such a bad time that I wanted to make sure he was not up to no good."

"Well he is!"

"I know that now. I was worried so I asked my friends if they knew someone who could help me protect you from him. My friend Cynthia had trouble with an ex-husband who kept signing contracts in their joint names and running up credit debt in her name. She hired Declan who fixed it all and recommended him highly and so I rang him. He's a lawyer dear, but he specialises in sorting out difficult problems."

"So you don't trust me to live my own life?"

"I have absolute faith in you Noella. I just don't trust Damien," she told Noella. "I have learnt that money makes people do funny and often and dishonest things. So I hired Declan as an insurance policy. Just to make sure that Damien didn't help himself to anymore of your inheritance."

"He's an insurance policy?" Noella asked in a stinging tone.

"I knew you'd be annoyed if you knew, so I told Declan just to keep an eye on the whole situation. So he's been a bit like your guardian angel. Only problem he is a striking man and you kept seeing him!"

"He just wasn't very good at following!"

"I think he's better than you give him credit for! He's been around you a lot and you haven't seen him."

"Well can you call him off now. Steven's helping me I can look after it now."

"You know Damien's making a claim against your inheritance again."

"Yes I know that. That's why I'm ringing. His lawyer's frozen all my assets, my bank accounts and now my credit cards! I can't even buy a carton of milk!"

"You know I'll help you. I'm out this afternoon but I'll send Declan over with some money and you can apologise."

"Apologise!"

"Well from what I hear you were a little rude today dear!"

"I wasn't rude! I was scared!"

"Okay dear. You weren't to know. But when he comes over you will be nice?"

"I'l be nice."

"Now will five thousand be enough?"

"Five thousand will be plenty thank you."

"I'll tell him to come over around six?"

"Six will be fine."

"You know I love you."

"I love you too mum. I do appreciate you thinking about me, but I do try to live my own life."

"I know. Sometimes motherly instincts make you want to help. Like you getting a lawyer for Marcus. "

"You know about Marcus and the trust?"

"The poor thing made a slip one day when we were talking on the phone. You should be proud of him. He's showing great strength, even when his father put him under extreme pressure."

"Yes. I must say he's been amazing."

"He's turning out to be a very fine young man."

"Thank you."

"You be nice to Declan when you see him tonight."

"I will. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye darling."

"Bye!"

Noella sat her desk, her head spinning. Was her Mum an interfering old biddy or should she be grateful that she still looked out for her?"

My mum hiring a 'fixer'! Can you believe that!

Steven came past during the morning to see how she was going and she told him about her credit cards and Declan.

"You're Mum hired a 'fixer'! He laughed. "She is an amazing woman! Now I know where you get it from!"

He didn't have any thing more to report on her frozen assets, but he thought it would be a few more days before they sorted it out. He inquired if she was okay for funds and she told him that her Mum was helping her out.

"That's great! Stay positive and we'll get it all sorted!"

Feeling a need for some moral support, she rang Suzie and Jodie to catch up and told them about Damien being behind the disappearance of her car and the attempted sale of her house. Both the women gasped with disbelief. They both thought Damien was an arse-hole, but this all seemed way too wild. They confirmed the usual Friday lunch when Noella would tell them all about it . She also messaged the kids and was happy to receive positive responses from them all.

She left work on the dot of five and dropped into her favourite deli to pick up some things to make an antipasto platter for when Declan came over.

I promised Mum I'd be nice. He'd better appreciate it!