A Dangerous Affair

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tom asked Brick as he stormed into his office. He had made some excuse to Stephanie about Brick calling him in for a meeting and left her outside at her desk. Brick was reading a newspaper which was on his desk in front of him and his eyes flicked up to Tom.

“I have always found that knocking is the correct prerequisite for entering an office Tom. Perhaps you should bear that in mind in the future,” he replied, seemingly unaffected by Tom’s accusatory tone.

“I wouldn’t have touched this story if I’d have known, you must have realised that!”

Brick sighed and closed the newspaper, looking up again at Tom. “What are you ranting on about now Phillips?”

“Stephanie! And her father…and your plotting to keep it all a big secret,” he accused.

Both Brick’s expression and tone abruptly changed as he pointed a firm finger at Tom. “Now you listen to me. I don’t know how you have found out but it stays a secret … for Stephanie’s sake,” he added. He suspected that mention of her welfare would make a difference. Tom sighed loudly and fell deflated into the chair opposite Brick’s desk. “Besides,” Brick continued, “Are you telling me that if you had known it would have stopped you from making a beeline for Stephanie?”

Tom looked up suddenly. “Yes, yes it would! I mean come on, me and Hamilton’s daughter, it’s laughable!”

“The only thing that’s laughable is the idea that you could possibly resist a beautiful woman. You’ve been following her around this office for months like a love sick school boy! More to the point, I’m not in the business of concerning myself with my employers love lives! This isn’t a bloody dating service Tom! You were the right man to protect Stephanie at the time and so I allowed you to get involved.”

“Right, well I’m well and truly involved now aren’t I?” he sulked.

Brick watched Tom and to his consternation he felt a sudden twinge of sympathy for him. Okay so he could be incredibly annoying and arrogant at times but Brick had come to know Tom and he had seen a softer more vulnerable side to him. Despite his outer confidence he often struggled with insecurities inside.

Brick groaned. “Look, if it’s any consolation Stephanie has a mind of her own, you should know that. She is not affected by what others think of her and she makes her own decisions, much to her father’s dismay I might add. If you had hopes of ‘walking into the sunset’ with Stephanie…” he gave a hand gesture as if to say that he found that kind of thing rather foolish. Tom shifted awkwardly in his seat. “… and if she is daft enough to fall for you, it will be her decision to act upon that, no one else’s.” Brick was well aware that Tom was daunted by the prospect of having to face Hamilton-Brown should a relationship develop between Stephanie and himself. He also had to admit that Hamilton-Brown would probably not relish the thought of Tom and his daughter being involved.

Tom didn’t look entirely convinced. It was hard enough getting Stephanie to relax with him at times, let alone convincing her father that a relationship between them would be a good thing.

“Something I don’t understand though,” Tom piped up again. “If Stephanie and her father have so much hostility between them why would Stephanie want to work for one of his newspapers in the first place?”

Brick eyed Tom, wondering how much he should reveal. He concluded that Tom now knew about Stephanie’s father anyway so discussing the details didn’t really matter much.

“I’ve known Stephanie for a long time, since she was a teenager and she used to come in to work with her father. They were close then and Stephanie was desperate do well in her father’s eyes. She loved the buzz of the office too and the challenges of getting a good story into print. You know, despite the hostility now between them they are really quite similar.”

Tom didn’t know if he wanted all this detail about Stephanie or not. If he was going to put their ‘relationship’ into perspective and not get carried away with his feelings then hearing this kind of information was not going to help. He found himself warming inside at the thought of a teenage Stephie trying to impress her father but being just as stubborn and strong willed as him at the same time. A teenage Stephie, what would she have been like he wondered? He pictured her dressed in designer jeans and wearing her silvery blond hair scraped back into a long ponytail. What would she have made of him then? A rebellious lad who spent more time on the streets of Belfast hiding in dark corners or seeking out grimy squats than he did at school getting an education to improve himself. Still, he found a way out of that life eventually and he'd worked hard to get as far as he was now.

“So if they used to get on so well what was with all the secrecy then?” Tom asked.

“After Stephanie graduated from University and returned to the newspaper she had her own ideas and they didn’t always fit in with what her father wanted. You know what she’s like, she thinks big, too big sometimes for her own good. The constant arguments and bickering between them got to them both in the end but I think that it was the way her fellow reporters treated her that was the final straw. She never felt that her work was appreciated or taken seriously and she always said that her colleagues thought she was given special treatment because of who her father was. So finally she left to work for another newspaper.”

Tom’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Yes, but you can imagine how well that went down with Hamilton. To be honest though I think that he was genuinely concerned for her safety because then he had no say over what stories she researched, and the animals at the paper she was working for took full advantage of her eagerness to put herself in danger for the sake of the story. So one day Hamilton came to me. He told me that he was going to concentrate on some of the other papers and that he wanted me to take the reins here. He also asked me to approach Stephanie and find a way of convincing her to return. It wasn’t an easy task I can tell you. He put me right in the middle. But eventually we came up with an arrangement. Stephanie was to adopt another surname and nobody was to know who her father was. And that, coupled with the fact that Hamilton had then decided to take a back seat in the running of this newspaper, convinced her to return.”

Tom looked thoughtful for a while. “This Carlton story, it means a hell of a lot to her. If she doesn’t get to finish it and he father takes over now it will drive her nuts.”

“Look there’s only so much I can do Tom. She’s picked one hell of a story to chase after and Hamilton isn’t entirely pleased that I let her get involved in the first place. I’m never going to persuade him to let her work on it again.”

“Then I’ll finish it. I’ll find something on Carlton that will prove his guilt once and for all and then Steph can write the story. After all, this is a joint project. We have been working on it together up until now.”

“I won’t have Stephanie involved in the fieldwork,” Brick said immediately.

“She doesn’t have to be involved. I’ll go back to Carlton’s house…”

“No,” Brick interrupted, “it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s the only way we’re going to find something on him. I’ll be careful,” he assured Brick.

“No Tom, you might be excruciatingly annoying at times but I’ve never had one of my employees turn up dead and I don’t intend to start now!” he said adamantly.

Tom stared wilfully back at Brick. “Fine,” he said simply before abruptly rising out of his chair and heading for the door.

Something was wrong. Tom never gave up that easily. Brick reached his door just in time to see Tom grab his jacket and head for the exit.

“Tom! You go near that house and it will be your last day working for this paper!” Brick shouted after him. “Tom!”

Stephanie’s head shot up then and she grabbed her handbag, waiting for Brick to turn his back before slipping out of the office exit after Tom. She could just hear Brick’s voice calling her name as she ran across the car park.

Damn! She was too late! Tom had got into his car and sped off before she could reach him! Why hadn’t she brought her car? She turned then to see Robert rushing towards her. He was late yet again. She ran across the car park to him and blocked his way.

“I need your car keys,” she said, holding out her hand to him. He looked taken aback. “Come on, come on, it’s an emergency!” she shouted. He was so astounded that he handed them over and she bolted to his car, leaving him looking over his shoulder at her in bewilderment.