At Blue View four start hotel. Only quarter past three in the afternoon.
A woman was looking for something she had dropped under her receptionist desk. She swung with her chair round and round looking for it. 'Come on. I have just dropped you around here and now I can't find you?' She asked. She was beginning to get frustrated.
"Looking for this?" Came a deep voice from over the receptionist desk. Startled, the woman looked up to the man speaking in embarrassment. He was holding the very pen she was looking for. He was dressed in a black tux, white shirt and a black tie. He had put on dark shades which covered his eyes but despite that, he still looked handsome. She froze for a moment before regaining her composure.
"Yes, thank you, Sir." She replied after ten seconds or so.
"Not Sir. Please. Call me Watson. Watson Paul. And you are… Natasha, right?" asked the man.
Astonished, Natasha felt a bit violated.
"How did you know that? I have not even told you my name. Are you stalking me? Should I call security? I think you should go." She said as her voice started to gradually rise. She observed the man take off his shades and put them in his coat's inside pocket. He then placed his crossed hands on the desk and looked at the young woman. She was indeed beautiful. Her hair was held in a ponytail, her face covered in slight make up and brown lipstick. Her light complexion was bewitching flowing flawlessly over her slim physique. Her dark brown eyes were small but could tell a lot, and now they showed she was quite suspicious.
"I thought that was the work of employees being given name tags. That clients like us can know your names easily and remember them. Or am I wrong?" Watson asked with a smile on his face watching the lady before him flush in embarrassment again. He could not deny, that he could sense what may have attracted his boss to her. But, he was sure Bran had not seen her yet. 'So wat could have happened for him to be so interested?' He asked himself. "Maybe I should speak to the manager, and tell him on why I think his employees should get refresher courses on customer relationships." He added slowly pocketing his hands.
"No. Please. I really need this job. Once you raise that complain, I shall be fired even before you get out of the building. Please. I beg you." She pleaded. The man took out his shades from his pockets and put them on and began to walk away. The lady got frightened and immediately followed the man slightly running in her five inch black heels.
"Sir. Sir. Sir!" She raised her voice, making him stop. "Mr. Watson," she began as soon as she caught up with him and stood before him, "please, don't report him. I'll do anything. Please. I need this job." She begged as she looked at the man before her with pitiful almost tearful eyes. He took off his shades and looked at the short woman before him. 'She must be what? One-sixty centimeters at most?' He thought to himself. He took out a card from his wallet from his inner pocket of his coat.
"Here. Come to this company on Wednesday morning, nine in the morning. Don't be late." He said to her placing the card in her hand. She looked surprisingly at the card. Before she could digest the information, the man had turned and began to walk away.
"Wait… What is there at that time early in the morning?"
"An interview." Came the short reply.
"Interview for what?" She asked.
"For being the General Manger of the company." Came the fading reply.
"Wait. What? But I have not applied. And I have work, here. Why me?" The woman shouted at the man moving farther and farther from her.
"You won't if I make that complain to your boss. And besides, someone has got to work." Came the final reply as the man disappeared through the door. Natasha was left dumbfounded. 'Interview? For the General Manager position?' She asked herself. She then realized she was still standing in the middle of the receptionist room. Before she could run back to her desk, her supervisor had already seen her.
"What were you doing standing there?" She asked Natasha.
"Nothing Ma'am. A client had just dropped something and I had rushed to pick it up for him before he left." She replied. She was really gifted in the lying tongue. "Go back to work!" Ordered the supervisor. Natasha nodded at her boss and continued working. As soon as she was alone, she remembered the card se had been given and took it out. It contained the name, position and contacts of the individual person- Watson Paul- and the company details- BESMA Group of companies. 'This is the biggest transport and tour company in East and Central Africa, the second in the continent and among the top ten in the world!' She exclaimed.
At BESMA Group of Companies.
Watson had just arrived and sat down at his desk. He looked happier than he was in the earlier morning. Maggie observed him for a while and was happy with the sudden change of environment. She was curious to ask him what it was about but she knew she would not get an answer, so she restrained herself and continued on with her work. He was happy with what he had just accomplished. The plan to blackmail her had only presented itself and he had used it wisely. Just then, his desk phone beeped and he immediately went in to the CEO's office.
"So?" Bran asked while looking at the view of the city as the sun was setting. It was already quarter to five when Watson had come back.
"She is quite wild. It may be difficult to control her. I could feel the danger around her, but I am sure that she will be here for the interview. As for him, I went to look for him where he was to get his gig today but he was not there, so I asked around and no one seemed to know where he was. Then I saw a bar right around the corner, the Fun Bar and as soon as I got in, he was the first person I found there. Though he was quite drunk and had passed out already. I went back to the car and observed for a while. Ms. Natasha then came in around half past four and after five minutes or so, she left with him dragging his feet, his supported by her shoulder. They got in to a taxi and left."
"What is their relationship?" Asked Bran.
"Hum, well Sir. I… I do not know yet. I am not sure. I only know they have been living together for the past four months in that apartment." Watson replied. He saw Brandon look over his shoulder at him with serious eyes and he immediately added, "I shall find out by end of the day." The eyes looking at him returned back to the beautiful sunset. Watson excused himself then left, leaving Brandon reminiscing over the sunset. He remembered Julie. 'Oh Julie Ann. This was the best part of your day, the sunset. You had to leave me.' He then remembered the previous day's night phone call.
"Sir. We have looked everywhere for her. She is nowhere to be found. The place where she and her parents used to stay is empty and neighbors say they did not see them leaving at all. Even airports and airstrips do not have any of their names registered. Neither do hospitals and morgues. It is as if they never existed. They all just disappeared." The caller reported. Bran felt his heart break in to more pieces than they had before when she had left him. But now that he could not find her, he was losing his find. He felt his hand tremble and he closed his eyes and breathed in for a while before letting go. He then shut is laptop and put it in his briefcase and walked out of the office. Watson immediately stood up and followed his boss in to the elevator.
In the moving BMW, Watson looked at his boss via the rear mirror and he could see he was struggling with his emotions. Bran had always been good at hiding his emotions. For he was always indifferent to everything, hardly smiled and rarely laughed, until Julie. He had med Julie a year before, at a business convention in CG City, south of the country. She was dressed in an all-blue fitting dress that dragged itself on the floor as she moved. She had on a short Brazilian twelve-inch wig, in pink lipstick and brown eye shadow, highlighting her very big illuminatus eyes. She was a beauty and he was immediately hit by cupid. But, he had met someone good at a bad time. He was a terrible drunk-always drinking.
Once he was so drunk at a club party she had invited him as a plus one that he started a fight with the chairman of the group for constantly stealing glances at his woman, breaking his nose and right arm. Though they had managed to settle the issue out of court, the end result was that she was shunned from being a member of the club and kicked out. She was so heartbroken by the end of the case that she had vowed to escape him by all means, which she successfully did four months ago. Since then, the young boss had not found her. And since then, the young boss did not seem interested in anyone else, till now.
Watson stole a glance at his boss and saw him try to control his trembling left arm. He knew what it meant. He had been there when the boss took himself to rehab the next two months after Julie had left. He had improved, physically as he added a few kilos and had built his physique for he used working out as a distraction. Watson took out a chocolate candy bar from his car storage and passed it to his boss, who took it and immediately devoured it. He felt better. He knew she was the cause of his tremors, which in turn made him urge from alcohol.
Soon, they arrived at the Relax Apartments and Watson escorted his boss to the top most floor. "What is the progress of The Palace?" Brandon asked Watson. Watson responded that the mansion would be complete by end of the week and he shall be able to move in by then. The decorators were just doing final touched on the finishing and furniture. Bran seemed relieved to hear the good news as he slightly nodded to his PA. The door opened at the twentieth floor and the two men walked towards the room number two hundred and six. Watson then turned around as soon as his boss shut the door and noticed the room number two hundred and five and he smiled when he thought of his boss' interest in the woman next door. He walked to the elevator and straight to his car.
He drove to the Fun Bar to finish up on his assignment.