My Dragon Desire

Bonus - Earl (Part One)

☆Earl☆

Seeking out Josephine proved to a lot easier than I had anticipated. Looking at the older woman, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Her husband had deceived everyone, and she had been none the wiser. Poor thing.

“Here you go,” she said as she handed me the staff’s records. “This is everyone that has come and gone since Lord Blake took over,”

“Thank you, Josephine,” I said with a soft smile before leaving her to get back to work. The other Seniors believed that I would be wasting my time checking each and every employee, but Blake was like a son to me and I hated seeing him in this position. I headed outside of the castle to the black BMW that waited for me. Being as old as I am, transforming and flying around wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. The pain lasted too long, and it didn’t help me with my back problems.

“Home?” the driver, Arnold, asked me as I slipped into the backseat.

“Yes, Arnold, thank you,” I said as I closed the car door and got comfortable. I felt the slow pull away and I opened the file Josephine had given me and looked through the names of all the females. Paging through the file, I could clearly see that Josephine had kept everything up to date, neat and tidy. I was impressed. I got to the first profile of a Miss Annie Jones and read through her information. I spotted her contact number and quickly reached out for my mobile phone. Dialing the number, I waited patiently for her to answer.

“Hello?” came a soft womanly voice.

“Hello, Miss Annie Jones?” I enquired. I needed to make sure that I was speaking to the right person.

“Yes?” she confirmed.

“My name is Earl and I am calling about an investigation we are running at Lord Blake’s castle,” I said carefully. I hadn’t thought about how I was going to approach the subject, but I decided to jump right in.

“Yes, what investigation?” she asked curiously.

“I want you to know that this is off the record and quite personal, but did you have any s****l relations with Lord Blake during your employment?” I cringed at my own use of words but when I heard her soft giggles, I smiled.

“Well, that is personal, may I ask why you are asking me this before I answer?” she was curious about the situation and amused, I could tell. I didn’t want to lie but I wasn’t sure how much I should reveal.

“The hiring and firing of staff have proved to be questionable and we are investigating the relationships between Lord Blake and the female staff. There are rumors of s****l nature, but we need to get to the bottom of it,” I informed her as best I could.

“I see, yes, I did have a truly short s****l relationship with Lord Blake. However, I must say, he was always kind to me. He made it clear what it was he wanted and everything we did was consensual,” she explained, and I nodded as I looked down at the small photo of her in the file. She was quite attractive, and I could see why Blake had been drawn to her.

“Did Lord Blake use protection during these encounters?” I asked.

“Always,” she answered immediately. “Oh my! Did he get someone pregnant?” she asked, and I chuckled. She was quite clever. “If he did then it was planned. Lord Blake always used protection,” she insisted.

“I appreciate your time and honesty,” I said seriously.

“Earl, was it?”

“Yes,”

“Look Earl, I know for a fact that Blake always used protection with all of us. He was always honest about his intentions and it was always consensual. Between us ladies, we talk, you know, and we share things. It was not always easy to hear other women talking about their night with Lord Blake, but I can promise you that whoever is pregnant, it is not his,” I was taken aback by her forwardness. She must have known that this would happen, or she knew more than she was saying.

“You suspect that this is what it is about?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I suspect that out of all the females that worked at the Castle or are still working there, that at least three of them would stoop down to that level,” she explained.

“May I ask the names of those individuals? It would save me a lot of time,” I said.

“Of course, my roommate at the time, Miss Janie Trish and a co-worker, Miss Vivian Bonk. The other one, I am not sure if she did have a relationship with Lord Blake but just based on her actions and conversations, I would say she is manipulative. Miss Bailey Brett,” I quickly noted down Miss Janie and Miss Vivian. However, when Annie mentioned Bailey, my heart sank. “It’s her, isn’t it?” Annie questioned and I sighed. I didn’t want anything to get out. “Well, Earl, before I was fired, I heard that Bailey and Dawn were still going to continue working at the Castle. What I heard was that Dawn and Lord Blake had taken things to the next level and were in an actual relationship,” the line went still, and I refused to partake in any gossip. “You don’t need to say anything,” she added quickly. “My point is a lot of the ladies were confused as to why Lord Blake would keep Bailey around. Is it true she had something with Lord Kayne?”

“I cannot say,” I answered.

“Well, if Bailey is the one saying she is pregnant with Lord Blake’s baby, then I can tell you now, it is a lie. You can continue with your investigation Earl, but you’ll find out the same thing,” she said, and I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. I glanced out of the window and saw my small cottage come into view. It was time to wrap this up.

“I appreciate all the information you have given me, this will help with our investigation,” I said as Arnold pulled up alongside the cottage.

“You are welcome, and please, call me anytime, I will stand up for the truth,” she said before she said goodbye and hung up. I climbed out of the vehicle and headed up the two steps to my cottage. Annie had hit the nail on the head and that was enough for me. As I got inside, I headed straight for the cozy office area in the corner of the sitting room. I placed the folder down and shrugged off the long black coat. I would contact Janie and Vivian. I decided before sitting down and dialing the first number.

“Hey! This is Janie! I am on holiday and won’t be available until next month! Leave me a message if you wish!” the loud shrill female voice made me cringe and I hung up without leaving a message. I dialed the next number and this time it rang.

“This is Vivian,” her young voice said, and I frowned. She sounded like a young teenager. I checked her profile in the staff file and saw she was in fact twenty-five. She may sound young, but she was well over the right age.

“Hello Miss Vivian Bonk,” I greeted her.

“Who are you?” she asked quite rudely, and I sighed.

“My name is Earl and I am calling about an investigation-”

“It wasn’t me!” she exclaimed, interrupting me. I sighed again and thought about hanging up.

“Miss Bonk, I am calling to ask you a few questions about your time at the castle, working for Lord Blake,” I said carefully.

“Oh! Yes, what about it?” she asked curiously, and I felt that same urge to hang up.

“Did you ever have any s****l relations with Lord Blake?” I asked directly, it was best to just rip the band-aid off.

“Well! That is a very personal question!” she gushed out in disgust and I rolled my eyes. Either she did or didn’t but judging from the way she had responded; I was leaning towards didn’t.

“A simple yes or no,” I spat out, annoyed with the conversation that was clearly leading nowhere.

“No,” she muttered, and I nodded.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Bonk,” I said and quickly hung up. That meant that Blake had not slept with every single female staff member and that was a good sign. So far anyway. I thought about Annie’s words once again and sighed as I got up from my desk and went into the kitchen. Vivian Bonk hadn’t slept with Blake but had probably wanted too and I had the feeling that Bailey was the same. I put on the kettle to make some coffee. The only reason Blake hadn’t fired Bailey was because of Kayne. Had Bailey planned on using Kayne to keep herself safe or had that just been a coincidence? I wasn’t sure but I knew I would have to talk to Kayne. According to Blake, Kayne had taken Dawn with him to the family cabin in the forest. Tomorrow I would make the journey to the cabin and speak with both of them. I needed to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.