Page 23 of Broken Beyond Repair
“I’ve not seen any of them. I don’t watch any films, TV, news.”
“Surely, you’re on social media? I thought all you youngsters were glued to it.”
“I’m thirty-six,” Sydney replied, her eyebrows stretching up. “And no I don’t. I find it’s all best avoided in my line of work.”
Beatrice’s forehead furrowed as she removed her glasses and rested the tip of one of its temples against her bottom lip. “Why do you not keep yourself abreast of the world and those in it?”
Sydney tried to stifle her laugh. “What makes you think I don’t?”
“With what sources?”
“I move about in the world, and I interact with people. I read books.”
“Books?” Beatrice gave a little twitch of her head before placing her glasses back on her nose. “You wouldn’t consider them another source of ‘propaganda’?”
“I wouldn’ttrustanything. I find them more reliable in that I know exactly what is being said, not implied, and by whom. The world is made up of groups of people trying to influence another group of people towards whatever agenda they have. News stations and newspapers are one-sided opinions directed at people with similar beliefs. Would you prefer that I came here having googled the hell out of you?”
“Well, no.” Beatrice pondered further before continuing. “Most of it isn’t true, and what is the truth is so often twisted it no longer resembles it at all.”
“Exactly. I take people and situations as I find them.”
“And how do you find me?” Beatrice asked, her expression finally softening.
How was she going to answer that?My eyes think they’ve died and gone to heaven whilst the rest of me is stuck in hell dealing with yet another wealthy, self-centred egomaniac?
“I…”
Beatrice intertwined her fingers, placing her elbows on the table. “Yes?”
“…don’t know you well enough to make an assessment,” Sydney finished.
Beatrice pulled her lips to the side and leaned back against her chair. “I think I’ll go up now if you would be kind enough to lend me your shoulder.”
With Beatrice’s weight distributed between the stairs and Sydney, they had managed to manoeuvre her to the halfway landing when she stumbled. Sydney stepped in and caught her, holding her around her waist until she regained her balance.
“Damn this infernal leg!”
Sydney allowed Beatrice a moment to regain her composure, then urged her on. They repositioned Beatrice’s arm around Sydney’s shoulders and successfully made their way to the top.
“Crutches?” Beatrice demanded as soon as she was free of the stairs.
Sydney ran back down and returned with them, enabling Beatrice to hobble to her bedroom.
“I can manage from here. Wake me at nine o’clock,” Beatrice barked, shutting the bedroom door firmly behind her.
It would be a few hours before she could fall into her own bed. There were countless suitcases that still needed going through. Two dollies in the laundry room were already straining under the weight of damp clothes. The rest would have to wait until tomorrow when she could hang it outside to dry.
Further investigation of the garage revealed that all the vehicles were off their battery tenders. Sydney pondered the incompetence of the person that forgot to put them on, knowing they would be left undriven for some time.
CHAPTER8
Sydney woke exceedingly early the next morning. There was a lot to do before she roused Beatrice, starting with the laundry. Having sorted through the suitcases the previous night, she knew that there were two bags of clothing she would need to take to the dry cleaners.
Beatrice hadn’t requested that she be woken with any refreshment, so Sydney took it upon herself to arrive with a cup of coffee with cream in one hand and a pile of freshly laundered clothes in the other. She knocked on the door and waited for an entry command, which followed immediately.
She entered to find the woman draped over one of the sofas watching television, dressed in only a long, red silk slip. Her mind flashed back to the photograph Rosie showed her of Beatrice in a red silk dress. The image before her was similar except for the bright pink cast sticking out the bottom.
Beatrice caught her eye.
