Page 15 of What's the time, Mr. Wolfe
“You could have called or emailed, or something...”
“I could have. I didn’t. I saw your grandmother was distressed, so thought it a kind thing to help. I’ll leave and make an appointment next time, shall I?”
His face was expressionless, other than his eyes. His pupils had dilated, and I saw the faintest of tics at the corner of one eye. I hoped he wasn’t angry with me!
I took a deep breath. “It was kind, and thank you. The interview went well. I have a stack of things to look through and honestly, I’m waiting for the catch.”
“Catch?”
“Yes, I’m half expecting someone to call April Fool, even if it’s three months too early.”
“No catch, Ruby. Just accept that you deserve a break and I’m offering it to you. It’s easy, is it?”
I paused before I answered. “Yes. Yes, it is hard. I’m not often the recipient of kind deeds, so...” I shrugged my shoulders. “Would you like tea?” I asked in appeasement.
“No, I won’t stay.” He smiled and I felt like a shit, until I remembered that I really didn’t know him, and it was still creepy that he just turned up.
“My meeting with Mike was great. I’ll read the documents and call him tomorrow. Providing I can settle Grandma okay.” I thought I ought to answer why he was standing in my house... or his house, I guessed.
“I’m pleased to hear that.” He started to walk away, before he got to the front door, he turned. “You might think me strange, but I mean you no harm.”
I frowned; it was anold-fashionedstatement that I wouldn’t have expected from him.
“Or aWolfein sheep’s clothing,” I said, laughing as I did.
He smirked, gave me a wink, and left the house without another word. The butterflies in my stomach were punching my guts in dismay that I’d let him walk out. His wink did something to them, for sure.
“Ruby?” Grandma called.
“I’m just making you some tea, Grandma,” I replied and rushed back to the kitchen.
It took Grandma just a couple of hours to settle. She was happy when her favourite game show came on and we sat, holding hands, answering the questions together. It was only after I’d put her to bed that I sat at the kitchen table and read through the document Mike had given me. It was a contract and was pretty much the same as he’d said it would be with the added bonus of medical cover and a pension. I chuckled as I looked for the dental plan that wasn’t there and subconsciously rubbed my teeth with my finger.
“So what’s the catch?” I said, quietly. There had to be one. I decided to do some investigating.
Under my bed was an old laptop that I hadn’t used in a while. I tended to do whatever was necessary on my phone, even though it was hard to read the screen. I’d needed the laptop at school but now used the more modern ones in the library. I connected to the internet via my phone and brought up a search engine. First, I typed in Sebastian Wolfe. Pages of unrelated things and suggestions for a different spelling were all I found. Nothing about him at all. That didn’t surprise me. I mean, if I Googled myself, I’d find nothing.
I typed in his company name, P.I.F Group Plc. That’s when it got interesting. P.I.F was aparentcompany for over a hundred others. I tried to find a map of sorts; it was quite confusing to see how the companies connected with each other. What I stumbled acrosswere newspaper articles accusing some companies in the P.I.F group of jumping the list for government contracts and having politicians lobbying for them. Not one article actually mentioned Sebastian, however.
I began to think I might have the wrong company. How could one man own all the companies I was reading about? I wasn’t up on how businesses worked, but I knew that since it was a Public Limited Company, P.I.F. had shares it sold on the stock market. That meant it probably also had a board of directors and was a big deal.
Did it matter? I had to ask myself.
I sighed and closed the laptop lid. No, it didn’t matter. I should, for once, just do what Sebastian suggested. I should just accept that someone wanted to do something nice for me and take it. I was looking a gift horse in the mouth. I needed to kick my own arse if I fucked it up.
Later that night, while lying in bed, my thoughts were on Sebastian. I was curious to know what drove him to help others. Mike had said there were a couple of guys just out of prison. It wasn’t often that companies of his size would give ex-criminals a chance. Not that I knew why they’d been in prison, of course. That night my dream consisted of prisoners and Sebastian chasing me through woods, even in my sleep I knew that the only outcome I wanted was for Sebastian to catch me.
Chapter Six
Itook the contract into college and asked to see Mr. Trent. We sat in the on-site coffee shop, and I showed him what I had.
“Wow, Ruby. How do you know this guy?” he asked, having read the contract then flicking back to the front.
“He’s my landlord. Well, he owns the company that owns the house.”
“And you said his name was Sebastian Wolfe?”
“Yes.”
