Surveying has changed a lot since my father became a surveyor many years ago. He told me tales of lugging a heavy great theodolite around while his chainman hacked a path through the scrub with a brush-hook to get to where he had to hold up the staff so that readings could be taken. When these were recorded, it was back to the office to convert the distances and angles to create an accurate map of the property.
Nowadays all that I had to do was to point the laser beam at the staff that my assistant held, push a button and a record was made of the distance, angle and elevation above the datum point. Once all of the information was recorded, it was sent back to the computer at the office, and by the time we got back, a 3D map of the property had been printed off to send to the architect so that he could draw his house plans, complete with location on the block to within a bee's appendage, along with foundation heights.
I was concentrating on collecting the data and didn't notice the woman and her dog until she spoke. "Geoff Warner, you're Geoff Warner, aren't you?" The sign on the side of the SUV was a dead giveaway. It read Warner Locations, Registered Surveyors.
"The face that stared at me from the mirror this morning was his, so I guess I must be him."
"Still the smart arse, eh?"
"Do I know you?"
"You probably don't remember me, but you knew my sister."
I took a closer look at her, vague recognition crept into my memory. "Don't tell me, it's coming back to me, Christ, you're Jenny Fraser. What's it been ten. Twelve years?"
"Try fifteen."
"Whatever happened to Chrissie, she dropped out of my life without a word."
"It's a long story and you're busy. I tell you what, you buy me dinner tonight and I'll fill you in on all of the sordid details, unless of course there's a Mrs. Warner waiting at home for you."
"No, there's not one of those waiting for me. Give me your address and I'll pick you up at six-thirty."
She took her mobile phone out and called the number on the side of my SUV, switching to messaging she sent me her address. "See ya tonight." With a quick wave, she and the dog were off.
Memories fought with my work as we finished the job. "Who was the woman you were talking to?" Angie, my assistant asked.
"Someone from my past, no that's not true, I was going with her older sister for close on a year when she suddenly dropped out of my life. I took it hard because there was no warning signs, she was just gone."
"So, you're going to try and find out why, is that it?"
"Yes."
"Nothing more than that, after all, it's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Have you been keeping tabs on my social life? Haven't you got better things to do, like Mark?"
"Mark and I are going along quite nicely thank you."
We completed our on-site work and headed back to the office. Angie uploaded the data into our computer, and we processed it. When the computer had completed doing its thing, the plans were shipped to the architects.
"You take care tonight," Angie said as she packed up, "I don't want you coming in to work tomorrow totally shagged because you fell for her charms."
"Fat chance of that happening."
Some women have this ability to make the simplest, most casual clothes, look positively sexy. Jenny Fraser was one of those, she made me feel under-dressed in my best casual clothes. I had to admit that, while there was a passing resemblance between her and Chrissie, she was much more attractive. I was going to have a hard time resisting her. "Wow."
"Thank you. You scrub up pretty well yourself." She kissed me. It wasn't a full on, toe curling kiss, just a simple kiss on the lips. "Where are you taking me?"
"I'm not telling you, this will be my surprise." I put my car into gear and headed off to my favourite restaurant. I hoped that she would like it.
"This is nice." Jenny said as she finished her meal. "I wouldn't have taken you to be such a gourmand."
"When you fail dismally at cooking, you have to compensate, I guess that I've over-compensated."
"You won't find me complaining."
"I don't want to put a dampener on this pleasant evening, but you were going to tell me what happened to Chrissie."
"Take me home first, it'll take a while."
We were seated at her kitchen table, a cup of coffee in front of us. "You remember that Chrissie had this job with a promotions company."
"Yeah, she loved it."
"Well, that's where the troubles began. The company had the job of promoting the Australian leg of this band's world tour. The front-man asked that Chrissie take on the role of their organiser for the duration, you know, making sure that the bands' demands were met, arranging the booze and chemical stimulants, that sort of stuff. By the end of the Australian leg, this role was extended for the rest of the tour, and she went back to England with them on the promise of a long term relationship with said front-man."
"Don't tell me that she ended up with him."
"No. By the time they got back to England she was having sex with all of the band."
"Shit."
"It gets worse. She was set up in a flat somewhere, Willsden I think, because it turned out that he was married, and he didn't want his wife to find out."
"Don't tell me, she did."
"Yes, she did. When the dust had settled, she was without her flat, her visa had run out, he had promised that when they got married she wouldn't need one, and she had no money. It was about then that she found that she was pregnant."
"Does it get any worse than this?"
"Yes, a girl that she knew from band gigs was working for an escort agency and making good money, at least that's what she said, she conveniently forgot to mention the fact that most of it went on drugs. Anyway, Chrissie began to work for the agency, and was doing quite well until her pregnancy became apparent. Oh, there were some kinky blokes that got off on fucking pregnant girls, but not enough for her to pay her bills. She was living, if you could call it that, in a squat when she went into premature labour. She never made it to hospital."
"What happened to the baby?"
"It died. If those she was living with had thought to contact the hospital or an ambulance, the outcome might have been different. They didn't know what to do and didn't want to face the police, so she was left there."
"Did your parents do anything?"
"They didn't find out until much later. They tried to trace her when they hadn't heard from her for a couple of months, but no-one knew where she was, not even the band that she went to England to be with. That turned out to be untrue, some months after this happened, the front-man's marriage ended, and his wife spread the word that her wonderful husband had cheated and abandoned his lover when he found out that she was pregnant. She told the police that she had heard that Chrissie had died, The police investigated and learned the truth. They contacted Mum and Dad."
"I'm so sorry, not only for Chrissie, but for your parents. Neither deserved that. How did your parents take it?"
"Very hard. They felt that they should have done more although I don't know what they could have done. They did insist that I should go to Uni and get a proper job."
"When you say proper job, what did you study?"
"I have a degree in Civil Engineering and work for an infrastructure company that builds roads and bridges."
"A good enough job, a bit up and down, but for the right companies there's money to be made."
"Sort of like yours, when the home building is buoyant you will have work, but if no-one's building things could get quiet."
"We survive. We've embraced the latest technology to make life easier and cheaper. By minimising our costs, we can charge less and still be competitive."
"Enough of this boring conversation, how's your love life?"
"As near as dammit to non-existent, and yourself?"
"I don't seem to have much luck. The few men that I have allowed in have not been as great as they had led me to believe. I wish I could find a man who performs better than his ego tells him. What are you like in the sack?"
"I've had no complaints. Any relationship that I've had has lasted for several months, but then something happens, either of both of us begins to lose interest and it peters out."
"Not like with Chrissie. I was really pissed off with her the way that she just dumped you. I would never do that."
"Is that a hint?"
