Bloodshed - a Dar Star Tale

Chapter One - Business as usual

A shrill high-pitched wailing punctured the air all around him.

Straightening his dark red Tie, Will Marchant made his way across the hallway doubling back on himself from the bottom of the stairs. Had he not lived at the house for years, were he blindfold and asked to find the room in some version of a blind man's bluff he'd have found the room just by the source of the noise. Not the noise of smoke alarm screeching out a teeth grinding noise akin to scraping nails along a blackboard but by the giggles and squeals he'd heard from the landing before he'd descended the stairs and the alarm had triggered.

Rounding the corner through the doorway into the large open plan kitchen area the usual 7am breakfast chaos played out around him. Both his girls Tilly and Lexi sat before the wide oval table with their hands pressed over their ears. Both still attempting to carry on with whatever conversation they'd been deeply engaged in prior to the smoke alarm having been activated. Stretching his right arm high above him Will stabbed an extended finger against the little silver button and moments later a relative silence filled the tastefully decorated, recently renovated, kitchen.

"Thank you, Daddy, you saved us," Tilly giggled as if the alarm had been part of a game the six-year-old had been playing out in her mind.

"Daddy saved us?" Lexi her five-year sibling interjected looking up from stirring her spoon through the bowl of Coco Pops that sat on the table before her. To her left the ever-present stuffed bear Mr Pickles observed silently the chaos. A long-time sufferer of this regularly played out madness, his stance on matters was probably the best to adopt.

"Daddy's a real hero," Kelly Marchant offered placing down a small plate with two halves of near burnt bagel covered in cream cheese and slithers of smoked salmon while fixing her husband with a grin of sorts as she did so.

"So, how's my girls?" Will enthusiastically stated setting his lap top case on a side unit before being greeted with further enthusiasm from the two youngest members of the family, while Kelly turned her back on him more preoccupied with pouring herself a coffee at the breakfast bar the other side of the table from him.

Will's eyes wandered up the backs of her legs; encased in light blue skin-tight denim and enhanced by the cream-coloured stilettos, her upper body dressed in a semi opaque off white blouse underneath which she wore a little white vest. We're the girls not present he'd have no second thoughts to sidling up behind her and running his hands roughly over her toned physique. In his mind he imagined her groans of delight, how he'd pop the button of her waistband and peel the light denim down the backs of her legs as he bent her upper body over the kitchen counter. The fantasy was just that, the fantasy of the way they used to be.

"Did Mummy burn me some toast while she was burning her bagels?" Will sarcastically enquires to the three of them but more so at his wife as he switches his mind to the reality rather than the fantasy.

"If you hadn't noticed Mummy is a little busy," Kelly sniped back at him almost immediately almost as if she restrained herself on an expletive at some point in her answer.

'Busy with your own agenda' Will thought to himself but bit his tongue on the comment. Pressing through the kitchen towards where his Wife hadn't even bothered to pour him a coffee.

It was the little things that exposed the Grand Canyon like cracks in their relationship. The cracks that they were failing to address, the cracks that should have been addressed a long time prior to not slipping a couple of slices of bread in the toaster or pouring a coffee at breakfast time. Will glared at her behind her back and not in line of sight of his daughters. They'd married younger than all their friends at the time but, nine years ago things had been so much different. Nine years ago she would have let him fuck her over the breakfast bar. There's wasn't an unusual tale of how they'd ended up in this domestic shit show of a passionless marriage, like many others in assumed domestic bliss there was a time when they'd been inseparable with enthusiasm and passion for one another and could say they were genuinely in love.

Will and Kelly had met on an inauspicious night out two years before they'd married. With Kelly being four years younger than him they'd attended the same High School and her brother Josh had been the same year group as him, so technically they'd known of one another for much longer but had never spoken until that evening. Josh not being in Will's close circle of friends perhaps the reason why their paths had never crossed previously, they had never had the opportunity to get to know one another until that night in 'The Tiger Bar.' Try as he might in truth Will hadn't been able to recall Josh Harris younger Sister from their school days. When they had met years later it had almost been the cliche of eyes meeting across a crowded, dimly lit bar. Much to chagrin at the time it had been Kelly who'd approached him. Will still considered fondly the little black dress she'd worn to be one of his most favourite outfits he'd ever seen her in. Her smile, her long blonde hair, which offset her delicate face were redeeming features, but it was with those big baby blue eyes she'd won his heart. She was perfect. They'd sat chatting over cocktails until the early hours and an almost old-fashioned relationship, by today's standards, had developed. Will had taken pelters from the friends he'd been out with that night for not as they'd put it 'securing the deal' there and then. They'd quite confidently assured him she'd only been humouring him, had had nothing better to do that evening and that there'd be no chance of a second shot with a girl that good looking. One formal official first date dispelled that notion; one date became two and had soon become a full-blown relationship. A relationship they'd nurtured, a relationship that became love, they married in love, conceived two children out of that love, everything had been so perfect and yet now seemed a lifetime ago.

Kelly was, and still is, stunningly good looking just over 6ft tall in her heels, her perfectly proportioned body was as slender and trim now as it had been that first night. The cost of personal trainers and beauty therapists seen to him on their joint credit card bills was possibly testimony to that, joint in ownership of the platinum cards sat in their wallets not joint ownership of ensuring monthly repayments were met.

Snatching the coffee pot Will poured himself a black coffee, while she nonchalantly popped two sweeteners into her own black coffee.

"It's not much to ask when we had to have a chrome fucking toaster that fits eight slices" Will said low enough to be heard but not overheard by the two infants. His tone was jovial enough but could have implied so much more with the slightest of sneers.

"There's plenty of cereal on the table" her less than bothered response.

There was so little passion in their relationship that they couldn't even bring themselves to argue properly anymore.

"Don't worry..." Will stated, although somehow, he doubted, she would be concerned, "...I'm running late so I'll get something from the Canteen at work."

"Well, what's the point of owning one of the South West's largest Meat Wholesalers if you can't get a free bacon roll here and there?" Kelly quipped come sniped, "Mind your waistline though Daddy ... Lexi and Tilly won't want Daddy cuddles from a fat Daddy."

He didn't even bother gratifying her with a response although without pause or hesitation, but perhaps with a perfect example to demonstrate how both the younger heads in the room pay attention to everything in their environment Lexi interrupted, "I like Daddy cuddles whatever"

"Thank you, Lexi ..." Will acknowledged giving his daughter a squeeze and kissing the top of her head before again engaging in verbal sparring "... Much on today Kel?"

"I'm meeting Ellen for coffee and then we're going to the Spa," she replies over the top of her coffee cup.

"After you've dropped the kids to school, right?"

"Mhummm," she didn't even grace him with a response as she took a heavy swig of coffee.

Will took as big a slug of the tepid coffee from his own wide mug, his Wife did have exceptional taste in coffee it had to be said. He set down the mug and ruffled Lexis hair a little as he picked his laptop back up and dropped his head over Tilly's shoulder and kissed her soft slightly pudgy little cheek.

"Girls who loves you?"

"Daddy does," the two infants replied in almost unison while Kelly rooted through a handbag and pulled out a lipstick to reapply.

"Are you coming home for story time Daddy?" Lexi innocently enquired:

"I'll try my best too Lex...I promise."

Will hated making promises he knew he couldn't keep. He waved enthusiastically his goodbyes to the two youngsters and headed out the kitchen back down the hallway only then realising he hadn't even made an attempt at a personal goodbye to Kelly. Opening the front door, he crossed the gravelled drive towards his Silver BMW 7 Series. Distracted by nothing but caught unawares by the cheery; "Morning Mr Marchant:"

Startled Will looked to his left to be greeted by the smiling face of Joanne Pinnock their nanny and all-around home help.

"Sorry Jo, I was miles away... good morning."

"Don't worry," she enthusiastically states, Jo having the kind of personality you can never imagine being anything other than dialled up. It was difficult to put an age on Jo if he hadn't been aware, she was only nineteen, she always dressed a little dowdy and didn't make the most of her pretty face which sat beneath a straight fringe, he didn't think he'd ever seen her even wear her hair down. She was great with the kids though and as loathed as Will had been to bring a stranger into their family unit to help Kelly and the kids, he couldn't have been happier with his choice.

"You're early today Jo," Will enquired.

"Well Mrs Marchant called last night and asked me to take the girls to school today as she's so busy."

"Of course, she did ...of course she did," Will overcompensated his reply to make out like he had full knowledge of his own domestic situation. Silently cursing Kelly yet again.

"You have a nice day Mr Marchant I won't keep you."

"Thanks...and you," Will offered as he opened the driver's side door to his car. Slinging the laptop in the passenger's seat footwell he closed the door and placed the key in the ignition. A warning light come message illuminated notifying him that the Service was due in 2,500 miles.

"Fucks Sake," Will pounded the palm of his hand on the leather steering wheel as much at the prospect of another invoice as in it was in his continued frustration with Kelly. She'd blatantly lied to him about something as simple and trivial as taking the school run before going to meet up with her friend. He knew by now that Kelly rarely managed attendance for the end of school day collection, a job that had fallen to Jo alongside of housework and preparing evening meals. He'd lost track of the last time the family had eaten a meal prepared by Kelly. It wasn't that she couldn't cook either. In the early days of their relationship, they'd engaged in a competitive ritual of alternately cooking for one another, he liked to cook but never had time. Kelly was the better cook but never made time. Nowadays Kelly was too kept in her lifestyle, she didn't work having previously been an Account Manager at a Public Relations firm before Tilly had been born, since then she had never even made noises about returning to work. The easiest thing to do would be to pull Jo's services or reign them in, but he worried for the family unit in his absence, more so the impact on the girls were he to pull such a manoeuvre.

Reversing the car through the gravelled driveway Will slipped on a pair of Ted Baker sunglasses against the early morning glare of what promises to be a warm sunny early May morning. Kelly had never returned to work because she was far too used to the lifestyle his money provided. Too used to being kept, spending money with abandonment furnishing a wardrobe of barely worn clothes, let alone the racks of shoes, lunches, brunches, afternoon teas. Since inheriting the business shortly after Tilly had been born, she'd used the opportunity of the golden ticket for the lifestyle she wanted. He was probably paying for the lifestyle that her best friend Ellen Byrne wanted as well, today's little jolly probably an excuse to get over her latest failed relationship. As far as he could work out Ellen had more failed relationships this year alone than he'd had hot dinners out of Kelly. That was doing Ellen down, she'd had twice as many relationships as he'd had hot dinners.

All that, and unbeknown to Kelly, was in danger of changing.

If Will Marchant didn't sort things out soon then Kelly Marchant was in for a horrible surprise.

**********

Pulling along the Industrial Estate through the smattering of cars already parked up, half on the pavement and half in the road, Will spots a familiar figure up ahead.

He doesn't know who she is as he drops down a gear and slows his approach. A wry smile crosses his face his eye distracted from the clear road ahead of him. He's sees her daily and isn't even sure himself now if he deliberately times his journeys to arrive with the same clockwork precision as she does; give or take a little after seven thirty every morning she's passing. She's become as much a part of his morning routine as brushing his teeth and gulping down a coffee.

His eyes focus on her pert shapely ass cheeks today wrapped in black Lycra with an electric pink trim. As he passes her, he notes that her upper body is covered by an equally tight neon pink cropped sports top that covers her ample breasts and exposes her perfectly toned midriff. The little smile becomes a smirk as he passes looking back in the driver's mirror.

Indicating he attempts to pull left into the main entrance of Marchant House, the main offices and production facility of Marchants Meats only to find a 7.5 Tonne Refrigerated Supply Truck in the entrance at the security gate house. Will apples the breaks a little too heavily having been caught unawares. Then rather than cursing counts his blessings as he rolls the car back a little creating a space for her to have to run through. Moments later he watches the unexpected bonus of the female runner passing between his BMW and the Refrigerated Truck at the gate house. She turns her head and offers a little smile herself accompanied by a wave of appreciation for letting her pass.

Will smiles back, as much at her but also the fact that while he sits here with the engine idling, he can take the opportunity to openly perv on her a little longer this morning as she passes on down the pavement through the industrial estate. Noting her long auburn hair plaited into a single ponytail that bounces across the back of her shoulders.

"Morning Mr. Marchant," comes a cheery booming voice through the dropped passenger window as he eventually pulls up to the gatehouse.

"Morning Sid..." Will offers to the friendly faced rotund Security Guard, "...I've a visitor this morning ...Harry Jacobs the accountant... about 11 if you can see he's down on the visitors log for me."

"Sure thing Mr. Marchant ... have a great day."

Pulling up into his space next to the main reception Will Marchant retrieved his Laptop from the footwell and heads in through the glass double doors leading to the reception area. With a flight of stairs to his left and to his right Will starts to ascend the staircase to his right, as he always dies, both sets of stairs met at the top of an atrium overlooking the reception. Had he taken the double doors in front of him he would have traversed the corridors that took him to the Meat Processing factory that took up the vast majority of the building.

Merchants Meats had been established by his Great Great Grandfather Wilberforce Marchant in 1893. The family firm had always operated in the City, but these premises were less than ten years old. Always a family business for generations they'd initially also run their own chain of high street butchers, but demand for such outlets had fallen as supermarkets offered lower priced, lower quality products for the masses who now shopped and purchased for convenience over anything else. Under himself and his Father before him the main focus of the business had been Meat Processing and ironically more and more so supply to the national chains that had eroded their market and their subsequent profits. The staircase was lined with portraits of the past alongside aerial and high street shots of their former premises. At the top of the staircase, in photographic format, the beaming smile of his father Frank Marchant. The heavy set and big-hearted jovial man that greeted him and stirred a pang of remorse nearly every day. The big heart that hadn't been big enough for his large body. The heart attack that had taken him in his sleep nearly six years ago had ripped a chasm in Will's life. His Dad has never met Lexi and had barely met Tilly when they'd lost him.

Will regretted very little in life, but he regretted not spending more time with his Father, they were as close as any Father and Son could hope to be but there was so much about running this place that Will hadn't comprehended at the time, that he hadn't felt the need to comprehend. Now it was too late, and the mistakes made in the last few years had been costly to the business. Costly to the point that financially the business was facing ruin without investments. Investment the banks weren't willing to provide. Investment that Will could only look to generate with an immediate cash injection from a third party. Third parties were harder to come by than banks. Third parties would circle like vultures over a carcass waiting for their moment to strip Marchants Meats when they hit their most vulnerable. Will Marchant refused to let that happen.

At the top of the stairs Will swiped his security card against a door lock which swung open into a desolate Administration Office. Where once there would have been a hustle and bustle of twenty or so staff now there would be five or six employees at best on a busy day. Some roles had been unnecessary and a luxury for years, other roles had simply been swallowed up into the day jobs of other employees. Everybody saw the signs of failure but those around him concentrated on themselves and self-preservation, it had proved a good motivator even if it wasn't a ringing endorsement for the fiscal health of the business.

Approaching his office, he wasn't surprised to see his most diligent worker already sat behind her desk. Felicity Bowerman, Flick as everyone around the site knew her, Flit as some cruelly called her given her erratic and excitable nature and how she would 'flit' around the building ensuring even the most mundane of tasks was completed with inbounding energy levels. It didn't matter what time Will arrived at the offices she always seemed to be there before him. Her aptitude and approach should be a benchmark for others not a constant source of amusement.

"Morning Will," she cheerily chirped from behind her wide dark rimmed yet stylish glasses, geek chic was a term Will would certainly apply to her attire. Today's ensemble a little white blouse under a mustard cardigan. Her red hair and pale skin made her not unattractive, but she wasn't what Will would ever call attractive.

"Morning Flick ...another day in paradise ...how was your weekend?"

"Oh, you know so so," she replied, "Spent most of Sunday just curled up on the sofa with Arthur."