Jenny cursed under her breath.
"Who the heck is that at this time in the morning?" she muttered, wrapping her towelling dressing gown around her slender body, her blond hair all over the place. It was Saturday morning and she was having a lie in. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Jenny opened the door, ensuring the security chain was still on, peering through the gap.
"Oh, hello Jenny. I wondered if I might come in for a minute if that's OK?" a voice said. Jenny groaned inside, it was Charlie, the old creep who lived across the landing from her. He was a real creep, early sixties and reeked 24/7 of alcohol, this morning was no different. He was also a bit of a pervert, Jenny had decided, as he was always watching her from his window or coming out of his door as she was leaving, making lewd comments about what clothes she wore. She'd also heard the unmistakeable sounds of porno films on his TV when she got home late at night and the thought of his masturbating over images of her made her flesh crawl,
"I'm not up for guests, Charlie" Jenny protested. "Call back later" she said, intending to shut the door. "Much, much later after I've gone out" she thought to herself.
Charlie persisted.
"No, you don't understand, I've got something that I think is yours and you might want it back" he suggested.
"Like what?" Jenny retorted. She'd not lost anything recently, not that she could remember. Maybe she'd lost her dignity, but he'd not know about that. In fairness, it was something Jenny would rather have not remembered, either.
"Let me in and I'll tell you" he persevered.
"Look, I'm not dressed and I've only just woken up" Jenny replied, running her hand through her untidy hair. It may only have been Charlie but she was not going to be intimidated by him. She'd had enough of Chris, the creep from Uni and Omar and Richie intimidating her into unsavoury acts and she sure as hell was not happy to be intimidated by her neighbour.
"Why don't you drop by my flat in, say, fifteen minutes" Charlie replied, checking his wrist watch. "I know you'll want this item back" he smiled, his grin revealing his grotesque array of uneven teeth, mostly grey in colour with a couple of teeth missing, making his appearance quite unpleasant.
"Yeah, OK!" Jenny replied, having absolutely no intention of complying with his request to join him in his grotty apartment.
"If not, I'll advertise it on my new website" he said. Jenny groaned to herself again. Charlie may be a retired old wanker but he was an I.T. whiz-kid, there was very little he didn't know about computers and I.T. He'd even ridded her computer of some dodgy virus a couple of months earlier and he'd make excuses to update Jenny's computer with an array of new software (she hadn't known it, but he'd also captured some of her personal files for his own perverse use, too), so whatever he'd found, she'd better repossess it. Jenny guessed maybe a pair of her underwear had found it's way into his possession, maybe she'd dropped something when she'd got back from the launderette a few nights ago.
"Yeah, OK. Let me get dressed and have a coffee or something" Jenny protested, closing the door and leaning her back against it. The door was a big, heavy wooden frame yet she felt she could almost feel Charlie's pungent breath against the nape of her neck. She shuddered involuntarily.
Half an hour, two mugs of steaming hot coffee, a piece of toast and a shower later, Jenny had donned a pair of comfy, albeit hip-hugging jeans and a top before stepping out on to the shared landing, her keys in her hand. She sensed, rather than heard, Charlie's front door open.
"I thought you'd wanted me to keep it" he said, grinning evilly and beckoning Jenny into his apartment. She brushed past him, Charlie purposely standing in her way as she made her way into his flat. Inside, the décor looked dated and grubby, the curtains were dusty and smelt of old people. The windows had no net curtains but his privacy would remain intact, the windows so dirty Jenny thought the weather was overcast instead of sunny intervals. The recent showers had blown over but the autumnal weather concealed the brisk breeze that shook the trees outside the window, the orange and gold autumn leaves loosing their grip on the branches they had held on to so firmly over the spring and summer months, now falling to the ground like giant colourful snow flakes, leaving patterns on the pavement below.
Yet despite the glorious beauty that autumn beholds, Jenny felt gloomy, the entire room, if not the entire flat felt dank, a hint of moth balls mixed with the aroma of an un-flushed toilet whilst the carpet beneath her Nike's felt as though they were sticking rather than gliding over the surface. The lounge was littered with newpapers and magazines, mostly male orientated mags around cars, computers and girlie mags. Jenny tried to conceal another involuntary shudder.
"So tell me. What do you have of mine, then?" she asked, her voice perky as though trying to cheer herself up. Charlie smiled and moved a pile of grubby towels from a chair so she could sit down.
"I've got something I think you dropped" he said, reaching into a wooden cabinet behind him. He rummaged around for a few moments and Jenny started to get frustrated at his incompetent behaviour. He cursed a little under his breath then he snapped his fingers.
"I'll show you" he said, almost running over to his Desktop PC which was on in the background, the screen saver of a well known tabloid newspaper page 3 model suddenly disappearing as he hit the keyboard. His fingers tapped away deftly and Jenny mused how much exercise his fingers got whilst he was watching the various TV channels somewhere towards the 900 numbers on the digibox.
Jenny expected a photo image of the lost property to display on the screen or, at least the web page for Ebay displaying the lost item for auction.
Instead, she saw media player boot up.
"Quality is really good, this is. Digital is always better in my experience" he said, his eyes wide like saucers as he watched Jenny with perverse interest. Jenny raised her eyebrows to the ceiling, refocusing on the screen. Then she visibly paled, her jaw dropped and her face began to sweat.
The screen showed her in sexual activity with Omar, the footage having been shot by Richie. But how?
"Shit!" she said out loud. Charlie laughed out loud.
"Yes" he said, his grin as wide as any Cheshire cat, his laughing becoming almost maniacal. "You left it in the cab and you know what they say? Finders keepers!"
"I want it back" she said, her stony face trying to look menacing and serious. Charlie laughed out loud even more.
"I bet you do" he said. "Well, what's it worth?" he jested.
