Junk Mail

Chapter Twenty One - Panic, Patience and Pain

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell me about it all before you left," Larry said. "Maybe I could've done something to help, without you risking so much in the middle of the night."

Ben continued looking through his company reports and making notes in his black notebook, ignoring his father. The company's financial year was coming to an end and Ben wanted to make sure that they were on track to get the maximum amount of profit they had set out to earn. Larry was evaluating how they'd done in terms of expanding on international business, and Ara was working with the Research and Development team to see what could be done to improve their products for the following financial year. Ben was waiting to talk to her as he wanted to begin reinventing their packaging, and making it more environmentally friendly so he could add to their contribution to the environment section on the company website. Ben was so focused that he didn't want Larry breaking his concentration.

"And the Pepe el thing?" Larry asked. "That one really shocked me. He's really related to dodgy Davis? Always knew the kid was a bit strange and now I know why. You do attract the weirdest friends, son."

Ben took his work into his study and hoped to finish it there. He would've gone into work but the ceiling was leaking in his office and Ben didn't want to use another office where he would have a different desk - one that didn't have pens, equipment and food in strategically placed positions, like in his usual office and his desk at home. Ben was, however, beginning to regret his decision as Larry followed him into the study and settled down on Ben's sofa.

"But I suppose it was kind of cool how you had a camera and everything ready," Larry continued, oblivious to Ben's irritation. "You want to quit this job and become a spy?"

Ben didn't know how he could become a spy after just one lucky mission, if it could even be called that. And, besides, Ben felt that he had lost a lot more than he had earned after the revelation about Pepe el's heritage, and finding out where Pepe el's loyalties lied.

"But Davis sure got what was coming to him," Larry said gleefully. "I bet he never expected the police to turn up at his door in the morning and arrest him. Hopefully the judge will give him lifetime imprisonment when he gets sentenced this week."

Ben sighed. "Dad, I don't think he can get lifetime imprisonment for doing what he did. And can we stop talking about this? We've got lots to get through."

Larry did not listen to Ben and carried on talking about the case and the happiness he felt at Andrew Davis's misfortunes. After capturing Andrew Davis admitting his crimes on camera, Ben had thought he would feel relieved and happy but Ben just felt tired and overwhelmed. In the months following Ben's confrontation with Davis, he and Ara had been working tirelessly to make sure sales and production were on track, and that any faults in their products were resolved in the lead up to Christmas, as this was when they saw the biggest boost in sales. People tended to buy laptops, tablets and computers in the Christmas period and often decided to buy security software along with their devices. Larry had spent the last few months in and out of England, and Helena's workload had been reduced as she approached retirement which meant the workload on Ben and Ara had increased.

Though Ben was tired and irritable, a part of him welcomed the distraction that work brought. Ben didn't want to think about what Pepe el was doing or going through. After the police had arrested and charged Andrew Davis and Susanna, Pepe el hadn't gotten in touch with Ben. The only time Ben had seen Pepe el in the last six months was in court, when Ben had gone in to give evidence. Pepe el had been sitting and watching the trial with other members of the general public, but had not made eye contact with Ben. Ben knew that Pepe el would slowly come to accept what his father had done as wrong, but Ben also knew that his friend had wanted the entire matter solved without the authorities involved which was impossible now.