Writing Fiction a novel - Exclusive for Steemit - Diamonds and Deviants

Diamonds and Deviants

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This picture my own - others from Google Free to use images

Part 1
Part 2

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She returned home before three am. Mike was still on duty although the other Security Guy had changed.

She smiled at Mike and said goodnight. He didn’t reply, but he did nod to her and she took the stairs up to the top of the building to her apartment.

When Mike first began working at the building, he found Miss Diamond to be a curiosity for him. When he found out she lived at the top of the building, he wondered why she took the stairs and he even thought that taking the stairs was perhaps all for show.

He would keep an eye on the elevators to see if she called for one on a higher level but she never did. He was elated one time when she had gone up the stairs and the elevator was called from the fifteenth floor but it only made him laugh to himself when the elevator descended with the fifteenth floor resident inside, not Miss Diamond.

He decided at last that she used the stair climbing three or four times a day as a means of keeping fit rather than using a gym. It made perfect sense, he supposed, but for his needs, all-over muscle strength as well as cardio, the gym would suit him just fine.

Mike had gone by the time Miss Diamond descended the stairs again at seven am. She was dressed in a beautifully tailored suit that would have impressed Mike no end. The Security Guy on duty said “good morning” to her. She walked outside, straight into the waiting cab.

“Good morning Eddie,” she said as she settled in.

“Morning miss,” he said and pulled out into the traffic. The sun had not yet broached the high rises to cast its rays onto the street. By the time she arrived at her offices, it was just glinting through gaps between the buildings but the windows were UV reflective and she could work on the north facing side of the building with the excuse that the views over the bay were too stupendous to miss.

Celtica Diamond was deemed a workaholic by her staff and colleagues. She was there before anyone else and frequently stayed after everyone had left. She didn’t need to justify her work ethic but if ever she wanted to, she would simply say that the success of her companies had not happened by mere coincidence.

Celtica kept a healthy distance between her staff and herself. They were encouraged to call her “Miss Diamond” rather than Celtica. It was only when they were raised far enough through the ranks that the privilege of using her first name was bestowed.

So when she heard the words “Hello Celtica,” she looked up in surprise at her visitor. She had been engrossed in the paperwork that was strewn across her desk and although the handsome young man that had walked in unannounced was not unfamiliar to her, she had not been aware of his presence until he had spoken. He had managed to sneak up on her - that was no mean feat even under the circumstances of her full absorption with matters at hand.

He was dressed in a fifteen thousand dollar suit and just by wearing it, he made it look like a thirty thousand dollar suit. She removed her glasses and looked at him. “How did you get in here, Gideon?” she asked without malice but it was clear that she wasn’t pleased.

“Don’t be angry Celtica, I have an appointment. I’m here on business.”

“What kind of business would we have in common?”

“Oh, you know, just the usual. Hotel security, private investigation,” a pause and then: “investigations into a murder.” He said the last words with such nonchalance that an eavesdropper probably wouldn’t have taken much notice.

Celtica didn’t flinch, she didn’t react in any way except that her eyes narrowed. “Murder? Whose? And, more importantly, when? I suppose what I meant to ask was: has it been committed yet?”

He smiled at her insinuation. “Yes it’s been committed. It’s been investigated and the perpetrator has been found guilty, convicted and imprisoned.”

“So why do you need me?”

“Because it’s not enough. I want the one that ordered the murder. The one that paid for it to be done. I want the guy that really killed my brother and I want his head on a platter.”

“Ah, in that case, you’re in the wrong place. This company doesn’t know anything about vigilante behaviour, illegal reprisals or revenge attacks. We’re a respectable company.” She said the words to dismiss him but gestured that he take a seat anyway. “I know you’re hurting, Gideon and I could offer as many platitudes as you could swallow. They got the guy that murdered Simeon, he’ll serve his sentence, he’ll do his time, he’ll pay his debt to society but that’s so much crap that I don’t even believe it myself, so why should you?”