Free Freya's Quest by Julian Lawrence Brooks

flowing in the wind, was an experience I never dreamed I’d ever have. I parked in the forecourt, pulling up the roof of the car again.
    Then I headed straight for the library. I searched patiently for the scrapbooks. I found them in amongst some ancient books on witchcraft and black magic. They turned out to be elaborately bound volumes, very similar to those around them. There were ten in all, each one representing a year, starting with the publication of his first book.
    Every article and review ever published on Dylan appeared to be here. The good and the bad. His first novel, Pillar Rock (1977), named after a real feature above Ennerdale, was a fictionalized account of the beginnings of rock climbing in the 1890s. The sport had indeed started in the Lakes at this time, apparently by people like O.G. Jones, Haskett-Smith and the Abraham Brothers, whom I’d never heard of. It had had good reviews, won awards, but hadn’t sold well.
    His second book, The Music Man (1979), about the rise and fall of a rock star, had secured his future. The book had been developed for film. He had written the screenplay himself. Hollywood had made him a millionaire several times over.
    His other books, The Immigrant (1982), Beyond the Raging Sea (1983) and Friends and Lovers (1985) had enhanced his literary reputation, if not his bank balance. He was now seen as a leading figure in a new wave of young writers.
    However, increasingly the articles were shifting away from reviews and interviews about his work, towards sensational tabloid exposure of his private life. Highly publicized affairs with a page-three girl, Sheila Delaney; the French cult-film actress, Monique Devereaux; and the pop singer, Amy Morgan, with whom he’d co-written a number of protest songs; had brought the image of Dylan the playboy to life. He’d also been named in the divorce courts twice, and had broken up the marriages of several celebrities. The greatest publicity had surrounded his affair with a cabinet minister’s married daughter, which had led to a pregnancy, and then to a scandal.
    The articles began to peter out after 1985, with only the occasional story by one of his ex-lovers or one-night-standers, who’d cashed in with pieces like:

    MY NIGHT WITH DYLAN QUEST
    or

    CON-QUEST

    I had to laugh. Yet it revealed a very real fear that Dylan was exploiting me as much as all these other women, as Emily and Veronica had warned. What he hadn’t expected, though, was that I’d used my pre-knowledge of his womanizing reputation to help me seduce him in the first place.
    I put the heavy volumes away and went to the lounge with the copy of Friends and Lovers I’d all but finished.
    Dylan came back when I was settling myself onto the sofa.
    He stormed into the room, his anger all too evident.
    I stood up. ‘What’s wrong Dyl….?’
    He shoved me back down with force.
    ‘Shut up and listen! I want you to tell me the truth now. No more lies or you can fuck off!’
    I cowered. ‘What d’you mean?’
    ‘You know exactly what I mean! You’ve been lying to me ever since we met! Everything you’ve told me’s probably untrue.’
    ‘Eh?’ I struggled to regain some composure.
    ‘Give up, Freya. I went through the wreckage of your car. I found notebooks full of shorthand. Tell me the truth. You’re an undercover journalist, aren’t you?’
    ‘’Course not….’ putting on an indignant face. ‘I’m really only a secretary. I use shorthand all the time at work.’
    I wasn’t lying. And whilst John had dabbled with writing in his youth, he was no journalist either.
    Dylan sat down, cooling off a little. ‘Thank God. Ronni said you’d been asking all these questions. Then I found the notebooks. I came to a logical conclusion, albeit a wrong one. I’m just so fed up with hacks invading my privacy and exploiting my good nature.’
    He paused when he saw how upset I was getting.
    ‘I’m sorry. I’ve overreacted….Just promise me you won’t sell your