Chapter 14

Theresa challenged me in another way. “Are you going to be around enough to be a good father? I have heard of army men being sent abroad on duty, for instance.”

I nodded, acknowledging her concern.

“It is always a possibility, but in my current military post, I am based in this country more or less permanently. The senior commanders would have trouble finding me among the ranks, for my post requires a degree of anonymity, due to intelligence work that I embark on, or get asked to do. My anonymous presence means the senior officers would have trouble finding me, never mind appointing me to a field position. I can’t talk about it, but my present duties should keep me in the U.K. for the foreseeable future.”

“In that case, I am all yours, Alec. Make me your third wife, and hopefully we can be happy together.”

I didn’t rush her, but at the urging of Phemie and Fiona, once her appointment at the school was happily confirmed, I started the sequence which led to her being deflowered the night after. Like Fiona and Phemie, she had breasts worth admiring, and I got to make her like how they felt under my hands. Something in her past life had caused her hymen to rupture, and so she had no pain when I first entered her, just a slight discomfort. This made her additional move to the level of gratification much more straightforward, and as soon as she and the other ladies were awake together, she was chattering to them of her new status as a fulfilled woman, having been filled by my penis and received my essence in full; and she got the pleasing congratulations she sought.

My other life was less simple.

News of what was happening with the crime syndicate came to me slowly, as and when Smith felt I was worth telling. This is how it developed, according to him.

Apparently each of the burgled syndicate members were furious at what had been lost in their absence, and even more so when they found that the others were in the same pickle. With it all happening at the same time, this was obviously an organised attack on them, very military in style. Then, when they found that my nemesis was the only one whose trophies were still intact, suspicions ran riot, but no accusations were made directly that he orchestrated the thieving.

They began to accuse him of somehow being complicit in the burglaries. He spluttered out various claims of innocence, but it was when he told them in all seriousness that it must have been a dead man’s activities, that they began to view him as a real liability due to mental imbalance. Their messages between each other, intercepted by Smith’s minions. took on a macabre tone, with the suggestion that if it was a dead man, then perhaps he ought to be encouraged to find him in the next world.

Smith was gratified at such progress, and set into action his idea of some of the stolen goods being found in my enemy’s garden shed. He suggested the stash might be hidden under a pile of old hessian sacks, and arranged for that to be the reality. Once these stolen goods were in place, he sent an anonymous message to one of the syndicate, indicating that some stolen valuables might be hidden somewhere in my enemy’s garden to avoid discovery in his house. The message suggested that the sender was somewhat peeved at not getting what to him was his due share of stolen goods, so he wanted to get his own back.

Nothing was specific in the message, just enough to imply that a search of that garden might be profitable.

I asked him, “Do you expect them to kill him off, or merely demand restitution?”

He laughed at these notions.

“No, none of them are known to be killers by nature, and he is continuing to insist he is innocent and has nothing of theirs. That is when they can produce their evidence of some of their valuables in his possession. At a minimum I expect they will beat him up, or have someone else do it, in the hopes of him coming up with the location of more of the purloined goods. Tough guys have been known to resist even such severe pressure, and might require another dose to accelerate the results.”

I sought more information.

“Are you going to just watch all this, or intervene in some way?”

There was a pause, then he admitted, “I might wait until he gets a bad beating, then get an operative to take it a little further, perhaps a simple pillow over the face, so that he dies, and his friends will assume that he expired because of their own efforts to get him to talk, and regretfully conclude that they had inadvertently lost the remainder of their stolen assets.”

I acknowledged, “Sounds like a solution, only don’t ask me to deliver the coup de grâce as I am not a cold-blooded killer. War is war, but killing a man who is defenceless at the time, is not my cup of tea, as I am sure you know.”

“Regrettably, I am aware of your scruples, and I will not ask you to do that. Your abilities are of a more subtle variety.”

“Thank you. Your discretionary commands are appreciated.”

“I’ll keep you posted. The odd occurrence may be of interest. Goodbye.”

He was no sooner off the phone than I remembered I should have asked him about my sons and my ex-wife. Michele had drifted out of my memory, being replaced by my new wives, but I should not have let Jack and Tony out of my thoughts. I will ring Smith again in a couple of hours to ask about them.

Once I did that, he asked for time to get an update and ring me back. His news turned out to be favourable, for he now told me that if I rang her phone, she would most likely be amenable to a transfer of custody. That was all he would say, but I suspected one or more of his operatives had been pushing the idea with her, on the basis of her being free of them to find a new man more easily.

I rang her the same day, and she exclaimed, “Alec? I haven’t heard from you in ages. What are you up to?”

“Many things, Michele. I have been busy with work duties and I have even been giving talks about warfare at a secondary school. Through that, I met a woman who clicked with me, and we have got together. She is now pregnant and it made me think that Jack and Tony might fit in with us before long, if you would consider that possible.”

Her voice became excited as she revealed, “I have been thinking about that, Alec. I was not very fair to you when we divorced, and I was thinking that you should get a chance to be around them more. If you have got a possible new mother for them, I could let you have them for a while and see how you got on.”

“And if that works out with me and my new lady, might they stay with me?”

“As long as our boys are happy, Alec; that is what is important, not our own troubles. You would let me come to visit sometimes?”

“Of course, Michele. I might not be present, due to work commitments, but I am sure my new lady would be willing to have you visit them.”

My thoughts were that if she came to visit, I would be outside, watching for anyone following her. She would not be broadcasting that she had handed her sons over to me to look after (it wouldn’t look good), so it was unlikely that she would be giving out Phemie’s address, so I thought my new location would be safe. I was not even sure which of my wives would end up acting as the prime Mum to my boys.

All three would take their share I was sure, but I would get the boys to call Phemie their mother, and the other two girls their aunties. That would be easier for them until Michele stopped visiting, then we could switch to Mummy Phemie, Mummy Fiona and Mummy Theresa. By that time Phemie may have her child, and the other two expecting if all went well.

Now that we had an arrangement, even if just verbal, I could start discussions with my ladies to brief them on the probable changes ahead. I needed them to be on-side for this to work. I was fairly sure they would be cooperative, based on Phemie’s earlier declaration of becoming their mother, but one never assumes; always confirm, is my motto.

At home, making Theresa a new wife was a job in itself. It was not just having sex with her, it was the question of integrating a third spouse into our family life. This is not as easy as might be assumed. For a start, we would have to decide on a pattern for my lovemaking with three instead of two spouses to keep happy. Phemie’s double bed allowed the three of us to squeeze in together, but four was impossible, so we will probably be back to one-on-one scheduling.

Thought for advance planning: double beds for everyone, with an extra single that can be linked to a double for us to have a foursome get-together occasionally, just to show the unity in our relationship; our acceptance of each other without reservation.

Sharing of household chores: that would have to be discussed. We now have two spouses working in a catering environment, and I am also no slouch in making meals, though pretty basic is my rule. House cleaning is not my forte, so I’ll leave that to the girls to share. I suppose I could do some vacuuming, if it came to the pinch.

Either would each do certain tasks in turn, or each would accept responsibility for specific jobs. I guess I would be detailed to move the refuse from the flat to the communal waste bins at the back of the block. From what Phemie told me, they now have a protective wire cage round them, with a padlock, to prevent intruders dumping stuff in our bins instead of taking it to the local waste centre.

My god! I have just realised that if we have a number of children, the workload will increase dramatically. It used to be bad enough with two infants in nappies, but four or five new youngsters are going to mean masses of unrecyclable waste, unless we go back to the cloth nappies of the past, where a biodegradable nappy liner catches the solid waste and that can be disposed of down the toilet, leaving only the cloth nappies to be dunked in a sanitiser bucket until time to do a full load in the washing machine. I suppose it makes sense, environmentally, as I have read that thousands of tonnes of used so-called ‘disposable’ nappies are piling up in landfill around the world, leaving us with another waste heap as an extra future headache.

At the academy, Fiona’s proposed changes involved expenditure on electronic notice boards, upgraded tills to take credit card payments, as well as the new cards that those due free meals could now use just like credit cards and be seen as ‘normal’. The school cards for subsidised meals should look identical to bank credit cards, just a different pattern. A bonus was that this would allow the school canteen to record through receipts all consumed meals and drinks, and not just those formally paid for, so this permitted more accountability for ‘sales’, to be laid against identifiable costs. This gave Fiona a better handle on the throughput in both directions, so she would know what stock she still had available.

This new routine permitted better stock control, and she introduced what was almost a ‘just in time’ stock ordering instead of having a large stock of ingredients held at any one time, some of which might go out of date before use. She was able from this to show a profitability level and work out what new sales she could generate between meal times by operating as a sort of cafe offering drinks, cakes and biscuits, initially for staff but probably also for pupils not currently in a classroom or ensconced in the school library. Another thought was that if she made a lounge corner for staff, they may not need a proper staff-room any longer, simply lockers for changes of shoes and clothes between work and outside life. Simple dividers would mark off the staff lounge area.

In all this, Theresa kept well clear of involvement with Fiona other than what she was employed to do. She had decided that to reveal any emotional or familial connection would be a bad idea. She was right, as places of employment tend to frown on such practices.

Phemie also made no reference to her connection with Fiona or indeed Theresa. She stayed with her fellow teachers at mealtimes and breaks, and at last appeared with a ring on her left hand on the appropriate finger.

Accused shortly after of keeping quiet about her attachment, she told them that she had been swept off her feet by a ‘wonderful man’ and they had gone through a marriage ceremony in a seaside town where neither was known. She did not give it a name.

“But you didn’t invite any of us, Phemie!” was the next accusation, and she explained that it was her new husband’s desire for a quiet wedding as he had a job in a security capacity where he needed to keep to himself his altered state of matrimony.

“I can’t even tell you the company he works for, as he hasn’t revealed even that to me, but it is well paid work, so we should be fine. He is a great guy to be with; very attentive. He has started looking for a proper house for us instead of the flat I have and his own itinerant residential status at present. I’ll let you know when we settle on a new place to stay.”

“What’s his name, or is that private as well?”

Phemie admitted, “I can say that his given name is Alec, but we have agreed to use the married name of Jones, as that is his professional name in his work. It is almost like actors and actresses, but the name is not registered like theirs is. Here I will stay as Reynolds, as that is how I am known in the profession.”

“Sounds a bit dodgy, Phemie. Are you sure you can trust him? He might be after your money.”

“Highly unlikely, seeing he has given me his credit card for buying things we need. He trusts me with his money, ladies. What more can a girl ask?”

“Wow!” exclaimed another teacher. “My man and I keep our finances separate, as we are both working, to save arguments about spending. Your husband must really love you, Phemie.”

“He does. He even helps with shopping and making meals.”

“Definitely a man to keep,” said another lady. “My husband is handless in the kitchen.”

A third teacher, still single, asked Phemie, “Are there any more like him at home, Phemie?”

She laughed, “Actually, I introduced Fiona to one of his relatives, and they seem to get on well together, but who knows? I don’t know of any other unmarried men in his family.”

“Drat!” exclaimed the girl. “Foiled again!”

The first teacher quizzed Phemie again. “Is that the Fiona who recently took over the canteen?”

“Yes. She is my cousin, but I didn’t want any claims of nepotism. She came to visit me while her parents were off on a cruise, and serendipitous the vacancy came up here. Fiona had not long ago qualified at catering school, and was depressed at what posts commercial restaurants had to offer, so I encouraged her to apply for this job. She is a go-getter and talented, so I expect many improvements here in the future.”

“Good for you, Phemie. The food has already improved, I noticed: not so tasteless, for a start, and always properly hot, so I expect they are fully heating the plates before use.”

The others added their own positive opinions, so Phemie promised to pass on these comments.

For myself, my tranquil domestic idyll came to an end when Smith phoned me with a query.

“Jones, we have identified the residence where a load of dangerous contraband is coming from. It is a house in the suburbs, and we think that either drugs or arms are being stored there, perhaps even both, but the cops don’t have enough evidence for a search warrant, only suspicions. I want to get them the evidence for a raid. Any suggestions?”

“Not immediately, boss, but I will think about it. I presume you were thinking I could get in and find what is there.”

“There is that, but I can’t have you as an official witness and blow your cover. It will have to be more subtle.”

“Right. A means for the fuzz to have legitimate reason to enter; got you. Leave it with me, and I’ll ring back when I have something to suggest.”

That injunction gave me an issue to think over while engaging in domestic chores, so I kicked about a number of ideas until one struck me as more practical: a fire. If a fire starts in a residence, the fire brigade are called out and can enter the premises to extinguish the blaze; forcibly if necessary. Almost every time, the police attend the scene as well. If the firemen see or smell something suspicious which might indicate deliberate fire-raising, they can call the police inside to investigate further so, hey presto, the police are able to look into what might be stashed in the building, with the fire as justification, for other fire combustion sites may be present; no warrant required.