Chapter 12

Ged walked round the empty flat. Nothing of what Cassie and he had bought remained. In his old office-cum-music room there was the filing cabinet and the computer without a monitor or keyboard. Nothing else.

Ged sat on the floor of the flat and sorted the mail, looking for letters from the bank or from the courts, placing them in a pile of their own. He found the electricity and gas bills, all red, and realised by experiment that the electricity had been cut off and so had the gas. He went to the fridge, since it was built in, it had been left, and shut the door as soon as he opened it, as the stale rancid smell filled the kitchen.

He was puzzled. Hadn't he set up direct debits for all the services before he went, so that Cassie would not need to worry about bills? Didn't Gus funnel a monthly payment into his household account via a Standing Order to make sure everything was paid? He phoned Gus on his mobile.

"Hi Ged!" shouted Gus on picking up. He had 'Caller ID.' "Great tour! You coming in to see the takings?"

"Yes, Gus," Ged replied, in a flat monotone.

Gus picked up the tone immediately. "Hey, mate, I'm sorry about Cassie."

"So am I," answered Ged, "but there's something more urgent to deal with. Did you stop paying into my Bills Account for the flat?"

"No?" he answered. "The monthly payment is still being paid."

"So why have I a repossession order on the flat for non-payment of mortgage; Why is there no furniture left here? Why is my electric and gas cut off; why is there a summons to pay my council tax?"

Silence. Then, "Ged, have you checked your account on line?"

"Difficult without electricity – a wi-fi router needs power."

"OK," Gus replied, more soberly. "Can you get over here? We can do everything from here."

Once in Gus's office, there were a number of further revelations. The first was the household account in his name. Gus called up the previous five months.

"Bloody Hell!" gasped Ged.

"Fucking Nora!" muttered Gus, as they cast their eyes over the figures.

"That's the date they married," Gus pointed. "Look, from a month before, as soon as the money comes in, it goes out again. Let's look at standing orders."

"There!" Ged observed. "A payment to another bank account – sort code and account number, and her name! The fucking bitch! She's siphoned off all the money! And she's still doing it! Did she take all the furniture?"

There are ways of finding out, but for now, we'll just stop it."

And they did. Ged then set up another account on line, and Gus transferred five months' money into it. They transferred the Direct Debits. Then it was time to phone the bank about the mortgage.

"You might like to know," Gus said with a smile, "that you have eight million sitting in the holding deposit account in the same bank, waiting for you to decide what to do with it. More coming in all the time – large amounts – there's still a good quarter of the takings to come, let alone sales."

Ged phoned, and asked for the manager. As usual he was put off – the manager was 'in a meeting.'

He gave the girl on the other end his account number.

"Got my details?" he snapped.

"Yes, sir," she said. "You seem to be in arrears with your payments on the mortgage."

"Is there a deposit account on your screen?" There was a silence. And then a whispered, "Good God!"

"I want the manager on the phone NOW!" Ged shouted. "Or I take my business elsewhere."

It turned out that the manager's meeting ended at that very moment, and he was able to come to the phone immediately. Amazing! He began to talk about the arrears, when Ged cut him off.

"Did it not appear strange to anyone in your benighted branch, that there might be something going on – eight million in one account and five months' arrears on the mortgage?"

"Well--"

"Is there a note to the effect that while I've been away, Mr Gus Mettleson is handling my affairs?"

"Let me see ... Well, yes."

"Why did no one call him or write to him? Aren't you allowed by law to take money from my deposit account and settle the arrears? Why am I being threatened with repossession?"

The man's apologies were fulsome and even grovelling. He would get to the bottom of the matter and he would rescind the penalty charges; any court action would be halted. Ged asked about the furniture. At first, he was told the bank sent the bailiffs in to reclaim the arrears and sold his effects.

"You will replace every stick of furniture, all the equipment and appliances. You will do it quickly, or I will be suing you, and of course removing my business from your bank. Then I get in touch with Head Office. Understand?"

He understood, and asked for an inventory.

"Get it from the bailiffs. Your problem, not mine. Further I have nowhere to live because of your incompetence. What are you going to do about it?"

He would be put up in a hotel of his choosing.

"Now," Ged went on. "It appears there has been some embezzlement of my household account. Someone has siphoned off all the money my agent placed there. I want to know who has done it. Use your brains – there was an unauthorised Standing Order removing the money as soon as it arrived. I want action. It's fraud."

The bank would work with the police to find who had done it. Ged disconnected.

Gus handled the Gas and Electric people, pointing out that they had been informed that all communications were to go to him. They hadn't, and now Mr Smith was cut off. Urgent action and compensation were required, and agreed. A similar call to the Council Offices took much longer. Public servants are often slow on the uptake. Finally the phone company.

Ged was angry, very angry. "Gus," he grumbled, "I need a lawyer. That cow has swindled me – Fraud? Embezzlement? I want her sued for the money and compensation for what's been done to the flat. I don't care that it's Cassie. She had no right to do that; it was petty and vindictive."

"Graham Pilkington," said Gus. "He's very good, and he tells it like it is. He's a bit pricey, but worth it."

Ged left Gus's office on his promise that he would arrange a meeting with Graham, and made for one of the best hotels in the City. Tomorrow he would be at home to welcome the re-instatement of his services.

Next day saw him, wearing a mask, clearing the fetid mess in the fridge and freezer, and airing and cleaning the flat. He was impressed that Gas and Electricity were re-connected that morning, and he received a phone call from Gus inviting himself and Graham to the flat that afternoon.

"Do you only deal with people whose names begin with 'G'?" Ged joked, as Gus introduced Graham.

"Only the Good ones!" came the sharp retort.

"There's nowhere to sit," Ged reminded him.

"We'll stand!" Gus responded.

On their arrival, Ged explained what had happened, and how the living arrangements had been with Cassie. Once finished, they awaited Graham's comment. Graham looked round the bare flat.

"Not good news," Graham began. "You lived together, and had a common current account, so technically she was entitled to take money from that account, so you've no redress there.

"But your household bills account – that's different. She had no rights over that.

"You owned the flat but she paid nothing to stay, so there's no tenancy agreement, and as a result she could really do as she pleased in your absence, like living here with her boyfriend. I hear that she did have her soon-to-be-husband here for a few months.

"You understand this is the legal position, not the moral one. If anyone took money out of your personal account that would be theft. By the way, did you give her the household account details?"

"Well, not really," he replied after some thought. "I kept the details in my filing cabinet and I had no reason to lock it against her. Gus had the details and pin number for emergencies while I was away. He was running the account for me, not her."

"Oh." He looked unhappy. "That might be questionable in court. It depends on whether you leaving the cabinet unlocked is seen as an invitation or not. If it is seen that way, then if she's changed the account you have no redress, I'm afraid. Banks take sharing your pin numbers very seriously. Did you have the pin number written down?"

"No. I remembered it. In any case I had no reason to use a pin number with that account; it was all done on line."

"Well, that's better, but having the details unlocked – could be dodgy in court."

Ged nodded. Over the evening before he had suspected as much. It intensified his disgust with her behaviour, and his wonder that she could be so vindictive. After all she knew what the account was for, and she was intelligent enough to know that she had no rights there.

What had he done that was so heinous that she should react like that? All right, so she thought he had been unfaithful, and she thought she had evidence, but she had not even given him the chance to defend himself. She simply cut him off.

Graham and Gus left, Gus demanding Ged's time the next day to discuss his takings from the tour and the royalties from his songs.

Ged looked round at the empty flat. So she had Zak there in his flat, in his bed for months. Suddenly he didn't want to live in that flat any more. It revolted him. He would look for another place, and this time he had the money. No mortgage. He would take the furniture the bank obtained and move it to his new place. The flat could be sold and soon.

The very next day he found a very pleasant large detached house in its own grounds a few miles out of town. It had a huge living room and dining room which were connected by a folding partition making a vast area, another living room, a roomy study at the front of the house which he thought would do for a music room, large kitchen, utility room, and another room in an annex reached by a covered walkway which would do for a gym and finally a covered swimming pool beyond it.

Upstairs there were eight bedrooms, four of which were en suite. The garden was large, with shady trees here and there, and he knew he would have to employ a gardener to keep it under control. It rather reminded him of Catherine's place in its size, though it was thoroughly British in design and construction.

Negotiations were begun, and since he was paying cash, they were very brief. The vendors, a wealthy couple who had just retired and were downsizing, were amazed he did not haggle but simply paid up.

He contacted the music group, and they met in his hotel suite. They looked and felt uncomfortable until he told them that Cassie was a thing of the past and if he could get over it, so could they.

As they left after a good practice when they played and loved his new songs, Vivienne asked him to go for a drink.

Vivienne was an old girl friend from school who had stayed a friend after they had split up, and was by general agreement the leader of the group.

They went down to the bar in the hotel and settled.

"Hey, Ged!" she said. "It's great to see you back. You had quite a time according to the papers."

"Viv," smiled Ged. "How's things?"

"Not so bad," she replied with a grin. "So you know all about Cassie and this Zak?"

"Yeah. I got a few phone calls, mostly abusive, from her friends. Apparently Cassie was pissed off at me. If she's married for revenge, more fool her."

"Well, you were pretty wild."

"Viv," said Ged seriously. "You shouldn't believe what you read in the press. I spent the whole tour with one woman."

"But?" she looked puzzled, "that's partly why she's so pissed off."

"Yeah I was with Annette – know her?"

"No. Papers said she got the job with you and the band, technician or something wasn't it?"

"Right. And we spent every single evening in each other's company, usually alone, often in my room, while the others got laid."

"But she's gorgeous..."

"And a lesbian."

"A les ... So you didn't..."

"No. we didn't. You may have noticed, I'm not a woman."

She laughed. "But the papers?"

"They were wrong – Amos did a number on me. I have some theories about him and Zak. Between them they lost me the woman I loved."

"So tell her!"

"No way!" Ged was adamant. "Too late. She's married to Zak – better or worse etc. She was shagging him long before they married apparently, and in my flat. She's history as far as I'm concerned. Please Viv, don't say anything about what I've told you. If you want the full story, there's a documentary coming up on BBC Three sometime. You can say what you like to her after it, if you want."

"OK!" Vivienne said holding up her hands. "My lips are sealed, but not my legs. You want a little TLC tonight? Must be gruelling knowing she's with that toerag. You must be horny?"

"You're very kind, Viv, " smiled Ged, "but I need time to recover and start to feel at home again. I'm still rather exhausted. What was really gruelling was living in hotels for a year."

They left the bar in the hotel and she kissed him before she left and he returned to his suite.

He was in a hiatus, waiting for the conveyance on the house to be completed and for replacement furniture to be delivered to the flat.

He had been travelling everywhere by taxi since his return. Since there was no sign of their Ford Focus he assumed that Cassie still had it. He decided to buy a car.

This occupied him for some time, surfing the net to assess the merits of different marques, he was tempted by BMWs and Audis, then had a fit of millionaire-ness and got in touch with a Bentley dealer. It appeared he would have to wait while they hand-built his car, so he gave that idea up.

Eventually he decided on a used Jaguar X358, taking delivery the next day.

A week later, against all the odds, came the day he moved into his new home. He had to furnish the empty building from scratch and it was going to take a lot of time and energy to get exactly what he wanted. He made sure to transfer the telephone land line number from the flat to the house, since everyone knew that number from before the tour.

The bank had decided to give him the money instead of trying to find the furniture and he bought things for the house, which swallowed everything, bring so large. After a week of strenuous effort, he had sparsely furnished the smaller living room, kitted out the study which was now a music studio, and the largest, master bedroom.

Fortunately the kitchen had been recently installed and he had liked it from the first time he saw it. He bought the cutlery, utensils and crockery in the same style as he had at the flat and added more.

He employed the same gardener, John Stubbs, and found there was a housekeeper, Gwen Davies, who came in twice a week, so he employed her as well. She was a well rounded woman in her forties and hit it off with him immediately.

She also had the advantage of being broad minded, and seemed to expect wild parties and a succession of bedmates from the musician, not that any such ambitions of his lay in that direction, at least for the time being.

It was Gwen who suggested a distant cousin-by-marriage of hers who was an interior designer to furnish the rest of the house.

Karin Fredericksson arrived with books and catalogues and her very attractive self. She was only a little shorter than Ged without heels, and eye to eye with him when wearing them.

She had a slender but shapely figure and long legs which she showed off with short skirts. Her hair was golden blonde, so perfect in colour that Ged wondered if it was dyed. He thought she was in her late twenties, and was surprised to find she was seven years older than that.

He showed her the rooms he had furnished, and she appraised them. He wondered what she thought of them. They spent four long hours while she showed him catalogues and pattern books, noting his preferences on her laptop. When they had finished, Ged surprised her.

"Karin," he said with a smile. "I've noticed you've taken note of my preferences and we've chatted about quality and taste. So what I'd like you to do, is to furnish the house top to bottom yourself. Let me give you parameters. Be economical, or at least as economical as you can, but do not sacrifice quality for economy.

"You know my tastes and that I like simplicity and proportion. So with that in mind, do it yourself. If you get really stuck, ask, but otherwise you're on your own."

Karin gave him a brilliant smile, and he noticed for the first time her pale blue eyes and the shine of her thick golden hair. Her mouth was wide, her white teeth perfectly even and her nose small with a little upturn at the end. She was a goddess!

"Well," she said, laughing, "I can't remember anyone ever giving me so much latitude. I reckon if you want quality, we're talking over a hundred thousand. It's a big house, and in addition to furniture and carpeting, you've got table linen, towels, machinery for the utility room and the gym and you need to get the kitchen properly kitted out. How do you feel about that?"

"Go ahead," he replied. "This is the sort of thing I'll only do once, so it has to be good. I trust you."

She hesitated for a fraction of a second, "The rooms you've completed – would you be upset if I tweaked them a little, or a lot?"

He understood immediately that she saw faults in his taste, and nodded. "Do your worst – or rather, your best!"

Again that smile, and this time if he read it right, there was a subtle invitation there, but he let it pass, at least for the time being.

So Christmas arrived and he was in this big house. He felt his loneliness very powerfully so he went home to his parents for the holiday. When he returned after New Year he began to feel the house was too large for him. Perhaps he had made a mistake. On the first dark Friday evening of the New Year it all got too much for him and he phoned Vivienne.

"Ged!" she exclaimed. "We haven't seen you around, lately, thanks to Christmas. Time for another practice? How you doin'?"

"Viv," he said quietly ignoring all the questions, "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"No," she said with a hint of concern. "Got a problem?"

"Yes," he admitted. "You remember making me an offer a while back?"

"You want some TLC?" she asked

"I need some company, Viv," he said plaintively, "Can you come?"

"That'll depend on your skill!" she laughed. "You're out in the sticks somewhere now aren't you? Give me the address. And Ged?"

"Yes?"

"Do I bring stuff for an overnight stay?"

"Please."

He gave her the address and instructions on how to reach it, and she promised to be there in half an hour. She was, and was in his bed in short order.

"Oh! That's it! Now push right in."

She had arrived and seeing the state of him, had taken him straight to bed. She had seated him on the side of the bed and undressed, or rather stripped for him, leaving on her fetching purple bra and matching mini-shorts while she knelt and undressed him in turn, taking him immediately in her mouth and giving him the oral works. He came in short order and she swallowed his offering with a lick of her lips and a wide smile.