Chapter 2

So Saturday morning came and I was excited as I started to put my planinto action. I was up early and started moving furniture around and scraping walls. Kyle got up about 10am and came through for breakfast. “What’s going on here” he said rubbing his eyes. “I’ve decided this house needs freshened up. I’m going to decorate the kitchen/lounge (which was all open plan), your room, my room and the bathroom” I explained. “Wow, what about the study” asked Kyle. “No I’ve got all my computer stuff in there and it would take ages to sort it out, anyway it’s only me that goes in there. You can help me this morning and I’ll give you some extra pocket money before you head off for your football this afternoon.”

Whilst we were working, Kyle asked me if he should phone Amy or would that be too keen. I suggested he text her and he did saying “Thnx for last night. I had a gr8 time”. Nothing came back. So Kyle and I set to work preparing all the walls and skirting in all the rooms. I showed him what to do and he enjoyed the son father bonding as we worked. I did too and was really starting to enjoy having him around the place. By 1pm we were done the preparation work and we had a quick bite to eat before I dropped Kyle off for his football match. Before he left I gave him some advice, “don’t go bragging to your mates about Amy. It will be around the school like wildfire and Amy will never come near you again. Decide what’s important to you. Getting high five’s from your mates or having some fun with Amy”. Off he went to think about it. Normally I would stay and watch but I had shopping to do. I bought a new leather L-shaped sofa and a new double bed for Kyle’s room. I would buy the rest of the bits and pieces online that night. I then went and bought paint before going home for a beer and to watch the scores come in. Yes, Liverpool beat Everton 2-0. Kyle came home for tea and he was really chipper. Not only had they won 3-1 with Kyle scoring 2 goals, but Amy had come to watch with a couple of her pals. She hugged him and said ‘well played’ afterwards which he loved.

That night Kyle went out with his mates and I reminded him about not getting into trouble. I went to the study to go buy some ‘bits and pieces’. As I said at the start, I do rather well for myself. I work freelance as a private detective. I used to be a Royal Electrical Engineer in the army but came out when Kyle was about four. Amanda put a lot of pressure on me to quit and our marriage was never the same once I had left. I used to work for the Pathfinder unit which was involved in reconnaissance missions to get information on the enemy. We would set up covert observation missions. These became more and more technology based as newer technology became available. We would infiltrate the enemy, many times via parachute drops to get behind enemy line, and leave behind recording devices all over the place to gather intelligence and feed back to a ‘base camp’.

I missed the buzz and hated working for the refrigeration company I worked for servicing and maintaining large refrigeration units. Compared to what I was doing before it was utterly boring, so I took it out on Amanda. We split up and I moved out when the kids were little. It was the worst period of my life. I was getting drunk, getting into fights and it was only when I escaped a criminal record of GBH on a technicality that I decided to get my life in check. It was also a case of getting a bit of luck. The lawyer that was representing me, a big fat fellow called Leonard Forthingham, helped me by chance. As we met a few times he learned of my background and told me I was wasted doing the job I was doing. Why didn’t I become a private investigator. He explained the role and decided he would help me get set up as long as I gave him some free work. When I say free, he still put it through his companies books but pocketed it instead of giving it to me.

I started out doing some jobs for Leonard which involved divorce cases. Boring shit really. I would follow the suspected ‘party’, understand their movements, then set up observation plants to gather evidence. It was easy work for someone as skilled as me. The most enjoyable bit was watching the

guilty parties at it. It turned me on actually. The clients were usually wealthy individuals, either men or women, and their deposits were used to buy the equipment I needed with a little help from Leonard, who knew I would be able to pay him back very quickly. It was not long before the money was pouring in as my jobs got bigger and bigger. I was doing work for some big businessmen who were more interested acquiring information for business deals. Within 3 months I was earning in excess of two to three thousand pounds a week. The hours were long, unsociable and boring sometimes, but it was a lot more exciting than repairing refrigeration units.

So back to the present and as you can see, I had all the expertise and resources to get and position all the equipment I needed. I purchased the following surveillance equipment: 10 x video camera spot lights that look like wall spot lights and 10 x Smoke alarm secret video cameras. Unfortunately my source in china only sold in minimum orders of 10 but I would put it all through my company’s books and use them at some point anyway. I decided against wireless as the quality would not be as good so it would involve a short power and video cable coming out of the device which connects to a power source and recording device which was my computer in the study. The equipment was the best there is with a high quality CCD board camera inside - no skimping. I’d probably spent more that day than I ever had. It was great not to have to worry about money. The cameras would require running a wire through the ceiling or wall. The cameras are virtually undetectable, even to the user. The camera itself has an approximate eighty degree field of view. The cameras also included excellent microphones picking up sound from any part of the room.

I was getting very excited. Later that night about 11pm, Kyle walks in and no sooner had he gotten his coat off he asks me if can use my computer in the study. Before I got to the “no” answer I asked why. “Amy has a laptop and wants to chat to me online via msn”. “Oh, I see” I said and my mind started to race ahead. “Let me think about it Kyle”. Amy had been with her mates that night and his mates and Amy’s mates all met up at the park. Nothing happened although him and Amy took some ribbing. They had chatted briefly alone and Amy had told him thanks for not blabbing about the night before. Kyle said that was not his style and what happened between them stayed between them. Amy had given Kyle a peck on the cheek, to everyone else’s amusement, and that’s when the conversation turned to computers.

The following morning I said to Kyle that I would buy him a computer for his birthday even though his birthday had passed just three weeks earlier. I would do it online today. The deal was that he would continue to help me with the decorating and that it was his reward for being so grown up since he moved in with me. We gave each other a dad/son hug.

That afternoon I ordered off the internet the latest computer, a 19 inch flat screen monitor, the best webcam available that produces the best image quality of any webcam and also an audio head set. We had spent most of the morning painting and Kyle was doing a grand job. We painted again that