Dancing Ch. 02

"You sure you are OK with me going Rick?" She looked into my eyes searching for something.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's not like you are off for a dirty weekend now is it? You love dancing and have always wanted to do this, I just wish I could come too. Anyway you have fun and enjoy yourself. Alfie and me are going fishing with a couple of mates so will keep my mind off what you are up to."

She looked at me strangely, was that a tinge of guilt I saw? Maybe her conscience was getting to her. Just then her phone rang breaking the moment. She rustled in her bag and looked at the screen.

"They are waiting on me sweetie I have to run." She wrapped her arms round my neck and kissed me like there was no tomorrow. We hadn't shared a kiss like that in ages I looked into her eyes I know what I saw, guilt! What she saw in mine I have no idea, maybe sadness.

She slid into the driver's seat and flashed me a smile as she started the engine and slipped off the driveway. I waved as she left, my face wet with tears as I knew it was now over. Turning, I went into the garage and pulled out the cartons I had covered up and took two upstairs to our bedroom. I pulled her clothes from the wardrobe and drawers, make up and toiletries too, stuffing them into the cartons before sealing them and rolling them down the stairs. Inside an hour I had all her stuff packed and stacked ready to be collected. I sat down breathing heavily when the house phone rang.

"Rick? It's Alfie, how are you doing?"

"All bagged and tagged here mate, just taking a breather is all."

"OK well take it easy on the drink, we have alibis to build my friend, pick you up tomorrow morning OK?"

"Sure, I will be ready, now I have started I need to keep busy, I will pop over to her parents place later, show my face give them a story. I checked the phone locator by the way, she did go to that bastard's home address so that's something we can take care of quickly too. See you in the morning."

I sat in the quiet of the house feeling the emptiness watching the clock slowly tick round. It was almost 6pm now, she had been gone almost two hours. I checked the locator and saw she was still at the bastard's address! Not more than 3 miles from here! Maybe they were having some time together before they travelled, my heart gave another painful ache. Fucking bitch! She has no fucking idea what she has done to me, well fuck you!! I threw the glass across the room smashing against the wedding photo we kept on the mantle. I stood looking at the remains of the glass and my marriage before striding out the door to my car.

I drove to Helen's parents place, it was almost 7.30pm by the time I got there. As usual they were happy to see me but asked where she was.

"She has gone off to Blackpool with a couple of people from the club, they are going dancing at the ballroom."

"That's lovely I wish I had known I would have gone too." Her mum said.

"Yes that's what I said too, still never mind, I am going fishing with Alfie for the weekend and probably drown my sorrows between times. Just wanted to let you know is all in case you dropped by the house."

"Thanks for that Rick, we appreciate your thoughtfulness her dad chipped in.

"One other thing, we were having a clear out and I have a dozen or so boxes of stuff that Helen asked me to drop off here for some reason, she said she would sort it out when she gets back. OK if I drop them off tomorrow morning?"

"Yes of course, we will put them in the garage for now."

"Thanks, well I will see you in the morning then."

We said goodnight and I left for home, somewhat sadder as they were nice people, I decided I would write them a letter to explain things as I wouldn't be able to face them after tomorrow.

Saturday morning I woke, my heart still heavy and my head pounding, I had not slept well with visions of what my wife was doing with George in their room. I knew I would be receiving some pictures from an investigator I hired during the week. I had engaged him for two days, starting Friday night. He was cheap but seemed to know his stuff and was local so he knew the hotel well too. Once I had given him the details he had the place staked out and I expected an update this morning.

Checking the e-mails there it was, a message with an attachment. There were a series of a dozen photos all showing Helen in the arms of George as they sat in a bar and then walked back to the hotel, even one as they shared a kiss outside the door of their room. Another couple was with them and they all seemed to enjoying themselves. The last showed them entering their rooms. That was enough for me we were done!

Alfie arrived and we set about loading the boxes into his truck, by lunchtime we had dropped everything off and sat back in my kitchen drinking coffee.

"We need to pop into the club, show our faces and spread our alibi Rick, come on let's get moving, we are supposed to be going fishing too by the way."

We loaded fishing gear into and on top of Alfie's truck and drove to the club where for an hour we chatted to as many of the members as possible and mentioned fishing until even we were bored with the subject. We also made sure Alfie's truck was spotted on the CCTV with the rods on the roof. Job done we left just after 2pm dropping by my house and picking up my car.

We drove to a lake a few miles away and again made sure the owners knew we were there, buying our date stamped tickets before driving around and finding a quiet spot to set up.

The lake was very quiet which suited us, following a well-practiced routine we had rods and bivvies' set up and what looked like a comfortable camp, well that's what is was supposed to look like. The rods and bait out, we sat back and waited. At 7pm a truck pulled in behind us and Gaz stumbled towards us.

Gaz is another mate, we go way back almost to infant school, and he was one of the very small circle of guys I trust without question.

"OK, I am here, any beer on the go?" He looked round and grabbed a can, cracked it open and took a deep swig as he sat in one of our chairs.

"Bang on time, good man, how you doing Gaz?" Alfie asked as he watched this bear of a man empty the can.

"Good mate, so you off then or what? Rods all set, buzzers and all that I hope. Go on fuck off and I will see you when you get back."

Gaz stood, hugged me in a big man hug. "Hang in there man, get it done and then we can have some fun tomorrow."

I looked at him, no words needed, he knew my pain. His wife had dumped on him a couple of years ago. Thing was Gaz didn't take it too well, he slapped her and her beau around some before he was stopped. The guy was someone he knew from school, there was bad blood between them and that feud rumbles on. His wife? She left town soon after, I know he would have her back in a heartbeat but he is still intent on his feud at the moment.

In my car we were soon cruising down the motorway headed for Blackpool. As Alfie drove I called the PI for the latest update. He told me he had more pictures and some video he had managed to sweet talk the hotel owner to letting him inside the room somehow or other. Anyway he had some footage that leaves no doubt as to the group's activities, they had spent the best part of this afternoon having sex and swapping partners. He also confirmed, that he had the photos too. I thanked him and said I didn't see any point in hanging around much longer and asked if he could send me what he had in the morning.

Alfie could see my face as we listened to the PI on the hands free kit, he reached out squeezing my shoulder as I sat quietly after the call.

"Why Alfie man? Why is she doing this?"

"Fuck knows why mate, but it is what it is and we know what needs to be done so let's get to it, stay focussed!"

We pulled into Blackpool around 11.30pm, slowly making our way to the hotel, we drove past slowly looking for their cars. We had the registration numbers and makes of the cars so we parked 100yards away and walked slowly back. The cars were parked next to each other in a quiet corner. We strolled back to the truck and donned surgical gloves, dark glasses and balaclavas. The street was quiet by the time we walked back to the car park and we didn't encounter anyone on the way. Hopping over the back wall that enclosed the parking area we crept towards the cars, there was no CCTV that we could see so we kept low and moved fast. Brian's car was first, the four valve stems were cut in seconds, a crow bar levered the fuel cap open and a fair amount of crap including sand and sugar was poured into the tank. We couldn't help giggling as we did it, inside two minutes we were done before moving on to Georges motor. Same again all four valves were cut off, just for good measure as well as topping up his fuel tank there was some decorative scratches added to the paint job. Satisfied we had fucked around enough we scooted back over the wall giggling like school kids.

The drive back south was uneventful, I felt a strange sort of release of tension after what we had done. I was taking control back of my life, from now on I was in charge. We pulled up outside George's house and I hopped out and using the spare keys jumped into my wife's car and quietly pulled it off the driveway. I had decided not to leave Helen's car out of the fun, it was a 5 year old mini cooper, typical woman's car so it needed modifying. We parked in a quiet lane and started the modifications. A sledge hammer did for the windscreen, then the sunroof and side windows. A spray can finished the artwork, an outline of a naked woman and a mobile phone number looked rather good I thought.

It was almost 3am when we drove the car slowly back and parked it on George's drive, with a quick look around we eased Alfie's truck away from the scene of the crime. We drove back to the lake where Gaz was asleep with empty cans strewn around him, all the rods were pulled in and locked off.

"Looks like he decided against fishing then." Alfie giggled.

Gaz moaned as we snuck into the bivvy for some shut eye.

"All OK?" Was all he mumbled.

"No sweat bud, get some sleep."

Sunday morning we woke after a couple of hours sleep to a heavy dew and the smell of eggs and bacon cooking. We stirred and Patty was standing cooking breakfast.

"I thought you boys would appreciate a hot breakfast so here I am." She had hauled the camping cooker and breakfast with her. "Also the owner and his wife will be here in a few minutes I asked them to pop by, can't have too many friends at a time like this can we now?"

I smiled as I crept from the sleeping bag, she was an angel and clever as hell.

"How the fuck did you end up with such a woman Alfie?"

"Hell if I know mate, I was never consulted just seemed to happen one day."

I loved these guys, even Gaz, I may have lost my wife but I still had some great mates.

The owner of the lake strolled by with his wife and enjoyed hot coffee and a bacon sandwich, we had a group photo taken with the lake in the background and two double figure carp in front. Gaz had bagged the pair before finishing the beer and going to sleep. What a guy, made a great picture too.

We sat back enjoying the warm late summer sun when there was the chirping of someone's mobile phone.

"Here it comes." Smiled Alfie as he looked at his watch. It was just after 11am.

"Fuck her!" I smiled, we both resumed the childlike giggling.

The ringing stopped and a message beeped. A minute later it rang again, we were both now in fits of laughter. The calls and messages went on for the next 10 minutes then it went quiet.

"I bet there are on the move now mate, would have taken a while to get the tyres sorted, Oh I forgot they won't move will they." Laughter broke out again, this time tears were rolling down our faces as Gaz and Patty watched as we tried to explain what was so funny.

Within another 30 minutes the calls started again, more laughter, more ignored messages.

Alfie's phone went off with a call we were expecting.

"Yo, my man, all done?" He nodded to me and we high fived.

Gaz looked at us.

"Locks all changed mate." He laughed then too.

We stayed at the lake for the afternoon, after the flurry of calls earlier there had been silence for almost three hours. We assumed that their cars were being sorted out and they were now travelling back, this was confirmed by the locator I had on Helen's phone, it showed they had just left Blackpool and were moving down the motorway. Oh well it was fun while it lasted anyway I thought.

The next call was from Helen as she must have arrived at George's place. I was assuming she liked my artwork, ha ha .

I heard the chirp of message after message on my phone, then the texts, I ignored all of them, I wasn't ready for her yet. I wanted her to be as confused as I had been feeling. I wanted her to start to feel some of the guilt I felt she needed to be feeling too. I found myself getting slowly angrier by the minute, Alfie watched me closely.

"Easy bro, let her stew a little , you know she will call her old man sooner or later, let it flow as we planned, stay cool."

I smiled as best I could at my friends, they looked anxious and concerned. Sooner or later it would all hit the fan here too. Patty would block Helen from me I know, the bitch needed to suffer some but this was just the start. I checked the tracker again, somehow she had gone home, the calls started again. This started the giggling again, as we sipped JDs listening to the phone taking yet another message.

Helen had obviously had quite an eventful day so far, her lovers cars had been trashed leaving her stranded 100 miles from home, hence the first set of calls home. Then as soon as she somehow managed to get a ride back home to collect her car she had found that had been trashed also, trigger the second phase of calls. Lo and behold on arriving at her "previous address" she now had found her keys didn't appear to work, that is where we were with the third set of calls. I looked at my phone, so far today I had 34 calls from her mobile to mine, umpteen messages left and at least a dozen texts. Each message getting more irate and desperate. Good!

It was now almost 9pm. The calls stopped. We all looked at each other during the silence waiting for her next move. Sooner or later she would call her parents, then they may start to add to the number of calls.

"You can have the spare room Rick, the bed is made up, we don't want you going home just yet. Don't want you doing anything stupid." Patty grinned at me as she topped up my JD.

"OK, I will stay till tomorrow, then I will decide what to do, I have work to think about too."

"Call in, take a few days off, apart from that Helen will know you are there otherwise."

"Good thinking!"

At around 11.30pm the calls stopped, I checked the tracker and saw Helen was back at George's place! I had miscalculated that move, I thought she would be at her parent's place. Obviously she hadn't called them yet. I knew she would want to keep things quiet, well we will see how long she can keep that up then.

I shared another few JDs with Alfie before falling into bed just before 1am, sleep did eventually come but it was fitful and filled with visions of Helen and that bastard George.