Music Man Pt. 02

The photo was innocuous, it showed Jessica with Annette and Ged, showing all three drinking in a bar. Jon had arrived minutes later.

The three women sat still, staring at the table. No one said a word for a long time.

"If I hadn't seen those photos, I would never have believed it of Ged." said a dazed Cheryl. "So that tart bats for both sides."

"What a bastard!" muttered Judy.

Cassie said nothing. She was in shock. Everything she had been certain about was called into question. It was not the Ged she knew, but the evidence was overwhelming. One thing was certain; her life with Ged was over for ever. He was out of her sight and thought he could do whatever he liked. She was sitting at home reading his lies, and he was fucking everything in sight. Her anger at him grew cold. They were finished, and she was a single woman again.

She went on Skype and blocked Ged, then went through the tortuous business of changing her mobile phone number, and letting everyone on her calling list (apart from Ged) know what her new number was. She sent him her last email and from then on junked and deleted all his subsequent mails without reading them.

On the following Friday she was again in the pub, and there was her old lover, Zak. She sat with him and they drank a few beers listening to the music.

"I've finished with Ged Smith," she said, out of the blue. She did not know why she wanted to tell Zak, but she did.

"Oh?" he said.

"He's been cheating on me," she said by way of explanation.

He asked how she knew and she told him the whole story. He listened attentively, something he never used to do, and when the pub closed he walked her home. At her door she turned to say goodnight and to thank him, when he kissed her. Her insides melted, but she pushed him away.

"Goodnight, Zak," she said firmly.

"You know I still love you," he said, and there again was that fluttering in her stomach. "I never stopped. I have changed Cassie."

"Oh Zak," she sighed. "You cheated on me after I trusted you. Now Ged's done the same, and I trusted him. I'm not ready to try the relationship thing again."

"I'll wait," he said softly, and she wanted to kiss him again, but she didn't; it was too tempting and too soon. "Can we meet again?" he was saying.

"Yes," she said, "I'd like that."

That night she lay in bed and thought about the week she'd had. Once again her life was uncertain and someone she had trusted had abused her trust. She was despondent.

–-

Chapter Fourteen

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 the Standing Order that pays into my Bills Account for the flat?"

"No?" he answered. "The monthly payment is still being paid in, I have the latest statement."

"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 court summons to pay my council tax?"

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

"Difficult without electricity – a wi-fi router, that is if I had one, 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 bills 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, July, 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.

"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 from the tour 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."

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

"Did it not appear strange to anyone in your benighted little 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 calling this to his attention? 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 had 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. 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 just arrived after a year away and 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 to pay the bills. 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 or theft."

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 complied with that instruction, 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 and then on the action. 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 Gus's 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', what there was of it, 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 no, not directly," he replied after some thought. "I kept the account 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. 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 hard 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 extensive 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 an even bigger area, another living room, a roomy study at the front of the house which he thought would do for a music room, large square 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 vast, 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 girlfriend 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. "I remember that! 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 toe-rag. 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. I still am, for goodness sake!"

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

There was a hiatus, waiting for the conveyance on the house to be completed and then for furniture to be delivered, along with his musical equipment from Annette.

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 built his car by hand, after he got to the top of the waiting list, 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 had bought furniture and fittings suitable for a house of that size, which swallowed everything easily, being 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 loved at the flat and added more.

He employed the same gardener, John Stubbs, and found there was a housekeeper, Gwen Davies who came in three times 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 ensuing mess, and a succession of bedmates with 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 nearly five years older than that.

He showed her the rooms he had furnished, and she appraised them without comment. 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 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 around two hundred thousand. It's a big house, and in addition to wall coverings, decorators' costs, furniture and carpeting, you need decent table linen, towels, machinery for the utility room and the gym and you also need to get the kitchen properly kitted out. How do you feel about that?"