The Way Back Ch. 01

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sinnott," I said, "Colin is it? I feel I should know you but at present I don't."

Trish explained about the memory loss.

"Allan," interrupted David, "I'm very sorry I doubted you. You understand I was acting in your own interest?"

I nodded.

"Gentlemen," I declared, "I must ask you to keep my identity confidential. Can I rely on you both not to talk of this to anyone?"

"Of course," said David, "but there's your wife -- I mean your ex... Oh dear. You'd better come back to my office with me. Colin you can keep his secret can't you?"

"Yes," he answered, "but Allan, have they found who did this to you?"

"Northumberland police reckon it was a gang of muggers; that I probably resisted and they kicked hell out of me. There was a red car involved, and that doesn't tie in with an opportunist attack. Someone saw three men get me out of the car and dump me on some waste ground. There have been no leads."

"I may contact the force and see what they have."

"Fine. I don't think they know my name yet. The hospital staff called me Aled Jones -- don't ask! By the way, what does DCI mean?"

"Detective Chief Superintendent," he replied. "Memory gone?"

I nodded.

We returned to David's office, and I had to make the tedious journey up those narrow stairs again. David saw my pain and was sorry.

"Thoughtless of me," he apologised.

We sat down. David thought for a moment.

"Would you both like to come to ours for dinner?" he asked. "It's going to take a long time to sort all this out. A lot has been happening and you need to know everything. Can you tell me why you don't want Ann contacted? Or the children?"

"From what I gather she's living with someone else now. Is she happy?"

"Yes, as far as I can tell. I know they intend to marry in May once the Decree Absolute has been granted. The children don't like him, but that's par for the course with putative step-parents."

"I know this will be hard for you to understand, David, but I don't know Ann. I know she's -- she was married to me, but I can't remember what she looks like or anything about her. I only knew she existed a few days ago. I don't think it's fair to saddle her with guilt that she's moved on and was wrong about me, or that I'm in this state and she's left me to suffer alone, not that I am quite alone." I glanced at Trish and smiled. The look was not lost on David.

"Enough for now," David said, "I don't want to tire you out."

He picked up the phone again, and while waiting he asked, "Is it all right for Vivienne to know who you are?"

"Who's Vivienne?"

"Sorry, sorry," he looked embarrassed, "I keep forgetting that you have a memory problem; though looking at you, I can't think why I should ever forget it. Viv. is my wife. You always got on very well with her."

"If she can keep a secret, fine; otherwise no."

"She can," he asserted, and he phoned her. "Viv? Can we manage two visitors for dinner tonight, it really is very important."

"All will be revealed when we get there. I'll leave the office early."

"Love you too!" and he hung up. "She muttered about cloak and dagger but she's very forgiving. Shall we say six?"

"Fine," I answered. "Where do you live?"

He apologised again and gave me an address in Hale. I asked for a map and he sketched one out and wrote instructions.

"This all seems very odd," he smiled, giving it to Trish.

"Before you go we need to apply for a new driving license for you," he said.

We went and got a photo taken and he filled in the form and got me to sign it. All was done at the receptionist's desk to save me climbing the stairs again. He verified the photos and he asked the girl to post it, next day delivery.

"It seems you have a lot to learn and we can start tonight," said David.

It was mid afternoon and I was bushed, so Trish drove us back to the hotel, where I collapsed and slept for a couple of hours.

------

FOUR

We arrived at the house by a circuitous route occasioned by my misreading David's instructions, but we were not late. David opened the door and issued us into the large and tastefully decorated and furnished living room, where stood a very attractive woman about my age. I assumed it was David's wife. At first she looked at me with horror and disbelief then expectation and finally her face showed disappointment.

"This is Vivienne, Allan," David said gently.

"Hello, Vivienne," I said.

Vivienne looked at me a little longer as I waited. Then tears came to her eyes.

"Well," she said at last with a sniff, "David said your face was different. That was an understatement! I'm so sorry, Allan."

I grinned my lop-sided grin at her and shrugged my shoulders.

"And this is Patricia O'Toole, Viv. Pat -- Vivienne," David said, making the introductions.

The two woman touched hands briefly and I could see Vivienne was not happy with my girlfriend.

Greetings and introductions over, we sat down at two sides of a coffee table. David offered drinks and I asked for a beer. Trish asked for a tonic since she was driving.

"So Allan," Vivienne said, "David told me something of what happened. I'm very sorry."

I smiled and shrugged again.

"Trish is a nurse at Newcastle General," I told her, "She knows more about my recovery than I do. I was not really aware in the early days, and I forgot practically everything as soon as I knew it for a long while. Still do. I have to have a notebook and a personal recorder to remind me of things, or I rely on Trish here. I have a computer and keep a diary. I go back over previous days again and again. It helps my memory."

Trish then began to outline the whole story from my admission to hospital, through the operations and my eventual coming slowly to consciousness.

"He's obsessive and obstinate about his recovery and he's worked so hard. It's a miracle he's come this far, and it's down to a lot of pain and hard work," she said with pride.

"Will you improve further?" Vivienne asked me.

"I certainly hope so. Yes, I'm sure of it, I try without the stick for part of each day, but I don't think my face will get any better."

"You two an item?" Viv asked.

"Yes, at the moment; Trish is a no strings person."

Vivienne frowned. Trish began to look aggressive.

"Vivienne!" snapped David. "He only knew he had a wife and children two weeks ago. Anyway, from a throwaway remark I made, he knows he doesn't really have a wife any more. Patricia was a nurse at the hospital and took him in when he had no one."

Vivienne coloured and was quiet; Trish relaxed and smiled.

I asked that we talk about other things until after the meal, and that's what we did. We talked about nursing, about Trish's family in New Zealand, about Newcastle and many other things. David told Trish about the origins of the small towns that are Sale and Altrincham, now subsumed into the sprawl that is Greater Manchester.

After the meal we settled in the living room. I prepared myself for a history lesson, mine!

"David," I said to get things started on the right foot, "talk to me as if you're telling a stranger about Allan Jonsson. If you keep that in mind I won't have to keep on stopping you with questions."

"Good idea," he said.

"And if you don't mind," I added, "I'd like to record what you say on this Personal Recorder thing."

I produced a recorder that Trish had bought for me, out of my pocket. He nodded.

"Before I start," he asked, "I think Trish said you had nothing on you when you were admitted to hospital?"

"That's right," said Trish.

"Well, now you know who you are, can I suggest we move quickly and get full copies of your birth certificate, marriage certificate, then a passport. Also you should go private and get DNA evidence."

"Why?"

"Your facial reconstruction. We may have legal problems if you can't remember things and you are clearly not sufficiently like your original photos. You could be an impostor trying to get his hands on your money. The DNA evidence, along with those fingerprints, can be used to prove that you are your children's father, and that will confirm your identity -- only if the worst comes to the worst," he added as he saw me stiffen: he hadn't forgotten I wanted to keep my identity secret.

"Have I a driving licence?" I asked, intrigued, and forgetting we had already put a new license in train. "And also, exactly how old am I?"

"Oh, yes, you've got a licence with, I suppose, your original photo, but it's disappeared. I'll countersign your passport photo and we did the driving licence at the office. I can tell you that you are 41 years old. Just sign this piece of paper would you?"

I didn't quibble but did what he asked. He looked at it and then at some documents he drew out of his case.

"Well," he said, "I suppose it's near enough. It is two plus years, and you have had brain injury."

What he meant was that there was little or no resemblance! I said as much and he nodded with a ruthful smile.

"Why do I need all this?" I was mystified.

"Well I better start on your history, and it should become clear."

He settled back in his chair and began.

"You were born in Altrincham on the 23rd March 1962. Your grandfather came to Britain from Sweden long before you were born. Apparently he had a major bust up with his brother. His brother bought him out of the family firm in Sweden so he was able to start afresh.

He married here, a Swedish girl strangely, and your father was the only child of the marriage. Your father married another Swedish woman -- how they met is a mystery -- and carried on the family business, selling tools and parts for car maintenance.

"You completed a physics degree at Manchester University, first class, and then did two years' research to get your Master's. It was in your last year that your mother was killed in an road accident. Your father went to pieces I'm afraid. He sold the business, put all the profit into a trust fund for you, and I'm sorry to tell you this, he took an overdose and died. So though you might have relatives in Sweden you have none here.

"You went into computing, working on dedicated processors for machinery, and started your own business with the money your father left, and it took off. You knew the market and you supplied to fill a niche. You recruited a friend from university to work for you, Geoffrey Bucklow, and the business expanded. Geoff became Managing Director and you, very generously in my view, formed a Limited Company and allowed Geoff to buy in as a partner.

Geoff bought 15% of the company paying in instalments, and in fact the profits from the firm allowed him to pay off in record time. He now has 20%. You have the other 80%. You were the one with a talent for sales and contracts, and you went all over the world selling the firm's electronic expertise and its bespoke products. Don't ask me what they were, but they have been appreciated by the buyers. The company is very profitable and this might shock you, but Allan you are a millionaire several times over."

I was indeed shocked!

Trish smiled happily, "Oh brilliant!" she exclaimed.

Vivienne interrupted, "You've not said anything about his marriage."

I wondered what Vivienne read into Trish's reaction to the news. I suspected the words 'gold digger' were in there somewhere.

"No," David explained, "I wanted to get the finance thing out of the way, but you do that bit now if you wish."

"You married Ann Drayton a year before the company was set up, as you were finishing your Master's," said Vivienne, "She was and is a very attractive woman. She met you about eighteen months before while you were doing your masters. As far as the rest of us were concerned you were both were very happy together, right up to the moment you disappeared, Allan.

"The children were balanced and healthy. Oh, yes, the children. There's Greta, she's seventeen; Jan is thirteen and Stefan is ten. They've suffered a lot since you went. It was very strange. One day you were all a happy family, seemingly without a care in the world, and the next there was chaos. Just as well Derek was there for her or I don't know what she'd have done."

"Three children?" I asked, with some surprise, "Two boys?"

She nodded.

"This Derek," I asked. "He's the man she's going to marry?"

"That's right," she answered. "Derek Fanshaw. I think the wedding is set for May. He got divorced and you both helped him a lot. He was round at your place for dinner quite often after his breakup. I know you took him out for drinks a lot. He was very cut up about his divorce; his wife took him to the cleaners. I think that's why he wanted to help Ann so much, repay your kindness, you know."

David took up the story.

"Back to the money. This bit's important. One day, early on in your marriage, I think you only had Greta at the time though Ann may have been carrying Jan, you arrived at the office with Ann and Geoff.

"Geoff was concerned about your safety in some of the countries you visited, you know, kidnappings, hostage taking and the like. You all wanted the company protected to keep the employees' jobs intact. You wanted to leave the company to Ann, but she didn't like that idea at all. She asked about Powers of Attorney, where a person signs over the handling of his affairs to another person, usually in case of illness. You obviously had a will, but this was to cover the eventuality you would not be here while still alive somewhere else.

"The upshot was that you and Ann signed an agreement that I would be responsible for the company to you alone, Allan. When you were absent I would have power of attorney over your business and financial affairs, obviously coordinating with Geoff who would actually run the place.

"I was obliged under the terms of the arrangement to protect the integrity of the company at all costs, to ensure that Ann and the children were well looked after and to be your representative. The only way I would be relieved of that responsibility would be upon your death or if you and Ann both revoked it in person.

"Then you wanted to give half of your ownership to Ann but she would hear none of it: she didn't want the responsibility. Are you following this Allan?"

I was trying to keep up but I was getting tired.

"Only just," I grinned, "but it's all recorded; I can go over it until it's clear later."

"OK. We now know what's happened to you, but you'll understand we didn't before. So I'm going to tell you what's happened from our unknowing point of view, what we were told and what we thought was true.

"Geoff will tell you what you went to York for -- and you did go to York, not Newcastle. I think you were meeting a client who was over from the continent for the races. Geoff said you got a good deal out of him; the paperwork came through later. You phoned Ann normally that night and told her you were finished there, but the next day you did not come home. Ann phoned the hotel to be told that you and 'the lady' had left. Ann was surprised and asked her name. Mrs Alsvik I think it was. Ring any bells?"

I shook my head. "No, but that's not surprising."

"You didn't return home. Not then, nor the next day. There was no answer from your mobile though she tried it hourly, and you always left it on while you were away. You had disappeared. The next step was the police. They said they would wait another day, and to be fair they did initiate an investigation. But you were an adult and it was a missing person investigation, so low priority. That's when Derek stepped in and hired a PI."

"PI?" I enquired.

"Private Investigator. Derek was round at the house every day and stayed every evening, though Ann was at pains to let us know that he always went home to sleep. He was, after all, divorced and lived on his own. The report came through remarkably quickly. Allan had left the hotel with a woman. The PI managed to get photos from the CCTV footage, showing you and she in a close embrace in the hotel foyer, another of you both leaving the hotel with baggage.

"The man found out that you were headed to York Station where he again got pictures from CCTV of you both at the booking office. We don't know any more details. Perhaps his brief was simply to find out where you'd gone. He obviously failed because there was no talk about where you had gone with this woman.

"Ann went downhill fast. We all tried to rally round. She was totally bemused by the fact that she had not detected any changes in your attitude to her or the children. You were always meticulous about telling her where you were and it seemed out of character. We now know what happened, but how you got to Newcastle, well that's a mystery.

"Derek was very good and very patient. She wouldn't let go of the idea that you would come back to her once you'd had your fling. Then, last March I think it was, she became very angry and very bitter. She told us that you were never coming back; that she knew then you'd been having an affair for years and now wanted a new life and for her to get on with her own. She never said how she 'knew' this.

"She came to me and asked me to handle the divorce. I had to tell her I couldn't do that, because I was under instruction from the Power of Attorney to act for you, Allan. She asked if the Power could be reversed, but I told her that it would have taken a long time. I explained that I was bound to fight any change in the orders I was acting under.

"She was not happy. She accused me of knowing where you were and she would get the courts to find that out. I told her that if that were true I wouldn't have to act under obligation to the Power of Attorney. She didn't believe me, and we haven't been friends since.

"Under the Power of Attorney I left the joint account you had open, but organised an account for her into which I put a very generous amount per month. I also covered the mortgage. I wrote to her officially to explain that if she needed more money I would furnish her with whatever she needed, but that the joint account still contained a sizeable fund if she needed money in an emergency. I could also make extra payments for special occasions, Christmas, holidays, birthdays etc. I explained that I am directed to be prudent but generous with such payments. There was no reply but she started using the new account, though she never touched the joint account, and in any case she had a well-paid job by then.

"Well, she started divorce proceedings last June. She cited unreasonable behaviour in that you had left her and was living with someone else.

"Now this is where it becomes interesting. The court served the petition on me as your representative to be forwarded on. My idea was that to protect your interests I needed to delay matters while trying to find you. So I left it a couple of months, telling the court I was waiting for you to contact me since I did not know where you were. Then I told them I had organised a search for you. After another couple of months I told them you were nowhere to be found. So in late September last year, the case came up uncontested. I was still hoping you would contact me. I hated doing it to Ann but I had no choice under the terms of the order.

"The next sticking point was how you would provide for the children and your access to them should you re-appear. Now the amount 'you' were giving Ann was more than enough for all their needs and then some, so I prevaricated over any increase in that. I was able to adduce evidence that you had set up a trust fund for their education and for setting them up in life after it. Again very generous, a lot more than a court would award. Ann opposed contact but eventually agreed that you should have access. This in itself took another couple of months, everything done in writing passing to and fro.

"Then, her solicitor wanted a huge settlement for Ann. By now she had her own job that was well paid but she said she wanted part of the company's equity. Now I had a really complicated case on my hands but I pointed out to Ann that the divorce could go through without the financial arrangements being finalised. She didn't believe me but her solicitor had to agree that it was the case.