"I'll see You in the morning."

That was when Sophie spoke up, "Yes, but Linda didn't know anything about it, I had to do my bit to help because I know the pain. My husband left me when I had my one night with Vale. I don't know where he is, he just walked out and left me. I'm trying desperately to find him, but meanwhile I'll do anything to help the victims of Vale and to bring him down." She was crying.    

Through the tears she told us. "He picked on wives of powerful people, so they couldn't get back to him because they would be seen as using a position of power. He felt safe. He didn't even pick up the pretty ones. There is a rumour that he picked up a minor royal wife and she was not the best looking, a bit on the dumpy side. She took it that Vale was into her and she left her husband and chased after Vale. He ignored her and she ended up in a mental home after doing herself harm. The family managed to keep it under wraps, mostly." She couldn't carry on.    

Doctor John carried on explaining. "He got off cuckolding people who couldn't strike back, or they would be accused of abusing their power. The first one was the mayor's wife. He stood down soon after it happened, which was a pity he was a good man. As soon as he stood down, he divorced her and moved away. Then the MP the next constituency over. And Sophie." She was looking down into her lap crying. He carried on, "Sophie's husband was editor of a local newspaper. And local newspapers can't do what the big multinationals do. They have to play to the local crowd. And he couldn't print anything to malign a local hero, and if he had would have increased his humiliation. Anyway, when Sophie got home after her night, Adrian had gone. He just left and she still doesn't know where he is, although she's trying hard to find him. She's hoping now that we have a story, people will read it. She can get her message across to Adrian, he will realise she knows what a mistake she's made, and maybe he'll come home or at least be in contact so we know he's all right."    

"Why do you think he picked on Linda?" I asked    

"I'm not sure, but we all think he got bored playing the mental power games and he wanted to try something physical. So, he saw you. You're a fit healthy man and Linda was good looking, so he chose you. But he was still at no risk because he had his teammates. You just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time"    

"Did you set this up tonight?" I asked.    

"Well sort of, as we said Vale shouldn't have been here tonight, we wanted lots of people seeing you two enjoy yourselves. I was going to explain at our next meeting on Wednesday and ask if we could start showing you on social media. We didn't tell you because we wanted you to act natural, and not put on a show if we had warned you what we were planning on doing. I hope you don't mind."    

"I could have got the shit beaten out of me by him, so yes I kind of do mind."    

"Actually, there were two people about to jump on him. If he had pulled his foot back for a third kick he would've been taken out. In actual fact he shouldn't have gotten the first punch in, but they couldn't get through the crowds." Then he smiled. "They were going to stop it when you stood up, but I waved them off. I thought you might like closure and a spot of revenge, one where you didn't have a chance of ending up in prison, like some of your other exploits."    

He admitted that Vale had caught them off guard. He normally waited until half way through the evening before he approached someone, and he'd never before approached the same woman twice. But as soon as he saw Linda and me, he made straight for us, that caught them out. He apologised.    

It was late, and I had things to think about. I looked at Linda. She looked tired but happy. Looking at her I could feel her love. And I think Doctor John was right about smacking that twat around had given me closure. But let's see in the morning. We set our good nights and held each other as we walked across the dance floor and headed to our room. Stephen and Denise were there, he asked me if I wanted a round of golf early in the morning, with a big grin on his face.

I smiled back at him and said, "Sorry mate, I think I'll be otherwise engaged early in the morning." and I gave Linda a squeeze. We didn't make love that night, just cuddled one another. It was different in the morning, we almost missed breakfast.    

On the wall next to the kitchen door is a large picture frame. Inside it there's a piece of sack with 'Suttons seed potatoes' across the front. Linda said she put it in there as a reminder, every time she looks at it she feels slightly humiliated. A year after the ice cream van incident I took it down. That was enough.    

The Trial    

Strangely it didn't take long to get to trial, there were forces moving that I had very little knowledge or understanding of and absolutely no control over.    

I was called first and asked about the night, and the events that led up to it. I told them almost everything from when we walked into the Red Hart to Vale's arrest that last evening. Sometimes I was a little vague. It took over an hour to finish. They showed the video, it started with Vale walking across the dance floor towards me. He looked like he was heading straight towards me and Linda. I thought he had been picked up on his walk on the video a bit early, almost as if somebody was expecting it. It was professionally shot     

Linda was called next, she was asked to confirm what I had said. She sat there through the questioning and agreed with everything I had said, she was in tears when she finished. Stephen and Denise were calling in turn and they agreed with what had been said about the assault.   

The next people called confused me, but that wasn't difficult at this stage of the game. They had no bearing on the case. The ex-mayor, his ex-wife, Sophie, among a few others I didn't recognise. Vale's solicitor kept on objecting but in most cases, she was overruled.    

Nobody mentioned Linda's knee part, that seemed to get missed out.

It was a done deal, he was guilty, the video proved that. The lawyer's job was to keep his sentence as low as possible. A whole range of character witnesses were called, but his team management was noticeable by their absence. The prosecution pointed this out.

Representatives from the charitable organisations he supported, but some were noticeably missing. He was going as well as he could until they called a psychiatrist who explained that it wasn't his fault he tried to seduce married women. His celebrity status went to his head, and he was unequipped to handle it. It was the Football Association's fault for not training him how to handle celebrity status, and we should pity him.

However, my lawyer pointed out details of courses available on that very subject run by the FA which Vale had booked but had failed to attend. Vale lost it, he ranted and he shouted, the court was adjourned. When it reconvened, contempt of court was added to the charges.     

Sophie's demeanour changed halfway through her giving her evidence. I followed her eyes, her husband was sitting there. I recognised him from the picture on her desk in John's office.    

Marcus Vale got the maximum sentence in prison for GBH, affray, resisting arrest and contempt of court. Eight years because he took advantage of his celebrity status. He will probably be out in five years, unless his arrogance gets the better of him and then he will probably do the full eight years. His football career was over.

His lawyer immediately said she was going to appeal the sentence, the judge leaned forward and said, "That is your client's right, if you think that is wise?" His tone of voice certainly gave the impression she would be wasting her time and her client's money. So, she probably would do it as he had the maximum sentence so it couldn't get any worse. And she would get paid.    

I didn't know about the resisting arrest, it appears when he got outside he started shouting at the policeman, "Do you know who I am?" and started pushing them around. It is rumoured that some truncheons came into play and the paramedics were called back.    

It was also rumoured that the deputy police commissioner and the judge went to the same university but at different times.    

As we left the court a man I'd never seen before came up to me and held out his hand. He smiled and for some reason, I shook his hand. "Have you still got the phone?"    

"Yes."    

"Keep it charged, but not switched on, we will contact you if we need you again. Your name is Egbert by the way." He smiled at me. "Well done and thank you, thank you very much. You've made a lot of people happy."    

After the trial the local paper printed the story of Vale, a complete exposure of the antics of Vale and his teammates, without the victims' names. Although some of them did give permission to be named when the story was taken up by the national press. Our football team did not get promoted, in fact they nearly got relegated.

When Adrian found out how Sophie was involved in Vale's downfall, he contacted her. They are making a go of it; it looks like they will make it.

I don't know if the FA do run courses on how to handle celebrity status, but a very quick Google search reviled they are available. Yes, I have taken liberties with the English legal system.