Reflections Pt. 04

What happened after.

Some of you may wonder what happened to the people in this story, if you do, then carry on. If not, I suggest you stop here. There are little links to future stories of the adventures of these two. If life and work doesn't get in the way, that is. Will Alan get his revenge and be able to stay out of gaol. And I've got the names correct this time.

We made it to the Barstow's place on Sunday and on time, just. I had a large bunch of flowers for Sylvia, Julia was a bit miffed as it was bigger than the bunch I'd got her, we haven't got a vase big enough to take all these flowers anyway. And buying vases isn't man's work.

We only just made it as I had a phone to make, and it went on longer than I expected.

Mr Barstow Junior, Phillip was there, we had a nice dinner doing the usual Brit chat, weather, gardens, Cricket, Rugby, Holidays, Cars. We were a bit quiet on the last two subjects, we hadn't decided yet what sort of boat we were going on, sailing yacht or cruise liner or which car.

After lunch we moved into the lounge, David fetched himself and me a whiskey, whilst Sylvia and Julia had wine. Phillip was drinking beer. It was a little early for strong drink for me, and anyway I wasn't a fan of whiskey, and it wasn't a fan of me. We didn't get on. I took a sip and Sylvia noticed my grimace as much as I tried to hide it. She stood up took the whiskey glass from me poured the contents into her husband's glass. She sailed into the kitchen returning with a bottle of beer and a glass for me.

David leaned forward and said, "Ok, you two, what the flipping hell is happening?"

Julia and I had discussed roughly what we were going to say. And we had to be careful not to drop ourselves in it. I nodded to Julia. She started "One of your staff tried to seduce me and it nearly worked. They had the help of other members of staff, but I was just the added bonus. It was done to mess Alan around and get him sacked."

Sylvia leaned forward this time, it would be Phillip's turn next to lean forward. "What do you mean nearly?"

"I came to my senses and left."

"Can I ask where?"

My turn, "this is a little difficult for us, we don't want to get into trouble because I was trying to save my marriage. So, to answer that question. Not at the factory."

"When?" was the next question from Sylvia.

"It was due to finish yesterday."

"Has it finished, have you two sorted yourselves out?"

"Sylvia, yes and and we are working on it."

"So, the rumours about you two getting divorced aren't true?"

"Not now," I said and to reinforce it I squeezed Julia's hand. That was for her, not the Barstows.

"Okay, who was it? I'll sack the bastard." David was quite loud.

Julia spoke up, "you can't, it would be unfair dismissal, there is nothing preventing two people having an affair as long as it's not on site."

"Bollocks." Not often you hear David swear and with that he got up and refreshed his glass with whiskey.

Phillip stood up and fetched the two ladies some more wine and brought the pair of us back a beer, as he handed mine to me, he winked.

When he sat down, he leaned forward and said. "I've got it. It's simple. Bear with me. Who keeps falling over?"

He paused so I answered. "He has been having some bad luck at home recently and he's very tired. That's why."

"Whose door keeps jamming?"

"Well, if he opened his door properly not like a bull at a gate it would be Ok, worked for everyone else."

"Whose company car got damaged, and it was relatively simple damage covered by the works insurance, nothing has fallen off the roof for the last 30 odd years that I know of, and that was the only car on-site without a Dash Cam. Even the old Fiest has a Mobius cam."

"Cheaper car insurance for cars fitted with a Dash Cam. It would save us money." I am the transport manager.

Young Phillip didn't let up, I like this young man. He had the right of it. "Chardonnay has had her car for three or four years and never put the wrong fuel in it before and why did happen in our yard?"

"It can take several miles in a frugal car for the wrong fuel to get to the injectors."

He raised an eyebrow at me, David and Sylvia were watching me intently, so they missed it, Julia didn't "And Charity, two punctures at the same time!"

"Just plain bad luck, I guess."

Phillip stood up, "I need another beer, Alan I can see you're nearly ready, will you give me a hand please?" He was drinking from a bottle and there was plenty in it. But I complied.

As we got to the fridge, he whispered, "And whose office is right next to the circuit breaker panel with the lift circuit breaker in it. I don't know how you managed to catch him every time he used it on his own, and only him. I'm impressed?" He didn't give me time to reply as he walked back to the lounge.

Sylvia said, "so it was Andrew Davis and the 2Cs, what did they do?"

Julia was nodding, we'd decided that if the Barstows worked anything out we would agree with them only up to what they'd worked out, no more. Not all of the story. And certainly not all of my story. She went on to tell them about Andrew's offer to make it two men that she had slept with and how, the 2Cs had egged her on saying she wouldn't get caught, it's just a bit of fun, it's only sex, they would arrange it and cover for her. They'd put the thought in her head and she couldn't shake it. The only way to get rid of the thought was to do it. She didn't want to cheat on me behind my back, so she talked to me about it. We had several arguments hence the friction at work. And she got as far as being in the same room, but she looked in the mirror and didn't like the person she saw. So, left.

David and Sylvia looked dumbfounded, then Julia went on with something we hadn't planned, well I hadn't. She went on to explain that I'd really had no choice. If I said 'No' then I didn't really love her, so that would be her excuse to do it anyway, if I said 'yes' it would be my fault because I'd given her permission to cheat. She was crying now. She had fallen on her own sword in front of our bosses.

David just said, "those three have to go, shit, we'll have to go through that restoring efficiency bollocks."

Philip just quietly said, "I wouldn't worry about it just yet Dad, I've got a feeling that something is going to turn up to help you."

Sylvia took Julia by the hand and they went to the kitchen so she could regain herself. Then I just sat there, amazed at what she'd just said. None of what she'd said was in the plan that we'd talked about. I mentioned we'd have to get a taxi home and one of us would pop round to pick up the car tomorrow. David told me to take the day off along with Julia. He suggested we needed some time together; he was probably right, but we both had things to do at work.

The girls came back refreshed and we carried on chatting. It was a bit stinted for a while, so to break the tension I asked David if there was something I could bring up? It's about work, we should do it at work but if David and Sylvia didn't mind, we could do it now.

With that Julia stood up and said she needed to pop to the loo, as she left she did that childlike horse imitation, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail but without the coconuts. The Barstows looked at me quizzically. "She knows I'm going to get to my hobby horse and that was her hobby horse impression." They all laughed, that lightened the atmosphere a bit. I went straight into it, it would make this less painful for Julia when she got back, she'd heard it all before several times. "Succession plan, do you have one?" All the Barstows looked confused, David shook his head.

"If I or Julia had gone last week who would have taken our places, who you have replaced us with?" The next bit was planned, but would anybody notice, Phillip probably would. "When Andrew goes next week who are you going to replace him with?" I was wrong, they did all noticed that I said 'when' not 'if'.

Silvia said. "No, we haven't but it looks like you have, let's hear your thoughts."

"When Andrew goes, replace him with John who works for me." Phillip noticed I said when again. "He's got a bit of a gift of the gab, he knows the machinery, he knows what it can do, and he knows the people who work the machinery. He's worked the machinery himself, he's a likeable chap but doesn't take any crap, I think he'd be good at it. And if you send him and Bob out together for the first couple of months, I reckon he'll soon have it buttoned down."

"That seems quite reasonable, I might have a word with him tomorrow, who are you going to replace him with or just let the two of you do it?"

"Adam the apprentice, he's a switched on lad, he's already approached me and told me he wants to do maintenance. His bosses think he'd be OK. But I don't really want to take on an apprentice, he needs to finish his apprenticeship first, and that's nine months away, we can either get a contractor in if John takes the job offer when Shi... Andrew goes or Chris and I bite the bullet and just muddle through."

Philip spoke up, "I'm here two days out of five, I could give you a hand. I'd like to see how you waste my father's money." He said laughingly.

"Actually, it'll be three days out of six, we work Saturdays."

"Bugger there goes my Saturday afternoon golf then," he said with a smile on his face.

Phillip carried on, "okay the big one, who's going to replace you?"

That's when Julia came back, and she threw her tenpenny worth in. "Nobody can replace him, he's irreplaceable." That lightened the mood a little bit more.

"Chris will be fine at the job, I've been slowly teaching him the paperwork and bits and pieces, well, I've been teaching both of them. it doesn't hurt to have a second string to your bow."

"You really have given this some thought, haven't you?"

Julia piped up, "not just him, both Jane and Anne would be ideal doing my job, Jane would be the better, she's that little bit harder, probably something to do with her divorce, it's probably given her a broader outlook, but as I said both could do the job well."

A worried look passed across David's face, they had finally twigged it that we might both be leaving. It was get rid of those three or we go. "Does that mean you're thinking of leaving us? Because we've got plans for Ju..." Shelia's hand shot across and touched her husband's leg, she looked at him and shook her head. All of a sudden it got a bit icy in the room. Julia and I waited, this was not our ball game.

Philip jumped in. "Well before I get some more beer, are you staying or going?" That was two questions in one.

I smiled. "Well, as we have no plans to leave at the moment if things turnout how we expect, I think another beer is in order." That seemed to ease the tension in the room a bit. There was more than one question answered there too.

When he bought the beer back, I suggested it would probably be the last one and it was about time we ordered a taxi, Philip said he had that in hand and it'd be here in about half an hour which would give us time to finish chatting and to finish our drinks.

The taxi horn sounded, and we all moved to the front door, before we went out the front door I gave Sylvia a hug, shook Davids's hand and I was about to shake Phillips when he put his arm around my shoulders and guided me to the far side of the taxi. He opened the door for me and in a quiet voice asked. "Did you have anything to do with the happenings in Andrew's house?"

"That would be breaking and entering and that's illegal." I didn't say I didn't do it.

He clasped me on the shoulder and said, "I don't like the twat either, he wasn't good for the business, but he didn't do anything wrong, just not good. And I think Dad's got enough to sack him." another swear word from a Barstow. A rare event getting less rare.

I smiled at him "And you're correct by the way, he might have more reasons in the next few days. Keep an eye on the local newspaper."

"We need to go out for a beer sometime soon so you can tell me some of your 'war stories', next Wednesday suit you. Rose and Crown or the Mallard?" That was an order from the boss's son. I had no problems with that and said so. How did he know where I drank?

I got in the taxi and Phillip closed the door.

As we drove home, I looked at Julia and we both almost said at the same time. "What the hell was that all about?"

We both slept well that night something to do with the alcohol and getting something off of our collective chests.

I didn't go to work on Monday, Julia went in in the afternoon, Shithead didn't turn up either, or answer his phone. Tuesday was going to be interesting.

I picked up a local newspaper on my way to work, something I rarely did, I found it on page two. 'Local businessman mugged in hotel'. It went on to say that a local businessman had been found in an uncompromising position by hotel staff. His wallet and credit cards were all missing. The Hotel and Police declined to comment, although an unconfirmed source remembered him booking in with a foreign sounding lady, Russian, German or Dutch accent or something like that. I wonder where they got that story from? I opened the paper at the right page and dropped it on Julia's desk.

About an hour later Julia came down to see me in my office, she'd booked an interview with Mr Barstow in about half an hour and I may want to hang around outside his office. This sounded a bit official.

I was there on time to see Julia walk into Mr Barstow's office with a couple of sheets of paper and the newspaper I'd given her. She didn't close the door behind her. Mrs Barstow was there as well. I heard Julia tell them that the story in the newspaper caught her attention, why would a local businessman be in a local hotel? We hadn't seen Andrew for a day or so, so she checked his company credit card account and saw that it had been used in that hotel on that day and used again later that night in an off licence the next town over. She had put a stop to the credit card. She suggested to Mr Barstow that Andrew was using the company credit card for personal business. It was well known that he currently had money issues. It went quiet for a long time then I heard Mrs Barstow say. "You'd better get your husband in here so we can track his car by his dash cam."

Just then my pocket beeped. I pulled out my phone, you know the one that was linked to Shithead's car, it was on the move. I made my way into Shithead's office; it was easy as there was no door on it. With my other phone, I phoned the police's non-emergency number again. I suggested that I'd seen a Mr Davis who I thought was still inebriated driving his car to work.

Julia caught my eye and waved me in. It was quite hard to judge the tension in the room. There was no preamble from Mr Barstow. "Can you track Mr Davis's car for us please?"

"Yes Sir," I got my works phone out and held it up. "He appears to be on his way in and should be here in about 10 minutes."

"We should go and meet him in the car park, Alan I would be grateful if you could join us and if either of your two chaps could be there, that might be useful."

I gave John a quick call and gave him a quick brief and asked him and Chris to meet us outside in the car park.

It couldn't have turned out better. Shithead arrived and parked in his slot, rapidly followed by a police patrol car with lights and music. Before Shithead could get out of his car a police constable stood by the driver's door and one by the passenger door. We couldn't quite hear what was said but the breathalyser appeared. There was lots of to-ing and froing with a lot of chat on the radios and we gathered Mr Davis was being arrested for something.

That's when it got really interesting.

A small crowd had gathered, and I was stood at the back. Shithead looked across at us and he could see the smile was a mile wide across my face, I gave him a double thumbs up. Then it hit him, I'd been the architect of all of his woes and misfortunes. I think that may have tipped the balance, he swung round and his elbow caught one of the police constables in the face. He charged across to me, bursting with anger, the small crowd shrank back in fear, and he could get to me. He was brought up short when the box bashing stick poked him in the chest. I saw the light go out of his eyes, his head went down, and his shoulders slumped. The constables caught up with him and he was rapidly forced to the ground and handcuffed. I looked at him he was crying, sobbing his whole body was shaking. The policeman picked him up and dragged him to the patrol car. There was a broken man. That'll teach him to prey on my wife.

I wonder if he will think of me every time he gets bent over in the shower, if that sort of thing still happens. I hope it does.

One of the constable's stayed with him and the one that got clocked in the face walked across to us, notebook in hand, pen at the ready.

"Excuse me Sir does this man work for you?"

Mr Barstow replied, "He does at the moment, but that is about to change."

"I gather this is a company car? "

"Yes." he then turned and indicated to me and said. "This is my transport manager. I'm sure we can help you with anything you need."

Looking at both of us he said, "are you aware that Mr Davis has been banned from driving for a drink driving offence?"

We both said 'no' at the same time, I added that I hadn't seen it in the papers yet, the policeman told us it was probably in today's if not Thursdays.

I stepped forward a little bit, "if he's banned from driving, he's not covered under the company insurance." Much scribbling in the notebook.

"Sir, I would be grateful if you could keep the car here and secure until our investigations are complete."

Mr Barstow nodded to me. "Not a problem constable, the car is fitted with a Dash Cam which tracks speeds and locations plus voice. would that be of any use to you?" I said.

The constable looked at us quizzically, he probably wasn't used to people being helpful. "We don't know until we see it, but if you could download us a copy, we'd be grateful. "

"I can do better than that, I can give you the whole SIM card." And that's what we did. As we walked back upstairs, I asked Mr Barstow if he had chatted to John yesterday about the salesman job. He smiled at me and said he had and that he thought a slot had just become available. He then took on a serious note and asked me if any of this have anything to do with me? I replied that it was me that tipped off the police that he was moving, and I suspected he was drunk, so as my civic duty I report him. Mr Barstow clapped me on the shoulder, smiled and said. "Very honourable, well done, just those other two to get rid of now."

Wednesday afternoon I was summoned to Mr Barstow's office. There was a policeman constable there, he had a bit of a shiner on his right eye.

"Constable Johnson has just informed me that Mister Davis is being charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, driving under the influence, driving without due care and attention, driving without insurance, and driving whilst banned and he would probably not be returning to work in the near future. I've told the constable we're in the process of letting him go, as it is a prerequisite that he drive to carry out his job. There are also several cases of speeding and ignoring traffic lights that were found on the Dash Cam, hence the driving without due care and attention. One of the worst cases he's ever seen." I looked at the policeman and smiled, he looked about 12 years old, I don't think he'd seen that much, but never mind. "I've told constable Johnson that our lawyer will be in contact because we're going to bring charges of theft and fraud onto Mr Davis for using company credit card for his own ends." He pointed out the monitor and carried on. "He bought us this recording that we might find useful. I'd be grateful if you collect your wife as an HR representative and ask Charity and Chardonnay to come in."