PART ONE
This story is a spin off from Taking Chances where Fiona had a few brief appearances but that particular story was all about Gail and Sarah getting together. However, at the end I let it slip that Fiona was also now involved with a woman, hence the title of this story is The Domino Effect. It's always been on my mind to write this story and to check in with Gail, Sarah and Cassie. I hope you enjoy the story.
The the term, the domino effect usually has negative connotations but English is a surprisingly adaptable language and I should know, I teach secondary school English at a school in Heathmont. It means that an action such as selling on bad debt just propagates the problem because the debtors could incur extra charges and the company selling on the bad debt might have also lost money. Over a period of time this has other negative effects on the economy, bank interest rates rise, thus more people are in debt and if left unchecked you have serious problems. Broadly speaking this is due to the fall of a single domino, leading to the domino effect. I've only used one notable example to explain the term but it can be applied to many other aspects of society.
However in the spirit of pushing the envelope I want to talk about a domino effect that had positive effects and to do that I have to lay out the background. My name is Fiona and I live two doors down and across the street from Gail and her daughter Cassie, who goes to the school where I work. For quite a few years I was the chief babysitter due to the fact that Gail was a policewoman and in all that time I considered myself to be straight. That changed however the day Gail was wounded on the job when some guy fired a gun at her because one of the first officers on the job was Gail, who works in Special Operations.
I was dimly aware that things were happening between Gail and Sarah, but that was because I was dealing with my own personal situation. At the time I was engaged to Robert, a New Zealander who'd moved to Australia and at the start there was certainly chemistry but when we agreed to get married something changed. The spark that had kept us going flickered and when I agreed to an eighteen month engagement I felt as if I was somehow shackling myself to a man who couldn't commit himself. An engagement in my mind should be short and sweet, once you start stretching it out then you get restless.
At the time Gail and Harriet got together I was over in New Zealand with Robert meeting his family and when I returned I felt a strange unease and it was not because my best friend was up close and personal with another woman. Robert's mother had pulled me aside whilst he was out with his two brothers and told me that while she loved me and thought that I was a wonderful catch, I was too good for her son.
"Robert is like a bee, he dips his wick into every pretty little thing. It's not up to me to tell you but if you pull the plug and end it then you won't get any arguments or ill feeling from me."
When a mother says that about one of her children you'd better sit up and pay attention because the jigsaw pieces started falling into place. For quite a few months now I'd been puzzled by his late finishing times at work because he was just a mechanic at a car wrecking yard. He had claimed he was working overtime at the yard but on more than one occasion he'd asked me to tide him over until payday. Now I was wondering if his 'overtime' actually involved dropping in on some other woman and at least two or three times a month he had to cancel a date because something had come up at Tafe. He was doing a course in web design.
To cut a long story short I asked Sarah's advice and she suggested hiring one of those rent a bombs and following him from work. It sounded a little theatrical but I was quite taken by Sarah, she was one of those no nonsense women who has to face down some very dangerous characters and come out on top. But I didn't need to go that far when my sister dropped in one night after work to ask what Robert's car was doing in Belgrave, he worked in Lilydale and when I rang to ask if he was coming over tonight for dinner he said he was at work.
"So, why is your car in a suburban street in Belgrave?"
You could have heard a pin drop and Cassie looked up as I sat down.
"You've got five seconds to come up with an answer," I stared at my sister, "Lynne has just driven past your car on her way to see a friend, so this had better be good."
"Okay, okay, I've been helping a friend, she, he has had some issues."
"She he?" I raised my eyebrows, "is it a she or a he, or is that the issue?"
"Shit."
"Shit is right, tell you what. I'll save you the drive over here and I'll mail the ring to you. Don't bother coming around to plead with me, it's over," I hung up and sank back against the back of the couch.
"That cunt," I exploded, "that fucking cunt."
"So it was his car."
"Yeah," I stared at Lynne, "he didn't deny that, he's helping someone with issues but he got the gender mixed up, it's either a he or a she."
"I'm sorry," Lynne reached for me, "I didn't know what to say when I saw the car, I thought it might just be the same model and maybe I got the registration mixed up."
"Do you want me to get Sarah to arrest him?" Cassie ventured, "she could make something up I'm sure."
Despite the way I was feeling at the time I did laugh out loud but it was forced. What happened next still makes me cringe because it's so unlike me. I gathered up all the clothes he'd left in my room and cut holes and strips in them, and then got Lynne to drive me over to his place. His car was on the nature strip and when I dumped his mangled clothes on the bonnet it was still warm. He saw me and came racing out just as I tossed the ring onto the pavement.
"Fuck you," I screamed.
Robert reached me just as I was getting back into the car and yanked the door open, and if not for the fact that a motorist pulled up just beside him I might have had a serious problem. I got the door closed again but he managed to thump my rear passenger window as I pulled away. I was shaking all the way home and it took quite a while for the panic to subside and then I had to contemplate my act of vandalism. That just triggered off another anxiety attack and so Lynne and I went over to Gail's place, I'd seen her car in the driveway as we drove past.
"You look like you've had some bad news," Gail looked up from the couch, "Cassie didn't tell me everything."
I told her everything and she listened without interruption and then she picked up her phone.
"What are you going to do?"
"Calling a friend," she tapped the screen, "actually I'm calling Sarah, she's at home but she'll be able to tell me if he's reported you."
She was on the phone in the other room for some time and when she came back she had a slight smile on her face.
"What's so funny?"
"Your ex fiancé has another secret."
"What's that?"
"A little matter of car rebirthing," she perched on the edge of the couch, "Sarah ran a check on the Belgrave address and it um, seems he's been doing a few back yarders for mates and their mates, which involves changing engine numbers. She's said that there's nothing she can do at the moment because he's under surveillance but it's possible you were seen at the house spitting the dummy."
"Car rebirthing," I pinched my nose, "fuck, how could I not have known?"
"He might have a woman on the side as well, but it's also possible that the address in Belgrave might just be where he does his rebirthing thing. Her advice, and I agree with it, is just to avoid any contact with him and if he lodges a complaint about what you did to his clothes just call Sarah or myself and we'll see what we can do."
She glanced at her phone as she continued.
"It's in the hands of the major crimes division anyway, they may call on you to ask if you've any information they could add to their profile but that's their call and from what I can work out he's just a bit player who might be used to reel in some much bigger fish."
