Henry V Pt 02

An epilogue for those who like an ending.

I had a plan. As I went upstairs, I gave Stevie a phone call. I told him what happened and asked if the bloke we now knew as Charles was still there. He was, Stevie had found out a bit more about him. He was the club Chairman or President, something like that. He had seen the board in the lobby with committee members and staff on it. Charles's picture was at the top. That's probably why he could take married women there on the quiet.

I came downstairs wearing black trousers and a dark hoodie, I grabbed my dark wind cheater, gloves, cricket bat and headed towards the door.

I looked at Ginny, "I'm just going to warn him to stay away from you, if you phone him, I will know, and it will be over between us."

I got on my mountain bike and 25 minutes later I pulled into the Golf club car park and left my bike by the fishpond.

It had started to rain halfway there.

"Stevie, is he still there?"

"Yup bro, chatting to some dudes. Bit of a ding dong going on, looks a bit heated, don't know what it's about."

"Thanks, I'm outside, do you remember where the circuit breaker panel is for the lights?"

"Of course, I changed it."

"Right, give me 5 minutes and then trip the lights in the car park."

I went and found the President's parking slot. It was easy, it was close to the entrance. I waited. It was raining quite hard by now, and cold. I managed to find shelter from most of the weather.

It was nearer 10 minutes when it went dark. I gave it another few minutes then I went to the rear of the black Mercedes and gave it a lift until the alarm went off. It didn't take long for Charles to come out and turn the alarm off with his remote control, he had a few people with him. On the fourth time he came alone and walked towards the car. I was by the rear wheel away from the club entrance. Charles was hurrying with his jacket over his head to protect himself from the rain. As he got to the car I stood up, He saw me and came round the car.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with my car?"

He did have a posh clipped voice.

I stood still and said nothing.

He came towards me

"Well."

The blow with the bat caught him in the midriff. He went down holding his stomach. I leaned down and whispered to him. "Phone."

He managed to get it out of his pocket and offered it to me.

"Code."

"7767, here take my wallet." He managed to get it out of his pocket and offered it to me with the phone. I took both and made sure the code worked.

I could see he thought this was a mugging. My next comment dispelled that thought. "The only married women you fuck should be your own." When the message sunk in his face fell. About the same time as the swell of my bat came into very hard contact with his bollocks. Rapidly followed by each ankle and his left elbow. I also managed to walk on his knee.

If he was right handed, he would still be able to have a wank, if his balls ever came back from his throat.

He was out cold.

I went to the far side of the car park and looked through his phone. From what I gather from his messages it had only been once with Ginny, however tonight was going to be the second time.

There were suspicious messages from other female sounding names.

It was time to go home. I left his wallet on the bonnet of his car, I didn't even open it. I threw the phone in the fishpond and rode home.

I got home and Ginny was on the sofa in her bathrobe, she had obviously been crying a lot. I went upstairs and had a hot shower. It was bloody cold on the bike.

I got downstairs and helped myself to a beer. I sat in the armchair and looked at her and said, "When the police ask, I was here all night after you got in. Or I will take the kids and disappear."

"What about us?" she asked.

I'd thought about this on my ride home. "I'm here for the kids. When they leave, I leave." She'd have about 13 years to make me change my mind.

I'd been in about 10 minutes when Stevie phoned up. "Hey man what'd you do with the dude, no one has seen him for the last hour."

I told Stevie where to look. He used the excuse that he was going to look at the lights.

The police did come and according to my wife I had been at home ever since she got back from the Golf Club meeting a friend.

I got a call on Monday from the Golf Club asking if we could check the lights, they had gone out and one of their members had been mugged whilst they were out.

We got there Wednesday and had a look round. We told the Club Manager we had found a damaged junction box at the base of one of the lamp stands and the water had got in. It looked like someone had driven into it, he seemed happy with that, especially when we offered to change it free of charge. It was a lie. None were broken. The junction boxes were on the back of the lamp stands.

We had noticed that Charles's photo was no longer on the board of staff and committee members. Whilst I changed the box Stevie had a chat with the staff, telling them he was thinking of joining the club and learning to play golf. The rumour was that, now we had found the damaged junction box, and the staff knew it couldn't be hit by a car. One of Charles's girlfriend's husbands had damaged it on purpose, set his car alarm off to lure him outside and had beaten him up and left him unable to walk and he laid there in the rain till Stevie found him. It wasn't a mugging as his wallet was on the bonnet and nothing had been taken.

When Stevie asked about the missing photo, he was told that as Charles brought in a lot of business, so his dalliances were overlooked as long as he was discreet. Ginny rushing across the dance floor and him getting beaten up trashed that. He was no longer a member.

Stevie got offered an introductory price for a lesson with the club pro, he accepted.

It appears our Charles had two broken ankles, a broken knee and a broken elbow. He suffered from hypothermia because he couldn't move, he lay in the cold rain until Stevie found him and called an ambulance. He was hospitalised for months. Photographs were anonymously sent to HR and his wife. He lost his wife and job. With the loss of his job he lost his private medical insurance. He had to pay that out of his savings, well what was left after his wife took all she could. Ginny braved it for a few months, the knowing looks and giggles then she found a new job.

She tried to explain to me why. I told her I didn't care. The fact she had was enough. That didn't stop her. She said to me, "I fell under the spell of a charismatic charming man, I was weak. It won't happen again. I would lose your love forever."

She was a perfect mother and wife. She never strayed again.

When Mickey left home. I'd grown quite comfortable with her in the last 15 years. She learned to do things for me that I liked, she did her best to make it up to me for her moment of weakness. She never repeated that mistake and eventually, I forgave her. And where would I find a woman to do the things we both enjoyed doing together. I stayed.