Buster2U has asked me to write a story on the 'honey, we need to talk' theme. I have had a few ideas in my head, but I could not make them work. Then I started on this story, and a few of those ideas came together. I hope it all works.
I am also getting comments about leaving some loose ends in my stories. I do that for a couple of reasons. First, it lets me revisit stories, but also these are short stories and I find I can't close all of the holes to my satisfaction in the space of three pages, so I like to leave them to the readers' imaginations. I am happy for anyone to fill in the blanks in my stories with their own take on them.
Thanks to my editor, kenjisato; I hope he understands how much I appreciate what he does.
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My name is Lewis Potter, my friends call me Lew, but I generally answer to anything. I am married to Ruby. We have been married for four years, but have no children, for no other reason than we are both a bit selfish, and don't want to give up our freedom. We probably will have children, but my guess is that it will be when we are well into our thirties.
We both came from poor backgrounds, living only several streets apart, but did not meet until we were both eighteen, while at a recruitment event run by our school. Ruby had done well at school and had obtained a qualification as a bookkeeper and credit controller. I, on the other hand, had done very poorly, not even graduating. What I did have was a work ethic and an eye for business. At the age of fifteen, I had started doing cleaning jobs for local shops and small offices. By the time I was eighteen, I employed thirty people and had contracts with a number of the larger businesses in our town. Ruby was looking for a job and I was looking for employees.
When Ruby came to my table at the event we talked. She handed me her CV and batted her eyes at me, saying, "I don't want a cleaning job, but you might like my number."
I phoned her before she was at the next table, asking her out for a meal the following night. We were married four years later.
Ruby did get a job from that event. She started in the purchasing office for an engineering firm, starting at the bottom of the ladder. After eight years, she was the manager of the purchasing office as well as the credit control department. Needless to say, we had a very good DINK lifestyle.
My business was thriving and I was now the biggest office and shop cleaning company in the town, having bought out two of my competitors. As with most offices, the cleaner and the security staff are the first to notice strange things happening, and they are all happy to talk.
About four months ago, I was working in the office when my secretary came in and told me there was a man in reception who would like to talk to me. She handed me his business card. It read 'Ross Evans -- Private Investigator'. I told her to bring him to the office.
As he came into the office, I stood up and offered my hand, asking, "Mr Evans, what can I do for you?"
We shook hands and I offered him a seat. Smiling, he sat down. "First, can I have a coffee? I haven't had one all day, and I am ready to kill for one."
I knew exactly how he felt, caffeine appears to be the drug of choice for most business owners. My secretary didn't have to be asked twice. She poured two mugs of coffee from the machine in my office, and left milk and sugar on the desk. Neither of us touched it.
After some small talk, I got down to business. "Well, Mr Evans, what can I do for you?"
Without missing a beat, he began, "Please call me Ross. As you have seen from my card, I am a private investigator and I am working for a client who suspects their wife is either having an affair, or is about to have one. Our girl works as a purchase ledger clerk in Stevens Piping. One of their biggest suppliers is AM Metals. AM Metals has a new salesman, named Alistair Clarke. Mr Clarke is a bit of a lothario with a taste for married women. Mr Clarke has wined and dined my client's wife for some time. They go for long lunches, he sends flowers, text at night, you know, the whole shooting match. From what we can gather, he is trying to get her to go away for a night with him. Right now, we have a fair bit of information, but we need to get the final details."
I was intrigued. This 'Secret Squirrel' stuff was lots of fun, but the name 'AM Metals' was well known to me. Ruby's employers also sourced raw materials from them, and this Clarke guy sounded like someone I wanted to keep her away from. I looked up to see Ross looking at me. He was waiting for the obvious question, so I asked, "I understand, but how can I help?"
He smiled. "I hoped you would ask that. It's quite simple, he leaves flowers, notes, and other documents on her desk. She reads them, then puts them in her bin. Your staff empty the bin. They can retrieve anything which is personal from him and give it to us. We have checked this out with our legal team, and anything personal can be retrieved without you being in any legal trouble.
"We have also spoken to her employer, here is an authorisation for you to retrieve the information. By cooperating with our investigation, they avoid any legal issues, for breaching the fraternisation clause in her contact, that might come their way. If you want to know why they signed this, then here is the CEO's business card. Please phone him to confirm his agreement."
I already had the CEO's number on my phone. Without saying a word to Ross, I picked up the phone and dialled the CEO.
He answered on the second ring and without so much as a 'hallo', started straight in, "Lew, I assume Ross Evans is sitting in your office. I confirm I give you full permission to obtain and give any information that does not relate to this company to him or his employees. My attorney is drawing up a letter right now, which we will email to you, to that effect. Got to go, as the attorney is in my office right now, but call me back if you need anything more."
He hung up the phone. I hadn't even spoken a word. Obviously, this was an issue they wanted out of the way as quickly as possible.
Ross was smiling at me.
I just nodded, and added, "He confirmed what you said. Give me all the information and we will put her bin in a separate bag. I will sort it here, and you can collect the details every morning at eleven. Does that work for you?"
Ross confirmed with, "That is perfect."
I called in the supervisor of that crew and Ross briefed us on what to look for, early lunches, late lunches, flowers, notes, etc.
We worked with Ross for about six weeks. At the end of the period, he advised that the investigation had finished. One of my staff noticed the lady concerned had not come back after lunch. We phoned Ross and told him. He had tailed them to a motel. The marriage ended in divorce.
Work and home life carried on as normal. Until one day, Ruby arrived home a little flustered. I tried to figure out what was happening but she wouldn't tell me.
About a week later, one of my long-term staff, Donna, came into my office. She was a good employee that had been with me from virtually the start. I thought of her as a friend. She was twenty-five years older than me, and she treated me a bit like a son. She sat down in the chair, and I could see something wasn't right.
Then she started, "You know, a couple of months ago, I was working in the office where we kept an eye on that woman?"
I was intrigued, how could I forget. "Yes, it was a very interesting time. Why do you bring it up?" I asked, while raising my eyebrow to show I was most certainly intrigued.
"Well," she sort of stammered, "as you know, I am now working in the office your wife works in, and that same guy we were watching is now coming into her office. I noticed a big bunch of flowers and she went out for lunch with him. This is the card that was on the flowers."
She handed me the card and I read it. "My dearest Ruby, thank you for helping me renew the contract with your company. You have no idea how grateful I am. I hope you will accept my invitation to lunch so we can connect properly. With love, Alistair."
My blood ran cold. The language instantly told me this was not the first personal interaction, and it certainly was getting close to, if it had not already, passing the point of failing the spouse test. I knew from Ross that this guy took his time, but he was very successful at hitting on married women, and my wife was in the crosshairs.
I thanked Donna and asked her to keep an eye out for anything else, and to give me a rundown each morning. If there were any other notes, I asked her to bring them to me.
As soon as she left, I picked up the phone and dialed Ross. He answered on the third ring.
"Hi Lou, what can I do for you?"
I started right into the conversation, telling him what Donna had told me. "I have just had one of my employees in with me. She was the one that cleared the desk every night on that case with you. After the investigation finished, we moved her to another role, working in the office my wife works in. Donna just told me that the same Mr Clarke is putting the press on my wife, and she is now going out to lunch with him. I have the card from the flowers he sent, and it suggests he has ambitions with her."
Ross took a deep breath. "We are still investigating Mr Clarke. In fact, you are the third husband at the moment, the only difference is the other two didn't know who he was to start with. The other husbands have agreed to share costs, would you like to join in with them?"
"Of course, what do I need to do?" I answered.
Ross advised he was meeting the husbands at two o'clock, and asked, "Can you come to my office to meet up, do the necessary paperwork, and share the information."
I agreed to be there.
At exactly 1:55pm, I was sitting in Ross's office. In the room was Dan McWilliams and Jonny Ashley, the two husbands; Ross and one of his employees Mike Pearson, who was running the data collection on this case, were also with us.
