Memoirs of a Swinger Ep. 37

"Is that alright Steven?" Ferdi asked.

"Of course."

Ursula got up and walked over to where Ferdi and Ingrid were seated.

"In that case," Ursula said in a cheeky tone to Ingrid, "why don't you come back to bed with me and I'll tell you all about last night."

Ingrid giggled and followed Ursula out of the room.

I went back to my own room to shower, shave and put on some fresh clothes then met Ferdi in the entrance hall.

"Let me show you around," Ferdi offered. "We can talk on the way."

"Sure," I said and followed him out of the hallway and into the fresh air.

"I understand you've bought a company developing communications technology," he began.

"That's right."

"Do you want to sell it?"

"Not really. We think it will be worth a lot more when the technology's proven. We also think it could have wider applications."

Ferdi laughed,

"That's what I thought you'd say. But you still need a partner right? You can't manufacture and defence ministries won't be interested in dealing with a company of that size."

"You're right. We're looking to partner with a big name, once it's proven."

"Obermann already has defence contracts in multiple countries, on both sides of the Atlantic. We're ideally positioned for the U.S. market. The 'Americas' division is a separately listed company on the New York Stock Exchange. We can also help with chip design and production, and you know we've got the manufacturing capacity."

"You make a good case but I can't offer you a special deal, Ferdi. We need to do the best for our investors."

"I'm not looking for one. And don't forget I'm an investor too. But I want that battlefield technology."

"Then let's see what we can work out. Are you interested in a secure two way radio? It's built using the same encryption technology but without the anti-jamming features and multi-medium usage. It's basically a light version of the battlefield system and it's ready now."

"Of course," he replied.

We arrived at what looked to be a barn used for storage. Ferdi punched in a key code to enter and opened the door. The barn must have been air conditioned and heated because it felt warm and dry inside. At the front was an office filled with motoring paraphernalia. It was almost like a little den. At the rear of the office was a door. Ferdi walked through it and switched on the lights to reveal a warehouse full of neatly arranged cars.

"Wow," was all I could manage.

"Call it a hobby that got out of control," he chuckled.

There was an eclectic mix of mostly pre-war cars from both sides of the Atlantic. Some of the cars were clearly American but I couldn't have told you who made them. The European ones were more familiar, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Hispano Suiza, Bugatti...

There were no racing cars except for one, a powder blue Bugatti Type 35. I'd seen one like it at the Swiss home of Gert Strang; the arms dealer, secrets trader and sometime car thief. To me, it had been the most beautiful car in his collection.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Ferdi offered.

"It certainly is. I saw one recently."

"In Switzerland I believe."

"That's correct. I guess Stefan told you about our recovery mission."

"Some of the secrets Strang was selling belonged to the Obermann corporation."

"I didn't realise."

"I bought this car on sight at an auction. I'd gone to buy something else," Ferdi laughed. "I should have sat in it first. It was built for Italians not Bavarians."

"Could I sit in it?"

"Of course."

I got into the car. It was a two seater and although the driving position was cramped, it wasn't ridiculously so.

"If you help me secure a contract with the Americans for the battlefield system I'll gift you this car," Ferdi said.

"It's already in my interests to sell the system as widely as possible," I told him.

"Call it an added incentive then."

I would have done anything to own the Bugatti. I had no idea if we could sell the system to the Americans but I wasn't about to turn his offer down.

"Thank you. That's a very generous offer." I said, trying to sound as grateful as I was.

"I really want this Steven, so let's make it happen."

"I wanted to thank you for last night as well," I told him. "And for letting me see Ursula."

"I don't think I'd have been very popular if I'd have objected," Ferdi laughed.

"All the same, thank you."

"Ursula likes you Steven. I don't need to tell you that. You make her feel like she's twenty one again. She's flattered that you want to spend time with her."

"I do." I said. "And not just because I find her attractive. I like spending time with her."

"I think she'd like to get to know your wife better. Ursula's worried about the impression she might have of her."

"Lesley thinks she's lovely."

"I know you haven't been skiing before but we were wondering if you'd like to come to Gstaad with us for a long weekend at the beginning of March. I thought perhaps we could invite Markus and Heike along too and perhaps Daniel and his wife."

"I'm sure Lesley would love that. Me too."

I was packing my clothes back into my suitcase, ready to head off to the airport, when there was a knock on the door. I called out that it was ok to come in and Ursula appeared. She walked in and closed the door behind her then put her arms around my neck and gave me a big kiss.

"Thank you for coming to see us. I really enjoyed last night and I know Ferdi did too."

"You are amazing," I told her.

"Thank you," she said, her face flushing. "Ferdi says you'll come to Gstaad."

"We'd love to."

Ursula gave me her cheeky smile. I wanted to fuck her right there but I knew it wasn't going to happen. I had a plane to catch...

Crime and Punishment

My flight was delayed by half an hour and I almost didn't make it back in time for my Thursday night training session with Andy Conlan. When I arrived at the gym behind the International School of Martial Arts, Lesley's Land Rover wasn't in the car park, or Suzy's Golf, but the white van belonging to the three coppers I'd seen there the previous week was.

When I went inside, Andy was talking to the three coppers but stopped when he saw me. I walked over and acknowledged them.

"Rich has got something to say to you," was all Andy offered.

"Er, yeah. I'm sorry about last week. I was out of order," Rich said rather humbly.

"No worries," I said.

"Andy says you convinced him to let us stay on the course, so thanks for that. Oh and thanks for not beating the shit out of me by the way."

"You're welcome," I laughed.

"Andy says you've got a job for us."

"All in good time, Rich," Andy interrupted. "I'll call you guys over when we're ready."

"Job?" I asked when they'd moved away.

"It's best to wait until your wife gets here, Steven."

Andy never called me Steven. It was always Steve or Stevie...

When Lesley arrived she was alone.

"Where's Suzy," I asked.

"She's fine, she's at Daniel and Kate's. It's Emma, Steven, someone tried to rape her."

I felt my pulse quickening as Lesley began to explain what had happened.

"It was the building contractor's son. He's called Terry. He's been working at the house all week with a couple of other guys. He waited until it was just Emma by herself then he told her he needed to come in to the house and turn off the electricity. Once he was alone with her he tried to charm her and when Emma told him she wasn't interested he forced himself on her. Emma screamed and if it hadn't been for one of the other builders, a big black guy called Mike then Terry would have raped her."

"When did this happen?"

"Wednesday afternoon. This Mike guy got Emma to call me and I called the number you gave us for Blackfinch."

"Did they come?"

"Yes, within ten minutes. They talked to Mike and he told them Terry had done this before. Apparently he preys on the housewives where they work. If he gets lucky then he blackmails them afterwards by threatening to tell their husbands they've had sex with him. Apparently he just thinks he can get away with it. Nobody ever says anything."

"Did anyone call the police?"

"Blackfinch said not to. They said they'd deal with it."

"Where's Terry's dad? He's supposed to be working at the house too."

"He's not been all week. He's away on another job in Kent apparently."

"Are you all still at the house?"

"No, Blackfinch took Emma to Daniel and Kate's. Suzy and I slept there last night too."

"Why didn't you call me," I asked her.

"There was nothing you could do, Steven and I didn't want to want to worry you."

Lesley was right of course, but it didn't do anything to lessen the guilt I felt for failing Emma.

"You're right," I told her. "And you did the right thing calling Blackfinch."

Lesley hugged me and started to cry. It must have been a bit uncomfortable for Andy but he waited.

"I'm proud of you," I told Lesley. "Now go back to Daniel and Kate's tonight and go to work tomorrow as usual, all of you. I'll call you at work. And don't forget we're going out to dinner with Uwe, Sam and Lynne and their partners, so tell Emma she's coming with us."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure yet but I'll stay at the house tonight."

I walked Lesley out to her car and we hugged again. I watched her drive off before going back inside.

"You knew about all of this?" I asked Andy.

"Blackfinch told me."

"And this is the job Rich was talking about?"

"If you want it to be."

"I do."

"Then we've got work to do," Andy said. "Terry was back working at your house today. So there'll be no trouble finding him."

"So we'll get him tomorrow morning."

"Fine but there's no 'we' on this one. You're on the bench Stevie."

"Why?"

"Firstly, because you're personally involved and that can cloud your judgement. Secondly, if anyone goes to the police then you're an obvious suspect. Thirdly, you're too important to Blackfinch to risk on something as low level as this. Leave it to Rich and his mates. It's what they were built for. They're coppers, even if they get caught their mates are going to let them off."

It did nothing to bolster my faith in the police but Andy had a point. He did let me sit in on the planning though. One of the decisions they left up to me was how much Terry should suffer. I wanted him to feel afraid as much as I wanted him hurt. I didn't want him permanently injured. Scared and temporarily maimed would be good enough.

When we were done I drove to Wimbledon. It was odd being in the house alone. It was almost never empty.

******************

In the morning I got up for work as normal but waited until the builders arrived at eight. It was easy to recognise Mike. He was the only black guy out of the four man crew. I waited until he was on his own then went out to see him.

"You're Mike?" I said.

"Yes boss," he replied in a London accent.

"Thank you for what you did on Wednesday."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more but I need the work. I can't lose my job over this. My wife's just given birth."

"Boy or a girl?"

"Boy," he replied smiling.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks boss."

"Have you spoken to anyone about what happened?"

"No boss. Well, apart from my wife. The two guys who came round told me to keep my mouth shut and well, Terry doesn't exactly want it made public either."

At that point Mike was joined by a skanky looking youth who leered at me.

"This is Terry," Mike said helpfully.

"Pleased to meet you Terry," I said making a point of shaking his hand.

Terry leered at me for a bit longer.

"You need to get working with that hod," Mike told Terry. "The brickies are almost out of bricks."

"I don't take orders off no fucking darkie," Terry replied.

"I'm asking, not telling you Terry."

Terry sloped off.

"He's a little shit, boss. Takes after his mother. She's fucked half the guys his dad employs and he doesn't even know it. They all just laugh at him behind his back."

"Where is his dad?"

"Martin's working away."

"He's supposed to be here."

"Well, his wife does the admin and she books him on jobs so he's out of the area when she fancies a fuck."

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Trinidad, boss."

"Not with an accent like that."

"Sorry boss, that's what people usually want to know. I'm from Streatham."

"I'm from Stepney."

"You look like you made it out alive," he joked.

"Keep your wits about you this morning, Mike. No heroics, nothing's going to happen to you."

"Got you boss," Mike said smiling.

I got in the Porsche and headed to the office. As I pulled out of the drive I saw a white van parked along the street. I nodded to the driver, who nodded back...

At ten o'clock the white van pulled into our drive and three men wearing ski masks got out. One carried a sawn off shotgun, the other two carried wrecking bars. They quickly gathered the four builders together and hustled them out of sight.

"Which one of you is Mike?" the one with the shotgun asked.

"He is," said Terry, keen to implicate his colleague. "The darkie."

"Good because he's making the tea," the masked man clarified. "That makes you Terry then."

One of the other masked men covered Terry's face with a blackout sack and Terry squealed like a piglet, causing the third masked man to jab him hard in the stomach with his wrecking bar.

"Shut up and don't make this any more painful than its going to be," the masked voice said.

The two men with wrecking bars bundled Terry into the back of the van and the driver, who never got out, drove off. The man with the shotgun sat down on a pile of bricks in the garage.

"Make yourselves comfortable lads," he told his three hostages. "We're going to be here for a while..."

I spent the morning sitting in on a meeting with the Inland Revenue, discussing corporation tax. Daniel thought it would be good for me to see what was involved. It also provided me with a water-tight alibi. Who better to vouch for your whereabouts than a tax inspector. When the meeting finished, Daniel called me into his office.

"I guess you could probably do with one of these," he said producing a bottle of whisky and pouring out two glasses.

"Thanks," I said. I obviously looked a bit deflated. "And thanks for looking after the girls."

"It's not exactly a hardship," he responded. "I assume things are being taken care of."

"As we speak."

"Never a dull moment, eh?"

"Obermann wants to partner with us for the Iris battlefield system," I said, changing the subject. "He's offered me one of his Bugattis if we manage to sell it to the Americans."

"Is it a conflict of interest."

"No and they'd make a good partner too."

"Something to smile about then," Daniel suggested.

"Oh and you've been invited to go skiing in Gstaad with Markus, Heike and the Obermanns and us of course."

"I knew I hired you for a reason Steven," Daniel said proudly. "You can't buy access like that to the Obermanns. Kate will be over the moon."

I skipped lunch and went back to my office. I couldn't concentrate though. At two in the afternoon Lynne knocked on the door and stuck her head round the corner.

"Did you order cakes?" she asked.

"I might have done," I replied.

"They've just been delivered. This and a meal tonight, are you trying to fatten us up?"

I hadn't ordered cakes. Andy had ordered them in my name. It was a signal that everything had gone to plan. I called Lesley and reminded her we were going out tonight. I told her that I'd see her and Emma at home later. I stayed for a cake with Lynne and Uwe, it was Sam's day off, then suggested we all went home early and got ready for our night out.

When I got home there was a car in our drive. I recognised it as belonging to Terry's father, Martin Coulson. A lifetime of building work had made Martin a solid looking guy but when I looked into his eyes I could see he wasn't a violent man.

"I don't know what to say Mr Carter," Martin began. "I didn't believe my son could do such a thing."

"Do what Mr. Coulson?"

"Try to rape someone."

"Who told you that?"

"He did."

"Did he tell you he's done it before?"

"Yes."

"What sort of sick person does that to defenceless women?"

"I don't know Mr. Carter, honestly I don't. I'm not here to tell you that the little bastard didn't deserve what he got. But your friends told him they weren't finished with him."

"If you have information regarding a crime then you should inform the police Mr. Coulson."

"And tell them what? My son rapes women and now he's worried that people are out to get him. Most coppers would finish the job themselves."

"How bad is he?"

"Two broken arms and a couple of broken fingers. His face is a mess and the rest of him is pretty beaten up. He's gone to hospital to have the breaks set."

"Where have you been all week Mr. Coulson. You told me you'd be supervising the work at my house personally."

"My wife had me double booked on another job. I'm sorry, it won't happen again"

"Word is that she shags other blokes while you're away?"

Michael Coulson looked like he'd just been blind-sided. His eyes gave away the fact that he'd had no idea what was going on.

"Terry was always was his mother's son," he said.

"It looks like they've both been taking you for a ride."

"I'll deal with the little cow," he said spitting the words out. "But Terry's still my flesh and blood. What do I have to do?"

"Get him out of London."

"My brother's got a construction firm in Spain, on the Costa Blanca. Would that be far enough?"

"If he's gone by Monday."

"I'll make sure he is."

"And I need you to do two more things."

"Anything."

"Turn up here, every day, at eight o'clock sharp until you've finished the job. No excuses, no side jobs, no days off. And I want Mike here too"

"Of course."

"And pay Mike a bonus. A thousand should cover it. By Tuesday."

"That's a bit steep."

"Look at it this way Mr. Coulson," I told him, laying it on a bit thick. "If it hadn't been for Mike then Terry would be dead now. You literally owe your son's life to him."

"Right. A thousand it is. He'll have it on Monday..."

Team Building

When Lesley and Emma got home there were hugs and a few tears from Lesley, but Emma seemed surprisingly upbeat.

"Have you spoken to Claude? I asked her.

"I am not going to tell him," Emma confirmed. "I don't want him to know.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

"It won't happen again, I promise. Terry is going to live in Spain, his father told me this afternoon. So you don't have to worry."

"I am not worried, Steven."

"Ok. So let's go out and have a good time tonight then."

"Will it cost a lot?"

It seemed an odd question to ask.

"No, it's my treat."

"Claude has told me that I cannot let you pay for me."

"Ok."

"But I do not have money. So I will stay in tonight."

"I think money is a bit tight," Lesley explained, "Emma's not earning while she's studying and the tuition fees are quite expensive."

"I don't care," I told them both firmly. "Emma is not staying in on her own tonight. So here's what's going to happen. We are all going to get changed, then we are going out for a meal and I am going to pay for it. And that's an end to the matter. Ok?"

"Ok." Emma replied with a big smile on her face. "I will go and get ready."

"Aren't you masterful when you want to be," Lesley told me when Emma had gone. "Now do you think you could come upstairs and fuck your wife before we go out?"

Lynne and Siobhan arrived at our house at seven. They lived further out of London, in Croydon, and getting back there after a night out could be a pain. So I suggested that they stayed over at ours. Lesley and I both enjoyed their company, they knew about our lifestyle and we knew about theirs.