My Mid-life Crisis

"When did you become aware that the woman that he was having his affair with was Mr Watson's wife?"

"I have already answered that, it was after Phil and I had met. He had saved me from a difficult situation and we were driving at a sedate pace through the countryside, a speed that encouraged conversation. It was during that conversation that we realised that fate had brought us together, not before."

I put up my hand to gain their attention. "Excuse me, but we have a lot to do. We both have to find some place to stay for the duration, and I doubt if we would be welcome in either of our homes right now, and I certainly don't want to speak to my wife, not now or in the near future." I grabbed my and Kate's meagre luggage and pushed my way through the assembled masses, clearing a path for Kate. My darling wife made to intercept me until she saw the expression on my face and backed away.

"Mr Watson, Mrs Thomas, if you would accompany me to the police station, we have much to discuss." The man held open the door of an unmarked police car, his expression gave us no option but to comply with his request.

"Are we under arrest?" I asked him.

"You are assisting with our enquiries, that is all."

"We will do what we can. Meanwhile, we were promised that we would not have to face that media scrum. Who ratted to the media?"

"I think that you can blame your wife for that, we had to tell her that you had been located."

It became obvious, as soon as we commenced our assistance, that the police knew much more than we did about the goings on of Kate's husband, and the company that he worked for. "Have you heard the name Mossack Fonseca?"

"Yes, that was the Panamanian Law firm that was recently identified as facilitating tax minimisation schemes, and money laundering, on a massive scale. I found that my husband had been dealing with them. I don't know if those dealings were in any way illegal, but I decided to distance myself from him and them. That was one of the reasons that I left him."

"And what were the other reasons?"

"Apart from shagging Phil's wife, he continually used my earnings to finance his extravagant lifestyle."

"What about you Mr Watson, have you heard of them?"

"Only what was in the media. I have taken little interest in my wife's work over the past year or so, ever since she made it clear that she was not going to tell me about her job and the people that she worked with. It was this that caused me to think that she was having an affair. I still think that she is."

"But you are unsure, is that it?"

"Not any more, not since I met Kate and she filled me in on the goings on between my, and her soon to be ex's."

"If necessary, will you be prepared to give evidence against them, should the matter come to trial?"

"If necessary, and if we can help you in any way, then yes." I answered for the both of us.

"How long do you think all of this will take?" Kate asked.

"That, we can't tell at this time."

"Then how long are we required to stay here? Do you in fact want us to stay here, or can we return to our travels?"

"We would prefer it if you could stay here, but we can't stop you from leaving."

"If we are to stay, who is going to pay for our hotel?" Kate looked him straight in the eye as she asked the question. "We are going to incur considerable expense if we stay, we have our campervan parked in a moderately expensive caravan park in Noosa, and then there is the cost of travel. We would prefer not to check into some three star hotel or motel if we stay here, so when you factor in that cost against the other, it all depends on how long you want us here."

"I will have to ask my superiors about that. I'll be back in a few minutes." He got up and left the room.

I was just about to say something when I caught the expression on Kate's face. It wasn't much of an expression, just a slight raising of one eyebrow. I wish that I could do that, it says a lot more than just a few words can.

"We will agree to put you in a good hotel for the next couple of days while we review our position. If it appears that the matter will proceed quickly, you will stay here, it there is to be a delay, then we will fly you back to Queensland until you are needed to give evidence."

He didn't need to say 'take it or leave it.' He had given us no wriggle room. We had to accept the offer.

What we hoped to be a pleasant stay failed to live up to our hopes. Our first meal was interrupted by the appearance of my darling wife. "Phillip, I need to speak with you."

"So, speak." I said with as little positive feeling as possible.

"Alone, I want to speak with you alone."

"That will not happen. If you wish to speak with me it will be with either Kate or my Lawyer present, it's your choice."

She stood, deep in thought for a minute or two before pulling out the chair nearest her. "May I?" She asked permission to sit.

"Be our guest. Now what is it you want to say?"

"I have been such a fool."

"You'll get no argument from me there."

"Please, don't make this harder for me than it is. I admit that I was taken in by Seb's charm and power." Kate's eyebrow shot skyward, a point noticed by Chantal. "We worked together, not actually together, not at first, but after he had . . . you know . . . he arranged for me to be given the job as his assistant. It was exciting working with him, he controlled literally millions of dollars in funds, moving them around the world, placing them in the right places to maximise returns for his clients, who were generous with their gratitude. I didn't understand much of what he did until recently. After you disappeared everything went wrong. He was angry that I put out that plea for information about your whereabouts. He said that it suggested to him that our relationship was not as good as he thought, he had hoped, and that I was planning to leave him. And then the police raided our offices and began to ask me all sorts of questions about what I knew of his financial dealings. I don't know what to do, I need you now, more than ever, I need you to tell me what to do, I need you to be there for me. . . . I just need you." She sobbed into her hands for a couple of minutes, until I handed her a napkin. She looked first at me to judge my reaction to her histrionics, and then to Kate. "Who is this?"

That was good coming from her, she was at the airport this morning and would have heard the questions. Was she trying to convince me that she wasn't there, after all she had looked directly at me and had seen Kate next to me.

"I am Kate." Kate got in before me. "I am, or was, your wonderful Seb's wife. By a sheer coincidence Phil and I chose to end our marriages at the very same time. We were both, separately I must add, heading out of town at the same time, and fate brought us together. For the past couple of months we have been drifting along in our own private world, building what we both believe to be a very strong and lasting relationship. We have decided that we will both file for divorce and marry as soon as possible after these are granted. I have no problem with him offering what assistance he can give you in your present dilemma, but do not expect him to resume your marriage. That is over, however much that news hurts, and you will have to accept that."

Chantal looked at me in the hope that I would cave in to her helpless expression. I reached out for Kate's hand. "It was over a long time ago, I just didn't realise it until recently."

Kate squeezed my hand. I knew, from recent experience, that she was capable, and willing when she wanted to, call a spade a fucking shovel, but even I was unprepared for what she was about to say. "There is another reason why you can't have him back. . . ." She looked from me to Chantal. "I will not bring a bastard into this world." She squeezed my hand and gave me her best 'I love you so much Darling' smile. "I was going to tell you tonight, in bed, but now seemed to be a better time. I am pregnant, with your child."

"What!" Chantal said. She soon arrived at the realisation that this placed a whole new dynamic on her chances of reconciliation with me. She stood and literally ran from the restaurant.

"Is this true, or did you just say that to fuck with her head?" I still had hold of her hand and I tried hard to have a 'please say that it's true' expression on my face.

"It's true. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, and unless the home pregnancy kit is lying to me, I am pregnant. Tell me that you're pleased."

"I couldn't be happier. One of the things that I was unhappy about with Chantal was her insistence on not having kids. God knows we could have afforded to have them, but no, her career was more important than my wishes."

"Seb was the same, he was unwilling to give up on his lifestyle, that of course I financed, and kids would have curtailed that. But, you remember that in one of those, the scenery's boring let's talk moments, we spoke briefly about kids and you expressed sadness at not having any? Well that was about the time that I threw away my contraceptive pills. The moon must have been in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars, because I fell pregnant the next time that I ovulated."

I don't know whether it was the news that I was going to be a father, or the luxurious bed in the hotel suite, but our love making took on a new dimension, a new intimacy.

Our world was shattered by the phone ringing in the middle of our first for the new day. I was tempted to ignore it but it was getting rather late and breakfast was due soon. "Hold that thought." I told Kate as I answered the phone. It was the police.

"Mr Watson, would you and Mrs Thomas come to police headquarters as soon as possible?"

"Is this a request or is it an order?"

"A request."

"We haven't had breakfast yet, or a shower, it will be at least an hour."

"There will be a car downstairs in an hour."

"Now where was I?" I asked Kate.

"I'm surprised that he's still standing. You were in the middle of making love to me, remember?"

"Ah yes." I recommenced. I was just getting back into a rhythm when there was a tap on the door announcing our room service breakfast had arrived.

"I guess that it's my turn this time." Kate said as she scrambled out from under and put a robe on to answer the door. Breakfast was wheeled in as I tied my robe around me, luckily I was saved from any embarrassment by him subsiding. "Oh, how sad." Kate said as she noticed the lack of tent in my robe. "I guess that it's breakfast then. He'll keep I hope."

"He'll keep, however long it takes." I said as I tucked into the crispy bacon and soft in the middle eggs.

We didn't keep the driver very long, he was reading the sport section of the morning paper, and I assumed that he went straight to that section without reading the latest news. "Good morning sir, madam." He greeted us as we walked to the car.

"What's the urgency?" I asked as I settled in and put on my seat belt.

"There have been developments over night."

"What developments?" I asked.

"I'll leave that to the Inspector to inform you."

"We have had a major breakthrough in this case overnight." He began as we sat in an interview room. "For some reason your wife decided to spill the beans on everything, and they were very juicy beans indeed. It would appear that we need not detain you any longer. The evidence that she has given us will see Mr Thomas and the principals of his company charged with many instances of fraud and money laundering in their dealings. I have to tell you that I was surprised by her back flip on this. From the very beginning she denied any knowledge of the goings on of the company. We didn't believe her of course, but couldn't shake her story, until last night that was. For some reason she has made a full statement to us, and that in itself will be enough for us to get convictions. We do not need you or your evidence, such as it was, so you are free to go. You are booked on the eleven o'clock flight, you can pick up your tickets at the check-in counter."

"I don't suppose . . ." That was as far as I got.

"The car is waiting for you. It will take you back to your hotel and wait for you to grab your things, and then drive you to the airport."

"Thank you."

He was not interested in our thanks. The phone had rung and he picked up the call. "Wait." He had his hand up to reinforce his request. "No, we have enough without her giving evidence." He put the phone down. "Depending on how you look at this latest development, I have either good news or bad news. I have just been informed that sometime during the night your wife took her own life."

"Fuck!" Kate hugged me and I lowered my head onto her shoulder. I regathered my thoughts. "While I had no longer any real affection for Chantal, I didn't want, or expect this to happen. Did she leave a note?"

"It appears so, although I don't yet know the contents."

'This changes everything. I guess that, as her next of kin, I will be responsible for the funeral arrangements."

"She has no other family then?" He asked.

"She hasn't spoken to her parents, at least not to my knowledge, for many years. She didn't even invite them to our wedding, so I don't think that they should be lumbered with the responsibility. I guess that it's up to us."

"If you like, under the circumstances, we can contact the parents to see if they are prepared to make the funeral arrangements. We will have to inform them of her death."

"If you let us know what they decide, we should attend anyway."

"We have already made the arrangements to fly you back to Queensland, if you come back for the funeral it will be at your own expense, you do realise that, don't you?"

"You guys are all heart, can't you just change the flight arrangements?"

"What, and have to stand the cost of putting you in your luxury accommodation for however long this will take? If the decision was mine I would, but it came from above so we have little choice. It was decided that we don't need you any more, I was told that you were lucky that your return tickets weren't rescinded."

"And they wonder why people are reluctant to help the cops. If I was a heartless bastard I would say that we can always stay at my place, but I'm not, and I don't like the idea of moving back in there with her so recently dead. We'll go and come back." It wasn't as if we couldn't afford it, money was not the problem, I just felt that the police should reward us for our compliance, after all we could have answered their questions by video link, it was their idea for us to return to Adelaide to answer questions in person.

We were deposited outside the departures entrance to the airport, along with our bags. We got as far as just inside the door before we were accosted. Accosted is probably too harsh a word, let's just say that our further progress was hindered by the presence of two men. One was the fabulous Sebastian Thomas, and the second was Geoffrey Branch, part of Sebastian's legal team. "Kate, I need your help."

"What, my help to get out of this mess of your own making?"

"You were a part of it."

"What, just because some of the money that you used, that you invested in your scheme, was mine? Get real mate, I did not give you permission to use my money in this way. I was just about to take you to court in an effort to retrieve my money. I suppose that, because company funds have been frozen, that you want me to bail you out yet again. If you are innocent of the charges, your legal team would fight the good fight and charge you for it later. It would appear as if they have no great faith in a successful outcome, so you and he can go jump. I will not throw good money after bad any longer."

"What about your friend here, doesn't he want to help Chantal? I know that she was going to ask for his help."

"It's too late for that."

"What do you mean?"

"You obviously haven't heard the news. My wife, your lover, took her life sometime last night, but not before giving an extensive statement to the police that covered your entire operation, and confirmed what they already knew. We have been told by the police that they don't even need us to give evidence, they have enough to prosecute. So all that I can say is, good luck in your endeavours, you'll need it. Come darling, we have a plane to catch."

As soon as we arrived back in Noosa, Kate and I made an appointment with a Lawyer, and she filed for divorce. The wheels of our future were now in motion. Because of the 'no fault divorce' rules in Australia, we would have to wait twelve months before we were free to marry, and a lot can happen in that time.

The first decision that had to be made was; do we stay here, basking in the sunshine, or do we go back to Adelaide and resume our previous lives. Sunshine won. The next decision was; how do we finance this lifestyle. "Darling," Kate said over breakfast one morning. "Do you think that with a little effort we could make this caravan park into a viable lifestyle investment?"

"It would take some effort, and more than a little money, to bring it up to an acceptable standard. We would have to make the sites cyclone proof. I have noticed that every time one hits, caravans are the first casualty, they get tossed around and smashed up. That is going to cost a lot of money, and I, while I have sufficient for my needs, I do not have that sort of money."

"Fear not, love of my life." She said, "I have more than enough."

"But I thought that Seb had latched onto all of your money."

"That he did, he took every cent that I earned from my job, but what he didn't know was that I had money that he couldn't get his sticky fingers on. You see, some thirty years ago my grandfather died and he left a lot of money in trust for me. To ensure that I didn't waste my opportunities, he appointed my father as Executor of his Will and manager of my trust fund. If I wanted any money from the fund I would have to apply to my father, and provide him with a written account of what I wanted it for. It got that way that I just couldn't be bothered going through the hassle, so I learnt to live on my income. It was easy until I met and married Seb, and then it got harder. But I persisted, and I made sure that there was no way that he could gain access to one cent of it."

"What happened to it after your father died? How come Seb didn't get his sticky fingers on the money then?"

"Not a thing happened. For starters, the trust fund was not a part of my father's estate so wasn't mentioned in his Will. It just sat there earning shit loads of interest on some astute investments. When he died I took over the management of the fund. If I were to liquidate that trust fund right now I would have access to some five million dollars. What I propose is that we use some of the money to buy this caravan park and improve it, so that it is the best in the area."

"But there is one minor problem with that scheme. As far as I know, it isn't even on the market. How do you propose to get around that?"

"Not a problem any longer. I was chatting to Judy (Judy and Bill are the present owners) down at the laundry yesterday, and she told me that Bill is finding it difficult to cope with the work involved in running the place, and that they were considering on selling up."

"And you immediately asked her how much they were considering as a reasonable sale price?"

"Yes, I did, and she came down while you were out fishing, and we discussed numbers. Their lawyers are drawing up the contract, and as soon as we get it, I will arrange for the funds to be transferred, and we will be the owners of a soon to be thriving business. I know that you will be able to design the improvements that are necessary, like how to keep the vans on the ground in a cyclone, so we should be up and running before the next cyclone season." (That's hurricane season to you Americans)