The Holiday Park Incident

Whilst I like happy endings, sometimes they don't happen, or do they? I had a nasty one on me as I feel I have been a bit too nice to people, to my characters recently so this one's a bit harsh, not quite as bad as a Nasty Tale, but I hope it's interesting. Please enjoy the story, that's all I ask. Again, thanks to AnAverageGuy61.

Ofsted = UK School regulators.

Things had been a bit busy at home and at work recently, I'd been working hard with machinery breakdowns, and I had finally convinced the boss to instigate a servicing plan, and not wait until something broke before it got fixed and serviced at the same time. I'd spent ages gathering all the data I wanted to present it to him. I'd convinced him the way he was going about it was a false economy. I'd spent most of my evenings for several weeks assessing breakdown statistics and service plans. I did stop working on weekends to spend time with my wife, Caroline, my hot 42 year old MILF.

She was busy at work as well, she was an admin assistant at a local college, they'd had a major upheaval. They had an Ofsted report of 'Requires Improvement', and they were pulling out all the stops to find out where they needed to improve and get an improvement program started, so she had been busy as well and sometimes worked late at work, as well as at home in the evening. But she, like me, took the weekend off so we could be with each other, and our son Jason when he was home from university with his girlfriend.

I looked at the weather forecast for the next weekend, and it was good, we were getting towards the end of a long wet, windy, cold winter. We'd both been working hard so I thought I'd surprise the love of my life. We have a static caravan on the South Coast just outside Christchurch in a holiday park. It was winterized at the moment. It's a pain de-winterising it so I thought I'd take a day off work, the boss owed me one at least, and get it ready for the weekend and then surprise Caroline with a weekend away, just the two of us. It wouldn't take me long to de-winterise it and air out the bedding on my own, in fact, I had winterised it on my own the previous autumn. It was so much easier to do that sort of thing without ladies around.

I had a chat with my boss and told him I was having Tuesday off and told him the reason why in case Caroline phoned. I would take my laptop and if needed I could cover stuff from down there, the internet coverage was great. As the site would be pretty empty the speeds would be good. The site didn't close for winter and a few hardy souls used it all year round, in fact, a couple of years ago the whole family, including Jason and his girlfriend, went down there for Christmas and New Year, it was great.

I told Caroline that I had an early meeting, that way I would leave early and miss most of the traffic. I also told her I might be home late because of the traffic. I managed to get to the van in plenty of time and went into my usual routine. I had left the caravan keys on the hook at home so Caroline wouldn't see they were missing and ask about them, that would ruin my surprise.

I even picked up a bunch of roses with the intention of leaving them in the van to make the place smell nice for when we came down at the weekend, it can smell a little stale after the winter. And I know she likes roses.

There was a spare key hidden under the van, and if I needed it, there was a spare one in the site office. But I wanted to check on our spare as it had been outside all winter, drop a bit of oil on it. It was in a small box with a magnet attached to the bottom of the van. I always put it in exactly the same place. In the early days coming back from the pub, I'd had to crawl around underneath the van, it was dark, dirty and smelly and none of us were sober at the time. There was an awful lot of giggling.

So, I always put it in its little box in exactly the same place so I could just reach underneath the van and pull it out. Actually, we've never had to use it since that one event.

That was when things started to get a little strange. I reached underneath the van, and it wasn't there. So not wishing to get smelly or dirty and being sober; I used the light on my phone to see where it was. It was all wrong, wrong place, wrong orientation, it was a good foot or so from where it should have been and was at a haphazard angle, I always put it so it ran fore and aft along the van, it was easier to find that way, well that was the plan.

Then it got stranger when I went into the van, I saw the fridge was closed, now that's always left open otherwise it goes smelly. I opened the fridge expecting to see masses of mould and a nasty smell. There was nothing. And that made me think, the van didn't smell quite as musty as it had in previous years. I wonder if somebody's been using it, my mind immediately rushed to Jason. But I'm sure he would have told us and it's a long way from his university; he could have found somewhere much closer for a holiday.

I was a bit more careful now, I turned on the taps and there was a small spurt of water, that was strange as well because after I turn the water supply off in the autumn, I had drained down the taps and left them open in case it froze and burst the pipes, and these had been shut. Now Jason would know to leave them open. Right, now I am a bit concerned.

Electricity metre was next, from previous years I know how much it had used over the winter. And it's not a lot. A quick check of the meter showed that it was a massive amount compared with previous years. I didn't have the exact numbers with me, so I'll have to double check when I get home. I took a picture of the meter with my phone and at the same time sent Jason a text asking if he'd used the van over the winter.

I went round the van with a fine tooth comb now, but nothing seemed to be out of place. But I was wary. I started to get things out, I got all the bedding out and hung it outside to air, it had been in sealed bags and was washed before we put it away. That done, I thought I'd make myself a coffee. It would have to be black as I didn't bring any milk with me, but that's not a problem, I can drink tea or coffee without milk. I prefer it with, but I can make do. So, I put the kettle on, I had a quick look inside and there was a bit of water in the bottom. I would have expected that to have evaporated over the winter, even with the lid on, it normally does. Just another thing to add to the list. Then I started wiping stuff down and dusting, that sort of thing, waiting for the kettle to boil.

I went to the coffee jar; it was probably out of date, but that doesn't matter. But it was nearly full, I can't be sure, but I think it was nearly empty when we left. I checked it and it was in date, it had an expiry date of 6 months away. We tend not to leave too much in the van over the winter. It was a bit of a pain that Christmas we came down as we'd had to bring almost everything with us, even almost the kitchen sink. Just something else to add to the list.

I thought about phoning Caroline but decided not to, if somebody else had been in the van she would feel it was tainted and wouldn't want to come here again. I had to find out and possibly keep it to myself. Let's hope it was Jason. Anyway, I'm sure she'd be busy, and I didn't want to spoil my surprise.

I'd got the van sorted and headed home, I took the roses with me, there's no point in leaving them there. I could give them to Caroline as a surprise. I popped into the site office on the way out and asked in a sort of innocent way, if you could do that. If anybody had been seen around our van recently. The staff said they hadn't seen anybody, but they had noticed a fairly new red Mercedes estate about once every couple of weeks or so a few vans over from ours, it was parked next to a van that they knew was empty. They thought it was strange because people who drive that sort of car tend not to use holiday caravan parks, and it was red.

As far as they were concerned it must have been okay because in the winter it was swipe access to open the gate, so they must have had a pass. The office staff didn't have a great deal to do during the winter.

On my drive home, stuck in traffic jams, my mind began to wander. Who was using the van, and who would know where the key was? There were only the three of us.

Whilst in the traffic jam Jason phoned me. It wasn't him. I told him I thought someone had been using the van but to keep it to himself. I didn't want to worry his mother. She had enough on her plate at the moment with helping sort out the Ofsted problem. I did tell him I was planning to go to the van this weekend as a surprise for her.

So, if it wasn't Jason then who was it? Being stuck in a traffic jam just outside Salisbury gives your mind time to wander. And that's not good. Perhaps I read too many stories online? I started to put two and two together but unfortunately, I came up with either three or five. It wasn't me, it wasn't Jason, it could only have been Caroline, but why? I started going through the things in my mind, the telltale signs of someone having an affair. She didn't dress differently, she didn't rush to the shower as soon as she got in, she did work late, but I always knew about it, and I tracked her phone. She was always where I thought she should be. Although her phone wasn't always switched on, and you don't get a signal in some parts of the college. Our sex life was the same, it had probably dropped off a bit because both of us were working hard, but we managed it at the weekend, even the bit of the kinkiness she liked.

Right, a plan came into my head. As I waited by the Castle in yet another traffic jam, something popped into my head that I'd heard before, but I believed it to be good advice. Trust but verify, and sitting there I came up with a plan. In fact, several plans to do just that.

I carried on waiting and pondering. Had I spent too much time on the Internet, was she having an affair, and why would she drive all the way down there, there were plenty of hotels they could stay in? But somebody was using it. It's horrible being given time to think, your mind goes down dark alleys, but again I didn't think she was. I'd seen no signs. Or was she good at hiding them? Or was I too trusting and too stupid to see, or a bit of both?

Right, first thing to do, protect myself, the way the law stands if you separate for any reason, it's a half and half split. I love that house we've been living in for the last 15 years or so and we'd made it our own. I'd sweated blood over some of the work I'd done. And working long hours to pay for some of the stuff that I couldn't do. And then there was my pride and joy, a maroon MGB GT V8, almost completely restored. The savings account was quite healthy, mainly from the overtime that I got because machines kept on breaking down at work. If it turned out I was wrong, there would be no harm done. That was important.

Setting up some cameras in the van was my next ploy, I'll pop down to the van later in the week and detour by the spy shop in Southampton and pick up some Wi-Fi cameras and maybe a tracking device as well, one that I could stick on her car, or drop in her handbag.

The plans were all coming together in my head.

First test, she was warned that I might be home late, so I gave her a call on the home landline. She answered straight away, so at least she was at home. She told me she'd nothing prepared for dinner as she didn't know what time I'd be in. I told her I was 10 minutes away. She suggested I pick up something, fish and chips, a pizza, or even a Chinese. She also asked how the meeting went. I told her it was OK, but something had popped up and I'd talk about it later. I asked her how her day was. It was hectic, but if they pulled out all the stops, they could have a plan in a couple of weeks. But it might mean some more late nights. I told her that I was OK with that as long as we had the weekends together.

That was when she giggled and told me she looked forward to the weekends, and she had something planned for this weekend. I found it very hard to think that the love of my life on the other end of the phone was having an affair. I started to feel ashamed of myself and my thoughts. But I had to find out who was in the van so the plan would go ahead in its entirety.

OK then, the second test, I picked up a pizza, a meat feast, my favourite but not hers. I got home and everything was set up, even a bottle of wine, a bit strange for a Tuesday, but never mind. I opened the box, and she noticed it was a meat feast. I grabbed a couple of slices and deposited them on her plate.

"Sweetheart you know I don't like the meatballs on this." From the initial lightness when I walked in there was a tone of grumpiness.

"Just pop them over here, and I'll swap you my pepperoni for them." That was what we'd done before. But she'd never been grumpy about it, was I imagining it, was I looking for stuff that wasn't there?

Next test, she was carefully lifting a meatball from her pizza to mine, she was halfway across the table when I started on my story, "I heard a rumour that someone at your place is having an affair." She dropped the meatball on the table, I picked it up and ate it anyway. I like meatballs.

"Where did you hear that?"

"The meeting I was at someone mentioned your college, and somebody named Julian was having an affair with one of the fellow members of staff and got caught."

"There's nobody at our place called Julian. They must have been mistaken."

But because she dropped the meatball it raised a niggling doubt in my mind, did she know something, was it somebody with a name like Julian, who knows? But it's another thing to add to the list. But that was just the start of a list of comments to lead me to where I wanted to take the conversation.

I asked her. "Do you have some sort of moral clause in your contract? You can't go around young impressionable people with married people having affairs. It doesn't set the right standard."

"Er, yes, I think we do, I shall have to check. Why the interest."

"It was just the mayhem that it all caused, ruined lives, nobody left with any money. They had to split everything half and half, and there wasn't enough to go around, it appears both are now living in shabby digs. It ruined two marriages and four lives, one of them even lost their job. Could have been both of them. If you don't have a Julian, he must have got the college mixed up. But it's a bit worrying though, isn't it? The person who cheats on their wedding vows gets half of everything. Allegedly in their case it wasn't much."

I wasn't sure but I think her face paled slightly and she didn't talk much after that, just kept on eating the pizza with extra pepperoni and no meatballs. The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck and I didn't like the feeling.

We went to watch some rubbish on television, we normally discuss the stuff we see on there, but there wasn't much talking tonight, that was something else out of the ordinary. Was I reading too much into small events? I don't know. I'm just going to have to be careful, and not go down the investigating route so far that I can't recover it. The next step was going to be risky. But I had to do it just for my peace of mind.

I did notice she kept on glancing at her mobile phone, almost as if she wanted to use it. It was just after nine when her phone rang, she nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked at it and said to me, "It's my sister, I've got to get this." Of course she has, why would she need an excuse? With that she took her phone and headed to the kitchen. That was different, I liked her sister, I liked most of her family, her parents were a bit strange. She would normally answer the phone in front of me. We would just turn the sound down on the telly and sometimes I would even interject. I was looking for things out of the ordinary. And now I was looking for them, I was seeing them.

I turned the volume up on the television a tad, crept around the sofa and headed towards the kitchen. I was going to eavesdrop; it was something I was proud of. But I just had to ' trust but verify.'

I couldn't hear clearly because the bloody television was too loud, but it sounded like. "Sorry sweetie but we're busy now, I'll give you a call tomorrow, bye." That was a bit quick. I waited. Then I heard the words I'd been dreading. I heard her say. "I think he's guessed, don't come near me tomorrow." There was a pause. "He's acting out of sorts, I can't lose him." More pause. "No promotion is worth my marriage."

I'd heard enough. I went back to the sofa and carried on watching the telly. I had no bloody idea what was on. She came back in. I asked her how her sister was, she told me they were all fine. Young Emily had scraped her knee, that will be fairly standard, she was a bit of a tomboy. Then she cuddled up to me and hung on to me. She whispered in my ear, "I think it's time for bed if you know what I mean." oh fuck.

I tried my best, but for me, it's hard to carry on whilst thinking somebody else may have been sharing this pussy, but I managed it. After we finished with her in my arms I said. "That was a bit strange for midweek, what's come over you?"

"I just love my man, and we haven't done much during the week recently."

I went for a little dig. "It's not guilt then?" I was expecting a retort, but nothing came back.

In the morning I left for work as normal, but I phoned the boss and told him that I was having another day off, but I will be contactable in case something important came up. Enough doubts have been raised in my mind. I went to the local second hand shop and picked up a pre-used smartphone. A quick trip to the library to use their computer to open a Gmail and a Hotmail email account. Next stop was the local supermarket for a sim only mobile phone deal. All registered to my new email accounts. It didn't cost much and if she was innocent, I could lose them all. If she was guilty, it was money well spent. I popped into the spy shop in Southampton on the way to the van and picked up two Wi-Fi cameras and a tracker, one that I could pop it into her car or into a handbag.

I set up the two cameras in the van. I connected them to the Wi-Fi. One overlooked the bedroom, and one overlooked the lounge and kitchen area. I'd managed to get them plugged into the mains, no need for batteries. They were motion sensitive and would send the video straight to my new phone when activated. As an extra precaution, I took down a jar of coffee, it was some rubbish that had been lying around my workshop at home. I emptied most of it away and got some of the sleeping tablets that we had left lying around after Caroline's mum stayed for a week. I crushed them up and mixed them in with the coffee. I didn't know how many to use so I kept going until I could just see the white in the coffee. I must make sure next time I come down to bring another jar with me. I sincerely hoped I was barking up the wrong tree.

On my way back home, I drove past her college. And there was a recently registered red Mercedes estate in the car park.

Next step, I spent some time coming up with some paperwork. I was pretty certain by now she was having an affair. But I still wanted to leave a way out in case I was wrong. If I was wrong, it would be something I would have to live with.

We went to bed, and she got all amorous again, this was strange. I looked at her and said, "We haven't done it for months during the week, and now you want it twice in two nights. What's the matter, your boyfriend not giving you enough during the week."

The look of shock on her face was amazing. "Are you accusing me of having an affair?" She came back at me.

"I was just wondering about the change of attention I'm getting, weekends only for months and now twice in two nights, I can hardly keep up."