Two Places at Once

The wheels were about to fall off because of one particular deal that had been initiated, behind my back, by Bill and based on insider information. That this transaction involved a Chinese company that had pastoral interests in Australia, in part to guarantee supply of beef for the Chinese market, and as part of what appeared to be nothing more than an elaborate Ponzi scheme used to keep its core business afloat.

Bill had somehow gained the information that the Chinese Government was no longer willing to turn a blind eye to its business shortcomings and was preparing to force the company to divest itself of some of its portfolio. The company realised that there was much more to be gained from selling off its profitable businesses than its core businesses that were critically draining its finances. When Bill stepped in and offered to purchase its Australian pastoral business at a price somewhere between bugger all and not a lot, nowhere near what could be expected from a forced fire-sale or its true worth. They jumped at the chance. The transaction had to be approved by the Australian government which were not happy and were investigating it. The fact that the offer had been made before neither the Australian nor the Chinese governments were aware of the proposed sale, rang alarm bells,

What has this to do with my predicament? I was being positioned to take the fall for this transaction, and my disappearance would have been seen as an admission of wrongdoing on my part.

I survived and fucked up their plans. As soon as the police began to dig deeper into my life, they came to realise the depth to which they, Bill and Ellie, had descended.

Jenny sat on the edge of my bed, my bandaged hand on her thigh and her hand resting lightly on mine. She had been coming to see me whenever she had a day off from work. It was she that had alerted the police to the affair, it had come about after my wife appeared on TV pleading for information about my whereabouts. Bill was with her to ensure the company shareholders and our customers, that it was business as usual while the search continued.

Jenny had gone to the company's office to check it out, and as she approached, she had seen them leave the building. She thought that they looked a little too cosy. They had driven to his apartment and she had spent the night.

She had gone to the police with this information. "His wife, for some reason, could not identify him, when that identification would have been simple. His eyes were of different colours. How many people have that? For some reason, she did not want him to be identified."

Confirmation came the next day when Bill announced that he had been appointed Interim Managing Director of the company and would oversee a restructuring that would allow the company to continue operating.

The police began to take an even closer interest in the whole business.

They took a closer look at the wreck of my 4WD. It revealed to them that the 'accident' had been staged. It could not have driven off the road because the ignition was in the locked position. This also locked the steering. The gear shift was in neutral. If I had enough sense to vacate the vehicle after it had rolled over, I would have either left it in the gear that it was in before the crash or moved it into the park position, and the ignition in the 'off' position, not the locked.

Enquiries were made at Lyndhurst, where the Strezlecki Track branched from the Oodnadatta Track. No-one saw the vehicle pass through. The rarity of a vehicle not stopping to take on fuel for the onward journey was such that it just didn't happen. The investigators concluded, from the position and state of the wreck, that there must have been another vehicle involved.

They recreated the accident, using a vehicle that had been written-off, but had remained drive-able. The recreation required two men. The vehicle that I was supposed to have been driving, was attached to the tow-bar of the other, by means of a snatch strap, one of those straps with a built-in stretch that allows a tow vehicle to get a run up the jolt the towed vehicle out of a bog.

The way that the investigators replicated the 'accident' was to have the towed vehicle set the same way my vehicle had been, in neutral gear and the ignition locked along with the steering. The stretch of road leading to where it was found was straight leading to a bend. They towed it at speed until the bend was reached. The towing vehicle then backed off, relieving the pressure on the snatch strap, and the man who was in the back of the towing vehicle would, using a cord, slip the strap over the tow ball. The towed vehicle would then run off the road, hit the mound of gravel pushed up by the patrol grader and then a sand drift which would cause it to roll. The fact that the direction did not change when it hit the gravel mound was a clear indication that the steering had been locked. The drivers door was opened before fuel was poured over the hot exhaust pipe causing it to erupt in flames. Its location on a road that seldom saw traffic would mean that it would not be found for several days and the wind would have blown sand over any footprints left.

As for how I managed to find myself where I did was a form of sadism. They could have killed me outright but reasoned that, if I was found before nature and animals had degraded my body, alarm bells would ring. I had been drugged, probably by my darling wife, and taken by boat along the Coorong for several kilometres before being carried over the sand-hills and left on the beach above the high tide mark, after being injected with a heavy-duty tranquilliser.

The next couple of days the boat would make another trip to where I had been dumped and further injections given. This was carried out without any notice being taken of a boat being launched at Beacon 19 in the early hours, on the first day with me laid on the floor. If anyone happened to see the boat heading towards the Murray Mouth it would be assumed that the occupants were in for a day's fishing. No checks were carried out by authorities as to who was in each boat or what they were actually doing.

It was assumed that I would not survive for a further twenty-four hours and that when the body was eventually found there would be no way, apart from dental records or DNA, of making a positive identification, both of which would take time. They relied heavily on the voracious appetite of the local wildlife to further make identification impossible.

I fucked up their plans by coming to life before I died and making my way to where I could get help to survive.

Speaking of help, Jenny has been to see me more than I would have expected and, in one of my lucid moments in amongst the periods of stultifying boredom, I asked the question that had worried me on and off for weeks. She was, as usual, sitting in a chair beside my bed. "Jenny, I need to know," She looked concerned, "Why are you spending so much time with me?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Look at me, I may have been passably handsome at one time but I think that even you will concede that those days are long gone, I have a wife but I don't know if I still have a life, or a job to go back to. I am not by any stretch of the imagination someone that you would want to spend the rest of your life with, so why?"

"A couple of years ago I was a first responder to a car crash. The driver of one of the cars was dragged from the burning wreck of what must have been his pride and joy, you could see that he had taken very good care of it. The accident wasn't his fault, the other driver was driving a stolen car and speeding to get away from the police. The other driver got out with very minor injuries, he was unlicensed and drunk, basically, he couldn't give a shit about the damage he caused. The guy we treated suffered severe burns to a large part of his body and was in great pain. He spent weeks in intensive care before being taken to the wards to recover. In the whole time that he was in hospital no-one came to see him. I guess that he thought that it was the end of the world. He gave up and stopped fighting to live. I could not see that happen to you."

"But, you have a life don't you, a boyfriend or husband, kids even. You can't ignore them just because you feel sorry for me."

"I don't feel sorry for you, believe me, you're feeling sorry enough for both of us. No, You feeling sorry isn't the problem, it's you feeling alone, no one to come and see you. Are your parents still alive, do you have siblings that could visit you?"

"My parents are both dead and I am an only child."

"Then, for the duration at least, I am your family, I will give you the love and support that you need to get over this," she waved at my body, "And the rest of the bullshit that you're having to go through. I'll talk to the cops on your behalf and find out what they know and where they're at with the investigation, I will speak to your Lawyer, if you have one, and I would suggest that the company legal department may not be a good choice."

"I can't ask you to do that for me."

"I didn't hear you ask, I don't need you to ask, I volunteer to be with you, to be you, throughout this whole disaster."

"Thank you. You have convinced me to keep trying, I'm not saying that I now have something to look forward to, I'm realistic enough to realise that, once this is over I'm on my own."

"We shall see what we shall see. No promises mind you. See ya."

With that my loneliness returned, at least for the time being.

Four months of treatment and I was home, alone. Ellie was staying with her mother while she waited for her trial to begin. Bill was in custody awaiting his appearance in court.

Jenny had dropped me off and left, to go to work, but promising that she would be back and that she had a surprise for me.

I relaxed, I had nothing better to do, made myself a cup of coffee to bring back memories of proper coffee after a steady diet of hospital muck. I looked in the freezer to see if there was anything, a couple of ice cube trays and a lot of nothing. Oh well, I'll just have to go out and get something, after I get a replacement card for the one that seemed to have disappeared. Luckily it had not been used and there was enough in my account to buy food for now and, if she likes the idea, take Jenny out for dinner.

Pizza! Jenny arrived at around six complete with a pizza, some take-out coffee and a bottle of wine. She kissed me as I stood aside to let her in, and for the first time, I felt her body against mine. It felt good without pain, well, not a lot of pain.

"Come on, we eat first, then your surprise." I have never tasted a pizza anything like this one, probably because I had no memory of having eaten one, I'm sure that I must have, or was it the person sharing it with me. The wine, a mid-range red, was the perfect accompaniment for the pizza, we didn't finish either, followed by the now luke-warm, but good, coffee.

"Now for your surprise." Jenny stood and began undoing the buttons that started at the neck of her dress and finished at the hem, just above her knees. It was a slow reveal, she was working it for maximum effect. When she reached her waist she pulled the curtains of fabric from her upper body to reveal her perfectly formed breasts. As she proceeded further, she bent at the waist and I could see between her twin peaks to where her panties were supposed to be, My undamaged, but up until now dormant, cock was taking an acute interest in the proceedings, making his presence obvious against my trousers. "It would seem as if a part of your body appreciates my efforts."

"It seems so, he has answered a question that I have asked myself over the past couple of weeks, could I perform when required."

"What was his answer?" Her look told me that she already knew the answer.

"Yes. That's his answer, yes."

"Stay there." She hurriedly finished the reveal before dropping to her knees in front of me. My zipper was dragged down and her hand guided my rampant cock free of the confines of my trousers. "Good evening sir," she said as she kissed his head, "are you ready for action?" He didn't answer because he disappeared into her mouth.

"Yes he is." I answered for him.

"Good," she released him and straddled me, engulfing him with her other lips. "How does that feel?"

"If this is heaven I'm glad that I stayed alive."

"You're glad, how do you think I feel?"

"I still can't believe my luck. You are a young, attractive, vibrant, (I added emphasis to these points by thrusting him up into her pussy) young woman who, let's be honest here, could do much better than me, and yet, here you are, not that I'm complaining."

"You'd bloody well better not complain. Don't put yourself down, you are a not that old, were obviously handsome and will soon be again, and when you get your strength back, a virile man that I have fallen in love with. Before you disagree, I have watched you change, from gratitude for my staying with you, to being pleased to see me when I came to you, to the anticipation of my visits, to, I hope I'm not wrong here, the beginnings of love."

"I hope you're not wrong. I dared to hope that you were feeling the same way I was. I didn't want to say anything for fear of disappointment. You don't know how I feel now that you have told me that you love me. That swishing noise that you hear is my fear disappearing out the window. Enough of this idle chatter, I'm getting close to having my hopes realised."

"So, it would seem, am I. Oh god," further conversation was unnecessary as her convulsions said everything that needed to be said.

"I probably don't need to ask but, will you stay the night?"

"I don't have anything to wear, but then I had no intention of wearing anything. Let's get your clothes off and go to bed."

I don't know what time it was when I rolled over and bumped into a soft, warm body. My hand seemed to have a mind of its own, heading unerringly to a breast. I wished it to caress the breast and it acted on my wish. It would appear that the owner of that breast wanted me to caress it too because her hand held mine in place. Her other hand reached for my now fully erect cock. "Mmm, I believe that this is a very good morning."

One thing led to another and the morning got even better until Jenny realised that she needed to have a shower and get dressed for work. A morning that began so well had now lost its appeal.

I made breakfast for her and kissed her good-bye with her promise of a continuation of our carnal efforts this evening.

Late morning I had a visit from the Fraud Squad. "What control did you have over the accounting of your business?"

"It was less control and more oversight. I trusted my CEO to control the day to day operations, not it would appear, to have been one of my better decisions."

"What do you mean?"

"If you have been investigating the transactions you would have established certain discrepancies. It would appear as if they were carried out by my CEO with, it seems, some help from my lovely wife. I have been looking into this mess and have found that my supposed disappearance was designed to point to my faking my death as a sign that my guilt had got the better of me. This was a case of misdirection. When my body was eventually discovered they were hoping that identification would have been impossible, giving them time to take over the company. I screwed their plan by not dying as planned."

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?"

"I have my own sources. I know that the police investigating my supposed accident have reached the conclusion that it was staged. The conclusion also reached was that I could not have done it on my own. they have not found an accomplice. The how I got to where I was supposed to die is open to conjecture. It would seem that several boat trips were undertaken and certain drugs were used."

"This is news to us. I know that the police investigating that side of the story are exploring several different scenarios. If you have proof of what you say, I think that you should go to the police so that they can pursue the matter further."

"We plan to, once we have proof."

"When you say we, who is the other person?"

"I am not at liberty to divulge that information. If the police were to investigate, I'm sure that they will find out who it is."

"Would it be easier to tell us now?"

"Easier maybe, but we feel that this is the only way we can get to the bottom of this."

"So you don't trust the police?"

"With several different enquiries happening at the same time and the police not talking to each other, what other conclusion can we reach?"

Jenny came in very handy, she had been doing all the leg work that I was unable to do. She visited a stockbroker and, on the pretence of researching the company with a view to investing, she had supplied me with a copy of the company's financials and I spent hours pouring through them. When I found the link, it was like someone turning the lights on. A transaction, hidden amongst a lot of other transactions sent the warning flag to the top of the pole. I would need a financial guru to follow the convoluted money trail that went from tax haven to tax haven to cover money acquired from a variety of sources that may, or may not, be legal. Money from these sources was used to buy legitimate products or services that were then disposed of and the profits from these transactions was now squeaky clean. Very clever.

It took a dose of greed to bring this unstuck. The money used to buy up the Chinese pastoral properties came from the dirty fund. The transaction was never meant to be found, let alone investigated and questions were never meant to be asked about this transaction and the source of the finances used.

The transactions were basically under the counter, not through the proper channels, hidden from the authorities that needed to approve them, but something went wrong, someone got wind of them and alerted the Stock Exchange which effectively blocked the sale from progressing and alerted the Fraud Squad. This was when the blame game began and I was copping all of the blame.

When the scheme began to unravel I was set up to take the fall. My thinking now, was that this was a joint effort between Ellie and Bill, with Ellie being the mastermind. My memory of Bill from when He and I were besties at Uni were that he was pretty straight. He had an accountant's head for figures and an Accountant's lack of imagination. Ellie, on the other hand, had a background in the financial management arena, you know, the manipulation of money driven by greed to get more no matter the cost, and legality.

Bill and Ellie had not counted on my resilience. If I had died un-noticed as planned, they may have got away with it. But I didn't, and because I didn't, the police had taken a closer look at the supposed 'accident' and found that it had been staged. This, in turn, resulted in a closer investigation into the reason for all of this. It wasn't looking good for Bill and Ellie, especially Bill who the police believed to have been the mastermind of the whole scheme.

I was in two minds; do I tell the police that I think that Ellie was the brains behind this now, or do I keep quiet until she thinks that she has managed to get away with it?

My door opened, Jenny had a key cut, at least I hoped it was her. "Hi Honey, I'm home." I cringed. "I've always wanted to be able to say that."

"I'd prefer it if you didn't." I accepted the kiss and returned the gift.

"I've been wondering, I've been calling you Richard, but That's not personal enough, would you like me to call you Richard or Dick?"

"Neither. I answer to both, but you're right, neither of them is personal enough. Would you rather call me Rick, I think I'd like that, no-one uses that name?"