Conscious Revenge Read online

  The next few moments I held my breath. It was vital for the whole plan to come together that I impressed to Miss Gray, should I fail to do so, ‘I would be up the Swannee without a paddle’ so to speak.

  The feel of the keyboard under my fingers took me back to the good old days if you can call them that with everything that had taken place, but nevertheless my friend Paul Max would be laughing his head off at the whole sorry tale. Paul was a tall handsome guy who possessed a certain talent with the ladies. Not being married, he was fair game for most of the best-looking girls in his domain.

  Unlike me, he could make a girl think she was the only one in the room. I think I enjoyed watching the fun as much as I would have should I have taken part, which I did not, as Lorna my wife and my two kids were everything to me and nothing would possess me to stray. So, I enjoyed watching Paul’s antics with glee. He would say, “Just look at the girl at table so ‘n’ so,” and in no time at all, he was walking by, giving her a look of complete disinterest. He told me this never failed with the pretty ones as they all loved a challenge, and he was a challenge alright.

  At this moment, I felt very homesick. I was worried about how all of this was reflecting on Lorna and the kids. I was hoping they missed me as much as I missed them. The thought that Lorna may want to start a new life with me gone from the face of the Earth made me feel worse. I wondered how long it would take before I dared get in touch, and it may be a long time…

  Stop brooding. I pulled myself up so that I could be more positive about the job prospects, as everything was riding on the outcome. Miss Gray, ‘Ellie’ as she ask me to call her, was ready to start my test. ‘I felt like a beginner’, she was very understanding and cajoled me into starting ‘mustn’t be too cocky’.

  The keyboard rattled with speed as I demonstrated. Although the programs were old-fashioned, I tried to look as if they were much to my taste. Ellie seemed suitably impressed and suggested we meet up again on Wednesday of next week. By then, she would have had time to find interviews that may be near what I was looking for. She couldn’t possibly do that with what I had in mind, but any port in a storm may lead to a system I could use for my ends, or at least the pay would help to buy a laptop with the right spec. to get the job done.

  Chapter Five

  Although I would normally just lift the phone and call Paul to run my scheme by him, the dangers this might cause him made me put this out of the question. I will wait until I have a good computer connection, then compose a strategy whereby I can explain what had happened, without possibly arousing suspicions from the financial mafia who thought they had ended my days down a drain.

  Whilst the extra week gave me time to further concentrate and spend time devising a ‘master plan’, I was restless to begin, as the longer it took, the more I would fret.

  I put a few ideas down on paper as I might just as well try to get my head around a plan. I decided to number the ideas and then move them around until the best was first.

  1) Find out which client/auditor discovered the missing interest and how many other interested parties had been informed, if any.

  2) How was my plan uncovered?

  3) Had the money been retrieved?

  4) If so how much and from which accounts (as far as I was concerned no one but myself knew the numbers or countries I had transferred the money to).

  5) Find a way to recover all, or any remaining monies left in my accounts.

  6) Inflict as much financial pain as possible on the perpetrators.

  7) If not financial pain, the other sort would have to do.

  In just two weeks, I was at the keyboard, Ellie had come up trumps, well sort of, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but entering the amount of eggs the chickens laid and doing analysis as to the best layers and how the feed we used may have contributed to the success or failure etc. etc. wasn’t the most stimulating job I had ever done but I had to start somewhere. I was now earning nowhere near the hundreds of thousands a year I was used to, but then my needs were no longer the same, the good news was that I could e-mail.

  After spending a day chicken and egg counting without a break, I began to relax in the small condo by the sea. This is great therapy certainly beats any form of rest home in my home town but I would soon have to leave and find a place of my own, how I would do this escaped me. Luckily the cost of accommodation here, well the sort I would be looking for, seemed fairly reasonable. I then made a decision for the moment to bide my time and feign whatever relapse I could, to enable me to remain here for the foreseeable.

  I sat for a while on the veranda drinking a welcome beer I had collected from the drug store using the last of the vouchers I was given by the welfare. For a small island, they were extremely organised in looking after the poor - if only they knew.

  Spending time looking over the sea seemed to have a calming effect and the worries I had in my previous life, as I liked to think of it now, soon disappeared. I walked to the only room I had and put on CNN. Television had reached even the far end of nowhere it would seem. I began to eat a sandwich of tuna my daily intake of fish. I felt like a local, that was until my eyes fell on the small screen. What I saw shook the life out of me. It took several seconds to get myself to look harder, I needn’t have bothered I could recognise myself anywhere. What took longer to understand was the notice ‘Missing presumed Dead’. How could they assume this without search parties all over the place, had they just decided to write me off?

  As I pondered the implication for my family and friends, it dawned on me that I couldn’t blame Lorna if she found comfort in another man. The thought struck me harder than the brick round the head I had taken before the unceremonious dropping in the shaft that I had experienced several months ago. I should have realised sooner or later something would happen. You just don’t disappear off the face of the Earth, even if it felt like it for me just at that moment.

  It took several hours to decide how to react to the inevitability of what I had seen. I could do nothing on this score and I knew it, thinking about it only made it worse. I made the only decision I could, work harder and put my plan in place at the earliest possible time, even though I had still to fully work out what the plan would be. I knew the first part would have to involve Paul as I needed eyes and ears outside of my present situation to implement my revenge and of course retrieve the money so that I could get home to Lorna and the children.

  William Forester, the name the outside world called me was no longer appropriate for the way I now live, plus the fact that it wouldn’t take long after the declaration on TV for some know-it-all to drop me in it, especially if they thought money was in the making to find me. I now called myself ‘Bill’. ‘How crass,’ my wife would have said, but it served my purpose and I had no intension of getting my memory back for the people around me. For the time being, I’m happy being just plain ‘Bill’.

  I signed onto the computer and suddenly had the urge to bring up the internet. This was purely an instinct as I had promised myself being patient would be best but that soon went flying through the air. The declaration of my own death had given me a swift kick into getting the job done.

  I would use the same method for pass-wording I had used at G&F plc. but felt a little more confident that chicken farmers were more unlikely to discover the passwords than the experts I pitted my wits against in my former life. Still, as I had been found out before, I was taking no chances.

  I had taken a book from the small library in the rest home and found the tenth letter on the tenth page, then the twentieth letter on the twentieth page. Using this method, I composed the letters in the password. I would use numbers in the contents of the book going down every 10 lines, using this method meant that if I was unable to remember the passwords, just as long as I could remember the name of the book I would be o.k. I formulated this password method when I first set up the scam for every bank account I had opened for the money transfers. I was glad now that I had after what had happened to me. All
I needed was to find the book by James Pattison called Cat & Mouse.

  The web page was slower than I was used to, but everything about this island was slower. Once the password was in place, I had to remember Paul’s e-mail address. This wouldn’t be too difficult as I had used it a million times. What would be more tasking would be the cryptic message I would have to send to get him to realise it was me. Going back to our Yale days would be best, as only we would know certain things that we did during the drunken antics we got up to - which one, would be more difficult, as there were so many. How about the time we stole the large undergarment of the History lecturer, Mrs. Rainer, and hoisted them up on the flag pole outside the gatehouse. Had we have been caught, a suspension would certainly have ensued, so this secret we definitely kept just between the two of us.

  OK, this was it, “Hi Paul, remember the knickers of old Rainer?” Short but sweet would have to do. He could pick up my e-mail address and reply. I kept my fingers crossed that I would be using the same system at the chicken farm over the next few days. It reminded me how desperate I was to get my own laptop. I would probably have to stop buying treats and essentials over the next few weeks. It was the nursing home’s rule that, as soon as you started any form of paid work, you must pay for your own food, very fair in the circumstances, if not a little inconvenient for me at the moment.

  Chapter Six

  I made myself a promise that if I could succeed in finding the $15 million or even a percentage, I would buy a condo like the one I was living in now. Whilst it was not high spec., the pastel shades on the walls with pictures pinpointing moments in time by famous artists, or copies of them at least, gave me a feeling of complete calm. Even though no one in their right mind would say my life was calm, the restful nature of the small room with my bed at one end and my cooker at the other seemed perfect for me. ‘I must be losing it’! When I think back to the spacious apartment overlooking the park, all colour co-ordinated by my wife with the help of the latest must-have person to guide her in all of the essentials of modern living, not to say how to guide my money into their bank from mine. Quite a challenge for someone so small and petite, but then when has tall been better?

  Going to work had never been so urgent. If I am to secure my position at the computer before others started work, I would have to be quick off the mark. Embarking on a bus journey with all the livestock would prove that nothing moves other than at snails’ pace here and therefore earlier rising would be the order of the day.

  The chicken’s eggs would have to take second place today. I would catch up later, the concept of food against productivity left my mind the moment I sat at the computer. I was half-anxious and half-scared, scared that if I had no reply from Paul, what the next step would be I had no idea!

  The rooms were quiet, as the normal starting time was an hour later. The boss, Andrew Crantock, was always first in, checking the productivity figures from the day before and making recommendations for enhancing the laying process. Other than shaking the poor hens, I can’t see how they could do more, adding more chickens maybe, but then what do I know?!

  At this precise moment, I couldn’t give a monkey’s for the chickens. All I was interested in was a reply to my e-mail. I opened the inbox and held my breath - nothing!! Although I knew it would be pretty unusual for an e-mail to be read this quick, I was hoping it had hit his iPhone and therefore he would know about it quickly. I sat staring at the screen willing the reply to appear. The waiting was going to be unbearable. He could be anywhere asleep, in conference, with a woman. This seemed the most likely of the options, and I hope he hurries up.

  I tried to turn my mind back to the job in hand and put the egg findings of the last few days into the formulas set down by the hierarchy. The results sprung out at me but at the moment, they went straight over my head. I had to swop screens and check again to see if Paul had decided my e-mail was not a hoax.

  It was lunchtime and I had finally drawn some conclusion related to the food chain requirements for the chickens to enhance productivity. My recommendations were sketchy. I must pull my socks up if I am to keep the job which I must do at all costs.

  At 4.20pm, an e-mail arrived. I held my breath before opening it up. I must man up if I am to survive the next months as this was only the beginning.

  A very cryptic message said “With or without elastic?” Even in the face of such adversity ,Paul was forever the joker. The only thing was, my predicament seemed anything but a joke. It was time to get serious. I e-mailed back, “Without a secure environment, I am unable to discuss this matter.”

  Before I could hope he understood the play on words, a reply came straight back, “Is that really you?”

  I replied as quickly as possible “Yes, it’s me. Need help, have no phone or laptop. I am working at Crantock’s chicken farm on the closest island to the Grand Cayman island. Make some excuse to visit, ask for ‘Bill’, please delete all traces of our e-mails and bring a copy of James Pattisons book Cat & Mouse Tks.”

  He replied, “Will see you soon.” It all sounded very cloak and dagger but as I had never been in the situation before, I had to play it by ear.

  From then on, I was constantly worrying. If my message had reached his iPhone or laptop, the chance of internal checking at G&F plc. was far from remote.

  Chapter Seven

  Sleep didn’t come easy for me over the next few days. I worked as hard as I could to impress the boss, as I couldn’t afford to lose the job at this point. There was more than a wage packet at stake here.

  Mr Crantock, or ‘Andy’ as he now asked me to call him, was pleasant but very thorough. He was a ‘no nonsense’ man, farming was a handed down way of life. My part in the operation was small by comparison but as he pointed out nevertheless, important as in this environment every penny counted, although I suspected in his case every million. We both had this as a goal, only mine was still at arms’ length.

  Paul made contact after five very fraught days for me. He had to find the place he said which was not an easy task and to have a good reason for doing so even more problematic. I thought his reason was genius - he was a chicken feed rep. Brilliant, I love that man, speaking metaphorically that is.

  We were finally able to leave for the day and I took Paul back to my condo. He could not believe the story I was telling. He had no idea what I had been up to. With a mighty slap on my back, he laughed until it hurt, “You dark horse you, who would have thought this of you as ‘Mr. Nice Guy’? Remind me never to underestimate you again.”

  We got very drunk courtesy of Paul’s generosity and slept until lunchtime the next day. Good job it was Saturday as I couldn’t have a day off work.

  I began at the beginning when the idea first came into my mind. I was feeling pretty miserable at the time as there seemed no time to spend with Lorna and the children, work and more work. She was getting very stressed with how many hours I put in. She had to take care of all of the other things in their daily life that I should be helping with.

  That was the least of things. In the bedroom department, I left a lot to be desired. I was tired all the time. Then she resented the attention I lavished on her on the odd occasion I was able to, it was a mess. I made a decision that things must change. I knew I wasn’t on my own in the firm, as so many of the others were getting divorced or very close. I am in love with my wife and had no intention of letting that happen to us, so I set about finding a solution.

  Changing my job wouldn’t solve anything when you choose the Stock Market route. You are never able to move in any other direction without major sacrifices, which in themselves bring stress of a different kind. Looking at Lorna in the mirror with tears in her eyes filled me with horror as to where we were in our relationship. I had no choice but to do something about it.

  I realise now, with the recent events, that I will probably lose her and the kids anyway. Enough of this pity thing, it’s my own fault. “I must get on and sort it out,” I said aloud. I’m not the pleading ty
pe, but right now I would have got down on my hands and knees to Paul if needs be.

  He recognised this in me and said, “Is this really you, that cocky know-it-all who makes a fortune for millionaires without blinking an eyelid, it can’t be!!”

  The tension was broken and I came to my senses with a jolt, “As usual, you old fart, you have seen straight through me,” I laughed.

  “Let’s get down to business,” he said. “Stop all this nonsense. We have a job to do, let’s do it.”

  “Let’s have a look at the list you put together and work through it one at a time. The order may change but we can improvise as we go.” First, we need to find out which client or auditor discovered the missing interest and how many others had been informed, if any.

  “That shouldn’t be too difficult,” he said tongue-in-cheek. “Give me the account numbers of the clients and I will go through the list on my laptop and look at those accounts that had stopped losing money around the time of your so-called demise.” I understood where he was coming from. Any accountant worth their salt if they had any idea what I had been up to would be able, with help from the wizard technical at G&F to discover the filter for the interest I was stealing.

  I didn’t like to think of myself as a thief, as the clients would not have had the big profits that attracted the interest in the first place without me. But I would see it that way, wouldn’t I? I had hoped that because the amounts were small and taken between transfers, it would be very hard to discover. I should have closed the door on the scam earlier and not been greedy, then the chances of detection would have been lessened and the retrieval of the money from my bank accounts would have been impossible.