The Unsuspecting Housewife

by Olivia Charles

  It had taken several months for Henrietta to find a house which reflected her interest in listed buildings and gave her the scope she needed to maximize her depleted finances with hard work. Finally she chose a Georgian rectory which had already been re-wired, re-roofed and plumbed but lacked the finishing touches which were her bread and butter as a qualified Interior Designer.

  May 2007.

  Henrietta obtained keys to her new project and began working hard to improve the property. On one of those days, whilst covered in paint splashes, Aiden made an unexpected social call to see how she was progressing, discuss any financial queries she might have and to compliment her new home. They sat on the kitchen window seat and drank mugs of coffee as they chatted and moaned about their mutual ex-friend and Hetty intimated for the first time that Terry had been abusive towards her and her family and generalised about how much money he had taken. Aiden seemed genuinely shocked and sympathised with her but it did not stop him from purloining her unopened mail whilst her back was turned. He had his own home and family to maintain and a weekly relationship with Sandy which he desperately needed to keep from his wife. He had to keep Terry sweet and knew his friend needed her household bills.

  Terry was having no luck selling his business as the proposed purchaser dropped out when it became apparent that he did not own the lease on the commercial premises. Terry was forced to accept that he did not have enough money to pay his suppliers, the shop rent, the mortgage arrears on his apartment, maintenance to his ex-wife, pay the car finance on his car and on the ex-wife’s car, re-pay the loans from Hetty, pay off the debt he had accumulated on various credit cards and certainly not enough to start a new life in Spain. He was desperate! In reality he only had the goodwill of the company, the list of client names and his stash of more than two hundred cloned credit and debit cards. He knew he needed to be resourceful if he was to avoid bankruptcy again and risk total ruin.

  Terry met with a man in a similar predicament to discuss a joint venture. In the quiet back room of the locked phone shop Terry handed over a carrier bag filled with brand new, unsigned credit cards as his contribution and received a few thousand pounds to tide him over. He was still in a financial pickle, but now had a chance to save himself and run away.

  The following evening Terry met with Aiden and was given Henrietta’s stolen household bills. The friends discussed their various woes and Terry discreetly explained his requirements and divulged his plans for an imminent future life in the sun. He also told Aiden that he had been taking Spanish lessons after work, had progressed quickly to an advanced level and had impressed his teacher who believed that Terry was selling his successful business and would retire to the pleasures of Spain.

  Aiden had worried that Terry might tell his wife about his secret assignations with Sandy and agreed to help his friend by fraudulently re-creating Terry’s entire credit history and signing as witness to some troubling legal documents. He also knew that Terry had applied for a mortgage on a property in Spain and had not questioned his friend’s judgement. Time had passed and Terry needed more paperwork. As Terry said;

  ‘Fail to plan, plan to fail.’

  The truth was that Terry had done his research and his master trick was yet to come: He had kept in touch with Dom, made a couple of brief trips to Spain where he stayed at Henrietta’s house, without her knowing, with a duplicated a set of keys. He had played golf at a few of the most highly regarded courses in the area and had sought out several dubious mortgage brokers in the Costa del Sol who could arrange to have a property over-valued, had explained how to borrow more money than necessary for the purchase and then keep the ‘black’ money for spending. They educated him on how to put the property in a Spanish Limited Company, so he could live in the property for six months and if necessary, rent out the villa for the summer months to create enough income to pay the mortgage for the rest of the year. Terry simply needed an SL Company to remove the spotlight from himself as he was still undischarged from his previous bankruptcy. He immediately thought of Henrietta and asked his new friend, Ted, to set all the necessary wheels in motion and assured him that he would acquire the company and his wealthy fiancée would back him.

  July 2007.

  Terry had been informed by Aiden that Henrietta was planning to spend the summer holidays in Spain, so knew he had to act fast. He closed the shop early and drove to The Rectory without prior warning and was pleased to find Henrietta gardening.

  “Hiya Hetty, it wasn’t easy for me to get your address but I come in peace and bring good tidings.” He walked in through the garden gate sat on the wooden bench.

  “What do you want from me? I have very little money left and a mortgage on this place because of you.” She dreaded being bullied again and hung her head submissively.

  “Just a nice cold drink and to give you this.” He handed Henrietta a signed and dated promissory note for the sum of £75,000. “The sale of the shop goes through next month. The guy signed on the dotted line, can you believe it?”

  “No actually, I can’t, but I want to. What do I do with this?”

  “Keep hold of it with the others until I am able to pay you back at the end of next month. Henrietta, thank you for everything, I couldn’t have done it without you.” He smiled with glee. “Any chance of that drink now?”

  Hetty carried two glasses of juice out into the sunshine and began to relax with Terry for the first time in ages. They talked about her new home, about Aiden, the sale of his company and about their respective children. She told him that she looked forward to spending the summer with Oscar and Terry said he intended to take his children to Spain too and hoped to move there as soon as he had found the right Spanish business. Hetty shivered as the sun moved away but it was obvious that she was not comfortable inviting him inside.

  “Can I take you for an Indian? I know of a great one near here. I’ll wait on this bench whilst you get ready. It is the least I can do.” He smiled with relief when she agreed.

  Once in the restaurant and on neutral ground, Henrietta asked more questions about Terry’s future plans and was surprised by his candid response:

  “I want to get away from my negative history in England and now I’ve got the perfect opportunity. I have only one problem and that is; where to bank the proceeds from the sale. I’ve looked into it and realise that it can’t be banked in England or I will have a shed load of tax to pay and it can’t be deposited in my personal name as I owe money to some creditors but want you to be first in the begging queue, not last. I am going to have to open a bank account in Spain in my name and one in a company name. I will deposit the entire profits into the company account then gradually transfer money into to my personal account. Do you understand?”

  “Not really.” She admitted.

  “Do you trust me and what I am trying to do for both of us?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Let me ask you an easy one; do you want your loan notes swapping for pound notes?”

  “Yes!” They laughed at her immediate response, enjoyed the meal and ended the evening as friends. He took her home, kissed her, wished her a lovely holiday with Oscar and asked if he would be welcome to call on her with his children, when in Spain.

  Henrietta was relieved that the war between them was over and she could stop worrying about money and enjoy her time with Oscar. She arranged to leave her car with Yvonne who drove her to the nearby airport, then met a familiar face on the plane who offered Hetty a free lift to her garaged car. Once in residence, she busied herself cleaning and shopping so that Oscar could live with her as a day pupil for the two weeks until the end of term.

  Three days into the school break Terry sent a text asking if she was home and whether he would be welcome. Two hours later he turned up on her doorstep with his children and offered to take everyone out. They walked to a local restaurant as a happy and noisy group and the little girl skipped as she clasped Henrietta’s hand and told her how much she had missed her. Terr
y smiled and told her that he had missed her too. They enjoyed a relaxed Mediterranean meal and familiar company and Henrietta asked Terry how long they would be in Spain and enquired whether she would see them again.

  “We are here for a fortnight, you don’t mind do you? You did say we could come and it will be brilliant for the kids, look how much they are enjoying themselves. I promise I will pay for everything.”

  Henrietta was lost for words but the children were not and Terry had deliberately put her in an awkward position as she looked at their expectant, excited and smiling faces.

  “I don’t have enough beds.”

  “Don’t worry” said Terry “we’ve brought air beds with us. Good planning, hey?”

  During the two week invasion Terry got the children up early every day and took them to the communal pool or to the beach or the water park and planned every evening so that by nightfall they all slept soundly on their inflatable mattresses. On one of outings to Sotogrande Port for lunch, Terry trusted them to ‘behave’ in a café where they left them eating enormous ice-cream Sundays whilst he asked Hetty to accompany him to meet a Spanish solicitor. He explained that he wanted her to hear the truth about his private financial affairs and intentions. They walked to a discreet and tastefully furnished town house hidden in the myriad of coloured buildings and met with a tall, dark and strikingly handsome lawyer in a beautifully tailored suit. Terry told the lawyer about the sale of his phone business and enquired about the tax efficient prudence of buying a limited company in Spain as a vehicle for the funds. Henrietta knew nothing about corporate finance but was served with a tray of coffee and petit fours and smiled.

  Later that evening Terry convinced Hetty that as a person beyond financial reproach, she should do as the lawyer had advised and buy him an off the shelf Spanish Limited company to transfer the money he was about to receive. She was reluctant to oblige and didn’t want the hassle of any paperwork or company administration but Terry offered to arrange everything, pay all the associated costs and got her to agree to immediately transfer the single share and the power of that company, so that it would be his responsibility. Henrietta was surprised that Terry trusted her with the transfer of the sum of his wealth but also hated the fact that he was using her again even if it was only to avoid his debts.

  Terry busied himself on his phone and two days later Terry gave his oldest daughter the responsibility of the care of the youngest sibling and asked Henrietta to help him find the Notary offices in Malaga to obtain the SL Company he required.

  They parked in a multi-storey and found the historic building which Hetty admired whilst Terry phoned his solicitor and arranged their meeting. Henrietta did as she was asked by the solicitor and signed for receipt of the company and immediately transferred her responsibilities away on a separate document which gave Terry a Power of Attorney over the same company. Terry paid everyone’s fees by credit card and was relieved to grasp the documents to his chest. As they returned to the car Hetty asked about the new and unfamiliar lawyer and Terry explained that although he was overjoyed by the prospect of having £1.4 million, the lawyer in Sotogrande was not available for new clients with a personal wealth of less than ten million euros. Hetty realised that she had to trust in Terry’s plan in order to be repaid and was glad that her un-invited visitors were due to return home within a couple of days, so bit her tongue.

  When school resumed in September, Hetty returned to The Rectory in England. When she opened her mail she saw that £75,000 had been deposited into her bank account and was relieved that Terry had finally sold his business and been good to his word but wondered why he had not also paid the additional monies he had borrowed. She was annoyed that he was hanging on to her and called his mobile phone and left a terse message. She knew she needed to relinquish the mortgage on the Rectory as the monthly payments were eating away at her savings and the recent deposit from Terry was not sufficient to clear the debt. She crossed her fingers and hoped that the agreed sale of her house in Spain would not collapse at this late stage and accepted that she must wait until those proceeds were also in her bank before she could be debt free.

  Henrietta called at Grandma’s first and then went to see Ruth and was able to inform both ladies that Terry had sold his company and had begun to honour his debt. Grandma took a sigh of relief but Ruth told Hetty about the latest rumour that Terry had been physically evicted from his shop by bailiffs for non-payment of rent. Hetty believed the shop was sold but also knew Ruth was not a gossip. She tried to call Terry again but got no reply. She drove to his apartment and rang his numbered bell but got no answer, so went around to the rear to look through the ground floor window and realised that the place was completely empty and Terry had gone, presumably to Spain.

  October 2007.

  Terry phoned Henrietta to talk about his new life in Spain and how hard he was networking to get started in a business. He said that he could not send any more money until advised by his solicitor but openly admitted that he liked the idea of holding on to the balance of Hetty’s money in an attempt to keep her in his life. He also told her about the new villa he was renting and the arrangement he had with the developer which gave him the right to buy within six months and how by that time he would be in a position to complete his perfect life.

  Henrietta had completed her decoration project on the Rectory and was satisfied that it looked perfect inside and out. She asked a friend to find her a cheap flight on-line and grabbed the chance to spend half term with Oscar at their house in Spain before she signed the contract for its sale with her solicitor, Francesca. She also needed to arrange the return journey for her possessions.

  It was early in the evening on Halloween when Terry picked her up from the airport as arranged, as he had borrowed her car without asking and needed to return it. He stopped off to replenish the tank with fuel at the Benahavis petrol station which also sold basic groceries, so Henrietta went inside to buy fresh bread and milk. Once back in the vehicle, Terry told her how much he had missed her company and would do anything to make her his wife. He also announced a surprise change from their proposed plan in favour of a fun evening; attending a Halloween party where the friends she had previously made in Spain would be expecting her. She was grateful that Terry was prepared to be so amenable despite their estrangement and she tried to be polite and gracious to his earnest desire to call a truce. Fortunately Henrietta almost always wore black and so with the basic addition of the witches’ hat Terry had bought for her and an extra application of liquid eye-liner, she was able to appropriately fit in with the party revellers and see friends.

  During the evening, despite nibbling on tapas from the bar, Henrietta became gradually inebriated and danced with anyone who would humour her. She wanted to put the past behind her and think of Spain as a place of fun and not associate the coast with isolation and loneliness. Terry seemed happy to be in the company of the woman he loved and lavished her with attention and kisses every time he handed her a fresh glass of wine. However it was obvious to everyone that Henrietta preferred to spend most of the evening talking to Wendy, a friend she had known since her university days and had since become reacquainted when they had both coincidentally moved to the costa at the same time. As time passed, Terry became irritated and hurt that his plans for a wonderful romantic reunion were rejected and ignored. He decided to retaliate and try to make Henrietta jealous by spending the remainder of the evening in the company of two unknown girls who were dressed more like Goth prostitutes than witches. Hetty observed how little eye shadow Terry had needed from her make-up bag to look exactly like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family and shared the humour with Wendy.

  Terry sauntered over, handed her another glass of wine and interrupted her conversation by announcing that he was ready to leave. She sipped the wine, ignored Terry and continued to chat to her friend but he shuffled beside her impatiently. Reluctantly she placed the drink on the bar and offered to leave.

  “Drink up, don’t wa
ste it.” He demanded and she did not want to have a needless argument. She gulped the wine, said her goodbyes and left on Terry’s arm. As they headed for the car it was evident that Terry was upset:

  “I couldn’t wait for you to arrive in Spain and looked forward to a romantic evening but look at you, you can hardly walk. You are an utter disgrace and a bloody alcoholic!”

  Henrietta had to admit she had consumed several glasses of vino and felt quite dizzy as she inhaled the cold evening air and tried to walk towards the car. He unlocked the vehicle and insulted her as he bundled her unceremoniously into the passenger seat. He drove faster and faster down the Autopista towards Gibraltar and berated her for ignoring him all evening. Hetty felt sick and giddy and closed her eyes as she clung to the sides of the leather seat and felt the world spin first to the left and then swirl to the right.