81 comments/ 165930 views/ 17 favorites Eve Gets Out of Her Depth By: The Wanderer I thank LadyCibelle and Techsan for their patience, proof reading, editing skills and of course encouragement * Eve Thomas smiled to herself. At last she had done it after so many false starts. In a moment, she would walk through the arrivals gate, to where her soon to be lover would be waiting for her. It had been a long road to get here. She had met her would-be lover, Peter, when he started to use the same café for lunch about three months ago. Shelly, one of her friends, noticed him first and pointed out to Eve that she had an admirer. Eve turned to look and saw this very handsome man sitting a few tables away. He smiled at Eve. She, taken by surprise, blushed and smiled with embarrassment before turning back to her friends. Over the next few weeks, he was there every lunchtime, always smiling. Eve felt flattered that this handsome stranger was so obviously attracted to her. Then one day as she sat at her usual table she noticed that there was a vase of flowers on it. When she asked the waitress about them, she was given a note. My beautiful Eve, I have had to go away for a little while. I hope these flowers will remind you of me. All my love, Peter. Eve was not sure what to make of it; she had never encouraged or even spoken to Peter but she had been flattered and had returned his smiles whenever their eyes met. Eve had been happily married for the last ten years. She had two lovely children, baby Sam who was five and Toby who was seven. She adored her loving husband, David, and had no intention of spoiling her marriage by having a liaison with anyone. However she enjoyed being flattered by this man's attentions. Quite a few of her friends in the office had had affairs and one night flings. However none of their boyfriends that she had seen had been anything like as handsome as Peter. Eve was gathering a lot of kudos from her colleagues for his attention. Everyday for the next week as Eve's little group sat down to lunch, the waitress would bring another vase of flowers to the table and hand Eve a note. There would only be a few lines, which would say things like, I am missing seeing your beautiful eyes everyday, or Lunch times are not the same without you. Eve would smile at her friends and put the notes in her bag without letting them know the contents. All her colleagues were convinced that she was having an affair with Peter but Eve kept her own council. She was enjoying her notoriety. Then one Monday morning a large bouquet of flowers arrived at Eve's desk with a note that simply said, Romanos, 12.30, Love, Peter. All the girls were saying that Romanos was the classiest and most expensive restaurant in the locality. None of them had ever been there. She was so lucky that Peter was taking her to lunch there and not to The Café with them. Eve was of two minds what to do now. She had never intended to get involved with Peter but he had only invited her to lunch and Eve could see no harm in that. It was an innocent lunch. She would go. Eve had never been to such an impressive restaurant in her life. The Maitre D' escorted her to their table, where Peter was already waiting. Peter stood and, kissing the back of her hand, said, "Thank you for joining me, Eve. I know you only have an hour for lunch so I have taken the liberty of ordering for you to save time." Eve told him that the girls had said they would cover for her if she were back late. Eve found Peter to be a very charming person. They talked all through lunch and Peter informed her he had been in the States all last week and enthralled her with stories of the places he visited in his work. She didn't notice that he never actually said where he worked or who for. All too soon for Eve, the lunch was over and Peter said it was time for her to go back to her office before she got into trouble, and asked if she would please have lunch with him again the next day. Eve said she wasn't too sure but Peter mentioned another good restaurant that she had never been to and said that there were no strings attached. He just didn't like eating alone and liked to have a beautiful lady with whom to talk. Eve was flattered yet again and thought to herself, 'Peter has not made a pass at her. If he continues to act the gentleman, what could be the harm in enjoying her lunch hours?' So from there it developed. For the next few weeks Peter would take her to lunch two or three times a week at the most expensive restaurants in town. Peter never made a direct pass at her but Eve, without realising it, was slowly falling under his spell. Then one day Peter asked her if she would like to go to a concert as he had been given some tickets but had no one to go with. Eve thought she would enjoy the concert so agreed to go. Eve really started down the road to cheating on her husband when she told him that first lie by saying she was going to the concert with a friend from work. Her husband had raised no objections saying that classical music wasn't his thing. He would drive them there if she liked but Eve said they were going to go straight from work after having a meal in The Café. Then her friend's husband would drop her home, that way they would save the cost of a baby sitter if he stayed with the children. Eve and Peter went for a meal before the concert; Eve drank maybe just a little too much wine and had more to drink during the interval in the concert. She was quite relaxed when they came out of the theatre and the next thing she realised they were sitting in Peter's car necking. Peter's hand had found its way inside her dress and was squeezing her breast. Eve was getting carried away and was just beginning to think she wanted Peter to take her, when her cellphone rang. Eve fished it out of her purse and saw that it was her home number. She then heard her mother's voice. "We didn't call you earlier because David told me to let you enjoy the concert before I called. So I waited until I was sure it was finished. Your father and I are at your house looking after the baby. Toby fell off his bike and David has taken him to the hospital. We thought you would want to know. David has just called to say Toby is fine and they will be home shortly." Eve went into a panic as she told Peter what had happened. Peter dropped her at a discreet distance from her house to ensure that no one would see her get out of his car. David arrived home shortly afterwards and carried a sleeping Toby up to his bedroom. When he came down again he told them that Toby only had a few abrasions but nothing to worry about. But things had taken a long time because some of the people in A&E had been involved in a fight. Apparently this man had caught his wife messing around with some guy and the two men got into a fight, the wife had tried to separate them and had finished up getting on the wrong end of one of their fists. The police were in A&E to make sure the two guys did not start up again. David thought it was quite entertaining and asked, "Why would a good woman want to mess up a good marriage?" Unfortunately Eve did not see irony of the story. As her mother and father were preparing to leave, her mother asked, "What was the concert like Eve? And who did you go with?" "Oh, I really enjoyed it. It's such a shame Dave's not into the classics. I went with Marie, one of the receptionists from work. Her husband doesn't like classical music either. She has been asking round the office for someone to go with her for weeks. There's another concert next week so we might go again if Dave doesn't mind?" David did not reply to the question, suddenly announced that it had been a long day and he was going to bed. When Eve finally got to bed, David was apparently fast asleep. Eve was feeling very aroused but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get David interested. Poor Eve. She had enjoyed her evening and had found the music and her company very arousing. It was a shame that she had been so busy canoodling that she had failed to notice the white estate car parked by the curb when they had come out of the concert hall. She had not noticed the small child asleep on the back seat or the driver of the car watching her and Peter cuddle and kiss as they walked back to his car. Peter and Eve had been so engrossed in each other that they had not noticed that the car had followed them slowly down the street and stopped behind them as they got into Peter's car and started to make out. They were not aware of the driver making a call on his cellphone that would shortly lead to Eve's phone ringing. To Eve everything in the garden was roses. She had a nice weekend, she saw her husband off to golf on Saturday morning and she was a little surprised that he never kissed her goodbye. Eve hadn't noticed that he hadn't kissed her since Wednesday. He had gone to work early Thursday and Friday before she was awake. Monday morning Eve's car would not start so David drove her to work. It was Monday lunchtime when she met Peter. As he kissed her, she realised, besides kissing the children, that was her first kiss she'd had since she said goodnight to Peter after the concert. She mentioned the fact to Peter. However he laughed it off by saying, "Good, I don't want you kissing your husband. You should save all your kisses for me." When David picked her up from work that evening, he told Eve that her car would be off the road for some time because there was major work to be done on the engine. David would have to run her to work and pick her up everyday for a while. Wednesday evening she had told David that she was going to another concert. Eve had no intention of going to the concert. Peter and Eve planned to go out for a meal then some dancing and then, well, whatever came up. That was until lunchtime, as Eve walked into The Café to meet Peter. The first person she saw was her father. She thought how lucky she was that she noticed him right away so she went over to sit with him. "Hi, dad, what you doing here?" "David said you normally eat in here and he said you were going to the concert tonight. I am taking your mother along as she got so enthusiastic when you were talking about it last week. I thought we could meet you for a meal before we go and your mother and I will drop you home." Eve's heart nearly stopped. This meant that she would have to go to the concert and she could not go there with Peter. Her parents had very old-fashioned views and if they saw her with any man other than David, all hell would break lose. They would not stand for her breaking her marriage vows. Eve asked her father to excuse her a moment and walked to the ladies toilet signalling her friend Shelly to follow. Once inside she talked Shelly into going to the concert with her and asked her to explain to Peter why Eve couldn't talk to him. Therefore it was to the concert with Shelly that she went that night. At the concert, Shelly told Eve that Peter had told her he was going away on business again tomorrow. So he had given Shelly an e-mail address where Eve could get in touch with him. Thursday evening Eve had to ask David how to send e-mails, although she sometimes used a computer at work. They held no interest for her so she was almost computer illiterate. When Dave asked whom she wanted to e-mail she showed him addresses of some of the girls at work and said that the girls were always talking about e-mailing one another so she thought she would join in their little game. Unfortunately Eve did not realise that cheating wives, who know little of computers, should never ask their husband to set up an e-mail account for them. For the next couple of weeks, increasingly more risqué and suggestive e-mails passed back and forth between Eve and Peter. By the end of the second week, they were openly talking about what they were going to do in bed together and even joking about BDSM sessions. It hadn't occurred to Eve that what used to be a regular sex life with her husband had come to a complete standstill. If she had stopped thinking of Peter for just one moment, she might have noticed that her once loving husband hardly spoke to her and never kissed her any more. But Eve was too wrapped up in her thoughts of Peter. When Peter asked her to come to Paris for a romantic weekend she jumped at the chance. She broached the subject with David, telling him that some of the girls in the office had booked the weekend but one of them had to drop out because her father was in hospital. David said that if she wanted to go to Paris, who was he to stop her? She was a big girl and could make up her own mind about what she did. She thanked him and went to give him a kiss but he turned away before she could do so and went out into the garden. Eve got on the computer and e-mailed Peter that she was coming. She asked him all kinds of questions. Where were they going to stay? Where would they go ... besides bed that is? Peter sent her a detailed itinerary of what they were going to do, both in and out of the bedroom. On Friday afternoon, David and the children had driven her to the station to catch the train to Gatwick airport. David had enquired where the other girls were. Eve told him they all lived in Brighton so she would meet them at the airport. As her train began to move away, David called out something that she didn't catch the end of. She thought he said, "Its not too late." However she lost the rest of it. Eve tried to call David on her cellphone but Dave's went straight to answer-phone. He must have had it turned off. Then she was walking through the arrivals gate and standing there was Peter. Eve threw her arms around him and said, "At last we are together." They kissed and walked outside to catch a taxi. On the way to the hotel, Peter again outlined their agenda. First a couple of hours in their luxury suite. Then a Café followed by the ballet. Eve's head was spinning. When they got to the Hotel, Peter went to the desk to check in, Eve was standing nearby looking around at the plush interior, when suddenly she was aware that a man standing beside her was talking to her. "Madam Yvette Thomas?" he repeated. "Yes." "I have a package for you. Will you sign here please." Eve took the offered pen and began to sign as she noted that clipped on his board was a photograph of her. The man must have used it to identify her by. Eve began to get an uneasy feeling in her stomach as the courier gave her a large brown envelope that had her name on it. Eve looked at the envelope for a few seconds and then tore it open. Inside she found a large photograph of David and the children. They were holding a sign that read, GOODBYE and on the back of the photograph Toby had scrawled, Why, mummy? The enormity of her situation suddenly hit Eve and she began to cry. David knew that she had not come to Paris with the girls and he must know about Peter. Peter, having finished checking in, turned to her and seeing her crying asked her what was wrong. "My husband knows about you and what we were going to do here." "So what if he knows? He's in London and we're here in Paris. What's he going to do about it?" "Divorce me. That's what he's going to do." "Look, Eve, he was bound to find out sometime. Husbands always do. He has just found out a little earlier than we expected and we mustn't let that spoil our weekend. Let's get up to our room and enjoy ourselves for a little while. We've only got an hour or so before dinner." It finally dawned on Eve. Peter's only interest in her was getting her into bed. The fact that her marriage to the man she loved was most likely over did not worry Peter in the slightest. He just wanted to shag her and do all those other things he had written in the e-mails about. She finally realised Peter had set out to seduce her and cared nothing for what the consequences would be for her. Peter once again asked her to come up to their room. When she refused, he quietly and surreptitiously grabbed hold of her arm, twisting it up behind her back, kissing her deeply on the lips to quiet her. He then whispered in her ear, "Listen, you little fucking bitch, I have spent months and a large amount of money getting you here, now my friends and I are going to get our money's worth. You are going to come with me now. The more you resist, the more you will regret it later." Holding her arm tightly he marched her over and into a lift. People were looking at them because Eve was making quite a lot of noise. However Peter calmly smiled and called out something in French and that made everyone laugh. The porter carrying their bags was already in the lift and she saw him press the button for the sixth floor. Eve realised she was in real trouble now. How could she have been so stupid? She knew nothing of this man. He was dragging her up to a room were he intended to rape her. No, not just him. He had just mentioned his friends which must mean she was going to be raped by other men besides Peter. As the lift doors began to close, four large men stepped inside. "Oh, my god," thought Eve, "Are these his friends? Five of them, please, someone help me?" As the lift began to ascend, things began to happen so bewilderingly quickly that Eve could not recall the chain of events. She was suddenly aware that Peter was no longer holding her arm. He was lying on the floor apparently unconscious. One of the big men was now holding her but a lot more gently than Peter had. She heard one of the men telling the porter who was carrying the suite cases to keep quiet and to come with them. The lift stopped and she felt herself bundled out of one lift and into another. The doors closed and the lift started moving down instead of up. Eve was terrified because these obviously weren't Peter's friends. What was going to happen to her now? She began to cry out but stopped when she heard one of the men say, "Shut up, you stupid slut. Why the fuck he bothered to send us after you, I'll never know. If you were my wife, I'd have left you to be the whore that prick intended to make you. Now shut the fuck up. We don't need any trouble with the frog police!" The lift stopped in the basement car park. Eve was pulled out of the lift and shoved into the back of a car that was waiting and one of the men said something to the driver. As the car pulled away, Eve looked at her saviours through the rear window and realised that she recognised two of them. She recalled that she had seen them talking with Dave at his firm's Christmas party. She thanked her lucky stars that she had such a wonderful husband and then started crying again. When they got to the airport, the driver produced her bag from the boot and gave her a ticket to London. Then she was alone! Eve got on the next available flight back to England. Eve arrived back home by taxi to find the house in darkness, her car parked on the drive and there was an estate agent's 'For Sale' sign in the front garden. She walked up to the door but her key would not fit in the lock. Then she noticed an envelope under her car's windscreen wiper. It contained a note. Eve got into her car before she read it. "Eve, You won't get into the house, the locks have been changed. Your clothes are at your mothers. The children and I have gone away on holiday. When the house is sold you will get your fair share. If you wish, you can give your share of it to your pimp, Peterson. That's what whores normally do." The note was unsigned, but Eve knew whom it was from. Eve sat in her car and cried for awhile, then drove over to her mother's house. Her father opened the door and called over his shoulder. "Mother, our little slut has come home. Should I let her in?" "You had better bring the stupid little cow in here. I think she needs to know just how stupid and lucky she has been." Eve Gets Out of Her Depth As Eve sat down, her mother told her father, "You better give Eve some of that brandy." Then she started, "David has told us everything. You were stupid enough to take a good and patient man for a fool. Someone in your office told him that this man Peterson was after your nickers before you had even spoken to him. Dave tried to warn you by talking about people he knew that were getting divorced because the wife was seduced." Eve thought back and remembered that conversation. She had agreed with Dave that all a man could do was divorce his wife after she committed adultery. Why had she not realised that Dave was warning her? "Dave was aware of all your lunch dates. You will see from the contents of that folder on the table that Dave was aware of every meeting you had with Peterson." "Why didn't he stop me then? If he had stopped me then, none of this would have happened." "Eve," her father came in at that point, "if Dave had stopped you, what would you have done? Been more careful so that Dave could not catch you with your next boyfriend? Dave didn't want that kind of heartache. He was convinced you would see the error of your ways and come back to him before it was too late." "Dave watched you and Peterson come out of that first concert. He called your father and got me to call you on the pretence that he was short of credit on his phone. He knew that you would come home straight away when you heard Toby had been hurt. That same evening, Dave sat there and talked about the fight over the adulterous wife at he hospital and you still didn't catch on. But your father did. And that's why he took me to the concert the next Wednesday." "Dad, if you knew, why didn't you stop me?" "I wasn't sure what was going on. However I knew David was upset about something and if you'd noticed the look he gave you when you said you going to another concert, you would have turned to stone. When I saw you come into The Café that lunchtime, I knew what you were up to. And I saw how you looked at that man Peterson so I knew who he was." "Why do you keep calling him Peterson? His name Is Peter Watts." "I think you had better take a good look through that folder, girl. Dave left it for you. He thought you might like to know just whom you were sharing your bed with. I've read it and it's frightening that a man like that is on the streets." Eve picked up the folder opened it and pulled out the sheath of A4 papers. The top sheet was a photocopy of a police mug shot labelled "Lars Peterson." Below the picture someone had written: - Lars Peterson AKA Peter Watts, John Paterson, John Watts. History: - Drug smuggling, Pimp, Mule Runner. Possibly involved in two suspicious deaths in Sweden and one in Germany. Wanted for questioning about the disappearances of several women that have been associated with him by the MET. Interpol can find no trace of them. It's believed he could be involved in a high price prostitution ring running out of Paris. A woman acting as a mule died in the US and the FBI has linked Peterson with her. There are outstanding arrest warrants issued by the FBI, as well as Germany, Holland, and France. Last known location - London 10 days ago. He skipped shortly before the police could arrest him. Now believed to be in France or Spain. The Dutch authorities have issued European Warrant for drug smuggling, so he can be arrested on sight. Dave, as you have asked for a copy of this report, I can only assume you have come across our Mr. Lars Peterson somewhere. Any help in locating him would be appreciated. Feel free to call should you need any assistance. Eve had a quick look at the rest of the papers. Some were lists of all the lunch dates she had with Peter, giving time and place, what they had eaten and even the cost of the bill. The rest were printouts of all her e-mails to Peter and his replies. Assuming her parents had read them, she felt sick. Eve looked up from the papers at her father, her face showing confusion. "How did you come by all this?" she asked. "We didn't, Dave had it. He only got the police report last week. If he had received it earlier, he would have stopped Peterson straight away. He thinks it was his enquiries that informed the police Peterson was back in England. He gave the file to us last night when we dropped him and children at the airport to catch their plane. He said he didn't know if or when you would show up. But when you did we were to give it to you." "Where has he taken my children? Do you know?" "Of course your father and I know. But Dave would only tell us where they were going, after we had promised that we would not to tell you. And after the way you have behaved, we are going to keep that promise. We want to be involved in our grand-children's lives, even if you don't. Dave could well have gone off and told us nothing, However after he had taken you to the station he was considerate enough to come here and see us. He told us all about what you had been up to and what you had intended to do in Paris. Dave even told us that he had the police and some of his friends following you. The police where only interested in Peterson. Dave's friends were there to get you out if it looked like you were in any danger. His friend called us last night and told us they had been forced to get violent with that Peterson man. The British police had informed the French authorities of his location but could not do anything until the French police got there. When they thought you were no longer with him of your own free will, they had decided to act. Dave's people, with the help of the British officers, got you out. You might like to know that your lover boy is now in a Paris jail." Eve began crying again. She curled up into a ball on the sofa and cried herself to sleep. Her parents, who were relieved that she had not been injured, said nothing more to her that night and took themselves to bed, her father sending a quick text message on his cellphone before he went to sleep. It was late Saturday morning when Eve awoke to the sounds and smells of breakfast being prepared. Eve went into the kitchen where her father looked up from his newspaper and told her that Dave had booked and paid for a room with full board, for a month, at the Crown Hotel for her to use. "Dave said that you would be able to walk to work from there. You can use the month to find a flat." Eve was taken aback. "I thought that you and mum would let me stay here." "Well, to tell you the truth, your brother and sister have already said that they do not wish to see you anymore. And if you were to move in here, they would not bring the grandchildren to visit us." "Well, that's bloody marvellous," Eve retorted. "My husband abandons me and takes my children away and my own siblings disown me." "What the hell are you talking about? Dave didn't leave you. You left him. And going by what that police report said, if it had not been for the men Dave sent to look after you, you might not have been able to come back. You have broken the heart of a wonderful man, He did everything he could to get you to realise what you were doing." "He could have told me he knew what I was doing." "And what would he achieve by that? You might have stopped your affair. But he would never have been able to trust you. He would have to watch you all the time waiting for the next man to take your fancy. That's no way to run a marriage!" Her farther turned back to his paper. As far as he was concerned the conversation was over. "But what am I going to do? I love my husband and my children. I want them back. I want my life back. Oh, God, what am I going to do?" Eve's mother turned from the sink where she was washing the breakfast dishes. "You have made your bed, now you must lie in it, girl. You must realise that Dave is still deeply in love with you. That is why he has done so much to look after you. You need to start eating humble pie and, if I were you, I would start writing him an apology as quickly as you can and beg him to take you back. You will have to convince Dave how much you love him and that you will not do anything like this again. But don't expect him to be easily convinced! You are the only one that can put your marriage back together. I would be careful what you do and who you speak to. From looking at that file I should imagine he has had someone watching you for some time, probably since he first heard about this man Peterson. Dave might still have them watching you in case any of Peterson's friends show up. That could well be the reason he's booked you into the Crown. Any of the other guests could be working for Dave." Eve spent most of the rest of Saturday writing the first of many letters to Dave. Her father suggested she include a note for the children as she had let them down as well. He took the letters and said he would send them on. All contact with Dave and the children would be via her parents for the time being. Then Eve went to her room in the Crown Hotel. Monday morning she went to work as usual. Her heart wasn't in it but it kept her mind busy. The girls all asked her how her weekend in Paris had gone. She told as little as possible just saying that it was a disaster and she didn't want to talk about it. The only one she wanted to discuss it with was her best friend Shelly. But Shelly never turned into work all week and Eve could get no answer from her home or cellphone. Every evening, Eve spent in her room writing letters to Dave and the children. After work she would drop them off at her parent's house and ask if there was any reply. Eve made sure she always ate her meals in the Crown's dining room. If she was being watched as her mother had suggested, she wanted to make it obvious that she was alone. The following Monday, word came around the office that Shelly would not be coming back to work. One of the girls came up to Eve and said, "Rumour has it that Shelly had been arrested in Holland for drug smuggling. Since you were her best friend at work, do you think it is true?" Eve didn't know. But she did start thinking to herself that it was Shelly who had been the first to point Peter out to her and she had kept on about being so sure he fancied Eve. It had been Shelly's assurance that there could be no harm enjoying a nice lunch with a handsome man that had persuaded her to go on the lunch dates with Peter. It was Shelly who convinced her that she could get away with spending the weekend with Peter in Paris. Could Shelly have been a friend of Peter's? Had Shelly set her up? She figured she would never know. A few days later the police paid a visit to Eve's office and spoke to some of the girls in private. One of the officers looked vaguely familiar to Eve but she could not place him until he looked right at her and gave her a wink. She remembered his face from when he had come into the lift in Paris. The girls said later that the police were asking about Shelly. They all expressed surprise that Eve had not been interviewed as she was Shelly's friend. For the next few weeks nothing changed, Eve continued writing her letters but received no replies. Her mother did let on that Dave and the children had been in Australia visiting Dave's sister but had now moved on. The children were missing Eve but were enjoying their holiday. Apparently Dave had turned down a good offer for the house. Eve's mother thought this was good news as maybe he was thinking of coming back there. As the end of her month at the Crown Hotel drew near, Eve had a talk with the manager and negotiated a deal to stay on, albeit in a smaller room. She hoped that it would send a message to Dave that she was not making any permanent arrangements because she wanted them to get back together. As she struggled with her belongings along the corridor to her new room, Eve heard a man behind her offer to help. Without looking she said, "I can manage, thank you." "That isn't what you said in Paris." Eve turned and saw the big police officer standing there smiling. So she accepted his offer and, between them, they carried all of her gear to her new room. He introduced himself as Roger. Then he proceeded to ask her lots of questions about Peterson and Shelly, taking a special interest in Shelly's friends at the office and asking if Eve had ever met any of Shelly's friends other than those at the office. She could be of little help because Eve had only worked at the office a few months. Roger thanked her for her help but finished by saying Eve had had a lucky escape, which was more than Shelly had. Then Roger produced some official looking forms from his pocket and asked Eve to sign them. As she did so Eve asked, "What am I signing here?" "The Official Secrets Act, and a waiver for any injury you receive whilst helping us track down and arrest one Lars Peterson. You will note that they are dated three months ago. The official story will be that you were working for us as bait for Peterson and Shelly. We put you in the office hoping they would approach you to smuggle drugs for them. All your actions were part of our plan to catch Peterson. When Peterson skipped the country, you conned him into meeting you in Paris, allowing us to put the French police onto him. It's a good story and should keep the powers that be off of your's and Dave's backs." "I'm getting lost here. When you say 'us', you are talking about the police, aren't you? And why would Dave's actions come into it? He was just trying to get me away from Peter." "Well, this is where I'm going to get a little vague on you but, now you've signed the OSA. I can tell you I am a kind of policeman, although I don't work for any department you will have ever heard of. Our job is to target known criminals and terrorists anywhere in the world. Mess up their organisations and if we can, get them behind bars anyway we can. No questions asked. As for Dave and what he chooses to tell you about his past, that's up to him. All I can say is that I have known Dave a long time. You will have to speak to Dave if you want to know more. You know that you're lucky you had Dave as a husband." Roger stood up to leave and Eve said she wasn't so sure she was lucky, as she had lost the man she loved. Roger smiled at her. "I've known Dave a long time. If you love him as much as he loves you, you'll win him back." Eve started to cry. "How can I persuade him to take me back if he won't even talk to me? I'm not even told where he is. The only contact I have is sending letters via my parents." Roger looked thoughtful for a minute, then said, "I will get castrated for telling you this so don't tell anyone. Not even a bloody priest. There is an old lady staying here, a Mrs. Grant. Do you know her?" Eve said she had seen her around. "Well, without making it too obvious, I would suggest that you try to befriend her and, if you get the chance, tell her your story. Convince her and I think you will be surprised what happens. For God's sake don't make it too obvious. She has seen me come up here and she will guess I've come to see you." "Is she Dave's spy? Was it her that was tailing me with Peter?" "No chance - she doesn't follow people. Emily just lives here now she's retired, but she used to work with Dave years ago. I should imagine Dave got you a room here, knowing that she would look out for his best interest. I wouldn't mind betting she's in regular contact with him. You need to get her on your side. And now I've said enough and, remember, you didn't hear any of this from me. If she thinks you're trying to get to Dave through her, you'll blow your chances. Oh, one more thing, a little less makeup round the eyes. It won't hurt to let her see how much time you spend crying." When Roger had gone, Eve sat and reflected over some of the things he had said. She realised how gullible she had been with Peterson. But she also thought how little she knew about her husband and his life before they were married. Eve remembered how she had first met Dave; he was working as some kind of consultant for the firm she worked at. He would show up in the office now and again but she never did know what he actually did. When they started going out together, Dave's work took him away for months at a time. He would come home with presents for her from far-flung exotic places. But when she thought about it she realised that Dave never did say what he did. Details of his trips abroad were limited to descriptions of the places and historic sites he had seen. Once they had gotten married Dave's trips suddenly got shorter. He would never be away for more than a week at a time, usually visiting places in Europe. Then once Eve became pregnant Dave changed his job. He now worked for a firm in the city and Eve realised she knew a lot more about the job he was doing now, than she did about what he had been doing before they had the children. 'God, am I that naive and gullible?' she thought. 'Was Dave doing some dangerous job for the government for all those years and I knew nothing about it? Was my husband a kind of James Bond character and I never knew? But then I must be thick, because that Peterson bastard conned me so easily.' Over the next couple of weeks, Eve increased the amount of time she spent in the lounge. Now that she was aware of her, Eve could feel the old lady watching her when Eve's back was turned. Because she was in the lounge, Eve became acutely aware of the men that tried to pick her up; she would brush off their advances, making sure Mrs. Grant could hear her rebukes. Then Eve got a brain wave, just after she had told yet another would be gigolo that she was not interested. She went over to Mrs. Grant's table and asked if she could sit with her, as sitting on her own appeared to be giving all these would be Casanovas the wrong impression. Eve told Mrs. Grant that she was a happily married woman and didn't appreciate their unwanted attention. This proved to be a masterstroke. Mrs. Grant said Eve was welcome to sit with her as she had noticed the problems Eve had been having and was aware it was causing her some distress. After that night, Eve joined Mrs. Grant (or Emily as she insisted Eve called her) for all their meals and every evening in the lounge. Emily spent must of her time knitting and she reminded Eve of Miss Marple from the Agatha Christie novels. As it turned out, she apparently had the same sort of character. Eve noticed Emily seemed to know all about everyone in the hotel and she soon became aware of Emily surreptitiously asking about Eve's problems. After a couple of these sessions, Eve broke down in tears and rushed off to bed. The following morning Emily apologised for upsetting her. However Eve said she needed someone to talk to and so later that day, Eve told Emily the story. Well, as much as she dared; she did not think it prudent to mention Roger. Eve told Emily how much she missed her husband and the children. How she couldn't understand what had possessed her to get involved with Peter in the first place. She had been perfectly content living with her loving husband and children. Peter's seduction had been so subtle she hadn't even realised what he was doing. Peter had moved very slowly. So slowly that every step towards cheating on Dave had been so small, Eve hadn't realised she had taken it. If she had really thought about what she was doing for just one moment. it would never have happened. Over the following few weeks, Eve and Emily discussed Eve's problems most evenings. Eve thought that Emily was quietly giving her the third degree, Emily took her through things time and again and Eve realised Emily was looking for inconsistencies in what she said. Emily appeared to be looking into Eve's soul. Eve Gets Out of Her Depth It was during one of these little chats that Eve suddenly noticed Emily's eyes light up. Eve turned to look at what Emily had seen and saw Roger standing at the bar. He brought himself a drink and walked over to them with a big smile on his face. Looking at Emily he said, "How's things going, mum? Did you know she always insisted that we all called her mum in the old days." The comment was made to Eve but he kept looking at Emily. "I've just got the news that an old friend of ours is arriving at Heathrow in the morning. I was wondering who I could take along to help me look after his kids while our friend sorts a few things out with his wife. Now who could be better than our Emily. Oh, by the way, you had better bring your new friend along as well. I think we're definitely going need her. Life goes on. ---------------------------------- Author's note What happened after that? Well I'll let the reader choose. Personally I would like them to have got back together, but you all know I'm a softy by now. I know a lot of you would prefer he divorced her. But is that really a necessity for him? After all she never did get into Peterson's bed, nothing really did happen other than some heavy petting and how many women, or you guys come to that, can put their hand on their heart and say they have never flown close to the wind during their married life. The idea for this story came from an incident at a hotel just outside Amsterdam. I was on a long weekend coach tour to that fine city and was just going through the rigmarole of getting my passengers sorted out with their rooms when a guy came up to me and asked for a lady passenger by name. Well, to be honest, we had forty odd passengers on the coach and had only picked them up seventeen hours ago; so we didn't know most of them from Adam. I called out the ladies name and she came over with a man. The guy gave her an envelope and asked her to sign for. When she opened it, she fainted. Whist everyone one was fussing around her, I retrieved the picture that I have described in the story from the floor. I never saw the lady again, although the guy she had been with did turn up for the journey home. I know some of the passengers tried to pump him but he was saying nothing. If you think stories that leave you hanging are a pain in the arse, you try living with that one. Please don't forget to vote and/or drop me a line with your thoughts on any of my stories. The Wanderer