The Whiskerly Sisters (31 page)

Tiffany had just defaced her nemesis!

S
nuggling deeper into the hot froth of the Jacuzzi, Charley was enjoying the feel of the warm, scented water massaging her naked body. Languidly, she reached out a lazy hand and took a sip of chilled Moet. She opened her eyes to look beyond the lighted candles surrounding her haven, peering into the gloom of the garden hiding in the darkness. Nothing stirred. Nothing moved. Best of all, there was no sound from next door, nothing to interrupt the muted tones of Il Divo crooning softly in the background. This was the life. This was more like it. This was what she deserved. Her lips curled round in a smile of obvious satisfaction as she closed her eyes once more, sinking further beneath the bubbles, luxuriating in their sensuous feel and relishing the peace that heralded victory.

In the end, Charley had not needed the property magnate to turn up and evict his delinquent tenants on her behalf. She found she had no need for a knight in shining armour. She found she had secured victory for herself by making best use of the photographs taken by Tiff and Fresna. Large, full colour snaps of Mr. DG entering the Job Centre and signing on, together with images of his under the wire occupation as a window cleaner, sent by recorded delivery to the appropriate Government departments, had eventually produced the result she had worked for. Ever impatient, she had been forced to cool her heels while the wheels of justice turned slowly in her favour. When it finally came, Charley took all the time she needed to relish every sweet second of it.

She was lucky enough to witness the endgame first hand. Early one morning, just as she was about to leave for her regular appointment with the nail technician, she stood on her driveway and watched while a gentleman in a suit knocked at her neighbour’s front door. The ensuing conversation had not been pleasant and had ended with the DGs cursing and slamming the door. She quickly dialled a number on her mobile phone, changed the time of her appointment and went back inside to wait for the next instalment.

It was not long in coming. The guy in the suit returned a short while later with two uniformed Police Officers. When the conversation again began to get heated, one of the officers stepped in, but Mr. DG had completely lost his rag and Charley enjoyed watching his arrest. Other than Mrs. DG leaving the home a short while later with the twins, nothing much happened until the evening when the family finally returned home.

Charley felt that the whole incident had ended up as a bit of a damp squib. She had relished the bit where Fuckwit had been arrested, but here he was back home and nothing much had seemed to change.

She couldn’t have been more mistaken. Charley was awoken just before dawn by the sound of a slamming door. Puzzled, she had gone to the window and looked out at the scene unfolding on the driveway below her. She had stood for over an hour, thoroughly entertained by the scene before her as the DGs moved purposefully between house and van, transferring their belongings from one to another. Holy shit! They were leaving.

Feeling incredibly brave, Charley had slipped into her robe and had sneaked out onto the driveway. Hiding against the wall, she waited for the ousted pair to step back into the house and had then tiptoed to the open passenger door of the van where she had placed a single item on the untidy dashboard before darting back into the safety of her house, heart pounding in her chest, amazed at her daring. Amongst the clutter of the van, she could not be certain that her little business card would be found, but she knew that she had to follow in the wake of the rest of the Whiskerlies. She would not let them down.

Back upstairs, she watched from the safety of her bedroom window as her persecutor finally left the driveway, swiftly followed by Mrs. DG driving the children and hell’s zoo, safely tucked up in the back of their estate car. The moonlighters had decided to do a moonlit flit. Perfect! Charley waited until she could see them no more before returning to the warmth of her duvet. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered if her former neighbours would work out how the little cream card, neatly inscribed in gold with the words “Job Done!” had got into the van. Perhaps they would never find it; perhaps they would not care, but she had done what she needed to do and that was all that mattered to Charley. Yawning, she turned onto her side and, for the first time in a long while, she slept soundly. Order and peace had returned to the cul de sac, not before time, and all was well with the world.

Disturbed by a movement in the swirl of water around her, Charley opened her eyes, the glow of triumph lighting her eyes, the disordered loveliness of her hair framing her oval face. Her lips curled into a seductive smile as she relished her hard earned victory to the full. There were no dogs to disturb her activities now, no cats to destroy her garden and no drills to wreck her tranquillity. Beautiful in success, Charley settled her head more snugly against the padded headboard of the Jacuzzi and tuned into the harmony that was her favourite Italian quartet. She would have enjoyed fantasising about the sensual possibilities of a meeting with Sebastien, but circumstances dictated otherwise.

As she relaxed into the churning water, a small sigh escaped her lips. A large, warm hand was snaking up her leg, moving leisurely but insistently towards the softness of her inner thigh. She arched her back slightly, enjoying the moment and, with it, the promise of all that was to follow. She opened her eyes and found herself looking directly into a pair of lupin blue, velvet eyes, liquid with lust. Slowly, oh so slowly, the rest of him floated towards her seductively poised body and his lips met hers.

It seemed Charley had not lost her touch after all!

J
ax leaned back in her chair and re-read her message to reassure herself that the detail was correct. The previous two weeks had sometimes seemed overly stressful, but she was surprised to find there had also been some amazingly good fun too. However, it was time for her to grasp the nettle, take the bull by the horns and go for broke in an attempt to swindle the swindler. With a bit of luck, Des might actually fall straight into her trap and, in doing so, she might even kill two birds with one stone.

Swallowing her anxiety, she reached for the cursor and pressed, sending her insincere little message winging across the wires and straight into the inbox of her intended victim.

My own true love, I hardly know where to begin. I haven’t been completely honest with you about myself because I have had to find out the hard way that there are some unscrupulous people in the world – men who are only interested in a woman for her money or her property. I rejoice that this is something I will never have to worry about as long as I am with you. Forgive me, my angel, for deceiving you. My business partner and I run our own PR Company here in the UK and we are fortunate enough to have some European A-Listers on our books. We have recently been approached by a major player in the States with a view to buying us out. If all goes well, we will sell our business very soon and, from my share of the profits, it may be that I need never work again. I will easily have enough to loan you the money to pay off the IRS. It would be wonderful for me to know that you need not worry about the debt anymore, that you would be free to focus your thoughts on little Aimee and sleep well at night. I would rush to wire you the money, but you must be patient my darling. My business is currently being audited on the US side and so my money is temporarily tied up. I am confident the process will not take much longer. Go to church, my angel, get on your knees and pray this deal comes off. I may not get to mail you regularly over the next few days, but I will be thinking of you every step of the way. Love always J xxx

Jax wasn’t surprised to receive a very speedy reply.

My darling, what wonderful news. Not only is my own angel a beautiful woman, but now it seems she is also a talented one. I was unaware of your successful business and I wish you luck with the sale. That we are both in business is just something else we have in common. Material possessions are of little interest to me (except that with your help I could settle my accounts and return my men to work). What is in the heart is far more important to me and our hearts are full of one another. I have been to church every day since we first began corresponding and thank the Lord for your love and constancy. If you are able to wire me the full amount, I promise to return it with interest within a month. I rejoice at your news and will wait patiently for your next message. All my love always, your Des xxx

Des, I can’t believe it. We did it! We sold! I have been offered the post of Director in the new Company, heading the European field but, with my share of the sale, I can afford to begin a new life anywhere in the world and I would just love it to be with the man I love. I will be flying to America at the end of the next week – to Austin – only a two hour flight from my own sweet man. I have taken the liberty of adding a week to the end of my trip so that I can fly across over to finally be with you and meet little Aimee. We can plan our future together and I can meet your friends. Isn’t that just the most wonderful news? Finally we can meet. I am so excited and so happy. All my love, your own J xxx

My darling Jacqueline, I rejoice in your news despite my own troubles. I had a final demand this morning from the IRS and consequently am facing the imminent loss of my own business. However, what is that compared to the abilities of my own beautiful love? I wish, I so wish I could meet with you when you fly to America, but I must fly to Kenya to discuss another building project. We will meet, my darling, and soon. Hurry and wire me the loan – it hurts to see so many men out of work and all because of me. I promise to pay you back and will love you forever for your support. I must work all the harder in order to keep up with my own clever girl. Your very own Des xxx

Oh my darling Des, what disappointing news. I was so looking forward to meeting you at long last and planning our future together. Still, what can I expect from such an experienced entrepreneur? Of course you must fly to Africa and I hope you get the business because that would make missing you worthwhile. I have put a deposit of £5,000 in an account for you. Below are the access details. We can work out the repayments later. I promise there is more to follow but for now – take care and I hope you get all you deserve. By the way, what do you think of my new company business cards (attached)? Neat, aren’t they? Your very own Jacqueline xxx

Smiling to herself, Jacqueline logged off the internet. She sincerely hoped that Des would access the bank account details she had sent him. It was the return serve, the payback, the sting she had been diligently planning over the previous few weeks – ever since she had received Des’s cunning invitation to be deceived.

She tossed her head with impatience and smiled grimly to herself. Who did Des think she was? Did she come across as so green and so gullible as to actually fall for such an obvious scam? Of course, she reflected sadly, there were endless numbers of women out there, so desperate for love and attention, that they fell into the traps of these leeches, but she was not going to be one of them – not anymore she wasn’t. Been there, done that, got educated.

So, with the help of her compatriots, Jax had planned a counter move of her very own. Convinced of his ability to deceive her, she had let Des think that she had fallen for his lies and was head over heels in love with a man, thousands of miles away and whom she had never met. In a short time, she had convinced him into believing that she was a rich business woman, that she had sold her company for a fortune and, most importantly, that she would be willing to part with several thousand pounds of her hard earned cash to some faceless, anonymous criminal, who had probably never set foot in America, let alone been widowed and fathered a daughter. When she felt she had him exactly where she wanted him, when she had lured him with some bait of her own, she had casually given him the details of someone else’s bank account; someone she personally would be delighted to see robbed blind.