In the weeks that elapsed since the wasp attack on Chance, Helen and Mark lived their lives in a kind of impasse. They barely talked to each other, instead allowing their individual resentments to fester and grow. The baby spent almost twenty-four hours recovering in intensive care before Mark was even told of the incident, and then it was the hospital, not Helen, that informed him. They brought Chance home in a day or so, his skin still covered in bruises and blotches. He was difficult to settle, and grizzled constantly. The truth was that his misery had as much to do with the tension in the house as with his injuries.
Beth rang to ask about the baby’s welfare. Mark was furious when she told him the circumstances of the attack. How dare Helen visit his wife! He dreaded losing the emotional connection he now believed he shared with Beth. Without it, he feared plunging back down into the hollowness of spirit, that for so long seemed to have plagued his existence. His fury with Helen was deeply rooted in this fear. It overcame his natural compassion for his child. It clouded his perception, leaving him coldly indifferent to the suffering of his partner, and therefore blind to the danger she posed. He buried himself ineffectually in his work to avoid spending time at home, all the while planning how to reunite his original family.
The preoccupied Mark remained unaware that his girlfriend was conducting a torrid affair. Helen managed to conceal her infidelity by conducting a series of daytime trysts that left Jason hungry for more, and frustrated by the subterfuge. He loved her and was unhappy with the role in which he was now cast. The three of them, Jason, Helen and little Chance, often spent the day together. They went for trips to the beach and picnics in the park. Helen even took Chance to see Jason play cricket. As he opened the batting for the local side, the beautiful young woman stood on the sidelines, cheering his every run, and trying to explain the rules to the baby. His surprised team mates mistook them for his family, and were openly admiring of his gorgeous wife. If only it were so. He longed for an honest, legitimate relationship with the woman he wished to marry; as soon as she left Mark that was. This Helen promised to do. But not, it seemed, until she inflicted some serious financial damage upon her wealthy boyfriend. This preoccupation with revenge worried Jason a great deal. He dearly wished that she would focus a little more on her future with him, rather than on her past with Mark. However if she needed to punish the bastard to find closure, Jason was prepared to go along with it. After all, he hated the man who felt he still had a rightful claim on Helen. Jason owed him no favours. In the evenings, when he was unable to steal time with his lover, Jason retreated to his flat, no longer interested in any kind of a social life that didn’t involve Helen. Night after night he sat at his computer, escaping into a cyberworld of games and fantasies, where with a few clicks of the mouse, he could make all his dreams come true.
Although ignorant of the affair, Mark was now aware of Helen’s gambling habit. He promptly cancelled her credit cards and imposed a strict limit on her daily withdrawals. This failed to curtail her regular visits to the Hotel. Except now she didn’t go just to play the pokies. Her handsome lover worked there, of course, and she enjoyed his attention. But she also looked forward very much to the companionship of her elderly friend, Konrad, on whom she now relied heavily for emotional support. Helen’s own father had abandoned her and her mother when Helen was just ten years old. With Konrad she experienced the sort of unconditional approval and acceptance that she imagined a loving father might offer.
It was quite unusual for her to have a relationship with a man that was not based on lust, or convenience, or a desire for status. Konrad seemed to appreciate her for who she was; no more, no less. He was generous with his wisdom and advice. Helen felt valued and needed by the lonely old man, who could nearly always be found at the venue, either enjoying the free coffee and snacks, or playing the machines, carefully and sporadically, so as to conserve the modest cup of coins he allowed himself to gamble with.
Thanks to Jason, Helen was not greatly inconvenienced by Mark’s attempts to curb her spending. He kept her supplied with as much cash as he could afford to on a security guard’s wage. Although she could no longer squander thousands in an afternoon, she had sufficient to enjoy a few games at the side of her mentor. Often she would give any cash she had to Konrad, preferring just to chat and watch him play. They made for an odd couple; the lovely young woman and the portly old man. Helen’s attention and kindness towards Konrad angered Jason, who thought it obvious he was taking advantage. He was also jealous of the position Konrad seemed to hold, as Helen’s most trusted confidante. To him she confessed all her bitterness over her sham of a relationship and her plans for the future. Unlike Jason, Konrad fully understood that she could not move forward until she somehow made Mark atone for his betrayal. He convinced her, if she had ever doubted it, that justice required she settle the score. In Konrad, Helen found her ideas and opinions reflected and affirmed. In his own way, the old man was as seductive as her young lover.
Up until this point she’d remained mostly ignorant of the financial affairs of the relationship. With Konrad’s advice and encouragement, she set about to remedy this. A brief search of Mark’s home-office and some investigative trips to their bank, revealed some fascinating information. Their luxury home was half in Helen’s name. A line of credit existed of up to 80 percent of the property’s multi million dollar value. That was not all. Mark used accounts held in Helen’s own name to income split for taxation purposes. These accounts boasted substantial balances. Helen cursed herself for not taking more of an interest in these matters. How many times had she trustingly signed bank documents and provided sample signatures without ever questioning what they were for? It became clear to her that she could immediately and quite legitimately access these funds. However she had ambitions to put a much larger hole than this in Mark’s pockets.
Helen’s previous laissez faire attitude, now worked to her advantage. Her naivete during the course of their short relationship had caused Mark to lower his guard. He dismissed his partner as being both unwilling to, and incapable of, involving herself in financial affairs. But it is never wise to underestimate the enemy, and things were about to change.
One morning after Mark left for work, Helen went into his home-office and sat down at the computer. Until today, she’d never used it for anything more than emailing and shopping online. Now she tried to access their bank accounts. It soon became clear that a password and pin number were required. Undismayed, she systematically emptied the contents of the desk draws. An exhaustive search revealed nothing. Helen replaced everything as neatly as possible, hoping it would not be too apparent that things had been disturbed. She needed to think. Mark was a careful person who wouldn’t just leave things lying around.
Suddenly she had an idea. In their bedroom was a small safe on the floor of the wardrobe. It contained her more valuable jewellery and a small document file. She hurried upstairs, entered a number into the safe’s keypad and opened it. Removing the document file, she quickly found what she wanted within. Two little yellow and black cards entitled “Netbank. Make it Happen!” one in Mark’s name and one in hers. She found other information too. Passwords and account numbers relating to Mark’s accounting practice. Helen did not know what they were all for, but she meticulously copied them down in any case, just as Konrad had suggested.
After replacing the contents of the safe, she returned to the office to try out the netbank client numbers. The first gave access to various accounts in her name. How foolish she felt looking at her own fiscal information for the very first time. Another gave access to the line of credit, and yet another was for Mark’s personal accounts and investments conducted through the bank. Sifting through the files, Helen found to her surprise that they weren’t quite as well-off as she’d imagined. In truth, her prolific gambling had substantially drained Mark’s funds, and recent bouts of depression had led him to neglect their affairs. Helen logged off, hoping Mark would be too complacent to notice the time of the last log-in. Carefully she slipped the transcribed information from the small document file into her handbag.
Helen’s cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
”It’s me, baby. Where are you? You said you’d come over!”
“I’m on my way. I just have to drop Chance at daycare. Actually I can’t wait to see you. I’ve got a favour to ask.”
“Ask away. Just hurry up will you? It feels like I’ve been waiting all day!”
“O.K. Be there soon. I love you”
Helen dressed Chance quickly and left, anxious to speak to Jason. Today she would discover how far he was prepared to go to prove that he loved her too.
The next morning Mark left for the office without his laptop computer. Despite conducting a cursory search there remained no sign of it and eventually he left without it. As he did so, an uneasy Jason quietly slipped out of his car that was parked opposite the house in a position that offered a clear view of the driveway. Helen opened the front door for him as he approached it, anxiously ushering him inside and through to the office. She indicated to him where Mark’s laptop computer lay on the desk, along with the collection of cryptic numbers copied from the hidden document file upstairs. Jason slipped on some thin cotton gloves and set to work, matching up the passwords and security-clearance codes with Mark’s client and trust account numbers. It didn’t take long. After half an hour or so Jason pushed his chair back from the desk and looked at Helen, examining her worried face for any sign of hesitation or doubt. To his dismay he found none.
“Well?” she said expectantly.
“Do you really want me to go through with this?” he asked.
Helen slowly smiled as the meaning of his question became clear. Jason had succeeded in gaining access. Now she was in a position to financially compromise her errant boyfriend in a serious way. Jason reluctantly began to transfer large amounts from client trust funds into Mark’s personal and investment accounts.
Ten minutes later he stood up.
“There!” he said, astonished by what he had just done.
Helen, who had been watching entranced as bank balances tumbled and mounted as if by magic, was speechless with delight.
A feeling of dread overcame Jason and he thought for a moment of undoing his crime while there was still time. But one look at Helen was enough to quell his regret. She was not about to change her mind and he was not about to disappoint her. The die was well and truly cast.
“Don’t fiddle with anything else,” he warned. “You don’t want any money turning up in your accounts. You’ll be under enough scrutiny as it is.”
Helen nodded in agreement.
‘She’s not the only one who’ll be under scrutiny,’ he thought to himself, staggered by the extent of his folly.
Jason’s growing anxiety was tempered by his excitement about Helen and her baby moving in with him. They’d booked a removal truck to arrive at lunchtime to collect Helen’s things and some furniture. Tonight, and every other night from now on, Helen would belong to him. His desire for this to happen outweighed any fear of the consequences. He was in so far over his head now anyway, that it appeared the only path lay forward.
“Jason, you’d better leave. You don’t want anyone to see you here. I’ll follow the truck over to your place this afternoon. Thank you so much.”
A fatalistic Jason, feeling like he’d been dismissed, kissed her and left.
As soon as he was gone Helen returned to the office. She had one more task to complete. Logging back onto the internet banking site, she reopened the line of credit account linked to the house. Taking a piece of paper from the pocket of her jeans, she carefully typed the account number it contained into the ‘transfer to’ box. She then selected the maximum amount of credit available and typed this figure into the ‘amount of transfer’ box. After confirming the transfer she sat back for a moment, satisfied that now Mark could not afford to keep the house after she left. Then she rang Konrad to tell him it was done.