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A Foot in the Door, Chapter 1 |
| Written by Philip Neale | |
| Tuesday, 12 August 2008 | |
 Author Note:- The image is of Sutton Bank, a lethal 1 in 5 gradient outside of Helmsley, containing a series of hazardous switch-backs. A good set of brakes is essential.........
David Marsh had always wanted to be a salesman and despite all the advice from the teachers at school he was adamant that his career path would take him down that road. Leaving at sixteen he took the first job he could find in a sales office and his enthusiasm and willingness to learn landed him a place sponsored by his employer at a commercial college. He excelled in the subject, passing all the exams with flying colours and moving up the albeit small corporate ladder with a rapidity which surprised all of his colleagues. Inevitably with further progress hampered by more senior staff it became time to move onwards and upwards. His next job, for a much larger company, was in the area of home improvements and specifically the double glazing field.
Again he applied himself diligently and very soon knew all that there was to know about the industry. Single and in his late twenties, he had what he thought to be the perfect job. Perfect that is, until one morning in late May in the North Yorkshire coastal resort of Scarborough, where he made the acquaintance of Jennifer Riley. He was well up with his sales targets for the month so he wasn't trying particularly hard to gather in extra business, and this calmness in his demeanour was one of the secrets of his success, making him appear less pushy than competitors in the industry. Nevertheless he was always on the lookout for anything that appeared to be an easy sell and number fourteen Walsingham Gardens fitted the bill exactly. The house was large and in a quiet cul-de sac but the wooden windows and doors had seen better days and were starting to let the rest of the property down.
Straightening his tie in an almost ritual way before facing a customer, he walked up the gravel drive, put on his best smile and rang the door bell. The woman who opened the front door took his breath away and for the first time ever, he was momentarily lost for words as she returned his smile. She was a brunette, with hazel eyes and a figure which harked back to the days of Marilyn Monroe. At about five feet eight, she was slightly shorter than him and had the kind of hands which had never seen a day's manual work in their lives.
"Yes, can I help you?" She had the kind of voice which could charm the birds down from the trees.
"Good morning Mrs..............?"
"Riley, Jennifer Riley."
"Good morning Mrs Riley, my name is David Marsh from Surebright Home Improvements. Would you be interested in replacing your existing frames?"
She looked him critically up and down, stepped out of the porch and gazed at the windows and door with a frown on her face.
"They do look rather tired, don't they? Why don't you come inside and let me take a look at your brochures - perhaps we can come to some arrangement."
Over tea and cakes they spent the next hour exploring every aspect of Surebright's portfolio and David was left with a quotation to prepare for a complete refit throughout the house. The job was larger than any of those he would normally have dealt with and would earn him a tidy commission. As he rose to leave, he noticed a change in her manner and she appeared to be crying. Unsure of how to deal with the situation, he extended a hand and placed it upon her shoulder. She was in his arms immediately and dissolved into floods of tears as she began to explain the position in which she found herself. She had been married for fifteen years and over the past five had known of her husband's affair with a woman in Thirsk. She had attempted to discuss the matter with him but all of her efforts had been brushed aside and she was now left alone most of the time, as he always seemed to be away on business. There was no love left in their marriage and if she could find a way out of it there would be no regrets.
He remained there for the rest of the afternoon comforting her in the only way he could think of, assuring her that he would return in a few days with the figures which she had requested. There was no shame in his mind relating to a brief affair with an unhappy, attractive woman even though she was his senior by at least ten years and he was looking forward to their next meeting. George Riley was at home when made his return call and you could have cut the atmosphere between Jennifer and him with a knife. He glanced at the quotation in a cursory manner, and with a wave of his hand told his wife to please herself. Picking up his golf clubs from the hall it was clear where he intended to spend the rest of that day and probably the majority of the evening. Left alone together, the formalities of the paperwork were completed quickly and he returned the signed contract to his briefcase.
"Do you see what I mean?" she asked "He's like that all the time and it's come to the point where I would be better off without him. If I could find some way of freeing myself I'd do it in a flash. I wish he were dead."
David was at a loss for something to say in a situation which he had never encountered before, but was sure that there was more to Jennifer Riley than met the eye. He was not to be disappointed.
"What should I do? If I divorce him he'll fight me all the way and move in with his fancy woman. He's extremely wealthy and employs lawyers who could keep me tied up in court for years. Even the insurance policy only covers accidental death."
"What if he did have a fatal accident?"
"In that case, everything goes to me. There are no other beneficiaries in his will, and he has no family. What are you suggesting?"
For a moment, David thought that he might have overstepped the mark and turned to stare out of the back window into the large well-kept garden. She continued.
"If I could find someone who could arrange for him to somehow suffer accidentally fatal injuries, there would be a considerable amount of recompense for those kinds of services. Do you have anyone in mind?" She smiled and cocked her head on one side.
He was now getting in too deep to pull out without facing embarrassing consequences. Knowing that George's mistress lived in Thirsk and that he called on her regularly, his route would probably have to take him along the A170 from Helmsley and down the dangerous incline of Sutton Bank. A brakes failure along this stretch of road could have serious consequences for any unwary driver, and it would not prove too difficult to engineer some wear to the fluid cables underneath the car. Dave's dad had been a mechanic and so all of his teenage years had been spent in and around the series of vehicles which occupied their drive and garage. It was time to take the bull by the horns. He stared at her intently.
"If a person knew the likely timing of the next visit, arrangements could be made to change the reliability of the brakes on George's car. A fractured fluid pipe could be lethal in a place like Sutton Bank, and if a payment for that service were to be made in an untraceable manner, no-one would be any the wiser."
Jennifer looked at him long and hard, turning the matter over and over in her mind. She had only known this man for a matter of days and had poured out her life to him in that time. Were they to go ahead with this there could be serious consequences for both of them, and yet the alternative for her would be a lifetime of misery and loneliness. She asked him straight to his face if he would do it. For David this could be no more than a business transaction and whatever had happened between them so far would have to stop. She said she understood that and that all contact would cease, just as it would following the completion of the double glazing installation.
The driveway to the house front was long and isolated from the roadway, giving David cover from prying eyes as he quickly worked on the brake cables three nights later whilst the Rileys were out. He knew how to make fractures look like accidental damage done by a loose brick, and had even taken the precaution of providing one as evidence. Laced with brake fluid and left lying in the road outside the house with a trail leading up the drive, it would ensure that any accident investigator came to the correct conclusion. Regular as clockwork, George departed the next day and headed out of Scarborough with David following him at a respectful distance as far as Helmsley. Now he and Jennifer simply had to bide their time and carry on as normal.
She called his mobile two days later confirming that George had been taken to hospital after leaving the road unaccountably half way down Sutton Bank. He was pronounced dead on arrival and after a consoling visit from the local uniformed police, she was left as sole beneficiary inheriting everything. The payout from his insurance policy should net £1.5 million, of which £100,000 would be transferred to an offshore bank account in payment for the service. At more than double his annual salary this amount placed David in a situation of some comfort and he returned to his normal lifestyle convinced that he would hear no more from Jennifer Riley - how wrong he was.
To be concluded in Part 2............................. Copyright 2008 Philip Neale |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 August 2008 ) |
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