Bad Karma

Bad Karma by Chris Green

Nine million pounds give or take, Charlie Smoker’s Lotto win set him up with a life of leisure. Being single with no family or close friends to speak of, Charlie did not have to share his winnings. His new found wealth enabled him to give up his position as a Parking Enforcement Officer with the Metropolitan Borough Council, give notice on his tenancy with Harry Rogue Associates and leave Rotherham behind. With fond memories of Torquay from childhood holidays thirty years ago, Charlie headed for the Devon coast.

On his meagre traffic warden pay, Charlie had not been able to afford a decent car. He had struggled by with a series of sheds: rusty Rovers and battered Fiats. But now he could buy any model he wanted. Anything on the market. He chose a red Lexus LC Coupé. In the wake of the child sexual exploitation scandal, he had once put a ticket on one of these beauties belonging to a visiting dignitary parked on double yellows outside Rotherham railway station. Ever since that day he had wanted one. It was a performance car designed to take your breath away. The Lexus however took a little getting used to. With all the smart technology on board, it felt like NASA command centre. And with a top speed of 167 mph, it was a little quicker than his Fiat Panda. But he soon found himself cruising around Torbay.

The next step was to find a suitable house. The five-star hotel he booked himself into while he was settling in Torbay was comfortable, but it was important to have his own space. After a summary tour of west-country estate agents, Charlie settled on a large detached property in the exclusive Ilsham Marine Drive. At £2.8 million, Giles Hornby-Wallis assured him he was getting a bargain, what with the recently installed swimming pool and property prices in the area expected to rise again after the brief slump.

Karma Lacroix was what is often referred to, for lack of a gentler expression, as a gold-digger. Karma hung around Torquay’s nightspots keeping an eye on the cars that the clientele drove up in. She could tell right away that the man in his late thirties in the ill-fitting seersucker suit who drove up in the Lexus Coupé would be a pushover. He had that look of innocence about him. This was a naive man. She could sense it. But he was clearly filthy rich. Given her powers of persuasion and a little patience, he would be hers. He would be able to bankroll her and, after a decent period of time, join her growing list of penniless ex-husbands.

Charlie had had little experience of gold-diggers back in Rotherham. Rotherham was not a place where there was a lot of gold. Charlie certainly didn’t have prospects of any. The only connection with the world of wealth was when he was ticketing around Rotherham Town Hall during a licencing meeting. He was understandably flattered when Karma came up to him in CoCo and put her arm through his.

‘Where are we going afterwards, babe?’ she said.

Charlie was taken aback. He was not used to women taking the initiative. He was not used to women, let alone attractive women like Karma. It was years since he had had a proper girlfriend. He looked around to see if she might have mistaken him for someone else. He finally managed to stammer something non-committal.

‘You could always come back to mine,’ she said. ‘That is if you would like to. Or perhaps we could go back to yours. I’ve brought an overnight bag.’

Things moved along quickly. Karma was practised in the art of seduction and having moved in with Charlie, within a matter of days got him to propose. After the private wedding, the joint account was a formality and Karma went on a spending spree, taking in London, Paris and Milan for her new wardrobe.

‘A boat would be nice, Charlie,’ Karma said. ‘You can’t live in Torbay and not have a boat. I saw a lovely Sunseeker Manhattan for sale. A fifty-two footer. You could probably get it for around half a million. Maybe less.’

‘I know nothing about boats,’ Charlie said.

‘You could learn,’ Karma said. ‘Then we’d be sail over to the continent. We could visit Jacques in Cap D’Antibes. Perhaps we could even buy a place in the South of France. Nice is nice.’

Within a month, they were sailing to Cap D’Antibes aboard the Vanilla Sky. Within two months they were in the notaire’s offices signing the contract for a villa in Juan-Les-Pins. Within three months, Karma was shacked up with with Jacques in Charlie’s new villa overlooking the Mediterranean. Charlie, meanwhile, was in custody in Nice following a heated domestic dispute.

It wasn’t even his fault he was arrested. In a drunken rage after a night out, Karma had attacked him with a Gauloises ashtray. He had expressed his disapproval of her habitual flirting. He was defending himself, trying desperately to hold her back. As he tightened his grip on her, she began screaming and shouting. It was unfortunate that two gendarmes were passing as she ran from the house. Her accusations of assault convinced the officers he was the aggressor, a violent sexual predator. His protests of innocence fell on deaf ears.

Some say incarceration is character building. Charlie quickly discovered that languishing in prison in a foreign country was a great leveller. How could he have been so charitable, so trusting, so gullible? Looking back on it now, he could see that from the outset, Karma had been using him, abusing him and robbing him blind? There was no real need for the boa constrictor. Or the gold-plated iPhone. And she had sold the Cartier diamond necklace he bought her almost straight away. How could he have fallen for her lies? How could he have believed that someone like Karma would really be a big fan of the cricketer Geoffrey Boycott? She didn’t even know what a straight drive was. Or that her family used to breed whippets? She hadn’t even heard of the Kennel Club. From the very beginning, she had strung him along and he had fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.

………………………………..

‘You should have contacted me sooner,’ Harrison Dark of Chapman, Swerve and Leggett, Solicitors said.

‘I would have,’ Charlie said. ‘But the French police wouldn’t let me. They told me I had to use their representative. A Monsieur Dupont. I’m not sure what Monsieur Dupont’s position was. But he wasn’t much help. That’s why I’m still in here.’

‘Well, it’s not good news, Mr Smoker. Over the past week, there have been major withdrawals from your accounts. The total withdrawals amount to, let me see. Ah yes, six million in all as near as dammit. Not to put too fine a point on it, you have been cleaned out.’

‘You’re telling me Karma has taken all my money.’

‘In a word. It would seem so, yes.’

‘I see. It all begins to make sense now. ……. But I still have the properties and the boat, don’t I?’

‘H’mmm. Not the boat, I’m afraid. That appears to have been sold and, of course, the two houses are in joint names. We’ll have to contest that one. And I’m not sure there’s an easy way to tell you this. I received notification through the post this morning that your wife has filed for divorce.’

‘What!’

‘She’s filed for it on grounds of adultery.’

‘Her Adultery?’

‘No, Mr Smoker. That’s not how divorce law works. Your adultery’

‘My adultery? But I’ve never so much as looked at another woman.’

‘That’s not want Mrs Smoker is saying. Apparently, her solicitors have rock solid photographic evidence to the contrary.’

‘So, what can we do about it all, Mr Dark? Can we get any of the money back? Can we take her name off the deeds? Can we counter petition on the divorce?’

‘One thing at a time, Mr Smoker. Firstly, we need to get you out of there.’

It is often thought that the party that holds the power will always be the one that holds the power. But others might argue that eventually, over time, things have a tendency to even themselves out. Some even believe that destiny will take care of things. But perhaps it is best to channel your energies into bringing about the change you want.

Over the few days that he had been locked up, Charlie had built up a determination to reverse the downward momentum that had gone hand in hand with meeting Karma. He had always seen things in terms of good and bad, black or white, right or wrong. There was no middle ground. Good generated good and bad generated bad. This view needed revising. His love for Karma had turned to hate, a bitter hate that went deep down into his soul. He wanted revenge. He was a man, not a mouse. He needed to call on the same resolve that had once enabled him to win Rotherham Parking Enforcement Officer of the Year by issuing a record number of tickets over the Christmas period, a time when traditionally traffic wardens held back. No holds barred.

It now seemed obvious. Oppose the divorce. This would be straightforward enough and delay matters. Then, in the interim, get rid of Karma. Not personally of course but employ a hit man. As next of kin, assuming that she had not yet thought of making a will, Karma would die intestate and everything would revert back to him. Time was of the essence.

‘If you can get me out of here,’ Mr Dark,’ Charlie said. ‘I may have some ideas of how to go about sorting this out.’

Through Harrison Dark’s protestations to the French authorities, Charlie was released the next day. He found there were a surprisingly large number of English-speaking private investigators based in the south of France. Perhaps the weather suited people of this persuasion. Perhaps the market here was more lucrative for gumshoes. Perhaps there was simply a higher demand for their services than back home.

Pearson Ranger, Private Investigator, Licensed and Bonded agreed to tail Charlie’s wife. He confided that he knew people that would be prepared to intervene, should this be required.

‘For a fee, anything is possible,’ Ranger said.

‘You mean …..?’

‘Indeed! Just say the word and it will be done.’

‘The intervention sounds good,’ Charlie said. ‘Cuts out all the crap. In fact, don’t even bother tailing her. Let’s get on with the hit as soon as possible.’

‘As long as you’re sure,’ Ranger said. ‘But, remember! Once this is set in motion, it is not something that can be cancelled.’

‘I’m sure,’ Charlie said.

They discussed fees and made arrangements for the handover of the cash. Charlie was sad he would have to sell the Lexus but this seemed the safest way to raise the required fifty thousand without disturbing what was left of his finances..

‘Erase all your computer search history,’ Ranger said. ‘Then no written communication and no emails. No phonecalls or texts between us except on these single-use burner phones. Three for you and three for me. And take a holiday. Act normally. Phone a friend or two to say how much you are looking forward to getting away for a few days.’

It seemed very cloak and dagger to Charlie. He was used to everything being out in the open. But perhaps this attitude had contributed to his downfall. Clearly, there were grey areas, shady deals and hidden agendas to consider if you were to get by. Secrecy was an important factor when doing business with the Midi underworld.

As instructed, Charlie took a plane to Stockholm to avoid being linked to the impending hit. He booked into the Hilton. Here there would be sufficient records of his stay to give him an alibi when the hit happened. His being in Stockholm would look like a legitimate city break, the type of leisure pursuit a man of means would be likely to entertain. He spoke freely to hotel staff and told them he expected his wife to join him in a few days. He took the precaution of posting date-sensitive selfies at key landmarks on social media throughout his stay.

News of Karma’s death reached Charlie over dinner. A simple message, All done. Ditch the phone. Stay put for now. Leave the day after tomorrow.

A call from Harrison Dark cuts Charlie’s celebrations short.

‘I’m afraid there’s been a complication, Mr Smoker,’ he said. ‘You may have heard by now that your wife met with an accident. To add to this sad news however, there are, how can I put it, unforeseen complications. It appears she did not die intestate. She left everything to her brother, Jacques.’

‘What exactly does this mean, Mr Dark?’ Charlie said trying to work out the ramifications.

‘As things stand, it means that you have no money. And you and Jacques Lacroix are the joint owners of two properties.’

‘So Jacques was not her lover.’

‘It would appear not, Mr Smoker. And from what I gather, I don’t believe the two of you are going to see eye to eye.’

Copyright © Chris Green, 2023: All rights reserved