Story Episode 15

As we drove away from G4S HQ I felt a bit deflated. G4S were going to let the Kelly cousins go to Spain, albeit without the money they had stolen, but still free. It was, of course, obvious in hindsight that this would happen. G4S did not want any more bad publicity. I aired my thoughts out loud. Penny said it really didn't matter. What was important was that Ken and Tom were free and apparently not too badly affected by their squatter camp experience. And it was good of G4S to give them a nice break in Cape Town.

Suddenly I had an idea. "Have you got a girlfriend or partner?" I asked Dave. "Not at the moment" he replied "But why do you ask?" "You will see" I replied.

"What about Ken?" I continued. "No" said Dave "He got divorced a few years ago and he hasn't had anyone permanent since then".

I asked Penny to find somewhere convenient to stop and to let me have the mobile phone. I said I just wanted to make an urgent phone call and would get out of the car to make it.

Five minutes later I got back into the car with a big smile on my face. "I have some rather good news" I announced.  I told them that I had been on the phone to Mr. Anderson and that I had said to him that I wanted G4S to pay for the three of us to go to Cape Town for a week; to join up with Ken and Tom. Anderson was reluctant at first, but when I reminded him what bad news it would be for G4S if our story got out he readily conceded. He has asked Mandy to fix it all up for us and she will arrange everything.

I explained to Dave that the reason I had asked about whether he and Ken had a partner was because, if they did, I would try to get them included in the trip too. Dave then revealed that actually he might soon have a new girlfriend. He had been chatting regularly to Mandy on the phone since our first meeting in Crawley.

"You sly dog!" said Penny "We never noticed that".

So now we had to think what we needed for our holiday in Cape Town. I had better check the web to see what the temperature would be at this time of the year. A whole week would be great. We could go up Table Mountain, visit the waterfront, and maybe even go out on a trip to some of the vineyards. I was very excited. And actually meeting up with Ken and Tom would be much better than just a Skype call. We could take our time coming to terms with what had happened to us; and enjoy a few nice glasses of wine while doing it.