Twenty Years a Stranger (The Stranger Series Book 1)

by Deborah Twelves

  ‘Oh Christ, just what I need. I really thought I was free of all this.’

  ‘I know and I’m sorry, but as I said, we thought he would probably do this.’

  She paused and I sensed there was more.

  ‘There was one other thing. I found out today that Daniel has been declared personally bankrupt.’

  ‘Bloody hell. I didn’t expect that. I really thought he would do a deal with them like he said he was going to. Serves him right if you ask me. I’m still okay though, aren’t I? You said if I had a Court Order I would be protected.’

  Again, the hesitation.

  ‘Well, yes, I believe so. I’ve been speaking to Phil, the head of our insolvency team and he says that, even in the worst-case scenario, you would still be entitled to half of all the assets outside of the bankruptcy. So yes, you should be ok,’ she concluded.

  The word ‘should’ did not fill me with confidence.

  ‘You don’t sound convinced to me.’

  ‘Look, Grace, there is no point in jumping to conclusions at this stage. I need to make some more enquiries and find out the facts. I intend to speak to the Official Receiver assigned to Daniel’s case today and I’ll contact you again after that. Please try to stay calm about this. It’s not the news we wanted, but I’m sure you’ll be okay.’

  Given with one hand, taken away with the other. It seemed to be the story of my life. What was it Eleanor was so fond of saying?

  ‘No guarantees in litigation.’

  My mood had plummeted and I felt unspeakably glum as I trudged back to the car park, minus the All Saints leather jacket I had coveted. This latest development had opened the flood gates for the start of a whole new legal battle. I had not dared to add up the financial cost of ridding myself of Daniel, but I had a pretty good idea it was already in excess of fifty grand. I had taken a gamble. Speculate to accumulate. I had put my trust in the legal system and hoped I would come out on top, banking on the fact that I would be leaving my marriage with significantly more than the legal fees I had to pay out. After my day in court, it actually looked like the gamble had paid off, but that was before Life threw me a curveball. Suddenly everything was up in the air again and my solicitor sounded less than positive about a good outcome for me. It looked like we were back on the carousel, but this time an insolvency lawyer and an insolvency barrister were joining us at the fair. I could almost hear the cash tills rattling.

  I could not face going straight home, so I opted for the place that had become my safe haven over the last few months. As I let myself in through the kitchen of the hotel, Sylvie was in there preparing the staff meals. I could not hold back the tears and she instantly stopped what she was doing and came over.

  ‘What’s wrong darling?’ she asked with a concerned look on her face.

  ‘There’s been a new development. You’re not going to believe this…Daniel’s been made bankrupt and Eleanor’s really not sure where I stand now.’

  ‘Oh my God! I never believed he’d actually go bankrupt. Look, try not to panic. You’ve got your Court Order, so they won’t be able to touch any of the stuff the judge gave you. Go straight through to the bar. Adam’s in there with Andrew. I just need to finish this quickly and I’ll come and join you.’

  Adam took one look at my face and poured me a large glass of red.

  ‘Sit down and tell us all about it. What’s Knob Head done now?’

  I laughed despite myself, grateful for the way his calm, relaxed manner and dry sense of humour always seemed to lighten the mood.

  ‘He’s been made bankrupt. Both the company and him personally. Eleanor just rang to tell me and she sounded worried. I’m so scared that everything’s going to go wrong for me all over again, just when I thought I was finally sorted.’

  ‘But she said you’d be okay if you got the Court Order before the bankruptcy, didn’t she?’ Andrew queried.

  ‘Well yes, she did and that’s what I thought, but apparently there seems to be some sort of grey area she wasn’t aware of.’

  Adam poured himself and his father a drink and sat down opposite me.

  ‘I warned you about the Courts,’ Andrew said wryly. ‘The legal, above-board route just doesn’t work with people like Daniel and the only ones that win in the end are the lawyers.’

  ‘The man is an absolute tosser,’ Adam stated. It’s obvious he’s got a load of money stashed away in America and yet he’s determined to shaft you completely. And Dad’s right, you can’t trust the solicitors either. If you want my advice, tell them as little as possible and sell everything you can as fast as you can, especially the stuff no-one knows about, cash transactions wherever possible. Hide the things you can’t sell straight away and remember you’ve always got the Stainsford Secret to hold over Daniel. If I were you, I wouldn’t be ruling out blackmail when this all dies down.’

  I sighed deeply and took a large gulp of wine before responding.

  ‘How the hell did my life come to this? I honestly don’t know how much more I can take. No matter what I do, I just can’t get ahead. I wonder if this is what it was like for Julia? Maybe this is what she felt like in the end.’

  Sylvie walked in and caught the tail end of the conversation.

  ‘Oh darling, please don’t talk like that. It really upsets me and I hate to think of what he did to poor Julia, but you’re not her. You have come so far and handled everything so well, I’m sure you’re going to be okay. You have a Court Order, signed by a judge, for God’s sake. There’s nothing anyone can do to change that or take anything away from you, surely. Eleanor is just being over-cautious. Typical solicitor. Stay strong.’

  ‘I hope you’re right,’ I said, unconvinced, as she hugged me tightly.

  I wanted to believe it, but I had learned the hard way not to take anything for granted. Suddenly I wanted to go home and wallow in self-pity on my own.

  ‘Anyway, thanks for listening guys and thanks for the wine pick me up. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I need to go now, as I’ve got a load of stuff to do in the house. Catch you tomorrow and I’ll let you know if I hear anything more from Eleanor.’

  Sylvie hugged me again.

  ‘Anytime, darling. You know you’re always welcome here.’

  Andrew came to the door with me.

  ‘Have you changed the locks at home yet? It’s bloody ridiculous that he’s allowed to come and go as he pleases. I don’t like it at all, especially now he’s obviously furious with you. He’s dangerous and unpredictable in my opinion. I’ve told you before, I think he had more of a hand in his first wife’s death than was ever reported.’

  ‘Yeah, I know all that and believe me, I’m not exactly happy about the situation, but I’ve been told by the Court that I’m not allowed to change the locks or deny him access, as it is still technically his house. I can’t move out either, as I need to protect my claim to it. There’s certainly nothing of mine of any value there anymore and I can assure you I am very careful when he’s around.’

  ‘I still think you should maybe apply for a restraining order against him. Say you’re afraid of him. That’s what Lorraine did isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes she did, but they won’t entertain the idea without some concrete proof. In her case it was easy. He shot himself in the foot by being abusive and violent to both her and the police.’

  ‘True. I think it’s worth a try though.’

  ‘Maybe, but with any luck, this will all be over soon and the house will be sold. I’m applying to the Court for the right to sell the house at auction to make sure it goes quickly. Daniel’s objecting of course, but Eleanor reckons the Court will permit me and then he won’t be involved or able to interfere anymore. I’m just a bit worried about how his bankruptcy will affect things now.’

  ‘I suppose you just have to wait until she gets back to you on that one. In the meantime take care and remember you can call us anytime if there’s a problem.’

  I gave him a quick hug and left. They were all right o
f course. I had to stop letting things derail me so easily. I would wait to hear from Eleanor and deal with things when I knew the full facts.

  Lola pounced on me excitedly as I opened the back door at home. The room felt cold and uninviting, which was strange, as the AGA always kept the kitchen warm. I walked over to the big stone fireplace and was surprised to feel cold metal. Daniel had changed the AGA over to electric a couple of years before to avoid any issues with burners or running out of oil. It was more expensive, but way more reliable and had never caused a problem before. I opened the little fuse box on the wall and found the fuse had been removed, then when I went to check the display on the electrical control unit, concealed at the side of the AGA, the whole thing was gone. Daniel. So that was the way he was going to play things. I flew into a temper, sending the poor dog scuttling to her basket.

  ‘Fucking, arse-hole bastard!’ I yelled in frustration.

  He had got one over on me yet again. I bent down and cuddled Lola, my tone softening.

  ‘It’s okay, baby. It’s not your fault, it’s not you.’

  She lifted a paw and looked at me, ever hopeful of a treat in consolation. I laughed and gave her a little handful of her biscuits. Inside I was seething and already racking my brains for ways of revenge. He was threatening me. Showing me he could snoop around the house when I wasn’t there and mess with things. I shuddered at the memory of the fire in the house all those years ago and what Kieran had told me. Daniel was an electrical engineer by trade and was more than capable of creating a ‘wiring fault’. I began to worry about what else he might have been up to in my absence.

  My thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of my phone and I saw from the display it was Eleanor again. Great. Undoubtedly that meant more good news.

  ‘Hi Grace. I just wanted to let you know that I have spoken at length to the Official Receiver in charge of Daniel’s bankruptcy. He was very nice and helpful and seems to be confident that you have nothing to worry about, as you already have a financial settlement and a Court Order. They are now in the process of appointing a Trustee in Bankruptcy to administer things and they will be in touch with us shortly. In the meantime, I suggest we continue as planned, selling the assets to realise your money.’

  ‘Right,’ I said, taken aback and hardly daring to believe what I was hearing. ‘I wasn’t expecting that. It sounds positive then.’

  I told her about the latest fun and games with the heating at the house and naturally, she was furious on my behalf.

  ‘What? How dare he. He has no right to do that to you. I have already submitted the application to put the house up for auction and I will bring this up at the same time. It should help our case, to be honest. I’ve asked for an urgent hearing so we will hopefully have a date in a couple of weeks.’

  She hesitated, then added,

  ‘I’m worried about your safety, Grace. We need to push for you to be able to change the locks after this. Are you going to be okay in the house by yourself?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll be careful. There’s no way I’m moving out until everything is settled.’

  I still had the tracker, which meant I could at least keep an eye on Daniel’s movements. In theory, anyway. In practice, I was starting to feel slightly uneasy about the tracker these days, as I had recently noticed Daniel 1 remaining stationary for days at a time, which was not normal practice for him at all. I had a sneaking suspicion he was using another car to thwart me, probably The Whale’s. That made things a lot trickier and a lot less safe.

  As I lay in bed that night, with Lola snoring beside me, I thought how utterly disheartening it was that the sand always seemed to be shifting beneath my feet.

  A surprise party

  If you are left behind, run faster to catch up. Never give in and when Life knocks you down, make sure you throw the first punch next time.

  Grace

  The hearing about putting the house up for auction was indeed dealt with as a matter of urgency and within four weeks we all trooped back into court. Judge Barraclough had decided to hear the third party claims from Jane and Jupiter Holdings at the same time, clearly anxious to get the whole thing out of the way at once before he had a nervous breakdown. I suspected he was as curious as I was to find out what Daniel had cooked up about the ‘directors’ of Jupiter Holdings.

  As I walked into the large waiting room with Eleanor I noticed it was a busy day in court and there were a lot of people already there. I wondered briefly what all their stories were. My eyes lighted on Daniel over in one corner with The Whale in tow. She was wearing a voluminous smock top over a pair of black leggings and I immediately noticed how her puffy feet spilled out over the straps of her unfashionable sandals. I avoided eye contact and sat down with Eleanor, crossing my legs slowly and deliberately to make sure that The Whale could not miss the red soles of my Louboutins. Five minutes later the clerk appeared and called us into Judge Barraclough’s room, but to my utter confusion, practically everyone else in the room stood up at the same time and began to follow us.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ I hissed to Eleanor. ‘Who are all this lot and why are they coming into our hearing?’

  Eleanor looked as baffled as me.

  ‘I have no idea Grace. Let’s just get in and we’ll find out what’s happening.’

  There was a tense note in her voice, which did nothing to boost my confidence.

  ‘It’s the bankruptcy lot, isn’t it? It can’t be anything else,’ I snapped furiously.

  ‘I’m very much afraid you’re right, but I have no idea what they are doing here. I should have had some sort of notification. This really is totally unacceptable.’

  Judge Barraclough himself looked as surprised as we were at the number of people filing into his little room. He even had to send the clerk out for more chairs and two of the entourage had to sit at the side as there was no more room around the table. I was positioned opposite The Whale, with Daniel at the head of the table, looking pompous and full of his own self-importance, as he casually shuffled a pile of papers around. The Whale was flanked on either side by two women, who were every bit as large as she was and I thought for a moment that it must be a Weight Watchers outing, but before I could helpfully point out that the WW meetings were held in the building next door, they introduced themselves as her solicitor and her barrister. I felt instantly outnumbered.

  -Why didn’t I have a barrister?

  Daniel had an irritating, smug look on his face that made me want to punch him. I waited with trepidation for the others to reveal their identity.

  ‘Natasha Remington, solicitor for the Trustee in Bankruptcy in the case of Daniel Matthew John Callaghan and my trainee Victoria Bates.’

  ‘Vanessa Harding from Miller Laidlaw, Trustee in Bankruptcy in the insolvency of Daniel Matthew John Callaghan. This is my assistant Jonathan Carter.’

  ‘Corinne Burns, barrister appointed by the Trustee in Bankruptcy.’

  A grand total of eleven people, most of whom had no need to be meddling in my business as far as I could see.

  The judge was keen to get things moving and the lovely Ms Burns was quick to jump in and suggest she begin by explaining the Trustee’s position.

  I sat in a dazed stupor, trying desperately to understand what was going on, while Eleanor scribbled notes furiously beside me.

  ‘I would like to draw everyone’s attention to Section 284 of the Insolvency Act 1986, referring to the disposal of assets.’

  There was a pause while we all found the appropriate document to look at in the substantial bundle we had been handed on arrival.

  ‘Section 284 essentially states that no party can be given preference over the disposal of assets in insolvency. All assets of the Bankrupt must be dealt with by the Trustee in Bankruptcy and divided equally among the creditors of the estate. Effectively, what that means here is that Mrs Callaghan should not have been given any of her husband’s assets as part of her financial settlement. All of those assets will need to be h
anded over to the Trustee immediately. If any of them have already been sold, she will need to surrender the money received for them. She is then, of course, more than welcome to submit her claim to the Trustee and stand in line with the other creditors,’ she concluded, dismissively.

  Her voice had an annoying nasal twang and was grating on me already. What I had thought was a routine hearing was rapidly turning into my worst nightmare. If what she said was true, I was about to have everything taken off me, and then some. Eleanor interrupted.

  ‘Judge Barraclough, I really must object to the fact that I have had no notification of this intervention at all and so have had no opportunity to prepare. This is the first I have heard of any of it. Grace has a Court Order as you know, having signed it yourself, setting out the terms of her financial settlement following her divorce. Surely that Court Order stands, despite her ex-husband’s subsequent bankruptcy?’

  Corinne reminded me of a nasty tempered, yappy Jack Russell. She stared at Eleanor with her beady little eyes and began again.

  ‘I’m afraid that is not the case and you have been misinformed,’ she barked. ‘In cases such as this, the Insolvency Court takes precedence over the Family Court and we have the right to backdate things to when the petition for bankruptcy was first issued. That was, in fact, four months before your Court Order. Any assets owned by the Bankrupt at that time are deemed to be assets of the bankruptcy estate now. That includes all the assets listed here in the Order.’

  Corinne tapped a neatly manicured finger disdainfully on my Court Order in front of her. Apparently, it was not worth the paper it was written on. Daniel was clearly enjoying my misery and chose that moment to pipe up.

  ‘Excuse me, Your Honour, presumably that does not include the assets owned by other people? I am referring of course to the third party claims from both my partner Jane here and the directors of the company I work for.’