Life can change in an instance. For Linda Robinson, it took less than three minutes according to the CCTV footage.
Martin, her husband, was seen walking into the swimming pool change room in their luxurious apartment complex. He was wearing a bathrobe with dripping wet hair. Casually, he wiped his cheek with his sleeve and headed into the change room.
Three minutes later, another man in a t-shirt and swimming trunks approached the same change room. Just seconds later, he was seen running out of the change room with his mobile phone to his. He swung his head left and right wildly as if he was looking for someone or something. Then while still on the phone, he re-entered the change room.
Ten minutes later, two ambulance officers carrying large medical bags came into view. They ran towards the change room. A few minutes later, one officer came out with his head down. He came back in view a few seconds later with a wheeled stretcher.
In another minute, the t-shirt man came out and held the change room door open. Then one ambulance officer backed out with the wheel stretcher followed by the second ambulance officer. On the stretcher lay Martin’s lifeless body covered by a white sheet.
At this moment, Linda was oblivious to this life changing event that had just happened. She had kissed him only an hour ago before she left for work.
‘Enjoy your swim. I’ll see you tonight,’ were the last words she said to him.
Linda had been married to Martin for thirty years. Martin was a senior executive in a large multi-national. They had one son together. Martin was away a lot for work. Linda didn’t mind. She had always been appreciative of Martin for being a good provider. She figured that it was a small price to pay for a comfortable lifestyle. They lived in a nice place. Their son went to a private school. They went on a luxurious trip every year. She never had to worry about finances. He took care of everything. He also let her keep her part-time receptionist job that she’d had before they got married. Martin was generous to her.
Linda’s mobile phone rang. It was from an unknown caller. She had no idea that her life was about to change.
‘Hello?’
‘Is this Linda Robinson?’
‘Yes, speaking.’
‘Mrs Robinson. This is constable Heidi Feathers from the Chatswood Police Station calling.’
‘Constable? The police? Oh…how can I help you?’
‘Mrs Robinson. Can I confirm that Martin Robinson is your husband please?’
‘Yes, Martin’s my husband. Why do you ask?’
Mrs Robinson, ’I’m very sorry but I have to inform you that your husband Martin Robinson was found on the floor of the swimming pool change room this morning. An ambulance was called but he could not be revived. Your husband is deceased.’
Linda froze. Her mind went blank and she felt that she had been yanked out of her body.
‘Hello, Mrs Robinson, are you okay?’
Linda’s senses returned and she found herself panting. She felt suddenly cold, with all the energy drained out of her.
‘Hmm.. yes..I’m here. Sorry, did you say that Martin was…was what?’ She couldn’t utter the word.
‘I’m really sorry Mrs Robinson.’
‘No, no, no. Hold on, you must be mistaken. Martin’s at work. He would be at work at this time. He goes for his swim and then he goes into his office. He’s never late. He’s at work.’
‘Mrs Robinson, are you able to come down to the hospital this morning? I need you to identify the body.’
Linda started to shake.
‘Yes, I’ll come.’
Martin had been such a rock for Linda that she was totally unprepared for his sudden absence. She was also unprepared for life. He did everything for her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had to pay a bill, let alone manage their bank accounts and investments. She found herself clueless and helpless.
However, where Linda lacked in financial acumen, she excelled at relationships. She was able to solicit help from everyone around her. Her vulnerability, sadness and humility pulled a chord in others. Martin’s contacts quickly became hers. The local branch bank manager offered to meet with Linda to help her understand the different types of bank accounts that Martin had setup and what each was used for. Some belonged to the superannuation which could not be used for everyday expenses. The bank manager suggested that perhaps she could consolidate some of the bank accounts to make it easier for her to manage.
On their third meeting, Linda had started to feel that she was getting a grasp of how things worked and how to manage them moving forward. She had also built up a good rapport with the bank manager Nancy.
‘Oh Nancy, you’re a real angel. Thank you so much for all your help again. As I’ve expressed so many times, Martin always took care of the finances. I never asked, never had to. He spoiled me. Now I’m on my own. I couldn’t have made heads and tails out of these without your help.’
‘Mrs Robinson, you are most welcome. It will get easier once you become more familiar with the products and jargon.’ Nancy reached out to Linda’s hand and gave it a small squeeze with a with a smile on her face.
Linda started to pack up the papers around her. As Linda got up to leave the office, Nancy followed her to the door with her head down looking thoughtful. Just before Linda reached the door, Nancy pulled her arm gently to stop her.
‘Yes Nancy?’
Nancy looked up into the ceiling and took in a deep breath. After letting the air out, she spoke in a hushed tone.
‘Look…I’m not sure if I can tell you this, but I think you should know.’
‘What is it, Nancy?’
‘All the accounts that I have shown you are in Martin’s personal name. There is actually one more. It’s not on the list of bank accounts that you brought with you. Martin has opened an account in the name of a trust.’
‘A trust? What is it?’
‘A trust an arrangement where the assets are held in the name a trustee – a person or company – who manages the assets on behalf of somebody else. A trust can be setup for a variety of purposes. It can be used to protect the assets by making them technically not yours so that they can’t be touched if someone is going after you. It can be used to reduce tax liability by distributing the income to someone in a lower tax bracket, like children. It can also be used to distribute income to specific individuals.’
‘It sounds complicated. What was Martin using it for?’
‘This is what you need to find out.’
‘Oh. How?’
‘Look for the trust deed. It’s a formal document and it should tell you everything about the trust and who are the beneficiaries. See if you can find it.’
‘Alright. Thanks!’
That afternoon, Linda went into Martin’s study. She stopped for a second as she was greeted by the scent of the room. It was a room that she never entered. It was Martin’s cave and he didn’t even allow her to clean the room. The room smelt of Martin, books, papers and dust. She lingered to inhale the scent of her husband. How she missed him.
She looked around the study. There was a large desk with his computer in the middle. A bookshelf filled with books stood behind the desk. To the side of the room laid a row of filing cabinets.
Oh my goodness! He has so much stuff.
She looked at the papers on his desk and there were bills that he probably didn’t get to pay. Linda sighed as she knew that this would be her job now.
She went to the filing cabinets and started to go through each one. There were many documents and folders. It was getting dull when suddenly there, in front of her was a bound book with the words “Trust Deed” followed by “The Reyes Trust’.
Found it!
She opened the document and started to read it. It was a difficult read and she furrowed her brow. Long sentences with words that she knew individually but when put together, made no sense. She was told to look out for beneficiaries. As she flicked through the pages, she saw the word Beneficiaries in a section title and slowed down. A single name was listed underneath a paragraph – Susan Reyes.
Who is Susan Reyes?
Linda searched her brain to think of all the people that she knew. There was no one by that name. She thought about Martin’s contacts and nothing came to mind either. Something about the fact that it was a female name unsettled her and he felt a wave of nausea rising from her stomach.
Don’t be ridiculous Linda. You always think of the worst.
She put the document aside and looked around some more around the filing cabinets. She came across a blue folder and casually opened it. There were a bunch of dockets, receipts and some formal looking documents. One of the receipts was for a bicycle from 99bikes earlier this year.
Why did Martin buy a bicycle? He’s a swimmer, not a cyclist. Strange.
Then she noticed a long receipt from K-Mart. They never shopped at K-Mart.
As she dove into the receipts and documents, she found a world of activities that belonged to a different life. A life different to hers. There were school fees, toys receipts and entry receipts to zoos and aquariums. Their own son was turning thirty in a couple of months. There were no young children in their life.
What’s going on?
There, she saw the name again. The name Susan Reyes appeared in a school report. Linda checked the dates and ascertained that Susan Reyes was a 9 year old girl. A sickening feeling overcame her. Her heart started to pound and she gripped onto the table to steady herself. She rubbed her temple to try to make her dizziness go away.
Why would Martin have a trust fund for a school girl? What is her relationship with Martin?
Linda slipped down onto the floor. She was strangely grateful for the carpet. It was grounding to have something familiar around when her whole world had suddenly became foreign. She thought her life had changed after losing Martin. Now she realised that the life that she had wasn’t what she thought it was either.
Wait a minute. Could Susan be the daughter of a friend of Martin’s? If so, why haven’t I heard of her? Maybe she’s a sponsored child, like UNICEF? Oh Linda Linda, wake up.
This has to be Martin’s love child.
The thought that Martin could cheat on her had never entered her mind. He had been the most doting husband. But what she was staring at was real.
Linda felt a rage rise from her chest. Why have I been so stupid? His offer to take care of everything was so that he could keep me in the dark. And I thought I had won the marital lottery.
How am I going to tell my son that his hero father was a cheat?
Feeling devastated, Linda continued to search to see if there were anything about Susan’s mother. What did she look like? Linda felt a rock just lodged into her stomach. Was she younger and prettier than her? Linda’s jaw tightened. Why was this happening? If she stopped searching now and walked out of the study, could she pretend that this was all her imagination?
Susan was nine years old. How long has he been cheating on me? Was this a one off or was this a double life?
Linda continued to dig. She came across another folder that looked similar to the one that she just went through. To her shock, she found another document with the words “Title Deed”. It read “Title Deed – The Johnson Trust”.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Linda put her hand over her mouth. She stared at the document and quickly flicked to the beneficiary page. The name was “Peter Johnson”. There were more receipts and reports. She came across a Certificate of Merit in Mathematics.
Martin had two trust funds, one for each bastard child.
Linda started to shake. Who on earth did she marry? Looking at the dates, Linda worked out that Peter was twelve.
Jesus Christ! My deceased husband was a long time philanderer. How do I not know that?
Linda reflected on their lives together. He was away for business a lot, sometimes even over Christmas and Easter. She wasn’t pleased about those but there was always a legitimate reason. They range from bad weather to project delays to flight delays to missed connections to bad traffic leading to him missing his flight altogether.
No, he wasn’t travelling for business. He was with his other families. Jesus, am I the only one that didn’t know?
Linda remembered her mother looking really sad and her friends looking uncomfortable when she told them that Martin couldn’t make it home for the major festivities.
They knew.
Linda dug further into the filing cabinet to see what else could she learn about her cheating husband. When she had gone through the whole filing cabinet, Linda was in disbelief. She held in her hands a total of four trust deeds. There were two more children besides Susan and Peter.
The oldest deed went all the way back to just a couple of years after they were married. Martin’s oldest illegitimate child was a daughter by the name of Samantha Findlay. She would be twenty-eight years old now, just a year younger than their son Albert. His infidelity had started right after their marriage. Between Samantha and Peter, there was another boy named Patrick Monroe. Each child had a different surname. Martin had four illegitimate children with four different women.
Who did he think I was? The dumbest woman on the planet? What a wretched man!
Linda emerged from Martin’s study feeling extremely rattled. She was full of rage for what Martin had done to her. She was also shameful for being duped for so long. Most of all, she was extremely apprehensive at what to do with the mess. She went to the bar and poured herself a whisky. She couldn’t deal with it and had to shut down her mind to stop it from exploding.
When she was about to pour herself her third glass, she stopped.
No, I can’t run away from this. This is too fucked up. I need my son. We have to figure this out as a family unit.
She picked up the phone and sent Albert a text. She needed his support and asked them to come over for dinner in the evening. She mentioned that she had some important news to share.
‘I hope you’re making meat balls. I also have some exciting news to share. See you later.’ Albert replied.
Linda hugged her son tightly when he showed up for dinner. He was all she had in this world now.
‘Hi Mum, that was a big hug. You’ve really missed me, haven’t you?’ He smiled brightly at Linda.
‘I always miss you. How are you, my sweet boy?’
‘Never better Mum. I’m in a very good place.’
Being in a good place is something that a person who had suffered from depression would say. Albert went to a dark place some years ago after a bad relationship. Linda’s heart hurt badly for him. She tried with all her might to help him but it was beyond her. The helplessness that she felt for him almost took her down. She was just grateful that by some miracle, Albert bounced back.
Oh God. Maybe I shouldn’t burden him with the news. None of this is his fault.
‘Oh Mum, dinner smells wonderful. You make the best meat balls in the cosmos!’
‘It’s made with love. That’s why it tastes so good.’
‘Mum, I’ll be eating them with plenty of love to show my respect.’
‘Good, now please dig in,’ Linda stared doe-eyed at her son. A warm feeling returned to her, a reprieve from the icy loneliness that engulfed her earlier in the study. Having Albert by her side made her feel normal again.
‘This is delicious, Mum. There’s only one thing missing.’
‘What?’
‘Dad. I wish he were here. He should’ve been here. He was too young to go.’ Albert lowered his head.
‘I know. But we have to move on. It’s not like he ate with us all that much anyway,’ Linda sighed.
‘I guess he put his career first. He was always working and travelling. Here’s the thing. He worked his butt off and then he died before he had a chance to enjoy his life. What a shame.’
‘Yes, what a shame,’ Linda mumbled after Albert. She was trying to figure out how to break the news to him. She clasped her hands tightly.
Oh God, I hope this doesn’t break him. What if I let lying dog sleep?
But the genie was out. Her gut told her that much. She was in the dark because Martin was there to make it so. Now that Martin was gone, there will be no one to keep the gremlins dry. It’s a matter of time before one, two or all the women and children would surface to make a claim on his estate. This was why she needed to tell Albert. They had to make a pact.
‘I won’t follow his footstep though. I want to live my life fully. I want to spend most of my time with the person that I love instead of colleagues in the office. That’s what life is all about, isn’t it?’
‘What? What do you mean?’
‘Love Mum. Life is about love. This is what I want to talk to you about. But you should go first with your news since you made the invitation.’
‘Oh, no, no. You go first.’
‘Alright Mum, you know how I had such rotten luck with love in the past, I thought I would never love another person again. I know it sounded stupid but I just couldn’t go through what I went through again.’
Linda remained silent and nodded to encourage him to continue.
‘Well, I guess I was wrong. I could feel love again. And it feels FANTASTIC.’
‘Really?’ Linda smiled at Albert. His joy was infectious.
‘So I met this girl a few months ago. She was super nice and fun. We started to talk about stuff and I really liked talking to her. I feel like I can be myself when I talk to her. There’s no angst, you know,’ Albert threw his arms around like one of those air dancer in front of the car dealership.
‘That’s nice.’
‘I didn’t want to start anything though. Too much bad memories as you know. So I backed off. But then I found myself missing her. So I invited her out to do a few things. We have such a great time together. She really gets me. We also have a lot in common. She’s my age. Well, one year younger than me. We like the same movies. We love watching sports and we both love Thai food. Oh Mum, I think I’m in love.’
‘How does she feel about you?’
‘I think she likes me very much too. We have serious fun together.’
‘Albert, I’m really happy for you. Do I get to meet this wonderful girl?’
‘Of course Mum. I would love for you to meet her. Could I bring her around for dinner this weekend?’
‘Of course, what’s her name?’
Albert leaned back on his chair. He said with the biggest grin on his face, ‘Her name is Samantha. Samantha Findlay. So that’s my news. What’s your news?’
