Vehicles

Pattaya Trader
John owned a very successful bar in Pattaya which he had designed
and built himself. His wife was a local lady
whose savvy in the day-to-day operation of the bar
was invaluable. With her as manager, it seemed the
perfect partnership. John provided all the capital
investment plus many friends who became regular
customers. These friends would bring their own
friends along and his clientele increased to numbers
which were the envy of other businesses in the area.
When John didn’t show up at his bar one
night, it was not a surprise because it was known
John had a drinking problem and it was only a matter
of time before it would take its toll on his health.
When he still hadn’t turned up after a week, his
friends became concerned. They tried calling him
but his mobile seemed to be always switched off.
The consensus was, if he was resting and recuperating,
he turned it off so as not to be disturbed. There
was no real panic until three weeks later when one
friend began calling his home number. Each time, the calls either rang
out or John’s wife answered to say he was sleeping.
John’s absence was having an effect on the bar. Many of his
friends would look in and, not seeing him sitting on his usual stool,
head off somewhere else. The popular 4-piece band, which played
nightly had quit and those customers who came to enjoy their music
had followed shortly after. The cashier quit, along with three other
popular and hardworking members of staff. In only a few short weeks,
the bar went from catering to a full house each night to entertaining
merely a handful of punters.
John and his wife lived about 20 kilometres out of town. When
two of his concerned mates paid him a visit, his wife greeted them at
the door saying he was sleeping and could not be disturbed. They
insisted upon seeing him. Stretched out on his bed with his eyes open,
they found him pale and incoherent. He did not recognize them and
appeared to be in a terrible state. It was obvious his malady was not
simply the result of alcoholism.
A few days later they headed off to the bar where John’s ex-band
was now resident. The lads in the band told them that yes, they had
quit, but they were forced to. After John took ill, his wife told them she
no longer required the keyboard player and their salary would be cut
by 25%. She cited the downturn in profits as the reason. To the band
members this was unacceptable, so they reluctantly quit.
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Bitter Medicine
John’s ex-cashier was also working in that
bar and she explained she was also forced to quit
because John’s wife had accused her of stealing,
something which she vehemently denied. She also
suggested John’s wife was evil and was deliberately
setting out to destroy the bar. To those listening,
that did not really make a lot of sense. The bar provided
a good income for both John and his wife so
why would she want to stop the money from rolling
in? The cashier did not know but warned them to
be very careful about tangling with his wife.
Three friends went back to visit John two
days later. His wife reluctantly let them in and this
time they found John more responsive and coherent.
They told him about trying to call him many
times but his phone was switched off. When they
started calling on the landline, they were told he
was asleep. John said whenever he asked his wife
if anyone had called she said no. She told him his
friends did not really care about him and to forget them. He never
really believed her but was in no position to do anything about it.
Someone then noticed a small cup of brownish liquid on John’s bedside
table. John said it was his medicine made by priests from special
herbs. His wife told him to take it twice a day. As he lifted the cup to
his mouth, one friend snatched it from his hand and tipped the contents
into a nearby planter. He told John to stop taking it but not to
let his wife know. John seemed to understand. He confided that he
always seemed to feel worse immediately after downing the potion.
One month later, John was no longer bed-ridden and met up
with a mate at a restaurant in town. John looked bright and healthy,
ordering a soda water because he was no longer on the booze. He
said he had spent his last month of recovery untangling such a web
of intrigue it made Hollywood suspense thrillers seem tame. Everything
that happened had been part of a cunning scheme in which
his wife was chief puppeteer.
His wife had two friends who owned a bar of similar size but
nowhere near as popular as John’s. Their lease was about to expire
and the landowner informed them it would not be renewed because
their bar and the surrounding area had been earmarked as the site
of a new hotel. They needed new premises and John’s bar would be
perfect. Conspiring with John’s wife, they offered her a half share in
a new ‘super bar’ made by the merger of John’s place and their own,
if they could buy John’s at a cheap price. The trouble was that John
owned the bar through a registered company and his wife could not
sell it without his signature. Besides that, the fully operational and
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profitable bar with a long-term lease would be very expensive even
if John could be persuaded to sell. She knew John would give her
half the proceeds of the sale but that was a pittance compared with
the money generated from her silent partnership in the new management
team.
The first stage was to keep him away from the bar and his
friends. She knew as long as he was in the picture, the bar would
continue to run profitably. She switched off and hid his mobile
phone and easily fended off phone calls made to the house. She
began feeding him the brown concoction which, in small doses,
caused drowsiness with a narcotic effect but taken over a longer
period of time, would kill him. That was her two-pronged attack. If
he could be persuaded to sell the business to her friends at a ridiculously
cheap price, she would stop administering the ‘medicine’. If he
refused, his death could easily be explained as the result of chronic
alcoholism and the bar would pass into her hands. She felt she could
not lose.
The second part of her plan was to run the business into the
ground financially. When weekly takings kept declining, she could
explain to John that since he was no longer well the bar was losing
money. It would be best to sell up before they went broke. She
would talk him into accepting the best offer, which naturally would
come from her co-conspirators. To do it, she got rid of the cashier
who had been John’s friend for years and replaced her with her own
crony who would adjust the figures as directed. She forced an intolerable
situation upon the band knowing they would quit and sacked
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the three most popular and efficient members of staff. Any staff
member who quit was not replaced. At one point, she was down to
three serving staff which, for a large bar, was totally inadequate.
Her plan unravelled once John stopped taking the potion. His
health improved daily but he did not let her know, pretending to be
still following her prescription. The potted plant beside his window
where he had been disposing of the liquid had withered and died.
John could not believe the lengths his wife would go to for
sheer greed. The final question was what he was going to do about
it. If they wanted his bar so badly that they would consider murder,
then they may try again and, next time, might be successful. He
decided it was not worth it. In any case, he had had enough and
wanted out of the bar business altogether. John said he was going
to give them what they wanted. He was going to sell them the bar
– but at his price, not theirs.
What about his wife? What action was he going to take now he
had evidence of her attempt to murder him? None. He was advised
that, should he make any trouble for her, she had enough money
and contacts to ensure he never testified. He did not want to spend
the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. He negotiated with his
bitter wife and she agreed to buy him out of his half of their beautiful
home. After the sale of the bar went through, he would give her half
the proceeds before heading back to the UK to retire.
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