Indian Ocean Drama - 10. Orc Chapter 10

“Mine actually, excess vehicles from the business in Broome, that I had trucked to here, and arrived yesterday” I replied, as I climbed into the driver’s seat of the Trail Blazer, with Kylie sitting in the front passenger seat, while the others joined Frank in the Colorado.

When we arrived at the police station, Frank lead the AFP team into the small meeting room, where they set up laptop computers, and phones, before coming out to the front office where Frank and I were talking. “We have Michael Parker in Custody in Perth, but his wife is either somewhere around Geraldton or in transit, either to Perth or back here, and we are looking for his brother too” Kylie informed us.

“You have use of the Colorado, while you are here, I am heading back to the Oceanside Village, to try and organise things there, and I will have accommodation available for your all while you are in town” I said to Kylie, before leaving the police station, and driving back to the accommodation.

Letting myself in through the back door of the administration building, there was no sign of Erica, but I saw a man approaching, who looked like he was the groundsman. “Are you Mr Shaw? I am Matthew, the groundsman” the man said as he entered the back door.

“Yes, I am Lewis Shaw, nice to meet you, are you a local?” I replied, “Yes, I am, nearly twenty years I have been here, and are you Sir Lewis Shaw, former IOTA administrator, and husband of the late Swiss Billionaire?” the groundsman asked, and I chuckled, “You are well up to date with your info about me, now tell me what you know about what is going on here” I replied.

Five minutes later, Matthew had stated that he suspected something dodgy was happening, but he had no idea that Wagner International, were the owners of the property, and that the two sisters who have been cleaning for the past 8 months have had multiple complaints, regarding their cleaning standards.

“Do me a favour will you, and call all the top accommodation places in town, starting with the accommodation next door, I need up to six cleaners for a period of 3 days, tell them, that I will pay the cleaners $30 per hour, and give the accommodation places $200 for each cleaner that they provide, once you have done that, call the two sisters, tell them that they are fired, and that I will pay for their bus fares, back to Perth from the roadhouse on the main highway” I said to Matthew.

I walked out the back door, leaving Matthew to make all the phone calls, while I headed over to the small restaurant, across the driveway, and entered via the back door, where I found Erica talking to the chef. “Mr Lewis, this is our chef, Ewan Hunter” Erica said making the introductions.

“Erica, I understand that you have two younger siblings, I am making you Duty Manager, effective as of now, Matthew is in the office making calls to get more cleaners, can you keep up with things in the laundry, until all the villas are properly cleaned, then you can knock off for the day, so you can take care of your siblings.

I will take over in reception at 2pm, and with your new position, you will get to stay in the managers house. I suggest that you start packing up your parent’s belongings, as one is already in custody, and the other will be soon, I also suggest that you say nothing to your brothers, about what is happening to their parents, and don’t even trying to contact your mother, step father or uncle, or you will be in very serious trouble” I said to Erica, before she left.

“Matthew, although we have closed for any new guests, we will have four special guests, who have just arrived in town, that will be staying with us, can you prepare 3 meals a day for them please, and once a villa is cleaned properly. I will be eating here also, so that will make it five people, and two of my personal staff will be arriving on Saturday, but they will be staying next door” I said to the chef.

“Not a problem sir, I am happy to do that, is it possible to get a kitchen hand or cook to assist me, as I have been working on my own since I started, and it is a bit of a struggle” Matthew replied, “Not a problem, I will get right on it” I answered before heading back to the administration building.

“Sir, we have had five guests depart, and that leaves just two remaining, but I can’t seem to be able to give them a refund” Erica said to me as soon as I entered the reception area.

“That is my fault, I forgot to organise that, I will get onto that right away, just contact the guests and let them know that the owner will personally make sure that they receive a full refund on their credit card, within 24 hours” I responded.

“Sir, I have managed to secure, five cleaners, who will be here within the hour” Matthew informed me, “Good, now I need to get a kitchen hand and a breakfast cook, and while I am at it, an assistant for you Matthew, and three replacement cleaners, I will see what is available here in town, before looking around elsewhere” I said.

“Sir, my cousin is a self-employed plumber, and he has been struggling for work the past few weeks, I am sure he would be interested in a job” Matthew said to me, “Good, call him and get him over here asap for an interview” I replied, before heading to the office behind reception, to try and make sense of the mess in there.

Ten minutes later, as I struggled with the computer, to make sense of everything, there was a knock on the door, and Matthew entered. “Sir, I have my cousin, Patrick O’Malley, outside to see you” Matthew said, “Ok, bring him in, stay in the reception area, as I will need you to show him and me around the place” I replied.

Five minutes later, I was happy to employ Patrick as an assistant to Matthew, and we stepped out to the reception area, “Right let’s have a good look around this place” I announced, as we headed out the back door, just as my mobile rang, “Hey you, where are you at the moment?” Kylie said when I answered the call.

“I am at the Oceanside Village, where I have organised accommodation and food for you and your team, just come around the back, I will be somewhere around, I am just having a guided tour of the property” I replied, before I ended the call and joined Matthew and Patrick.

After the tour, I left Matthew and Patrick to get to work, while I returned to the administration office, and Kylie was standing at the back door, talking to Erica. “Hi Kylie, this is Erica, my new Duty Manager, Erica this is my best friend, AFP officer Kylie Sanders, she and her team will be staying here, once the villas are cleaned.

Also just to let you know, I have contacted the guests who are due to check in over the next two weeks, and refunded their bookings, and recommended next door, that gives us enough time to get this place back into good order, and ready for the start of the tourist season” I said to Erica, as I led Kylie inside, and I went directly to the office.

Over the next hour, I showed Kylie everything on the computer, regarding the dodgy management of the place, and I left her to sift through all the information, while I found Kylie, and led her to the accommodation admin office next door. “I would like to speak to the manager please” I said to the receptionist.

“Err, I am the Duty Manager, the Manager, who is Erica’s father is away at the moment” the receptionist replied, “oh that is just great” I said as I retrieved my phone and dialled Kylie’s number. “You better get over here, I am next door at the Bay Lodge, this is run by them as well” I said to Kylie before ending the call.

“Mr Parker has given me managerial control of this property, he just banks all the money for me, and pays the bills and wages” the duty manager replied. “Lucy, Mr Shaw is the owner of both properties, and he has just learnt that my parents have stealing from the company” Erica said to the Duty Manager.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound good, I will assist in any way possible, but I have only been at this job for a few months” Lucy said, “That is good to hear Ms…”, “Alton, Lucy Alton” Lucy said. “good, now a lady by the name of Kylie Sanders will be here any moment, she is an Australian Federal Police officer, you are to assist her in any way possible, do you understand” I said to Lucy, and I saw her swallow nervously.

“Yes Mr Shaw, anything at all, as I wish to keep my job” Lucy relied, just as Kylie walked in, Kylie, this is Lucy Alton the Duty Manager, she will assist you with your enquiries, Erica, you can return to your work, and I will speak to you later” I said, and I waited for Erica to leave, before speaking to Kylie.

“Lucy here is the Duty manager, in charge of day to day running of this place, but Mr Parker does the banking, paying the bills and wages” I informed Kylie before leaving. I decided that I need to see the last of the properties that I own, so I headed to the real estate agents.

When I entered, I noticed the display board with all the properties for sale, and I spotted a 6-bedroom, 2-bathroom property, that I thought would be ideal for staff accommodation, and I turned to walk to the reception desk.

“Hello Sir, how may I help you” the lady asked. “My name is Lewis Shaw, I have come to collect the keys for my property at Fowlers Bay, also I am interest at looking at that property at No 6, Sellenger Heights please” I asked. “Yes Mr Shaw, I am Anita, Downer, the property manager, the property at Fowlers Bay, has a three-bedroom house on it, and a secure boundary fence along the east side” the lady said.

“What about the other three sides?” I asked, “the property is right on a bay, and has water around the other three sides as the boundary” Anita responded, “Ah, I see, can we go and have a look at the property for sale first?” I replied, grinning a little, “Yes sir, just follow me in your car, and we will go there directly” Anita replied, and a few minutes later, we were on the north west end of town, parked outside the property.

“It is currently used as holiday accommodation, and is regularly booked out during the tourist season, and on school holidays” Anita explained, “Well if it is what I want, I will be asking for immediate occupancy and all current bookings will have to be cancelled” I replied, as we entered the house.

Ten minutes later I had seen the whole house and I liked it. I understand that it is currently for sale at $790 thousand, I will offer $800 thousand with a one week settlement time” I said to Anita, “well I see no problem with that offer, but the matter of the bookings could be” Anita replied, “That is your problem, not mine, you have offered it for sale, and I have made an offer, with one week settlement and sole occupancy of the property, do we have a deal?” I asked.

Anita sighed and held out her hand, “Yes Mr Shaw we have a deal” she said, as we shook hands, “now let’s get the paper work out of the way and go and see this house at Fowlers Bay” I said smiling. Once the paperwork was done and a deposit was paid for the house in town, we set off south out of town.

Twenty - five minutes later, we turned right, off the main road, onto a small gravel road, heading west, and we soon stopped at a 2 metre high Garrison fence, and the gate slowly opened, with a big sign on it – ‘Keep Out, Private Property’, and I had noticed a sign just off the main road that read – ‘Private Road, Keep Out’.

Less than two minutes later a huge house came into view, and it was very impressive, around three sides of the house, there are tall Eucalyptus trees and palm trees, that help shade the house.

“Built alongside a small hillside, to give it wind protection on one side, with views of the small bay, the square shaped house is raised 2.5 metres off the ground, and has a large square open courtyard in the middle, with a double garage, under each side, and a large entry foyer in the front, with a large staircase and elevator leading to the upstairs living area.

At the back on the ground floor, is a large store room and maintenance workshop, plus a power generator room in one corner, and a desalination plant in the other corner, behind the house, set into the hill are 4 large storage tanks to hold plenty of fresh water.

The whole of the roof is covered in solar panels to provide all the power required to run the house. Upstairs, is a wide- open living area, that is nearly the full width of the house, and has commanding views of the bay in one direction, and overlooks the central courtyard in the other direction, with a veranda leading off the living area.

Above the courtyard, which is a large landscaped tropical style garden, with plenty of large palm trees, ferns, hibiscus and other tropical shrubs, that surround a peanut shaped swimming pool, with a 1.5 metre-high, stone wall and a cascading waterfall.

Hidden behind the wall is the pool pump and filtration system, to keep the pool running smoothly and looking clean all the time. To the left of the living area, is a large office and library, with a private lounge and a huge master suite, with a private balcony in the corner. On the right side is the formal dining room, butler’s pantry, food stores, the large kitchen, and a laundry, with a small balcony in the corner.

From the balcony, along the back of the house, is a passageway along the front, that faces the central courtyard, and this leads to a large bedroom, a private lounge room and a 2nd large bedroom, with a large shared bathroom” Anita said describing the house as we entered the entry foyer, which has a door at each end that I presumed leads to the two garages, as we climbed the stairs.

Ten minutes later we had seen the whole house and I was very impressed with it, and decided that this would be my new home, which was spotlessly cleaned.