Fools Gold

Danesh Selkirk
“I am 5 hours from most places of significance, but tomorrow I will be in your City. Can we get together? Danesh Selkirk said to Arcadia Thiessen when he rang her Monday morning. Danesh had heard about Arcadia through work and he wanted to meet her.

“We will see. Contact me when you get here. I have to go to a meeting now,” Arcadia replied.

Another brief telephone call, we have had several of them. Will we ever meet?, Danesh thought to himself.

Garlick Duckworth
During her meeting Arcadia was thinking about her Sydney boyfriend, Garlick Duckworth.
Unperturbed by her ongoing divorce proceedings, which she was going to discuss with her solicitor, Siobhan Blanco, later that day, Arcadia decided to concoct another flimsy excuse to justify her employer sending her on a business trip to go Sydney to see Duckworth. She planned to tell him she does not intend to reveal him to the world as her boyfriend until her divorce is finalised.

Arcadia was well aware that her plan would deny any consideration of her relationship with Garlick Duckworth in the divorce proceedings and his suitability to have any interaction with the children. She decided that was something that the divorce proceedings did not need to know.

When her meeting ended, Arcadia returned to her office and asked her assistant to make the usual arrangements for her to travel to Sydney tomorrow. Ninety (90) minutes later she received an e-mail from her assistant, confirming that the requested travel arrangements had been made.

Meeting with Siobhan Blanco
At her meeting with her solicitor, Siobhan Blanco, Arcadia did not tell Blanco about all her boyfriends and sex partners. She maintained the line that she was a faithful wife and her husband had been cheating on her for many years. She proffered a couple of historic stories to support her claim, but nothing in recent times. Blanco and Arcadia prepared affidavit material to file in the Court to support the case of Arcadia. It contained the same narrative as Arcadia told Blanco, that she was a faithful wife and her husband had been cheating on her for many years.

In the process of preparing the Court material Blanco told Arcadia how an alternate argument to hers may see her spend less time with the children. Arcadia ignored the advice and maintained her position.

Danesh Selkirk
As Arcadia was walking to her car after seeing Siobhan Blanco, she received a telephone call from Danesh Selkirk.

“You know from our few telephone calls that I have been trying to meet you for some time. I will be flying home tomorrow. We can meet at my hotel tonight.”, Danesh tells Arcadia.

“You are trying not to waste the opportunity, are you? I can be at your hotel in forty (40) minutes”, Arcadia replied.

Arcadia sent Danesh a text message as she approached his hotel. When she arrived, he was waiting for her in the foyer. There was a brief greeting and then they proceeded to his hotel room. Once inside his hotel room, Arcadia put her handbag on the table.

Danesh then asked Arcadia about dinner.

“Food is not the real reason you invited me here, is it?”, Arcadia asked.

The initial response of Dinesh was stunned silence.

Arcadia continued, “We can deal with food afterwards”.

She removed her shoes and started to remove her dress. Danesh said nothing, but he too got undressed.

Their sexual encounter lasted about twenty (20) minutes. As they were putting their clothes back on discussion ensued about going down stairs to the restaurant in the hotel and eating dinner. They then made their way to the restaurant.

During dinner Arcadia told Danesh that she would have to return home straight after dinner. Danesh did not try to persuade Arcadia otherwise.

As she was leaving Arcadia said to Danesh, “Thanks for dinner. I guess we will speak again, sometime”.

Arcadia then left the restaurant, walked to her car and drove home. Danesh stayed at the restaurant for a little longer, then returned to his hotel room.

Tabernacle Calderone Meets with His Solicitors
In contrast to Arcadia, her estranged husband, Tabernacle Calderone, did not think he knew better than his solicitors when it came to their divorce. He did not try to control the narrative. They had long discussions on what might be included and what might be discovered in the process.

Calderone was uncertain as to whether he wanted to follow the suggestion of his solicitors and obtain surveillance video of Arcadia to see if it would support any of his claims of Arcadia having extramarital affairs.

It was a much easier decision for him to allow his solicitors to search the hotel records of where Arcadia had stayed on some of her business trips. That investigation proved fruitful, insofar as several of the room service bills showed that Arcadia ordered meals consistent with two (2) people being in the room. By the size of the meals, it appeared that her companion was male.

It was also an easy decision for him to allow his solicitors to obtain the telephone records of the second mobile telephone Arcadia had for some considerable time. In the process he said he was happy to disclose his telephone records, because they revealed no improper behaviour on his part.

Calderone was surprised to see that those records revealed almost daily contact between Arcadia and Garlick Duckworth, both by telephone calls and text messages. They also revealed every time she was in Sydney, she had contact with Duckworth.

When his solicitor, Zorgarn Kreptic, revealed this information to Callderone, they discussed the use to which it might be put in his case.

Kreptic asked Calderone, “Do you know Garlick Duckworth?”

“I have no idea who he is”, replied Calderone.

Kreptic: “Would you like me to make some further enquiries in relation to him? I do not expect it to be an expensive exercise.”

Calderone: “Yes.”

Kreptic: “In all the correspondence I have received from her solicitors, no mention is made of Arcadia being involved with Garlick Duckworth in any way, shape or form. I suggest we not say anything about him, at least until I have completed my enquiries in relation to him.”

Calderone: “I am happy to adopt your suggested approach in relation to him.”

Kreptic: “When I get the results of those further enquiries in relation to Duckworth, we can also discuss the utility of obtaining surveillance video of Arcadia.”

Calderone: “OK”

The conference with his solicitor then ended and Calderone went home.

Sydney
Upon arriving in Sydney Arcadia checked into the same hotel she always stays at when she sees Garlick Duckworth and as usual she proceeded to her room where she made herself reasonably comfortable.

Not twenty (20) minutes after checking into her hotel, Garlick Duckworth sent a text message to Arcadia asking if she had arrived at her hotel.

“Let me know when you are in the foyer and I will come down and get you”, Arcadia wrote in reply.

Arcadia had just got out of the shower when she received a text message from Duckworth telling her he was in the lobby of the hotel. She put on some casual clothes and went down to the foyer to meet him. Then they proceeded to her hotel room.

As they had done many times before, almost as soon as they entered the hotel room their sexual encounter commenced. Whilst enthusiastic, it was a far from torrid encounter and it ended unremarkably after about fifteen (15) minutes.

Arcadia ordered room service for dinner because she wanted to talk with Duckworth about her plans to keep him secret from her divorce proceedings. It was obvious from the room service bill that Arcadia had company for the meal. Discussion ensued during and after dinner, as Arcadia wished, however whilst Duckworth listened, it was clear to any independent observer that Duckworth really only wanted to talk about himself. That was absolutely in keeping with his character.

Before they went to sleep Arcadia ordered room service for breakfast in the morning, as she had an early start for her work meeting, ostensibly the reason she was attending Sydney. Again it was obvious from the contents of the room service bill that Arcadia had company for the meal.

The next morning was like an instant replay of many of their previous encounters. They awoke and there was another brief sexual encounter. They then had breakfast. After she finished her breakfast, Arcadia had a shower, then got dressed and left for her work meeting. At the end of her work meeting, she would return to Melbourne.

As she left for her meeting Arcadia left Duckworth in the hotel room to finish his breakfast.

Tabernacle Calderone Again Meets with His Solicitors
Calderone met with his solicitor, Zorgarn Kreptic, again and discussed the new information which was to hand.

Kreptic said, “I have some results of those further enquiries in relation to Duckworth I can share with you. We have a modest profile on Garlick Duckworth. It seems every time Arcadia went to Sydney in the last eighteen (18) months, she met Duckworth. It seems he also spent quite a bit of time with her in hotels. That is in complete contrast to her story of being a loyal, faithful wife. I believe we can use this information to support your contention that the focus of Arcadia was not primarily on the children and parenting the children, but rather on her social life. Accordingly you should have more time with children than is currently being offered.”

A somewhat stunned Calderone said: “It is one thing to suspect this stuff. It is quite another to have it confirmed. How do we go about this?”

Kreptic told Calderone, “I already have a draft statement from you. I will use the information and knowledge we have obtained to develop and support your arguments in the affidavit material we will file in the Court for you. I will prepare a draft affidavit for you and you can see then if it is the approach you wish to take.”

“Also given that you and Arcadia are now separated, surveillance video of her now is unlikely to reveal much useful evidence, unless it concentrated upon Duckworth.”

“I will also try to frame your material so as to put the credibility of Arcadia in issue and help you in the process. It seems to me Arcadia is going to have to concede at least some involvement on her part with Duckworth. The process may appear uncomfortable for Arcadia, but I do not intend to lose focus from our ultimate goal, which is to present your case in the best possible way and to achieve the best outcome we can for you.”

Calderone replied, “By the time you have a draft affidavit ready for me to read I will have processed the news you have just told me a little more and will be in a better position to decide how I wish to proceed with the case. At the moment I am happy with your suggestions.”

The conference then ended and Calderone went home.

Arcadia Returns To The Office
Arcadia returned to work after her Sydney business trip. In making her way to her office, she walked past several colleagues gathered around a computer screen.  She could see that something had captured their attention, however she was not able to see what they were watching. Things became a little clearer in that regard when she arrived at her office. She noticed there was a video playing on her computer. The video was of her having a sexual encounter with Bonham Trudeaux, her Melbourne boyfriend. She felt numb, put her bag down and slumped in her chair.

Within moments her assistant approached her and handed her a piece of paper. The message on the paper was simple, it was from the big boss, “Clean out your desk”.