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Dig Two Graves Ch. 01

By: winterfoxx



Preface:

This story is fiction and any resemblance to any specific person or persons is pure coincidence. It is intended for adults only. The story involves adultery and revenge and contains sexual situations in the initial chapter and very little sex in subsequent chapters.

The "welcome home" concept in the initial part of Chapter 1 is from a story I read 15 or more years ago on a bulletin board. I wish I had some idea of that author to give them proper credit for the introductory concept. If anyone does recognize the initial screen and knows of the author, I would welcome their information so as to provide proper credit. The rest of the story is from my feeble imagination.

Friday 6:10 pm

"Never has rush hour traffic looked any better," I think to myself crawling along the I-20 heading west out of the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex. "After a week and a half on the road, everything looks better."

I must admit that until ten minutes ago, I wasn't sure how much better my arrival home would be. Fresh from an argument, I left on this trip slamming the garage door in anger. My subsequent calls home over the past week or so didn't lighten the dark clouds hanging overhead, and I made them more out of duty than a desire to talk to Susie. However, the time away did give our marriage time to breathe and also time for both of us to reflect. I realize I've been as much the problem in our marriage as Susie has been.

As many couples, we fought about sex. I accused her of forsaking "us" in exchange for her blossoming career as an Assistant District Attorney. She called me a "pot calling the kettle black", arguing that I was more interest in obtaining partnership in my firm than I was in a relationship with her. In addition, she accused me of not paying attention to her, except of course when I wanted "to fuck". I retorted that I couldn't pay attention to someone that was never home. There have been several times during our six year marriage that I questioned my own intelligence in marrying another lawyer. 

Unfortunately I do remember taking the first shot that Wednesday morning. I mentioned off-hand it would have been nice if she had come home at a decent hour the night before I left on a trip. Susie's temperament is as explosive as mine, and from my opening salvo our discussion quickly self-destructed into an argument. The argument ended when I slammed the door on my way to the car. In our escalating verbal blows, I told her we might have a better sex life if she would do something more than just lie there. Furious, she got in the last word telling me she would be a little more active if she was with someone that knew how to fuck. 

It took me a while for my anger to settle down before I could even begin to reflect on myself, Susie and our marriage. I realized Susie is as sensitive to my comments about her career as I am toward her comments about mine. The truth is that we have good reason to be sensitive. We are both spending too much time and effort on our separate careers, and way too little on our time on our relationship. We're sensitive because the truth hurts. The needling comments and the late nights we spend apart help to decompose all the other facets of our relationship.

But as gloomy as the past week has been, my one cell phone call at the luggage carousel caused the sun to break out and the earth to resume spinning. The sweet sultry undertone in Susie's voice was music to my ears, music I haven't heard for over a year. Her promise of "something special" nearly sparked a sprint to the long-term parking lot instead of patiently waiting for the bus. I can only laugh at myself now as I suffer through bumper to bumper traffic. I have to will myself to breathe slowly as I struggle to reach what I hope will be an enthusiastic welcome home.

As I finally near our home, I glance over at the dozen roses I bought on my streak out of the airport. I cringe at the thought I hadn't gotten her anything for our sixth anniversary tomorrow night. Worse, I feel like a heel for not even wanting to get her anything until that magic cell phone call. Thankfully, tomorrow is a Saturday and will provide me with enough time to get her something.

With a sigh of relief I turn the last corner and drive the last block. We have lived here since being married, as I had inherited the house from an uncle. Sometimes I blame the house for our marriage problems. It's an established old housing addition and our home is located at the end of a cul-de-sac with only one close neighbor. 

I pull into the driveway and press the button for the garage door. Not surprisingly it doesn't work. There always seems to be something that's not quite "so" in our house, part of the reason I blame the house. But I refuse to let this become even a minor setback. I park on my "side" of the driveway and quickly hurry around to the trunk to grab my suitcase.

"Jake," I hear from our house. I look up to see an erotic vision of loveliness. Susie is standing in the doorway, practically embracing the door frame like some exotic dancer wearing what has to be the sheerest negligee I've seen.

"Why don't you leave the luggage until later?" She coos.

Without taking my eyes off of her, I toss my briefcase into the trunk and shut the trunk lid. I walk toward the front door in a partial stupor. I couldn't take my eyes off her and somehow manage to make it all the way to the door without stumbling or killing myself.

At the last minute she turns to face me and wraps her arms around me, tilting her head back for a kiss. It is only for a brief moment it registers in my brain that she is practically naked and standing on our front stoop. Then my head descends and our lips touch. 

Our kiss is soft and exploring at first. As our lips caress they part and our tongues begin to dance together. I taste the hint of a bitter cigarette, proof that I haven't convinced her to stop smoking. Then I have a flash of self-consciousness that my breath can't be the best after a beer on the airplane. Any concern I have is wiped out when she puts her hand behind my head and crushes our lips together. She sucks hard on my tongue and I return the favor, our kiss having quickly turned into something reserved for the bedroom.

I slide my right hand behind her back and without breaking our kiss, lean over and scoop her up into my arms. I carry my near naked wife across the threshold and hook my foot around the door, slamming it shut. She cradles my face in both of her hands, kissing me sloppily and using her tongue to fuck my mouth like I might use my tongue inside her pussy.

Somehow we finally make it into our bedroom without me tripping and I slowly let her slide down my body to the floor. I can feel every inch of her clinging to my body and I'm sure she can feel parts of me pushing back against her. I reach up to take off my tie when her hands stop me.

"Let me do this," she coos again. "I want you to just relax for a moment as I have the next hour or so all planned out."

I smile and try to relax as she asked. She grabs my hand and leads me a few steps over to the side where my heavy oak office chair has been placed. I raise a questioning eyebrow and she smiles. 

"You'll understand very soon," she teases. "Now let me finish this," she commands more than asks.

I nod as she starts loosening my tie and tosses it carelessly to the floor. She lifts my left arm to unfasten the cuff button as I lower my other hand to her thigh. She spreads her legs and I take the invitation to slide my fingers up the inside of her thigh until I cup her pubic mound. She stares directly into my eyes as she shamelessly thrust against my hand. Shocked, I slide a finger inside my wife as she begins to fuck herself on my finger. I've only been home five minutes and Susie has already shocked me several times with her wantonness. Never have I seen her this wild or uninhibited.

Finished with my left cuff, she reaches down to unfasten the button on my right sleeve, now slowly rubbing herself on the extended fingers of my left hand. Never taking her eyes from mine, her hands then make their way to my neck where they make quick work of all the remaining buttons of my shirt.

Her hands begin to unfasten my belt and I realize I am so aroused I'm afraid I may cum before she gets me undressed. My belt snaps open and quickly my pants are unfastened and around my knees. The slow luxurious strip that started with my shirt has evaporated as her needs to get me naked have equaled mine.

She backs away from my hand for a moment and pulls my dress shirt and t-shirt off. She leans forwards and takes my right nipple between her teeth and bites. Pain and pleasure rip through me and my knees almost buckle. Smiling she looks up at me and begins licking her way down my stomach, sinking to her knees as she does.

"Ohgod," I moan to myself as she finishes kneeling and begins to lick the outside of my boxers. I close my eyes in arousal and anticipation. "Could it be?" I hope to myself. Her hands coax me to lift one of my feet and I feel and then hear my shoe tossed across the floor. I feel my pant leg pulled off my leg and then her hand pulling my foot back to the floor.

I groan as her lips find my boxer sheathed cock and begin to suck through the cloth. "Ohgodyes," I moan, relishing the rare feeling of her mouth on me. Her hands then coax me to lift my other leg and I can barely breathe much less balance as another shoe is tossed. I feel my pants sliding down and then the slight coolness of the room on my shin. I lower my left leg as her hands encircle my waist as she begins to guide my hips back and forth. More shock registers in what little parts of my brain still function. Susie not only has gone down on me but is guiding me to fuck her mouth, with my boxers substituting as a condom. With a slurp I feel her lips leave my cock and I finally manage to open my eyes, staring down into her twinkling eyes.

"Did you enjoy that?" She laughs, my hard cock severely tenting my boxers directly in front of her face.

"You need to ask?" I evade, a verbal game of questions we play with each other all the time.

She slowly pulls herself up and stretches to kiss me on the lips.

"Trust me?" She asks.

"Why not?"

She smiles at my question and pushes me lightly backwards into my office chair.

"What are you planning to do?" I ask with a grin, settling back into my chair.

"Shhhh," she quiets me.

She kneels before my chair and then leans over my lap, taking my boxer covered cockhead in her mouth. She looks up at me as she playfully bites, and my cock surges in response. She places my left arm on the solid oak arm of the chair. The chair is built heavy and wide and I briefly wonder how she got the chair into the room by herself. Magically a Velcro strap appears and with several revolutions my left arm is secured to the chair.

"What are you doing?" I ask again, this time more than just curious.

"Shhhh," she repeats with a disarming smile. 

I laugh at her games as she repeats the Velcro trick with my right arm, and then again with both ankles to the legs of the chair. "Whatever she has planned, it's going to test every ounce of my patience."

She then slips the belt out of my slacks, running it around my abdomen and fastening it to the spindles in the back of the chair. "Comfortable?" She asks, rising to her feet. 

I sigh in lust and need, getting my first real look at her in the light since I got home. The sheer negligee hides little. If the negligee includes a set of panties, she's opted not to where them.

"That's brand new?" I ask, not recognizing it.

"Yes it is, do you like it?"

"It looks ... it looks ... incredible," I honestly answer. "Where did you get it?"

"I'm glad you like it so much. It's a gift from Tim for our anniversary."

"Tim?" I ask puzzled.

"Yes, surely you remember me?" I hear from behind me.

My head twists violently around, instantly recognizing the sound of his voice.

"What the fuck?" I exclaim. I start to get up and instantly remember I can't move. "Susie, get me out of these quick." I command.

Tim Schmidt moves around my chair and slides up behind Susie, his arm wrapping around her front and pulling her back against him. My eyes glint in anger and then warning as I recognize he's wearing my robe.

"Susie!" I exclaim.

"I think you look quiet comfortable where you are Jake," Susie purrs.

I look up at her in surprise and notice for the first time the twinkle in her eyes is gone and has been replace by steely glint.

"Susie what the hell?"

"Jake, you've been having your fun all along, and now I'm going to have some fun too. Except instead of doing it behind your back, I'm going to have fun right in front of you."

"Susie?" I exclaim mystified and incensed.

"Jake," she chastises. "Did you really think you were going to get away with it forever?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? And get the fuck away from that asshole," I yell, watching Schmidt's hand drop between my wife's legs.

"Oh Jake," she purrs as she spreads her legs. "Are you really going to claim innocence until the very end?" 

I watch in shock as Schmidt's finger disappears inside my wife's pussy. Susie closes her eyes even as hips begin to rock to and fro, fucking his finger as she did mine just a few short minutes ago.

"Susie I have no fucking idea what you are talking about!" I plead. "What did I do? Please stop this. Please! What kind of nightmare is this!"

"Jake, enough already. I've seen the pictures of you and Heidi. I've seen Heidi's affidavit where she admits being forced into an affair with you.

"Heidi?" I ask stultified.

"Yes Heidi! Your poor abused secretary? I can't believe you took advantage of her like that. We've had our arguments but I at least respected you as a person. To betray me like you have is horrible enough. But to victimize that poor woman ..."

"I honest to God have no fucking idea what you are talking about!" I yell. "Susie, please let's talk about this. Untie me and let's talk. Don't do this. Don't do this with him!" I spit out.

"I have no intention to listen to any more of your fucking lies," she spits back at me. "Help me," Susie says to Schmidt, nodding toward me. 

I sigh briefly in relief as she pulls away from that fuckwad Schmidt. The two of them approach the chair. Briefly I contemplate what I will do when I get free. "Should I beat the shit out of Schmidt first or second? He has to be involved in this somehow. I only hope to God that nothing has happened yet between him and Susie."

"Hey! What are you doing?" I exclaim as the two of them walk to each side of the chair and begin tipping it backwards. I feel my weight shift the balance of the chair to the back legs. 

"Ohhh," Susie yells and suddenly the chair is in freefall and the back of the chair crashes to the floor, my head cracking against the hard frame of the chair back.

"Oops, sorry!" Heidi laughs, joined shortly by Schmidt.

"What the fucking hell!" I spit out venomously. I could feel the blood surging in my face.

"Shut the fuck up Jake," Susie says with disgust.

She moves toward me and straddles my chest, sinking until she is sitting on me and facing me. 

"Now, it's time for a little payback Jake, a little vengeance. And also time for a little fun, at least for me. And who knows maybe you'll like it in the end?" She laughs. She motions toward Schmidt who then moves over so that he is standing by my head facing Susie.

Susie looks at me one last time with gleeful contempt and then up at Schmidt. With a smile she looses the knot on my bathrobe and opens it, revealing Schmidt to be naked underneath.

"Ohgod Susie, please don't do this," I plead.

"Shut up Jake. You've been cheating on me for years and now you're going to pay.

"Susie I haven't. I don't know what you've seen or been told but you have to believe me!"

"Jake, I've seen the pictures of you fucking Heidi!" She looks back up and Schmidt and takes his cock into her hand. She strokes him a few times and I watch in torment as he quickly gets hard. "Hmmm, this is a lovely cock isn't it Jake? Sooo much nicer than yours."

I glance up at Schmidt, his face twisted in a smile as he looks back. If looks could kill he would have been incinerated into ashes on the spot. And worse it galls me that my worst enemy's cock was not only being stroked by my wife, but that it was indeed a thicker and longer than my own.

"I really can't wait any longer," Susie torments. 

"Susie this is all some kind of horrible mistake. Please don't do this. Whatever it is I have supposedly done, don't compound it by doing this!"

She looks at me one last time, shaking her head. Then she leans forward and I watch in horror as his cockhead disappears between her lips. She grabs his hips and begins guiding him back and forth, in and out of her mouth, just as she did with me earlier. 

"Ohgod no," I moan in horror.

It is like watching a terrible accident that you can't look away from. It feels like I have a hot knife in my stomach yet I can't stop watching as she sucks on his cock. She continues to guide him for a few more minutes and then moves her hands so that she is cupping his balls. Schmidt moves his right hand behind my wife's head and starts fucking Susie's mouth.

"Schmidt, you're going to die," I threaten.

Schmidt's cock pops out of Susie's mouth and she laughs, looking down at me. "You really shouldn't threaten people like that in front of an ADA!" She fists his cock a few more times and then licks the tip. "Oh, I meant to tell you. I saw the brief look you gave me when I first kissed you out by the front door. You wondered for a moment didn't you? Did you taste something strange? Do you know what semen taste like Jake? Do you know that both of us now know what Tim's cum tastes like?"

My stomach instantly roils and I nearly throw up.

Susie laughs and gets up off my chest. They watch me gag for a moment. "Don't take it personally Tim, I actually loved it and plan on having a lot more!"

"You bitch," I finally speak.

"You don't know the half of it Jake. You think this night is over for you? I've been in hell for the past 24 hours thinking about you cheating on me. You can plan on being in hell for at least half that much time."

"It's time you finally fuck me with that big cock," she says angrily to Schmidt.

Susie turns around and again straddles my chest, but this time kneeling on the ground and grabbing the front of my chair by my knees. Her pussy was directly above my face and to my horror I realized I was going to have to watch her get fucked only inches away.

I couldn't look away as Schmidt kneels behind my head, his cock pointing directly at my wife's pussy. Susie turns her head and looks at me. "I want you to watch me take another cock in my pussy Jake, the first cock other than yours since we've been married. If only you could have been as faithful. This is what you've done to us Jake. Now, this is my vengeance." With those words she reaches back and grabs Schmidt's cock and guides him into her. I hear her moan as his cock disappears completely inside her. I can't watch anymore and have to turn my head. I feel myself go numb as I feel Schmidt's knees pressing against the top of my head. I can't help but feel the chair rock and I try not to think about what it means, but the sound of Susie's moans slices through my soul.

My wrists and ankles are chaffed from trying to work them free. I can hear the labored breathing of Schmidt as he fucks my wife, the slap of his thighs against her ass, the mewing sounds Susie makes just before cumming.

And then the worst sound of all reaches my ears: Susie's long drawn out groan. I can feel every quiver of her body. Her breathing becomes raspy pants. And when I think it can't get any worse, Schmidt groans loudly and slams into my wife, holding her tightly against him. I can only lie on my back in overwhelming misery, directly beneath them, as his cock spits his sperm deep inside Susie's cunt.


Dig Two Graves Ch. 01



I'm numb beyond caring at this point. I remotely hear Susie trying to goad me by saying something about finally getting fucked by a real cock. Only a small part of me is still thinking, desperately trying to figure a way out of this hell.

I feel Susie's hand slide underneath her pussy. I turn my head and look up to see her fingers cover her pussy as Schmidt slides his cock out of her. "Maybe now," I think to myself. "If she will let just one of the straps loose ..."

"I have another surprise for you Jake." Susie teases, looking down at me between her legs. I look up; surely she can see the innocence in my eyes?

She catches me unaware as she suddenly slides backwards and sinks pressing her pussy directly on my mouth. I feel her legs clamp the side of my head.

"Clean me," she orders.

I scream with my lips tightly held together.

"Lick it all out and I'll take pity on you for the rest of the night."

I scream again and try to thrash my head back and forth, my anger beginning to explode.

"Goddamn it Jake! Take your fucking medicine!"

I manage to get my head twisted to the side and take a frantic breath. "Fuck off!" I scream back, the rage now boiling out of me.

Suddenly pain explodes though my body as I feel my balls gripped in Susie's hand.

"Lick my pussy clean Jake and I'll let go of your balls!"

"Fuck off both of you!" I scream in agony.

The pain triples as she squeezes even tighter.

"GODDAMN!" I yell.

"Lick it and we'll move you and the chair outside the bedroom for the rest of the night."

"Fuck YOU!"

I feel her twist. The pain is unbelievable and then it stops. For a brief moment the pain just disappears. Then I see nothing but blackness.



Dig Two Graves Ch. 02



Preface: This is a fictional story intended for adult audiences. This story is about vengeance and adultery. There is no sex in this chapter.

Sunday 5:16 PM

"Just between you and me Mr. Vickers, I don't believe a quarter of what they've been saying," Nurse Bishop confides.

"I see ma'am," I respond with a smile as she backs me out into the corridor. "Are you sure I can't just walk out of here ma'am? I sure do feel funny making you go to all this trouble when I'm about twice your size."

"Don't you fret about that Mr. Vickers, I've handled fellas your size my whole life and I'm guessing I'll be still be handling them for quite a while yet."

"I have no doubts about that ma'am," I nod sincerely. "And I would appreciate it if you would call me Jake."

"You seem way too nice a man to be caught up in all they say," She continues. I smile as I know she's just twisting the conversation back to dig up any more juicy tidbits.

I really don't mind. Even those of us that don't work inside hospitals are familiar with how infamous their grapevines are. From what the doctor told me I'm sure I was the talk of the ward for several days. I don't say anything further and I'm smiling inside, knowing the matronly nurse is about to bust a gut. She's been nothing short of my own mother this entire weekend taking care of me while I recover.

My mind drifts for a moment recalling my conversation yesterday morning with the doctor who admitted me Friday night. Some of the details escape me as I was still a big groggy from the anesthesia. My memory does focus on a few salient points:

"Your left testicle will recover fully, it's just a bit swollen and should be fine in a day or two. Your right testicle is another story. The arterial tear deprived it of a direct blood supply. It's fortunate you got here quickly after the injury occurred otherwise you would have lost it for sure. Even now I only give a fifty-fifty chance of getting partial function restored."

"What do you mean by partial?"

"If the blood flow continues to improve within the testicle, it should likely resume about half the sperm and hormone production. My major concern is that if the blood flow does not improve the gland will atrophy. In this case I would strongly recommend we remove it."

I swallow. "But you think it will improve?"

"I believe there is an even chance. I like to be optimistic with my patients but I don't want to fill you with false hope. I wouldn't advise doing anything strenuous for the next few weeks and especially refrain from sex. You need to rest and take it easy until I've had a chance to clear you for more activity."

I nod.

"How did you become injured Mr. Vickers?" He asks.

I glance up at his face searching to see if this was really a medical question or a hunt for gossip material. I decide on the former yet see no reason to fully disclose what happened. "I'm not a hundred percent sure Doc. I think I blacked out and I don't really remember much."

"What do you remember?" He presses.

Thinking for a moment I say "I think I got twisted up in an unusual sexual position with my wife and something went totally wrong."

He jotted a few notes in his chart and glances up and holds my vision, his pen poised over his chart. "Would you like to tell me what really happened?"

With the best attorney face I respond "that's what I think did happen."

He continues to stare at me for a few more moments and then jots a few more notes in his chart. I take the opportunity to turn the tables.

"How did I get here Doc?"

"You don't know?" He responds with surprise.

I shake my head. "First thing I remember was waking up here this morning," I say truthfully.

"From what has been written in your chart and from what I been briefed by the emergency staff, I believe your wife dropped you off at the emergency entrance in a comatose state. 

"You believe?" I question.

"Yes. A man and a woman carried you into the emergency room. You were wearing only your boxer shorts and a robe. They stayed only long enough to say you had been injured in the groin. The two of them left and the woman returned a few moments later with a gym bag that contained clothing. She dropped the bag next to you and then tossed your wallet on top, saying you had an insurance card somewhere inside of your wallet. She then disappeared back outside. The emergency room staff sprang into action and immediately starting treating you."

"What makes you think it was my wife?"

"Only because one of the orderlies ran outside to try and catch the woman so that she could be asked more questions about your condition. He overheard an argument between the woman and the man she was with, and the man referred to you as her husband."

I sigh and lie back in my bed. "Have there been any calls for me?" 

"You'll have to check with the nurses." He stares at me for a moment, his quivering pen still poised above my chart.

"You were brought in with what proved to be semen all over the side of your face." He adds matter-of-factly, his pen still poised and waiting.

I look up at him askance. "I told you it was a very unusual position."

He stares back for a bit with one eyebrow raised. "So you did," he finally says. "I think that's enough for now. You realize you're going to have a lot of swelling, especially on the right side? I expect the swelling to last at least another week and that's if the blood supply improves as I hope. Swelling of that type and duration is normal for the type of injury you sustained. We have you on some mild pain medication, but I'm afraid when the anesthetic completely wears off you will be quite uncomfortable. Worse, urination will cause you even more discomfort. It's important that you stay on as low of dose of pain medication as possible. I gave you a rather strong dose of codeine but I want to switch you over to plain aspirin. The aspirin will not be as effective in pain relief but it will help the thin your blood and hence improve blood supply. But don't hesitate to let me know if it's unbearable? For now, it will help if you keep from moving." He lays a hand on my upper arm. I look up at him attentively. "Let me know if it's more than you can stand," he repeats with emphasis.

As Nurse Bishops wheels me toward the entrance, I think to myself, "and he wasn't kidding." My mind drifts back to other events that occurred the previous day:

They ran an IV drip and I got to the point where I just had to go to the bathroom or I was going to piss myself. Funny, up to that point I had been afraid to look at my cock and balls. They told me they were going to be OK. Well at least on the left side and they had high hopes for the right. At the time being that was good enough for me. But the doctor's warning about urination had me worried and I was trying to hold it as long as possible. I finally couldn't wait any longer and started to try and get out of bed. The burst of pain quickly told me I was going to need help. I pushed the call button and Nurse Bishop was Johnny-on-the-spot. I told her that I needed to urinate and needed help. She laughed said I didn't need any help and to go ahead and piss. I raised both eyebrows in question and she whipped back the sheet covering me. There snaking out of my hospital gown was a tube leading to a bag fastened to the side of my bed. I smiled and nodded in understanding. I was a bit embarrassed with her standing there so I reached down and pulled the sheet back up and relaxed my bladder.

I almost passed out again. Never had I felt pain like that. Well, maybe Friday night but this seemed as bad. The only mercy was that once the flow started the pain started to subside. I closed my eyes in a mixture of pain and bladder relief. A sudden coolness touched my forehead and I opened my eyes to see Bishop applying a wrung out wet cloth. She told me it wouldn't be anywhere as bad the next time and thank God she was right.


"That's awful nice of you to say that ma'am," I acknowledge. "You've been a blessing this entire weekend and I can't thank you enough."

"You needed a little help but not too much. I don't believe it does any good to coddle."

"Neither do I ma'am," as she wheels me into main reception area. I gingerly get out of the wheel chair to sign a few forms and turn to thank you one last time. 

"No you don't young man," she says firmly patting the wheel chair. "You know as well as I do you have to be wheeled all the way to the door. You trying to get me fired?"

I laugh. "No ma'am, I was just trying to avoid sitting."

She laughs herself and holds the chair steady for me as I sit back down, even more gingerly than I got up. She pushes me the last few yards and suddenly a man in a suit appears directly in front of us, causing Nurse Bishop to stop suddenly.

"Jacob Vickers?" He asks.

I don't recognize him yet he seems familiar. "Who wants to know?" I respond.

"Are you Jacob Vickers?" He repeats.

"I might be," I respond non-committal.

He laughs. "We both know you are Vickers," he says and drops an envelop package in my lap. "You've been served," he adds and quickly turns and disappears. I wince more from the expectation of pain than from the reality.

"Well of all the nerve ..." I hear my nurse chime behind me.

I stare at the package, all too familiar with this type of delivery. My hands start to shake as I begin to pick up the envelope. I stop and grip the chair for a moment and try a second time. This time my hands are a bit steadier and I open the seal on the package. The thinness of the package is a little reassuring and I slide the sheath of papers out of the envelope. 

"Whatever it is Jake," Nurse Bishop says behind me using my nickname for the first time. "I hope it's not as bad as it looks."

"It's a TRO," I breathe a sigh of relief. "It's not great news, but it's not as bad as I thought it might be," I think to myself.

"What's a TRO Jake?" Bishop asks.

"Temporarily Restraining Order," I reply quietly. "I'm not allowed within 300 yards of my house or within my wife's office building."

"Oh shit son," she says. "But it could have been worse couldn't it?"

"Yes it could ma'am."

"This means your wife's not picking you up?"

"I wasn't expecting her. I wasn't able to get a hold of her at all this weekend."

"I'm sorry to hear that Jake, so who is coming to pick you up?" She asks as she wheels me out the door.

She locks the chair and I repeat my gingerly escape. "I didn't call anyone else ma'am."

"Jake you can't go home alone," she says stopping when she realizes the implications of what she said.

I laugh to put her at ease. "That's for certain ma'am. I'll be just fine don't you worry. Someone told me that I don't need to be coddled. I'll take a cab to downtown and get a hotel room until I can figure out a few things."

She smiles and a tear begins to form in the corner of her eye. I wipe it away and thank her again for all her care. Wearing the rumpled up suit I wore Friday night, which had been crammed inside the gym bag, I carefully step to the curb and hail a cab.



Sunday 6:18 PM

"What do you mean it's declined?" I inquire incredulously.

"I'm sorry sir, but it won't take that card."

I stare at the hotel clerk. There is no use yelling at him. Calming down I take back my American Express card and give him the VISA. "Try this one," I encourage.

He gives me a grim smile and accepts the card. I glance in my wallet. After paying the $25 dollar taxi from the hospital to downtown, and then a tip on top of that, I have barely $50 in cash left.

"I'm sorry sir, but this one is declined too."

I'm not surprised; in fact I expected this result even as I gave him the second card. I thank him for his effort and turn from the desk. I can feel the eyes of the clerks staring into my back as I walk away. I feel unclean, as if I have financial leprosy. I walk to the corner of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

"Fortunately I have plenty of minutes on my cell phone," I think with a laugh. I dial the customer service number off the back of my American Express card. After wading through about half-a-dozen options on their call answering system, I finally am connected to a real person. The customer service representative confirms my fear. Our joint card was cancelled yesterday. I inquire as to what would be required to have a new account opened in just my name. One of the things I do enjoy about American Express, their service is impeccable. Using my home address, within a few minutes I have a brand new account but I can't use it until tomorrow. By luck the main American Express office in Dallas is located a few floors within the same building I work. I request they expedite delivery of the card to their office in Dallas where I can pick it up tomorrow.

One mystery solved but a problem still remains. I have no lodging for the evening. Spying an ATM across the street at a bank I think, "Sometimes there's no substitute for cash."

Although a quiet a bit slower than normal, I finally navigate my way across the street to the ATM machine via a half-block walk down the block to a light and back again. I slide my card in half expecting it to eat it. To my pleasant surprise it accepts my PIN and I almost press the button to make a withdrawal when a nagging sensation tells me to check the balance first. With a sigh I look at the sum total of our bank account, a little over three dollars.

Two mysteries solved and two problems now exist. I have no cash and I still have no shelter for the evening.

I shiver as a cold winter breeze penetrates my suit jacket. It pains me to do this but there are times when one has to depend on one's family. I slip my cell phone out of my pocket and enter the number for my parents.

"Hi Mom," I speak when I hear her voice. There's a brief silence and then I can hear the phone being set down. In the background I hear Mom yell for my Dad that "your son is on the line."

"Jake," I finally hear gruffly. I sigh a small relief, the gravelly voice of my father at least sounds the same.

"Hey Dad," I reply.

"I'm guessing you're in a world of hurt down there boy. What in hell has gotten into you?"

"I take it Susie has called you?" I ask.

"Yesterday morning. We couldn't believe it. I still can't but she says she has you dead to right."

"Dad don't believe it. I know less what's going on than what you probably do. But I can tell you one thing, I didn't sleep with Heidi."

"That's your secretary?"

"She's my Administrative Assistant, yes."

"Same difference. Susie says she's got a statement from this secretary and pictures to boot. I don't see how you're getting around this one Jake. Sometimes it's best to take your medicine and get it over with."

"I agree with you Dad. But I'm not going to own up to something I haven't done."

"You're saying these pictures are a lie? This secretary's out to get you?"

"Dad I really don't know but I can't believe for a minute that Heidi would be behind any of this. I wish I knew more but I don't. What I do know is that I did not sleep with my secretary."

A long silence ensues. I can almost hear my Dad thinking it over. 

"Jake, have you cheated on Susie?" He asks me straight out.

"God as my witness Dad, I've never even thought about it. Sure I've seen some pretty young things and maybe flirted for a bit, but nothing even remotely serious."

Another long silence ensues. Finally he says, "Jake, I remember when you were about 14 and I caught you up in a big whopper. I whooped your ass then, and I'm not too old to come down there and whoop your ass again. I don't think you're lying but God help you if you are boy."

"Dad," I sigh with relief. "I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me to have just heard that."

"You're still in a world of hurt boy."

"Yeah but it helps knowing I got at least one person in my corner. I take it Mom's not very happy about all of this?"

"Don't worry about your mother. She took Susie's side right off the bat. I have to admit I did too when she told us what she has on you. I know you're a big fancy corporate talker, but you're going to have to spin some dillies to get out of this. No, I'll talk to your mother. But when you get a few things figured out down there don't forget to give us a call."

"Thanks Dad. Now I hate to do this but I need some help," as I slowly start making my way back to the Marriott.

"I figured. She told us she was going to drain the accounts because she thought you would siphon everything out of them. How much do you need?"

"She thought I would drain the accounts huh? So instead she decided to do it first? Did she tell you she cancelled all of our credit cards too?" I shake my head wondering where the hell my wife had gone and what alien has taken her place. "Well, first I need a place to stay the night. I won't have any credit until tomorrow so I would like to walk back to a hotel and have you talk to them and pay for the room."

"That's not such a big deal. I can handle that."

"That's not all Dad."

"I figured I wasn't going to get off that easy."

"It's going to take a bit of money to figure out what the hell is going on. I figure ten thousand dollars. Can you wire it to me?"

"Ten thousand fucking bucks! What the hell are you planning on doing? Hire the entire fucking Texas Rangers?"

I hear a voice yelling in the background and I wince for my Dad.

"Now look at what you did. Now I got your Mom on my keester." 

"She'll get over it Dad. You can wire the money though?"

"Sure I can but you really need that much?"

"I don't know how much I will need. But it ought to be enough."

"I should say so."

"Dad, I really appreciate this."

"Wait 'til you get my bill. One thing more boy."

"What Dad?"

"You go see Bud. Tomorrow. First thing."

"Hmmm, that may be good advice."

"You expected other?" My Dad offers.

I laugh. The first really good laugh I've had in a few days.

Sunday 9:29 PM

As I start to take off my clothes for a shower when my cell phone rings. 

Picking it up, I glance at the number half expecting it to be my Dad letting me know how the wire transfer was coming. The appearance of Susie's number makes my heart skip a beat. OK, it skips several beats and for several reasons

"Susie, I – I'm a bit surprised you called."

"Jake this isn't a social call and I'm not going to get into a discussion with you now. Just meet me tomorrow in my office at 9:30." 

"Just exactly how am I going to do that? What if I can't possibly make that time?"

"You will if you want to talk."

"Susie I'll do whatever to meet you at 9:30 but you know better than I do I can't meet you at your ... Fuck!" I stop when I hear the line go dead. "Just who the fuck does she think she is!"

Furiously I enter the letters "TRO you bitch!" and pause with my thumb over the button to text it to her. I close my eyes and slowly count backwards from ten. When I get to zero I delete the last two words and simply text the first three letters to her.

Fifteen minutes pass before my cell phone rings again. 

"Forget about the TRO?" I ask her.

"Yes, but it doesn't make a difference. We can still meet at my office. With my schedule I don't think I have time to meet anywhere else."

"I'm not meeting at your office," I respond simply, trying to keep all emotion out of my voice.

"Why not?" It's near your office and practically the most convenient place to meet."

"You have to have why? I'm not placing myself in jeopardy, that's why. I'm not going to violate the TRO."

"The TRO would only be an issue if I made it one. Since I'm inviting you I don't see where the problem is."

"I sure as hell do. You're a prosecutor. You have a TRO filed against me which includes your office. The police department building is right next door. You just ambushed me in the most heinous way 48 hours ago. What possible assurance can you give me that I'm not walking into another trap like Friday?"




Dig Two Graves Ch. 02



She sighs heavily into the phone. "You should know me better than that."

"I thought I did, but I just spent two fucking days in the hospital. If you want to meet tomorrow, then find a neutral spot." I flip the phone shut and physically shake in anger and pain. "How can she be doing this to me? Doesn't she know how I feel about her? How could she think I would ever cheat on her? What evidence could she have seen that would have her acting this way without even confronting me first?"



Dig Two Graves Ch. 03



Preface: This is a fictional story intended for adult audiences. This story is about vengeance and adultery. There is no sex in this chapter.

A few thoughts if I may: In chapter one I had a major typo where ... "Heidi laughed". The laugh was Susie's, Heidi was not present in that scene. That was definitely misleading!

Second: I must apologize for the short chapters (one and two). This being my first submission, I had no idea that so many word pages would condense to so few webpages! I was actually concerned they would be too long! All of you have deservedly mentioned this "shortcoming" and as such I pulled back all the other submitted chapters and have reformatted the story. I'm crossing my fingers that the chapters are long enough.

Lastly: I do wish to thank all of you for your feedback (well, maybe not the anonymous person that said it would be better if I just committed suicide). But seriously even those of you that construct your criticism in a negative fashion have been helpful. This has certainly been a learning experience so far!

There is one additional chapter after this one that has been written but still requires some major chapter reformatting. Plus there will be an epilog that will attempt to tie up a few loose ends.

Sunday 10:31 PM

Braving the cold I step out on the balcony of my hotel room with bottled water from the mini fridge. Having recovered a bit after a shower, I finally have time to do what I do best, and that is to think.

"What planet did my plane land on two days ago?" I wonder. And as I think back over the past fifty hours there are few things that are obvious, and one of those is that I have no idea what is going on.

The dilemma continued early yesterday morning when two uniformed cops showed up shortly after I had my conversation with the Doctor. After a few questions from them I was a moment away from spilling my guts and naming names when my conservative nature screamed at me to keep my mouth shut. Where Susie is decisive almost to the point of being impulsive, I am definitively analytical and contemplative. Susie's quick actions serve her well in a volatile court room and because she's usually on the mark, she is able to seize a moment and unveil the truth. That's nearly the opposite of my character as I dot every "I" and cross every "T". Susie rushes headlong across the battlefield to engage her foe. I prefer to tiptoe and sneak up on them from behind.

"No," I think to myself. "Talking to the police was decidedly not the best thing." 

I sure as hell don't want word of what happened Friday night to get out, not with that fucker Schmidt behind it somehow. It's bad enough that I was the talk of the hospital, but they could only speculate on what happened and that Susie was somehow involved. No, I definitely don't want word of this getting out and if I had spilled my guts to the police, I would have lost whatever whimsical control I have."

With a heavy sigh I think about what Susie's involvement in all this may be. With Schmidt involved I am certain that some coercion must be involved. I have to hope that Susie might have been under extreme stress. But while I've seen her ruthless nature before, never have I seen her as vicious as she was Friday evening. She was so angry she didn't even look like herself. There's a lot more behind this than some alleged cheating on my part and I'm certain that it's Schmidt, he's the real enemy here. Susie's just a casualty like I am, isn't she? But what if she's not a victim? What if Susie is deeply involved in all this shit? If that's the case then I can see no way back. And if Susie is part of it, then my decision not to talk to the police was even sounder. Her connections to the police as an ADA might make things worse than they already are.

I reflect back again to my "interview" with the police while in the hospital. What started out as friendly questioning turned into a grilling as my answers were noncommittal. I'm sure they didn't believe me when I claimed I really couldn't recall much from when I got into my car at the airport until I woke up in the hospital. But they did rattle me with their very last question, asking who they should contact to let them know about my situation. I suddenly realized that I didn't have anyone I would want them to contact. As an only child, I had no choice but to call to my parents earlier this evening and that was very difficult. I've been somewhat estranged from my father for more years than I wish to admit. I've really only been on good terms with my mother and apparently that is no longer true. The only person I would have contacted is Susie, the very same person I am least likely to contact now. Susie's situation is quite similar as an only child. I know from our conversations that her father left their household when Susie was a teenager, and Susie has no relationship with her mother at all. The only time I've met her mother was at our wedding. On top of that, I realized I really don't know who my friends may or may not be. I know Susie has already spun her version of the story to my parents. Who else has she been talking to? There are a lot more questions now than answers, at least for me.

Monday 7:57 AM

"Jake, I don't know how to say this," Tom says shutting the door to my office.

I settle back into my chair and look up at Tom Weston, the managing partner of this firm and a long time friend. I motion with my hand for Tom to take any of the seats in front of my desk.

"Unfortunately we don't have time. By protocol you shouldn't even have been allowed to get to your office," Tom adds, barely able to look me in the eye.

"At least tell me what's up," I ask. Given the events of the past few days I already have an inkling.

An emergency HR review meeting was convened yesterday to discuss some recent allegations concerning your behavior and actions. There's a formal HR interview meeting for you at 8 AM.

"This morning?" I sit up surprised.

"Yes."

"And you held a HR review meeting on a Sunday?"

"Jake this is serious shit. The meeting was called by HR given your high executive status within the firm. I'm here as the managing partner of this firm, but I'm also here as a friend. You're in deep shit Jake and you got some serious decisions to make in a very short period of time."

"Where's the meeting," I bristle, rising out of my seat.

"Jake, a warning as your friend, keep your wits about you. Let's go, the meeting is in the Executive Conference room."

Tom leads the way out of my office and toward the conference room. I glance at my watch as see that it's 8:00 AM on the dot and that Heidi is not at her desk. If Heidi is anything, she's punctual. I expected that she wouldn't be in today but that doesn't lessen my need to talk to her.

"Who will be in the review meeting?" I ask.

"Myself and Hinckley of course. I had to appoint Evans as your replacement. Rolanski and Schmidt are the other two."

"Schmidt!" I explode.

Tom winces, risks a brief glance at me and then looks away. "I know he's not your favorite but you know how the procedure works. Hell you practically wrote the Executive HR review process. I don't like this any more than you do."

"I know it like the back of my hand," I think to myself. Quickly I mentally review that five managers or higher are involved. Three of the positions are standing. One is the managing partner which is Tom. The second is the HR executive manager which is Hinckley. The third is the General Counsel position which up to this morning had been my position. The other two slots are appointed on a case by case basis. One is appointed by the HR manager and the other by the managing partner.

"I assume you appointed Rolanski?"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that so we can remain friends," he responds. Tom puts a hand out and stops me. "You know I shouldn't tell you but I can't let you walk in there completely unarmed. You're going to be offered a severance package to resign. The group as a whole decided the best thing for the firm is to avoid any unnecessary lawsuits or publicity. The best way to achieve that is for you to resign. There wasn't anything I could do to stop this thing Jake. All I could do is make the severance package as sweet as they would let me."

I lean back against the wall. I feel numb. I can't believe all of this is happening. "How did things get so fucked up so fast?" I think to myself.

"Jake, are you OK?" Tom asks concerned.

"No, I'm not Tom. Just give me a few moments."

"You're going to have to be on your toes Jake."

"I'm aware of that Tom, thanks. Give me a minute to get my balance!" That came out a lot firmer than I intended. I look up at Tom and he smiles.

"When all's said and done Jake I hope we're still as close as friends."

"Don't worry about that Tom. OK, let's go."

Tom leads me around the corner and stops for a brief moment outside the conference room door. He glances at me one last time and then opens the door.

I follow Tom in and spot the four people all seating together on the opposite side of the table. Tom took his place at the head of the table leaving the only open chairs isolated on my side. I take the middle chair directly across from Kristy. I look at her and for a moment we lock eyes before she looks down at her hands folded on the table.

I have a great deal of admiration and respect for her. I hired her myself directly out of UT. I didn't even consider a candidate from an Eastern school. I wanted someone familiar with the culture and independent way of Texas life. I developed her as a pet project but to be honest she didn't need much pruning. I know her to be a hellacious colleague and now, sitting on the other side of the table, as a formidable opponent. 

"Mr. Vickers," Hinckley starts the review meeting. "You've been asked here as the subject of an Executive HR Review meeting. An interview meeting was held yesterday where the five of us looked at charges of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment. These are serious charges and against company policy. These offenses are subject to employment termination."

"Sorry to interrupt you," I barge in verbally and not sorry one iota. "But I want him out of this review meeting." I point directly at Schmidt sitting next to Hinckley.

"Mr. Vickers, I'm afraid you don't have any input as to the makeup of this review group."

"You're right, I don't have input. What I do have is a situation where there is known animosity between myself and Schmidt. Everyone in this room is aware of it. In the event this situation escalates into a wrongful termination suit, you've made my case a lot stronger by seating an individual known to be biased."

An uncomfortable silence settles over the room immediately after I uttered the magic three word phrase "wrongful termination suit". I make an effort to look at each of the members of the review panel, excepting Schmidt.

"Ms. Hinckley," Schmidt pipes up. "I'll step aside if the panel would prefer someone else. But I will say on record that while Vickers and I are not the best of friends, I feel the word "animosity" is a bit strong. I also know that I can serve this panel without any alleged bias."

"Is there anyone that feels Mr. Schmidt would be biased in his role on this panel?" Hinckley asks openly.

I glance across the table at Kristy. This time her expression is deadpan as she locks her gaze with mine. This time she doesn't waver and I finally look away. She knows as well as I do that Schmidt couldn't possibly be unbiased. "She's learned her lessons too well," I think to myself. "I can't read her expression at all."

"Then if no one believes Mr. Schmidt will be biased ..."

"I don't believe it. I know it." I interrupt, staring venomously at Schmidt.

"It's already been established that you do not have any input on the makeup of the review panel."

"Fine," I respond. "You may be planning my funeral right now, but rest assured you just dug the fifth shovel of dirt on this firm's own grave."

"Fifth?" Rolanski inquires. 

I glance at Rolanski, wondering why Tom appointed him as a member of the panel. As far as I knew he had only been involved in reviews within his own department. He certainly has not been involved in anything this high up the management chain before.

"Don't encourage him," Hinckley warns.

"I want to know why he thinks this is the fifth shovel. What were the first four?" Rolanski insists.

"You held a formal Interview meeting yesterday?" I ask Kristy knowing I would get a straight answer.

"Yes," she replied.

I looked over at Rolanski. "There you are. You shoveled the first four shovelfuls of dirt yesterday when you held a formal Interview meeting without me. I have rights to examine the evidence. I have rights to challenge my accusers. You denied me my rights."

"Jake, you know as well as I do that this is a company and the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to corporations. This isn't a criminal exercise," Kristy chimes in.

"But I still have rights as stated on the employment contract that each and every single one of us signed. And in that employment contract it states I have a right to be in the Interview. I have a right to hear what I am being accused of and I have a right to respond both verbally to the interview committee and also in writing."

"The Executive HR review process does not state that it is a requirement that the subject of an Interview meeting be present," she retorts.

"Isn't it a bit difficult to have an interview without the subject of the interview present? Besides, the general HR discipline model provides that I have the right to see and respond to any allegations. I am both an executive and an employee. I argue that both policies apply. If you review the policies you'll find there are no contradictory clauses. I for one made damn sure of that and it will be interesting to see how a civil court will see it?" 

"Jake," Tom butts in. "All this talk of courts and lawsuits is giving me an ulcer. The intent of this meeting is to offer you a severance package. It's a very attractive package given the circumstances if I say so myself."

"Have I been fired?" I ask Tom directly.

Tom looks to Kristy. Out of the corner of my eye I see her shake her head. 

"No," he replies.

"Let's see the offer," I respond.

Hinckley slides a portfolio across the table to me. I look at the outside of the portfolio and then pick it up with both hands.

"I'll give this a serious review and get back to you by the end of the week."

Glances are suddenly exchanged among the review panel. "It is our intention that you look at the severance package and make your decision now."

I sit back stunned. Tom warned me that I needed to be on my toes and that I would have to make big decisions quickly.

"Let me understand," I begin trying to stall for time. "You want me to look at this offer now and make a decision immediately?"

"Yes," Hinckley responds.

"I can't possibly do that," I respond simply.

"Then we withdraw the severance offer," she replies.

"Not so fast," Tom butts in again. "Jake, I realize this is probably coming at you like a hurricane. But what if you go back to your office and review the offer. Then meet us at ... say ... noon and let us know your decision?"

"Mr. Weston," Hinckley interrupts. "That's not what we decided yesterday ..."

A penetrating glare from Tom toward Hinckley silences her in mid-sentence.

"Tom," I respond. I appreciate the extra time but it's simply not enough."

"How much time do you want Jake?"

"I told you, at least until the end of the week."

"We can't possibly give that much time ..." Hinckley starts.

"Tom, I haven't had a chance to look at these numbers. I haven't had a chance to see any of the allegations that have been made against me. I haven't been given a chance to prepare any type of response."

"Are you saying you haven't seen the affidavit or pictures?" Kristy suddenly blurts out.

I look back at her. "I hadn't even heard of them until Friday night," resisting an urge to look at Schmidt. "I keep hearing about these damning documents, but no one seems to have provided me with a copy. And I do wish to remind this panel that it has yet to formally present a charge against me."

"The intent is to avoid that Jake," Kristy states the obvious.

"And my intent is to not avoid it. Do you have these documents?"

Kristy glanced at Tom and then back at me. "We have the original affidavit but only copies of the pictures."

"I want copies of both. Strike that, I want the originals of what you have. You can copy them if you wish."

"Jake, we're not handing over the original affidavit. And for privacy reasons we will not hand over the pictures. If we need to have a formal HR Executive review on Wednesday then we'll show you the documents then."

"Keep the pictures I know they are fake anyway. But I want the original affidavit."

"Jake we can't do that," Kristy responds.

"If I'm not provided an opportunity to examine the original evidence so as to prove it has not been falsified, you'll just make my wrongful termination lawsuit all the stronger. I want that original and I require time until the end of the week at least," I add with emphasis. "I'm sure you have several copies of all the documents by now. And if the affidavit is valid, what am I going to do, destroy it? You could just reprint the affidavit and have it signed again."

"Jake, can you give us a moment to discuss?" Kristy asks.

"Sure," I respond, getting slowly up from my chair, a move I'm sure Schmidt didn't miss. "And Ms. Evans," I add.

Kristy tilts her head inquisitively as she always does when I want to make a point to her.

"Trust your judgment and your experience," I state and turn and leave the room leaving the severance package on the table.

I shut the door and lean against it. I can hear the interplay and the arguments. Hinckley and Schmidt are obviously are one side. Schmidt is the obvious adversary. But I've never had an issue with Hinckley before. Why is she being such a burr in my ass now? Tom is on my side and it sounds like Rolanski agrees with him. They are arguing that an extra week won't cause any harm and could in fact avoid even larger legal issues with a wrongful termination suit. Hinckley and Schmidt argue that the company may get hit with a sexual harassment suit at any time, and failure to take prompt action may show the company condones the activity. They claim the company has followed procedure so far and there's no reason not to continue. They also argue strongly against giving me any documents, even a copy. They said I could be presented with the documents at the time of a formal Executive HR review. I heard both sides banter back and forth. I realize Tom's choice of Rolanski is a fortunate one for me. The only voice I haven't heard from is Kristy's. Then for the next minute I can only hear the soft tones of Kristy's voice. I smile to myself. She is at her best being a counselor.

I hear silence and then footsteps. I manage to back away from the door in time to avoid falling when Tom opens the door and asks me to step back in.

I shut the door behind me and approach the table. Kristy appears to have taken control of the panel as she motions with her hand for me to sit back in my chair. I smile and explain that I prefer to stand, choosing not to explain why.

"Jake, we have a counter proposal."

"I need at least until the end of the week."

"If you would hear me out?"

I nod.

"We request you take the severance package with you and give it serious thought. We request you to return Wednesday noon to give us your response. At this moment you are not fired. We have not formally started the Executive HR review. Depending on your answer Wednesday, we may choose to formally begin that process. In the interim, we have decided to put you on administrative leave. Except for when we have asked for your attendance, you are not to be on company premises nor have access to any documents whether paper or electronic. Except," she pauses. "We will give you the original affidavit, but not the pictures. We obviously expect it back. You will see a copy of the pictures Wednesday if necessary." 




Dig Two Graves Ch. 03



Kristy looks at me expectantly. I smile and applaud internally. It's damn near to what I would have done.

"Without surrendering any of my rights as afforded to me by company policies, I agree with your proposal. I assume that someone can escort me to my office so that I can remove a few personal possessions that I may have need of over the next few days?

Hinckley begins to say something but Kristy quickly says that will be acceptable. She looks down at Tom and he nods. "Mr. Weston will serve as your escort."

The meeting is obviously over and I pick up the package. I glance once at Kristy and wink. She doesn't respond but I do see the faintest trace of a smile in the corner of her mouth, but the tiny smile doesn't hide her misty eyes. 

I leave the room first and step to the side. I watch as they all leave silently and go their separate ways. Last to exit is Tom. He looks at me and just sighs.

"You warned me Tom," I respond, putting my hand across his shoulder as we stroll back to my office.

Monday – 9:31 AM

"Mr. Vickers, if you would follow me please?" I take a heavy breath and stand, following the receptionist back through a double set of doors that have Sutter, Klein and Gambino, on the door. 

Susie sent me a text message just prior to entering my office this morning, telling me that the meeting will be held at our family lawyer's office. Normally having a meeting with a lawyer would be considered a bad thing, but Vicky has been a friend to both Susie and I for years. 

I give her a warm smile despite the fact I would like to bitch slap her and the three or four people I've met so far. No one pays any attention to me as I walk past cubicles and desks on my way back to Susie's Vicky's office, yet I can feel their stares and hear the whispers behind my back.

The receptionist leads me to a frosted glass conference door. I push open the door and walk in, spotting Vicky sitting next to Susie on the opposite side of a table. Two empty chairs are on the side closest to the door.

"Have a seat Jake," Vicky Gambino tells me. I slide the cushioned chair back from the table and sit down slowly, perhaps a bit slower than I really needed to.

"Is your lawyer close behind you?" She asks.

I give her a puzzled look and then glance at my wife who immediately looks down. "Well Vicky, first of all it's nice to see you. Second, why do I need a lawyer?"

Vicky looks taken back and then leans slightly forward toward me. In a softer voice she says, "Surely you're not going to represent yourself Jake?"

"I need representation? Susie called me last night and told me to be here so we could talk. She initially tried to get me to meet at her office but I had to remind her about the TRO and that I wasn't going to violate it. I was surprised when she sent me a text message this morning that we would meet at our family lawyer's office but I then considered that to be a good thing. Despite the pain and betrayal I've suffered lately I would like to see if we can still work something out. I'm beginning to suspect that maybe I've been too optimistic."

Vicky looks at Susie. "You didn't tell him?"

"I told him to be here at 9:30 AM so that we could have a discussion. I can't help it if he inferred anything," Susie says without any emotion.

"You didn't tell him that ...?" Vicky stops herself in mid speech and looks miffed. She recovers and says, "I see, in that case perhaps we should reschedule."

"I think we should continue," Susie says. "I would like to get this over with."

The intent of the meeting is more than clear now. As they say "my momma didn't raise no dummy". But I've taken so much shit the past few days that I've had it and I'm not going to take anymore. If this is the end, then I'm going to go down swinging. 

"Susie, in case you were wondering, I'm feeling much better now than Friday by the way."

Susie turns a shade paler.

"Jake, Mr. Vickers. If we are to continue this meeting you will have to refrain from speaking with Ms. Vickers. I will have to ask you to direct your conversation toward me.

"Vicky, nothing personal ma'am, but blow it out your ass. After what Susie did to me Friday night she's lucky she's not being brought up on criminal charges. In fact that is still a distinct possibility."

Vicky was taken back at first by my outburst and then looks over at Susie. "What happened Friday night?" She asks.

I look at the two of them and then laugh. "You didn't tell her?" I say to Susie. "Well, aren't you something! You don't tell me the real reason you wanted this meeting, you casually don't mention to your own lawyer than you're keeping me in the dark, and now you're also holding back critical information from your own counsel?"

"What happened then is not germane to our divorce."

I sit back now that the ugly word has finally surfaced.

"You don't think unlawful restraint and assault, for starters, won't make any impact in any court proceedings?

"Susie what haven't you told me?" Vicky pesters.

"I'll tell you later OK?" She responds miffed. "Let's just get this over with."

Vicky gives a glance at Susie and then focuses her attention toward me. "Mr. Vickers, apparently you now seem to be aware of the purpose of this meeting," she pauses with another side glance toward Susie. She slides a sheath of papers across the desk. At the very top was a suit for divorce filed just after 9:00 AM this morning. I just stare at the document, not wanting to touch it.

I look back up at Susie. "I can't believe you're doing this," I finally get out with half a sob. "Hell, I motion at the papers, the ink's not even dry."

"Jake, I can't possibly live with you after what you've done to me. What you've put me through."

"What I've done to you? Are you kidding me?"

Susie doesn't respond. She looks as if she would rather be anywhere else but here.

"I didn't do it Susie."

Her head snaps back and she glares at me. "I'm so fucking tired of hearing that shit Jake. How can you continue to lie?"

"Because I'm not!"

"Jake, we have proof!"

"Then it's fake because it never happened. And why is it I keep hearing about all this proof yet no one has shown me any of it?"

Susie just glares at me and then rips a manila folder off the top of a stack of papers in front of Vicky. She slams the folder on the table. "There's your fucking proof you asshole."

I look at her for a moment and then turn my attention to the folder. I pick it up and slowly open it. On top is a two page legal affidavit. I scan through the first page, which basically states that I forced my admin assistant Heidi Bevis to have sex with me on multiple occasions. The second page contains only a single paragraph describing how I need to improve in my organizational skills so as to become a more effective leader. The second page also has Heidi's signature and was notarized. I examine Heidi's signature and have to admit to myself that it looks like hers, as well as her initials on both pages. I set the affidavit to the side and find myself looking at eight 5" by 8" glossies of Heidi and I having sex in a motel room. I gasp in surprise. I can see why someone might jump to conclusions but surely anyone that knows me, or Heidi for that matter, would realize we would never be doing this.

I look up at Susie, her eyes drilling holes into me. 

"I don't know what to say," I finally manage to get out feebly.

"I can't believe you were so stupid to have taken pictures."

"I didn't take any pictures."

"Well you're fucking stupid anyway. I can't believe you cheated on me. I can't believe you would treat that poor woman like you have."

I look up at her. "You want to know why you can't believe it? You can't believe it because you know it's not true."

"Jake please don't waste my time, look at the pictures."

"I can't explain it. But I didn't do this. Give me some time please. Don't rush into anything. Dammit, if you don't believe me think of Heidi! And don't think I didn't see that look in your eye Friday night when I mentioned Heidi's name! Do you think for a minute that she would do this? Do you think I would let pictures be taken like this? Do you think Heidi would?"

"I'm through Jake. I know better than anyone how well you can spin a story. I'm tired of your tricks. I'm tired of your lies. I'm tired of our life together. I don't want to spend another minute with you."

"Mr. Vickers," Vicky says forcefully. I glance over at her, making no effort to wipe away the tear running down my cheek. 

"When you have looked through the documents you'll find the proposed settlement is quite fair. Because there are no children we will not have to be concerned with any child support payments. Ms. Vickers prefers not to have any type of relationship with you after the divorce, so she will not be seeking alimony. The settlement merely asks that your combined estate be split evenly. The settlement will also include your severance pay from your firm. There are a few items each of you will wish to take and that can be accounted. We're hoping this is in agreement and that we can go forward with the divorce quickly."

I look at Vicky and actually pity her for a moment. What a terrible situation to be put into. How does one be an attorney and friends of a couple and then have to side with one against the other? I bite my lip and fold my hands for a moment, staring at the table.

"I didn't do anything. These pictures have to be some kind of fake. The affidavit has to be some kind of fake. Heidi would never sign a document like that even if it was gospel. Where did you get these anyway? Who gave them to you Susie?"

I look to her for help, to throw me some type of bone. She suddenly looks away and I knew.

"You got these from Schmidt didn't you?"

She doesn't respond.

"When? When did he give you these documents?"

Susie sighs. "Thursday afternoon," she finally says. "He came to my office and showed them to me."

"Wow, you didn't waste any time did you? So my arch enemy suddenly shows up and hands you this shit and you believe it hook line and sinker? You know damn well he and I were vying for the same partnership position and I had him beaten. His only chance would be if I'm discredited or driven out of the company? You trust doctored up copies handed to you by Schmidt? Have I given you any cause to distrust me? You don't have even a shred of doubt?"

Susie looks at me for a long moment before answering. "No Jake, I don't have a shred of doubt. Tim didn't show me doctored up copies. These copies," waving her hand on the photographs scattered on the table, "are copies I had made for you. No, Tim didn't show me copies, he showed me the negatives. I even called in a favor and had the negatives looked at in the forensic lab. The negatives have not been touched up. They haven't been doctored. They are not a forgery."

I sit back stunned. "How can this be?"

"I would like to see the negatives."

"Why Jake, I had them examined discreetly. You have cause to doubt me now?"

"After Friday night, I sure as hell do. Besides it's not you I'm calling into question it's the negatives. Surely you don't mind if I have the negatives tested by my own expert? Our marriage, my career, hell my life are on the line Susie. Surely you can see that?"

"How do I know you won't destroy them?" 

"Why would I do that when I need them to prove my innocence?"

"And what are you going to do when they don't"

"They will. Besides, let's say I can't prove they're fakes. What's the harm of letting me try?

Susie glints at me for a moment before reaching over to the stack of papers and grabs the top quarter of the pile. I watch as she rifles through the pile until she gets to one large envelope. She peeks into the envelope, looks at me, and then tosses the envelope across the table toward me.

"I expect them back undamaged. If anything, maybe this will finally get you to admit your affair. Better yet, why don't you return them to Tim?" She says coldly.

"How cozy you're on a first name basis." I glare back at her. "Schmidt is obviously part of this setup, but as quickly as you spread your legs for him, I'm beginning to wonder if you're part of this whole thing."

"You son of a bitch!" She yells. "I'm not the one that cheated. Anything I may have done with Schmidt was revenge, you bastard! Anyway who says I've been with Schmidt? A soon to be ex-husband with an agenda to smear a poor betrayed wife?"

"Are you forgetting I was there Friday night when you ambushed me? I was an eyewitness to the same adultery you accuse me of in this divorce decree."

"Of course you were at the house Friday night after your plane arrived. But I certainly wasn't. I spent the evening at a friend's and she's willing to state that if necessary. I have no clue where Schmidt was but I'm guessing he can also verify where he was. I did hear through the grapevine that you went to the hospital. I hope it isn't anything too serious?"

"You got to be kidding," I gasp. It takes all my training as a lawyer not to explode. But just as I'm about to reply, suddenly something Vicky said earlier reruns through my mind.

"By the way," I turn and ask Vicky. "How do you know anything about a severance offer?" 

I look back at Susie. "That offer was only made this morning at 8:00 AM in a confidential meeting. There's no way you should know about any severance package."

"I do hope your statement doesn't imply you will try and hide assets Mr. Vickers." Vicky says.

"That's not the fucking point and you know it Vicky," I look back at Susie. "How did you get this confidential information?

Susie just smiles. She's not looking away, hiding her head or anything else. She's looking directly at me and smiling.

"Tell me dammit," I insist. "Something you're ashamed of?" I goad.

She glares at me. "I'm not ashamed of anything except loving you these past six years. You know exactly how I found out. I got the information from the same person as I got those pictures."

I sit back and sigh. She says that with such smugness. Even when I prove this is all a farce, I have to wonder if there is any hope for us. With a heavier heart I turn and look at Vicky. "Please note what your client just said Vicky. At some point in the future I may need her to say that again under oath. And if she refuses, I'll call you to the stand."

"Jake you know you can't call her to the stand because of client – attorney privilege!"

"I'm willing to bet that privilege won't hold up if challenged. She won't be testifying to anything that has to do with you and any charges. She'll only be testifying as to where the information came from.

"I think we're done here," Vicky says suddenly.

"No we're not. I have three things to discuss. First, if this divorce does go through, there's no way in hell we are going to equitably divide all of our combined incomes. The house, for starters, is in my name only and belonged to me prior to the marriage. We all know that in this state, property owned prior to a marriage wouldn't be considered part of marital assets."

"But adultery on your part changes the equation Mr. Vickers," Vicky says calmly. "And we have proof of your complicity."

"Hypothetically, even if I committed adultery, I doubt that would change the equation. Besides, adultery on Susie's part would make that all even wouldn't it?"

"That would be something you would have to prove and apparently you have no proof," Susie replies smugly.

"You stupid bi...," I strain to stop myself. Calming myself, "did you ever stop to consider the type of man you have let between your legs? Schmidt has made no secret he's wanted to bang you for years. Now that he has you think he's going to keep quiet about it? Jesus Christ Susie, I bet two dozen people knew about Friday evening before the weekend was out," I reply sadly. "Susie, Schmidt is not a nice guy. Don't you see that he set all this up to get at me? You're just part of the prize."

I glare at her for a moment, shocked that she just can't see how Schmidt has conned her.

"Anyway," I continue. "Secondly, as I look at these pictures, you do realize that someone had to take these pictures? Who do you think that someone may be?"

"It's called a tripod with a remote trigger Jake. What else do you want to discuss."

I sigh. "Third, you completely cut me off from all our assets, credit cards, car, clothes, shelter, fuck Susie ... everything! You dumped me at ..." I shudder trying to regain control of myself. In a calmer voice I continue. "You dumped me with just a sack of rumpled clothing. We can argue over the next few days about the bank accounts, but I need my car, my clothing and my personal items. And I need them today. Or do I need to go to court? You know I have a few friends that wear black robes too!"

Susie grimaces and sneaks a look at Vicky who again looks miffed. Susie reaches down and picks up her purse. Reaching inside, she pulls out a set of car keys and tosses them to me. I look at them recognizing my keys.

"Space D37 in the parking garage across the street," she says. "Inside your car you'll find your toiletries and an assortment of clothing. You can speak with my lawyer about arranging for a time when you can be supervised to remove your personal things from the house. Now, you said there were only three things, anything else?"

I look at her wondering if she had always been this cold. Has she always this vindictive and vengeance oriented, but I had never been on the wrong end of it? 

"I just want to know what reasons you have for going forward with this divorce and not even talking to me about it."

She nods to the table. "You're looking at both reasons."

"So the affidavit and the pictures? This is the sum total of your reasons for divorcing me?"

"Yes. You and I have had our differences but I think we could have worked our way through them. But I can't stay with a man that cheated ... I mean ... cheats on me."

"So if I prove both of these are false, you'll drop the divorce and we can talk about reconciling?"

"Jake, please! Give it up! Why don't you just admit it to yourself that you fucked up and we can move on?"

I get up and move toward the door, the anger welling up within me and taking control. I turn with my hand on the doorknob. "I didn't fuck up Susie, except for maybe loving you too much. I didn't sleep with Heidi. I can't explain the pictures yet or why Heidi signed that document ... but I will. Count on it. I'm going to contest this divorce. Count on it."

I open the door and will myself to shut it quietly behind me. I quickly stride down the hallway back into the reception area. I glance around the area to find every pair of eyes focused on me.

Under my breath I mutter, "Why don't you just take a picture, it seems everyone else has."





Dig Two Graves Ch. 03



But I know it's not a nightmare, at least not one I am sleeping through. I can't get a handle on my emotions. One moment I am in a rage and the next minute I'm crying inside and wondering how I can put my marriage together. Even then, strangely I'm not too affected by Susie's filing for divorce. I already knew I was going to have to prove to her prosecutor's mind that I was innocent. I just didn't realize I was going to have to do it under the added pressure of a divorce petition. Now I wonder if I should even bother. The way I feel now, if she had filed under "Irreconcilable Differences" I may have just walked away from our marriage given what she did to me on Friday night. But her filing under "Adultery" has pissed me off. 

Sighing, as bad as things have been lately, I at least have a couple things beginning to turn around and starting to go in the right direction. Getting my car out of the parking garage across from Gambino's office takes almost all of the rest of my cash. Luckily the gas tank is half full! My first stop is the Western Union office where I pick up the ten thousand dollars my Dad had wired to me. I had already picked up my new card at the American Express office when I left the firm. Then it was back to open a new account under my name and deposit nine out of the ten thousand. The other one thousand is making a nice bulge in my wallet.

Now I'm in desperate need of favors, and the first step is to follow Dad's advice. Twenty minutes of driving takes me out of the Dallas downtown area into a small business area near Love field. I park next to an office building which has a sign on the door stating: Bud Green's Investigations. Bud is an old friend of my father's. He worked for my father running the security operations of my Dad's company. When my Dad retired seven years ago, just before Susie and I got married, my Dad helped him start his own investigation firm. In my role as General Counsel for my own firm, I have had needs from time to time for an independent investigator. I called Bud from the start and he's never disappointed me. He's built his firm into a small but highly effective group of investigators. They're quick, reliable, discreet and accurate. Everything a lawyer could ask for. "And do I have a lot to ask for now," I think to myself as I hear the ring tone in my cell. Sitting in my car looking at the Green's front door, I reflect back over all the events that have already happened this morning. Reluctantly I realize Vicky was correct and I need to start another set of wheels in motion. Five minutes later I finish my phone call, and then dial a second number.

"Bud Green's Investigations," I hear Tracy introduce.

"Hi Tracy this is Jake. Any chance Bud is in this morning."

"Oh! Hi Jake! Yes he's in the office this morning. I think he's back in the coffee room flirting with Yolanda again. Just a second and let me see if he's available."

"Jake, how are you doing boy?" I hear Bud's booming voice about ten seconds later.

"Hi Bud, I've been better to be honest. How's Yolanda's coffee?"

"I see Tracy's been tellin' stories again?"

"Well if you can't flirt with your own wife in the coffee room, who can you flirt with?"

I listen to Bud chuckle for a moment. "Bud, I need your help in a big way." I finally manage to speak into the phone.

"Got a sticky one do ya? You know we're hear to help."

"This isn't a corporate investigation. This is personal. And critical."

"I don't like the sounds of that Jake. What can I do to help?"

"Well, for starters I want to jump to the top of your queue and show you some stuff."

"You're always at the top of my queue Jake."

"And I've always appreciated that. When would you have time to meet?"

"I have a feeling this is a "sooner than later" issue Jake. So let's roll our sleeves up and see what kinda mess we're lookin' at."

"You can meet now?"

"Of course! You want to meet at your office or somewhere else?"

"I can meet you at your office."

"Great! When?"

"How about now? I'm out in the parking lot." I look through the windshield at Bud's office and see the Venetian blinds parting. I wave at him.

"What the hell boy!" I hear Bud laugh. "Get that ass in here!"

"On my way," and a few minutes later I'm sitting in front of his desk spilling my guts. I bring Bud up to date, telling him about being confronted Friday night by Susie. I did tell him what happened that night but glossed over as much as he would let me. I mention that she cleaned out our bank account and cancelled my credit cards. I give him an overview of what happened at my firm this morning, and finally all the details about my meeting with Susie and our lawyer.

I watch him as I tell him all this information. I can tell he's in sponge mode. He's leaning forward listening intently to everything I say. Yet he's not judging me, right or wrong. 

I finish and we both sit back in our chairs.

"Whadaya have for me?"

I pull out the three manila folders I received from Susie earlier. I sort through them until I get to the affidavit and show it to him.

"Supposedly this is the original. Anything we can do to check out how authentic it is?"

Bud hovers over it, scanning it quickly. Whistling he says, "Boy this doesn't paint you in a very favorable light." He removes the staple holding the two sheets together and using tweezers holds them both up to the window. "On the surface Jake this appears to be genuine, but there's usually a lot under the surface. I'll get my best man to work on these."

"Good. I still have a copy and I hope to talk to Heidi later today."

"You sure that's wise?"

"No, but it's something I need to do. I can't believe for a minute she signed this affidavit."

Bud looks at me for a minute. "Hell Jake, I didn't believe for a minute any of this is true. But remember, it's not what you believe; it's what you can prove. Especially when you're already been judged guilty."

I nod in acknowledgement. I hand in the second folder telling him these contain the negatives to the pictures. I then open the third folder containing the glossies and the copy of affidavit I had originally been given my Susie.

I spread the eight photographs out on his desk. He quickly looks at each one and whistles again. "I can see why she's pissed at you boy."

"It can't be me," I claim. "But I have a confession." Bud's head snaps up to look at me. "I recognize the room these pictures were taken. That's my hotel room a week and a half ago down in Houston."

He sighs. "It doesn't look good Jake. Was your secretary down there too?"

"Yes," I admit. 

He resumes looking at the photographs, and then begins to resort them. I move around to his side of the desk so I can see them from the same vantage point.

"Susie said she had one of her forensic experts look at the negatives. Is there anyway to tell if they've been touched up?"

"Depends on how good the forger was. Usually you can tell though."

He bends down over one of the sharper focused pictures and using a magnifying glass, he examines the photograph in detail.

He leans back and grunts. "I'll have the negatives examined closely. But from what I can see, these look pretty authentic. What's worse Jake, the guy in these pictures looks exactly like you. He even has the same birthmark on the side of his neck."

Sighing, "Yeah, that didn't escape my attention either."

"But I can tell you one thing about these photographs."

"What's that?"

"They've been staged."

"Staged? Staged! How do you know that?"

"First of all, I've met your secretary, ok shit, administrative assistant, I can never get use to all these PC titles. Anyway, not only would she never be in an affair, but it would be a cold day in hell before she would allow herself to be photographed having sex."

"Second, you're not that dumb to allow pictures to be taken either."

"Third, take a look at the nightstand on this side of the bed. See the clock and the flip calendar?"

I look at one of the photographs and find both the clock and the calendar. "Yes, I see them. What about them?"

"Noticed that they are turned toward the camera and not the bed? They would be turned toward the bed or at the very least toward the desk on the far side of the room. Also, I've never seen one of those "flip a day at a time" calendars in a hotel room. And even if there were one, it would be on the desk and not the nightstand in clear view of the camera. Do you remember if the hotel had a calendar like that?"

"Now that you mention it, no I don't. But I can't say with certain either way. I don't recall it though."

"That will be easy enough to check out," Bud responds. "Now I got a couple questions for you right off the bat. The calendar says it's January 15th." He glances at the calendar. "That was a Sunday. When did you check out of the hotel?"

"I checked out the same day, in fact morning of the same day. I had other clients to see in San Antonio and I took a puddle jumper that afternoon. I spent the night at the Marriott downtown and then met with various clients Monday through Friday, when I returned home."

"And your secretary? When did she check out?"

"She checked out on Sunday too, but she flew back here to Dallas. Or at least I think she did."

"Well, it's not good news that she was there in Houston the same time you were, but it is good news to know you check out on Sunday. Now we know for a fact the photographs have been staged."

"How do you know that?"

"The calendar has already been turned to January 15th. Yet that's the day you checked out. So if that's you in the bed, it had to be Saturday night because you were already in San Antonio by Sunday evening right?"

"Yes, that's right. But I don't see your point."

"Who flips a calendar over the night before? OK, maybe one or two people in the whole world, but most people get up in the morning and then flip the calendar to the next day. This calendar has already been flipped to Sunday, yet you can see by the clock it's 1:30 AM. Did you by any chance flip that calendar ahead to Sunday before you went to bed Saturday night?"

"Hey!" I exclaim. "If I had flipped the calendar, I would have remembered the fucking thing! There's no way I flipped that calendar!" 

"So someone did it for ya." Bud grins. "But let's not get too excited yet. It's only suggestive that someone staged this whole thing, it's not proof by itself. There's a lot to check out. By any chance do you remember what time you went to bed Saturday night?

"Let me think ... hmmmm ... I think it was about midnight. All of us had met in the lounge of the hotel to celebrate the business deal we manage to close earlier that day."

"Who was in your group? Your secretary?"

"Actually, she wasn't there celebrating. But that's not a surprise; she's very reserved and would refrain from anything involving a lot of alcohol.

"Where do you think she was?"

"I assume her room, but I really don't know after 9 PM."

"OK. And from what you just told me, it's safe to assume she went by herself?"

"You could knock me over with a feather if otherwise."

"Who was in your group celebrating?"

"Weston, Schmidt and myself."

"Schmidt? That's the guy who has your shorts in a bunch?"

I laugh. "Yeah, the same."

"If you don't like him so much, why celebrate with him?"

"It was more of business obligation. I've never liked the man personally. But he's an excellent VP of Sales. I have to admit he's the main reason the business deal was closed."

"And your little party broke up around midnight?"

"I don't know what time they quit. I was the first to head upstairs around midnight. They were still nursing their drinks."

"How much did you have to drink?"

"Oh gosh, I'm not really sure."

"Were you drunk heading upstairs?"

"I wouldn't say staggering drunk. But definitely past the legal limit if I were to drive. So was Weston, he was hammered."

"What about Schmidt?"

"I don't think so. I remember him buying two rounds, including one for himself. But he declined getting a drink when it was our turn.

"Hmmm," Bud seems to think that over. He raises an eyebrow and offers, "What time did you get up Sunday?"

"Hmmm," I think to myself. "I seem to remember getting up pretty late. Yes I remember now. It was about 9 AM because I was very surprised I slept that late. Even if I go to bed late, I usually still get up around 7 AM."

"Did you have a hangover?"

"I don't remember. Wait, I remember feeling groggy, out-of-sorts. I couldn't see to get going. I went for a run about 9:30, returning around 10:00. I felt a lot better and seemed to have sweated it out. So I was a little hungover."

"Headache?"

"I had a little bit of one. But like I said groggier than anything."

"OK, that's good for starters. But I do want to talk to you later today. I want to know more about your day on Saturday and Sunday. So you need to get me a full timeline for both days. And a full timeline for anyone else that was down there with you."

"Jesus, I'm not sure I can remember it in full detail for myself much less anyone else."

"I don't need to tell you how serious this is. Knowing where all the players were, or at least where they were supposed to be, will help put this puzzle together."

I nod in acknowledgment. "OK Bud, it sounds like a plan. You already know I won't be at my office. Besides I got a couple more important tasks to do. Call me on my cell phone when you're ready?"

"Sure but don't rush off just yet. I got a couple things for you to sign and one of them is important." 

I watch as he opens a desk drawer and starts pulling out a few forms. He hands me all of them save one. He nods at what he has handed me, "you give them to Tracy, answer a few of her questions and sign where she tells ya. That'll make it all official." He pauses for a moment and then writes a few things down on the form he still has. He slides the form over to me and tells me to fill out the top part with my name and address. I do as he asks and start to hand the form back over to him.

"Just a minute boy," he says. I look at him expectantly. "You need to sign that one on the bottom. You're giving us permission to go in and bug your house. Audio, video, and the phones. We can't do anything about her cell phone, which would be illegal. But the rest of it, as owner of the house, you have full rights to install surveillance equipment." 

"Well, this would have been great Friday night, but it's a day late and a dollar short, don't you think?"

"For Friday yes, but from what you told me it may not be too late for tonight."

Suddenly what he is saying dawns on me. "Surely she still wouldn't be fucking that asshole would she?"

He shrugs. "Would you have predicted Friday evening?"

I shake my head and grind my teeth together. Putting the form on the desk I sign the bottom with a flourish.

"Uh-oh," I say, "We got a couple of small problems. One, there's a TRO against me for coming near the house. There's no way I can you into the house. Two, Susie took my key off me."

"The first thing ain't a problem. You may have a TRO against you, but there ain't one against me or this firm. And I wasn't going to invite you along anyway. You just let us do our jobs. Now about that second one, don't you have a key hidden somewhere? If we have to we can pick the lock but I prefer not to if we don't have to."

"Of course there is!" I exclaim giving myself a slap on the forehead. In the storage shed behind the house, right side, there's a short two by four nailed across two of the studs. Only it's not really nailed that tight. You can grab it and pull it out and on the back side is the key. But that's not enough. One you use the key and enter the house, you'll have thirty seconds to disable the alarm code. I can give you the one I knew but what if she changed it?"

"We'll take our chances on that. I'm guessing she'll believe you'll never try and violate the TRO so she wouldn't have bothered to change the code. But let's be safe instead of sorry. Why don't you make sure you have the alarm company's phone number handy? My man will be talking to you on the phone when he enters. If the code doesn't disable the alarm, you can call them right away and clear the call."

I smile. "That sounds like it will work."

Bud nods and holds out a hand. I shake his hand thankfully, and tell him how thankful I am. "You got a lawyer yet?" He asks.

"That's one of the tasks I have to do yet. I made a call in your parking lot before I came in to set up an appointment."

He nods. "Just remember, any journey looks long before you start. And I think we just took one good first step!"

I thank him again as he walks me to his office door. He just shakes his head and says "No need boy."

I stop for a moment to chat with Tracy on my way out. Once I'm finally in my car I sigh but this time in relief. Bud has saved my bacon in the past with information his firm uncovered. Now I need him to do it again.

Monday 12:12 PM





Dig Two Graves Ch. 04



Preface: This is a fictional story intended for adult audiences. This story is about vengeance and adultery. There is no sex in this chapter.

There is the fourth and final chapter. There will be an epilog which I hope to finish in a few days.

Tuesday 12:13 PM

With nothing better to do I've camped out at Bud's place. Technically I'm not fired but I'm certainly not welcomed in the office. Bill needed to go back to his office after our meeting with Susie and Vicky. He said he would be hard to reach for most of today, but to contact Janine with any new developments.

According to Tracy, Bud's somewhere down in Houston following up on a hunch. I wish he had waited and I could have gone with him, but Tracy said he left first thing this morning. The worst thing is I feel my life is falling apart and there isn't anything I can do to stop it. I know I have good people working for me but I've always been a person to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. This waiting around was driving me crazy. Even the report that Tracy handed me from Bud did little to spell my frustration, as the audio and video captures from my house last night reveal little of consequence.

It's been a hell of a day and it's barely noon. In a sense, today is worse than yesterday. At least yesterday I was doing something, even if it was rushing about like a chicken with it's head cut off.

I find my attitude toward Susie and my marriage slowly changing. Increasingly I am having a harder time seeing how I will get past this. I am already struggling with her betrayal from Friday night. Now I am starting to have suspicions that she may even be part of this setup. If I do find out she's part of this, there will be hell to pay.

I reflect back to the meeting this morning. As we walked out I asked Bill about the stunt he pulled at the end of the meeting. In a way it pisses me off. Actually it's more than that. I'm not pissed off, I'm envious. He got to her. He waited ten years but he finally got his chance. The way I feel now, I don't want to wait nearly as long.

A knock on the door startles me a bit and I look up from the office I commandeered at Bud's to see Tracy enter.

"Bud's on the phone for you," she says.

"Bud?" I say into the receiver as I pick up the phone.

Tracy smiles at me and leans over the desk. For a moment I have a heavenly view down Tracy's blouse. Tracy gives me a naughty smile as she knows exactly where my gaze is fixed, as she punches the lighted button on the front of the phone unit and suddenly I hear the sound of Bud talking to someone. Tracy then presses the "hands free" button and Bud's voice is now carrying from the speakerphone.

"Bud?" I repeat?

"What the hell took you so long? Tracy have to give you lessons on how to operate a phone?"

"If you only knew how close you were to the truth!" I laugh. Tracy gives me a smile and finally straightens up and walks back to her desk, but not before giving me a little bit of exaggerated sway in her hips on the way out. "Wish I could have gone down there with you Bud."

"Yeah I bet, but you would have only slowed me down. We've dug up a few things down here, some really important things too. But before I spring them on you, I want to wait until I get everything tied up. Do you think you can set up a meeting between the two of us and Benner for tomorrow morning?"

"That might be kind of hard tomorrow morning Bud. I have that meeting at my firm where I have to give them my response. Bill and I have hardly had any time to go over the package they have offered and have scheduled time to look at it tomorrow morning."

"Shit," Bud grumbles. "Well, you'll need to hear what I've dug up before you have that meeting, and especially before you meet your wife and her lawyer."

"Can you clue me in as to what you have found out so far?"

"I don't want to be mysterious, but I still don't have my ducks lined up and it's best I keep things quiet until I know for sure. So somehow we need to meet tonight. You need to setup a time for the three of us to talk, and it needs to be late because you're going to be really busy the rest of today. I need you to fly down here to Houston pronto."

"Pronto? You mean right this minute?"

"Sooner the better. But before you do set up that damn meeting."

"OK, I'll get that done here. I'll ask Tracy to get me a flight while I try and setup a meeting for tonight. Do you think nine o'clock is late enough? And where am I going to meet up with you once I get down there?"

"No sooner than nine I think, and no you won't be meeting up with me down here in Houston. Come to think of it, you better make it later, let's say 10pm. Set the meeting up for my office there in Dallas. While you're down in Houston, you'll have your own little job to do. We got a bead on your secretary. She's actually down here if you can believe that."

"You're shitting me!"

"Nope! And I know you need to chat with her so write down this address and get your ass down here."

I scribble furiously as Bud gives me an address to an apartment. He reminds me once again to schedule a meeting for tonight and then we hang up.

First I call the number I have for Janine as I stand and start walking towards Tracy's desk in reception. Janine answers on the first ring and I quickly bring her up to speed on finding Heidi. Just as quickly she tells me there's no way in hell I'm going to talk to Heidi alone. She says for me to book her a flight along with my own and that she'll meet me at the airport.

I give Tracy my American Express card and ask her to perform some airport magic for two. I tell her to find the first available flight down to Houston and to find a return flight that would land at Love Field around 9pm.

While Tracy starts banging away on her keyboard I return to my temporary office to collect all my stuff and prepare for a dash to the airport. Tracy's just finishing our reservations as I return to her desk. I give her peck on the cheek as she hands me two e-tickets and an itinerary.

I give Janine a quick call to give her the flight information and tell her exactly where I'll meet her at the airport. We will both have to dash to make it in time. Just as I hang up I remember what Bud asked me twice not to forget. I barely caught Janine on the phone a second time and tell her that we need to get Bill in a meeting tonight and ask if she could set something up no sooner than 10:00 since our flight doesn't arrive until 9 pm? She says she'll get someone to set it up.

Tuesday 3:49 PM - Houston

"Now remember Janine," I say softly as we walk up the steps. "She's pretty shy. I'll introduce you and explain why you're here. Just smile and nod OK?"

She looks at me, smiling and nodding. It makes me laugh for one of the few times in the past four or five days.

Smiling myself I take stock of the building where Bud said Heidi was now living. I shake my head and hope this is something very temporary, for both of us. There was no security on the front door so we simply entered and took the stairs to the second floor. The hallway was at least clean if dimly lit. We walk down the hallway and are soon standing in front of 211B. With a nervous sigh and a glance at Janine, I knock on the door. At first I can hear nothing but then pick up the light sound of approaching footsteps.

I can see the spyglass in the door cover up and hear a "oh my God", on the other side of the door. The door chain rattles and two deadbolts later the door swings open to reveal a very surprised Heidi.

After the past few days I'm very unsure of where I might stand with Heidi. I watch as her eyes tear up and suddenly she steps across the threshold and surprises me with a very intense hug. Stepping back she blushes and a bit of the ol' Heidi appears. Shyly she smiles at me and it's only then she notices my colleague.

"I can't believe you here, Mr. Vickers. I'm not even sure how you found me but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she says, her eyes never leaving Janine. I watch as she takes in the tight blouse and tighter skirt Janine seems to favor. "Mr. Vickers?" She asks with a veiled and slightly disapproving tone.

"Heidi, you've called me Jake for ten years. I can't see any reason why you should be changing now!"

A smile faintly touches her lip while she still casts a guarded suspicious look at Janine.

Suddenly I realize that if my beliefs are correct, Heidi has no idea of what's going on back in Dallas and she's wondering why I am here next to Janine. "Janine, this is Heidi Bevis my administrative assistant, but in reality my right arm and conscience. Heidi, this is Janine Prescott. She's a paralegal." I think about explaining more but less is better at this point.

Heidi looks at both of us confused, then awkwardly steps back and invites us in.

I had been in Heidi's home in Dallas a few times to help her out with home repairs and similar activities. I know most of her family is down here in Houston. In fact my previous ill-fated trip had included some time in Houston and was one of the reasons Heidi has accompanied me on the trip. Heidi leads us into a small living room and motions for us to sit, asking if there is anything we would like to drink. Both of us decline politely.

"You're a hard woman to track down Heidi," I tease her.

She looks embarrassed and then puzzled. "I'm so sorry for leaving you so quickly. I wanted to stay long enough to make sure they replaced me within someone good enough for you, but they told me not to worry about it and that it was more important that I get down here to Houston to help my brother."

I realize Heidi must have just given the answers to several puzzles but I wasn't even sure of which questions yet.

"Heidi, are you OK?" I ask sincerely. "Are you in trouble?"

She looks puzzled again. "Y-Yes I'm just fine. I have been more worried about you. I tried to call you this morning but no one answered your phone! So I tried to call Mr. Weston and they told me he wasn't available. So I called the receptionist and asked to have you paged and they told me you don't work there anymore! Mr. Vickers are you in trouble? They told me it was just something routine. You didn't get fired because of me did you?" She asks, casting another suspicious look at Janine who has now occupied a chair facing me. Despite the seriousness of my situation I can't help but notice out of the corner of my eye the long expanse of leg exposed from her crossed legs under her short skirt. I have to force myself to concentrate on Heidi.

Suddenly I'm in one of those situations where I'm not even sure how to proceed. I glance over at Janine but she shrugs without help. Finally I ask, "Heidi, just tell me what's going on. Janine and I came all the way down here to find you and make sure you are OK."

Heidi looks at me with puzzlement. She casts another evil eye at Janine who just smiles in return. "Didn't Ms. Hinckley tell you what happened? She promised she would explain why I had to run out on you!"

"No, sit down and tell me about it."

"It's awful Jake! I mean I guess I knew it was going to happen but it's still awful!"

"Just calm down and tell me about it."

"It's my brother Bumper."

"The one that keeps having a few problems?"

"Yep that one. He did it good this time Jake. He got caught buying some more drugs and this is the third time. The prosecutor told him he was going to go to prison. You know Bumper wouldn't hurt a fly. Can you imagine what those hard core criminals would do to him if he was sent to jail?"

"When did all of this happen?" I ask with concern.

"Last week," Heidi sniffed.

"Right after you left Houston?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you call me and tell me?"

She looks at me puzzled again. "I didn't call you because I knew you were working down in San Antonio. I can't interrupt your day with my little emergencies Jake."

"As either your boss or as your friend, I think you should have! So what's the situation now? How can I help?"

"Jake?" Heidi says truly puzzled.

"What?"

"Well, don't you already know?"

"Know what?" I respond, equally confused. My attention is momentarily distracted by the sight of Janine uncrossing her legs and leaving them slightly parted like a scene out of Basic Instinct. I can't quite tell if she's wearing ...

"About my brother silly! You sent Ms. Hinckley out here to help me!" She says in part frustration, snapping my concentration from somewhere south on Janine's belly button to Heidi's face. A quick peripheral view at Janine's smirking face confirms my suspicion of multiple games at play.

"Ms. Hinckley showed up did she?" I continue. "Did she help you?"

"Didn't she get back to you?"

For a moment I think about playing this along and seeing where it ends up. Then I shake my head clear of such nonsense and go with what works best for me. "Heidi, I didn't send Ms. Hinckley out here. So why don't you tell me what happened?"

Heidi stares at me with astonishment and slowly sits down. I glance over at Janine which is a mistake, because she has now spread her knees another delicate inch or two confirming that she is not wearing anything under her skirt and that she has a very trusting relationship with her razor. I clear my throat and force myself to again look at Heidi.

"I thought she came out to see me at my home in Dallas because you sent her. I'm fairly certain she said that."

"Why don't you tell me what happened Heidi," I repeat firmly.

For the next twenty minutes Heidi tells me practically everything about Hinckley visiting her. Heidi found out about her brother on Monday while at work. She immediately went to Tom Weston my boss to ask for a family leave. Tom, of course, granted her request and Heidi made arrangements to go down to Houston Tuesday night. Heidi explains that while she was packing and making other last minute arrangements, her doorbell rang and she was quite shocked to see Ms. Hinckley, the executive director of HR, standing at her door.

Heidi invited her in and Hinckley proceeded to sympathize with Heidi regarding her brother, saying she also had a younger brother that got caught up in the ugly underground of drugs. As Heidi explains to me, Hinckley apparently has relatives in both the Houston police department and in the Prosecutor's department. She offered to make a few calls and intercede on Heidi's behalf. Hinckley suggested she might be able to get Heidi's brother put into a rehabilitation center instead of having to do jail time.

I interrupt Heidi for a moment and ask her if she had any idea how Hinckley would know about Bumper. Heidi again looks puzzled for a moment and says that Mr. Weston must have told her. Out of the corner of my eye I notice Janine jotting something on her little PDA device and I knew she was making sure we followed up on this loose end. I turn back to Heidi and motion for her to continue with her story.

Heidi was understandably ecstatic about any chance of her brother not going to jail. She enthusiastically agreed with Hinckley's plan. Hinckley was true to her word and her brother did get sent to a rehabilitation center. Heidi has been down in Houston since last Tuesday afternoon and was planning to relocate here permanently so that she could continue to help her brother. She had already contacted a real estate agent to sell her place in Dallas. I knew Heidi's parents were divorced, the father's whereabouts unknown and the mother could usually be found having a relationship with a Vodka bottle.

"So everything seems to be OK?" I ask a bit suspiciously. Thinking about how close Hinckley and Schmidt were, I suddenly remember that old saying about Greeks and gifts.

"As well as it could be. If it were a perfect world my brother wouldn't be messed up on drugs. But the center he has been assigned to seems quite promising. I actually have some hope he can quit."

I smile, genuinely happy for her. She's gone through several depths of hell over her brother, hell her entire family, in the time I've known her. For a moment I debate with myself to bring up the issue of the affidavit. Heidi has enough turmoil going on in her life right now.

"So did you get partner?" Heidi suddenly asks out of the blue, startling my thoughts back to the topic at hand.

"No Heidi," I respond. "Anything but ..." I think to myself.

"You didn't?" Heidi responds surprised.

"There's nothing for you to worry about Heidi. It will work itself out when it's time."

"But Ms. Hinckley said it was all but a done deal when I saw her last Tuesday." Heidi continues.

"She did?" I respond surprised, making another mistake and glancing over at Janine. She seems to have been waiting for just that moment and spreads her knees even further apart, just for a moment, before covering herself up by crossing her legs. In that brief moment it became graphically clear that she is not only doing a massive pricktease by flashing her shaven pussy, but given the glistening I see she is even aroused herself.

"Yes Jake," Heidi responds. "She even had me sign a glowing statement about how much you've done for the company."

"She did?" I repeat even more surprise. I realize I am still staring at the spot where I had just witness a wet naked pussy. With effort I twist my head back toward Heidi. "You signed an affidavit?"

"No, it wasn't an affidavit. I've worked for you enough years to know the difference. It was just a performance report. She had me sign the second page and initial both pages."

"It was two pages? And you said it was glowing?" I ask.

"Yes. Well the first page was glowing. The second page said something about your leadership skills and that it was an area for improvement. I asked Ms. Hinckley about that and she said all performance reports were like that. They had to put something down that wasn't so positive regardless of how good a job someone did."

I stare at Heidi for a second trying to make sense of what she was telling me. "Did they copy Heidi's signature?"

I reach into the portfolio I brought with me and pulled out the manila folder containing a copy of the affidavit. Carefully extracting it and folding it to the second page, I hand it to Heidi. "Heidi, is this the second page you're talking about?"

Heidi scrunches her expression for a moment and then quickly reads the single paragraph. "Yes, I think this is exactly what I signed last week. But I don't understand any of this notary stuff. There wasn't a notary here last week. It was just me and Ms. Hinckley."

Before I can stop her Heidi flips the first page back to the top. I stand to try and take the document from her before she can read it. Unfortunately Heidi is a quick reader and she read enough in those first couple of seconds to stand up and twist away from me to prevent me from retrieving the document in her hand.

"Oh my God!" She exclaims.

Sighing, I sit down and let her read the entire affidavit. I glance over at Janine who is now sitting demurely, her legs still crossed, and quite interested in the interplay between me and Heidi.

Heidi slowly sits down in the nearest chair. I watch as she slowly turns crimson, the phrase "Oh my God," being repeatedly whispered.

She finishes reading the first page and flips to the second, as if she expected the second page to now say something completely different. For a long while she stares at the document.

"H-H-How ... W-Why ... Jake?" She stutters.

"Take it easy," I tell her. I had the same exactly feeling when I saw it for the first time.

"What does this mean Jake?" She asks. "T-T-This says ... well ... it accuses you ... us ... of having an affair! It says ... you force me to have sex with you ... that you made me do things like ... well ... you know!" Heidi buries her face between her hands and starts to sob.




Dig Two Graves Ch. 04



I start to get up and go to her but with Janine there I'm reminded of how careful I need to be.

"Heidi, I have to ask you a question that I already know the answer. I knew the answer before I even came here but I have to ask the question anyway. Did you sign this affidavit?"

"NO!" She says very emphatically. "I signed your performance rating!"

"You didn't sign that document?" I repeat.

"No!"

"But the second page ... that looks familiar? That is a page you signed? But the first page is different?"

"No! I mean yes! The second page is the same. The first page is a lie! A page of disgusting lies! I would never do anything like that! We never did anything like that! And you would never do that to Susie!"

"Heidi, would you sign a legal affidavit stating that you did not sign that document as it is currently put together?"

"Definitely!" She says, a bit of anger now creeping into her voice.

"What does all this mean Jake? Are you in trouble Jake? Am I in trouble? Was Ms. Hinckley behind all this? What does this mean about my brother? Oh God, what does all this mean?"

"It'll be OK Heidi," I sooth. "Don't worry. You haven't done anything wrong and you're not in trouble. What's important is that you stay here in Houston and take care of your family and your brother. OK? You don't need to worry about anything else. I'll make sure of it OK? Just keep me aware of what's going on in your life."

Heidi sniffs and nods. "But what about you Jake? This is talking about sexual harassment! That -- that you forced me!"

I smile to disarm her fears. "No need to worry about me Heidi. Those that know me well know the truth. And your signature on an affidavit will go a long way toward quelling any other problems."

"And Susie? Does she know ... about this?" She inquires.

I just nod.

"Oh my God! How is she doing? This must be awful! She -- she doesn't think that I ... you and me ... did anything?"

"Susie's struggling a bit with the enormity of all of it, but don't you worry a bit. I know that she thinks just as warmly about you as she did before all this came to light. So don't you worry about a thing."

"Surely she can't seriously think that you and I did anything? It's just the one page and that is obviously so fake!"

"The problem is that you are so honest. Your signature on that first document, even though it was a fake, carries a lot of weight. Plus there are the ..." I stop myself.

Heidi eyes me. "There are what Jake?"

I sigh. "There are pictures."

"Pictures? How can there be pictures? We've never been together."

I shrug.

"Do you have them?"

I look up at Janine, trying to ignore the pussy flash. She smiles and shrugs.

"They are pretty upsetting Heidi, I don't think ..."

Standing up suddenly, "I don't really care what you think Jake Vickers. I have a right to see those pictures!"

I sigh and reach into my portfolio and extract the other manila folder. "You better sit down Heidi."

Heidi slowly sits, never taking her eyes off the folder. When she is fully seated I give her the folder. She looks one last time at me and opens the folder.

"Oh my God!" She murmurs, and I watch as she turns a shade of crimson. She studies each photograph, saying "Oh my God" each time, turning a darker shade of crimson as she looks at each of the eight pictures.

She finishes and puts all the 8" by 10" glossies back in the folder and hands me back the folder.

"I can see how people might be fooled by those pictures," Heidi says finally. She looks up at me. "But it's not us. It's not me. I don't have a tattoo."

"Tattoo?" I exclaim. I open the folder and start scanning through the photographs.

"Look at the last picture," Heidi says quietly.

I skip to the last picture. I scan every inch but can't see anything. I'm about to ask Heidi where she saw the tattoo when I spot it. It's right in the middle of her back just above the crack of her ass. In the last picture she's sitting straight up straddling my lap. The sheet that was partially covering her has slipped down and is bunched around her waist. But just barely sticking above the sheet is the outline of some type of tattoo."

"Wow," I murmur to myself. "This could be important! Would you mind if we insert a statement into the affidavit that you don't have a tattoo?"

Heidi nods her head. Janine efficiently generates an affidavit using the software on her laptop, and prints it out with the small but equally efficient portable printer. Being a notary she also is able to notarize the document. It seems incredible but in only a few short hours we've managed to uncover a lot of suspicious activity and have thrown a significant amount of doubt against the idea that Heidi and I had been in that bed.

I stand up to leave. I walk over to Heidi and give her a hug. Heidi hugs me back. "I'm sorry Jake," she says.

"I'm sorry too Heidi," I reply. I give her a last hug and then Janine and I precede Heidi to the door. I wish her well and remind her to call me if she has any difficulties. On second thought I tell her I expect at least a couple calls a week regardless of things are going.

She nods with a sniff and Janine and I close the door behind us. Janine and I are quiet all the way to the car. We fasten our seat belts and pull out of Heidi's drive. Janine immediately reclines her seat a few inches and leans back, her skirt hiked up, her knees spread and pussy on display.

I can't help but look over to see her smiling at me. "My compliments to your barber." I finally manage to squeak out.

"You like?" She laughs.

I watch as her hand moves to her pussy, her middle finger snaking deep inside. I can see her wiggling it in and out for a few moments before pulling it out and holding it up in the sunshine. Her finger glistens as I watch her slide it between her lips and suckle on it. I can't help but groan and she laughs again. "I know what I'll be thinking about tonight in my hotel room ..."

"So," she coos. "Do you think you would like to try your hand at it?"

"My hand?" I ask a bit flustered.

"Yes. You said you liked how my barber did it. Think you would like to try your hand at being my barber?"

I close my eyes for a moment to steel myself. "If this divorce goes through ..."

"If your divorce goes through you wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting," she laughs, sitting up and putting her knees together. "And just so we understand each other," she continues. "Around the office I'm known as the Ice Queen. No one would believe a word if you decide to say anything."

Suddenly I find myself completely disengaged from the blonde black widow. I smile only for affect. "Believe a word of what?" I reply innocently. "But I do have to ask you a question." I continue glancing over at her. She tilts her head toward me but offers no further encouragement.

"Why the flash? If you're the Ice Queen then why the charade? And maybe most importantly, why me?"

She laughs. "Maybe because I enjoy the tease. Maybe because I can."

I shake my head. "That's not really an answer but more of an evasion. Because you can? Do you get away with this all the time? I really would like to know. Why the tease and why me?"

"Yes," she replies with a smirk and then says nothing further.

We drive silently back to the airport before Janine pipes up. "I was curious."

"Curious?" I repeat.

"In cases like yours, there's usually something to the allegation. Your wife would surely not have proceeded with a divorce on the flimsy evidence we've seen so far. There must be something else in your past. From what I have seen, men can be sized up into two categories. They are either cheaters or wimps. So I was curious if you were a cheater so I tested you. A cheater would have gone for me by now."

I look over at her. "Really? I knew we were supposed to be the simple sex, but I never knew we were that simple." I wait for a response that is not forthcoming. I glance back over at her. "So because I haven't made a move on you, you don't think I'm the cheating type?"

She looks at me and smiles wickedly. "I haven't decided fully yet."

I shake my head as I drive through the streets surrounding the airport terminals. She more or less had just called me a wimp. A week ago I would have laughed it off. Now I'm just angry. Why would she be so vindictive after what happened last Friday night? Then I realized she doesn't know about last Friday, that Bill said the details of that evening would not be shared with his staff unless necessary. So is Janine just a young black widow? A tease? Is she still baiting me? Suddenly I decide I just don't care. For all of her physical beauty and seductive attractiveness, I sense a lot of hidden emotional baggage that I had neither the stomach nor time to wade through. Reaching the terminal for departure, I pull up to curb and put the car in park. "Why don't you go ahead and check in and I'll return the car and catch up with you later."

She looks at me confused for a moment. "I could have ridden to the rent-a-car with you?"

"There's no need for both of us to haggle with the car or the shuttle. Besides you have that big bag with all of your equipment. You go on and I'll catch up."

She looks at me for a moment and shrugs. I think she had just realized that all of our game playing had just reached its logical conclusion. She moves to open the car door and then stops and turns back to me. Smiling, her hand slides over and nestles on the inside of my thigh. "Don't you trust me Jake?"

I turn and stare directly into her eyes. Unflinchingly and without a trace of the sarcasm I feel, "with my life."

She laughs and withdraws her hand. She opens the car door and steps out, peering back in through the window. "Jake, you still have a few things to learn. It wouldn't be your life. It would have been your balls."

I watch her walk into the terminal. "Hardly," I think to myself. "And I'm glad there are things I still need to learn. Not that I want to learn them, especially from you."

Tuesday 9:48 PM

Janine and I arrive back at Dallas/Fort Worth and immediately split up. I am thankful it wasn't a long flight from Houston as there were hardly a dozen words spoken between the two of us. I assume she didn't like the way I had dismissed her at the terminal. I get the feeling that few men had done that with her.

I pick up my own car from short term parking and head out to Bud's where Bill and I will meet with him to discuss the latest discoveries and go over strategy.

I pull up to Bud's office and notice that Bill's car is already parked. I walk in and am surprised to see Tracy still there. "Have you been here all day?"

"No, I took off earlier this afternoon because I knew I would have to reopen for tonight. Bud's not here yet but he called in about ten minutes ago saying he was just getting off the Interstate and should be here shortly. Your lawyer is already here though," nodding toward the conference room.

I begin to turn toward the conference room when the office door suddenly jerks open and Bud comes strolling in with a big shit eating grin. "Thanks Tracy," he says first to her. "Why don't you scram for home and tell that husband of yours I'll make it up to him for making you come out here this late."

Tracy smiles and picks up her purse to leave. The poor girl was keeping the place open for us waiting for her boss to get back. I promise I will make it up to her. She says, "you bet you will!" Bud asks her if my lawyer was there and when she nods, asks her to wait a minute and to give him a chance to get the two of us situated in his office. She tells him that she had already sent my lawyer on to the conference room. He nods in acknowledgement

Bud and I enter the conference room and I introduce Bud to Bill. He asks that we get comfortable while he checks out the results of some of the other parts of the investigation.

We can hear him talking to Tracy for several minutes through the half open door and then he tells her thanks for staying over and to drive safely home. He disappears for the longest couple of minutes and finally barges into the conference room.

"Sorry to keep you both waiting," Bud says as he dances his way around our chairs to reach the other side of the table. "I wanted to get the latest reports from Tracy and my staff," he explains as he settles his bulk into his chair.

Bud takes one look at my face and chuckles. "Sorry," he says. "I know this isn't funny but boy you look like you're going to bust. So let's get at it? What do you say?"

"I'm all for that!" I nearly explode.

Bud laughs again. "OK, First, let's look at their original affidavit they said your secretary signed."

He pulls out the original affidavit and lays it on the table. "First, Jake do you know anything about printers and the Secret Service?"

"Secret Service?" I query.

"Yeah. The U.S. Secret Service is part of the treasury office. Everyone knows they are directly responsible for the protecting the president, but their original mandate was to protect the nation's money supply. When there's any counterfeiting going on, it's the Secret Service that gets involved."

"What's the Secret Service have to do with Susie and me?" I ask getting a little alarmed.

"Nothing, except they did us a big favor!"

"What do you mean?"

"With the advent of computers, especially printers, copiers, and such ... it's become a whole lot easier to print something out that looks like a $20 bill. Of course, a good quality counterfeit bill requires using the right paper stock and watermarks ... that's another story. But on the surface, you can print something that looks very authentic. The Secret Service talked most if not all of the printer manufacturers to print a nearly invisible mark on every sheet of paper. Nearly every color printer sold in this country prints an invisible, unique identification code on every sheet of paper. The mark only shows up if you use the right kind of ultraviolet light. Even if you figured out how to view it, it wouldn't mean anything to you because it's a code."

I start to get excited. "You're telling me we can tell what printer these pages were printed on?"

"More than that son," he continues. "Since printers are connected to computers, and computers all have a concept of time, that invisible mark not only contains the unique code for the printer, but also has a date and time stamp. If you reveal the mark and know how to decode it, you can tell not only what printer printed the sheet of paper, but what day and what time."

"It's actually easy to see the mark. You just need the right light source. The tricky part is figuring out how to decode the mark. Unfortunately each printer manufacturer developed their own code. But lucky for us, I know a guy that has those codes and I showed him your affidavit."

"What did he find out?" Bill asks before I even have a chance.

"Both sheets of paper were printed on the same printer."

"Oh," I say, hoping to hear otherwise.

"But they were printed at different times," he adds with a smile.

"Different times?" I repeat.

"Yes, both sheets were printed on January 17th. The second sheet was printed first at 7:03 AM. The first sheet was printed fifteen hours later at 10:13 PM."

"How can that be?" I ask stunned. "That's the day Heidi said she signed the affidavit, but she also said that she left for Houston late in the afternoon. She was in the air at the time the first sheet was printed. She couldn't have initialed that page."

"That's exactly right Jake."

"But then ... how did her initials end up on it?"

"Obviously Heidi never put them there! To tell you the truth, forensically it wasn't a very good attempt to create a forged document. The second page was printed on a laser printer using toner. Heidi's initials appear to be real and are in black ink. We might even be able to figure out what pen was used, based on an ink analysis but that's overkill. The important thing is that Heidi's initials on the first page are made of printer toner."

"Oh God," I murmur, realizing this completely debunks the original affidavit. "OK, I understand the toner .vs. ink thing. But I'm curious. If the set of initials on the first page were generated by a printer, were they an exact copy of the second page?"

"You're on the right path boy. You're smart despite what your father grumbles about you," he chuckles. "We did check that out and the two initials are not exactly the same. We don't have proof on exactly how it was done, but I think it's a good guess Heidi's signature was scanned off the first original page and then digitally altered before being transferred to the forged first page. That first page was then printed later."

"I think I would have felt better if the two sets of initials matched. But at least we finally have some good evidence this is all a setup," I murmur.

"There's one more thing Jake," Bud adds. "I get a lot of things done because I know a lot of people. I trade favors all the time."

Bill laughs. "And who did you trade favors with Bud?"

Bud glances over at Bill with a grin. "Now I would never tell you who. But I do know Jake's firm leases the 14th and 15th floors in a building downtown Dallas. And I also know that security for the entire building is outsourced and that access to all the offices requires a security badge."

"Don't tell me ..." I smile.

"Yep, a friend of a friend happened to print out the badge access log for the two floors leased by your firm on January 17th between midnight and midnight on the 18th."

"And?" I ask not wanting to be kept in suspense.

"Look for yourself," he chuckles taking a printout and tossing it on the desk.

With Bill equally interested over my shoulder, I quickly scan the report. I was most interested in access first thing in the morning. There were several badges checking in and out all during the wee hours of the morning. I figure they are either maintenance or security staff. But two entries capture my interest. At 6:23 AM, two badges were used on the 15th floor just seconds apart. I look up at Bud, the disappointment evident on my face. "OK, we have two interesting badge numbers. But who are they?"

"Tsk tsk tsk ... a little faith Jake." He grabs a second printout from the same folder and tosses it on the desk between me and Bill.

I laugh. "You're enjoying dragging this out a little too much!"

Bill grabs the second printout which apparently lists all the badge numbers for everyone in the building. Looking over each other's shoulders, we scan Bill's list for the two numbers that occurred at 6:23 on my list.

"Got it," he says. "Evelyn J Hinckley."

"Fuck her!" I murmur. I give the second number to Bill and watch him flip a few pages.

"Timothy K Schmidt," he serves up.

I slowly sit back in my chair. "I'm going to kill that motherfucker ..."

I look up to see Bud staring at me intently. He glances over at Bill. "Jake I can tell what you're thinking and I think your lawyer can too. I can tell you from personal history it's not worth going to prison over a woman." He glances at Bill again and continues, "Someday I'll share a personal story with you, so don't you go stewing over this and hatching plans. You still got a tough row to hoe and you don't need criminal charges to be added to what you already got."

I mull over what Bud said and nod, sitting back up. But in the back of my mind, "He's right ... but ..."

"Jake, we got more evidence to go over so let's not get mired in just one piece. We've shot a couple of big holes in those words on that affidavit, but pictures tell a thousand words right? So let's look take a closer look at these photographs. I had someone I trust look the negatives over. One thing is that it's fairly certain those photographs have not been faked. The person that took these photographs used regular ASA film, not a digital camera. A digital picture you can always claim it to be fake whether it is nor not. But it's a whole lot harder to air brush out a negative. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but they created a mostly "un-impeachable" set of evidence. Sorry Jake, but the photographs are real and I have to believe that's you in the starring role."




Dig Two Graves Ch. 04



Bud looks at me for a moment before continuing. "Now, that being said, we suspected the photographs were staged and we can prove it by little pieces of evidence here and there. First, we know that someone else took these photographs. The only way one of two people in the photograph could have operated the camera is via remote and a tripod. My expert blew up some of the photographs concentrating on the objects on the night stand. The first three pictures were taken from almost the same position and from the clock; we know they were all taken at 1:30 AM. Of interest, your body position Jake is identical in all three photographs. Now in the fourth picture it gets a tad bit more interesting. The time changed to 1:31 AM, and this picture is the only one that shows any movement on your part. In the remaining four pictures, your body position is identical to the fourth one. Unless you count my wife, it's very suspicious that someone would hardly ever move while having sex. There's also one other interesting thing about the fourth picture. The expert I had look at the pictures figures the camera shifted a good foot to the left."

"How did you figure that out?" Bill asks.

"It's the calendar and the clock on the night stand," Bud answers. He pulls out two more pictures from a folder, looks at them for a moment, and then puts them on the table for Bill and me to see. Pointing to the first new picture Bud continues, "This is a blowup of the nightstand from the third picture. From the perspective of the camera, notice the calendar is in front and to the right of the clock. The very left edge of the calendar overlaps the right edge of the clock. Now look at the same view from the fourth picture."

We take a few moments and see what Bud is pointing at right away. In the blowup of the fourth picture, you can actually see a small gap between the calendar and the clock. "I see it," I say. "That gap could only have happen if the clock, calendar or camera moved. And it's a safe bet the clock or calendar didn't move."

"Right," Bud says. "Like I said, my expert was even able to guess that the camera moved about a foot left. I gave him your height and he made some guesses as to the distance between your waist and the top of your head. Using that as a base, he figured the camera was about 9 feet away. Once he knew that, he could just use geometry and figure out how far the camera moved.

"That's good stuff Bud," Bill chimes in. "Now we've proven there was at least one other person in the room."

"Oh, we're just scratching the surface Bill. I had a very good trip down in Houston!" Bud laughs.

"So what else?" I ask anxiously.

Bud laughs again. "Keep your pants on boy! You got a hot date tonight or ..." Bud suddenly stops in mid-sentence. "I'm sorry Jake. That sorta slipped out before I even thought about what I was saying."

I shake my head and motion I was fine and that he should continue.

A bit red in the cheek Bud says, "I spent almost all my time down in Houston just in the hotel you stayed in Jake. I asked around and found out the name of the bellboy who had been there the longest. If you want to know what's going on in a hotel, talk to the bellboys or the cleaning staff. I found one young guy that had been there for several years and all it took was a picture of Grant to make him sing his fool head off."

"First thing I showed him was one of those photographs, and asked him about the calendar. He said they didn't use anything like that in the rooms. The only way a calendar like that could have been put there was if the customer brought it. Then this bellboy starts turning detective on me going all over the photograph. He chirps up that the water bottle wasn't provided by the hotel. I asked him how he knew that. He said the hotel had an exclusive contract with Ice Mountain brand and that the water was Aquafina. So Jake, that's a question for you. Did you bring any water into the room?"

"No ... I don't think so," I puzzle, trying to remember back. "I certainly didn't go out of the hotel and buy any water and bring it back. You know I have a low tolerance for alcohol and often just drink water. While I was there I just drank what was downstairs in the lobby or in the mini-bar in my room."

"You told me Monday that you and a couple of other guys were celebrating Saturday night. What did you drink then?"

"I had an ice tea with dinner. Afterwards I had one beer and then water after that. Wait ... I just remember something. We each bought a couple of rounds. Of course I was a cheap date because I was only drinking water by that time. I remember Schmidt buying the last round. He said he had to use the restroom so he brought the drinks back himself. I didn't even need any more water but he brought me a bottle anyway. And I did drink it. In fact I now remember taking that bottle about half full back to my room. I suddenly started getting very tired and so hung it up and retired to my room. I really can't remember much more than that until the next morning."

I look up at Bud. "What are you smiling about?" I ask him.

"Well, what you just told me jives with what else I found out."

"You have more?" Bill asks.

"Oh yeah! Something big! I told you I made good buddies with that bellboy. Well, I got him to do something for me. This time it took a Franklin, but it was worth it."

"Well ... what was it!" I ask.

"One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the hotel was the security cameras. I asked the bell boy if they only had that in the lobby or did they have them everywhere. He said they only had them on the front desk and the main hallways of each floor near the elevators. I asked if he could find out what room you were staying in and if the tape for that floor was still available for the evening of January 15th. That's when I had to pony up the Franklin. But like I said, it was worth it."

Bud reached into his bad and pulls out a VHS tape. My eyes get big as I watch him get up and walk over to the TV on the side of his room.

"Now I've already viewed this several times and even had some extra work done. So it's already queued up to about the right spot."

Bud presses place on his recorder and an image flickers on the screen. It's a view down a hallway. In the foreground on the far left are two elevator doors. On the far right is a convenience stand and one of those old floor cigarette butt ashtrays that's been converted into a trash can. In the distance is a long hallway with what seems to be an endless parade of hotel room doors in view. The upper right hand corner displayed the date and time, and it was currently set to January 15th at 1:23 AM. In the lower right hand corner it said "#18".

Only a few seconds after the image appears we see the far left elevator in the bottom left hand corner of the screen open. We can't see into the elevator but shortly two figures emerge and begin walking down the hallway away from us. Both are wearing overcoats and the larger of the two is also wearing a hat. By his size and the way he walks he appears to be male. The other is very recognizable by the mid-back level frizzy hair style she has. It's the woman in my photographs.

We watch them walk down the hall. Bud narrates as we watch and said that he went and counted the number of doors between the elevator and my room at the hotel. He said they stop directly in front of my room. As the three of us watch, we see the man in the overcoat produce a key card, open my door and disappear into my room."

"Holy shit!" I exclaim. That proves someone entered my room just before the pictures were taken. You did it Bud!"

"Not so fast," Bill says. "I agree this seems to be the icing on the cake, but the two doubting Thomasina's I heard this morning won't see it the same way."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"It's pretty obvious it's the woman in the photographs. But the man in the photographs could have been you. He was about your height. They'll argue this is proof you did cheat. After all, no one but you should have had your key card."

"Oh shit, you're right!"

"Not so fast Kimosabie," laughs Bud. "I haven't shown you everything yet! First, this isn't the only tape I got. I managed to get all the tapes for Jake's floor for that evening. I clearly have Jake on tape entering his room a good hour and a half earlier, and he doesn't come out until the next morning. Second, I mentioned I called in a few favors. I called in a few down in Houston. As soon as I saw this footage I rushed off to another video expert I know down there and had him take a crack at it."

"Initially when my expert reviewed the footage several times and said it was doubtful we would get anything on the two individuals as they seem to be aware of the camera and had their faces turned as soon as they neared the camera's visual field."

"But ... then he started concentrating on that old chrome pedestal ashtray. He advanced the tape to the point where the elevator doors just start to open. Then he started blowing up and enhancing the section of the frame near the ashtry. This is what he got on his first blowup."

Bud reached down into his magic bag of tricks and pulled out another folder. This time he pulled out a single photograph. It was a blowup of the ashtray. Right on the corner for the chrome ashtray we could see the elevator doors open and two people standing there.

"Damn," I say. "We can almost make them out."

"Hold your horses," Bud says. "This is a blowup of the blowup."

Bud pulls out another photograph and lays it on his desk. Bill and I both look at it and then at each other.

"Is that Schmidt?" Bill asks?

I look at the blowup again. Although grainy and somewhat distorted in the curvature of the chrome ashtray, we could clearly see the two elevator doors as two parentheses. And framed in the middle of those two curved elevator doors were two faces. One belongs to the woman in my photographs. The other belongs to the VP of sales at my firm, none other than Thomas K Schmidt.

I whistle.

"I'm not done yet!" Bud says with glee.

I had the bell boy access the security logs for your floor for that evening. It seems it shows your room being entered by someone in maintenance at 1:23 AM that morning. I tracked that guy down and he wouldn't admit to anything except he lost his card sometime that night. He didn't find out about it until 4:00 AM or so. I'll bet you a dollar to a doughnut he took a bribe. After all, that's how I was getting all of my information!"

Bud holds up his hand when I try to speak.

"One more thing Jake and then I'm done. The bellboy even recognized the woman in your photographs. She's a high class hooker. He gave her name and I even tracked her down. She wouldn't answer a lot of questions but did say she was hired as part of a practical joke. She simply acted like she was fucking you but never did. She laughed and said they never even bothered to take your pants off. Of course, she refused to let me tape record her or sign a document."

Bud smiled and threw an audio cassette tape on the desk.

"But as luck would have it. My recorder was accidentally turned on. So I screwed up and taped it anyway. There's no way you could enter it as evidence for court, but it may carry a little weight with a certain prosecutor."

Bud throws one last photo on the desk and we look down at my "partner" in bed.

"There she is Jake. There's your mystery fuck."

I sit back and laugh, much more in relief than for any other reason. A deep laugh ... one that I've needed for days.

I look at my watch and see that it's barely 10:30 pm. I quickly give Vicky Gambino a call. She doesn't answer but I leave a message indicating that Bill and I would like to meet up with her and Susie tomorrow. We have one last consideration for Susie and if that doesn't convince her that I was innocent then I wouldn't fight her suit for divorce.

Both Bill and Bud are quiet while I make my call. Bill puts a hand on my shoulder. I grin and the two of us begin talking strategy for the next day. Bud gets up and makes a fresh pot of coffee, and for the next hour we kick around several ideas.

Just as we are about to break up for the evening, my cell phone rings and it is Gambino. Bud's phone rings at the same time so I get up and step outside. Vicky says she got my message and had talked with Susie. They would meet us at Susie's office at 8:30 AM tomorrow.

After hanging up I walk back into the conference room and tell Bill, "The game is on."

Bill and I quietly talk a bit more strategy for the next day while Bud finishes up his phone call with a few grunts. He finally hangs up and sits quietly, a bit too quietly.

"Something wrong Bud?" I ask.

"Not sure yet," he answers gruffly. "I still got a few irons in the fire. I'll let you know when it's the right time."

Bill and I just give each other a puzzled glance. Bud seems a bit sour for someone that just broke this little situation wide open. It almost seems like he's stonewalling a bit, but maybe it has to do with one of the other agency's cases. I can't think of too much that could go wrong with ours that might throw a damper on what was uncovered today.

With Bud's disposition in the crapper Bill and I silently come to the same agreement that it was time to break up our little group. With a few handshakes all around Bill and I head outside, have a few last words and then split up.

I drive back to my hotel and break the seal on the mini-bar. Taking a cold one outside on to the balcony, I take a moment for a very heavy sigh and begin to reflect back on the last few days. Life has been nothing but a rollercoaster and a whirlwind since Friday. For maybe the first time I start to give serious thought to what transpired Friday night. My mind has been in turmoil. I was in such a rage that evening, but I can also see how Schmidt set everything up. In hindsight it's easy to see how Susie jumped to the conclusion she did but couldn't she have talked to me about it instead of humiliating me and literally putting me into the hospital? Her reaction was swift and deadly, but she's always been that way, I knew that before we got married.

I still have a lot of anger against her for not even giving me that chance to talk about it. And then there's the whole issue of fucking that asshole right in front of me, even though I know how ruthless she can be, the level of deceit to lure me into that chair and then the betrayal ... will we be able to work our way through this?

I know in my heart I love her. That's not a question. Strangely it's not even a question of trust. This was a one-off thing she did as revenge. She was reacting to her own rage and that once she discovers the truth she'll be mortified.

I wander back inside the hotel room for a moment to grab a rare second beer before retreating back to the balcony. Settling heavily into the chair I sigh, knowing that I want somehow to fix all of this, but not sure of how to pick up all the pieces.

I stare out at the lights of Dallas as I nurse my beer. I feel like tying one on and getting drunk but know I need all my wits about me for the meeting with Susie tomorrow. Halfway through my beer my cell phone rings. I check it quickly to see that it's Bud.

Bud is nothing but abrupt and tells me to expect a package on the front desk of my hotel no later than 7 AM. He says there will be a few things in the package marked for Benner's eyes only. He makes me promise to deliver it only to Benner and not to look into any of the folders that were marked. I reluctantly give him the promise I wouldn't but not after arguing with him for several minutes. He says little as is his nature while I argue with him. His only response is that there is a time and place for everything. Right now it's not the right time. I grunt in response and Bud forces me to promise not to look into the folders one last time.

After hanging up with Bud, I think back to when he was in his office and try to remember anything I heard that would give me a clue as to why he seems so gruff. I shake my head realizing that Bud said very little even then. A bit of foreboding descends over me while I call Bill to tell him about the package. Bill is just as mystified as I am and suggests we meet at the same little coffee café no later than 7:45 so that he would have some chance to see what Bud was putting into the package.

Wednesday 8:30 AM

To say I slept restlessly last night would be an incredible understatement. The only thing more difficult than last night's sleep was resisting a peek inside the package waiting for me at the hotel's front desk. After seeing all of the contents marked with Bill's name, I was somehow able to resist examining the contents. The only reason I was able to hold off was because I gave my word, to an old friend such as Bud, no less.

Bill has just joined me at the booth I grabbed in the corner. I first slide across the table the coffee I bought him, followed by Bud's package. He lifts the lid on the box and frowns a moment, extracts the two folders inside and then stands up and moves away a few paces. He looks through both folders as I extract the voice recorder from the pocket of my jacket. It is also marked for Bill but I sorta broke my promise to Bud. I did promise to not look into any folders. I didn't say a damn thing about not listening to any audio tape.

I stare down at the recorder, trying desperately to keep the anger bottled up that threatens to boil over. Rage at Susie if not pure malevolence at that asshole Schmidt. It is only the despair in my heart that helps me keep the rage contained..

Bill returns to our table and asks if I'm ready to head up to Susie's office. I ask him to wait a minute and then explain the tape, and what I heard on it. He puts a comforting hand on my shoulder and then we discuss what we might do with the information. Our mood is decidedly different that it was last night. Grimly we pick up our material and begin walking toward my wife's office.

A look of expectation is on both of their faces as we enter. Silently I watch as the look of expectation changes to puzzlement for both of them. I realize they expected us to come out blasting. Instead we have entered as pallbearers ready to bury the dead.

Bill reaches into his portfolio and extracts the affidavit secured yesterday by Janine. He hands both Susie and Vicky a copy.

"What is this?" Susie asks.

"I suggest you read it," Bill says. "It speaks for itself."

"Where's the original?" Susie asks.

"We have it, we plan on turning it back over before we leave today," Bill says.

Both of them quickly scan the document and look at each other. "Did you see Heidi before she signed this?" Susie asks me.

"Yes he did," Bill answers for me as I remain silent. I can feel my anger just burning below the surface. I don't trust myself to speak.

"Then I agree with your counselor. This document does speak for itself." Susie says. "It says that Heidi, when confronted by Jake, will sign anything."

"What!" I yell.

Bill's hand immediately and firmly grips my forearm squelching the next words that were about to come out of my mouth.

"Of course she signed this Jake. She's been your secretary for years. She's been your lover for who knows how long. You're intimidating and basically you coerced her into signing this new affidavit."

"Have you completely lost track of all your senses?" I respond incredulously. "You're completely ignoring everything you know about both Heidi and me for the past eight years!"

"You cheated on me. I don't have a clue as to who you are." Susie replies.

"After last Friday night, I could say the exactly same thing." I hiss, forgetting my promise to let Bill do the speaking. His reminder is to even more tightly squeeze my forearm.




Dig Two Graves Ch. 05



Preface:

This story is fiction and any resemblance to any specific person or persons is pure coincidence. It is intended for adults only. The chapter involves references to adultery and revenge and contains sexual references.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slide the gear selector into "Park" and turn the ignition off. The low background noise of both the radio and the engine disappear into darkness only to be replaced by silence in the car. I glance over at her sitting a bit nervously in the passenger seat. Neither of us has said a word since she got into my car. I am having serious second thoughts about agreeing to this little drive to a small rise overlooking Austin. I think back at how quickly the past six months have slid by.

It's been a trip to hell and back, riding in a train named heartbreak. My first decision was to break with everything I knew in Dallas and move back down to Austin and the University of Texas. I knew all the details of Susie and my breakup would eventually leak out into the gossip hungry world of attorneys revolving around Dallas. There was no way I could have survived in that notoriety. Just like the old West ... I had to get out of town.

At UT, they were glad to have me as a guest lecturer at the end of the term. Austin wasn't far enough to escape the gossip that drifted down from Dallas but the more liberal environment of academia has been more forgiving than anything I would have faced back up north. Just last week the Dean of the Law School offered me a full time position at which I jumped. I was quite proud of how well Kristy had taken up my role at my old firm. It seems I taught her well and it was good to see her blossom on her own. Because of how well my tutelage of Kristy turned out, the idea of teaching full time is now a strong attraction and I'm more than ready for a change. I think teaching will be a much more fulfilling occupation. 

I don't think I'll miss the corporate world at all. I'm certainly not hurting for funds. In my divorce from Susie, we did split our community property even-steven. But since the house was mine before the marriage, I retained full ownership since I brought that value into the marriage. Plus, Susie refused to have any of the proceeds of my severance package from my old firm. At the time I would have fought with her tooth and nail over every penny so I was surprised when they didn't fight over any of the six million dollars. Looking back now, six months down the line, I find much of my anger against Susie has faded.

Our divorce wound a seemingly slow course through the Texas judicial system. Susie didn't contest the financial settlement portion of our divorce, but she did contest the divorce itself. She wanted us to go through counseling and was able to convince the judge assigned to our case to agree. However Bill was able to get the "couple counseling" limited to just six hours. Because I had moved to Austin, the logistics of attending counseling became messy as it required someone to do a bit of traveling. Through our attorneys we finally agreed to three monthly sessions of two hours each. The first two were in Dallas at a counselor of her choice. The third and final session was down here in Austin with a counselor I chose.

Susie wasn't very happy about splitting counselors, but she really didn't have much choice. The judge made no stipulation on how the counselors would be chosen, just that a mandatory six hours were to be completed and reported back to the court. She knew as well as I did that if she contested it, a judge would find the 2-1 ratio in her favor more than fair.

I couldn't have predicted the outcome of the first two sessions any better. The counselor was female and the entire four hours was spent in narration. I sat and listened quietly about how women are suppressed from childhood. How this early domination of their spirit led to sudden outbursts in life, mini-revolutions so to speak. It was all I could do not to laugh as the counselor tried to excuse Susie's behavior. It wasn't a counseling session as much as a rationalization. 

After both sessions in Dallas Susie tried to get me to stay after the session to talk, even asking me to stay over at her place. In making the move to Austin I had quickly put my old home on the market and was pleased at how quickly it sold and at the price I wanted. Both times Susie offered, I politely declined and without any further communication made the long drive that same night back to Austin. 

Tonight was the third and final counseling session. I knew she would have trouble finding the counselor's office so I agreed to meet her at the LBJ library and drive her over.

Susie looked dejected and resigned when I picked her up at the library. The farce of the first two counseling sessions had been exposed as nothing more than attempts to excuse her behavior and get me to forgive her and begin reconciliation. 

I almost laughed at her surprise when she saw I had chosen a female counselor. Little did she know what a hard night it would turn out to be. But I ended up being more surprised than Suzie at how this session did turned out. It was the last on the counselor's schedule starting at 7:00 pm. It was only suppose to be for two hours and then I would be free, having met the last requirement before the divorce could be granted. We didn't walk out of the counselor's office until after 10. 

I had already met with the counselor before tonight. I've been seeing her on a regular basis and she was already familiar with the situation from my perspective. She also knew all about the first two counseling farces, although the word "farce" is my descriptor, not hers.

I knew something was decidedly different five minutes into the session. My counselor told Susie she knew all about our relationship going back to college to present. She told Susie that she had heard from my perspective, and now she wanted to hear Susie's version. She wasted no time before probing with questions. Contrary to the previous counseling sessions and to my surprise, Susie made no attempts to defend herself or her actions. She didn't flinch away from any of the questions. At some point I got the impression that Susie had realized it was over and that there wasn't any reason to hide her emotions any longer. In amazement I watched as my hard-headed domineering soon to be ex-wife surrendered to my counselor. 

Over the next three plus hours we all learned a great deal. In the time I've known Susie there has never been a father in her life. Early in our relationship I learned it was a touchy and taboo subject. I accepted her feelings and never broached it with her. It was also apparent that while she loved her mother, she had little respect for her and virtually no relationship. Even to a dunce like me it became obvious Susie had grown up early and had learned to take control of her life.

What I learned is how her father had controlled her mother. How he threatened to go out with other women unless she did sexual favors for him. Dependant upon him, Susie watched her mother submit to his requests, even if those requests required her to go to bed with other men. I listened as Susie described one night from her childhood when she was supposedly locked in her room. Instead she was hiding in her parent's bedroom closet. At the time she didn't understand what she saw that night, but later she figured out that the two strangers her father had brought home had sex with her mother. It was her own father's voice warning her mother that she had better swallow.

Her father didn't hold to his promise not to cheat either. Susie would hear the sounds of other women in the house late at night along with her mother's crying. She heard her father tell her mother that she was being punished for not doing something he had asked.

Then the beatings started. Susie never saw any marks on her mother but she would hear them at night. Again it wasn't until much later Susie figured out her father knew how to hit her mother without leaving a mark, at least a mark that showed up while clothed.

It's only when her father started showing an interest in Susie that her mother took action. One day when Susie came home from school she found all her clothes packed away in boxes and grocery bags in the back of the station wagon. She was only ten at the time but she knew exactly what was happening.

I had to wonder at the childhood Susie had lived when I heard Susie say that she remembered looking out the back of the station wagon as her home disappeared, hoping that she would never see it again. How severe a childhood does a child need to have to wish to never see their home?

Susie made a promise to herself never to let anyone hurt her or her mother again. She dated infrequently in high school. Even though she was considered attractive few would ask her out. Susie wouldn't tolerate any of her infrequent boyfriends even talking to another girl. 

She lost her virginity between her senior year of high school and college. This was news to me as she had told me Bill had been her first. He was a highway construction worker. She had been stopped by him while waiting on construction traffic. Her car was the first in line and he started an easy conversation with her. She didn't know why but she was instantly attracted to his rugged looks, his unshaven face, even his dusty dirty clothes. She refused to give him her number, but she did agree to take his.

It was a week later she called him after she had been stopped at another construction site. She remembered how aroused she had felt and trembling, called him later than night. They chatted only for a few minutes before he asked her to go bar hopping with him the next night. She agreed and he hung up on her after telling her where to meet him.

She remembered taking several hours deciding what to wear. She was trembling as she parked outside of the bar. She had no trouble getting in the bar and found him laughing with several other guys at a table. He saw her and motioned her over. She suddenly realized they didn't even know each other's names. He bought her a couple of drinks as he and the other men talked to her and ask her questions. After she had finished her second drink she felt a bit woozy and he asked if she needed a little air. Thankful she agreed and before she knew what was happening she was in his car parked on a country road. She remembered being shocked when he pulled his hard cock out of his pants and told her to suck him. She refused. She remembers the look of disdain on his face as he put his cock back in his pants. He started the car and then asked her what she was doing out here with him if she didn't come for the sex? Trembling she looked at him and pulled her dress up, showing that she wasn't wearing any panties. She said only one thing: "I'm still a virgin". Susie said he fucked her three times that night before driving her back to the bar and dropping her off at her car. Susie said that started a long string of nights, three or four times a week, where she would sneak out of the house to meet him. She knew he was married even though he didn't wear a ring. There would be very little conversation. She remembers he would always want to fuck her twice, once facing her and the other from behind. She would always ask him to wear a condom and he would refuse. She would ask him not to cum inside her and he always would. It was like a game they would play each time they were together. Part of their nightly game he would ask her to suck his cock, but she always refused.

At the end of the summer she told him she was going to go away to college. That night he made her kneel and give him a blowjob. She said "no" but as she looked up into his eyes she knew he wasn't going to take a "no" this time. She kneeled before him and it was more like a mouth fucking than a blowjob. She asked him not to cum in her mouth. He did anyway and held her mouth on him until she swallowed. He asked her if it was all that bad and she said she didn't like it. He drove her back to her car and she went home and masturbated in her bedroom, thinking of how uncouth he was, and how he used her mouth like she was a slut and made her swallow.

That was the last night she saw him. She knew she was out of control but worse, she suddenly started to see a bit of her father in him. He stopped calling her after she refused a few times.

She said she dated off an on during her freshman year at Texas, but nothing serious and no one more than a few dates. Susie paused for a moment and looked away from me. Softly she said she remembered Tim Schmidt and that he had pestered her for dates but she had always refused him.

Her infrequently dating changed when she met Bill. She knew right away he was a little different than the other boys at college. He seemed more mature and not as concerned with a masculine image. He was sensitive and funny. He would look deep into her eyes when they talked and she knew he understood what she was saying before she even said it.

They dated for several years, intimate most of that time. The counselor asked Susie if she ever gave Bill fellatio. Susie shook her head. I remember looking at my counselor funny but she didn't even acknowledge me. Susie continued her story and told how they became engaged their senior year and celebrated as they both were accepted into law school.

That all ended the day Susie saw Bill with his sister. Mistaking Bill's sister as just another girl friend, Susie immediately broke off her engagement and her relationship with Bill. She never gave him a chance to explain, refusing any and all attempts to communicate.

It was nearly a year later school before I entered into the picture. Both Bill and Susie were in my class. I knew at the time there had been something between them but as I had graduated from SMU I wasn't aware of their history and didn't listen much to gossip. We were just casual acquaintances at first. Slowly we became friends and eventually we began to lightly date. In all that time she never dated anyone else. Our relationship didn't start to become serious until our last year in law school. Upon graduation we both decided to move to Dallas and live together. Two years later we were married.

The counselor then spent a lot of time asking Susie about her summer with the construction worker. I listened intently to what Susie said but I never understood what she saw in that guy. It was apparent to me he was a bad ass from the word go. He treated her with disdain. He treated her like ... well ... like a piece of meat, a cunt. After what her father did to her mother, it made little sense to me why she would go out with anyone like that, even if he never forced himself on her.

My counselor also spent a lot of time asking questions about our marriage, and eventually about the end of our marriage when she took up with that fuckwad Schmidt. She pointed out how we had both failed each other during the marriage; piecing things together from what Susie told her this evening and what I had told her in previous counseling sessions.

And a few things came to light during the discussion that even a dunce like me finally figured out. Susie, for all her hard exterior demeanor, was filled deeply with insecurities and vulnerabilities. She never truly gave herself, always reserving a part of her so that she could pull back in case she got hurt. And she expected to get hurt. In her mind it was only a matter of time before she would be betrayed and hurt.

I could understand all of that, but even by the end of the session it still made no sense to me why she would take up with Schmidt. OK, I could see a revenge fuck for what she thought had happened between me and Heidi. But Schmidt? He is a despicable asshole and she didn't need my opinion to know that. And to humiliate me the way she did?

I probably learned more in this counseling session about Susie that I did in all the years of our marriage. I'm a bit afraid what that might say about the kind of husband I was to her. But either way, just like that first night in the hotel room after I was ambushed by Schmidt and Susie, I was still left with more questions than answers.

When we finally did walk out of my counselor's office, Susie did one thing that rocked me back on my heels. That one single act gave me pause to reconsider everything I had been thinking for the past six months. She asked my counselor if she could come back and see her on her own. Once outside I immediately asked her how she planned to handle those long commutes from Dallas to see my counselor. She looked straight at me and said she had already planned to move down here to Austin.

I asked her if she was doing so because she wanted to continue to try and reconcile. She looked away before answering that she realized I would never forgive her. She continued that she understood one of the reasons that I had left Dallas so quickly. After all the shit had hit the fan she had been more or less forced to resign her position as an ADA. She had taken the only position she could find and that was as a public defender. She said she really had no taste for that side of the law and the stigma of what had happened was still haunting her in every circle, both professional and social. 

I asked if she had a job lined up and she said that cashed in all her favors and thought she could get a support position working for the state Attorney General.

I asked if she had someplace to stay for the evening. She said she had planned to drive back tonight. I shrugged and mentioned that she had lost an extra ninety minutes and it was a long drive. She said she didn't bring any other clothes.

I shrugged again and said that was a flimsy excuse. She said maybe it was and then asked me what I was trying to say. I stopped for a minute and she turned and looked at me. I told her I guess I was asking if she wanted to sleep on my couch. She smiled and said she appreciated the offer and would take me up on it.

On our way back to the LBJ to pick up her car, we stopped first at a Starbucks and then somehow I agreed to drive up here to this rise. Now I'm looking over at Susie as she contently looks out the front windshield.

"I've always loved the view of the campus from up here," Susie finally says.

I grunt my agreement.

"There was a lot said tonight," she says looking over at me.

"Yes there was. I learned quite a bit."

"So did I," she says becoming quiet for a moment. "Your counselor is a lot better counselor than the one I chose. Is there anything you would like to ask me?" She finally says.

I look down at her. There were a million things I wanted to know, but I wasn't sure if I should even touch that Pandora's Box much less open it.

She sighs. "If there's something you want to know, now's the best time to ask. God knows you deserve an answer or two."

I sigh. I look down at her and then out the window. Finally I say, "why?"

"That's a very vague question," she replies softly. "At first it was revenge," she says after several long moments. "I was so incredibly angry. And the funny thing, I had no clue why I was so angry. A lot had gone out of our marriage that last year as we both were more interested in our careers than each other. When I thought you had cheated, I should have just walked away. I didn't understand why I was so angry until tonight."

"I would like to blame it all on Schmidt, but I would be lying to both of us. It wasn't until tonight I realized that Schmidt reminded me all along of that construction worker. When he called me that afternoon when you flew home, I had no idea why. He insisted it was important and that it involved you. I agreed to cut a late meeting and meet in his car near our house. He told me about the rumors in the office. He showed me the affidavit. He showed me the pictures. I was instantly angry. No ... I was incensed. He asked what I was going to do. I said I didn't know but one thing for certain, I wasn't going to be sleeping with you anymore. He suggested I get revenge. I remember looking out the passenger window trying not to cry. I asked what kind of revenge. He said 'this'. I turned toward him to see his cock extending through his fly as he stroked it. I remember three things clearly, he was well endowed, he was very hard, and by his smile he fully expected me to take advantage of the situation."




Dig Two Graves Ch. 05



"He just smiled at me, stroking his cock, while I looked at him. I asked him if he thought I should fuck him to get revenge on you. He nodded yes and added that Heidi had told him she was made to suck your cock. I remember smiling at the obvious ploy. I knew he was playing me but I let him. I asked him if he wanted me to suck his cock too. He smiled and said yes. I asked him if he meant right then. He said yes."

"Tonight when I spoke with your counselor, I remembered that later that evening, I masturbated for the second time while fantasizing about sucking a strange cock. The first time was after I had sucked the construction worker's cock. And I remembered feeling just as aroused going down in Schmidt's car as I did the construction worker's."

"When I was in Schmidt's car, I remember not even checking to see if the coast was clear. I just leaned over and took him in my mouth. He was already hard and I could taste his precum right away. At first I was going to suck him for a little bit, but the longer I did, the more I wanted to finish him, to make him cum. I thought of Heidi doing the same to you, and I would get angry. I would feel his hand on my head, and knew he expected me to finish him."

"So that was your second time?" I suddenly ask.

"To suck a man to completion?" She asks.

I nod.

"Yes and no. I mean, I did suck him off but I didn't finish him there. He didn't give me a chance. When he got close he had to pull me off his cock. I actually didn't want to stop but he forced me. I remember looking at him questioning. His cock was so swollen it was angry looking. He smiled and said that I needed to get in my car and he would follow me to my house. I didn't argue. I even hurried the short distance home so that we could get home as fast as possible."

"I remember looking at my watch as we pulled up into our driveway. I knew your plane was already on enroute to DFW. When I opened the garage door I was surprised he pulled in with me, but then realized it was a wise move so that the neighbors wouldn't see. I was already committed to fucking him before I confronted you."

"He followed me into the house carrying a bag. I grabbed his hand and took him into our bedroom. I wanted him to fuck me on our bed. I imagined that you had fucked Heidi on our bed and I wanted to get even. He pulled his cock back out of his slacks. He was only semi-hard and he told me to suck him hard. I kneeled and did what he asked. He was hard quickly and I pulled back, but he put his hand behind my head and told me to keep sucking his cock. Again, I did what he asked."

"He asked how badly I wanted to get revenge. I told him more than anything. He asked how far I would be willing to go. I told him as far as necessary. He asked if I was sure. I told him absolutely. So he outlined his plan. He showed me the negligee he wanted me to wear. How I would seduce you. How I would get you into a chair. How he would then fuck me and leave."

"I'm ashamed to admit the rest of the plan was mine Jake. Here I was kneeling in our bedroom floor sucking his cock, listening to his plans, and coming up with even more devious plans, even better ways to hurt you. Schmidt didn't know I rarely sucked your cock. He didn't know I wouldn't let you cum in my mouth. It was my idea to lower the chair and have him fuck me directly over your face. The part about having you lick it out of me wasn't planned; it only came to me at the last moment. I think, at least I hope, that had I thought it through I wouldn't have tried to get you to do that. My only excuse is that I was overwhelmed by my own anger."

"Oh God Jake, I was so angry. I remember the look on Schmidt's face when I stripped in front of him and put on the negligee. I remember the look on his face when I kneel in front of him and he put both of his hands behind my head. I remember the satisfaction of sucking Schmidt's cock just minutes before you got home. I remember the look on your face as I took your flowers and kissed you, pushing a little of his sperm into your mouth. I remember how angry you were when you found out Schmidt was there, and I fed on your anger. The more anger you felt, the more I relished the anger I felt toward you. When he fucked me and came inside of me, I realized there wasn't any way better to get back at you than make your knowing lick his sperm out of me. And then I hurt you so badly. I'm so sorry Jake. I understand if you can't find a way to ever forgive me."

Susie starts to cry. 

"I'm so sorry Jake," she repeats.

"OK, I kinda understand the revenge thing. Even if it was wrong and misguided, I understand it. I can even see how you ended up doing it with him, especially since I know he masterminded a lot of the shit beforehand. What I don't understand is why you continued with him. You were fucking him while I was in the hospital. You were fucking him even as the evidence of my so-called affair crumbled. Why?"

"The first night was all revenge. The rest I have no excuse for. I don't understand it well myself. I didn't even want to take you to the hospital. I was just going to kick you out of the house and hope you died on the street. It was Schmidt that was a bit worried when you didn't regain consciousness and insisted we take you to the hospital. At that point I really didn't give a care but went along. Even after we dropped you off at the hospital, I was still too angry to even be worried about you. We went back home where he preceded to fuck me all night. I remember finally falling to sleep due to exhaustion."

"The next morning I woke up with his head between my legs. He was licking his own cum out of me. Nobody has ever done that to me. It was so nasty. So naughty. I remember cumming very quickly and very strongly. I was even more aroused after cumming and quickly agreed to anything he wanted. He had a way of looking at me that made me want to be his slut. The rest of the day is a blur. I was trapped in this world of being so angry with you and being his slut. I remember we took a break in the afternoon and I wondered if I should call the hospital. He told me that he had a friend on the police force check on you because he thought you might get violent. He said you had already checked out of the hospital and into a downtown hotel. I didn't know until our last meeting several days later that everything he told me was a lie. Anyway, when he told me you were out of the hospital, that's when I started thinking about our accounts. It was just as easy to get the money transferred and your cards cancelled". It was easy for me to get a judge to sign the TRO even on a Saturday. Schmidt said he would make the arrangements to see that it was served so I let him. 

"But ..." 

"Shhhh," she interrupts. "Let me finish. You asked why. I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to tell you everything; even if it's something I don't think you wish to know. It's just that ..." She trails off in thought. 

"... I knew we were done," she starts up again. "I knew I would never listen to your excuses, although I guess I did every single day, didn't I? I knew there was nothing left to save of our marriage. I knew I would never forgive you. And on top of that here was this bad boy. I realized tonight that Schmidt did remind me of the construction worker. I knew he wanted only one thing. And by giving it to him I would also piss you off. I was tired of the ol' predictable. I wanted something extra. I wanted something risqué. He was a bad boy. He wanted me to be a bad girl. He made me want to be a bad girl."

I settle back in my seat. Feel the anger of six months ago rising up from my center like so much bile. I want to scream out at her. I count to ten, then twenty. 

A few minutes pass by in silence. "May I ask a few questions?"

She looks up at me again, her face in expectation.

"That afternoon when Schmidt called you to his office for lunch, what happened?"

Susie turns and looks at me before snorting in laughter.

I look at her in surprise.

"Sorry, you'll have to forgive me for laughing," she says. "But that was the only good thing that happened all that week." After a few moments she stops laughing and then sighs heavily.

"By that time," she continues. "I knew that I had been set up by Schmidt. I hadn't admitted it to you yet because I had no idea how I could possibly apologize. How could anyone apologize after what I had done to you? I'll admit I was intrigued at what he could possibly want. I knew it wasn't lunch. Surely he knew the little façade he had constructed was starting to rapidly crumble, even as quickly as our marriage did that Friday night. So I went over. I stopped at his administrator's desk and she told me to go right in. When I entered Schmidt's office, he was standing by the side of his desk with his hard cock sticking out of his pants. He smiled and me and just motioned for me to kneel at his feet."

"I almost laughed, but instead just smiled and shut the door behind me and locked it. As I approached Schmidt he was smiling nearly as widely as I was. I really wished I hadn't been wearing heels. Although the sharp point was nice, unfortunately my shoe flew off my foot when it contacted his groin, so I don't think he got the full force of my kick. I can still remember the look on his face as he slowly sank to his knees."

"I hobbled over to where my shoe had flown and put it back on my foot as Schmidt collapsed to the floor. I then walked back over to him and bent over him, whispering that he was to never call me again. I then unlocked his door and shut it behind me."

Susie stifles another laugh. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't laugh about something like that."

"If it involves Schmidt, feel free," I pause for a moment before continuing. "You just mentioned that you knew by the time Schmidt called you to his office that he had set you up. You were always so cold and unrelenting when Bill and I met with you and Vicki. When did you start to suspect that you had been hoodwinked?" 

Susie stares straight through the front windshield. "Jake, that Wednesday morning when we met, you had effectively shredded any beliefs to which I was clinging desperately. To admit to myself that I had been fooled, would be to admit that everything I did was not in revenge but as the perpetrator. My tenuous claim to righteousness was that everything I did was in revenge, as if that is really a good reason. When you took that away from me what did I have left? That suddenly I was the cheater? That I destroyed my marriage? That I was a slut? A whore? That I was no better than one of my daddy's whores? Or worse, as bad as my mother? No, that wasn't something I could face but you forced me to. By Wednesday I couldn't refute to what my sanity clung. But to answer your question, I had serious doubts about all that 'evidence' I had as early as Tuesday. But even before that I had unveiled the first of Schmidt's lies on Monday morning. One of the police lieutenants caught me in my office almost immediately after you left. He had a partially completed police report of your "attack" as it had been reported in the hospital. The police officers that had investigated the report from the hospital had quickly realized that your wife was one of the ADAs, and had discreetly passed it up the chain to the lieutenant. He asked me what I wanted to do with the police report. I asked him if you had volunteered any information that indicated a crime had been committed. He told me no. I told him not to worry about it then and drop it. I handed the police report back to him but not before noticing that it mentioned you left the hospital on Sunday. Schmidt had told me you checked out Saturday morning. Despite all of your protestation of innocence Monday morning, that was the first domino to fall that cracked my resolve."

"OK, so if you serious doubts on Tuesday morning how could you have met with him on Tuesday evening?" I ask with exasperation.

Silence settles heavily into the car. "I knew that you would eventually ask that question. I don't have a good answer for you Jake, or at least an answer that will sooth you in any way. I told you earlier that I knew our marriage was over. Except by Tuesday evening I knew our marriage was over not because of what you had done, but by what I had done. I knew it no longer made a difference. So why was I with him Tuesday evening? Because Jake, I wanted to. Not so much with him specifically any longer, but with anyone that would make me do something decadent. After all, I didn't have a marriage any longer to prevent it."

I turn my gaze from the side of her face and join her looking out the front windshield. I thought of asking her if she was still trying to fill the need to be decadent but decided it was not something I wanted to know.

After a few more moments of silence Susie says, "May I ask you a question?"

I turn to look back at her. "Sure, but no guarantees I'll answer."

"What ever happened to Schmidt?"

I stare at her for a moment. "What makes you think I know anything about that piece of shit?"

"Because I know you. I know that you wouldn't have let him get away with what he did, no more than you let me get away with it."

I smile at look back out the front windshield. "One nice thing about having lots of discretionary funds is that they are indeed discretionary. Let's just say hypothetically that someone with lots of discretionary funds would hire a Private Investigator to keep tabs on a piece of shit. And let's say that every time that piece of shit tries to find a job, that someone slips the Personnel Directory some inside information so that the director knows that the piece of shit is indeed a piece of shit. So the last thing I heard the piece of shit say is that he could get a job anywhere, and so far that hasn't proven to be true. Finally, let's just say that the piece of shit has run out of all his own discretionary funds and is now selling things off just to survive."

"I see," say Susie. "And hypothetically, just how long would the Private Investigator be following up on what a piece of shit does?"

Shrugging, "Hypothetically, I'm not sure. But there are a lot of discretionary funds." 

"And what about us?" Susie asks?

"Us?" I parrot.

"I mean, do you ever see us being able to ..."

I turn to face her after her open question. "If you're asking if we'll ever reconcile, the answer is no. It's taken me six months to be able to sit in this car and have a civil conversation.

"I know that Jake," she says. "I'm not asking for reconciliation. But do you ever see us being friends? Maybe?"

I turn back toward the front of the car and turn the key in the ignition. "'Ever' is a very long time Susie. For today let's be satisfied that we can be civil. Tomorrow is another day and who knows what is in store for any of us. I think your idea of continuing to see a counselor is a good idea. Someday you'll meet someone that will make you feel special again," I respond as I move the gear selector to "Drive" and take my foot off the brake.