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UnVailed

By: Saxon_Hart



First and foremost I want to thank PapaGus for his editing on this and sage advice. Speaking of advice, I want to give a special thanks to Jounar for giving me a sounding board early on in this one. This one is not loaded with sex so if you are looking for fap material, this likely won't do it. If you are looking for a good story, I hope this suits you and I thank you for reading it and for providing feedback. 





UnVailed



The phone rang and startled me out of my World War 2 reverie. My wife of ten years was away for two weeks at her annual convention. Joy hates all things war, while I am a huge WW2 buff. I own every war movie ever made so to make life easier I only watch them when she is gone. 

I usually get my fixes when she has a girls' night out or a Saturday shopping spree with her friend Amanda, but twice a year she leaves for an extended period of time. In August she has to go to Indianapolis for two weeks to attend corporate meetings and training sessions. 

In February she goes to the company convention for two weeks. This year's convention was in Houston. The convention is special because only the top ten earners in each state get to attend and Joy has gone for the last three years. 

Last year she called me on Sunday and told me pack a bag and meet her in Miami. It turned out that she had won a drawing and the prize was a week for two in Miami. Needless to say I wasn't too disappointed to spend a week of the cold Colorado winter in Sunny Florida.

Every other time she's gone I binge on war movies. So far that Saturday I had watched "The Dirty Dozen," "Enemy at the Gates," and "Saving Private Ryan." I had bought sandwich meat and hoagie rolls and a five gallon bucket of cheese balls. I had just made a sandwich and had started in on my "Band of Brothers" box set. 

Just as the boys of Easy Company were losing their spaghetti lunch after running up Currahee the phone rang. Part of my mind was cursing this intrusion on my binge; the other part was hoping it was Joy calling to tell me she'd won some trip to a warm place. Hell at that point I would have settled for a week in Houston where it wasn't 12 below zero at night and in the 30's during the day. 

The caller ID claimed the call was coming from an unknown caller. I immediately figured it was my long time buddy Paul. The bastard knew I was knee deep in war this weekend and didn't plan on going anywhere. 

"What do you want fucker?"

To my surprise the voice on the phone was a woman. "Um, I am trying to reach Roger Rigby."

The person using my given name caught me off guard. Most people call me Zeke. "This is Roger. What can I do for you?"

"Mr. Rigby, this is Detective Desirae Phillips of the Vail PD and I am calling because your wife has been in an incident and is in Eagle Valley Medical Center. She's in pretty bad shape and you should probably come here as soon as you can."

"I think you are mistaken ma'am. My wife is in Houston for two weeks at her company's convention."

"Are you sure about that Mr. Rigby? When did you last talk to your wife?"

"She called me last evening after her meetings. She was getting ready to go to dinner with her colleagues."

The woman on the phone read me off the address listed on Joy's drivers' license. It was our address alright, but how could Joy's drivers' license be in Vail when Joy spoke to me from Houston? "Whomever you have in your hospital most likely stole my wife's purse at the airport. Can I file charges?"

"Yes you can. I'll run the victim's prints to find out who she is. In the meantime I'll need you to come up here to verify your wife's belongings and sign a complaint. But you do need to hurry and get here in case this is your wife sir. She needs care consents signed."

"I'll be there in a couple hours," I said. I really didn't want to go on a wild goose chase but I wanted to prosecute this woman if she'd used Joy's credit cards.

I threw a few clothes in my duffel just in case I wouldn't be back by morning and hit the snow packed highway. During the almost two hour drive to Vail, I played many questions and answers through my head. 

So there were two possibilities. The first was that someone stole or found Joy's wallet and decided to go skiing. "Why would someone go skiing with stolen shit in their possession," my devil's advocate asked.

Criminals aren't the smartest fuckers so why wouldn't one take a pilfered wallet skiing? "Do pilferers ski?" How the fuck should I know?

"So that leads us to possibility number two. It IS Joy and she IS in Vail. Why is she skiing in Vail when she's supposed to be at her convention in Houston?"

She might have won a trip and decided to get in a few runs before she called me. She did beat me to Miami by a day. "What if she didn't want you in Vail?"

Why wouldn't she? Besides she's not in Vail she's in Houston. "How do you know?" 

I talked to her last night. "Did you hear proof she was in Houston?"

Proof? "You know a dozen assholes sayin' y'all or a bunch of oil talk."

That's just stupid. "Did she call you from her cell or the hotel phone?" 

She always calls from her cell. Why pay extra for a phone call? Besides, I dropped her off at the airport. "Did you see her get a boarding pass?"

No, I dropped her off and went to work. "Did you see her get on a plane? How do you really know she's in Houston?"

Well where the fuck else would she go? "Vail, obviously."

Come on. Who gets on a plane at the Colorado Springs Airport to fly to Houston Texas and then ends up in Vail Colorado? Vail is not in between Houston and Springs. "No shit Sherlock? Obviously someone flew her from Houston to Denver and drove her to Vail, or she never got on a plane in Springs and left directly for Vail."

It has to be an imposter. "....An imposter, Scooby?  Are we solving mysteries here?"

Fuck you! You know what I mean. Someone else stole her shit and got fucked up on Vail Mountain. "Why didn't Joy tell you she lost her shit?"

She doesn't know yet? She's embarrassed? I'm sure she has a good reason for not telling me. "Now who's being stupid?"

I'm stupid because I don't think my wife is getting some on the side? "No, that's being naïve. Stupid is trying to rationalize your naiveté against a voice in your head."

What evidence do I have that she's fucking around? "Other than she's in Vail when she's supposed to be in Houston?"

Yeah. Has she suddenly started dieting or working out? "No. She's always been in good shape."

Has she bought a bunch of new sexy clothes? "No. She still dresses like she always has."

Has she changed her hairstyle or her make-up? "No, she still looks like everyone in the 90's did. Dude you seriously need to bring her into this century."

She's not getting funny phone calls, she not acting sneaky and she hasn't denied me sex once. She doesn't have mood swings or any of the other telltale signs of cheating whorism. "Making up words doesn't prove your point, but you are correct. Being in Vail IS the only fishy thing."

So you admit she isn't fucking around? "I admit we don't know what the fuck is going on.....Yet. But yes Virginia there are cheating whores out there."

As I began descending the pass and looking for the exit that lead to Vail I asked myself one last question: "What if it is her and she is fucking around?"

Simple. I'll jettison the cunt. I have no room in my life for an unfaithful piece of shit that can't keep her legs closed.

"That's kind of rash isn't it? You have been married to her for ten years." True, but Elton Rigby didn't raise any pussies. 

"He sure knew how to handle a cheating cunt." Yeah right. 

My mom had been acting weird for a while. I was only ten at the time, but I knew she wasn't right. She spent a lot of evenings out with her friends, and my dad always seemed agitated. One afternoon when they thought I was at a friend's house she confessed to him that she'd been sleeping with her boss. 

Dad threw her out of the house and she moved in with my grandma for a while. We kids got to see her every weekend, but dad insisted that we weren't going to be exposed to her lifestyle. 

After several months they patched things up and mom moved back in, but it was never the same. Dad worried himself sick every time she would be more than a few minutes late from work. He finally made her quit her job and find something else. 

If she went out for an evening with her friends, she had to check in or dad would call whichever bar they were at and ask if she was there. I swore to myself I would never live that way. Mom and dad stayed together until I graduated high school and then they divorced. Neither of them could live that way. 

Dad had been a top notch detective until he found out about mom's affair. "What kind of cop can I be if she pulled that shit under my nose?" he asked me one night in a drunken stupor. It didn't take long for it to affect his job performance. He received an early pension after he had a nervous breakdown. 

I rarely speak to my mother these days. In many ways I am sure it's because of her that my dad died. My mother had killed him inside, and it just took a while for him to succumb. Sure the doctors used big words, like leukemia, but that cheating whore might as well have given him aids. 

I won't end up like my dad, letting a whore sap the life out of me. "Just don't end up like your fucking brother."

Five years ago my brother Daniel walked in on his wife and her lover mid fuck. He didn't even have the courtesy to let them finish before he splashed their brains all over the wall with a 12 gauge slug. I go see him in Canon City a few times a year; if he behaves he might be out in another decade. 

"So you don't want to be like your dad, nor do you wish to end up like your brother. Is there a middle ground?" Of course there is. But if she's a whore I want to do as much to her as I can and still remain on this side of the joint.

"Does anyone call it 'the joint' anymore?" Fuck, I don't know. Since when did you become the euphemism police? 

"So are you going to be like one of them guys in the cheating wife stories on line that leave the cheating whore penniless and destitute, then ride off into the millionaire sunset with some brick shithouse babe who's secretly lusted for your ass all these years?" I'm sure there are a million of those waiting. No, if this turns bad I'll just have a life of continuous fuck buddies and friends with beneficial vaginas. "Smart man!"

The closer I got to the Vail exits the more nervous I got. Even my devil's advocate voice seemed to disappear. I almost pulled over to vomit before I got off of I-70.

The hospital wasn't all that hard to find. I had been to Vail a few times previously and had a general idea of where things were. I parked and made my way through the snow and sub-zero air to the main entrance to the hospital. 

I hadn't had anything stronger than beer to drink since I had been married, but suddenly I really wanted a bottle of Jack Daniel's. I approached the information desk and identified myself and told the guy why I was there. He gave me a room number and I headed for the elevator. 

When I reached the floor, I discovered that the room he'd given me was in the locked ICU section. I went to the nurses' station and told who I was there to see. She called someone and then told me to go to the door and wait to be buzzed in. 

Once inside the secure area, I was met by a short blonde nurse. Her ample bosom was battling a set of buttons that were doing a heroic job of keeping her paisley top closed. "Your wife is being kept sedated," she said. "If it IS my wife," I thought. "You must prepare yourself. She's been horrifically injured and might not look herself. She can't hear you, but I want to be sure you can handle what you're about to see."

"I won't be surprised if I can't recognize her," I thought. But my voice did crack when I said "Take me in."

I wasn't at all prepared for what lay in that bed. I could see the swell of breasts, making the form a female. It was tall enough and built right enough to be my wife, but looking at the face I just couldn't tell. "Wow! Did she ski into every fucking tree on the mountain?"

"Oh no," replied the busty nurse. "She wasn't in a skiing accident. Someone beat her and left her in the ER this morning."

"Beat her? Left her? Faithful wives don't get their ass kicked and dumped at ER's."

I had to agree with my inner self, but I still didn't know enough to react. "I can't tell you one way or the other if this is my wife," I told her. 

"Maybe this will help," she said as she lifted the blanket up to expose the woman's left thigh. Right there was all the proof I needed that it was her. I hadn't met too many women running around with Jiminy Cricket tattooed on their inner thigh. 

I never fully understood why she got it, but she'd had it since just before we got married. It had been a last minute thing before her bachelorette party and she had never explained the significance, except to say that she'd always loved Jiminy, and it kind of symbolized her parents; Jim n' Yvonne. I never fully bought that answer, but it was the only one she was selling. 

I had a hard time looking at her. The only time I had ever seen my wife in pain was also the first time I ever met her. My buddies and I had all gone to see Tool. We had a case of beer in the back of the van for an after show party. 

After the concert we were having a grand old time when this girl came over and said her boyfriend wanted a beer. My buddy Chad told her she was welcome to stay and down a few with us, but we had no interest of providing for her guy. She begged one last time but Chad sent her packing. 

A few minutes later I heard a scream in the direction that the girl had gone. I could see a few people pointing at something. When I looked closer I saw some guy kicking the shit out of a girl. 

I have never had any use for guys who thought it was OK to beat a woman, so I jumped into action. I got over there in a flash and recognized the girl on the ground as the one who had asked for beer. The guy beating on her was about five foot nothing, and a hundred pounds if he was lucky. He definitely had a case of "little man syndrome." 

"Where's my damn beer you fucking little bitch?" he screamed as he punched her. She had her arms up over her head trying to deflect his blows. "Answer me God damn you!"

By this point I had reached him. "Why isn't anyone helping this girl?" I asked myself. I grabbed his collar and pulled him off of her. "Leave her the fuck alone boy," I said. "We didn't give her a beer for you, because you're a fuckin freeloader."

"You best keep your nose out of my business before you get hurt." 

I laughed at the idea of this puny runt raising a welt on me. He seemed to get more pissed off and started kicking the girl in the head. I grabbed him by his head and socked him in the mouth three quick times. I heard a crack on the second punch and after the third he dropped like a sack of manure. 

I reached down and helped the girl up and started walking over to the van where Chad was already preparing an ice pack. 

"He's not going to be happy you did that."

I looked to see a greasy haired bum looking motherfucker. "What's the little pussy gonna do? I tell ya what he's gonna do, he's gonna crawl back into whatever hole you fags crawled out of and hope he never sees me again."

I took her back to the van and we gave her ice. I saw the security team reach the downed loser. His buddies just seemed to stand around with their hands in their pockets as the cops picked the little guy up and tossed him into the squad car with the three other inebriated specimens they'd collected. I made a move to go over and tell them what he'd done when the girl grabbed my arm.

"Please don't. You've done enough for me tonight. No one has ever stood up to Garrett, let alone hit him. He'll probably go back to Wyoming now."

The girl had a very pretty face. Even with the Marilyn Manson contacts she was highly attractive. I had to ask myself once again why the best looking girls always seemed to go after complete douche bags. 

We took her home after we were all partied out. She was going to have a shiner, but she seemed to be fine. After we dropped her off Chad tells me. "Dude, I think she wants you."

"Fuck dude. Why the hell would she want me? She was just grateful that I stopped that wasteoid from beating on her."

"I don't know why she'd want you, but she slipped me this for you."

He handed me a flap from one of the beer cartons. It was too dark to try to read it so I just tucked it into my back pocket to read when I had light. I wasn't about to have Chad stop under a street lamp or something, I'd never hear the end of it. 

When I got to my apartment that night I looked at the carton flap. There was a phone number and the words "Call me Joy." My smartass voice immediately said "OK, I'll call you Joy." I then went to bed.

Two days later I called her. I didn't expect her to remember me, but when I told her who I was, she said, "I was starting to think you were never going to call me."

We ended up talking for an hour before she had to go do something. I enjoyed talking to her, and was pleasantly surprised when she called me that evening and we talked until midnight. That Friday night we went on our first date. 

I took her to a nice little Italian place in the foothills, and then we went to a bar that featured live music. We drank and we danced and when the bar closed, I took her back to her place.

"Aren't you going to try to bed me," she asked.

"There'll be plenty of time for that later on. I'm not into first date sex. It'll more exciting to wait a few dates I think." With that I gave her a peck on the cheek and headed home. All in all it would be three weeks before I saw her again. 

I didn't want to admit that every time I slept with a girl on the first date, things always soured within a month or two. I had grown paranoid I guess. 

We talked on the phone almost every chance we'd get, but matching up free time seemed to be damned near impossible. If I was off, she'd be working. The one weekend we did have off, her Aunt Mary passed away and she flew to Florida with her family for the funeral. 

Finally the weekend after her aunt's funeral we were able to go to a movie. I went to pick her up and was met at the door by her father. I wasn't sure what to expect when he asked me to come in. "Pleased to meet you Roger, I'm Jim." 

He asked me what I did for a living, and asked if I had lived in The Springs all my life. Then he laid it on me. "Look son. You seem to be much better for Joy than that little loser was. Too bad he would never come and meet me," he said while wringing his hands together. 

"He met me," I said with a grin. "I'm hoping he's smart enough to stay gone, but I doubt he's very smart."

"No he isn't. As a matter of fact I.." He trailed off as Joy came into the room. She smiled big when she saw me and gave me a hug. She wore a sexy dress that displayed her body in a perfect way. It enhanced every nuance of her body and made her a walking wet dream. I was suddenly rethinking my three dates before sex rule. 

We actually ended up having sex on our next date after all. The night I met her father, she needed to be at work early the next morning and begged off any later activities, but with the caveat that I owed her. 

We went to dinner that following Friday. I never picked up on any of the signals that I had picked up during our previous dates. I thought maybe she wasn't interested that night.


UnVailed



As I was driving her home she was suddenly struck with stomach cramps and told me she needed a bathroom ASAP. My apartment was just a block away so I sped there and let her in to use the head. She thanked me profusely as she ran in to use the toilet. 

"Even if I was gonna try for sex, she won't want to now," I thought to myself. I sat on a stool and waited for her to finish her urgent business. 

Several minutes later I heard the toilet flush. "Oh thank you," I heard her say as she entered the living room. I turned; the words "no" and "problem" ready to roll out coherently when my breath caught in my throat. 

The Joy who had entered my bathroom had been wearing nice jeans, a knit turtle neck pull over and a leather jacket. The Joy that stood before me now wore only a pair of skimpy red panties and a pair of high heeled boots. 

I must have really been gawking because she laughed and said, "Take your coat off and stay awhile." I took off more than my coat. 

The next morning we went to breakfast at a mom and pop place just down the block. After breakfast, we didn't reappear until it was dinner time. I took her home Sunday afternoon. Before she got out of my car she said her damn boss will get killed if he ever asked her to work another weekend. "Can't keep a girl from her drug of choice," she said eyeing my crotch.

If I was still her drug of choice, why was she now in a drug induced coma? I followed the nurse back out of the care room to the nurses' station, signed a bunch of pages and then they handed me her personal effects. They didn't really want to have to keep track of her things. 

"The police have already looked everything over," the nurse told me. There is an itemized list of everything in the bag."

At that moment the intercom buzzed and she picked it up and talked for a moment to someone. I could tell she was talking about Joy. She told whomever that she had just turned over her things to the husband. She then handed me the phone.

"Mr. Rigby?" queried the voice on the other end. 

"Yes this is he."

"This is Detective Phillips again. I hate to bother you, but would you mind coming down to the police station and answering a few questions for us?"

I told her that I didn't mind and she gave me the address. I thanked the nurse and went back to my car. "Pigs think you beat her." Why would I beat her?

"Cuz she's a cheating cunt?" I have no proof of her cheating.

"You have to admit that her being in fucking Vail looks awful damn fishy." Yes it does, but there might be a logical explanation.

"Like what Virginia?" Like last year when she won the week in Florida. Remember? Sand, sex, sun and all the bikini clad ass we could ogle?

"OK. It's possible she won a trip to Vail, flew into Denver, rented a car, and got her ass kicked before she could give you the grand news." I admitted that it's fishy. 

"Hey, I'm just sayin' that mistakes have been made." Yeah. Joy should have had me meet her in Denver so we could go to Vail together. 

"But then she'd have to explain her boy toy to you, and you'd get all pissy, and involve lawyers, and marines, and nuclear warheads." Dirty motherfucking cheating skank ass whore! Damn it I'd love to choke the shit out of that cunt!

"DO you have any proof yet that she's had another guy's cock inside of her?" No.

"Do you have any proof that she's even seen another guy's cock since you've been married?" No.

"So until we know more, why be pissed off?" Aren't you the motherfucker who's pushed the cheating angle all the way up until now?

"Your voice of inner reason reserves the right to change its position." Asshole. 

I got to the police station just about the time the sun was going down. At the reception desk I told the guy who I was and he called someone. Pretty soon a decent looking brunette and a tall Harry Reems look alike came out to greet me. The brunette introduced herself as Detective Phillips, and Harry Reems introduced himself as Deputy Sheriff Devon. 

Philips seemed to be rather nice, while Devon seemed to be one of those pricks that just waited for someone to commit an offence. He looked at me like I was Ted Bundy about to rape his mother. 

"Should I have a lawyer present?"

"Do you have reason to feel that you'd need an attorney?"

"No. I have nothing to hide."

Detective Phillips led me to a room and gestured for me to sit. Devon headed a different direction. "I am going to tape our conversation Mr. Rigby, do you consent?"

"Yeah, I have no problem with it. Sorry about the fucker incident."

"Sorry about what?" she asked.

"When I called you a fucker on the phone earlier. I thought you were a buddy of mine hassling me during my 'me time."

"Your "me time," she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What does that consist of?"

"World War Two movies. Joy hates them, so when she is out of town I sit and veg out on war flicks until she comes home."

At that moment Deputy Devon walked in and sat down. "Are we ready?"

"Yes," detective Phillips said as she keyed a switch on the wall that I assumed started whatever recorders were in the room. "For the record this is Detective Desirae Phillips interviewing Mr. Roger Rigby in the interest of case 1256g victim is one Joy Tanya Rigby. Ok Mr. Rigby, will you please state your name, age and date of birth for us?"

"My name is Roger Ezekiel Rigby I am 35 years old and I was born on December 16th."

"Can you state your address and occupation for the record please?"

"I live at 1467 West Danube Avenue in Colorado Springs. I am a brick mason."

"Can you tell us where you were between the hours of 6 o'clock pm last evening and 8 o'clock am today?"

"Well let's see. From nine in the morning yesterday until seven last night, then I was in Manitou Springs repairing a fireplace. From seven 'til eight thirty I was in transit from Manitou to Jerry's Bar on the North west side of town nearer my home. I left Jerry's around eleven, and I was home by 11:30. I was at home until you called me up here."

"Can anyone verify you were at these locations at these times?"

"Mrs. Blanche Donovan can verify my presence at her home in Manitou, Paul Hannibal can verify that I was at Jerry's, and my neighbor Steven Harper can verify I was at home at midnight, and again at three in the morning, and at six this morning as well."

"And how is it that Steven can verify you were home at those specific times?" Devon asked in a snotty voice.

"Because our dogs both need to piss and shit at the same times. Steven is a night owl and when he sees me out with my dog he always has to some out to say hi and let Bosco do his business."

They conferred for a moment then Phillips continued with her questions. "When was the last time you saw your wife?"

"Monday morning when I dropped her off at the airport so she could fly to Houston."

"Why was she going to Houston?"

"For her company's annual convention. Only the top people in each region get to attend, and this is the third year in a row that she's gone."

"What does your wife do?"

"She sells life insurance for Trans United. You know, the dorky fucking commercials on TV with the old Asian dude trying to tell the five year old how to prepare for the inevitable? Fucking kid can barely color on the paper and the guy is telling him to prepare so his loved ones won't be burdened. I keep thinking 'Hey asshole, let the kid watch cartoons while you go jump in front of a bus," I realized I had gone into a rant, but I hated their stupid commercial. "You know the ad I'm talking about?"

They both nodded. I cringed every time the damn ad came on TV. 

"And did she fly to Houston?"

"Now that seems to be the million dollar question. I saw her carry her suitcase into the airport, and then I drove to work. I had an appointment I had to get to."

"You didn't go to the ticket counter with her?"

"No. I planned to. I had planned to get us to the airport an hour before she had to check in and clear the TSA point. I had hoped we could have breakfast together before she left."

"So why didn't you have breakfast with her?"

"When we were two miles from the airport, she suddenly remembered that she didn't grab her bag off of the bed and we had to go back home to retrieve it."

"How could she forget something as important as her luggage?"

"She claimed that she thought I had taken it to the car when I went to warm the car up."

"Why didn't you take the bag with you to the car?"

"Because when I told her I was going to start the car, the bag was still opened on bed. I didn't even notice she didn't have it when she finally got to the car."

"How often does your wife travel for her work?" 

"Twice a year. Two weeks in February for the convention, and two weeks in August for meetings and training seminars in Indianapolis." 

"And is the convention in Houston every year?"

"No, it moves around. It's been in Los Angeles, New York last year and this year Houston."

They huddled together again and then Denton asked me, "Mr. Rigby, do you know of anyone who would want to harm your wife?"

"No one that I know of, well except for maybe a few of her would be customers."

"Why would they want to harm your wife Mr. Rigby?"

"Well, the way the company puts their sales force in your home to sell you shit is kind of a scam. Most of the people she sees are people who have signed up for a free child information kit. My wife calls them up and tells them she has their kit and she has to see them face to face to present it to them. Once she's given them their kit, she lays a life insurance pitch on them. Real high pressure shit too."

"Was she meeting clients in Vail?"

"How the fuck should I know? Her ass is supposed to be in Houston with others who pull the same shit."

"Do you know of anyone she may have been with?"

I gave them a list of her co-workers I knew. Some of them had maybe gone to Houston with her and could say why she was not there. 

Devon sighed and looked over at Phillips. "Ok Mr. Rigby you can go. Are you planning to drive home tonight?"

"No, I suppose I'll find a motel."

They gave the usual "we'll be in touch" admonishment as I left. As I drove back to the hospital I realized that I had way more questions than I had answers. Was Joy fucking around on me? I had no solid proof but it seemed fishy to me that I dropped her off at an airport a week ago so she could fly to Houston Texas, and she ends up in a hospital bed in Vail Colorado less than a week later. 

When I got back to the hospital I was informed that visiting hours were done for the day but I was welcome to return at seven in the morning. I asked the security guard if he knew of any cheap but decent motels nearby. He told me that decent was no problem, but in Vail during ski season "cheap" was a relative term; it meant you stayed with relatives. 

I politely laughed at his quip and headed back into the cold. Then I remembered that I had Joy's belongings. I pulled the manifest list and looked it over and didn't see what I was looking for. I looked at the items that the police had asked not be returned. 

The only thing on that list was a prescription bottle with 5 Percocet pills in it. Joy had a root canal done three weeks prior and hadn't needed all of her pain pills. I wasn't sure why she carried them with her though. 

When I saw that her boots were on the "returned" list, I looked through the bag to find them. Joy's "traveling boots" went everywhere she traveled. Inside there was an almost unperceivable flap. Inside this flap you could hide credit cards, or more appropriately a motel room keycard. Her reasoning was that if she hid the room key in that flap, we'd still have access to our room if we were mugged while out and about. 

I found the flap and sure enough there was a keycard in it. Only problem was it was just a blank card. It didn't have a color scheme or any identifying logos on it. It was pure white, so that if you dropped it while you were skiing you'd be fucked. 

So now I had a key to her room, but not a clue where her room was. "Where's her cell phone dumb ass?"

Her cell phone! I looked at the list and didn't see it, then I looked in her handbag to see if she'd secreted it away. It wasn't here. Actually this was a good sign. 

Months ago my neighbor Steven had a problem. His life partner Joe was having to buy a new cell phone every few weeks because he'd lay it down somewhere and forget where. Usually it was on a store shelf or restaurant table. Steven, who was a software developer for a company that specialized in aps for cell phones made an ap that could use the GPS in a cell to track it down. 

Joy had lost a few phones too so he gave me a copy of the ap for her phone. It was nice. I could open the ap and put her cell number into it and it would give a distance and direction. When you got within a mile it got more specific. The only problem was, it couldn't tell the difference in altitude. 

I found this out when she lost her phone at a store. She was damn sure it was still in that store. When I fired up the ap it lead me not to the store, but back home. Once in the house it led me to the couch. I looked all over the couch; under it and even under the cushions. The it struck me that our bedroom was over the living room.

Upstairs the ap pointed the way into our bedroom, and there between Joy's nightstand and the bed was her cell phone. The nice thing was the ap ran off of the phone's memory power, so if the phone was off or the battery dead, the phone was still locatable. 

So I opened up the ap on my phone and immediately it told me I was 4 miles northeast of Joy's phone. I started the car and began driving a meandering path towards the mountain. 

When I got to the base of the ski area it led me up a road to several posh ski lodges. "I don't know who he is, but he's got class." Shut up fucker. I have things to see before I come to any conclusions. 

The indicator finally told me that I was within a half mile as I turned down the drive way to a lodge. It was four stories and I saw a lot of Lexus and Audi products in the parking area. I was glad I had driven Joy's BMW instead of my older work truck. 

I saw that there were two entrances to the lodge. One led past the front desk to the restaurant and lounge area, while the other led directly into the hall way. I opted to take the second entrance. I figured I'd have less to explain if I didn't pass a clerk. 

I entered the hallway and moved down the hall. The indicator on my phone claimed that Joy's phone was in room 114. I tried the keycard and got nothing. Nonplussed, I went back down the hall and climbed the stairs to the second floor. I moved along until the indicator claimed that Joy's phone was in room 214. Once again the keycard failed, so I made my way to the stairs and the third floor. 

I paused outside of 314. It struck me that I didn't have a plan. Should I walk into this room and beat the shit out of the occupant? Should I call Detective Phillips and ask her to come? I didn't know if anyone was even in the room, let alone the person who had beaten Joy. 

I listened at the door for a moment. I couldn't hear a TV or any voices so I stuck the keycard in and the light flashed green as the lock disengaged. I pushed down on the lever and the door started moving inward. I opened the door fully and stepped back expecting something to come flying at me. 

The room was dark, and I could see very little of it from what illumination snuck in through the open door. I cautiously edged my way in until I found the light switches. I kept my back to the wall as I flicked the switches on. The entryway light came on as did a single lamp on the far side of the room. 

I felt like a cop or a soldier clearing the room. I kept my back to the wall as I pulled the door closed. I engaged the security lock and put my back to the door. 

I couldn't see much in the bathroom nor could I see the entire room. I debated on clearing the main portion of the room first. "What if someone slips out of the bathroom?" That thought made me think that I should do the bathroom first. "What if someone is hiding just around the wall and they slip in behind you?"

Just shut up if you're not going to help. "Lips are sealed. But I do get to say 'I told you so' when someone ass rapes you because you're not really a cop."

I finally managed to ignore my inner voice and I reached in and turned on the bathroom light. No one came out of the head wielding a hatchet, nor did anybody slip out from the main room and brain me. 

I then moved to the main room. As I reached the corner of the entry way I could see about three quarters of the room. I simply stepped around the corner and saw that there was no one in the room. Joy's suitcase was on the neatly made bed and her cell phone was charging on the nightstand, and her laptop was sitting on a small table by the window. 

It suddenly struck me that the room looked too sanitary. It didn't look like anyone had been in the room prior to that moment, but it also didn't look like a professional hotel maid had made up the room. I went back into the bathroom and took a good look. 

There were a few water spots in the sink like someone had tried to clean it, but without any real cleaning products. The soap was in the soap tray in the shower, and not in a wrapper. The towels that were at the bottom of the small stack of towels weren't as neat as the ones on top and they were damp. 

Someone had tried to make this room look as if it hadn't been used already. The bed was made, but the comforter just didn't hang evenly. "You should have been a cop." Speaking of cops, I wonder if I should call them. "Why? It doesn't look like she was beaten here."

I pulled back the comforter and saw the sheets had been slept in, but no signs of violence. None of the walls looked damaged. I grabbed Joy's phone and sat down at the table with it. While I waited for her laptop to boot up, I looked through her phone. It was easy because Joy had never been one to password protect anything. 

As I was opening her lap top I was suddenly struck with the thought that nobody knew where I was. I first called my sister Beth and asked her to go take care of my dog. I didn't tell her exactly why I was in Vail, just that I had some things to deal with and I'd be home in a day or two. 

My next call was a little harder to make. I called my father Jim and told him everything I knew. He, like me, hoped it was a case of her winning a trip again. I told him I'd call him the next day after I had talked to the doctors. 

The last call I made was to my cousin Hugh. Hugh was a detective with the El Paso County Sheriff's Department. He lived just three miles from me, and we spent a good amount of time together. He told me to be sure to let the Vail PD know I found out where Joy had been staying. 

I asked him if he could reach out to the Vail PD so that we'd be kept in the loop. He said he would and then we rung off. I then had an idea. I pulled out my cell and called the lodge's front desk and asked for Joy Rigby. 

"I'm afraid we don't have any registered guests with that name sir," came the reply. 

"Maybe she registered under her maiden name." 

"How about Joy Macintyre?"

"Sorry sir. No one is registered under that name either."

I thanked the clerk and rung off. By that time Joy's lap top had fully come to life. I looked through it and all of the history had been wiped clean. I knew Joy hadn't done that because she never deletes anything. 

I opened both of her e-mail accounts to find they were cleaned out as well. Her password for both was easy; it was my birthdate. I knew I could take the lap top over to Steven. He and Joe were both top notch programmers and knew how to get missing info off of computers.




UnVailed



I looked through her cell phone to find the same thing. All of her text messages were deleted. Now Joy was better about deleting text messages, because her phone got too slow if she didn't, but she never deleted her entire folder. I'd see if Steven could help with that too.

I got up and walked to her suitcase. I opened it and took everything out. I found only the one business outfit that she wore the day I dropped her off at the airport. There were three cocktail dresses, and everything else was lingerie. I now knew that I was most likely headed for divorce court. 

***** 

The next morning I took a quick shower, grabbed Joy's cell phone and laptop and left the room. I left her suitcase just as I had found it. I had spent the night sleeping in the chair by the table, it wasn't comfortable at all but I couldn't bring myself to sleep on the bed. 

I grabbed a cup of coffee at a small breakfast place then I called Detective Phillips. "You oughta say 'wakey wakey fucker' when she answers." I was glad my inner smart ass was still alive, because I felt like shit. 

I was surprised she didn't sound sleepy at all when I called her. "Detective Phillips? This is Roger Rigby. I was inventorying my wife's things last night and I found a motel keycard in some of her stuff. I figured I should turn it over to you in case it might help you with her case."

She thanked me and said she'd meet me in half an hour. I drove around Vail aimlessly for twenty five minutes then made my way to the police station. Detective Phillips met me as soon as I entered the lobby.

"Hi Mr. Rigby," she said as she shook my hand. 

"Good morning," I said as I handed her the keycard. "Here it is."

"Come with me Mr. Rigby?" She led me down a hall to an office. "You look like a man with the world crashing down on him. Care to ease your mind?"

I don't know why, but I told her about finding the room by using Joy's phone. She frowned a time or two, but seemed easier when I told her I hadn't disrupted the bed. I gave her Joy's phone, but I didn't mention the lap top. 

"What are you going to do now Mr. Rigby?"

"I'm not sure. I think I'll likely lose my wife over this. I'd love to hear her explanation but I don't think I can believe it."

"Don't lose hope yet Mr. Rigby. There might be a logical explanation for this that doesn't involve extra marital relationships." She said it well, but I could read it in her face that she didn't see many other options. 

I thanked her and went to the hospital. I was sent to the ICU waiting room until the next 15 minute visiting session began. They let you visit a patient for 15 minutes every two hours. 

After my second 15 minutes of wishing the lump in that bed would wake so I could ask her what the fuck was going on, a doctor came out to visit me. He was a guy about my age, with sandy brown hair that looked like he should be an all-star quarterback in a movie. 

Dr. Benson assured me that Joy was recovering from her wounds, but asked me if I'd be willing to have her transported to Denver. "St. Luke's has an excellent program for rehabilitating brain injuries and I think her chances would improve tenfold there."

He explained in medical terms what her injuries were, but I only understood that she'd been hit in the head, either by someone, or by falling on something, and could have brain damage.

I then signed a release allowing them to transport her. They would transport her the next day; I asked if they could call ahead so that I could go do the paperwork at St. Luke's on my way home. 

"Where is home?" he asked me. 

"Colorado Springs," I replied. 

He got an excited look on his face and asked me to wait a minute. He went over to the desk and made a phone call. A few minutes later he came over. "Our plan has changed," he said. "We will transport her to St. Augustine's in Colorado Springs. They have a program that is comparable to St. Luke's and it will be easier on the family to visit her."

He left and a nurse brought me a whole new round of papers to sign. I signed them and then made my third and final visit before going home. I stood there looking down at her. My vision blurred as I thought of my future without her. 

"Joy, I don't know why you are here. I don't know what's going on exactly, but I do know that you seem to have more secrets than I think our marriage can handle. I'll not file for divorce until I can actually talk to you. But I am pretty sure we're done."

I left the hospital with tears in my eyes. At least none thinks it odd when a guy walks around a hospital teary eyed, if I'd been in a bar or an auto parts store more folk might have looked at me funny. 

I called Jim on my way out of Vail. I let him know that they would be moving Joy to Colorado Springs and that I would be by later to fill him and Yvonne in on everything. 

When I got home I was relieved to see my sister's jeep still in my driveway, because I could always talk to her about anything. I was greeted at the door by an ecstatic Doberman I call Piper. 

Beth met me as I entered the living room. I was so relieved to see her. She knew something was wrong as soon as she laid eyes on me. I gave her a hug and told her I loved her. Then everything came pouring out. She held me as I broke down and mourned the end of my marriage. 

She stayed with me until late in the evening. She tried to talk me into going to dinner, but I wasn't hungry, I knew I still had to go let Jim know everything. I did allow her to come with me for that part. 

By the time I had laid everything I knew out for Jim and Yvonne, I could see that he was no longer convinced his daughter wasn't doing me wrong. I had seen the look he was wearing once before.

Joy and I had been dating for a couple of months. There weren't many weekends that we spent apart and we'd spend available week day evenings together when her schedule allowed. 

One Thursday evening Joy called me to say that she was going to have to break our date for that weekend. I wasn't happy about it but I knew it happened sometimes. She was about to ring off when I heard Jim in the background "You tell that son of a bitch he better come face me!" 

I heard her make an exasperated sound and told me to just ignore him as she rung off. Needless to say I was bugged at why he'd be ranting about me. Ten minutes later I was on her front porch with Jim yelling in my face.

"You're no better than that other little bastard. If you feel you need to smack my daughter around, be a man and smack me!"

"Smack your daughter? What?" I was shocked that he would ever think such a thing.

"So what! She wouldn't put out last night? She didn't want to say you're the king of shit? What the fuck makes you guys tick?"

Now I got a tad pissed off. "First off," I yelled, "The only little girl I have smacked was that slimy bitch Garrett the night of the concert when I met Joy. Second I haven't seen Joy or been around her since last weekend. We rarely see each other during the week. Third I think you need to find out some facts before you go shooting off your mouth!"

By that point Joy and Yvonne had come out to see what was going on. I saw Joy was sporting a black eye. "What the fuck happened to your eye babe?"

"You hit her you asshole!" Jim yelled. 

I spun to face him. Just as I was about to say some rude shit Joy piped in "He didn't hit me daddy. I'm sorry but I had dinner with Garrett last night and we got into a fight."

I was off the porch and headed for my car. Joy was screaming "Roger come back here."

Jim caught up to me and spun me around. "Son I am so so sorry. I shouldn't have gone off."

Joy came up. "I'm sorry baby. It was just dinner."

"Jim, I fully understand your ire. I'm sorry I spoke to you with anything less than respect. Joy, I'm sorry you got hurt again, but you and I are through." I didn't hear either of their responses as I slammed my car door and headed down the street.

I was driving aimlessly, until I realized I was close to Garrett's trailer park. I parked my car five spaces away and walked to his front door. I knocked and in a moment I heard footsteps approaching the door.

"Ah bitch. I knew you'd show up after all," he said with a sneer. That sneer quickly turned to surprise as my fist drove into his nose. He didn't seem to be expecting me. He fell back into his front room and I was on him as he fell. I'm not sure how many times I hit him. I just know he was responding anymore after several so I kicked him in the ribs a few times and got ready to leave. 

I saw his trailer was full of moving boxes. "Moving huh?" I said as I tuned back to him. I heard a slight groan. "Let me wish you a 'fare thee well' then," I said as I kicked him square in the nuts.

I went home and iced my sore knuckles. My phone was ringing as I went inside. I picked it up without looking at the caller ID. Before I could get any greeting out I was assailed by the bawling wails of my now ex-girlfriend. "Roger baby, please let me exp.." CLICK. 

I had no more than hung up and it was ringing gain. Caller ID said it was Joy so I let it ring. After an hour of my phone ringing, then stopping for a minute and ringing again it stopped ringing. I was glad she had finally given up. 

Ten minutes later when my phone rang I got exasperated was going to answer it as rudely as I humanly could. But the caller ID said the call was from my cousin Hugh. He was calling to warn me that the CSPD had received a phone call in which the caller had feared that one Garrett Jimenez might be in danger. 

"I'm not worried about this guy," I told Hugh. 

"No, but CSPD is going to be contacting you. It seems they found Mr. Jimenez in a rather precarious state. All he could tell them was some big guys came and kicked his ass." 

"I don't know any big guys Hugh."

"No, but the caller feared you might do harm to this Jimenez guy, so naturally when they found him laid out, yours was the first name they sought."

"Thanks for the heads up Huey," he hated being called Huey. "I've got a slim alibi."

"Fucker, I hope you do."

By time the police showed up at my door I was ready. I had all of my hockey gear out stacked by my front door. I only had a minor scrape on my knuckles, but they were swelling. 

Luckily the officer seemed not only mildly care about catching whomever had messed Garrett up so my story about working on my hockey conditioning seemed to sufficiently explain my hands. It didn't hurt either that I played for the police department sponsored rec league team. 

I went to the rink on Saturday and skated myself almost to the point of dropping. I wanted to be ready for the upcoming season. One of the top defensemen on my team wasn't returning which meant I was going to see more ice time.

I got home that evening to see several notes on my door. All but one was from Joy. The one that wasn't from her was from Jim. He wrote an apology letter. He said that he was ashamed for ever believing that I would harm Joy. He also went on to ask me not to hold it against his daughter that he'd reacted that way. 

I immediately dialed their house phone and luckily Jim answered. I told him that I held no ill will at all against him for his reaction. "You reacted the way any decent father does. It's not your fault Joy didn't come clean right away."

"Well son I am glad to hear that. I worried all night long about it. Now would you like to talk to Joy?"

I could hear her excited voice in the background imploring him to give her the phone. "No I really don't wish to talk to her Jim. She went back around that creep, knowing what a dirtbag he is, and then allowed you to believe that I had hit her. On top of that, she broke our date for last night so that I wouldn't see her face. Sorry Jim, I don't have time in my life for deceptive women."



Now as I told Jim and Yvonne everything I had discovered in Vail, I knew he was rehashing old times as well. "I don't know what to say son. I'm glad they're bringing her here. I hope you aren't thinking of doing anything rash."

"No sir. I'm not hiring attorneys just yet, but I am preparing myself for it. She's going to have to have one hell of an explanation for all of this."

"No matter what happens, Roger, Yvonne and I think of you as a son, and I hope that if this is as bad as I fear you won't cut us out of your life."

I assured them that I wouldn't cut them out of my life and then Beth and I headed for my house. We drove for a few minutes in silence then Beth asked me, "Are you going to be OK?"

"Do I have any choice? Curling up and dying is definitely not an option."

"I'm sorry this is happening to you. If she is cheating, is there any chance at all of you two staying together?"

"No. I can't handle the thought of being turned into one of those paranoid husbands who has to put GPS trackers in their wife's panties and spy cams in every nook and cranny just to sleep at night."

"Mom asked about you. You know she loves you and it might be helpful to talk to her."

"So she can tell me that it's OK to be cuckold? So she can tell me I need to share my wife? No thanks. If there's one person on the face of the earth I DON'T need to talk to it's her."

Beth had always taken up for our mother. When Daniel went to prison, she'd asked me to try to visit mom more often. I went to see her once. She started in on how Danny should have been more open to sharing, I walked out. Joy chastised me for being rude; but I told her that I wasn't going to listen to that crap. And, I added, I would never accept a cheating spouse. 

"I'd just hate to see you make a decision you'll regret later."

"Don't worry sis. I'll have answers before I decide anything."

Shortly after Beth dropped me off, I was in Steven and Joe's living room. Steven started pouring through Joy's laptop as soon as I handed it to him, and I filled them in on what was happening. 

After half an hour Steven asked if I could leave the lap top with him for a day or two because he needed more time to dig through it. I had no problem with that. Joe told me that if I wanted he'd set me up with his cousin. 

"Joe, unless your cousin has 36C tits and a shaved snatch, I'm not interested."

"Prude," he laughed. Joe was always trying to make me uncomfortable, but I had no problem with his and Steven's choices or lifestyle so I usually ended up getting called jaded if I didn't act shocked, or prude if I declined being hooked up. 

I stayed for a little while and had a beer with Joe. Steven had his nose buried in Joy's lap top and didn't even notice there was anyone else in the room. After our beer, Joe said he had to go to bed. He had to get up at three in the morning to make it to work. 

"I guess I'm gonna go to bed and rub one out thinking about my newly single sexy neighbor." 

"Oh?" I said. "I thought Mrs. Jasper had been a widow for a while."

Joe laughed and wished me a good night. Steven grunted or something as I left. I went home and took Piper out back to do her business and play a bit of fetch. During the summer I usually have to decide we've played enough ball. Piper can play until my arm falls off. But in the winter I let Piper decide when we've played enough. Usually no more than three throws and she's ready to go in. 

I got in bed and called Piper in too. Joy hated it when I allowed her to sleep in the bed, but at that point I really didn't care what Joy wanted or hated. Although Piper is a bed hog, I can't fully blame my poor night's sleep on her. 

The next morning I drank my coffee and tried to focus on the sports section of the paper until eight. By nine I was sitting in Bernie Jags' office. Bernie was Joy's boss, and I knew he'd answer my questions. 

"So what can I do ya for Brian?" Bernie said jovially. I don't know why he always insisted on calling me Brian.

"It's Roger Bernie. I was just wondering if you could shed some light on something for me."

"Of course, Roger, how can I help you?"

"Is there any reason involving your insurance agency that my wife would have left the convention in Houston to go to Vail?"

"Vail? As in the Colorado ski town? Just north west of here?"

"Yeah, that Vail."

"Why would Joy be in Houston Roger?"

"For your company convention is the reason I was given. You know for the top ten earners in the state."

"Roger, I may be treading on something here that might be toxic, but I think you are confused on some things. First the convention you mention was in Houston last week but it isn't about the top earners in the state. 

Joy is what you call a "Managing agent," meaning she has several less experienced people working under her. The top ten agents in each office get to go to the convention. Managing agents don't usually wish to go. The convention is more of an incentive for the newest agents. 

I usually send one Managing Agent to the convention. If I can't get a volunteer I pick one. Joy has never gone to the convention."

I was flabbergasted and growing more irritated by the moment. "And what about the training meetings in Indianapolis she goes to every year?"

I require all of my Managing Agents to attend those meetings. I also send some of the agents to go as well."

"What can they possibly teach that takes two weeks?"

"Two weeks? We usually fly out on Sunday and fly back Thursday afternoon." As he spoke I saw a flash of recognition come over his face. "I should have known. They always took two weeks off and stayed in a different hotel."

"They?" I asked. "Would the other half of they be my wife's beaux?"

"If I tell you this Roger, you must promise me no harm will come to either of them."

"Bernie, my wife has already been harmed. She's in a coma and whomever she's been messing around with is most likely the culprit."

"I highly doubt that," he paused as if he was about to give the ending of a movie away. "Look, I know people are capable of just about anything, but some guys aren't the violent type." 

"Bernie, I have always known you to be a standup guy. If I could get the answers straight from Joy I would, but I can't. You have my word that no harm will come to anybody involved." 

When he told me the name of the guy he thought Joy was with I couldn't have been more surprised. "That little fucking weasel?"

*****

An hour after my meeting with Bernie my cousin called my cell. 

"How ya doin', Zeke?" 

My grandmother had hated that my parents had named me Roger. No one ever said why, but she refused to call me by it. She instead opted to truncate my middle name and call me Zeke. Everyone in my family caught on and called me Zeke, everyone but Joy. "It's not a dignified name," she said; as if we were royalty. Normally Hugh just called me asshole so I knew he must have been with someone who didn't know me.

"Hugh. What are you up to this here shitty morning?"

"Vail called this morning. It seems they have discovered who rented the room that Joy had stayed in. We are going to call him and ask him to come in, if he refuses we'll cite him as a person of interest and pick him up."

"Can I be there when you talk to Cal?"

"I'm sure Jeb will...Hey did you say Cal?"

"Yup, Cal as in Cal Davis. I went to see Joy's boss this morning."

After I finished telling him everything I had learned from Bernie Jags he said. "Damn boy! You should have become a cop. I'll call you when we get an interview set up."

The next few hours were spent at the hospital, meeting with the team of brain injury specialists. Part of me just wanted to say, stick her in a corner somewhere and let her rot, but I still didn't have full proof of anything. 

Jim and Yvonne showed up at the hospital an hour before Joy arrived from Vail. I filled them in on what I learned, and Jim couldn't believe his daughter would behave that way. 

Yvonne just begged me to wait until Joy was out of the woods, so to speak, before I took any action. I reassured her that I wouldn't harm Joy in any manner, even if that meant living a charade for a few weeks. 




UnVailed



"Do you think you can get past this?"

"I don't know Yvonne. I obviously cannot trust her anymore. I saw what that did to my dad. I have a lot to think about, that's all I know at this point."

"But you took her back once before." Yvonne said with a hopeful look on her face. 

"Damn she's right."

"Yeah, but we weren't married and she hadn't been actively deceiving me," I replied. And I was right too.

I hadn't seen Joy in the three weeks that followed my beating of Garrett. She finally stopped calling around the middle of the second week. After a week of not dodging phone calls I realized that Joy and I had not declared our relationship exclusive. Obviously she still saw that little slime ball prick; OK fine. I hadn't claimed her as my girl, I had just assumed that we were a couple, but the fact that she had allowed her father to believe I had hit her was the first, second and third strike. 

I had just returned home from hockey practice. I was looking forward to a hot shower and some ibuprofen. I had my gear bags and went up the stairs to my apartment. She was sitting beside my door. "I don't answer the phone when you call, so somehow that clues you into coming over here?"

"Is there really a need to be a dick? I've missed you."

"You haven't missed me; well maybe you have if your boyfriend is still laid up."

"Oh so that's it. You're still pissed off that I saw Garrett."

I opened my door and said, "No. As a matter of fact that is what I am least pissed about. Only thing I am really pissed off about is the fact that you let your father believe that I laid hands on you. If you wanna go off and fuck that skel scum bag be my fucking guest."

I walked in and realized that she'd followed me in. She opened her mouth to say something but I jumped right back into the fray, "We never decided to be exclusive, so I can't be upset with you for fucking him. No. I'm pissed at myself for not seeing things as they really are. My silly ass thinks that once I sleep with a girl, we are dating until one or both of us decide we aren't."

I dropped my gear in the middle of the floor and continued my rant. "The way I see it is; we had a few good times you and I. You didn't like the fact that I'm not a piece of shit, or that I didn't hit you. OK I'm not for everyone. You want a wasteoid fuck who can't slap anything with a dick around so he's gotta hit you. Cool. Enjoy him. Maybe I'll send you two some brass knuckles for a wedding gift."

"Are you finished?" She stood there looking as defiant as a girl can look while crying her eyes out. 

"Oh I'm finished. I'm just not sure why you're still here."

"Look asshole. I apologize for letting my daddy think for an instant that you had harmed me, but my first order of business was calling off our date so that you wouldn't go do something that would get your macho ass thrown in jail.

I forgot my phone at home when I went to see Garrett, and..."

"Hey. You don't owe me an explanation. I told you I'm over it."

"No, you need to hear me out damn it. I went to Garrett that afternoon because he was moving to Wyoming. I..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, a goodbye fuck. Is there a point coming up?"

"No not a goodbye fuck, just goodbye. I knew, or thought I knew that I could have something special with you. Garrett asked, more like ordered me to go with him. When I said I had someone else he beat me. I got away and hid from him at my friend Jules' house. 

I went home to call you, so that you wouldn't go beat him up and get in trouble. I thought my dad was at his bowling night, but he saw me come through the door. He saw my face and well you know the rest." 

"OK, I've heard your side. Now I have a date with a hot shower." The funny thing was the look she got on her face when I said that. Until I said the word "shower" she looked completely downtrodden. I still don't know what made me say it. 

"You wanna join me in the shower?"

I didn't have to ask her twice. We decided we were exclusive that night. Three weeks later she moved into my apartment, and we were married eight months later. The only time Garrett was ever mentioned again was the night she told me that he'd been killed in a car wreck in Laramie Wyoming. She went up there with one of her girlfriends for two days for his funeral. And now a decade later Joy was being removed from an ambulance and being rolled onto the critical care ward at St. Augustine's.

She looked no different than she had in Vail. The doctors said they gave her really good odds at a full recovery. After a few minutes they took us back out into the waiting room. 

After thirty minutes of sitting there, Hugh texted me saying that Cal Davis was coming in to be interviewed at four o'clock. I told Jim and Yvonne that I had an appointment that I couldn't miss and left. 

I went home and let Piper out to do her business while I donned a suit and tie. I knew if Sheriff Jeb Hannibal was going to allow me to sit in on the questioning I would have to look like a detective. 

I had known the sheriff all of my life. He and my dad had worked together and I was best friends with his son Paul. Paul and I played pee wee football and hockey together. We were always on the same team until Jeb got elected Sheriff and they moved to the north side of town to live nearer to the office. 

Everyone knew Paul and I were headed for pro hockey. It's funny how promise can be snuffed out. My dad died during my junior year in college. I lost my interest in playing and dropped out. My Grandfather and uncle put me to work as a brick mason when no one could talk me into going to finish my criminal justice degree. 

Paul had three NHL teams looking at him and then in his junior season he broke his femur and his career died. Paul got a job with the Colorado Springs PD and coaches youth hockey. It had always been hockey or police work for us, and now I lay bricks for a living. 

When I got to the Sheriff's office Hugh came out to greet me. 

"Ok Zeke. Vail PD is going to be in on this over a video conference. We'll put you in a chair away from their view. Jeb said to remind you not to say anything, mainly because it could jeopardize a court case. Got it?"

"Yeah, and before you say any anything I know not to attack this prick." 

'You know Nora and I have your back. Anything you need; just ask."

We walked into the department. We went down a hallway to several interview rooms. Several people were milling around and I instantly recognized her. For a moment I was transported back in time to high school. I'd had the same feeling when I laid eyes on her back then. Katrina Sheppard was the hottest girl in high school, even as a freshman. 

Time had been more than kind to her. She had only gotten better with age and was more beautiful than she'd been when I stared at her during every class we ever had together. I had long dreamed of spending just one night with her, but I never felt I was in her class. 

She was the head cheerleader. She was the homecoming queen. She was the prom queen. She was beauty and elegance on the arm of the starting varsity quarterback while I was the skater. I was the defensive back that played on second and third down. While I was the star of the hockey team, the hockey team wasn't the basketball team with cheerleaders and a pep band. The hockey team had its own following, mainly the parents and girlfriends of the guys on the team.

While I was standing there debating if she'd married a doctor or a lawyer, a couple deputies ushered her into a room. "Quit drooling Zeke," Hugh said as he steered me into a room. Sheriff Jeb Hannibal was standing there grinning from ear to ear. "I've always wanted to do this," he said producing a badge from behind his back. "I am deputizing you just so that we can say that only law enforcement personnel were in the room."

He had me swear an oath and then reminded me that I was to turn my badge in before leaving. He actually hugged me after he handed me the badge. "Son, I have been hoping, and still hope that someday you'll finish your degree and come to work for me. Your daddy was a fine cop, and I know you would be too."

Hugh and I left Jeb's office, my shield proudly on display, when my mind wandered again to Katrina Sheppard. I'd known back then that she was way out of my league but I wondered; had I been the right kind of boy in school if she'd have turned out to be a cheating whore as well. Somehow I doubted she would be; maybe that's part of what put her out of my reach. Maybe men in my family had a knack for marrying whores. I was sure Daniel would agree with that supposition.

We got to a room and went in. Hugh pointed me to a chair that was not in the line of sight of the camera. Hugh sat at a chair at the conference table and started working a keyboard. Soon I heard the voice of Detective Phillips and some other guy through the speakers. 

A few minutes later a deputy led a smarmy looking motherfucker into the room. The guy just had "salesman" written all over him. He's the guy who steers you from the five year old jalopy on the car lot to the shiny almost new overpriced piece of shit that earns him a fatter paycheck. I had never met Cal Davis face to face, but I'd heard a lot about him.

Even as he sat in a room full of cops, the guy's smile never faltered. He looked like he was sizing us up as potential customers. I had never met the man before, but I felt I knew him from everything Joy had ever said about her mentor. 

"Ok," Hugh started. "Mr. Davis we thank you for coming in, and I need to remind you that this interview is being recorded." 

"Sure no problem," Cal said. 

"Ok for the record this is Detective Hugh McMillan of the El Paso County Sheriff's department. With me are Detectives Keith Douglas and Roger Riggs." 

"Roger Riggs? Wasn't that a character in Lethal Weapon?" No that was Martin Riggs, played by Mel Gibson; Roger Murtaugh was Danny Glover. "Oh."

"Also by video conference we have Detective Desirae Phillips and Detective Ron Albert of the Vail Police Department. Now Mr. Davis you understand you have been read your rights and you still agree to talk with us without an attorney present?"

"Yes I do."

As they began the routine questions about his address and such I realized that my gut was telling me that this wasn't the guy. He was fucking Joy, but no way did he beat her. The guy could sell ice cubes to Eskimos, and sported a wedding band that cost more than my truck. He could charm a woman into doing his bidding, and he didn't seem the type who'd risk his livelihood by chancing a domestic violence charge.

Finally they got to the questions I was waiting for. "Mr. Davis," came Phillips' voice over the speakers, "Can you tell us of your whereabouts from a week ago today until Sunday afternoon?"

"Yes. From Monday until Friday I was in Houston at our corporate convention. I got home Friday evening and was with my wife all weekend."

"So you were at a convention all week?"

"Yes."

"Well that makes this all so much easier Mr. Davis," said Phillips. "Our last interviewee made us call four different people to verify his alibi. With you all we need to do is call your employer, he can provide us with all of the contact information we need."

The smile never faded, but his tan sure did. He had that "I'm fucked" look in his eyes. I knew he was broken when Hugh asked if he'd mind waiting for a few more minutes while he called Bernie Jags. 

"Wait," Cal said. His confident swagger was AWOL. "Can I tell you guys something without it getting back to my wife?"

I saw the smirk on Detective Douglas' face and marveled at how easily they had played Cal. He soon was telling us that he'd been sleeping with Joy for more than six years. I mentally figured that she'd started training with him around six years ago. 

He did freak out when they told him this was concerning Joy. I saw real fear as he asked if she was missing or had someone killed her. When they asked him about Friday his explanation was interesting.

"When it was time for me to leave, she called her husband and told him that she'd won a trip to Vail and was flying into Denver in three hours. I heard her on the phone. Then we drove to Denver and I dropped her off at the terminal. All she was going to do was walk to the arrival area and wait for him to pick her up. I left and drove home. My wife can verify that I was at home from Friday night on."

A few more follow up questions from the detectives were answered satisfactorily, and then Hugh signed off from the Vail feed and told Cal he was free to go, but warned him against leaving town for a few weeks.

"Can I ask one favor?" Cal asked Hugh. 

"You can ask, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Can I have a few minutes of privacy with Detective Riggs?"

Hugh looked at me and I said "I'll hear him out."

I sat opposite Cal in the chair that Hugh had just vacated. He looked dejected and beaten down. It was a far cry from the smiling "nothing can fuck my day up" guy who'd walked into the room just forty minutes before.

"So Roger is there a need for formal introductions here?" he asked. 

"Obviously not. You seem to know who I am."

"Joy keeps a picture of you in her presentation kit, and all over her desk at the office. She loves you, you know?"

"NO. No she doesn't. If she loved me we wouldn't be here."

"The problem is; I love her too."

"Well at least four weeks a year anyway," I added flippantly. "I'd bet your wife wouldn't think too highly of your love."

"I do love her Roger. I love my wife too. She knows of my infatuation with Joy. Let me start at the beginning. I knew Joy was special the day I interviewed her for the opening on my team. I felt I needed to take her under my wing and train her myself. 

"As you know there are days when people just aren't home when we arrive for our presentation. Well, one Saturday we had several no-shows so we decided to go have a bite to eat at that old-style drive in restaurant over by the Army base. As we ate and talked I realized we had chemistry and we ended up making love in one of those motels that cater to visiting military families.

"We didn't make love again for about a month. We both felt guilty; but we felt our chemistry at the same time."

"Not guilty enough to stop fucking though huh?" I said humorlessly.

"It sounds cheap and tawdry when you put it that way. Cheap and tawdry is the opposite of what Joy and I have."

"Well pardon fucking me. I didn't know I was pissing all over your little fairy tale romance."

"I understand your anger. I really do, and I can't even imagine how you must feel, but I don't regret my love for Joy one iota."

I couldn't believe the shit this asshole was spewing. I was sure that if I decked him no one would disbelieve that he tripped and hit his face on the table. But I was going to keep the high ground, and Joy had ceased to be my problem.

"So are you telling me that you'd be cool with your wife running off twice a year to fuck someone else?"

"No. I have a hard enough time sharing Joy with you."

"That won't be a problem any longer. You can have the whore."

"So you'll throw her aside because she loves someone else?"

"Dude! Are you fucking dense? You tell me it's hard for you to share then with the next breath expect me to? Fuck you. At least you knew you were sharing. I had no clue. If I had known we wouldn't have been sharing for long ' cause I don't condone cheating."

"I guess you're right. That's why you and my wife got to go on the trips. She got to go to Mexico City, San Diego and Rio. You got Cabo San Lucas, Corpus Christi, and Miami. You were supposed to get Vail, and my wife was going to get Estes Park. The extra trips were getting to be too expensive so we kept it local this year."

"Extra trips? I got to go to Miami last year and that's the only time I have been out of state. I got to go to Vail to sign for her cheating ass. You guys fuck in Indy for two weeks, and the supposed convention for two weeks. What the fuck do you mean about all these other cities?"

"Joy and I felt bad about what we were doing. So to assuage our guilt, we'd treat our spouses to vacations as well. She and I spend the week of the convention together, and then she'd invite you to wherever we went for the second week and I'd go home. We'd spend the meeting week in Indy together, then she'd go home and I'd meet my wife for a week of vacation."

"Bullshit. Joy has been gone for two weeks every time, and I only went to Miami. I knew that room felt too used for her to only have been there one night."

"So if she wasn't at home with you or in any of the places I thought she took you...She was cheating on me."

The fucking guy actually started crying. "Really? Cheating on you? Fuck you pal. Have a good life, and Give Joy my best. She's in St. Augustine's; room 2410. Tell her dad I'll be in touch." 

I made for the door, but stopped when he pathetically asked me, "You aren't going to tell my wife are you?"

"Dude, I don't even know your wife. Even if I did why would I want to hurt her? No, I won't tell her. It's more satisfying to know that guilt will eat you alive, or not. A piece of shit cheater has no conscience. Have a nice life jerk off but remember; one day, you'll stand before the Almighty and answer for it all." I turned and walked out.

Hugh was waiting for me in the hall. "Hey Zeke, I really am sorry. I thought we had the guy."

"Yeah. I knew as soon as he walked in there he wasn't the guy who beat her. . I just feel so fucking stupid. How could this have been going on under my nose the entire time? I never had a ..."

At that moment I was interrupted by a commotion behind us. Hugh and I turned to see Katrina Sheppard slapping the shit out of Cal. "You worthless cheating son of a bitch! Do not come home Calvin. I don't want to see you ever again!"

She was bawling her eyes out as a deputy pulled her off of Cal. He was sporting more than a few welts from the short smack down. As they went past us she looked at me. I was searching for something to say when she stepped up to me and pulled me into a hug that almost left me breathless. "I'm so very sorry," she sobbed. 

It's not your or my fault," I reasoned. "We both just happened to find letches to marry."

She laughed and pulled away. I reached up and wiped a tear from her beautiful face. "I hope you'll be OK," I told her. "I've had a few days to wrap my head around this."

"I wish you the best of luck too Roger," she said as she kissed my cheek and turned to leave. It was at that point I recognized the officer walking with her. It was her brother James. James had been two grades behind us in school, so I didn't know him per se. Suddenly I knew how she had come to be at the Sheriff's station that afternoon.

I looked at Hugh and said, "He's got that at home and he has to fuck Joy?"

"Some guys just want what they're not supposed to have," he said. We walked down to Jeb's office so I could turn in my badge and listen to a lecture on how I could still finish my degree and be a cop. I'd heard it all before, and who knows; one day I might listen. I know I was listening to that whisper in the back of my head that said I'd been missing something for the past ten years.

*****

The next few days were busy as hell for me. I spent all day Tuesday looking for an attorney that would keep me from getting my ass handed to me in the divorce. I didn't really see much of a fight coming, but I wanted to be prepared. 

I hired a guy from a firm in Denver that handled nothing but men's cases. They usually fought hard to get fathers a better deal, but in my case they said they'd do what they could to protect me. I was damn glad Joy and I hadn't got around to having kids. We'd discussed it, a lot more recently, but we'd never taken the plunge.




UnVailed



There wasn't much to fight over. Piper was mine and had been since we got her as a puppy. The house we lived in belonged to Joy's grandmother, so I wasn't even going to try to take it. It was actually Jim's according to the title. 

My brother and I had inherited my dad's house when he died. I had an apartment at the time and Daniel had lived with his wife so they used dad's house and I got a small bit of rent from them for it. When Daniel walked into her boyfriend's apartment and blew them away, her family tried to take the house from Daniel to alleviate their grief. 

Luckily I hired a real shark of an attorney and he saved the house. The court found that I owned a controlling interest in the house since Daniel was paying me rent. The family was pissed, but I kept the house, and now I was really glad, because I wouldn't have to move into some crappy apartment. 

Joy was pissed off that I had spent the money to fight for the house, but I told her there was no way a cheating whore's family was getting what my dad had busted his ass to pay for. Looking back maybe I should have wondered about her cavalier attitude. 

Late Tuesday afternoon I put in an appearance at the hospital. Jim was keeping vigil as I had expected he would. He looked up and saw my face and just shook his head.

"How long?" he asked.

"As far as I can confirm? Six years, since she started selling insurance. But my gut feeling is that there is something more than what we know."

"I can't believe my daughter would be so deceitful."

"Me either. I would have never married her if I knew she was a cheat." I went on to tell him everything Cal had told me.

"I always wondered why she never came back with pictures from her trips," Jim said. "When she was young, she took pictures anytime we went anywhere; even if it was just to Denver. Why didn't I see it?"

"I didn't see it either."

I told him that I wouldn't visit the hospital. again. I couldn't stand the thought of talking to her again. He understood and asked me if I would stay in the house until she was ready to come home just to be sure that nothing got damaged. I told him that I had already planned on it. I also told him that I wouldn't have her served papers until she was recovered. 

I realized I was going to miss him and Yvonne. They had treated me like a son for the entire time I had known them. It wasn't their fault they raised a deceitful cunt.

On Wednesday I did a chimney repair job and then I had a hockey game that night. I spent most of the first period in the penalty box serving out roughing majors. Two minutes into the second period I got another and our coach pulled me from the game. He was close friends with Paul so he knew why I was playing rough, but he also didn't want me to get barred from the league. 

I was in a poor mood when I got home. We had lost the game, and I took a lot of the blame on myself for letting my personal issues affect my play. No one on the team would allow me to take that blame, and several guys asked me if I'd like them to go see Cal. I might not have been too clear in my rejection of their offer. 

When I got home Piper was ready to go outside. As I watched her run around the yard, I reminded myself to go look the fences over at dad's house. As Piper was doing her business and ready to go inside Steven yelled from his window that he'd be over in a few minutes. I wondered what he'd found on Joy's laptop. 

I had spent the previous evening pouring through our desk top to see if I could find anything. I looked through all of the bills and bank statements I could find and I couldn't find one thing out of place. "How the fuck is she paying for these trips?" 

The only thing I found that was remotely out of place was the fact that she called her friend Fiona more often before her trips. She normally called Fiona once a month, but as her trips got closer the frequency increased to twice a week. I felt fairly confident in two things. Fiona knew more about what was going on than I did, and Fiona wouldn't tell me shit. I had never met the woman; another fact that hadn't struck me as odd until then. When I tried Fiona's number I got just a commercial voice telling me that I'd reached a voice mail box. I suddenly wished that I had Joy's cell phone. 

When Steven came into the house he looked like a kid that had discovered where his parent hid the Christmas gifts. "So what did you find Steve?"

"Get me a beer and we'll sit down and I'll show you."

I grabbed a couple of beers from the refrigerator and we sat at the breakfast bar. Steven opened up Joy's lap top and powered it up. "Whoever erased her tracks definitely knew what he was doing," Steven said. "There were some programs on this lap top that I know you didn't put on here. No offense Zeke, you have me do all of your computer stuff."

"I know I don't know shit about computers dude. No offense taken."

"OK, first I found a program that allows Joy to get on the internet and surf without her browser history recording it. Even the history that can't be erased is over ridden. Luckily a friend of mine in the D.O. J. was around yesterday to help me go through this. He ran some of his stuff on it and we found a lot."

"Are you saying that Joy is a computer genius and I didn't know that either?"

"Oh hell no! Joy uses the same password for everything. No this was put together by someone who really knows their stuff."

My brain instantly went through a list of everyone Joy knew who knew jack shit about computers. Once again the name Fiona popped up. She was some kind of wizard at a software company that specialized in Defense stuff. "So what was the bitch hiding?" I asked without a trace of humor in my voice. 

"All I could see that she'd accessed from the veiling program was an email account and a bank account."

"So that's how she affords these trips," I said thinking out loud.

"What trips?"

At that point I filled Steven in on what I had discovered from Cal. His eyes got bigger and bigger as I went on. When I finished, he only said, "You know I can't tell Joe you had a badge. He'd never stop bugging you to wear a uniform for him."

"Dude, I wore a suit. Not a patrol...Anyway did you read these emails?"

Emails...Oh yeah. When I got into her account it had been wiped out, but this stays between you and I, I did hack the email server and found a few of the erased emails. Most of them were love letters. You know mooshy stuff like teens write to each other. A few talked about them meeting in Vail this week."

"So any clue who these emails were written to or by?"

"Some were to an email address of one Cal Davis. The others were to jcricket4207. I couldn't find a name attached to the account but one of the emails she calls him Garrett."

"Son of a bitch." "You said it; SONOF A BITCH!"

***** 

Before Steven left he showed me how to get into the bank account and email account that he'd found. He restored the emails and changed the password and security info to keep anyone else from re-accessing the account.

He'd done the same with the bank account. It was set up at a bank in Denver in Joy's name. I got in and was flabbergasted by the money that was in the account. Somehow she had amassed over ten thousand dollars under my nose. We didn't hurt for money, but I no clue where she might have gotten it. 

I looked at the account history and saw that there had been ATM withdrawals periodically over the life of the account at ATMs that I knew Joy hadn't accessed. There had also been a few withdrawals since Joy had been hospitalized. All of the deposits had been made from local ATMs.

My first order of business was to arrange a transfer of all of those funds to our joint bank account. Once I had that set up, I filled out an on line form to close the account. I was informed that the transaction would occur at 7 am. 

With that done I changed all of the contact information on the bank account to my personal email account so that I'd know if anyone tried to change anything. Then I wanted to find out more about Fiona because I was sure she could tell me how a dead fucker had beaten my wife.

When I didn't find anything on Facebook, I went and found Joy's high school yearbooks. I found Garrett, he had graduated with Joy. I looked at the classes around theirs and found nothing. I finally pulled out Joy's freshman year book and saw who I was looking for in the senior class. Fiona Jimenez was Garrett's sister. I had a call to make. 

"Hello?" queried the sleepy voice of Detective Phillips. I looked at my clock and saw that it was past one in the morning and suddenly felt bad for calling her.

"Detective Phillips, this is Ze..er I mean Roger Rigby."

"Roger Rigby? Don't you mean Detective Riggs?"

"How did you know I was there?"

'Your friend Detective McMillan forgot to turn the video feed off, so I saw you sit down with Mr. Davis."

"Actually Hugh is my cousin, and obviously not too technically savvy. I didn't call you to talk about Hugh though. I called because I think I know who assaulted my wife."

I heard her perk up and grab for something to write on. I told her about the bank account, leaving out how I'd discovered it and mentioning that I hadn't realized that a debit card had been missing from Joy's personal effects when I picked them up. I cited being stressed as the reason for overlooking the missing card. 

I gave her a brief description of Garrett and told her where the card had been used that morning. I then apologized for waking her. 

"Hey don't worry about it. It comes with the job. You know, you should have been a cop."

"I keep hearing that. Well I'll let you get back to sleep. Good night."

She said good night and rang off. I envied and pitied her husband at the same time. I envied him getting to listen to that sexy voice while in the throes of passion. I also knew that being a cop even on a smaller force like Vail's puts strains on family. Some spouses can hack it; some, like my mother the whore, can't. 

Piper whined and looked at the door: A sign that she needed to go outside. When I took her out I saw Steven on his porch. "Hey Steven do you still have access to the DMV data bases and shit?"

"And shit? I always have access to databases Zeke, you know me better than..." 

"Yeah I know, Mr. Hacker Deluxe," I always teased him about his chat nickname. I had gone over one day to ask him something and had seen him in a chat room under the name Hacker Deluxe. I razzed him about it from time to time. 

I told him the name I wanted information about and wished him a good night. I knew I had made his night by giving him an excuse to hack into some place. As soon as I was inside my house, my body let me know that it had been a long day and some sleep was definitely going to be needed, so I obliged.

I was awakened the next morning by a ringing phone. The caller ID said it was my father so I answered it. "Hi dad."

"Good morning Roger. I just wanted to let you know that the doctors are easing off of the drugs and they expect Joy to come around sometime in the next 24 hours."

"Seems kind of soon doesn't it?" I remember the doctor telling us they planned on keeping her in a coma for at least a week. 

"Well I guess they got encouraged by some test results. Have you given any thought to letting her explain and forgiving her?"

"No. As a matter of fact I keep finding more and more deceit. There's no coming back from this," I said. Then I brought him up to date on everything I had found, well except for the secret bank account. He was none too pleased when I identified his daughter's secret lover.

He sounded disappointed, drained and disgusted as he rung off. I didn't tell him either how I planned to pay Joy back for her deceit. I had just made a pot of coffee when Steven came in through my back door. 

"You aren't going to believe this," he said. Then suddenly he said, "Oh! Coffee!"

"Morning Steve. Don't you think Joe would find it odd that you're in my house at eight am and he's at work?"

"You're only a cock tease and he knows it," he said as I just barely avoided spitting my coffee out everywhere. 

"You said I wasn't going to believe something?" I asked as I handed him a cup of coffee. 

He was right. As I looked at what he had found I felt like I had fallen down a weird hole. And as he was laying it all out for me I suddenly saw everything crystal clear.

When Joy had gone to Garrett's funeral, she only half lied. She could have said she was going to see a Jimenez planted she would have been 100% accurate. She'd gone to Fiona's funeral. Fiona had been killed in a car wreck in Laramie, and I would bet my last dime that she accompanied Garrett up there and that had been the start of the affair.

The next piece of information pissed me off even further. The year before, when Joy had called me to join her in Miami, Garrett had been incarcerated. He had been doing ten months for petty theft. He served ten months, and then had to serve four years on parole. As part of his parole agreement, he was banned from leaving the state of Colorado, so I assumed that if I asked Cal, he'd reveal that Joy had pressed for more local fuck retreats. 

Up until the time of his arrest, Garrett had been working for a software company, but the funny thing about companies that deal in National Defense; they can't have felons on the payroll. I then wondered if the police would catch him before he realized his gravy boat had been drained. 

Later that day I called my lawyer and filled him in on my plan. He laughed and said he could make it all happen and it would be legal. Now all I had to do was wait for Joy to revive herself.

***** 

Two weeks after finally coming out her coma, Joy was allowed to be interviewed by the police. I walked down the hallway following Detective Phillips and Detective Albert. They had come down from Vail to interview Joy.

Garrett had been arrested trying to bully a bank teller into giving him money that he thought should be in "his" bank account. When they read the card, which was issued to Joy Riggs, alarm bells had gone off in the teller's head. She went to ask a manager who confirmed that the card had been reported stolen. Bank security held him there until Denver PD came to get him. 

When they booked him, they discovered he was wanted for questioning in Vail. His parole officer seemed to take interest in the fact that he'd left Denver without clearing it with him first. Denver was more than happy to give him guest accommodations. I hoped that he had a well hung cell mate. 

As Phillips and Albert entered Joy's room I hung back in the hallway. Hugh had been kind enough to talk them into letting me listen in, and Detective Phillips had asked me if there were any questions that I'd like them to ask. I had a million, but I decided to just have them ask one. 

They introduced themselves and I heard Jim ask if they'd like for him to close the door. Without missing a beat she explained that since they weren't detaining Joy they couldn't allow the door to be closed, but they had posted a colleague outside the door to discourage eaves dropping. I was wearing a suit and looked the detective part so no one should have thought I looked out of place. 

At first Joy seemed hesitant to answer their questions. She hemmed and hawed around until they brought it to her attention that the desk clerk had placed her with two different men. One of course was Cal, and the second was Garrett. 

She finally admitted to being with both men but stopped shy of admitting that Garret had beaten her. Then Phillips played a card I hadn't expected. "I'm sure by now you're aware of the fact that your husband thinks you had two separate lovers without his knowledge. Whatever you tell us can be related to him, and when he sees the truth it might move him toward reconciling with you." 

"Not a snowball's chance in hell!" I thought as Phillips laid her shit on thick. 

Then it all came out. How she'd lied to me in order to accompany Garrett to his sister's funeral. "I felt sorry for him and I knew Roger wouldn't want me to go with him, nor would my dad. I'm sorry daddy. Anyway we decided that weekend that we still loved each other. Only problem was I loved Roger, so Garrett proposed that I sneak away once a month and see him. I didn't see how it could harm Roger so I agreed."

Then she went on to recap everything that Cal had said about how they started up. She claimed she fucked Cal because she got a thrill out of the fact they were both married. When they started going to the meetings and then taking the convention week as well, she decided to do Cal one week and then do Garrett the next. "I felt bad for never having Roger on a trip with me so I gave him Miami."

"Lying fucking cunt!" If I had any regrets about serving her when I was going to, that lie just took them away. Her smugness really pissed me off. Then when they questioned her about the beating she asked that they be lenient on Garrett. 

"I made him mad that night. I told him that I was coming off of my birth control so that Roger and I could have a family. Garrett said I should give him an equal chance at making me pregnant. I told him that there was no way Roger would ever believe it was his child if I let that happen."

"As the evening wore on he kept after me to give him a chance to make me pregnant. When I asked him to drop it he flew off the handle. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up here and found out that Roger thinks I cheated and left me." 

Her crying jag could have won an Oscar if she hadn't been such a cold calculating cunt. Finally Phillips drove the final nail, and confirmed what I had suspected since I saw her secret email. 

"So, on a personal note. May I ask you why you have Jiminy Cricket tattooed on your thigh?"

"That was Garret's idea. He said that way he could be near my pussy all the time and Roger would be none the wiser."

At that point I walked into the room. The cunt actually had the audacity to call me baby. "Hey baby, I'm so sorry but if let me explain..."

I handed her the sheaf of papers in my hand and said. "No need. By the way, you've been served."

I heard her scream as I walked out of the room and off of the ward and into the rest of my life. 

***** 

Epilogue. 5 years later.

Everyone knows a ringing phone in the middle of the night is not a good sign. For me, it was becoming part of the job. I had the conversation and got the pertinent information then rung off. 

I rolled over and kissed my sleeping wife's forehead. Then as had become common place, I went lower and kissed her swollen abdomen. I knew she wasn't fully asleep when I could smell her arousal. 

"You better watch you don't start something that you can't finish," she said sleepily. Even before she was pregnant I could get her fired up by kissing or licking her tummy. Often it was on the way to moister pastures below. I was looking forward to becoming a father. 

"Sorry babe. Just kissing Charlie Brown good bye."

She gave a chuckle. "Really Zeke? We don't even have his real name picked out and you've given him a nick name?" I laughed and then I got up and got dressed. I had thought of him as Charlie Brown since I had found out that it was a him. Something on the sonogram had looked like Charlie Brown's shirt and the idea had stuck in my head. 

"Have a good day baby," I said to my sleeping wife as I headed out. She mumbled some sort of response. I knew her day would be less hectic since she had taken maternity leave with a month to go before D-Day. 

Thirty minutes later I had pulled up to the crime scene. I may have not been to that particular trailer before, but in my stint on patrol duty I had been to many like it. The results never surprised me anymore.