25 comments/ 138361 views/ 14 favorites What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 01 By: K.K. Author's Note: There is very little sex in this story. Once again I want to thank Techsan for taking time from his busy schedule to edit this story for me. Please provide feedback. It is the only payback we authors get for our efforts. Thanks. * Las Vegas, Nevada Friday April 11, 2003 10:00 AM The faint scent of burnt jet fuel was in the air as Tom Boyer walked down the jetway to board Southwest flight 428 to Denver. Tom couldn't get the smile off his face as he thought back on the events of the past week. Tom and his team from NewTech Design had spent the week at the Electronic Consumer Products Convention in Las Vegas. The NTD team worked hard all week but the payoff was worth it. They made several new contacts and had held private meetings with six companies with whom they had not done any previous business. In spite of all the hard work the team had somehow managed to find something fun to do in Las Vegas but Tom had not shared the evening entertainment with his team. He had been otherwise occupied. The one thing that had really made the week for Tom was that he had personally negotiated a contract with a large manufacturer of small hand-held electronic devices, which would bring in ten million dollars to NTD over the next five years. Tom had met Carl Koonce, the Vice-President of purchasing for Hampton Electronics the first night of the convention and over the next four days had managed to convince him that NTD would be the best choice for their package design needs. As Tom slipped into the window seat on the Boeing 737, Brad Thompson, Tom oldest friend, sat down in the seat next to him. Brad and Tom had gone to the University of Colorado together and both started working at NTD the same year. Brad fastened his seat belt and then gave Tom a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Old man Morgan is going to love you for this," Brad said. "You just made your bonus for the whole fucking year and it's only April." Old man Morgan was Zack Morgan, The owner and president of NTD. Tom was Vice-President of Sales but also had responsibility for all conferences and conventions in which NTD participated. Normally marketing events were left to the marketing department headed by Vice-President of Marketing David Ransom but Zack Morgan had given Tom responsibility for the conferences and conventions because Tom always seemed to be able to turn them in to sales events. It was Tom's responsibility to put the teams together that would work the conferences. Brad was a design engineer and was a permanent member of Tom's team for the business shows. Tom's objective at these shows was to find ways to generate new business. Brad's job was to give technical presentations and provide technical expertise at the NTD booth at the shows. The teams for the shows usually consisted of two sales people in addition to Tom and three technical people including Brad. Tom picked the two sales people for the team and Brad would bring two design technicians with him. "He better do more than give me a pat on the back and offer me a cup of coffee for this one," Tom joked. "By the way, have you seen your buddy Bill Werner this morning? I didn't see him before they started to board the plane. I hope he didn't miss the flight." Bill Werner was a new design engineer at NTD that Brad had brought along for the show. Bill had only been with NTD for a few months but had already showed that he had the skills necessary to be successful in his job. This conference was the first time Tom had met Bill and his first impression of him was that he was an ambitious techno geek but he was impressed by Bill's ability to explain NTD's design technology to visitors to their booth at the show. "Bill stayed over for the weekend," Brad said. "Treasure Island let him keep the suite we used for our meetings for the conference rate. Apparently he has some chippie on the line." Tom laughed and said, "I thought he was just another one of your techno geeks. I wouldn't have thought that he would even know how to talk to a woman let alone get one to spend the weekend with him. " Brad laughed and said, "That surprised me too. He told me he met someone Wednesday night and this morning he called me and said that he was going to stay till Sunday. By the way where the hell did you spend your nights? Other than our little party after we set up the booth on Sunday I didn't see you in the evenings. As much as you like to play craps I expected to see you at the tables at least once." "I spent the evenings in my room reading," Tom said. "I'm trying to improve my mind. You should try it some time." "You spent the nights in your room? Bull shit," Brad said while laughing. "If that's your story it's fine with me but don't expect me to believe it." Tom smiled to himself as he thought about how he had spent his evenings and then took a magazine out of the seat back and turned to Brad. "Hey man, haven't you heard? Reading is fundamental." Both men laughed and then Tom opened the magazine and started reading an article about Nicole Kidman. ***** Denver, Colorado 1:30 PM Lisa Boyer was nearly finished with the final review of February's monthly business statement. She had just begun her perusal of the last page of the monthly when her phone rang. "Accounting, Lisa Boyer speaking." "Hey, hot momma, whatcha doing?" "Hi, honey," Lisa said recognizing Tom's voice immediately. "I just got off the plane," Tom said. "I'm going to pick up my bag and grab a cab home. What time will you get home tonight?" "I am just finishing the monthly for February," Lisa said, "So I might be able to slip out a little early today. I should be home by five." "Great. We have something to celebrate tonight," Tom said. "What's up?" "Can't tell you now. You'll just have to wait till tonight," he said. "Love you, got to go." "I love you too," Lisa said. ***** Lisa and Tom had met shortly after Lisa came to work at NTD in 1993. On Friday evenings it was a common occurrence for some of the NTD employees to gather at O'Neil's Pub for drinks, as O'Neil's was only two blocks from NTD's building. One Friday, as he walked into O'Neil's, Tom spotted Brad sitting in a booth with an attractive brunette. Brad and the girl were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't look up when Tom approached the table. While Brad occupied the girl's attention, Tom looked her over slowly. She was, in Tom's opinion, very attractive. She had shoulder length dark brown hair large brown eyes and appeared to have a very nicely proportioned body. She was tastefully dressed; unlike most of the other girls Brad had dated. In spite of her attractive appearance Tom's initial opinion of her was negative. Tom knew that Brad's girlfriends were always a little trampy. Brad like them that way because he didn't want to have to date a girl more than once before he got her into bed. Tom assumed that this girl was just another of Brad's bimbos and that was the reason for Tom's less than positive opinion of her. Tom was about to walk away from the table when Brad finally noticed him. "Hey, Tom, have a seat." Tom looked at the girl again. "I'm going over to the bar and have a drink," Tom said. "I'll check back with you later." As Tom walked away, Lisa looked at him and then back at Brad. "He isn't very friendly, is he?" Lisa said. "Who? Tom? Tom's my best friend and he is usually very friendly. You'll like him when you get to know him," Brad said. "I doubt it," Lisa said. Lisa felt that Tom had snubbed her. He had come over to their table, looked directly at her and then walked away without even acknowledging that she was there. Lisa thought to herself, "Too bad he's an ass because he was kind of cute." Tom went back over to Brad and Lisa's table about an hour later and Brad asked him to sit. Tom sat down across the table from Lisa and didn't look at her as he began to ask Brad what he was going to do over the weekend. "Tom, I would like you to meet Lisa Gilbert," Brad said. "Lisa just started at NTD in accounting." Getting a closer look at Lisa and learning that she worked for NTD made Tom reconsider his first impression. She might not be one of Brad's usual girlfriends after all. Tom smiled at Lisa and said, "Glad to meet you." Lisa nodded her head at Tom but didn't say anything nor did she offer her hand. Tom quickly got the impression that Lisa either didn't like him or she wanted him to leave so she could be alone with Brad. This made Tom somewhat uncomfortable so he decided that he would head back over to the bar. Later Brad joined Tom at the bar. "What happened?" Tom asked. "You scare Lisa away already?" "No, you did," Brad said. "Yeah, right. Where did she go?" Tom asked. "Why do you want to know? She didn't like you either," Brad said. "She's over there sitting with some of the other girls from accounting." "She didn't like me? Why?" Tom asked. "She didn't think you were very friendly when you stopped by the table and didn't even say hello to her, "Brad said. "How do you know her?" Tom asked. "I just met her tonight. I was going to ask her out but she didn't seem all that interested and I am supposed to meet Cindy later. Her husband is out of town this weekend," Brad said. "One of these days someone's husband is going to catch you and remove your nuts," Tom said. "Hey, be nice," Brad said. "Got to go. Call me in the morning and we'll go play golf." "Okay, see you tomorrow then," Tom replied. Tom stayed at O'Neil's for another half hour and then headed out to the parking lot where he found Lisa and Shandra Williams. Shandra worked with Lisa in accounting. They were standing behind a car and Shandra was losing everything she had eaten that day, the sight of which made Tom's stomach turn but he went over to them to see if he could help anyway. "Are you all right?" Tom asked. Lisa looked at him like he was crazy. "Of course she is not all right. She's sick," Lisa said. "You're right. That is quite obvious and that was a stupid question," Tom said. "What I really meant to ask was, is there anything I can do to help?" "I think I'll be all right now," Shandra said. "I think I am done throwing up." "She's not going to be able to drive in this condition," Lisa said, "and I am riding with her." "Why don't I give both of you a ride home," Tom suggested, "and then Shandra can come back for her car tomorrow." "We can call a cab," Lisa said. "Wouldn't want to put you out." Tom said, "It wouldn't put me out at all. I'd be glad to drive you home." Lisa said, "I don't think...." Shandra cut her off. "Come on, girl. I don't want to wait for a cab and I'm pretty sure Tom doesn't bite. Let's just go with him," Shandra said. The two girls followed Tom to his car and got in without speaking. Tom drove Shandra home first. On the way to Lisa's apartment Tom tried to fix the damage he had done earlier in the evening. "I think I may have given you a bad first impression of me so let me start over," Tom said. "I am Tom Boyer." Lisa looked at him for a minute and then smiled. "I am Lisa Gilbert." "I am very glad to meet you," Tom said. "Brad said you work in accounting at NTD?" "Yes. I started three weeks ago," she said. Slowly the ice began to break as they talked about work and then movies and books. When they finally reached Lisa's apartment, she thanked him for the ride but didn't get out of the car immediately. Lisa turned to face Tom. "When you first came over to the table when I was talking to Brad, why did you snub me," Lisa asked? Tom said, "I didn't snub you." "Yes, you did," said Lisa. You acted like you couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge that I was there." Tom knew she was right. "I am sorry about that. I didn't mean to insult you," Tom said. "Then why did you do that?" Lisa asked. "I can't explain it," Tom said. "You could if you wanted to," Lisa said. "If you really want to know I'll tell you," Tom said, "but there is a condition." "What's the condition?" "You have to have dinner with me next week," Tom said. "Why do I have to have dinner with you?" Lisa asked. "When I tell you why I acted the way I did you will probably get pissed at me," he said. "So I figured that if I buy you a nice dinner you might forgive me." Lisa looked at Tom for a few seconds before speaking again. "When?" "How about Wednesday night?" Tom asked. "Okay, Wednesday night," she said, "but you had better tell me the truth." On that Wednesday night Tom told Lisa that when he saw her with Bard he thought she was just another of Bard's girlfriends. "Brad's tastes runs toward women who, like Brad, are quick to jump into bed," Tom said. "I knew as soon as he introduced me to you that I was wrong and I am sorry." Lisa was a little upset that Tom would have jumped to that conclusion so quickly, but she was already beginning to like him so she forgave him for his mistake. After that night Tom and Lisa dated steadily for the next two years and then they got married and after eight years of marriage it was obvious to everyone that they were still very much in love. ***** Saturday April 11, 2003 5:10 PM Tom was just stepping out of the shower when he heard the garage door opening. He quickly dried himself and put on his jockey shorts and pulled on a pair of jeans. He managed to get downstairs just as Lisa came into the house. Lisa gave Tom a hug and kiss and they held each other for a full minute. Tom always loved the way Lisa felt in his arms and her natural scent was an intoxicant to Tom and made him reluctant to let go of her. For Lisa, having Tom wrap his arms around her and hold her just made her feel like everything was right with the world. It was an especially wonderful feeling when Tom came back from a trip. She always worried about him when he was away so the hug he gave her when he came home that day was very comforting. Tom fixed them both a drink. They took their drinks into the living room and sat next to each other on the sofa. Tom didn't speak as he sat looking at Lisa. "You are going to make me ask, aren't you"? Lisa said. "Okay, what are we celebrating tonight?" Tom told Lisa about his meetings with the Vice-President of purchasing for Hampton Electronics and the ten million dollar contract they negotiated. Lisa was very excited and threw her arms around Tom's neck and kissed him several times. "That's wonderful, Tom. Zack better give you a nice bonus for this one," Lisa said. "Does he know about it yet?" Tom said, "No. I want to personally hand him the signed contract Monday morning, I want to see his face when he gets to the bottom line." Lisa kissed Tom again. "I love you," she said. "I am so proud of you. This is really great." She kissed him several more times ***** 7:00 PM It was nearly seven o'clock when Lisa came downstairs ready to go out to dinner. She had showered and put on a black lace bra and panty set and a pair of black thigh high stockings. Over that she was wearing a black spaghetti strap cocktail dress. Lisa knew that when they returned home after dinner Tom would want to help her out of her clothes so she dressed to make it exciting for both of them. For Tom's part he had changed out of his jeans and was now wearing gray flannel slacks, a blue button down shirt and his navy blue blazer. When Lisa walked into the kitchen where Tom was waiting for her, he let out a whistle. "Wow. You look good enough to eat," Tom said. Lisa smiled and said, "Wait till later. Where are we going to have dinner?" "I was thinking Mexican. Is that all right with you?" Tom asked. Lisa said, "Mexican? Refried beans? Are you sure about that? I don't want to eat anything that might cause me a little embarrassment later and ruin your appetite for the dessert I was going to serve you when we get home." "Good point," Tom said as he laughed. "How about seafood?" "Sounds good to me," Lisa said. ***** 9:10 PM Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill Werner returned to his room at the Treasure Island hotel. His pants were tented in the front from an erection he developed during the ride up the elevator when the beautiful blond with him pushed her tongue down his throat. At that point Bill's first priority was to get this sexy woman into bed but he managed to keep his overall objective in mind. Werner opened the door to the suite and followed Brandi into the room and then as Bill watched the woman slip out of her dress he thought that the weekend was going to be a lot more fun than he had first expected. ***** 10:14 PM Denver Colorado Tom and Lisa returned from the restaurant and Lisa took Tom by the hand and led him to the sofa. Tom sat down and Lisa stood in front of him. "Guess what I have on under my dress?" She asked as she slowly began to raise the hem of the dress exposing more and more of her shapely legs. "I don't know but I do know what I hope you're wearing," Tom responded. The tops of Lisa's stockings came into view followed by the pink flesh of her exposed thigh. Just when Tom began to see a little bit of the lace from Lisa's black panties she let the hem of her dress fall back into place. "If you want to see more, you will have to earn it," she said. Tom pulled Lisa onto his lap and kissed her. "I always enjoy earning the privilege of seeing the treasures you are hiding under your dress." Tom kissed Lisa as he slipped the left strap of her dress off her shoulder and then kissed and gently nibbled on her neck, which always got Lisa hot. While he kissed her neck he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. Tom slipped the strap off her right shoulder and slowly peeled Lisa's dress down her body exposing Lisa's sexy black lace bra and the soft flesh of her breasts. Tom caressed the tops of her breasts with his fingertips enjoying the smooth texture of her skin and the firm flesh of her breast. Tom leaned forward and kissed the flesh where his fingers had been exploring as he helped Lisa get her arms out of her dress. Tom and Lisa kissed deeply again as Tom pushed her bra down exposing her nipples to the gentle caress of his fingertips. Lisa had very sensitive nipples and always loved the way Tom teased them with his fingers and then with his tongue. When Tom bent to suck Lisa's nipple into his mouth she began to wiggle her ass in his lap making his growing erection uncomfortable. To relieve his discomfort, Tom lifted Lisa off his lap and dropped her on the sofa next to him. She landed on her back with her legs still on Tom's lap. Tom took advantage of that by lifting Lisa's right leg and putting it behind him and then pushing her dress up to her hips. Tom looked at Lisa's sexy underwear and said, "That's what I was hoping to see. I love those panties." Tom bent down between Lisa's legs and enjoyed her sex charged scent as he placed his lips against the crotch of her panties. Tom blew his hot breath through the thin material and against Lisa's aroused sex. Lisa then reached down and pulled the crotch of her panties aside. "Here is your dessert sir," she said. Tom immediately penetrated Lisa with his tongue and savored her sexual honey, those sweet tasting juices that filled Lisa's pussy when she was highly aroused. Tom licked and sucked on Lisa's soft lips and her clitoris for a few minutes and then he pulled her panties off. Tom intended to give Lisa an orgasm before he asked her to take his stiff member into her mouth and after five minutes of his oral efforts Lisa felt her orgasm begin. She wrapped both hands around Tom's head and pulled him tighter against her sensitive clitoris and began to gyrate her hips making it difficult for Tom to keep his mouth in contact with her pussy. At this point it no longer mattered because Lisa's body was tingling from her orgasm and until it passed she was barely aware of Tom's activity between her legs. Tom always marveled at the intensity of Lisa's orgasms. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 01 As Lisa recovered from her orgasm she let go of Tom's head and he sat up and looked at her. He didn't have to tell her what he wanted, she already knew. Lisa turned around on the sofa and opened Tom's pants. Tom lifted himself off the sofa so that Lisa could push his pants down and then she pulled his engorged cock out of his shorts and took him into her mouth. Lisa has always enjoyed giving Tom oral sex. She didn't know why that was because before she met Tom she had only done it once and didn't like it and thought she would never do it again. When she started having sex with Tom, he never tried to get her to go down on him but one night as they were making love she suddenly wanted to take him in her mouth and she had enjoyed doing it ever since. Five minutes of Lisa's wonderful oral attention had Tom close to climax so he pulled his cock away from her. He wasn't worried about coming in Lisa's mouth. She wouldn't care if he did as she had willingly accepted many of his loads over the last ten years. It was just that Tom wanted to be inside Lisa and he didn't want to have to wait to recover from a climax before he was able to feel the tight, warm, slippery tunnel around his shaft. Besides he knew that Lisa would probably give him another happy ending in her mouth later anyway. Tom pushed Lisa onto her back and then he entered her. Once his cock was all the way inside Lisa they both started to move in unison. Movements like dance steps they had learned over the years. Tom closed his eyes as he concentrated on the pleasure he was feeling as he moved in and out of Lisa. Lisa pulled Tom close to her and kept whispering into his ear, telling him how much she loved him. Lisa felt her second orgasm of the night begin to grow. "I'm coming, Tom. I want you to cum in me now. Fuck me harder and come with me," she yelled. Tom quickened the pace and felt himself building rapidly toward his climax. "Come on, baby, have your orgasm," Tom yelled. "I am going to fill you with my seed now. Ahhh..." Tom pumped himself into Lisa hard and fast as he felt his pulsing cock release its load inside his hot wife. In the afterglow, Tom and Lisa held each other without speaking. No words were necessary and none would have been adequate for the moment. ***** 11:30 PM Las Vegas, Nevada After recovering from his first orgasm with Brandi, Bill Werner lay on his bed stroking his semi-erect member while explaining to Brandi what he wanted her to do. "No problem," she says, "Sounds like fun. Mr. Tipton told me to take good care of you so I'll do what ever you want." Bill pushed Brandi's head toward his cock and said, "Well, then suck my cock for a while." "Okay." ***** Denver, Colorado Monday April 14, 2003 10:00 AM At 10:00 AM on Monday morning Tom strolled into Zack Morgan's office and sat across the desk from Zack. "Good morning, Tom. How was the convention last week?" Zack said. "It was okay," Tom said. "We did manage to find some new prospects." "Anything promising?" "There are a half dozen that look pretty good." As hard as Tom tried he could not hide the smile on his face. "Tom, I have known you long enough to know that smile. You are holding something back. What is it?" Zack asked. "Check this out," Tom said as he pulled the Hampton Electronics contract out of his pocket and dropped it on the desk in front of Zack. Tom looked out the window while Zack read through the contract. When Zack had finished reading it he set the contract on his desk and looked over at Tom. "Holy shit, Tom. How'd you pull this off?" Zack asked. Tom told the story of how he met Carl Koonce and then spent most of the week convincing him to do business with NTD. "Don't worry, Tom, I'll see to it that you are well taken care of for this one." Zack said. "I know you will, boss." "I think we need to get the crew together and go over to O'Neil's for a few drinks to celebrate tonight," Zack said. Tom said, "Sound's like a good idea to me, boss," as he got up and headed for the door. "That was good work, Tom. You know I appreciate your efforts. See you at O'Neil's." Tom bumped into David Ransom as he stepped into the hall. "Morning, David." "Good morning, Tom." David didn't stop to make any small talk with Tom. "Zack, can I have a few minutes of your time," David said as he stepped through Zack's door. David closed the door behind him shutting Tom out of whatever conversation was about to take place. Tom wasn't surprised that David had blown him off so quickly. He was used to that kind of behavior from David. ***** 8:00 PM After a lot of back patting and a few rounds of drinks. Tom and Lisa decided to call it a night and head home leaving Zack, Brad, Bill Werner David Ransom and a few others at O'Neil's. Brad noticed that Bill Werner was taking the opportunity to corner David Ransom so he could tell him about all the good work he had been doing in the labs at NTD. At least that was what Brad thought Bill was up to. ***** Tuesday April 15, 2003 1:00 PM Lisa had just returned from lunch and was about to check her e-mail when her phone rang. "Mrs. Boyer?" "Yes." "Is your husband Tom Boyer?" "Yes, who is this?" Lisa said. "Was you husband in Las Vegas last week?" "What's this about?" Lisa asked. "I just want to make sure I am talking to the right person," the caller said. Lisa felt a knot starting in her stomach. "Was you husband staying in room 2822 at Treasure Island in Las Vegas last week?" "I don't know about the room number but yes, my husband was staying at Treasure Island last week. Now I am not answering anymore question until you tell me what this is about,' Lisa demanded. "Last week you husband spent five nights with a young woman in his room with him." "Who are you and why are you saying these things. My husband did not have a woman in his room last week. He would never do that." Lisa said in as firm a voice as she could. "I am sorry, Mrs. Boyer, but I have proof. The woman was followed by a private detective and he has pictures of the two of them together," the caller said calmly. "That can't be true. Tom wouldn't do that. You must have the wrong person." "I am sorry, Mrs. Boyer, but it was your husband. I know this is true because it was my wife he was with," the caller said. "How do I know that any of this is true? I think you are lying to me. Who are you?" Lisa said. "I am sorry but it's true. I am not ready to tell you my name yet. I will in time. I will be sending you the pictures as soon as I get them from the PI who followed my wife. I should have them by the end of the week. Give me your e-mail address so I can send you the pictures." Lisa was now sick to her stomach. She knew this couldn't be true. Not Tom. She gave the caller her e-mail address feeling that if the caller did send her pictures they would not be of Tom. Someone must have been using Tom's name. Lisa didn't know what else to say so she remained quiet. "Again, I am sorry to bring you such bad news. You can expect the pictures Thursday or Friday," the caller said and then hung up. Lisa was sick all afternoon. Several times she started to call Tom to talk to him about the call but decided each time to wait till they got home. ***** 5:10 PM Lisa sat at her desk trying to work and keep her mind off of the disturbing phone call she had received earlier. It was after five o'clock and Lisa was getting ready to shut down her computer and go home to talk to Tom. She felt weak and her hands were shaking as she put her cell phone in her purse. At that moment Brad stuck his head in the door. "Hi, Lisa, how are you doing?" Brad asked. When Lisa looked up at him, Brad could see the tears forming in her eyes. "What's wrong, Lisa?' "Nothing, Brad. I am just a little upset right now," she responded. "Is there anything I can do to help? Would you like to talk about it?" Brad asked. Lisa said, "No, thanks, Brad. I'll be all right. I just need to get home." "I hope that whatever you're upset about turns out all right. I hate to see one of my favorite people unhappy," Brad said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." "Okay, Brad, thanks," Lisa said. ***** 7:15 PM Lisa got home just before six o'clock and then waited on pins and needles hoping that Tom could put this whole thing to rest. "This can't be true," she said out loud as tears started to run down he cheek. If it was true, how would she handle it? Could she ever forgive him if he cheated on her? How would she live without him? She decided that if it was true the only hope she had of saving their marriage would be if Tom confessed and begged her to forgive him. Even under those circumstances it would be hard for her to forgive him. Since she didn't have any proof that the accusations were true she planned to give Tom a chance to explain. When Tom arrived at seven o'clock and entered the house he found Lisa sitting at the kitchen table. "Hey, babe, how bout a beer for a tired man?" Tom said. When Lisa turned to look at him he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks and her red eyes. He immediately sat down next to her and took her hands into his. Tom wondered what could have happened to upset Lisa that much. Had someone died? "What's wrong?" Ton asked. Lisa pulled her hands away from him and just looked into his eyes. She wondered if he could really have done that to her. "What happened in Las Vegas last week?" Lisa asked. Tom felt a knot in his stomach as he wondered why she would ask about Las Vegas. "What do you mean?" Tom asked. "I told you all about the trip when I got home Friday. Have you heard something I don't know about?" Lisa thought about all the questions she wanted to ask but she was having difficulty starting the conversation. Finally she just asked, "Tom, what did you do at night after the convention?" Tom had not expected that question although he should have. He should have expected that Lisa might ask him about his evenings. It wasn't an unusual question. He wondered why he hadn't prepared an answer for it. "I went back to my room and read." Tom regretted the lie as soon as he said it. He knew that she wouldn't believe that. How could he have been so foolish? Lisa saw something in Tom's face that told her that he was lying. "Reading in your room? In Las Vegas? Do you really expect me to believe that?" Tom felt himself beginning to panic. What did Lisa know or think she knew about his evenings in Vegas? He lied because he knew that she would be angry if she found out but why did he come up with such an unbelievable lie to cover up. He had just made things worse. "What's this about, Lisa?" Tom asked as he tried to direct Lisa away from his lie. Lisa then told Tom about the call she had received accusing him of having an affair while he was in Vegas. "That's bull shit and you know it." Tom said as he felt the anger build. "Who the hell called you?" "He wouldn't tell me his name," Lisa said. "You do know it's not true, don't you?" Tom asked. "I don't want to believe it but he said he has pictures of you with his wife." "There is no way he has pictures of me with his wife because it never happened and I can't believe that you could even consider that there would be any possibility of this being true," Tom said. Tom was in full panic. There didn't appear to be anyway back to the truth. He would just have to convince Lisa that the caller was either lying or mistaken. "Tom, where did you stay in Vegas?" Lisa asked. "I told you I stayed at Treasure Island, why?" "I mean what room were you in?" "2815, why." Lisa seemed to relax for a moment and then she said, "He said you were in room 2822." "2822? That was the suite we used for our meetings." Tom said. Lisa shook her head. "Tom, I don't know what to think. I guess I'll have to wait till he sends me the pictures." Tom's head was spinning, Was Lisa accusing him of cheating and who the hell called her and said he had pictures of Tom with another woman? Now for the first time in his marriage he had lied to Lisa and he felt that she knew it. How could he expect Lisa to believe that he spent his evenings in his room reading? He should have come up with a better lie than that. Tom took a minute to calm himself and then looked directly into Lisa's eyes and said, "I don't know what is going on here but I did not have an affair while I was in Las Vegas. I can't believe that you would even question me about this. Lisa, you have to believe me. I did not have an affair." "Tom, I want to believe you but until I see those pictures I just don't know what to think." Lisa said and then she went up to their bedroom and closed the door. Tom thought about going after her but decided to let her go. He was too angry to talk to her anyway. How could she choose to believe a stranger on the phone rather than believe him? Tom sat by himself at the kitchen table for a few minutes and tried to understand what had just happened. He had to find a way to get Lisa to believe him and not some voice on the phone. The pictures. What pictures could there be? Nobody took any pictures. Tom could come up with no ideas that helped him so he went upstairs to try to talk to Lisa. When he went into the bedroom, Lisa would not look at him. "I don't want to talk about this anymore tonight," Lisa said. Tom turned and left the room. ***** When Tom left the room, Lisa began to cry. She wanted so much to believe Tom but she was sure that she caught him in a lie. He said that he spent his nights in his room reading. In Las Vegas? That was just not believable but it was the look in his eyes when she asked him what he did at night that gave it away. Lisa wasn't sure of anything else but she was sure that Tom lied about what he was doing at night in Vegas. Lisa stayed in the bedroom for the rest of the night and Tom never came up to bed. In the morning Lisa discovered that Tom had slept in the guest room that night. ***** Wednesday April 16, 2003 6:30 AM Tom and Lisa moved about the house getting ready for work Wednesday morning without speaking to each other. This was the first morning since they had married that they didn't speak and they both felt the loss. It made Lisa especially sad because Tom was not only her husband but he was also her best friend. Now when she needed a friend more than any other time in her life she couldn't turn to Tom. For his part Tom was dealing with similar feelings and he was also dealing with anger. For the first time since he had met Lisa he was truly angry with her. He had told her to trust him but she refused. Although Tom and Lisa worked for the same company they didn't ride to work together. Tom was in the habit of going into the office earlier and coming home later that Lisa so they each drove themselves to work. This morning was no exception and Tom left for the office a full half hour before Lisa. When Tom got to his office that morning, he closed his door and sat in the dark and tried to figure out what was happening. Who had called Lisa and what pictures could he possibly have? If someone was taking picture of him, how could he not have noticed? ***** For her part Lisa buried herself in work and avoided conversation with her friends around the office. Having as little information as she had, Lisa wasn't ready to discuss the problem with anyone else. At home that evening Lisa tried to talk to Tom about the lie he told her but he got angry and rather than argue with her he went out to a local bar for a drink. When he got home Lisa was in the bedroom with the door closed. ***** Thursday April 17, 2003 1:15 PM. Lisa had eaten lunch by herself in her office and had just tossed her lunch bag in the trash when her computer beeped signifying that she had received an e-mail. There were six new notes in her reader. Five were work related and from people that she knew but the last note was from a hotmail address that Lisa didn't recognize. Notes from unknown addresses always made Lisa uneasy as she had already had her computer infected with a virus once before and didn't want to have to go through that again but this note worried her even more. The subject line read, "Important Information for Lisa Boyer." Lisa felt herself breaking into a cold sweat. Could this note contain the pictures the caller had said he would send her, the proof that Tom had cheated on her? Lisa closed and locked her office door before she opened the mail. The e-mail contained the following note: Mrs. Boyer, I know that you didn't want to believe this and I am truly sorry to be the one to bring you this bad news. The link on this note will take you to a web page where you will find the pictures I told you about. The woman in the pictures is my wife. I had suspected her of having an affair for several months so I hired a private investigator to find out. His investigation has been ongoing for five weeks. Although the evidence he has gathered is damning, he has so far not been able to catch her in the act. The pictures I m sending you are from Las Vegas and while they are not explicit, I think they will convince you as they did me that your husband has been having an affair with my wife. Again, I am sorry but I thought you should know. The note was unsigned. Lisa felt her skin crawl as she read the note. She thought, "Please, this can't be true. Tom would never do that. Not to me. Not to us." Lisa's stomach was churning as she clicked on the link. The web page opened with a large picture of a very pretty blond in a red dress. There was a caption next to the picture that read, "This is my wife." Under the picture were two links titled 'Picture Set 1' and 'Picture Set 2.' Lisa clicked on Picture Set 1. The page opened with several small pictures of Tom and the blond woman. There were a couple of pictures of them in a bar, two of them in front of the Treasure Island hotel, a couple that looked like they were together in the convention center during the conference. While these pictures were upsetting they didn't necessarily mean that Tom was having an affair with this woman. Lisa then clicked on Picture Set 2. These pictures tore Lisa's heart out. The first picture showed Tom entering a hotel room and the blond was right behind him. This picture was captioned, "Caught going into Boyer's hotel room." Tears were pouring from Lisa's eyes as she looked at seven different pictures that showed Tom and the blond either going into the room or coming out of the room. The last picture was the worst of all. It showed Tom was stepping into the hall with an ice bucket while through the open door the blond was visible standing in front of the mirror completely naked. At that point Lisa broke down and cried. What would she do? Tom was the only man she had ever really loved and he had betrayed her. A part of her still refused to believe it. There had to be some other explanation but what could explain that last picture. Lisa hoped that Tom could explain everything. She had to talk to him before she could make any decisions. Lisa did a print page for the two sets of pictures and the large picture of the blond. The prints weren't as clear as the images had been on her computer but you could still identify Tom and the blond in all of them. ***** 5:05 PM After seeing the pictures Lisa decided that she needed to talk to someone before going home to confront Tom, so she called Shandra and asked her to meet her after work at O'Neil's. ***** 5:20 PM Lisa walked into O'Neil's and found Shandra already sitting in a booth near the windows. When Lisa slid into the booth, Shandra said, "Okay girl, what's going on? Why are we here?" What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 01 "Let me get a drink first," Lisa said. Shandra waived at the waitress and she came over and took Lisa's order. The two women sat quietly until the waitress returned with Lisa's drink. As the waitress walked away Lisa took a big swallow of her drink. "Tom cheated on me." Lisa just blurted it out. I can't believe it. Tom wouldn't do that," Shandra said. "Believe it. I have proof," Lisa said "You do?" "Yes. I have pictures," Lisa said and then reached into her handbag for the printouts she had made. Without another word she dropped them on the table in front of Shandra. Shandra picked them up and examined each one carefully. "Oh, my God. What are you going to do?" Shandra asked. "I don't know yet. I am still in shock," Lisa said. "Holy shit. How could he be that dumb? I am sorry Lisa but your husband must be a complete asshole." Lisa said, "I think you're right." Lisa went on to tell Shandra about the phone call and how she had told Tom about it. She also told her that she knew Tom was lying when he told her he spent his evenings in his room reading and now these pictures proved that he was lying. Just then, Lisa saw Brad walk into the bar. She quickly put the pictures back in her handbag. "If Brad comes over to the table, don't say anything about the pictures," Lisa said. "I won't say a word." Brad sat at the bar and ordered a beer. He was watching the sports news on the television when the bartender returned with his beer. Brad sat sipping his beer until the sports segment of the news ended and then he looked around the bar and spotted Lisa and Shandra. Brad picked up his beer and walked over to their booth. "Mind if I sit with you two gorgeous girls? I hate drinking alone, even though it's better than not drinking at all." Shandra laughed but Lisa didn't show any reaction at all. "Lisa, are you feeling any better today?" Brad asked. "What? Oh... yes." "You don't look like you're feeling better. You want to tell me what's going on?" Brad said. "Tom cheated on her," Shandra said. "Yeah, right. Tom cheat? Never happened," Brad said. "It's true," Lisa said. "No. He wouldn't do that. He is crazy about you. He would never cheat on you," Brad said. "Don't be so sure," Lisa said as tears started to pour from her eyes again. "If he did, I'll kick his ass for him... What am I saying? I am sure he didn't do anything. I just can't believe he would be that stupid," Brad said. "Lisa, you need to teach him a lesson," Shandra said. "Show him how much it hurts. You know what I think you should do?" ***** 7:00 PM Tom was pacing around the house wondering why Lisa was so late. It wasn't like Lisa to not call if she was going to be late. She's upset, Tom thought, but she still should have called. Tom poured himself a drink and then picked up the phone and dialed Lisa's cell phone. The phone rang several times and then her voice mail answered. Was something wrong or was Lisa just not answering his call? ***** 7:05 PM Lisa's cell phone rang and when she pulled the phone from her handbag she saw that it was Tom calling her. She put the phone back in her handbag. "I think I better head home now before he comes looking for me," Lisa said. On the way to the door Shandra said, "Think about what I said, you need to show him how it feels." Lisa tried to smile at her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," Lisa said. ***** 7:30 PM When Lisa walked into the house Tom was sitting at the kitchen counter with a drink in his hand. "Where were you?" Tom asked. "You had me worried when you didn't call and then you didn't answer your phone when I called." "You had nothing to worry about. I wasn't having an affair. At least not yet," Lisa said. "Don't even joke around about that. I didn't have an affair in Las Vegas so just knock it off," Tom said. "Damn it, Tom, I saw the pictures. When are you going to start telling the truth?" Lisa said. Lisa's refusal to believe him made Tom angry again. "At this point I don't care if you believe me or not. Just don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything you can't take back," Tom said and went up to the guest room and closed the door. ***** Friday April 18, 2003 11:00 AM Lisa was at her desk trying to keep busy when Brad stepped into her office. "How are you doing?" Brad asked. "I'm trying to stay busy," Lisa said. "Do you really think Tom cheated on you?" Brad asked. Lisa reached into her handbag and pulled out the picture of the blond and set it on the desk in front of Brad. His expression never changed as he looked at the picture. "Have you ever seen her before?" Lisa asked. Brad said, "No, I don't believe so." "Are you absolutely sure? " Brad picked the picture up and studied it again and said, "No, I can't say that I have ever seen her." "What did you guys do in Vegas at night after the conference was over?" Lisa asked "Some of us went gambling each night," Brad answered. "Did Tom go out to gamble with you?" Lisa said. "Not this trip." "Where did he go?" "He told me that he spent the evenings in his room reading," Brad said. "He stayed in his room to read?" Lisa said. "Yes," Brad said. "Why? ... Oh shit. You don't think Tom was messing around with that blond in Vegas?" "Yes, I do." "What did Tom say?" "He denies everything," Lisa said. "Maybe he's telling you the truth," Brad said. Lisa put the rest of the pictures on the desk. "Do you still think he was telling me the truth?" Lisa asked. Brad studied the pictures and then shook his head in disbelief. "Would it help if I talked to Tom? Maybe I could get him to tell me what happened in Vegas," Brad offered. "No, I'd rather you didn't. He needs to come to me on his own and tell me the truth," Lisa said. "If he can't do that, there is no chance for us." "Lisa, you know how I feel about both of you. I would hate to see the two of you break up so if there is anything I can do to help you let me know," Brad said. "If you need to talk to someone you can call me anytime." "Thanks, Brad. I appreciate that." ***** 6:30 PM Tom and Lisa had dinner together but, when Lisa asked Tom if he was ready to tell her what really happened in Vegas, Tom got up, took a beer from the refrigerator and went up to his room. ***** Saturday and Sunday April 19th and 20th Tom and Lisa spent the weekend avoiding each other around the house. Tom began to realize that it was going to be up to him to try and fix things. He would have to somehow convince Lisa that he didn't have an affair. The pictures that Lisa said she had would make it very difficult but he was going to have to find a way. Tom hadn't seen the pictures yet. Lisa hadn't offered to show them to him and he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of asking to see them. Tom knew that he was going to have to find out who sent the pictures to Lisa and why. ***** Monday April 21, 2003 12:15 PM Tom waited until he knew that Lisa had gone to lunch then he snuck into her office and opened her e-mail files and found the note she received on the 18th. Knowing that he didn't have much time he forwarded the note to his own e-mail account. Tom then erased the note he had just sent to himself from Lisa's outgoing mail folder and left her office. ***** 1:30 PM After having lunch with Zack, Tom went back to his office and opened the e-mail and read the note. As Tom read the note he could feel the tension building. It felt as though his spine was twisting like a rope. Tom tried to remember if he saw anyone taking pictures but he couldn't. How could somebody have taken pictures of him without him noticing? Then Tom clicked on the web link and looked at the pictures. He was shocked at what he saw. Who had taken the pictures? How could he counteract the note and those pictures? Maybe if he hadn't already lied to Lisa he could find a way out of this but she would never believe anything he had to say now. ***** 2:25 PM Bill Werner was sitting at his desk watching his new HP printer as it created the document he had been working on when his phone rang. "Hello?" "It's me," the voice on the phone said. "You did good in Vegas?" "Thanks, I had a good time too." Werner said. "Did you hear from your friend?" "Yes. She is at the hotel waiting for me." Werner said. "Have a good time but make sure you get the job done first." "No problem, I have it covered," Werner said. Before Werner could say anything else the phone went dead. "Jesus, what an asshole," he said to himself. "Well, at least I'll get another piece of Brandi." ***** 5:00 PM Lisa called Tom just before he left for home and told him she was having dinner with Shandra. Tom wasn't happy that Lisa wasn't coming home but at least he would have some time alone to think about what he needed to do to fix things. He knew it was going to be very difficult to overcome those pictures. Tom now regretted that he hadn't told Lisa the truth right from the beginning. He was sure she knew he was lying when he said that he spent his nights in his hotel room reading. No one would have believed that lie. He wondered again why he had said anything that stupid. It made it so that it would be nearly impossible to get Lisa to believe anything he had to say. ***** 6:15 PM Shandra and Lisa were sitting in Shandra's kitchen eating Chinese take out. "Have you thought about what I suggested you do?" Shandra asked. "I am so pissed at Tom now that I am beginning to think seriously about doing it," Lisa said. "It will certainly get his attention." Shandra said. ***** 6:30 PM Tom stopped at a local Applebee's restaurant to have a beer and some dinner before returning home. Tom's mood was a bit sour and he didn't enjoy his meal that evening. On his way out of the restaurant he bumped into Bill Werner. "Hey, Tom, how you doing?" Werner asked. "Good, Bill, what brings you out to this end of town?" Tom said trying to act more cheerful than he felt. "Got a dinner date and she wanted to meet here," He said. "It's a little out of my way but she's worth it." Tom noted the book in Bill's hand. "You always bring a book when you go on a date?" He said. Bill Werner held the book out and said, "No. This is a gift for my girlfriend. It's a book she has been wanting to read." Tom thought it was odd the way Bill was holding the book out in front of him. Did he want Tom to see the title? Well, he was not interested. Tom wasn't in the mood for talking so he said good night to Werner and went to his car. As he backed out of his parking spot and headed out to the road Tom saw Werner still standing in front of Applebee's but now he wasn't alone. There was a blond woman with him. Tom couldn't see her face but she looked like she had a pretty good body. It looked like Bill was holding the book in front of him as he talked to her. Tom wondered, if the book was for her, why didn't she take it from Bill?" ***** Wednesday April 23, 2003 9:30 AM Tom was working on the Hampton Electronics contracts when Brad came into his office. "Hey Tom, what's going on with you and Lisa?" Brad asked. Not knowing that Lisa had already confided in Brad, Tom didn't want to tell him about the problem they were having. "We had an argument the other day. Everything will be all right in a couple of days," Tom lied. "Anything you want to talk about?" Brad asked. "I really don't want to talk about it right now, if you don't mind," Tom said. "I understand. If you decide later that you want to talk, give me a call," Brad said. Tom thanked him and Brad left. ***** 4:15 PM Lisa called Brad and asked him what he thought she should do. "Lisa, I really don't know what to tell you. I am very uncomfortable being caught in the middle between you and Tom. I talked to Tom this morning and tried to find out what was going on without letting on that you had told me anything. He just said the two of you had a fight and everything would be all right in a few days." "Don't you think that if he was innocent like he claims he would have told you the whole story to try and get you to help him?" Brad didn't agree or disagree. "I am trying to make my mind up about something can I call you later to talk about it?" "Sure, Lisa. I told you before that you can call me anytime." "Thanks, Brad." ***** 7:15 PM On the drive home from the office Tom suddenly remembered someone taking pictures in Vegas but he couldn't recall if it was someone on their team or if it could have been the private investigator mentioned in the e-mail. Even if someone had been taking pictures of him how did they get the pictures that were sent to Lisa? Tom wondered if this vague memory was important or not. ***** 8:25 PM Tom had been sitting in his room reading when he decided to go downstairs to get a get a beer. When he walked into the kitchen, Lisa was sitting at the counter talking on the phone. "Ben's at ten o'clock... Okay I'll be there." Lisa didn't try to keep Tom from hearing the call so he didn't think anything of it. Tom wanted to say something to Lisa but she didn't give him a chance. As soon as she put the phone down, she got up and headed upstairs without even looking at him. ***** Thursday April 24, 6:00 PM Sitting at the dinner table Tom tried to talk to Lisa. "Lisa, can we talk about those pictures? They aren't what you think." "They aren't what I think? Then what are they? I didn't make this up. This is your doing not mine and, until you can admit what you did, I don't even want to talk to you." Tom got angry with her for being so obstinate and that ended all conversation for the rest of the evening. ***** Friday April 25, 2003 8:25 AM Tom got a cup of coffee from the break room and then called Brad and asked him to come up to his office. When Brad arrived Tom told him about the pictures Lisa got via e-mail and the note that accompanied them. "Do you remember seeing anyone around us with a camera. I realize that there would be a lot of people with cameras around but did you notice anyone that would have been taking pictures of us?" Tom asked. "You mean taking pictures of you, don't you?" "Yes, I guess I do. Did you happen to notice anyone?" "Sorry, I didn't but then I wasn't looking for anyone taking pictures of you. So, did you do it?" Brad said. "Do what?" "Cheat on Lisa?" "What do you think?" "I would have thought no if it weren't for the pictures." "Shit. What the hell am I going to do?" "I'd love to be able to help you but I don't know how. Have you tried to apologize to Lisa?" Tom was about to tell Brad that he would not apologize when Zack walked into his office. "Tom, could I have a word with you in private?" Zack asked. "Tom, if you want to talk some more give me a call," Brad said as he left Tom's office. "Tom, what is going on?" Zack asked. "What do you mean?" "I have heard a rumor that you had an affair in Las Vegas and Lisa found out about it. Is that true?" Zack asked. "Yes. I mean no. I didn't have an affair but Lisa thinks I did. How did you hear about this?" "That's not important. You know I don't really care what my employees do on their own time as long as it doesn't interfere with the business but this situation is not good. You know that I am planning to take this company public later this year. You have to realize that a scandal like this could force me to change some of my plans." "I will get this mess straightened out," Tom said. "Good. You know that I had planned on naming you president of the company but if this mess doesn't get cleared up our board of directors would never approve it." Tom was stunned. He knew what Zack had planned for him but it never occurred to him that his marriage problems could keep him from being named president. Why was Zack talking about a board of directors? "Zack, we don't have a board of directors." "We don't now but when we go public we will. I have been talking to some possible candidates for the board and they are all pretty conservative. Any hint of scandal and they will force me to pick someone else to be president. Are we clear on this Tom?" "Yes, I understand. I will straighten everything out with Lisa." "See that you do," Zack said and then turned and left the office. Tom was a mess. How did Zack know that he and Lisa were having problems? Who would have told him? As far as Tom knew only he, Lisa, Shandra and Brad knew what was going on. Brad couldn't have told Zack, as he had only just found out and Tom doubted that Lisa would have said anything to Zack so that only left Shandra. But why would Shandra say anything to Zack? "Shit, my marriage and my career are about to go down the tubes and I can't seem to do anything about it. What the fuck am I going to do?" Tom asked himself. ***** 7:30 PM When Tom got home Lisa was in the kitchen fixing dinner and she didn't speak to him as he came in. Tom didn't like being ignored so he went upstairs to the room he had been sleeping in and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater. He left his wallet on the table and went back downstairs. Tom and Lisa had another silent dinner together and as soon as Lisa finished putting the dinner dishes into the dishwasher she disappeared upstairs. Tom went and sat in the living room and wondered if there was anyway to save their marriage. It was beginning to look doubtful. When Lisa got upstairs she laid out the clothes she was going to wear and then took a shower. After her shower Lisa put on her black lace bra and panty set, Tom's favorite. With them she wore her black thigh high stockings a short black skirt and a red blouse. After she put her makeup on Lisa checked herself out in the mirror. She was satisfied that she had achieved the look she wanted, sexy without looking like a tramp. ***** 9:30 PM Lisa's hands were shaking as she reached to open the bedroom door. She was nervous about the confrontation she was about to have with Tom and she was worried about the bigger confrontation they would have when she came home. Lisa took a deep breath and headed downstairs. When Tom saw the way Lisa was dressed, he got scared. "Where are you going?" Tom demanded. "You had your fun now I am going to have mine." "Lisa, don't do this. Remember what I said about not doing something you can't take back." "You should have thought of that when you were in Las Vegas." "I told you nothing happened in Las Vegas." "Since you don't seem to want to talk about the pictures with me maybe you can explain them to your lady friend's husband." "Lisa, please don't do this." "It's too late Tom, I have to go." Tom was so angry that instead of physically preventing her from leaving, he let her go. "Fuck you if you don't care about our marriage," Tom yelled at her. Tom stood in the kitchen hoping that Lisa would come back into the house but when he heard he car back out of the garage and the door begin to close he knew she wasn't coming back. Tom picked up his cell phone and some money that was sitting on the kitchen counter. He put the bills in his pocket and clipped the phone to his belt and grabbed his leather jacket as he raced out to the garage. He decided to take his motorcycle instead of his truck because it would be easier to follow Lisa on the bike. As Tom pulled out onto the road he could see Lisa's car about two blocks ahead of him. He followed her to 44th Avenue and then lost her in traffic. He continued driving around to all the places that he and Lisa would normally go but there was no sign of Lisa. ***** 10:00 PM Once Lisa entered Ben's Lounge it took her a couple of minutes to find him. He was sitting straight across the room from where she entered but the bright lights on the dance floor made it impossible to see until she walked halfway across the room. Then she saw him as he stood up and waved to her. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 01 Lisa walked over to the table and kissed Brad on the cheek as she sat down. "Thanks for coming Brad. I just need someone to talk to while I kill some time." "I was glad you called. I would much rather keep you company than sit at home watching television." "If you weren't with me you would have been out with one of your girlfriends tonight. I know you would not have stayed home on a Friday night." "You got me there but the simple fact is I want to help you. I care about you." "Thanks. That means a lot to me right now." "So, you really plan to go through with this tonight?" "Yes. I'll stay out till around three o'clock in the morning, then I'll go home," Lisa said. "Tom will be worried sick." "That's the point. I want him to think that I am planning to cheat on him tonight. I want him to see what it feels like to think about the person you love having sex with someone else." "When will you tell him what you really did?" "That will depend on him. If he keeps on the way he is, I may never tell him." ***** 10:30 PM Tom stopped in a shopping center parking lot a few miles from home to think. Then he remembered the phone conversation he overheard. Lisa had said that she would meet someone at Ben's at ten o'clock. Tom had never heard of a place called Ben's. Tom spotted a coffee shop in the shopping center so he went in and ordered a cup and asked the waitress if they had a phone directory he could use. "I think so, let me check," the waitress said. "Before you go, have you ever heard of a bar called Ben's anywhere around here?" "You mean Ben's Lounge? That's on 44th Avenue just west of McIntyre. It's only a few miles from here." Tom thanked her and pulled a bill out of his pocket to pay for the coffee. Tom took his coffee and walked out to his bike and thought about what he should do next. Should he go to Ben's Lounge and see if Lisa was there and if she was force her to come home with him? He decided that would be a bad idea. He thought about just going back home and waiting for her but he was afraid of what she might do if he didn't at least try to stop her. In the end he decided to just go to Ben's Lounge and try to reason with Lisa. He threw the coffee in a trashcan and got back on his bike. ***** 10:45 PM By the time Tom arrived at Ben's, Lisa had already had three drinks. Brad suggested that she take it easy if she was going to make it till three o'clock. "I plan to get good and drunk and then take a cab home. It will upset Tom even more." Brad just happened to be looking toward the entrance when Tom walked in. "Tom is here." Brad said. "He's here? Oh, shit. How did he find me?" "Maybe I should leave," Brad suggested. "You stay here. I'll go talk to him." Tom was looking around trying to find Lisa when he suddenly spotted her walking across the room toward him. "Lisa, this is not the way to solve anything. Come home now before you make things worse," Tom said. "I am not coming home." "Who are you with?" "No one yet but I have to do this or I will never be able to get passed what you did to me." "Lisa, I did not have an affair," Tom said. "I was afraid it would come to this and I am tired of this bull shit. I am not going to ask you to forgive me for something I didn't do. I'm going home and if you want to save this marriage I suggest you follow me now. I'll expect you to be home within a half hour of when I get there," Tom said. "And if I don't come?" "If you don't make it, I will not be there when you do come home. Is that a clear enough choice for you?" "Are you giving me an ultimatum?" "Call it whatever you want but if you don't come home now we are through." Lisa could feel her eyes filling with tears but she didn't want Tom to see so she turned her back on him. She knew that she was letting her anger get the better of her but she couldn't help herself. "Good night, Tom," she said and walked back toward the table. "I'll wait 30 minutes, then I am gone." Lisa was more worried that Tom would follow her back to the table than she was about him actually leaving her. ***** 11:10 PM Tom paced around the parking lot at Ben's trying to decide what to do next. He was hoping that Lisa would come out after him. He waited ten minutes but she didn't show. He thought about waiting until she did come out to see whom she was with but decided to do what he had told Lisa he was going to do. What ever happened after that would be up to Lisa. Lisa returned to the table and told Brad what Tom had said. "Do you think he will really leave?" Brad asked. "I don't think so. I just can't believe that he gave me an ultimatum. Who the hell does he think he is? This is entirely his fault and now he gives me an ultimatum. Well, screw him. I won't go home at all tonight." "Come on, Lisa, you're letting the alcohol make decisions for you. You can't stay here all night," Brad said. "Where will you go?" "I don't know. I guess I can go to a motel," Lisa said. "This may not be a good idea but I have an extra bedroom in my apartment. You're welcome to stay there tonight if you want," Brad offered. "Really? That would be great Bard," Lisa said. " I really don't like the idea of spending the night in a motel room by myself." Lisa excused herself to go to the ladies room and asked Brad to order her another drink while she was gone. While he waited for the waitress to come to the table Brad wondered what he was getting himself into. He had always had a thing for Lisa and it was beginning to look like he might get a chance to get her into his bed but just how hard should he try. If he did manage to get Lisa into bed what would happen then? He certainly wouldn't be able to remain friends with Tom. By the time the waitress had made it to the table Brad had made his decision. He wouldn't force the action but he wouldn't turn down a chance to get between Lisa's legs either. ***** 11:20 PM Tom started his bike and took one last look toward the door of Ben's Lounge before he pulled out of the parking lot and turned east on 44th Avenue. It had started to rain and Tom felt that it fit his mood and the way the night was going. Tom bent low behind the handlebars to get out of the wind and rain as much as he could. ***** 11:25 PM Lisa returned from the ladies' room and quickly finished the drink the waitress had just brought her and then asked Brad to dance. As they walk out to the dance floor a slow dance started and Lisa put her arms around Brad's neck and leaned her head against his chest as they begin to move slowly with the music. Lisa could feel the affect the drinks were having on her. Her face felt almost numb and she was having trouble focusing her eyes enough to see the faces of the other dancers. To be continued... What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 02 Friday April 25, 2003 11:30 PM Tom's mind was focused on what he had to do when he got home. Pack his clothes and load the bike into the back of his truck. He also thought about the note he planned to leave for Lisa. He was trying to decide on the wording of the note when he came up on a car that had slowed to make a left turn. Tom slowed, waiting for the car to make the left turn onto McIntyre and then Tom accelerated hard letting his anger out a little. Tom was leaning down behind the short windscreen on his bike when a large SUV coming from Indiana Street ran through the stop sign and hit Tom broadside. Tom's bike was pulled under the large four-wheel drive vehicle and the gas tank ruptured and burst into flames as the bike was dragged along the pavement. As soon as the SUV stopped the occupants jumped out and ran away from their burning vehicle. Within two minutes the SUV's fuel tank exploded in a huge fireball. A crowd had quickly gathered to watch the fire and everyone assumed that the driver of the motorcycle was under the SUV and must have been killed. Joe Toyoaki was walking east along 44th Avenue and witnessed the accident. He wasn't sure what it was but he had seen something dark fly through the air and over the guide rail on the right side of the street but because of the noise from the fire Joe couldn't hear anything hit the ground. Joe thought it might have been the driver of the motorcycle or possibly a passenger. He looked down the embankment where he thought that whatever he saw would have landed but it was too dark to see anything. ***** 11:35 PM After the dance ended Lisa and Brad returned from the dance floor and Brad ordered another round of drinks. "Let's have one more drink and then I think we should head over to my apartment," Tom said. Lisa agreed. ***** 11:36 PM Tom was suddenly conscious that he was lying on his back on the side of a hill with his head below his feet. At first he didn't feel anything. He lay still for a moment trying to understand what had just happened. It took him a moment but then he realized that he must have been thrown from his bike, which for some reason struck him funny but when he laughed it triggered a lot of pain in he chest. He tried to push himself up but his left arm wouldn't move and caused pain to shoot through his body. When he tried to move his legs, the pain was just too much to bear. Tom looked up the hill toward the road and wondered what the bright flickering light was. He could see the silhouettes of people standing at the top of the hill but he couldn't tell if they were looking at him or at the bright light. ***** 11:40 PM Brad and Lisa put their jackets on and walked out to the parking lot. "Why don't we leave your car here and we'll come back for it in the morning," Brad suggested. Lisa agreed because she knew she was in no condition to get behind the wheel of a car. For just a moment she wondered if Brad was sober enough to drive but then followed him to his car. Brad drove out of the parking lot and headed east on 44th Avenue. ***** 11:42 PM Tom tried to call for help but couldn't. . He couldn't get enough air into his lungs to speak above a whisper. Tom was beginning to panic because he couldn't move and he couldn't call for help and no one seemed to be coming to his aid. Then Tom felt something warm and wet on his neck. He moved his right hand to his neck and found that it was covered with what he guessed to be blood and there was a lot of it. ***** 11:45 PM As they crested the top of a hill, Brad and Lisa saw a huge fire in the road ahead. "Holy shit, I wonder what happened down there," Brad said. To avoid the accident scene Brad turned left on McIntyre Street and drove to 48th Avenue and then turned right. Brad then made a right on Eldridge Street, along the west side of Mt, Olivet Cemetery, which brought him back to 44th Avenue east of the scene of the accident. As he turned left onto 44th Avenue Lisa looked back to the west at the fire. She could see the SUV was fully engulfed in flames. "That must have been really bad," she said. "I hope everyone got out okay." ***** Joe Toyoaki was still trying to spot the object he thought he had seen flying over the guide rail. He wondered why no one else saw it and he decided to wait till the police came and tell them what he saw. They would have flashlights and would be able to search the embankment. ***** Tom felt himself getting weaker as he listened for sirens but he didn't hear any. He knew that at the rate he was losing blood he would be dead in a few minutes. Then Tom remembered that he had his cell phone and somehow he managed to unclip it and tried to use voice dial to call Lisa but the voice recognition would not recognize his ragged voice. Then with a great deal of difficulty he punched in Lisa's cell number and pressed, "Talk." ***** 11:47 PM Lisa's cell phone started ringing. She got the phone out of her purse and saw that it was Tom calling so she turned the phone off and put it back in her purse rather than answer it. Tom listened as the phone rang six times and then Lisa's voice mail answered. Tom wondered why Lisa didn't answer her phone. He had to take several small breaths before he could speak and then he left a message. "Lisa, I don't have much time left. I just need you to know that I love you and only you. I don't understand why you don't believe me about Las Vegas. I just hope that you will remember me as the loving husband that I really am and not the person you seem to think I am now. Unfortunately my last memory of you will be of the last conversation we had tonight. I forgive you for whatever happened tonight. I hope someday when you know the truth that you will be able to forgive yourself." ***** 11:48 PM Joe Toyoaki was still scanning the dark embankment when he spotted the light from Tom's cell phone. "Down there," Joe yelled, "He is down there. Does anyone have a flashlight?" A man who was standing near Joe and was watching the fire heard Joe and said that he had a flashlight in his car and he ran to get it. ***** 11:50 PM Tom wanted to try and call Brad but was too weak to hold the phone any longer. The phone fell from his hand and landed in the deep grass. Tom tried to pick it up again but he was beginning to lose consciousness. He could finally hear the sirens approaching and then he saw someone with a flashlight climbing down the embankment toward him. Tom passed out before they got to him. ***** Saturday April 26, 2003 12:05 AM Brad parked his car in front of his apartment and took Lisa inside. They entered into the living room and Lisa noticed the sliding glass doors across the room from where they entered. The doors opened onto a small deck on the west side of the building and Lisa crossed the room and looked out through the glass doors. From there she could see the light from the fire down on 44th Avenue. "The only thing I have to drink is beer," Brad said as he stood in front of his refrigerator. "In that case I'll have a beer," Lisa said. As she watched the fire Lisa thought of how sad it would be if anyone had been injured or killed in that accident. Just then Lisa felt a sudden chill. It felt as if someone had put a cold hand on her back. Brad brought the beers over to where Lisa was standing and handed her one. They both stood in silence for a few minutes and watched the activity around the fire. "Do you want me to turn the television on to see if we can get some news about that accident or would you rather listen to some music?" Brad asked. "I don't think I want to hear about the accident right now. I can't deal with any sad news." Brad turned on the CD player. ***** 12:10 AM Tom was unconscious when the paramedics loaded him onto a backboard and then onto a stretcher. They carefully carried him up the embankment and loaded him into an ambulance. ***** Lisa was still looking out the window and could just make out the ambulance leaving the accident scene when she began thinking about her last encounter with Tom at Ben's. Thinking about it was making her angry and the alcohol in her system was beginning to cloud her judgment. Lisa finished her beer and then turned to face Brad. "Would you make love to me?" She asked. Brad was surprised by the question. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea," he responded. "Do you think I am attractive?" She asked. "Of course I do." "Then why don't you want to make love to me?" "It's not that I don't want to make love to you, it's just that Tom has been my best friend for a long time. I haven't known you for as long but I have to confess that I have always had a crush on you. The truth is I would very much like to make love to you but I don't think it would be a good idea under the circumstances." Lisa put her arms around Brad's neck and pulled him to her and kissed him. Brad did not pull away so she kissed him again and he kissed her back. ***** 12:25 AM The ambulance carrying Tom arrived at the hospital and he was taken into the emergency room. John Stanley, one of the paramedics that brought Tom into the hospital, began to apprise Dr. Raymond of the patient's condition. Dr. Raymond was the lead doctor in the ER that night. "His left leg appears to be badly broken as well as his left arm," John Stanley said. "He also appears to have some broken ribs and, judging from the sucking sound he makes as he breathes, I suspect that he has a punctured lung. He has several lacerations and abrasions on his torso and he has lost a lot of blood." Tom was rolled into a treatment room where they checked his blood type and ordered two units of O positive blood for him. As soon as the blood arrived Tom was hooked up to an IV for the transfusions while the ER team evaluated his injuries and tried to stop the bleeding and stabilize his condition. Ms. Jackson, the ER admitting nurse, asked John Stanley for the patient's name. "He didn't have any identification on him," John Stanley said. "Hopefully, once they put the fire out they will be able to get the license number off the motorcycle and get an ID from that. If that doesn't work we may have to wait till he regains consciousness or someone reports him as missing." ***** 12:30 AM Lisa and Brad moved to the sofa in the living room. Brad was kissing Lisa all over her face and neck. Lisa had become passive and was letting Brad dictate whatever was going to happen. Mentally she knew she should not be doing this but she was so angry with Tom that she wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt her. In addition to that her body was beginning to respond to Brad's stimulation. He had opened her top and was massaging her breasts and teasing her nipples with his fingers. Lisa was torn between the rational thoughts she was having that told her she should stop this before it was too late and the alcohol-fueled, anger-infused emotions that seemed to have taken control of her. She could hear herself saying stop but no words emitted from her lips. ***** 12:45 AM Brad had removed Lisa's bra and was kissing and sucking on Lisa's breasts when he put his hand on her thigh. Brad gently massaged Lisa's thigh as he slowly moved his hand up between her legs. This felt strange to Lisa. She knew that very soon his hand would reach the top of her stocking and would touch the bare skin of her upper thigh. No man other than Tom had touched that part of her body in more than eleven years and until that moment she had always assumed that no one other than Tom ever would again. Lisa had only had one lover before Tom and she had broken up with him more than a year before she met Tom. ***** 12:47 AM Dr. Raymond ordered two more units of blood for Tom. He was concerned because Tom's blood pressure was dangerously low and if they didn't get it up soon they would lose him. ***** 12:50 AM Brad's hand moved across the elastic top of her stocking and onto the soft flesh of Lisa's upper thigh. Brad moved slowly and had given Lisa every opportunity to say stop but she had not made any attempt to stop him. Brad's dream was finally coming true. When his finger slipped inside Lisa's panties and touched her moist lips Lisa jumped a little. She actually didn't like what she was feeling but she still would not say stop. ***** 1:00 AM Dr. Raymond sent for two more units of blood. Tom's blood pressure was still not responding the way it should. Tom was having difficulty breathing because of the punctured lung but they could not do anything about that until they could get enough blood in him to stabilize his blood pressure, and stop the rapid blood loss. ***** 1:02 AM Brad slipped off the sofa and reached his hands underneath Lisa's skirt and started to slowly pull her panties off. He knew that this was it. If she didn't stop him now he was home free. He was finally going to get a piece of the pussy that he had only dreamed about since the first time he had met her. Tom Boyer was Brad's best friend but Brad was always jealous that Tom had married Lisa. Brad smiled to himself as he thought about how quickly things can change. When he had her panties around her ankles Brad admired the sight he had never seen before but had imagined many times while he masturbated. What Brad really wanted to do at that moment was to go down on Lisa and taste her but he wasn't sure how she would react to that and he didn't want to push things. He thought that he could do that later. Lisa felt like she wasn't inside her own body as she watched Brad remove her panties. She knew what was coming next and while she wasn't sure if this is what she wanted she didn't seem to have the will to make it stop. Lisa surprised herself when she heard her own voice tell Brad to use a condom. She wasn't aware that she had even had that thought. The only conscious thought in Lisa's mind was that she needed to do this to try and make the pain of what Tom had done go away. Lisa managed to disengage her mind from her body as she watched Brad put a condom on his erect cock. ***** 1:05 AM Lisa slid down on the sofa on her back as Brad positioned himself between her legs. Lisa could not bring herself to look at Brad as he rubbed the head of his cock across her vulva trying to find the opening he so disparately wanted to enter. Lisa turned her head away and looked in the direction of the blank television screen and then noticed the digital time display on the VCR. Lisa watched as the time changed from 1:04 to 1:05 while at the same time she felt the head of Brad's cock separating her labia and begin to enter her. Brad had penetrated Lisa with no more than half of his length when Lisa felt a sudden chill run through her body. The feeling was so intense that it scared her and she cried out as she pushed Brad away from her. "Stop. Stop I can't do this," she yelled. Brad was startled by Lisa's sudden shouts and immediately pulled out of her and jumped off the sofa. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Did I hurt you?" "I don't know. No, you didn't hurt me but something happened. I just can't do this, I can't do it," she said. Brad's heart was pounding caused by the unexpected panic he heard in Lisa voice as she told him to stop. As the fear that he had felt faded it was replaced by disappointment. He had to console himself with the thought that given the circumstances that Lisa would eventually come to him. ***** In the ER the only noise in the room other than the orders being barked out by Dr. Raymond was the steady but weak beep... beep... beep, of the heart monitor. Dr. Raymond took a quick peek at his watch to get an idea of how long they had been working on Tom. He noted that the time was 1:05 AM and at that exact moment the beeping of the heart monitor became a loud steady tone indicating that Tom had gone into cardiac arrest. Dr. Raymond immediately began CPR as he called for the defibrillator. Dr. Raymond placed the defibrillator paddles on Tom's chest, yelled "clear" and then triggered the charge in an attempt to get his heart started again. It didn't work. Dr. Raymond began CPR again while the defibrillator was recharging and then hit Tom with the paddles again. This time his heart started to beat but very erratically. For the next twenty minutes it was touch and go while the team tried to stabilize Tom's heart beat. ***** 1:25 AM Tom's heart started beating in a normal sinus rhythm again and his blood pressure started to respond to the six units of blood they had given him. Dr. Raymond closed up a couple more bleeders and then they prepared Tom for surgery. ***** The chill that Lisa had felt lasted for nearly twenty minutes. It had left her weak and crying. Brad didn't know what to do so he sat and held Lisa and kept telling her everything would be all right. Once the feeling had passed Lisa went to the bathroom and rinsed her face with cold water. When she saw herself in the mirror she felt ashamed. She had let her anger control her actions and while she had made Brad stop he had already penetrated her most private place. A place that she was supposed to only share with Tom. Did it mater that she had stopped Brad, that she didn't let him climax inside her? He had been inside her and even though he had only just barely penetrated her before she made him stop, would Tom ever forgive her for that? She had done what Tom had warned her against. She had done something that she would never be able to undo. Regardless of what Tom had done she should not have let things go that far with Brad. It wasn't fair to her marriage and it wasn't fair to use Brad that way. Once Lisa felt that she had her emotions under control she went back into the living room. "Brad, I think I would like to go to bed now," Lisa said. "Would you like to share my bed?" Brad asked. "I don't think that would be a very good idea," she said. "I'm sorry about all this. You must think I am a terrible person." "To me, you could never be a terrible person." ***** 1:45 AM Lisa climbed into the bed in Brad's guest room and tried to go to sleep. ***** In the ER Dr. Raymond was finally satisfied that Tom was ready for surgery and had the orderlies take Tom to the operating room. ******** 8:30 AM In the morning Lisa woke up with a major headache and remembered what she had done and was angry with herself. She remembered the strange chill she had felt when Brad had tried to enter her. What was that all about? Had her conscience sent her a message to make her stop her destructive behavior? If that was the case, why didn't it happen sooner, before she let Brad get that far? Lisa got dressed and went into the living room where Brad, already up and dressed was drinking a cup of coffee and looking at the morning paper. Brad looked up at Lisa and said, "Good morning, Lisa. Are you feeling any better this morning?" "I'll survive although I am not sure I want to," she said. "My head is pounding." "You did have quite a bit to drink last night," Brad said. "We both did. I hope you can forgive me for what happened last night. I never intended to take advantage of you like that. We were both drunk and I made the mistake of thinking it was what you wanted." "It was not your fault, Brad, it was mine. I let my anger distort my judgment. I don't know now if I'll be able to save my marriage. Even if I somehow find the strength to forgive Tom, will he ever be able to forgive me?" "Forgive you for what? You didn't do anything. Tom never has to know what happened last night." "I can't lie to him about last night. If I expect him to be honest with me about Las Vegas, I will have to tell him the truth." "You stopped before it was too late. You can tell him nothing happened." What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 02 "We both know that even though we didn't finish it we went to far for me to be able to say nothing happened." "I guess you're right," Brad said. "You know that if there ever comes a time when you want to finish what we started, I will be here for you." "If that time comes, I'll be happy to come to you," Lisa said. Brad smiled and looked down at the newspaper. "There is a story about last night's accident in the paper. Apparently there were no fatalities but they didn't release the names of the people involved." Brad didn't bother to mention that a motorcycle was involved because he didn't know it was important. He didn't know that Tom had been driving his bike. Brad said, "I thought we would go have breakfast and then we can go get your car." ***** 10:15 AM The surgeons had done everything they could. They had set his broken leg and his left arm and repaired his punctured lung and his broken ribs. His left leg was in a cast from his crotch to his ankle, his left arm was in a cast and they put a body cast around his chest to protect his ribs. They had also stitched and bandaged several lacerations on his back and his legs. It had been ten hours and forty-five minutes since the accident and as they rolled Tom into the recovery room they still didn't know who he was. ***** 11:00 AM Brad and Lisa stopped at a Denny's for breakfast. Brad sensed that Lisa was deep in her own thoughts so he didn't try to engage her in conversation as they ate. After breakfast Brad drove Lisa back out to Ben's Lounge to pick up her car. "Would you like me to follow you home in case Tom becomes violent?" Brad asked. "I am sure Tom will be angry but I know him. He would never hurt me, at least not physically. I'll be okay. Besides I think it would be better if he didn't see you with me." Lisa got into the car and thanked Brad for being there for her. "Call me if you need anything," Brad said and closed Lisa's car door. As Brad watched her drive away he thought, "Their marriage is a mess. There is no way they can save it now. Lisa, you may be mine yet." ***** 11:25 AM As Lisa approached her house she hit the garage door opener and when she pulled up to the garage she saw that Tom's truck was still there. She had expected as much but she was still a little worried that he might have carried out his threat to leave her. Lisa's heart rate increased and she could feel every thud of her heart as she entered the house. She was nervous about the confrontation that she knew was coming. This one would be different than the last one in that she was no longer the innocent party. She may not have gone as far as Tom but she had definitely gone too far. Lisa was surprised when she didn't find Tom at home. Lisa looked out into the garage again and saw that Tom's motorcycle was gone. That made Lisa wonder if Tom had been home at all. Lisa went up to the room Tom had been sleeping in for the last two weeks and checked the bed. It was made which didn't prove anything. He could have slept in it and then made the bed before he left but that didn't seem like something Tom would have done. Lisa thought that Tom would have left the bed unmade. Then Lisa noticed that Tom's wallet was on the bedside table. She thought that was strange. Why would he have gone out without his wallet? Lisa looked to see if he had left a note but found none. She also checked the answering machine for a message from Tom but found none. Had he gone looking for her? She wondered if she should wait to see if Tom would call or come home but decided to call him instead. ***** 11:35 AM Lieutenant Denton was in charge of the accident investigation and was at the scene late Saturday morning taking some measurements. He was standing at the side of the road looking at the skid marks from the tires on the SUV. They indicated that the driver didn't even hit his brakes until after he hit the motorcycle. Lt. Denton was making some notes in his log when he heard a noise behind him. It took him a minute to identify the sound. It was a cell phone ringing. He followed the sound down the embankment and found Tom's cell phone lying in the grass were Tom he had dropped it. . Unfortunately the caller disconnected before he could get to the phone. The voice mail indicator was flashing but Lt. Denton couldn't open it because it was password protected. Lt. Denton noticed that it was a Sprint phone so he took the phone to one of the patrol officers on site and asked him to contact Sprint and see if they could figure out whom the phone belonged to. ***** When Tom didn't answer Lisa waited for his voice mail to answer. "Tom, please come home. We need to talk." ***** 11:45 AM The patrol officer told Lt. Denton that the phone belonged to Tom Boyer of 2289 Evergreen Trace in Mount Olivet. Lt. Denton told him to have dispatch send a car to that address and notify anyone there that Mr. Boyer had been in an accident and was currently at Life Care Hospital in Denver. ***** 12:00 PM When Lisa didn't hear back from Tom she decided to drive by the office to see if maybe he might possibly be there. She didn't bother to call first because she thought he might not be answering calls or at least not her calls. ***** In the recovery room Tom briefly woke up and wondered where he was and then vaguely remembered the accident and was surprised to find that he was alive. He tried to move but he could only move his head and his right arm. He felt light-headed and didn't feel any pain. He didn't really feel anything, then he drifted off to sleep. ***** 12:40 PM Lisa walked down the long hallway to Tom's office at NTD only to find the door locked and no one there. On her way out of the building she ran into Zack. He asked her why she was in on a Saturday. She didn't want to tell him that she was looking for Tom. "I just stopped by to drop off some papers I had been looking through," she lied. "Couldn't that wait till Monday?" "I was in the area so I thought I could check my e-mail and return the papers." "Lisa, if you need to talk ... about anything ... come see me, okay? I will be out of town on Monday but I'll be back in the office on Tuesday. You can call me at home tomorrow if you need to." Lisa wondered why Zack said that but didn't question him. "Okay, I will. Thanks." ***** 12:44 PM The patrol car pulled up into the driveway at Tom Boyer's house and the two officers walked to the front door. They rang the doorbell and knocked on the door several times before returning to their car. They checked in with the desk sergeant and he told them he would call the house and leave a message. The officers waited another ten minutes to see if anyone would show up and when no one did they left. ***** 12:45 PM Instead of leaving the building after talking to Zack, Lisa went to her office and called home to see if Tom had returned yet. When he didn't answer she left him a message and said she would be home shortly and to wait for her. ***** 1:10 PM Lisa returned to the house but there was no sign that Tom had been home. She saw the message light on the phone blinking but figured it was the message she had left fifteen minutes earlier so she didn't check the machine. She went to the phone to clear the message but the phone rang just as she reached to push the message button. The sudden ring startled Lisa. She picked up the phone and said "Tom?" "Sorry, not Tom. What's going on girl?" "Oh, Shandra, Tom's not here." "Where'd he go?" "I don't know. I didn't come home last night and Tom wasn't here when I came home this morning." "You didn't go home? Where were you last night?" Lisa told Shandra about meeting Brad at Ben's Lounge and about Tom coming there and giving her an ultimatum. She said she was planning to do what Shandra had suggested and just stay out late and make Tom jealous. "When Tom told me to come home or else, I got so pissed I couldn't think straight. Then I had too much to drink and I ended up at Brad's apartment." "You didn't do the nasty with Brad, did you?" "Not completely but things went too far." "Not completely? What does that mean?" "It's too complicated and I am too upset to go into that right now." "You're sure a bad girl. Now what are you going to do?" Shandra asked. "I don't know. I'm not sure now if I want to be here when Tom comes home." "Just throw some clothes in a bag and you can crash here until you figure things out." Shandra said. "Are you sure?" "Of course. When you get here you can explain 'not completely' to me." ***** 3:00 PM Tom woke for the second time. This time he was in a lot of pain and it took him a few minutes to find the nurses call button. The nurse appeared in less than a minute and injected a painkiller into his IV. Within seconds Tom felt himself beginning to drift as the drug took affect. ***** 9:00 PM Lisa tried calling the house again and when she still got no answer she hung up. No point in leaving another message. Lisa was beginning to worry. Why wasn't Tom home? Why hadn't he tried to call her? Was he doing the same thing she was and staying with a friend until he could decide what to do? Or worse yet, maybe he was with the other woman, the one in the pictures. ***** Sunday April 27, 2003 10:00 AM Tom was awake when Dr. Jasper came into his room. "I'm Dr. Jasper and I take it that you are Tom Boyer. Is that correct?" "Yes." "I was one of the doctors that put you back together after your accident. How are you feeling?" "Not too bad right now but I think that's because the nurse put some happy juice in my IV a few minutes ago. When I woke up I was in a lot of pain." "The pain should start to lessen over the next several days but it will be several months before you get completely back to normal." Tom's eyes were beginning to have difficulty focusing on Dr. Jasper. "I can see you are starting to drift off again. I just need to ask you who we should contact to tell them where you are?" "Didn't anyone contact my wife, Lisa?" "Apparently the police went to your house and no one was there. They also left a message on your recorder but no one called them back." Even through the pain-killer-induced haze Tom could feel the ache in his heart. Lisa hadn't come home. His marriage was over. He wanted to cry but the drugs made him laugh instead. "Mr. Boyer, is there some other way we can get a hold of your wife?" "No. Don't bother. She's gone," Tom said. "Gone? Gone where, Mr. Boyer?" "Never mind her," Tom said. "Call my boss, Zack Morgan and tell him I won't be in tomorrow." "How do we get a hold of Mr. Morgan?" Tom tried but he cold not clear his mind enough to come up with Zack's phone number. "Just call NewTech Design and ask for the big man," Tom said and started giggling. Tom then mumbled something that sounded like, "Lisa should have believed me," followed by a few incoherent words as he drifted off to sleep. ***** 10:45 AM Following up after having sent the officers to Tom Boyer's home, Sergeant Brown called the hospital to see if anyone had contacted them looking for Mr. Boyer. The nurse that took his call told him that Mr. Boyer had regained consciousness and gave instructions about who should be contacted so they didn't have to bother with that anymore. The rest of that day Tom Boyer drifted in and out of sleep thanks to the painkillers. ***** Monday, April 28, 2003 8:30 AM Brad stopped by Lisa's office and asked how things went when she got home. "Tom wasn't there," Lisa said. "When did he come home?" "He didn't?" "He didn't? Did he move out like he threatened?" "No. His truck is still in the garage and none of his clothes are missing." "I looked for him in his office this morning but he didn't come in," Brad said, "and he didn't call anyone to tell them he wouldn't be in." Lisa was beginning to feel that cold chill again. "I just can't imagine where he would be. I thought that he would at least call me," she said. "And not showing up for work is not like him." ***** 10:30 AM Lisa opened her e-mail hoping that Tom might have sent her an e-mail telling her what he was up to. Instead of a note from Tom she found another note from the same hotmail address as before. This note had an attachment with it. The note said, "You had better tell your husband to stay away from my wife or there will be trouble. You better have a talk with him. These pictures were taken yesterday." When Lisa opened the attachment there was a picture of Tom coming out of an Applebee's restaurant and that same blond was with him. When she took a closer look she recognized the Applebee's in the picture as the one that was just a couple miles from their house. The second picture was more upsetting than any of the others. This one showed the blond standing on their front porch and it looked as if she was about to open the door." "That bastard was with her yesterday. I'm worried sick because I can't find him and he has the nerve to bring that slut into my house," Lisa said to herself. ***** 12:15 PM At lunchtime Lisa ran out to the bank to check the account balances to see if Tom had withdrawn any money recently. He hadn't. Before she headed back to the office, she decided to call Shandra and ask her if she could spend another night at her place. When she pulled her cell phone out of her handbag she was surprised to see that it was turned off and then she remembered that she had turned it off Friday night when Tom had tried to call her. She turned the phone on and saw the message light blinking. Lisa was hoping that Tom had left her a message as she pushed the button to retrieve her voice mail. She did get a message from Tom but it wasn't at all what she expected. The message had been recorded at 11:57 Friday night. "Lisa, I don't have much time left. I just need you to know that I love you and only you. I don't understand why you don't believe me about Las Vegas. I just hope that you will remember me as the loving husband that I really am and not the person you seem to think I am now. Unfortunately my last memory of you will be of the last conversation we had tonight. I forgive you for whatever happened tonight. I hope someday when you know the truth that you will be able to forgive yourself." Lisa had trouble identifying the voice at first. The breathing sounded strange but she knew it had to be Tom. After she listened to the whole message she thought, "What the hell is this?" She listened to it several more times and began to wonder if Tom was talking about suicide. But that couldn't be because he had been at Applebee's on Sunday. Then she wondered if he was drunk and was talking about their marriage being over. Was he crying, she wondered? Is that why it was so hard to understand him? Lisa thought, "If he wanted to save the marriage he should have come home and talked to me. " ***** 1:00 PM When Lisa got back to the office she went to see Brad and she played the voice mail message for him and asked him what he thought it meant. Brad said, "I don't know, I guess he could be crying. Was he drunk when he talked to you at Ben's?" "No. I don't think he'd had anything to drink," Lisa said. "This call was made shortly after we left Ben's. Could he get that drunk that fast? He's probably in a motel somewhere drinking himself into oblivion. I bet he will get himself straightened out in a couple of days." "Well, he may be in a hotel but he is not drinking himself into oblivion." Lisa said as she handed Brad the pictures she received that morning. "He took her to your house?" "It appears so," Lisa said. "What are you going to do?" Brad asked. "I don't know. I can't even find him so we can talk about this." Although he felt bad for Lisa, Brad saw an opportunity for himself. "Why don't you have dinner with me tonight and I'll help you work through this?" Brad suggested. "Maybe together we can figure out where he is and decide what you should do." "I am not sure I would be very good company," Lisa said. "You've got to eat and I am not sure you should be alone tonight," Brad said. Lisa was reluctant but agreed to have dinner with Brad. ***** 1:15 PM Tom woke up in pain again but he wanted to avoid the painkillers as long as possible. He needed a clear head. It was difficult to think when he was in so much pain but it was impossible to think when his mind was in a drug-induced haze. He wondered why no one had come to see him. Where was Lisa? Even if she were mad at him, wouldn't she come to see if he was all right? Tom was still resisting the urge to ring for the nurse when Dr. Jasper stopped in to check on him. "Doctor, has anyone called my boss to tell him where I am?" "I called him myself this morning but he wasn't in. His message said that he was out of town today. I left him a message to call the hospital and the staff knows what to tell him when he calls. Is there anyone else you would like us to notify?" Tom thought about Lisa for a moment. "No." ***** 7:30 PM "Welcome to Applebee's." Brad and Lisa were escorted to a table by a bubbly teenager who pointed to the menus on the table and promptly retreated to the front of the restaurant. "Why did you want me to meet you at this Applebee's?" Brad asked. "I just wanted to check and see if by chance Tom and his new girlfriend would show up here. That would end all of the lies." It was a very uncomfortable dinner for both of them. Lisa was constantly watching the door looking for Tom as though she really expected he would show up. Brad had hoped that he and Lisa could talk about what happened in his apartment. He wanted to assess his chances of having a meaningful relationship with her if she and Tom couldn't work out their problems. Then to make matters worse one of Lisa and Tom's neighbors came with a group of people. Under her breath Lisa said 'Shit, how do I explain being here with you? Mrs. Bennett is such a busy-body. Everybody in the neighborhood will know I was here with someone other than my husband." Before Brad could answer her Mrs. Bennett spotted Lisa and came directly over to the table. Mrs. Bennett didn't seem to even notice Brad. "Lisa, what was going on at your house Saturday? Everyone was so worried," Mrs. Bennett said. "What are you talking about?" Lisa asked. "There was a police car in your driveway. Two officers went to your door and rang the bell and knocked on the door several times and then they sat in their car in your driveway talking on their radio for quite a while. Is Tom in some kind of trouble?" Mrs. Bennett said. "I was talking to Mrs. Benson and she said that she heard that someone might have broken into your house but her husband said that was just a rumor. I didn't know what to think. Everyone is concerned. By the way, where is Tom?" Lisa didn't know what to say. Mrs. Bennett was a talker and it was hard to get her to stop long enough to answer her question. "The Police? No, Tom is not in any trouble. No one was home Saturday so I don't know why the police would have been there." "Very strange," Mrs. Bennett said. "If you find out what that was all about, let the rest of us know, okay?" Mrs. Bennett said before she turned and left to join the rest of her party on the other side of the dining room. Lisa saw Mrs. Bennett point at her and then say something to her friends. She had a pretty good idea what they were saying about her. Lisa finished her meal as quickly as she could and told Brad she needed to go home. Brad asked, "To my apartment?" "No. To my house." Brad walked Lisa to her car and asked her if she want him to go to the house with her. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 02 "No. I'll be okay. I just need to figure out why the police were at the house Saturday and where Tom is," Lisa said. "I'll call you tomorrow to see how you're doing," Brad said and walked back to his own car. When Lisa got home she searched the whole house to see if she could find anything out of order as she wondered why the police would have been there on Saturday. Lisa thought it was strange that Tom's truck was still in the garage and his wallet was still in the guest bedroom. The weather was too cold and raining for his motorcycle so why hadn't he come home to get his truck and why would he leave the house without his wallet. It occurred to Lisa that Tom's girlfriend probably had her car so he didn't need the truck but that didn't explain why he didn't take his wallet with him. Lisa began to wonder if Tom didn't come into work because he was shacked up with her somewhere. Maybe they had left town together. Lisa's heart was pounding and she was having trouble controlling her emotions. She was so angry that she wanted to throw things but a part of her just wanted to curl up in bed and cry. She went to the phone intending to call Brad and ask him to come back and get her. She didn't want to be alone. The message light was flashing so Lisa hit the playback button wondering if there were any messages from Tom. The electronic voice in the machine said, "You have two messages. Message number one, "Tom this is Lisa..." Lisa hit delete and the machine continued, "Message number two, "This is Officer Tober of the Denver Police. This message is for any member of the Boyer family. You are requested to call Detective Owen Brown of the Denver police department as soon as possible. Detective Brown can be reached at..." Lisa quickly wrote down the phone number and then deleted the message. Why would the Denver Police need to talk to us Lisa wondered. She took a deep breath and punched in the number. "Detective Lisk speaking, how can I help you?" came the voice on the phone. Lisa said, "I am trying to get a hold of Detective Owen Brown." "Detective Brown is on the day shift." Lisa said, "Damn it." "Is there something I can help you with?" Lisa said, "My name is Lisa Boyer. I have been away from home for a few days and I just listened to my messages and I got one that came in Saturday afternoon and said that I needed to call Detective Brown as soon as possible." "Do you have any idea what this is in reference to?" "No. None at all," Lisa said. "Just a minute and let me see what I can find out." The detective was gone for ten minutes. "It took me a while to find this but it should be old news to you by now. The hospital informed us that they had taken care of the notification." "Notification? Notification of what?" "Your name is Boyer right?" "Yes." "Are you related to Tom Boyer?" "Yes, I am his wife." "And you didn't get the message?" "What message, damn it?" "I'm sorry. I thought you must have heard by now. Your husband was in an accident late Friday night." Lisa's momentary panic was relieved by the painful memory of the photo's she had received in her e-mail. Tom had been at Applebee's on Sunday so if he was in an accident Saturday night it couldn't have been too serious. "I hope no one was hurt badly," Lisa said. "According to the accident report the only one injured was your husband." "Tom was injured? How badly?" "I'm sorry I don't have that information. He was transported to Life Care Hospital in Denver and that's the only information I have." Lisa thanked him and hung up. She thought he couldn't have been hurt very badly if he was able to go out to dinner Sunday. Lisa decided to call the hospital and see what if anything she could find out. She knew he wasn't there but they might be able to tell her where he is now. He might have left a phone number or an address at the hospital. ***** 8:00 PM Tom couldn't stand the pain any longer so he hit the call button and the nurse came and injected the painkiller into his IV. Tom was starting to drift off when he saw someone with a camera. It was someone he knew but not well but he couldn't recall why he knew this person. He tried to focus on the person and realized that he wasn't really there. It was an image floating in his head. Then he was asleep. ***** Lisa got in touch with the duty nurse at the admitting desk and told her who she was and said she needed to get some information about her husband and before she could say another word the nurse ask for his name. "Tom Boyer." Lisa was all set to argue to get the information she wanted when the nurse came back to the phone. "Let's see now. He was admitted through the emergency room at 12:30 AM Saturday. He was originally admitted as a John Doe because he had no ID on him. His current condition is stable. That's all I can tell you. You will need to talk to Dr. Jasper. He was the attending physician." "In stable condition? He's still in the hospital?" "Of course." "I'll be right over." "I'm sorry Mrs. Boyer but visiting hours are over. You'll have to wait till tomorrow after 8:00 AM. The doctor wouldn't be here tonight anyway. You can see him in the morning." Lisa's head was spinning. Tom was in the hospital? Since 12:30 AM Saturday. If that's true how could someone have taken his picture Sunday evening at Applebee's. Lisa knew something was wrong but was too upset with the news of Tom's accident to think about anything else. Lisa remembered that Tom had been riding his motorcycle Friday night and the roads were wet. He probably dumped his bike and banged himself up a little. Jerk. What was he doing riding that stupid bike anyway? She told herself that she would get this all sorted out in the morning. Lisa went to bed at 11:00 PM but she didn't sleep very well. ***** Tuesday April 29, 2003 6:00 AM Lisa was up and showered at 6:00 AM and decided to go to her office at 6:30 to work for a while before going to the hospital After all how big a hurry should she be in when Tom hadn't made any attempt to let Lisa know where he was. Lisa was sitting at her desk when Zack stuck his head in the door. "How's Tom? I just got the message from the hospital. Apparently he has had a bad time of it," Zack said. Lisa didn't want to look foolish so she just said, "I am going over at 8:00 to check on him." Zack said, "Tell him I'll stop by later today to see him if he is up to having visitors." Lisa asked, "When did you hear about his accident?" "The hospital called and left a message for me yesterday. I called this morning and his doctor filled me in." Trying to appear informed, Lisa said. "You talked to Dr. Jasper?" "Dr. Jasper, that's right. Nice fellow. Well, just tell Tom not to worry about us we'll get by until he gets back to work." When Zack left Lisa broke down and cried. Why had she been left out? Why had no one tried to contact her? She also knew this was partly her fault. She should have gone home Friday night like she originally planned. Then she would have been there when the police came. ***** 8:15 AM When Lisa walked into Tom's room the only thing she could see was Tom's head. A sheet covered the rest of his body. The first thing she noticed was that there wasn't a mark on his face and no bandages on his head. In a motorcycle accident that's what you expect to see. Tom didn't look to be all that bad off. The nurse was standing next to the bed and Tom was joking with her. Lisa heard him say. "What would I do with out you and your magic needle?" When he saw Lisa he smiled at her and using a mock New York accent he said, "Hi, Lisa, how you doin?" Then he laughed. "I guess a little better than you?" Still smiling Tom said, "I'd say you are doing a lot better than me. Like on Friday night when I was here being put back together and you were God only knows where doing God only knows what. Was it worth it?" The nurse came back into the room and heard a little of Tom's attack and she took Lisa aside. "It's the pain killer talking. He won't even remember saying any of that in a couple of hours," she said and then she left the room. Lisa was hurt and angry but she let it go. She wouldn't be able to talk to him while he was in that condition. The drugs would make conversation useless. She decided to leave instead and by the time she reached the door Tom was snoring. Lisa sat in the hall and tried not to cry. As she was regaining her composure she heard someone say, "Dr. Jasper, have you got a second?" Lisa looked up and saw the doctor talking to one of the floor nurses so she got up and moved close to them so she could get his attention when he was done talking to the nurse. While she waited she suddenly remembered the message Tom had left on her cell phone. Now she realized that he might have thought at the time he was going to die. Typical male over-reaction to a little pain she thought. Dr. Jasper finished answering the nurse's question and then he looked at Lisa and asked, "Are you waiting to talk to me?" Lisa said, "Yes. I'm Tom Boyer's wife, Lisa, and I would like to know first of all why no one from the hospital tried to contact me regarding my husband's injuries." Dr. Jasper said, "I'm sorry but we were told that the police tried to get in touch with you but were unable to locate you. When I talked to your husband on Sunday, I asked him who else I should call and he told me to just call Mr. Morgan. If I had known how to get in touch with you, I would have called." Lisa said, "What can you tell me about his injuries?" Dr. Jasper suggested he and Lisa go to the lounge and get a cup of coffee and then he would tell her everything." Dr. Jasper got two cups of coffee and handed one to Lisa and then they sat down at an empty table. "Mrs. Boyer, how much do you know about your husband's accident?" "I don't know anything. I was away from home until last night when I got a message from the police that he had been in an accident and that's all I know." Dr. Jasper said, "Well, if you were away you may not have heard about the accident over on 44th Avenue Friday night." Lisa stiffened as she remembered the SUV burning in the middle of the road. But she didn't say anything. "Basically what happened was that an SUV ran a stop sign and hit your husband's motorcycle broadside. Your husband was thrown nearly thirty-five yards through the air and he landed on an embankment, which was lucky for him because the bike was crushed under the SUV and destroyed in the fire." That image made Lisa cringe. "How bad are his injuries? Tom left me a voice mail message telling me he was dying and he was saying good-bye." "What time did he call you?" "I think it was about a quarter to twelve Friday night." "That makes sense. He was in pretty rough shape. He lost a lot of blood and he was busted up pretty badly. If you got a message from him, why didn't you check with the police then?" "I didn't hear the message until yesterday and I didn't know what it meant until now. How badly was he injured?" "Your husband has two fractures on his left leg, his right ankle was badly sprained. His left arm is broken four inches below the elbow. He broke two ribs and one of them punctured his left lung. He also had multiple lacerations and abrasions. I had to read through the ER notes on him twice before we could figure out where to start on him once we had him in the OR. When they brought him in he was losing blood almost as fast as they could pump it into him. I have a copy of your husband's charts with me." Dr. Jasper opened the brief case he was carrying and pulled out a folder and opened it. "Let's see, yes, here it is. He was given three units of blood and they were starting a forth but his BP was not responding and then at 1:05 AM Saturday morning your husband went into cardiac arrest." "1:05 AM?" Lisa asked as she felt the now familiar cold chill run up her back. "Yes, it was 1:05 AM. Dr. Raymond, the doctor who took care of your husband in the ER, made a note of the time because it happened just as he looked at his watch. Dr. Raymond had to defibrillate him twice to get his heart started again. He was gone for nearly two minutes and it was touch and go for the next twenty minutes. We came very close to losing him." Lisa began to feel sick as she remembered what she was doing at exactly 1:05 Saturday morning. She wanted to cry but not in front of the doctor. She lost that battle as the tears started streaming down her face. Dr. Jasper didn't understand the cause of Lisa's tears. He assumed it was the extent of her husband's injuries that made Lisa cry. Lisa's sadness was much deeper than that. When Tom had needed her most, when he was clinging to life by a thread she was about to let his best friend enter her. Tom was right; she may never be able to forgive herself. Tom may never forgive her either. Lisa finally manage to say, "I had no idea his injuries were so bad. When I saw him he looked almost happy and with the sheet over him his injuries weren't obvious." Dr. Jasper said, "His happiness is the result of the pain medication he was given. He is in a lot of pain but he resists asking the nurse for the pain medication because it leaves him so dopey. Luckily your husband was wearing a very good helmet. The helmet protected him during the initial impact with the SUV and again when he impacted on the ground. If the helmet hadn't held up the head injuries he would have sustained would probably have been fatal. This gave Lisa one small bit of satisfaction. She had bought that helmet for Tom for his birthday. At least one thing she had done contributed to saving his life. Lisa thanked Dr. Jasper and walked back to Tom's room and pulled a chair up next to his bed and sat watching Tom breath and wondered how this would all turn out in the end. Would she be able to get past what Tom had done and would he ever forgive her for what she had done. Lisa felt that the gravity of what she had done was magnified by what happened to Tom. If she hadn't gone out Friday to try and hurt him, Tom would not have followed her to Ben's and therefore would not have been in the accident. In Lisa's mind the driver of the SUV may have run a stop sign but the accident was her fault. ******** 12:15 PM Lisa had been sitting next to Tom's bed all morning. With nothing to do to keep herself occupied, she just kept rehashing the events of the last two weeks. Tom had cheated on her in Las Vegas and would not admit to it even though there were pictures showing him with the other woman. Then apparently they had gotten together in Denver and had been at Applebee's and then Tom took her to their house, all though the date of the Denver tryst was still in doubt. Whoever had sent Lisa the pictures must have gotten the date wrong but there was no doubt that it was that woman going into Lisa's house. Lisa didn't understand how Tom could have done that to her. Didn't he love her anymore? Then Lisa thought about her own behavior. Maybe things would have worked out if she hadn't tried to make Tom jealous. One thing was certain, the accident would not have happened and Tom wouldn't be lying there covered in plaster and bandages. Lisa was again replaying the events as though they were on videotape when Zack Morgan walked in. "How is he?" Zack asked. "He is in pretty bad shape. He has been asleep since shortly after I got here this morning. They have been giving him pretty heavy doses of pain killers and they knock him out." "Lisa, why don't you take a break? Get yourself something to eat and drink. I'll sit here while your gone." "Thanks, Zack, I am kind of hungry. I'll be back in a half hour." "Take your time." Lisa when down to the hospital cafeteria and had a bowl of soup and then stopped by the gift shop and picked up a couple of magazines. When she returned to the room Dr. Jasper was explaining Tom's injuries to Zack. "He actually died in the ER?" Zack asked. "His heart did stop beating for a couple of minutes," Dr. Jasper said. Hearing that again made Lisa feel faint but she managed to get to the chair she had been sitting in earlier without passing out. "Good, you are back," Dr. Jasper said to Lisa. "I wanted to talk to you again before I went home. Your husband will probably be released from the hospital on Monday. I would recommend that you put him in a rehab center until the casts can be taken off. He is going to need around the clock care for a while." "I want him at home. I'll take care of him," Lisa said firmly. "Are you sure? You will have to feed and bathe him. Help him with his biological functions, keep track of his medications and control his pain medication. You won't get much rest." "I'll hire a nurse to come in during the day and I'll be with him at night. He is my husband and I want to take care of him." Lisa thought that by taking care of Tom that she could make up for her part in causing his injuries. "In case you change your mind I have written down the names of a couple of good rehab centers in the area. He will need physical therapy when he gets the cast off his leg. I also need to tell you that your husbands treatment will be quite expensive," Dr. Jasper said. Lisa put a mock smile on her face and said, "We have insurance and beside, I plan on suing the driver of the car that hit Tom. Let his insurance pay for Tom's treatment." "Do you have any more questions for me before I leave?" Dr. Jasper asked. "How long will Tom be in those casts?" "We should be able to remove the cast on his arm in about four weeks. The cast on his leg will take at least six weeks. We won't know that for sure for a couple more weeks. The chest protection will probable come off when we remove the cast from his arm but he will have to wear a special vest to protect his injured ribs for a few weeks after that. I'll stop in tomorrow to see how your husband is doing." When the doctor left Zack walked over to Lisa's chair and took her hand in his. "Any help you need let me know. I owe Tom a lot. Tom is responsible for most of the business we have and without him this company would have been in serious trouble. Take the rest of the week off to be with him and take what time you need next week to get Tom settled at home. If you need any financial assistance let me know. I'll let people at the office know about Tom's condition. I am sure a lot of them will want to come visit him." "Thanks, Zack. I appreciate the help." "I'll stop by again tomorrow around lunchtime so you can go eat," Zack said as he headed out the door. After Zack left Lisa settled into the chair and opened a magazine and began reading. ***** 6:00 PM Lisa had been waiting all day hoping that Tom would wake up lucid so that she could talk to him. When he finally did wake up, two of the salesmen that worked with him came in to visit. Tom visited with them as best he could and as soon as they left Brad came in. Brad's presence made Lisa uncomfortable. She wanted to crawl away and hide while Brad talked to Tom. By 7:30 Tom could not take the pain any longer so he rang for the nurse and within minutes he was drifting off to sleep. Lisa never got a chance to talk to Tom alone. For the next few days it seemed that anytime Tom was awake and alert he had visitors. Lisa almost believed that people were coming to visit Tom for the sole purpose of keeping her from talking to him. ***** Monday May 5, 2003 10:00 AM Tom's pain had lessened considerably by Monday morning and he was looking forward to getting out of the hospital and going home. What he wasn't looking forward to was being alone with Lisa. He knew that Lisa had insisted that she wanted to take care of him rather than put him in a rehab center and Tom appreciated that but it didn't make up for what she had done to him. It didn't matter what she thought he had done she should never have had sex with another man for revenge. Not if she wanted to save their marriage. It was obvious that Lisa was trying to make it up to him and even though he still loved her he didn't know if he would ever be able to forgive her. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 03 Saturday May 24, 2003 1:15 PM Brad stopped by to visit Tom. When he came into the house he squeezed Lisa's hand as he kissed her cheek and then went upstairs to see Tom. Lisa followed Brad upstairs to see how Tom was feeling. It was obvious from the smile on Tom's face he was glad to see Brad. "I need to run out to the store to pick up a few things. I may as well do that now while Brad is here to keep you company," Lisa said. "I'll be okay. I'll only have five beers while your gone," Tom joked. "If you do, you will have to empty your own bedpan." When Lisa left the room, Brad said, "Looks like Lisa is taking good car of you. How are you two doing? " "We are progressing. It may take some time to get over some of what happened but I think we'll be all right," Tom said. "I was just a little worried about Lisa. She seemed to go a bit overboard when she saw those pictures of you with that blond in Vegas. If you say things are better, I assume that she has stopped seeing that guy. Did you ever find out who he was?" That statement threw Tom. Brad supposed that she had stopped seeing him. Lisa said that she had been with him just that one time. Tom wondered how much information he could get out of Brad without letting on how little he knew. "Yes. That's over. Lisa won't admit to seeing him more than once but I didn't believe that. Has she said anything to you about him?" "To me? She would never tell me anything like that. She knows I would tell you. So I guess she didn't tell you about Applebee's?" Tom decided to not tell him that Lisa said she had been there with him. "What about Applebee's?" "A friend on mine at the office mentioned that he had seen Lisa with a guy he didn't know in Applebee's on the Monday after your accident." "Really? Who told you that?" "Sorry, buddy, I can't tell you. When this guy found out what was going on, he made me promise not to tell you about it. He didn't want to get into the middle of this mess," Brad said. Tom could feel his anger building. Lisa had lied to him. Tom thought that he would make Lisa tell him the truth when they were alone again. "Do you know about any other time she was out with him?" "That was the only time I heard about," Brad said. "Don't tell her I said anything. I am still hoping you two can work things out and I don't want her hating me after this is over." Brad tried to change the subject to sports but he could see that Tom was stuck back at Applebee's. When they heard Lisa come back from the store, Brad said that he had better get going and he headed down the stairs. As Brad was leaving Tom heard the doorbell and then he heard Lisa talking to someone but he could not hear what they were talking about. A half hour later Lisa came up stairs. Tom's anger was simmering. He wanted to confront Lisa about what Brad had told him but he couldn't or Lisa would know who told him about it. He would have to wait until the next day to bring it up. Tom knew it was going to be an unpleasant evening. When Lisa entered the room, Tom asked, "Who was at the door?" "Mrs. Bennett. She wanted to come visit you but I told her you were having a bad day and you were too tired for visitors. It's funny though. When Brad left Mrs. Bennett asked me if Brad was my cousin. Where would she have gotten an idea like that?" It was as though a flash bulb had gone off inside Tom's head. Brad was with Lisa at Applebee's. Lisa must have told him that Mrs. Bennett would tell Tom he saw Lisa at Applebee's with another man so he was making sure that Tom didn't suspect him. Why would he do that unless he had been the one with Lisa the night of the accident? "Mrs. Bennett thinks Tom is your cousin because when she told me she saw you at Applebee's with another man I told her he was your cousin. So I guess she recognized him from that night." "She came over to our table and talked to me. So she should have recognized him," Lisa said. "Maybe you can help me understand why Brad just told me that a friend of his was in Applebee's that night and saw you. According to Brad, you were with some other guy. So one of you is lying and I now know that it is Brad." "Why would he say that?" "Because he didn't want me to know that he was the one you were with at Ben's when I came looking for you. That's why you met me at the door so I wouldn't see him. And it was Brad you went home with. You said you stopped Brad from fucking you that night so ... did you go out with him Monday to make it up to him?' "Tom, please. Everything I told you was the truth. The only thing I left out was that it was Brad I was with that night. What I told you about Monday night was true. He was trying to help me find you. He suggested we stop for dinner and I made him take me to Applebee's because I was hoping I would run into you there." "Brad didn't know that you told me you were with him or he would have supported your story. I never told him I knew that you had been at Applebee's with him or anyone else. Why do you think he would tell me you were there with someone else?" Tom asked. "I don't know. I suppose he was just trying to make sure you didn't find out I was with him that night. Don't blame Brad. He was just there as a friend. It was entirely my fault. I had too much to drink and I was angry and did something stupid. Brad never tried to get me to do anything. I threw myself at him that night. I am not proud of it and I am sorry it happened but it wasn't Brad's fault," Lisa said. Tom was still hot but he tried to keep his anger in check. "That night you not only screwed up our marriage," Tom said, "you also destroyed a friendship of more than fifteen years." "Why? You and Brad can still be friends. He never meant this to happen. Just let it go" "What am I supposed to do, act like this never happened? Pretend that my so-called best friend never put his cock into my wife's cun... Never mind." "So we have to drop Brad as a friend now?" Lisa asked. "How can you even ask me that?" "It's not that easy. Brad has been my friend too." "Since when is he such a good friend of yours?" "I see him several times a week in my office. He comes by to get a copy of the profit and loss statements and usually stays to talk for a few minutes. I enjoy talking to him," Lisa said. "How long has this been going on?" "It's not something that's going on. You make it sound as if we were having an affair. He's been coming by my office to pick up the reports for about six months. It's work related. Don't try to make a problem where none exists," Lisa said firmly. "I still don't understand why you would be looking for me at Applebee's." Tom said. "I have a picture of you with your girl friend at Applebee's," Lisa said. "Another picture? I'm starting to see things clearer now," Tom said. "What does that mean?" "Just that I am starting to understand what has been going on behind my back," Tom said. Lisa was losing patience with Tom. "There is nothing going on behind your back," Lisa said. "Oh, there is. I just don't know yet if you are a part of it." "Tom, you're scaring me. You sound crazy when you talk like that." "Maybe so but it doesn't mean I'm wrong," Tom said. "From now on no more lies, no more secrets. Okay?" Lisa was relieved to see that Tom was ready to end this uncomfortable conversation. "Yes." The revelations of that afternoon caused a setback in the progress the two of them had made in repairing their relationship. There were no more surprises for the next couple of weeks and things began to improve again. ***** Monday June 2, 2003 9:00 AM Lisa took Tom to the hospital for a progress check and to have the cast removed from his left arm. Dr. Jasper was pleased with the progress Tom was making. They cut the cast off his arm and removed the plaster from his chest. Then after examining Tom's leg they cut off the cast and replaced it with what they called a walking cast. Dr. Jasper told Tom he should start getting out of bed and walking around the house using crutches. "You need to take it easy at first. No stair climbing and get back into bed as soon as you feel tired," Dr. Jasper said. The doctor also gave Tom a vest like professional football players wear to protect their ribs if they had been injured. "You need to wear this vest anytime you are out of bed. We don't want you falling down and injuring your ribs again," Dr. Jasper said. For Tom having his left arm free and the heavy cast on his leg replaced by a much lighter one was wonderful. He also found breathing easier and more comfortable wearing the vest. When they got back home Tom walked into the house under his own power but he had to be carried upstairs by the off duty firemen that Lisa hired for the occasion. ***** Saturday June 7, 2003 1:00 PM Tom was sitting in bed watching the Rockies game on television. They were playing the Giants and the Rockies were leading by one run in the fifth inning. When the doorbell rang, Tom sat up straight in bed and listened intently to try to identify the visitor. It was Brad and it only took Tom a second to recognize his voice. Tom quickly turned the sound off on the television but he still could not hear what Lisa and Brad were talking about. Tom was hoping that Lisa was telling Brad to leave but then he could tell by the fading sound of their voices that Lisa and Brad had moved out of the foyer and into the kitchen or maybe to the living room. Tom's rage built quickly. Not just because he was so angry with Brad but also because Lisa let him into the house after everything he had said to Lisa about not wanting Brad coming around. Tom swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed off the bed with his hands to get himself into a standing position and reached for his crutches. Tom had gotten pretty good at this maneuver over the previous few days. It allowed him to take himself to the bathroom so he didn't have to use a bedpan anymore. Tom was still pretty weak and wasn't really steady walking on the crutches with one leg still in a cast. He moved slowly to the top of the stairs by setting the crutches in front of him and stepping forward with his right leg and then he would kind of drag the left leg up until it was even with the right. Then he would repeat the process. It was slow but he made steady progress. From the top of the stairs he still couldn't hear them. He would have to climb down the stairs. Tom tried to step down off the top step with his right leg but he almost fell. So he tried again by lifting his stiff left leg off of the step and moving it down to the next step then Tom braced himself with the crutches and stepped down with his right foot. It was awkward and somewhat painful but Tom was able to move down the five steps to the landing where the stairs made a ninety-degree turn to the left. Tom stopped on the landing and listened. He could now hear their voices but still not well enough to hear what they were saying. He would have to go the rest of the way down. Tom turned on the landing and without thinking he stepped off with his right leg. As he began to fall, Tom dropped the crutches and grabbed for the banister but instead of being able to stop his fall he landed against the banister with his chest and slid forward and ended falling the rest of the way down the stirs headfirst. Lisa and Brad were sitting in the living room and she was telling him that Tom knew that he was with her the night of the accident. She told him how upset that had made Tom so in order to keep peace in the house she wanted to ask Brad to stop coming by her office, at least until Tom had time to calm down. Brad wasn't happy with that turn of evens. "Oh, damn it, how did he find out?" Brad asked. Lisa was just about to tell him about Mrs. Bennett when they heard a terrible crash and a scream coming from the direction of the foyer. The two of them looked at each other for a moment as if to ask the other, 'what was that?' Then Lisa jump up and ran toward the foyer with Brad following. ***** Tom found himself lying face down on the floor with his stiff left leg still up on the second step. He was in a lot of pain but he didn't want to be found in that position so he managed to pull himself forward far enough that his left leg slid off the bottom two stairs allowing Tom to roll over. Tom was able to reach one of his crutches and sit up but there was no way he could stand up. Lisa was the first to get to him. "What happened? What were you trying to do?" she shouted in near hysterics. Just then Brad walked into the foyer and looked down at Tom. "I was coming downstairs to throw this scum bag out of my house." "Why would you risk doing something so dangerous?" "I had to. It was obvious you didn't want him to leave. I have to protect what belongs to me," Tom said and then turned to Brad and pointed his crutch at him. "I want you out of my house now." Rather than leaving Brad looked over at Lisa to see what she would say. It was an act of defiance that wasn't lost on Tom but Lisa didn't notice. "Brad, I think it would be better if you left now," Lisa said. "I'm sorry." Tom was furious but he didn't say a word. He never took his eyes off Brad as he opened the door to leave. As soon as Brad was out the door, Lisa turned to Tom. "That was really stupid. You could have seriously injured yourself. And you didn't have to speak to Brad that..." Tom cut her off. "You apologized to him because I threw him out of my house. Now I see that you are part of it." "Part of what?" Lisa asked. "What is the matter with you?" "I told you I didn't want him coming around," Tom said. "All you had to do was send him away when he came to the door but you invited him in. I guess you thought I couldn't come downstairs so the two of you could have a nice little chat and whatever else you wanted to do and I would never know." "I asked him to come in so I could tell him that you knew he was with me that night and I asked him not to come around my office any more." "You didn't have to invite him into my house to do that. You should have told him at the door." "Brad is still a friend and I can't be rude to him just because you're angry with him." Lisa said. "Angry with him? He was supposed to be my friend and then he goes and seduces my wife? I guess I shouldn't be angry because he is such a nice guy." "Are we ever going to get past this? That was never planned, it just happened. It was more my fault than his. Brad just happened to be the one who was with me when I went off the deep end," Lisa said. "You are right, you are at fault but Brad had a lot more to do with this than you think." "What are you talking about?" "How is it that Brad happened to be with you that night? Was it a coincidence that Brad just happened to be there? Or did he help you plan the who thing?" Lisa looked down at the floor before answering. "I asked him to meet me there that night." "Why?" "I didn't want to go there alone." "But why Brad? Why not Shandra or one of your other girl friends?" Lisa suddenly realized how this must appear to Tom. "I know this doesn't look good. I wasn't thinking straight that night. I guess I asked Brad because he just happen to be around when I decided to go out to make you jealous." "I heard you on the phone the Wednesday before telling someone you would meet them at Ben's. Was it Brad you were talking to?" "Yes." "You said it wasn't planned, that it just happened but you called Brad and told him to meet you there two days before. That doesn't sound like 'just happened ' to me. The other day you told me that Brad has been stopping by your office to visit for more that six months but you never mentioned that to me. Why?" "His visits were usually work related. I told you he came to pick up the profit and loss report every week. I didn't think I needed to tell you about everyone who stopped by my office." "Lisa, Brad is a design engineer. Do you know what that means?" "Yes, I know what he does," Lisa responded. "Then can you tell me why a design engineer needs a copy of the profit and loss statement every week? There is nothing in Brad's job that would require him to have a copy of that report every week. The report was just an excuse for him to come visit you and if you can't see that then you are pretty naive." Naive? Lisa thought. Maybe. She had never even thought to ask Brad why he needed the profit and loss report. She should have known he didn't need a copy. Maybe she just liked having him stop by and say hello. When Lisa didn't comment Tom continued. "I suspect now that Brad has had the hots for you for a long time. He was just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself so he could step in and replace me in your life. And you gave him that opportunity." Suddenly Lisa remember what Brad told her that night. Brad had said, "I have to confess that I have always had a crush on you." Lisa realized that Tom was closer to the truth than he knew but she could never tell him. Then Lisa remembered the girl in the pictures and wondered if Tom had any real feelings for her. Would it happen again? Lisa began to get angry. Tom had been berating her for the last fifteen minutes and now she had to strike back. "What gives you the right to attack me? After all it was your behavior that started all of this. If you hadn't been running around with that blond bitch in Vegas none of this would have happened," Lisa said. "I admit what I did was wrong but what you did was unforgivable." "You still don't get it, do you? Well, I give up. The night of my accident I was on my way home to pack my things and leave so, as soon as I get this cast off my leg, I'll be moving out. Then you can get together with Brad anytime you want." With all the venom she could manage, Lisa said, "I'll help you pack." During the whole time they had been arguing Tom was sitting on the floor in tremendous pain. Now that the argument was over Tom realized that he would somehow have to get on his feet and climb back upstairs without Lisa's help. To need her help would be just another humiliation. When Tom tried to get up, Lisa could see the pain in his face and she stepped forward to help but Tom waved her away. He was trying to push himself up against the wall with little success when he started to cough. The coughing caused terrible pains in his chest and he had a coppery taste in his mouth. Tom wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. When he took his hand away from his mouth, Lisa saw that it was smeared with blood. "You're bleeding. Tom, your mouth is bleeding." Tom looked at his hand and then wiped his mouth again with his other hand and it was also covered with blood. Tom let himself slip back down to the floor and Lisa ran to the phone and called 911 for an ambulance. ***** 3:30 PM The coughing had stopped before the ambulance arrived and Tom was awake and alert on the ride to the hospital. Lisa had wanted to ride in the ambulance with him but the paramedics wouldn't let her, which suited Tom. Once in the emergency room it was quickly determined the Tom's fall on the stairs had caused a minor injury to the lung that had been punctured in the accident. Tom was moved to the operating room and the lung was repaired through a tiny incision in his chest. Tom spent only an hour in the recovery room and was then rolled into a semi-private hospital room. When Dr. Jasper came in, he found Lisa sitting in a corner of the room as far away from Tom's bed as she could be and to Dr. Jasper she looked lost. Dr. Jasper stood next to the bed and read Tom's chart. "Can I ask what you were doing climbing stairs?" the doctor asked. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 03 "I guess I was just getting impatient. I have been laid up for almost two months and I am getting stir-crazy," Tom replied. "No more stair climbing until we get that cast off in two weeks," Dr. Jasper ordered. "I learned my lesson," Tom said. "I won't try that again. How soon can I get out of here?" "I would say that you'll be out of here by Tuesday, maybe sooner. I'll come by in the morning and check on you. I'll know better then." During the exchange between Tom and Dr. Jasper, Lisa didn't move from her chair but she listened carefully to what the doctor told Tom. When Dr. Jasper left the room, Lisa followed him into the hall. "How bad is it?" Lisa asked. "His injury isn't serious and it should mend quickly but I am curious as to why he would have attempted to negotiate the stairs with a cast on his leg. That was foolish. Keep a closer watch on him and see to it that he doesn't try anything like that again." Lisa wondered if the doctor some how knew why Tom had tried to get down the stairs. She felt now that she should have known that Tom would have recognized Brad's voice when he came into the house and that it would upset him. Why did she invite him in? Did she subconsciously want to hurt Tom? No. That couldn't be it. She loved Tom. It had to be a simple case of poor judgment. When Lisa went back into Tom's room, she went over to the bed to try and talk to him but he was the first to speak. "You can go home now, I'm fine. You don't have to bother coming to see me tomorrow or Monday," Tom said. "I don't mind coming," she said, feeling hurt that he would suggest otherwise. "I would prefer that you didn't come," Tom said and then turned to face away from Lisa. Lisa felt the tears burning in her eyes as she turned to leave the room. ***** Sunday June 8, 2003 10:00 AM Lisa sat at the kitchen counter drinking her third cup off coffee. She had spent the night alternating between crying about her crumbling marriage and getting angry at the way Tom was treating her. Part of the time she blamed herself for what happened and then she would think of the pictures of Tom and that woman and she would blame Tom. What angered her the most was that Tom didn't seem to accept any responsibility for their problems. Lisa wanted to go to the hospital to see how Tom was doing but she knew it would just make him angry and she didn't feel like she could handle him sending her away. "If he doesn't want me there, the hell with him. I don't need this pain in my life," Lisa said to herself. ***** Hello Mr. Boyer, how are you feeling this morning?" Dr. Jasper asked as he came into Tom's room. "Not too bad. My chest hurts a little but I feel okay." Dr. Jasper checked Tom's chart and then he removed the small bandage on Tom's chest and examined the tiny incision. "Everything looks good." "When can I get out of here?" Tom asked. "I'll come by in the morning and if everything still looks good I think we can send you home tomorrow. Would you like me to notify your wife?" "I'll take care of that. Thanks," Tom said. After Dr. Jasper left Tom called Don DeLucia at NTD. Don, who was on Tom's sales team, answered his phone on the second ring. "NTD, Don DeLucia speaking how can I help you?" "Don, this is Tom. I need you to do me a favor." "Tom, good to hear from you. What do you need?" Tom explained his situation to Don and asked him to pick him up at the hospital Monday morning. "I'll be there. Tom, I'm really sorry about you and Lisa. I hope the two of you can work things out," Don said. "Thanks, Don. I'll see you tomorrow." ***** Monday June 9, 2003 8:00 AM Lisa was in her office trying to concentrate on work when Brad stuck his head in the door. "How did things go after I left on Saturday?" he asked. "Terrible. We had a big fight and then Tom started coughing up blood. They had to take him to the emergency room. Apparently when he fell down the stairs he somehow re-injured his lung. He is still in the hospital." "How long will he be there?" "I don't know. On Saturday the doctor told him he would be released either today or tomorrow," Lisa said. "If he was getting out today, someone would have called you by now. So it looks like it will be tomorrow," Brad guessed. "I wanted to apologize for the way Tom acted Saturday," Lisa said. "He was way out of line." Even as the words were coming out of her mouth she wondered why she said it. Was she just trying to be polite or was it just her anger directed at Tom. "Don't apologize for Tom. His behavior was understandable. If the situation were reversed, I would be plenty pissed at him. I was more concerned about the way he was treating you. He seemed to be blaming you for everything. This is, after all, his fault." It struck Lisa odd to hear Brad put the blame on Tom. "Well, we are all partly to blame. Tom started it but you and I should not have gone as far as we did. That was mostly my fault but you, as Tom's friend, should have shown more restraint." Brad felt his opportunity slipping away and decided that this was the time to say something to press his advantage. "Lisa, I haven't been completely honest with you. What happen that night in my apartment was more my doing than you know. I was so upset by what Tom had done to you and, mixed with my feelings for you, I was more than just a willing participant that night. I have no guilty feelings about what we did. My only regret was that you stopped me from going all the way." "Why were you so upset with Tom? You told me at first that you didn't think Tom was messing around. What changed your mind? The pictures?" Lisa said. "I'm sorry, Lisa, when I told you that I had never seen that woman, I lied. I did see her. The first time was Sunday night, the first night out there. After we finished setting up our booth at the convention center, we all went to the bar that overlooks the lagoon at Treasure Island. I saw her sitting at the bar and later I saw her talking to Tom. Then I saw them together again one other night. Tom didn't see me and I never mentioned it to him. I didn't tell you because I was hoping that it was just a onetime thing and that Tom wouldn't do it again. It's just that, when he still denied everything when you he knew you had the proof, I hated him for what he was doing to you. I'm sorry. I should have told you everything right away and I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of the situation in my apartment." Lisa sat back and looked at Brad. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Brad had known all along that Tom had cheated on her but he didn't tell her because he hoped that Tom wouldn't do it again? He didn't want to be the one to ruin her marriage? Lisa was totally confused now. Part of her wanted to go confront Tom with this new evidence but the other part of her wasn't sure if she ever wanted to see him again. "I know this is painful for you to hear and I am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. If you'd like we could have dinner tonight and talk more about this." Lisa looked at Brad and forced a smile on her face. "I don't think that's a good idea right now. I don't think I'd be very good company. I need to think things through and decided what to do next. Let me get through this and maybe in a couple months we can talk about going out to dinner," Lisa said. "I understand. I'll give you some space so you can deal with Tom." "Thanks Brad, you're a good friend." When Brad had left her office, Lisa began to wonder if she was doing the right thing. It might not be such a good idea to let Brad think that she has any interest in him beyond being a friend. She was going to have enough trouble dealing with Tom without getting involved with Brad and Lisa didn't want to lead Brad on. ***** 10:30 AM Don DeLucia was waiting outside the hospital as an orderly brought Tom out in a wheel chair and he helped him into the car. They drove without speaking to Tom's house. Once inside the house Tom told Don what he needed done. "I need you to go upstairs and into the front bedroom on the right. Get two suitcases out of the walk in closet, then go into my bedroom and empty my socks and underwear into one of the bags. Then fill the other bag with some of the clothes from my closet. I'll need several pairs of pants and at least a dozen shirts. Grab my sneakers and my dress shoes too. Then in the bathroom you will find my shaving gear and tooth brush on the lift side of the room. Pack that stuff and then bring the bags down here." Don didn't question the instructions. He just dashed up the stairs and started to work. While Don busied himself upstairs Tom got the phone book out and looked up the number for the local All Suites Hotel. There was an All Suites about two miles from the NTD offices and that is where he planned to go. He would stay there at least until he got the cast off his leg and then start looking for an apartment. As he was closing the suitcases, Don wondered if Tom was doing the right thing, running away like this. Don didn't like going behind Tom's back but he felt it was necessary. Before carrying the suitcases downstairs, Don took a business card out of his wallet and wrote 'Call Me,' on the back and then left the card on the bedside table next to the telephone. By the time Don returned with the loaded suitcases Tom had made his reservation. Don loaded the bags into Tom's truck and then helped Tom into the drivers seat. It was difficult to sit in the truck with the cast but Tom was confident that he would be able to drive. So without leaving a note or any indication of where he was going Tom backed his truck out of the garage and, followed by Don, drove the ten miles to the All Suites Hotel. Don waited while Tom checked in and then carried Tom's bags into the Hotel. The suite consisted of a living room with a small kitchen area, a bedroom and a bathroom. Tom looked around and thought, "It's small but it has everything I need for the time being." As Don was leaving Tom asked him to stop by his office and get his computer and bring it back to him later. Once he was alone Tom took his time and unpacked his clothes. Tom's plan was to work from his room at the All Suites until he got the cast off his leg and then he would be going back to work. All he needed was his computer and he had already asked Don to bring it to him. He would be able to do pretty much anything he could do in his office except meet with customers. Tom looked around the room and a deep sadness came over him. He knew that he still loved Lisa but he saw no way around the crater that had been left in their marriage by those damn pictures. Tom also began to wonder how serious things had gotten between Lisa and Brad and how long it had been going on. In addition to the pain caused by his marriage problems he knew that by leaving Lisa he had destroyed any chance he had of becoming the president of NTD. Tom wondered if perhaps he should leave NTD and start fresh somewhere else. ***** 2:00 PM Lisa had finally found something to occupy her mind so she wouldn't keep thinking about Tom. She had buried herself in long columns of numbers balancing the sales expense accounts for the month of May when her phone rang. "Mrs. Boyer, This is Maggie in reception, there is a man here to see Mr. Boyer and I thought you might want to handle this," the receptionist said. "Did he give you a name?" "No. He just said he that was a friend of Mr. Boyer's. "Did he say what he wanted to see Tom about?" Lisa asked. "No. He said it was a personal visit." Lisa began to panic. Could it be the man who had sent her those pictures, the husband of the woman Tom had the affair with? What would he want? Certainly nothing good. "Did you tell him about Tom?" "No. I just told him that I would have you come talk to him." Not knowing why, Lisa picked up her handbag and put the prints of the pictures she had been sent into the bag and then walked to the elevators. Lisa's mind was in a fog. What could she possible say to the man? What if he got violent? Should she alert security? When Lisa entered the lobby she saw a tall well-dressed man that appeared to be in his early fifties standing by one of the company's display cases seemingly examining it's contents. He was dressed in a blue pin-striped suit. His hair was short and silver gray. Lisa went over to the receptionist first. "Is that him?" Lisa asked indicating the man looking into the display case." "Yes." "When he spoke to you did he seem upset about anything?" "No. Why?" "No particular reason. Do me a favor. Keep an eye on us and if I hold my hand up to my ear like a telephone, call security," Lisa said. "Do you think he's dangerous?" "No. But I am just a little uncomfortable. I just want to be careful." "Okay, I'll keep an eye on you." Lisa could tell she had scared the receptionist and she felt guilty about that. This guy probably wasn't any danger to anyone but she was uncomfortable. Lisa took a deep breath and walked over to introduce herself. "Good afternoon, I am Lisa Boyer," she said. "Oh, you must be Tom's wife. My name is Carl Koonce. Maybe Tom told you about me." "Your name is familiar but I am not sure why." "I met Tom in Las Vegas. We spent a lot of time together negotiating a contract and we became pretty good friends that week. I'm in town on business and thought I would stop by and see if I could invite the two of you to have dinner with me tonight." Lisa remembered the big contract Tom brought home. Was this the man Tom negotiated that contract with? "I'm sorry, Mr. Koonce but Tom is in the hospital." "Really? Nothing too serious I hope." "I am not sure how serious it was this time." "This time? What's wrong with Tom?" Lisa guided Mr. Koonce to a sitting area in the lobby and then told him about Tom's accident and then the fall at the house on Saturday. Mr. Koonce noticed the tears in Lisa's eyes and sensed that there was more to the story than Lisa was telling. "Lisa, there's something you're not telling me. I know you don't know me and have no reason to trust me but I am a friend of Tom's and I would like to help if I can.." Lisa surprised herself. For some reason she suddenly felt comfortable talking to this man that just five minutes earlier she was ready to report to security. "This whole horrible mess started because Tom had an affair while he was in Vegas," "Had an affair? When?" "The whole week of the convention. He met some woman out there the first night and spent the rest of the week with her," Lisa said. Mr. Koonce said, "That's not possible." "What?" "I said that's not possible. Tom was with me every night?" Mr. Koonce said. "Oh, good, now you're going to try and cover for him. If that's true why didn't he tell me that he was with you?" "Because I made him promise not to tell anyone what we were doing." "Under the circumstances don't you think he would have broken his promise?" Lisa asked. "I don't know. Maybe he didn't think you would believe him." "Mr. Koonce, what were you doing that was so secret that you would make him promise not to tell any one." "Please call me Carl. First let me explain something about myself. I was married to a wonderful woman for 35 years and then she got breast cancer and I lost her. During our marriage I never strayed, never even came close. I have always believed that a married couple should be able to be faithful to each other and if they can't they shouldn't be married. Based on that alone I would never lie to cover up someone else's infidelity. As to what Tom and I were doing, I was being a little naughty. I have been alone for three years now and I am not in a hurry to find anyone to replace my wife. But I am still alive and saw my trip to Vegas as an opportunity to do something I had never done before. "So on Monday, after spending three hours at a conference table negotiating a deal with Tom I insisted that we go to dinner and then to one of the famous Vegas strip clubs. I had implied to Tom that this was all part of our negotiations and if he wanted my business he would have to go along with me. I am ashamed to say that I had such a good time that I told Tom I wanted to check out some other clubs and so we went to a different club every night. "I made it clear to Tom that if he told anyone about our trips to the clubs it would kill our deal. I guess a ten million dollar contract buys a lot of silence. I had no idea that by swearing him to secrecy it would cause him problems at home." Lisa's heart was starting to pound. Could this be true? What about the pictures? What about Brad telling me he saw them together? Lisa opened her handbag and pulled out the picture of the woman standing by herself and handed it to Carl. "Did you see this woman in Vegas?" Carl's face flushed. "Yes. She was one of the strippers at Glitter Gulch. I think her name is Brandi. That was the first club we went to and I am embarrassed to say that she gave me a lap dance. Where did you get that picture?" "Did she do anything with Tom?" "No. Poor Tom was so uncomfortable that some of the girls started to call him 'Mr. Hard On' because his whole body was so stiff. I know he didn't want to be there but I didn't want to go alone and he was a good sport about it. He finally did loosen up a bit after several drinks but I can assure you that he was a perfect gentleman the whole time." "So you never saw this girl again after that first time?" Lisa asked as she pointed to the picture again. "No." "Could Tom have seen her when you weren't around?" "Not likely. Tom and I spent all of our afternoons together and as I said we had dinner together each night and then we went to the strip clubs." Lisa's head was spinning. There were too many conflicting facts. Lisa took the rest of the pictures from her bag and handed them to Carl. "If he was so innocent and was with you all the time how do you explain these pictures?" Lisa asked in frustration. Carl looked at all of the pictures and then went back through them again. Finally he set the picture of Brandi down in front of Lisa. "It is hard to tell from these thumbnail pictures but my guess is that they were digitally edited," Carl said. "What?' "Digitally edited. These pictures were probably edited. If you digitize photographs by scanning them into a computer or take pictures with a digital camera the pictures can be edited. You can move people around in the picture, take things out and, more important to us right now, you can add things to a picture." Lisa wasn't quite sure she understood what Carl was telling her but she knew it was important. "How can we tell for certain if they were edited?" "Do you still have these pictures on your computer?" "Yes I do. Why?" "We may be able to make them bigger so we can get a better look at them." Carl said. "Follow me, please," Lisa said. Lisa led Carl out of the lobby and took him into a conference room. This conference room had a desktop computer set up so that anyone using the conference room would have access to the Internet. This allowed Lisa to access her e-mail and from that the web link that was in the note she had received. Carl sat down at the computer and quickly pointed out to Lisa that if she had clicked on the individual thumbnails they would have popped up larger copies of the same picture. Carl looked through all of the pictures and then went back to the picture of Brandi. Carl pointed to the picture of the blond and said, "Look at this picture. See how her shadow is very short. This picture had to be taken around noon in order for the shadow to be that short." Carl then pulled up the picture of Tom standing with the blond in front of Treasure Island. He pointed to Brandi again. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 03 "Look at her shadow in this picture. It looks the same as in the first picture so they had to have been taken at nearly the same time but look at Tom's shadow. See how long it is. His picture was taken much later in the day and I know this for a fact. Look at the man behind Tom and tell me what you see." Lisa looked closely at the picture on the display and studied it for a few seconds. "Oh, my God. That's you." "That's right. I was with Tom that day and Brandi was not. Someone took this picture of Tom in front of the hotel and then edited in Brandi's picture later. These pictures taken inside the hotel aren't as obvious. No shadows to compare but if you look closely you can see that they look a little funny. Whoever made these wasn't expecting you to look at them very closely. That brings us to the pictures on this last note. This one in front of Applebee's has the same problem with shadows and if you look closely at this last one that was supposed to be at your house Tom isn't anywhere to be seen and the door isn't opened. It looks to me like Brandi was just posed on your front steps to make it look like she was going into the house," Carl said. "Oh my God, I should have known. When I got those last two pictures the note said that they had been taken on Sunday and I believed it. Then I found out that Tom had been in the accident and had been in the hospital all weekend I just assumed that the date on the pictures was wrong. I should have figured it out then. Tom tried to tell me not to believe the pictures but I wouldn't listen to him." 'Who would want to cause trouble between you and Tom and why?" Carl asked "I have no idea but I intend to find out. I have to go to the hospital and tell Tom what I found out. I have to apologize for not believing him." "I guess I'll stay over another day and come see Tom tomorrow. That will give you time to straighten things out with him." "Where are you staying while you are in town?" Lisa asked. "I'm at the Marriott," Carl said and then handed Lisa a business card with his cell phone number and asked her to have Tom call him. Lisa took the card and thanked him. When Carl left, Lisa quickly went up to her office to shut off her computer and lock up her desk. While she waited for the computer to shut down she remembered what Brad had told her and she wanted to confront him to find out why he lied about seeing Tom with that woman. She called Brad but he didn't answer his phone so she decided to go down to his office. Lisa took the elevator down to the second floor and headed down the long hallway that led to the development labs. Lisa hadn't been in this part of the building in a couple of years so when she walked into the lab and didn't recognize more than half of the people in there she wasn't surprised. She did remember where Brad's office was and went directly to his door but he was not in. Lisa looked around the room but didn't see him anywhere. One of the new faces in the room was watching her and finally asked if he could help her so Lisa walked over to his workbench. "I was looking for Brad. Is he around?" "He took a late lunch today. He should be back in a half hour. I don't believe we have met before. My name is Jim Brasso." "Nice to meet you Jim, I am..." Before Lisa could finish giving him her name she saw something on the desk in front of her that caught her eye. It was a big HP photo editing system. When she saw the photo editor Lisa felt that now familiar chill and without understanding why she lied about her name. "I'm Sarah from accounting. I just wanted to see if Brad would still be wanting the weekly profit and loss reports. Tell Brad I'll call him later." "I'll tell him." Lisa pointed to the photo editor. "Is that one of those things that lets you change digital pictures?" "Yeah. It's the top of the line too. You can do amazing things with it. You can edit a photograph to take parts of the image out that you don't want." Jim said. "Can you put images into a picture?" Lisa asked. "It's a little harder than taking things out of a picture but it can be done and, if it's done right, it would be very hard to tell," Jim said. "That's cool. Whose desk is this?" "It's Bill Werner's. You ought to come down some time and let him give you a demonstration. He is pretty good at using it." "Where is he now?" "I think Bill had a meeting with one of the VPs but he should be back soon.," Jim said. "Well, I got to go. It was nice meeting you, Jim." "Nice meeting you too, Sarah." As Lisa left the lab area she tried to remember where she had heard the name Bill Werner before. Lisa had no evidence that Bill Werner had anything to do with the pictures but then she remembered that Tom had mentioned his name when he talked about the team that went to Las Vegas for the convention. The fact that he was in Vegas with Tom and he had access to a photo editor was too much of a coincidence for her. Why would anyone want to break up their marriage was beyond Lisa but she knew if she didn't act fast and make things right with Tom, whoever was responsible might have succeeded. ***** 4:30 PM By the time Lisa reached the hospital her heart was pounding. She was excited and happy to know that Tom hadn't cheated on her but she was worried that no matter what she said he would not be able to forgive her. Lisa ran up the stairs to the second floor rather than wait for the elevator. When Lisa pushed open the door to Tom's room the privacy curtain was pulled around the bed and a nurse was in with Tom. Lisa sat and waited for the nurse to finish her work and come out from behind the curtain. "Can I see my husband now?" Lisa asked. The nurse gave Lisa a funny look and said, "You must have the wrong room." "No, this is the right room. Room 209." "Well, if you say so. You can see him now." Lisa crossed the room and pulled the curtain back. "Tom, I have to talk to you so please listen. I just found...." As Lisa was talking, the man on the bed turned to face her. Lisa was stunned. It wasn't Tom; it was an eighty-year-old man. Lisa ran from the room and out to the nurses' station. "Where is my husband? He was in that room this morning and he is not there now. Where did you take him?" "What's his name?" "Tom Boyer." The nurse checked her floor records. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Boyer, but according to my records you husband was released this morning." Lisa was in a panic. Why had he left the hospital by himself? She raced home risking getting stopped for speeding but she made it home without incident. When she pulled her car into the garage she noticed that Tom's truck was gone. He couldn't have driven his truck, could he? She ran into the house and up to the bedroom but Tom wasn't there, the house was empty. Lisa noticed that the door to Tom's closet was opened so she looked inside and saw that a lot of his clothes had been removed. He had left her. Where would he have gone? Was it over? No, it couldn't be over. She wasn't going to let someone destroy her marriage. She had to straighten things out. Lisa ran down to the kitchen to start making calls. Having completed her plans Lisa went back to the bedroom to change her clothes. Once she was dressed, she sat on the bed, reached for the phone to call a taxi and as she did she noticed a business card sitting on the bedside table next to the phone. On the back of the card were the words, "Call me." ***** 7:00 PM Tom's day had been very busy for someone in his condition. He was exhausted from unpacking his clothes and from the physical stress of the move. Don had stopped by at 6:30 to deliver Tom's computer and a bag full of groceries. Tom thanked him. "Just call me if you need anything else," Don said. "By the way, Zack caught me in your office packing up your computer. I didn't tell him where you were but he said to ask you to call him at home tonight." "I'll call him after you leave." "Tom, don't you think you should call Lisa and at least tell her where you are?" "No. I'll call her in a few days but I don't want to talk to her right now," Tom said. "I do appreciate the help, Don, but just remember that no one is to know where I am staying." "Got it. I won't tell anyone." Don only stayed a few minutes more and discussed some business with Tom and then said good night. Tom wasn't ready to talk to Zack yet so, deciding to wait to call Zack in the morning, Tom got a beer from the refrigerator and sat down and tried to watch television. He couldn't seem to get interested in anything on the television and eventually turned it off. Then, without anything to distract him, Tom began to think about Lisa. He knew that he had overreacted to her accusation that he had cheated on her. He should have told her the truth. That he had been going to strip clubs with Carl Koonce every night just to make sure Carl would sign the contract. Was it the promise he made to Carl that made him lie to Lisa or was it the anger when she questioned him about what he had been doing with his evenings in Las Vegas. The phrase "the truth shall set you free," popped into Tom's head. In this case it may not have set him free but it would have saved his marriage. This is not all my fault either, Tom thought. Lisa seemed to presume that he was guilty before she even asked him what he did in Las Vegas. Then there was the stunt she pulled going to Ben's Lounge that night. If she hadn't done that Tom would certainly have been able to straighten things out with her. Now he was stuck with the prospect that he and Lisa would never get back together because he couldn't forgive her for what happened with Brad. Then another thought struck Tom. "Who the fuck was messing up his life and why?" Tom ended up drinking four beers and falling asleep on the sofa. 8:00 PM Lisa was looking out the window as the MD 80 began to accelerate down the runway finally lifting off the ground with a jolt followed by the sound of the landing gear retracting. Her thoughts wandering back to her last conversation, or rather argument, with Tom. It struck her that she had apologized to Brad for the way Tom was acting but she never even tried to apologize to Tom for what happened. She should never have let Brad into the house that day. She should have called him and asked him to stay away from the house. Everything she had done during the past several weeks had only made matters worse. Lisa briefly looked at the man sitting next to her and wondered if she was doing the right thing. "Should I have tried to talk to Tom first?" she thought to herself. "No. He doesn't want to talk to me. He made that very clear." "Thanks for coming with me," Lisa said. To be continued... What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 04 Tuesday June 10, 2003 6:35 AM Tom had a restless night and didn't get much sleep. He got himself out of bed and managed to make a pot of coffee and sat at the little dinette table next to the kitchenette and waited for the coffee to brew. When it was ready, he poured himself a cup and picked up his cell phone and called Zack's office. No one answered but then Tom didn't expect Zack to be in his office yet. He just wanted to leave a message. "Zack, this is Tom. Would you please call me when you get in this morning. Call me on my cell phone. Thanks." Tom finished his coffee and went to the bathroom to bathe. With the cast on his leg and the pain in his chest, bathing was a difficult chore and left Tom exhausted. After bathing Tom put on a Colorado Rockies tee-shirt and a pair of sweat pants with the left leg slit up the side to accommodate his cast. ***** 7:00 AM Tom had just finished dressing and was sitting on the sofa with his second cup of coffee when someone knocked on his door. He didn't want to have to get up so he thought about ignoring whoever it was but realized that it must be Don again. After all no one else knew where he was staying. Tom was on his feet and slowly moving toward the door when he heard another knock on the door. "Hold on, I'm coming," Tom yelled at the door. Tom looked through the peek hole in the door and saw Zack standing on his doorstep. A surprised Tom opened the door and moved aside to let Zack in, "How did you find me?" "Don. He didn't tell me where you were but I saw him get your computer from you office last night so I followed him to find out where you were staying. I decided to wait until this morning to come see you. So, why the hell are you not at home and where the hell is Lisa? I called her several times last night and again this morning but she has not returned any of my calls," Zack said. "I don't know where Lisa is. Things are not going well between us right now and I don't want to talk to her for a while." "Can you tell me what's going on?" Zack asked. "I honestly don't know," Tom said. "Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make Lisa think I had an affair in Las Vegas but I don't know why." "Did you have an affair?" "Of course not." "I saw the pictures Tom," Zack said. "They looked like proof that you did something. They didn't show you in the act but they were pretty convincing." "How did you get the pictures?" "They were sent to me anonymously." "They were faked. That woman was not in my room in the nude. As a matter of fact that wasn't my room. It was the suit we were using for customer meetings," Tom said. "How could the pictures have been faked?" "Zack, don't you read any of those technology magazines you get. The pictures were taken with a digital camera and then edited." "How do they edit a nude woman into the room with you?" Zack asked. "I wasn't in the room. I was outside the door going to get ice. The picture of the nude woman had to be taken at a different time and then edited in to make it look like she was in the room behind me." "How could it have been made to look so real?" "I have been thinking about that. I think the nude woman had to be in that room when the picture was taken. Then that picture was combined with the one of me going out to get ice. Not hard to do but both pictures had to be taken from the same perspective in order to get them to look right. My guess is that they were taken by the same person too," Tom said. "Who would have had the opportunity to slip a nude woman into the suite and take that picture?" Zack asked. "That's the part that stumps me. That room was in use almost all of the time. We had visitors in and out all day and then we locked up the room at seven o'clock. I had the only key to that room." "No one else had access to the room that week?" "No." Suddenly Tom slapped himself in the head. "Oh, shit. That geeky little bastard,' Tom yelled. "What geeky little bastard?" "Bill Werner. He stayed in Vegas for the weekend and the hotel let him keep the suite we had been using. He told Brad he had met a girl and she was going to spend the weekend with him. That gave him the opportunity but what was his motive?" Tom said. "I barely know the guy. Why would he want to ruin my marriage?" "Did you tell Lisa the pictures were faked?" "I tried. At first I was so stunned that she was accusing me of having an affair that I didn't know what to say. I never even asked her to show me the pictures because I already knew they had to be faked. When I finally saw the pictures my brain froze. All I could think about was where did they come from. Lisa was waiting for me to confess that I had an affair and instead of trying to explain that the pictures had to be faked I got angry. By the time I got around to trying to tell her they were fakes she wasn't about to believe anything I told her." "If I could get my hands on that little fuck Werner right now I would find out what this was all about." Tom noticed that the expression on Zack's face had changed. Zack had a puzzled look on his face when Tom had started telling his story but now Zack's face had taken on a dark red color and the anger that was building was obvious. Tom wondered momentarily if Zack's anger was directed at him. "Tom, I think I might know what this is about and I don't believe it has anything to do with someone just wanting to break up your marriage." "What are you talking about?" Tom asked. "I told you that I have been working with several well-respected local businessmen to select people to sit on the Board of Directors when I take the company public until our stockholders can elect a permanent board in about a year. In order to get these men to agree to sit on the board I had to tell them who I intend to have as officers of the corporation. I of course intend to be the CEO and I named David Ransom as Vice President of Marketing and Sales and you, as president of NewTech Design. "Dave had been after me ever since I first mentioned going public, trying to get me to make him the president. I finally had to tell him my plans. He wasn't happy about it but said he would support me. I suspect that he may have had something to do with your problems. He knows that the people I am asking to sit on the board would never go along with me naming you as president of the company if you are in the middle of a messy divorce. Of course I can't prove any of this. Until we can get to the bottom of this, the best defense against this is for you to straighten things out with Lisa." "I can't believe this. Do you really think David would do something so underhanded?" Tom asked. "You don't know David like I do. I wouldn't put this past him. Besides what other reason can you think of for someone doing this to you?" Zack asked. "I guess I thought that someone was trying to take Lisa away from me." "Who?" "Brad." "Brad's your best friend." "Not anymore." "I don't know about Brad," Zack said, "but this scam required money and a lot of it. Someone had to pay for the suite at Treasure Island over the weekend. If Bill Werner was involved, what was his motivation? What could Brad offer him that would make this worth the risk? David could easily have paid for the room and the girl and made it worth Werner's time. If David became president of the company he would have been in a great position to take care of Werner for a long time." Tom was feeling all kinds of emotions now. His wife didn't trust him, his best friend had betrayed him, at least two people at NTD were plotting against him and he was suffering from pain and exhaustion. "I must be a prize idiot. I played right into their hands," Tom said as he slumped into the sofa. "If I would have been more patient with Lisa, I could have ended this before it got out of hand. How do you want to play this?" "You get busy patching things up with Lisa and don't tell anyone what we discussed here. Lisa needs to know so that she understands what is going on but no one else," Zack said. "I want to keep things quiet until we can find proof that David was involved, then I will fire his ass so fast he won't know what happened to him." Zack started moving toward the door and Tom started to stand up. "Don't get up Tom, I'll let myself out. Now call Lisa." "I will." When the door closed behind Zack, Tom reached for the phone and said to himself, "I wonder if she will even talk to me." He tried their home phone first but didn't get an answer so he tried Lisa's cell phone but again there was no answer. Tom left messages on both phones asking her to call him. Tom wondered if Lisa was screening calls to avoid talking to him. ***** 8:30 AM Brad Thompson was standing next to Bill Werner's desk asking about some design drawings that Werner was supposed to be working on. "When can you have them finished?" Brad asked. "I am working on something for Mr. Ransom right now but I can probably get to those other drawings this afternoon sometime?" "Next time Ransom tells you to do something for him I want you to remind him that you work for design engineering not marketing. This bull shit has got to stop." "Hey, man, he's a fucking VP. I can't tell him no," Bill said. At that moment Werner's phone rang. "Hello?" "It's me," the caller said. "Just a minute," Bill said. Bill put his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to Brad, "It's Mr. Ransom." "Well, tell the son-of-a-bitch you have design work to do." As Brad walked away, Werner said, "Okay. I'm back." "I have been thinking about how we can correct the mistake we made on those last pictures. Somehow I am going to have to make Mrs. Boyer think that I just made a mistake on the date that the pictures were taken. I plan to make her think they were taken at least a month before the Vegas pictures," Ransom said. "You think she'll buy that?" "Sure, why not? That will make it seem that the affair has been going on for a lot longer," Ransom said, "and just to be sure she believes it we are going to need one last set of pictures. I am going to ask your friend Brandi to come back here this week. Then all we need to do is get her in the same room with Tom for a photo op." "How do you plan on doing that?" Werner asked. "Tom isn't going to sit there and let us take incriminating pictures of him." "He won't have any choice in the matter," Ransom said. "I want you to visit him when his wife isn't around. Then all you have to do is slip him a special drink and the rest will be up to Brandi and your camera." "Special drink? What are you talking about?" "I just happen to have some rohypnol. You will just put some in Tom's drink and he won't know what's going on. When he is doped up we'll get some nice pictures of him playing with Brandi." "Isn't this getting a little risky?" Werner asked. "The risks are high but the rewards are much higher. If things work out I'll be running this company in less that a year. I need you to keep tabs on Tom. I want to know what he is doing and where he is all day. We have to find the best time to get him alone so that we can get our pictures." "I'll do what I can but I am getting a lot of crap from Brad. He's pissed that I am spending so much time doing things for you instead of doing the work that he assigns to me," Werner said. "Don't worry about Brad Thompson," Ransom said. "A year from now Mr. Thompson will only be a distant memory. You will have his job and you will be giving the orders down there." ********* 8:35 AM Tom called Lisa's office but got no answer. He transferred to the department secretary and asked if Lisa was around. The secretary told him that Lisa called in and said she was going to be out of the office on vacation for the next couple of days. Tom had a bad feeling about that. What was Lisa up to? She wasn't answering her phone and she wouldn't return his calls. Tom's concern was building. Could she have gone off somewhere with Brad? "NewTech Design, Brad Thompson speaking." "Brad, it's Tom. Do you know where Lisa is?" "No, I don't. I know she didn't come into work today." "You had better not be lying to me." "I'm not. I haven't seen her." Tom hung up on Brad without saying anything more. "That asshole," Brad said to himself as he put his phone down. ***** Wednesday June 11, 2003, 9:30 PM Tom was very worried. He had tried all day Tuesday and Wednesday to track Lisa down but no one knew where she was or at least they weren't telling him where she was. Could she possible be hiding on him? Why would she? After all, he's the one all crippled up. He was supposed to be hiding from her. Tom had given up. He didn't know who else to call or where else to look so he got a beer and sat on the sofa. He debated on whether or not to take a couple of Darvocet so that he would sleep through the night. ***** Brad Thompson was sitting at his desk trying to find the design specs that Bill Werner had been working with on the department file server. They weren't there. Brad was pissed. He had to work late because Bill Werner wasn't doing his job. "That little fuck has spent so much time sucking up to Ransom that he hasn't done any of the work I assigned him so now I will miss a deadline for the first time because of him." There was no one else in the building to hear him but it felt good just to let off some steam. Brad got up and walked out to Werner's desk and turned on his computer. The computer powered up and then asked for a password. Brad was sure that Werner would have his hard drive password protected but he was disappointed to find that he was right. Brad tried the drawers in Werner's desk but they were all locked. He was about to give up when he lifted up the large month-at-a-glance calendar on Werner's desk. Underneath the calendar Brad found a Post-it note with one word on it. "Ham?" Brad wondered. "Could that be his password?" Brad typed 'ham' into the password box and hit enter. Immediately a message popped up on the screen; "Password not recognized." Brad was about to give up when he remembered that Bill Werner was into Ham Radio. When Werner first came to NTD he used to bore Brad with stories about his radio and all the people he talked to all over the world. Brad wondered if Ham might be a password hint or reminder that Werner had forgotten that he left under the calendar. Brad tried to remember Werner's ham call sign. He had sat in Bill's car one day as Bill talked on his two-meter radio and he remembered Bill constantly repeating a certain phrase that indicated his call sign. Brad began thinking out loud, "Katie wants... Yeah, that's it Katie wants... what the fuck did Katie want? Katie Wants Good Dogs? NO. Katie Wants 2 Good Dogs. That's it. KW2GD. That was his call sign." Brad typed "KW2GD" into the password box and Bill's desktop opened. Brad laughed. "The geek isn't very smart when it comes to passwords." Brad started going through folders looking for the files he needed when he came across a folder named 'Ransom.' Brad opened the folder and there were several more folders inside. Brad opened a folder named 'Boyer' and found several pictures of Tom. Most of the pictures appeared to be from their Las Vegas trip. There were pictures of Tom standing in front of the Treasure Island hotel and several shots of him in and around the suite they were using for meetings. The rest of the pictures were taken in Denver. Most of them showed Tom coming out of an Applebee's restaurant. Brad recognized it as the restaurant where he and Lisa were eating when Lisa's nosey neighbor spotted them. All of the pictures looked like candid shots and Tom obviously didn't know anyone was taking his picture. Then Brad remembered Tom asking him if he remembered anyone taking pictures when they were in Vegas. Brad couldn't remember seeing Werner with a camera. Brad wondered why Werner had taken so many pictures of Tom. Brad closed the folder and opened another folder named 'Brandi.' This one contained pictures of the blond that had been in the pictures Lisa had showed him. Suddenly Brad began to understand. The pictures of Brandi show her in all the same places that Tom had been. There were even nude pictures of the blond in the suite they had used during the conference. "What the fuck is going on here?" Brad wondered even though he already had a pretty good idea. Brad closed the 'Brandi' folder and opened another named 'Trouble in Paradise.' In that folder Brad found all of the pictures that Lisa had showed him. These pictures were all fakes. "So that's what that little shit has been up to," Brad hissed. Brad found another folder named 'The Plan.' Inside this folder was a word document that outlined everything that Ransom had planned and what he had asked Werner to do. There were also copies of several e-mails that Ransom had sent Werner with instructions and there were also copies of the two notes that were sent to Lisa. Brad figured Werner would use that file to make sure that Ransom didn't try to fuck him over later. Brad quickly copied everything in the 'Ransom' folder to the department file server. Then Brad shut down Werner's computer and went back to his own and opened the "Ransom files on the server. Brad zipped the files and put them in a password-protected folder. ***** 11:05 PM Tom had decided not to take the Darvocet and was still awake as a result. He was watching the late news and trying not to think about Lisa and how worried he was that she hadn't called him yet. Tom was reaching for the television remote when his cell phone rang. The unexpected ring startled him causing Tom to knock his phone off the table as he quickly reached for it. It was difficult for Tom to reach down and pick the phone up. Once he retrieved the phone Tom opened it and said, "Lisa?" There was no response. Tom had been too late. Tom looked at the call history to see if the missed call was from Lisa. It was not. As Tom stared at the number on his phone it began to ring again, only this time it was the ring tone that indicated that he had received a new voice mail message. Tom hit the button to play back the voice mail. "Tom, it's Brad. Call me on my cell phone. I know you don't want to talk to me but this is important." "What the hell does he want?" Tom wondered out loud. Tom used speed dial to call Brad back. "Tom?" "Yeah. What do you want?" "Tom, you have to listen to me. First you have to believe me that I never would have gone near Lisa if I didn't believe that you had cheated on her in Vegas. Remember you are the one who said you spent your nights in your room reading. You have got to know that I would not believe that. Anyway, I know the truth now. Dave Ransom and Bill Werner set you up." "I know," Tom said. "You know? When did you find out?" "Zack and I figured it out earlier this evening," Tom said. "I have all the evidence," Brad said. "I broke into that little geeks computer tonight looking for some work he was supposed to have done for me and found everything or almost everything. That stupid little shit left all of the pictures he took of you and that blond on his computer." "Holy shit," Tom said. "That's not all. Werner has copies of e-mails from Ransom telling him what he wanted Werner to do for him and to you. Werner also created a word document that lays out their plan. Apparently Werner doesn't completely trust Ransom and wanted to make sure he had something he could hold over Ransom's head if Ransom tried to screw him. Anyway, the reason I am calling so late is that Werner's notes say that the blond, whose name is Brandi, is coming to Denver tomorrow. The plan is to somehow drug you and then get some real explicit pictures of you with the woman. Pictures that you wouldn't be able to tell Lisa were faked. So you have been warned. I put everything on the department file server in a password-protected folder to make sure that Werner can't erase it. I sent the password to Lisa, Zack and you so that you can see what they have been up to." What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 04 "We've got those bastards now," Tom said. "Tom, I am sorry for what I did. I lost your friendship and now Lisa is going to hate me too." "I am pissed at you but I'm sure Lisa doesn't hate you," Tom said. "She will when she learns the truth. I told her a lie the other day. I told her that I saw you with that blond twice while we were in Vegas," Brad said. "Why the fuck did you tell her that?" Tom said. "Like I said before, I thought that you really had cheated on Lisa so I just tried to help her accept that you had done it. Of course I did that for selfish reasons. I thought that I might have a chance with Lisa if you two broke up. I would never have done anything if I knew the truth. I acted selfishly and now I have lost my two best friends. I just hope you two can get through this and that you'll both forgive me someday." "We'll see. Thanks, Brad." Tom said and closed his phone. Tom thought that they now had just about everything they needed to hang Ransom and Werner. Then Tom began to wonder how they planned to drug him so they could take pictures of him with the blond. After all, only Zack and Don knew where he was and they wouldn't tell anyone else. He opened his phone and tried to call Lisa again but still got no answer. Tom felt his stomach twist as his concern over not being able to get in touch with Lisa increased. It was three o'clock that morning before Tom was able to fall asleep. ***** PART 5 Thursday June 12, 2003 8:00 AM "Hello, NewTech Design, Bill Werner speaking." "It's me. Is she here yet?" "No. She called last night and said she would be here today." "Good. Have you located Boyer yet?" "No, but I am pretty sure that Don DeLucia knows where he is," Werner said. "I heard Boyer's secretary tell someone that Don had taken Tom's computer to him. I know Tom isn't home so I will keep an eye on DeLucia and if he leaves the building I will follow him. I'll know where Boyer is by the end of the day." "Send me the pictures as soon as you have them," Dave Ransom said. ***** 9:16 AM Tom woke up late that morning and when he saw the time he scrambled out of bed as quickly as his injuries would allow him. He immediately tried to call Lisa at home and got no answer and then he tried her cell phone with the same results. The knot in Tom's stomach was getting tighter. Tom finally decided to bathe, eat breakfast, if he could, and then call Lisa's parents to see if they had heard from her. He didn't want to upset them but he knew that eventually he would have to call them. If they hadn't heard from Lisa, Tom didn't know what he should do. Tom hoped that he wasn't going to have to file a missing person report with the police. Tom started a pot of coffee and went off to bathe. ***** 9:20 AM Don DeLucia looked at his phone and saw that the incoming call was from Zack Morgan. "Good morning, Zack. What can I do for you?" "Don, I need you to take a package over to Tom for me. I'd go myself but I have an important meeting in a few minutes," Zack said. "You know where Tom is?" "Yes." Don wanted to ask Zack how he knew but decided not to. "When do you want me to go?" "Now, if you can get away." "I'll be right up to pick up the package. ***** 9:45 AM Bill Werner was looking out the window when he spotted Don DeLucia walking out to the parking lot. Bill just smiled to himself as he thought about the GPS transmitter he slipped under the bumper of Don's car earlier that morning. Bill walk out to his car, in no hurry because it wasn't necessary. Bill slipped into his car and turned on the GPS tracker and watched the flashing dot moving across the monitor. As Bill Werner watched the screen he thought about all the great toys he had been able to purchase with Ransom's money. ***** 10:05 AM Tom had finished bathing and was struggling to get a pair of jogging pants on over his cast when there was a knock at his door. Tom let the shorts drop back to the floor and pulled his bathrobe tight and tied it. Tom managed to get to the door just as Don knocked a second time. "What's up, Don?" "Zack asked me to bring this to you." Don said as he handed Tom the large envelope. "You want to come in for a cup of coffee, Don?" Tom asked. "No, thanks. I have a conference call at eleven o'clock and I need some time to prepare for it," Don said. "Okay, thanks for bringing this over." Tom said. "No problem. I'll call you later to see if you need anything." "You have been a big help. I won't forget this." Tom said. Don didn't know how to respond to that so he just smiled and then left. Tom set the envelope on the table and picked up his phone. ***** 10:30 AM Lisa's parents said that they hadn't heard from her and Tom was sure they were telling him the truth. He had called them fifteen minutes earlier and had been sitting by his phone wishing it to ring. While he waited by the phone, Tom opened the package that Don had given him. Inside he found a DVD and a note from Zack. "Tom, I talked to Brad this morning and I copied everything that Brad found on Werner's computer onto the enclosed DVD. Call me to discuss our next step," Zack's note said. Tom put the DVD into his computer and opened the files. "Holy shit. It's all here," Tom muttered to himself. "What will Lisa say when she finds out how wrong she was about me?" Tom looked through all of the files and then called Zack. "We've got them by the short hairs," Tom said. "I can't wait to see them try and talk their way out of this mess." "I called the District Attorney and told him what David has been up to and why he was doing it," Zack said. "The DA said that if we are right that David and Mr. Werner would be guilty of conspiracy and would be spending some time in prison. The DA would like to burn Werner first and get him to turn against Ransom. He would really like to talk to the woman in the pictures and he's is trying to find out who she is." When the call ended Tom was excited about the prospect of nailing Werner and Ransom for what they had done to him but his excitement was tempered by his worry over Lisa. Where in the hell was she? Tom needed to talk to her even though he wasn't sure if their marriage would survive the damage already done. Her infidelity with Brad combined with the terrible things they had said to each other the last time they spoke had built a wall between them that they might not be able to break down. Tom sat contemplating these things for the next couple of hours, all the time hoping that Lisa would call. ******** 1:15 PM Zack Morgan was sitting in his office talking with Mike Stanton, the District Attorney for the city of Denver and Zack's college roommate. Zack had shown Mike the files that Brad had recovered from Bill Werner's computer and they were discussing how to proceed when Zack's phone rang. "Marge, I thought I told you to hold my calls," Zack said to his secretary. "You did but it's Lisa Boyer and you said that you wanted to talk to her if she called. She said it is very important that she speak with you," Marge said. "I do want to talk to her, Marge. Put the call through." Zack heard the click as Marge switched the call to his line. "Lisa, where are you?" "Zack, we don't have much time so please just listen to me." ***** 3:25 PM Bill Werner picked up his phone and called David Ransom. Werner had a smirk on his face as he thought about the fun he was going to have with Brandi that evening, before and after he got the pictures Ransom wanted. "Ransom." "It's me. Brandi is on her way." "Good. What time are you meeting her?" Ransom asked. "Six o'clock." "Were you able to locate Boyer?" "Yes. He is at that All Suites just down the road. I got Brandi a room there too," Werner said. "Good. So you are all set then. You'll have those pictures for me tomorrow morning?" "I'll send them to you in an e-mail as soon as I get into the office in the morning," Werner said. ***** 6:25 PM Tom picked up his cell phone to check for messages. He had just returned from a short walk over to the convenience store next to the hotel. Tom hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and in his rush to get to the store he had forgotten to take his cell phone with him. The walk to the store had taken him much longer than expected and he had missed a call while he was out. The missed call was from Zack but nothing from Lisa. Tom sat down on the sofa and was about to listen to the voice mail message that Zack had left him when there was a knock on his door. Tom pulled himself up from the sofa and headed to the door thinking that it must be either Zack or Don so when he got to the door he opened it without looking through the peek hole. If he had looked he probably would not have opened the door at all. Standing in his door way was Bill Werner. "What are you doing here?" Tom said. 'My girlfriend is visiting and she has a room here. I was waiting for her to get dressed to go out when I spotted your truck in the parking lot. I got the guy at the front desk to tell me what room you were in and I thought I would stop by and say hello and see how you were doing." Tom knew that was bullshit. The hotel clerk would never have told Werner what room he was in. Bill had to have gotten the room number some other way. "You going to invite me in?" Werner asked. "Yeah, come on in." Having read the files that Brad had discovered on Werner's computer, Tom had a pretty good idea of why Werner was there. Tom walked back into the room and sat on the sofa. "You got anything to drink?" Werner asked. "Got some beer in the fridge and there's some Scotch on the kitchen counter," Tom said. "I could go for a Scotch. How about you?" Werner asked. "A Scotch sounds good," Tom said as he started to get up off the sofa. "I'll get it," Werner said. "Where do you keep your glasses? Werner found the glasses in the cabinet next to the sink and stood so that Tom couldn't see him pouring the drinks. Werner brought the drinks over to the sofa and handed one to Tom. Werner was about to sit down when Tom said, "I hate to bother you but I haven't had anything to eat today. There is a can of mixed nuts in the kitchen cabinet. Would you bring them in?" "Sure, no problem." Werner said. As Werner was getting the can of nuts Tom called out, "You may as well bring the Scotch in with you. That first one went down too easy. I think I'll need another. Werner had a smile on his face as he came back into the room and saw Tom holding the empty glass. He put the Scotch and the can of nuts on the coffee table and sat down. Tom poured himself another serving of Scotch, opened the can of nuts and took a handful out. "So where is this girlfriend of yours from?" Tom asked. "Las Vegas," Werner said. "I met her when we were over there for the convention back in April. I don't get to see her as often as I would like but we get together whenever we can." Tom put his hand up to his forehead and said, "Wow. That first drink hit me hard. I probably shouldn't have had that on an empty stomach. I hope the Scotch isn't reacting with the meds I'm on. I took a pain killer an hour ago." Tom sat quietly for a few minutes while Bill Werner watched him. "Bill, I am not feeling too well," Tom said. "I'm sorry but I think I need to go to bed." "No problem," Werner said. "You don't look well. Do you need some help getting into bed?" "I don't know. I might," Tom said. "I feel very strange all of a sudden." Werner took Tom's arm and helped him up and then guided him into the bedroom. Once in the bedroom Tom flopped down onto the bed. "I think I'll be all right now. I think I just need to sleep for a while. Thanks." "Sorry you're not feeling well. I'll check and see how you're doing tomorrow." Werner walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He stood outside the door for a few minutes listening to Tom's breathing. When it was obvious that he had drifted off to sleep Werner pulled his cell phone out and hit one of his speed dial numbers. "We're ready for you, Brandi," Werner said. "Come on over now." Werner sat down on the sofa and picked up the glass of Scotch he had been drinking and waited for Brandi. ***** 6:50 PM Lisa was waiting to board her flight to Denver. She looked at her cell phone again but just like the last time she looked at it, the battery was still dead. She wondered if she should have tried to call Tom before she left the hotel. If she had, would he have talked to her? Well, when she got back to Denver he would have to talk to her. She was going to go straight to his room at the All Suites from the airport and try to straighten things out. ***** 6:55 PM The knock on Tom's door was barely audible but Werner heard it. He jumped up and moved quickly to the door to let Brandi in. "He's in the bedroom asleep," Werner said. "Get your clothes off and then I'll help you undress him." "Hey, what's going on here?" Brandi said. "You said all I had to do was party with you and another guy. You never said he would be unconscious." "I said he was asleep, not unconscious," Werner said. "Then wake him up. I'm not doing someone while they're asleep," Brandi said. "Come on, you're getting paid so what's your problem?" "If I am fucking a guy that's awake, I know it's something he wants to do," she said. "I am not comfortable fucking around with some guy that doesn't even know what's happening?" "I just want to get some pictures of you with him," Werner said. "It's a joke I am playing on him." "Oh, a joke," she said. "I don't know what you're up to but I have an uneasy feeling about this. I never asked why you took all those other pictures of me but it did worry me. Now you want to take pictures of me in bed with a guy that isn't even awake? If you really want me to do this it'll cost you another $500. "What? You have already been paid plenty for this." "I was paid to have sex with you and let you take some pictures of me. No one said anything about me getting into bed with some guy you drugged. I am guessing this is some kind of blackmail scheme and if you want me to do this it'll cost you $500." Bill Werner was getting nervous. He didn't like having to negotiate with Brandi and he was afraid that the extra money would have to come out of his own pocket. In the end he realized he had no choice. He had to get the pictures and worry about the money later. "All right, I'll get you the $500 now get undressed. We don't have all night," Werner said. Bill Werner was waiting for Brandi to start removing her clothes as he thought about fucking her on the bed while Tom Boyer lay next to them unconscious. Werner's erotic thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice behind him. "What does she have to do for the $500?" Werner turned toward the voice and saw Tom Boyer coming out of the bedroom and before he could think of anything to say there was a knock at the door. Werner was frozen in place and things seemed to be moving in slow motion around him. He turned away from Tom and watched as Brandi went to the door and opened it. At that moment Bill Werner's world came crashing down on him. Two uniformed police officers entered the room. One of them with sergeant strips on his arm said, "William Werner?" Tom pointed at Werner and the two officers approached him. The sergeant said, "Mr. Werner, I have a warrant for your arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit felony fraud." Bill Werner just stood there with a blank look on his face as one of the officers handcuffed him. While this was taking place, another man entered the room. He was wearing tan Dockers and a sport jacket. Tom could see that this man had a police badge clipped to his belt next to his gun. "Mr. Boyer?" The plainclothes officer said. "That's me," Tom said. "I am Detective Furgeson, I have been assigned to this case," he said. "Are you okay?" "Yes, I'm fine." "Our information is that this man," he said as he pointed at Werner, "was going to drug you so that he could take compromising pictures of you with this woman." "That was my understanding also," Tom said. "I believe he did try to give me a spiked drink." "You didn't drink it?" "No I poured it into that coffee cup on the table next to the sofa," Tom said. "Smart move. I'll be taking that with me then," detective Furgeson said. "How did you know what was going on?" Tom asked. "I got a call from the DA. He told me what was going down and that the woman, Ms. Wilson here, was cooperating with us. She was wearing a wire and we recorded everything Mr. Werner said to her this evening. I thought your boss called you to tell you what was going on." "I think he did but I missed the call and before I could listen to the message he left me Werner showed up at my door," Tom said. "I just have a few more questions, then I'll get out of your way." "Okay, but do you mind if I sit down. My leg is beginning to hurt," Tom said. "Please do," Furgeson said. Tom sat down on the sofa and drank the Scotch that he had left in his glass and then spent the next forty-five minutes answering Detective Furgeson's questions. When Furgeson was done with his questions, Tom asked him, "How did you find Ms. Wilson and get her to cooperate with the investigation?" "I really don't know," Furgeson said. "When the DA called me he said that they had found the woman and that she was willing to cooperate but he never told me how they found her. ***** 8:15 PM As Detective Furgeson was preparing to leave Tom's room, Zack showed up. "Are you all right, Tom?" Zack asked as he came into the room. "I'm fine." "I was worried when I couldn't get a hold of you earlier but I was sure that once Werner showed up you would know what was going on." "Thank God Brad found those files, otherwise Werner might have been successful." "I don't think so," Zack said. "What do you mean?" Tom said. "If it weren't for the detailed plans that Werner had on his computer we wouldn't have known that they planned to drug me and get pictures of me with that woman." "Actually we had another source for information about what was supposed to happen tonight," Zack said. "We did? From who?" "Ms. Wilson told us everything." "How did they find her?" Tom asked. "It's not how they found her that is important but who found her." Zack said. "Okay, then who found her?" Tom asked. "Lisa did. That's why you haven't been able to find her. She went to Las Vegas to find Ms. Wilson," Zack said. "How the hell did Lisa know where to find her?" "I'm sorry, Tom, I don't know," Zack said. "Lisa called me from Las Vegas this afternoon. Luckily the DA was in my office at the time. Lisa told us what was going on and somehow she got Ms. Wilson to cooperate." "Is Lisa home now?" "No. She had to take a later flight than Ms. Wilson. The DA didn't want to take a chance on having anyone associated with this conspiracy seeing Lisa arriving on the same flight from Las Vegas as Ms. Wilson," Zack said. "What the hell did she think she was doing? She could have put herself into a lot of danger," Tom said. "Was she so sure that I cheated on her that she had to go looking for the final proof of it? " "No, Tom. You have that wrong. She did it because she knew the truth and wanted to find out who was doing this to you. She took the risk because she loves you." It was after ten o'clock when Zack finally left Tom's room. Zack had filled Tom in on what he and the DA had planned for David Ransom. The DA was sure, based on what they already knew, that Bill Werner would roll over on Ransom. So all that would be left was to arrest Ransom but Zack wanted to make things as painful for Ransom as possible. What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 04 "Mike is going to keep Werner's arrest quiet," Zack told Tom. "I have called a meeting tomorrow to officially announce that I am taking the company public and who the officers of the new company will be. Ransom will be at that meeting thinking he has won until I announce the new company president. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM. I want you and Lisa in my office at ten o'clock. Ms. Wilson will also be there." Zack Morgan outlined the rest of the plan for Tom before he left Tom alone in his room. ***** 10:20 PM Tom was sitting on the sofa trying to decide what to do. He was too wired to go to bed. He knew he would not be able to get to sleep for quite a while. He thought about having another Scotch but wasn't sure that would be a very good idea. He thought about calling Lisa but decided against that. He didn't know when she was getting to town and figured it would be better to wait and see if she would call him. If she didn't call him, he would call her in the morning to make sure that she would be in Zack's office at ten o'clock. In spite of his better judgment, Tom reached for the Scotch bottle but before he could pour himself a drink someone knocked on his door. Somehow Tom knew it was Lisa and he became angry. Not at Lisa but at his inability to move as fast as he wanted to. He was worried that she might leave before he could get to the door. After what seemed like an eternity to Tom, he reached the door and opened it. Lisa didn't even look at him. She just pushed passed him into the room. Tom followed Lisa back into the room but neither of them spoke until Tom lowered himself onto the sofa. "Tom, we need to talk." Lisa started and then she laid into Tom venting some anger and frustration. "Why didn't you call me and let me know you were getting out of the hospital Monday?" Tom suddenly found himself on the defensive. This is not how he expected their reunion to go. "Because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of helping me pack," Tom said. "I only said that because I was hurt and angry," Lisa said. "I never wanted you to leave." Now it was Tom's turn to show some anger. "I have been trying to get a hold of you since Tuesday morning," Tom said. "Why haven't you returned any of my calls?" "I was in such a hurry to get over to Las Vegas to find Brandi that I forgot to charge my cell phone before I left," Lisa said. "My battery was dead so I had no idea that you had been trying to reach me." Lisa stopped and took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. "Shit," she said mostly to herself and then repeated it. "Shit." Finally Lisa looked at Tom. "This is not how I meant this to be. I didn't come here to fight with you. I came to tell you that I was wrong and I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I wouldn't believe you when you told me that you didn't have an affair in Las Vegas. Most of all I am sorry for everything I did to you." The tears were streaming down Lisa's cheeks and it hurt Tom to see her that way. "What you did to me?" "Yes. If I hadn't gone out that night with the stupid idea of trying to teach you a lesson, you would not have come looking for me and then you would not have been in the accident and I would not have... I am so sorry. Every time I look at you and see you with your cast and your bandages, I know I did that to you." "You didn't do that. A drunk driver in an SUV did it. How did you finally figure out that I was telling you the truth?" "Carl Koonce stopped at the office to see you on Monday and Maggie called me because she didn't know what to tell him. Carl and I had a long talk and he not only told me the little secret you two shared he also showed me that the pictures that were sent to me were fakes but I guess you already knew that." "Of course they were fakes. They had to be but I was shocked that anyone would have made those pictures and I couldn't believe that you didn't realize that they had to be bogus," Tom said. Tom's comment hurt a little but Lisa was pleased to hear that there was no anger in Tom's voice as he spoke. "Once I knew the pictures were fake I figured out that Bill Werner had taken them." "How did you do that?" "You told me that he was on the show team," Lisa said. "Monday I went down to the development lab to talk to Brad." Before she could continue Tom cut in. "You went down to see Brad? Why?" "It's not what you're thinking," Lisa said. "Then why did you go to see him?" "I had just found out that he lied to me," Lisa said. Brad told me that he saw you with Brandi twice the week you were in Vegas. After talking to Carl, I knew that was a lie and I went to confront him. I wanted to know why he lied to me." "What did he say?" "He wasn't there," Lisa said, "but while I was looking for him I met Jim Brasso. While I was asking him if he had seen Brad I noticed that there was a photo editor on the desk where he was sitting and when I asked him about it he explained how you could add or delete things from a picture and no one would ever know. Then he told me that editor belonged to Bill Werner. That's when I knew that Werner had to be involved." "I had been racking my brain trying to think of who took those pictures," Tom said. "Zack and I figured it out Monday evening. Then Brad called me last night and told me he found the picture files and more on Werner's computer. " Tom went on to tell Lisa about the call he received from Brad the night before. "Then where does Brad fit into the conspiracy?" Lisa asked. "He doesn't," Tom said. "Brad thought, like you did, that the pictures were real. He just saw an opportunity to go after you and he took it. I am grateful to Brad for digging up the evidence that can put Ransom and Werner in jail for what they did," Tom said, "but I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he tried to do with you." Lisa winced at that comment knowing that Tom was thinking about the night of the accident and what she had done with Brad that night. "How did you figure out that the girl from the pictures was in Las Vegas and how did you know where to look for her?" Tom asked. "Carl recognized her," Lisa said. "He said that she worked in one of the strip clubs that you and he went to. Carl remembered her name and where she worked." "So you just ran over to Vegas by yourself to find her?" "No. Carl went with me," Lisa said. "Apparently he took quite a liking to you and wanted to do anything he could to help us." "So, once you found her how did the two of you persuade Brandi to cooperate?" Tom asked. "I just explained to her how much trouble she would be in if she didn't cooperate with us. That's when she told me that she was coming to Denver today and that she was supposed to get a room in this hotel and then call Bill Werner. I knew you were staying here so I called Zack and told him what I found out. Zack just happened to be talking to the DA at the time so we had Brandi talk to the DA and he talked her into helping us trap Bill Werner." Tom was impressed. He always knew that Lisa was intelligent but the fact that she had not seen through the phony pictures right away had bothered him a great deal. At times he had wondered if it was because she wanted to believe that he could cheat on her but now he was sure that she had just been fooled, as he might have been if the role had been reversed. Lisa had been pacing back and forth in front of Tom as she spoke and he was beginning to feel the warmth that he had always felt when he was with her. Now that Lisa had discovered the truth about Las Vegas it was up to him to forgive her for what she had done. When he pictured her with Brad, it hurt. But was that all Lisa's fault. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to tear them apart. Couldn't he forgive her for falling into the trap? After all she didn't finish what she had started. There was nothing to prove that what she told him happened that night was true but he believed her. If she were going to lie about that why wouldn't she just lie and say nothing happened. Tom was suddenly aware that Lisa was staring at him. Tom said, "What?" "You seemed to have left the room for a while there. You body was here but you mind wasn't. Did you just take a painkiller?" Lisa said. "No, I am very alert. I was just thinking about how much I still love you." No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lisa started crying. She dropped down on the sofa next to Tom wrapped her arms around him and Tom put his arm around her. They sat quietly for a long time. "Well, what do we do now?" Lisa asked. "Are we going home now?" "No. Not tonight," Tom said. "Why? Are you still mad at me?" Lisa asked as she began to worry that things weren't going as well as she thought. "No." "Then why aren't you coming home with me?" Lisa asked. "Because we are staying here tonight," Tom said and then he kissed Lisa on the forehead. "I am too tired to go home tonight and I haven't had anything to eat other than a handful of nuts since breakfast." Lisa quickly wiped away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. "Do you have any food here?" "I have some ham and cheese in the refrigerator," Tom said. "Would you get us a sandwich and a beer?" Lisa didn't say anything, she just kissed Tom on the cheek and went to the kitchen and made two sandwiches. ***** 11:15 PM Tom called Zack's office and left a message on his voice mail. "Lisa and I are together and we will be in your office at ten o'clock. "Now can we go to bed and make up?" Lisa asked. "I'm not sure that I would be any good to you in my current condition," Tom said. "I'm exhausted from the physical activity, and my head is still spinning. I don't know what to concentrate on right now. The fact that we are back together or what's going to happen tomorrow." "You don't have to perform for me. I just need to be close to you for a while. Things between us have been strained for so long now I just need to love you and to convince myself that this is over," Lisa said. Lisa got up and waited for Tom to get himself up off the sofa and then they walked together to the bedroom. On the way Tom asked, "By the way, how did you know I was here?" "Your friend Don left his business card on the bedside table next to the phone. He wrote, "Call me," on the back of the card." "I should be pissed at him but I'll thank him in the morning." Tom got onto the bed first and lay flat on his back. Lisa had to get on the bed on Tom's right side and tried not to put any weight on his chest when she kissed him. That kiss was almost magic to them in spite of Tom's physical discomfort and the awkward position Lisa had to maintain while she kissed him. To Lisa the kiss was a reconnection to the love she almost lost and to Tom it convinced him that he not only needed to forgive Lisa for her mistake but to also push the thought of her with Brad completely out of his thoughts. Their second kiss was even better. Tom was frustrated because he could not make love to Lisa the way he wanted to. His injuries would not allow it. This was even more difficult for Lisa because she couldn't help but feel that she was responsible for Tom's injuries. She tried to rationalize that it was David Ransom and Bill Werner that were trying to destroy their marriage and were responsible and that the driver of the SUV was responsible but she knew that if she had not gone out with Brad that night Tom would not have been hit by that SUV. Lisa began to cry, "Tom, I am so sorry. This is all my fault." "What are you talking about now?" "I want so much to make love to you but we can't because of what I did. If I hadn't behaved the way I did, you and I would be home in our bed making love," Lisa said. Tom reached up and took Lisa's head in his hand and held her face in front of his while he spoke. "Lisa, there is plenty of blame to go around. I told you I didn't have an affair in Vegas but I told you what was an obvious lie about what I did do in Vegas. Then I just expected that you should believe me. When you didn't, I got angry. I should have realized how those pictures affected you. I just assumed that because I was innocent, you had to believe me even though the pictures made me look guilty. I was more concerned about where the pictures came from than I was in explaining that they had to be fakes. I could have stopped this whole mess right then. If I had studied the pictures more carefully I would have seen how they had been edited and proved to you that I hadn't cheated. I let my pride and my anger get in the way. "If I would have just sat down with you and discussed the pictures and what I had really done while I was in Vegas we would be home in our own bed tonight. So I too have a share of the blame for my condition. My punishment for my part is apparent, your punishment is that you have to deal with your feelings of guilt. There are others that bare more responsibility for this and we are going to extract our revenge on them." "Do you have any idea how much I love you? If you had died on me I don't know what I would have done," Lisa said and then she started kissing Tom all over his face. Lisa lay down with her head on Tom's shoulder being careful to not put any extra weight on his chest. Then she slipped her hand inside his pants and started stroking Tom's already inflating cock. This time, when Lisa slid down on the bed and took his cock into her mouth Tom didn't feel that Lisa was giving him a mercy blow job. He knew it was what she wanted to do but he stopped her anyway. "Lisa, stop please." "Why? What's wrong?" Lisa asked. "I want you to get undressed and straddle me with your pussy over my face. I think that way we can pleasure each other without causing me any pain," Tom said. Tom's suggestion alone was enough to get Lisa's juices flowing and by the time she lowered her mound onto Tom's mouth she was already dripping. Tom lashed her slit with his tongue a few times and then sucked her clit between his lips and flicked his tongue back and forth across it. Lisa enjoyed the electric sensations this was causing inside her body for a full minute before bending down and accepting Tom's engorged cock into her mouth. Tom and Lisa pleasured each other for several minutes before Lisa was carried away by a wonderful orgasm. Once the last contractions from her orgasm passed, Lisa went back to work on Tom's hard organ and quickly brought him to a very happy ending. ***** Friday June 13, 2003 8:05 AM David Ransom was sitting at his desk checking his e-mail for the third time that morning. "Where the hell are those pictures?" Ransom wondered out loud as he reached for his phone to call Bill Werner. "He was supposed to send them to me last night." Before he could make the call there was a knock on his door and then Zack Morgan stuck his head into the office. "Dave, I have had to change my thinking on some of the executive positions for after we go public. I think you will be surprised by my decision. See you at ten o'clock," Zack said. Zack was gone before Ransom could respond. "Maybe I don't need those pictures after all," he thought as he smiled to himself. His plan was starting to come together. He figured it would take him less than a year to force Zack out and get himself named CEO of NewTech Design. ***** 10:00 AM In the morning Tom and Lisa decided that Tom should use the wheel chair he had brought home from the hospital when he was released after his surgery. Lisa convinced him that it would be easier for him to get around in the wheel chair than it would using crutches. Tom went about shaving and bathing himself while Lisa drove back to the house to pick up the wheel chair. On the trip back to the hotel Lisa also picked up breakfast at MacDonald's. When they were ready to go, Don DeLucia picked them up in Zack's mini van. Tom and Lisa arrived at Zack's office at ten o'clock to find that Mike Stanton, Brandi and Carl Koonce were already there. Zack introduced Mike to Tom and Lisa and then excused him self to go start the announcement meeting in the large conference room on the first floor. Mike Stanton went with Zack leaving Tom, Lisa, Carl and Brandi standing there. On his way out the door Zack said, "Give me five minutes to get the meeting started and them come wait outside the meeting room door." "What are you doing here, Carl?" Tom asked as he shook Carl's hand. "I came back last night with Lisa. Zack asked me to stay for the party tonight. He thought I might like to help you celebrate," Carl said. "I am glad you're here," Tom said. "I want to thank you for being such a big help." "I was glad to help and besides I wanted to make sure our little secret doesn't get out." "Don't worry, Carl, your secret is safe with us," Lisa said, "as long as you promise not to take Tom back to any of those places again." "Carl, how is it you recognized Brandi's picture. I didn't." "You don't remember Brandi?" Carl asked. Tom started to shake his head. "Only from the pictures," he said "Sure you remember me, Mr. Hard-on," Brandi said. Tom put his hand over his mouth. "Oh, my God. You're one of the girl's from Glitter Gulch, aren't you?" "Yes." "I can't believe I didn't recognize you," Tom said. "I don't think you got a good look at my face," Brandi said and laughed. "I am not sure you saw anything above my breasts." Tom felt his face flushing as he sheepishly looked at Lisa. "I never touched her," he said. "I know," Lisa said. "You are Mr. Hard-on." Everyone laughed except Tom. He was too embarrassed. Brandi stepped closer to Tom. She looked at Lisa and then back at Tom. "I already talked to your wife about this. I want to say that I am sorry about the problems I caused the two of you. Mr. Tipton approached me several months ago and asked me if I would be willing to spend a weekend with a friend of his. He told me all I had to do was have sex with him and let him take some pictures of me," Brandi said. "He never told me what the pictures were for and I never asked. I guess I should have. I needed the money so I agreed to do it. Shortly after the weekend I spent with Bill at Treasure Island, Mr. Tipton called me again and asked me to come over to Denver to spend some more time with Bill. Mr. Tipton was paying me pretty good so I figured, 'why not?'" "I never could figure out what Bill was up to. He picked me up at the airport and then he turned on some kind of tracking thingy and drove to Applebee's. Then we sat in the car until you came out of the restaurant. Bill made me wait in the car while he talked to you and when you left he took some pictures of me in front of the restaurant. He was using a tiny camera that he had hidden in a book he was carrying. The next day we drove to someone's house. Bill knocked on the door but no one was home so he took some pictures of me standing on the porch. He had me stand like I was opening the door. He never told me whose house it was but your wife told me it was your house. "I found out later that Mr. Tipton's real name is David Ransom. I just wanted you to know that I am not proud of what I was doing but I had no idea that I was being used to destroy someone's marriage. I would not have done it if I had known what they were really up to." Tom looked at Brandi and smiled at her. "All you have to do for my forgiveness is testify against those two assholes in court," Tom said. ***** 10:05 AM Zack walked into the meeting room with Mike Stanton and looked around the room. He spotted Dave Ransom sitting close to the front of the room. Zack couldn't help but smile at him. Ransom saw the smile and was sure it meant that he was going to be named president of the company. Ransom looked around the room and didn't see Tom anywhere and that just made him even more confident.