Dig Two Graves Ch. 04

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

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

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

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

"No!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I just nod.

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

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

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

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

Heidi eyes me. "There are what Jake?"

I sigh. "There are pictures."

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

I shrug.

"Do you have them?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You like?" She laughs.

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

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

"My hand?" I ask a bit flustered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Curious?" I repeat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday 9:48 PM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Secret Service?" I query.

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

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

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

"What do you mean?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Different times?" I repeat.

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

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

"That's exactly right Jake."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Timothy K Schmidt," he serves up.

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

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

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

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