John and Cheryl Ch. 03

"Okay. I'm at the police station, so if it goes to voice mail, just leave a message."

"Oh, shit! How is Cheryl? What the hell is going on, John?"

"She's not good. I'll tell you all about it later. Let me know if you find out anything."

"Okay, bye."

I was still a little stunned. That was the last thing I expected to have happen. What the hell was going on?

I walked back into the interrogation room and Jake was asking Cheryl all kinds of questions. She refused to answer most of them. He turned to me. "John, can you please tell her that I can't mount a defense if she doesn't answer my questions?"

"I'll try." I looked over at Cheryl. "Can we talk about this?"

She shook her head no. "Not here."

"Jake, let me talk to you later, okay?"

Jake looked from me to Cheryl and back. "Okay." He looked at his watch. "I have to be in court at 1pm. I'll call you when I get out. Can I come over to your house to talk?"

"Sure." I looked over at Cheryl and she looked scared. I reached over and grabbed her hand. She squeezed it hard. "Don't worry. I'll be careful." We both got up to leave and Jake headed toward the door. Cheryl wouldn't let go of my hand.

"Please, forgive me. Let me know that I can get on with my life without you hating me."

I considered this carefully. It was not all her fault. She made some initial mistakes, if I could believe her letter, but once they were blackmailing her and threatened our family, things were completely out of control. The question was, after all the lying and hiding, was the letter the absolute truth? "I'm trying. Let's get through this first, okay?"

She nodded and I went out. I told the police we were done and I left.

When I got home I was too intrigued by the thumb drive to let it be. I had to see. My curiosity was just too great. I plugged it in and there were four files on there. I ordered them by date. The first one was just as she described. It was the one where she was blowing Ed. I flinched and closed my eyes, but I had to see it. I knew this might make it worse and indelibly etch these items in my head, but I couldn't NOT watch. I started paying attention and sure enough, she appeared drunk or drugged. It was disgusting.

The second video showed her on all fours as Ed fucked her doggie style. He pulled out and, still on his knees, shuffled over to Jenny, who was laying back on the couch, her legs lewdly spread open, and her very wet pussy on display. She welcomed him with open arms (and legs). The camera guy panned back to show Cheryl lying there, unmoving, her eyes barely open and then back to where Ed was pumping hard into Jenny. She was definitely drugged. Ed announced that he was cumming and filled up Jenny's pussy. She moaned her approval and then smirked. Ed slapped Cheryl a couple of times to make sure he had her attention and that she was paying attention through the drug induced stupor. Ed then had Jenny sit on top of Cheryl. There was camera movement as it was being passed from one person to another. Jenny pinned Cheryl's arms down, but I could tell that Cheryl didn't have much strength anyway. I watched as Jenny tried to rub her spunk filled pussy all over Cheryl's face and then the camera panned to the large guy who had to be Tony. He was fucking Cheryl hard and the grin on his face was definitely scary. He looked maniacal. Jenny got off Cheryl and announced her unfit to eat pussy. Well, duh! The scene ended with Tony pulling out and spurting all over Cheryl's face. She twisted and turned to try to avoid it, but to no avail. When it ended I pulled the drive out of my laptop and put it back in the safe. I couldn't see anymore tonight, but I knew I'd end up watching the rest later. My curiosity wouldn't let it go. There was also the question about whether or not I could verify all that she said. I wanted to believe that there was no intent on her part, but I needed more proof. As I thought about it, however, I realized that the beautiful and calm Cheryl from before these incidents would have never shot anyone.

I had Cheryl's parents pick up the kids again so that I could meet with Jake. He called me about 5:30 and said he was on his way.

Then Monica called who told me that the company was saying I was fired for violating the employee morals agreement. I laughed and told her who was dead in the blackmail scheme. I swore her to silence and didn't say anything about the video of her and her husband having sex.

When Jake arrived I waited until we each had a beer in our hands and were at least a little relaxed. Finally, he turned to me.

"John, I need to know what was going on here. Cheryl told me that you might not want to cooperate and that she had cheated on you, but we are talking about the rest of her life here. Just give me something to go on."

"I'll cooperate and provide you anything you need Jake. I don't know how I feel about Cheryl right now, but she's the mother of my children and they need her. I can't let her go to jail without a fight."

"Okay, good. So can you tell me how this happened?"

I sighed and looked at him. How far should I go? Cheryl was petrified by the truth, but it seemed to me that the truth was the lesser of the two evils here. "Okay, look. Cheryl asked me not to tell you this. She's ashamed and humiliated by it, but I'm going to tell you what I know. Cheryl was being blackmailed by those five guys. Ed was my boss, Bob was his boss, and Fred was my COO. The house was Fred's. Apparently, Ed came up with some scheme to show Cheryl how I was cheating on her with someone at work when we were away on business. While in his office, he drugged her and forced her to blow him. She didn't tell me and thought she could handle it herself. When she went back, his assistant Jenny, also in on this scheme, drugged her and now there were three guys and Jenny who all had sex with her. She was devastated by the video they were showing her and that's how it started. They told her the video of me cheating was a fake. She was even more trapped because the guy named Tony was a mean, evil son of a bitch and was threatening to kill me and the kids. Evidently, he was brought in to be the enforcer. Soon, they invited her out to the COO's house and she thought it was going to be a comeuppance for Ed and Jenny. Instead, they all abused her and the doctor there, whose name she didn't know, was drugging her. That's why she did it. I was aware that there was something going on with Cheryl, but was so caught up in the normal day-to-day stuff, that I never suspected this and just found out myself."

Jake sat there and thought about it. "That's a hell of a story. How do we prove it? They are all dead and there's no proof that it was non-consensual. Or is there?" He looked at me pointedly. "Do you have some proof? I'll have to get a warrant to make sure I go over the records and computers of the deceased. I haven't received anything from the DA, so I don't know what they've found yet. It's pretty early in the investigation."

"I have a letter from her and a couple of videos. I found them when I got home last night. She left them in the safe when she took the gun. The Glock she used was mine. Jenny, Ed's assistant, was involved and is still around, so you should be able to get to see her. And I can't believe that they were able to get rid of all their video and pictures; they had to be communicating, right?"

Jake was rubbing his chin. "Correct. Okay, I know how to proceed. Cheryl did not want you to tell me much about this. Why?"

"She feels like she made her bed and she has to lie in it. She thinks that she won't be able to get on with her life anyway because everyone will think of her as a filthy slut and only see her fucking those guys. She thinks this is the only way she can atone for killing them and fucking up our marriage."

Jake stared at me. "Has this fucked up your marriage?"

I stared for a second, not sure if I should voice my doubts, but eventually I did. "I don't know. I'm going to have a hard time forgiving her for believing that I was having an affair and for her first couple of mistakes. I think she actually began to enjoy it or was initially participating in it. I can't get my head around it all being for blackmail."

He stared at me. "You're kidding, right? They were drugging her, fucking with her head, and threatening her family and you think she was enjoying it?"

I reconsidered. "Maybe not." I had been angry for so long, maybe I wasn't thinking clearly either. I wanted to believe everything in the letter, but was still unsure.

"I doubt it very much. In any case, I will start researching for her defense. We also need to discuss your civil lawsuit against your company. Are you attached to the place?"

I shrugged. "They fired me today."

He sat up straight. "Fired you? Oh, man, this is going to be easy. One of the guys in my firm, Ronald Mason, handles cases like this. I'll have him call you."

"Cases like what?"

"We are talking about your boss, his boss, and his boss, the COO. It started out at your place of work and then continued at the COO's house. The COO had to know that Ed was using his position at work for this and they were probably communicating using company resources. They were using this to coerce the wife of an employee. This all leads to a lawsuit for alienation of affections, blackmail, improper use of company resources, and now they've illegally fired you. I don't know that branch of law as well as he does, but we need to get him up and running to recover what we can from your company's IT assets for both him and me. This could net you big time and help you make up for the problems and associated costs that are coming." He grinned. "I'm going to get Cheryl off and I'm not cheap." He tried to make this a joke, but it missed with me. I was too worried about everything else.

"Okay." I was unsure about this, but figured I could at least discuss it with the other lawyer.

Jake got up suddenly. "I need to get some things going tonight so that we can get our guys at the firm out to gather information on all of this." He drained the last of his beer and stuck out his hand. "I'll call you tomorrow, John. We are going to get Cheryl off and nail that company of yours." He sounded very sure of himself.

"Okay, I'll be home or at the police station since I don't have a job."

"Good. Talk to you later. One more thing; you need to prepare her parents and the kids for what's going to come out. The arraignment is on Thursday morning and the papers will be there looking for the salacious parts of the story. It'll be a sensation to them." He left and I stood there wondering how all of this was going to unfold.

On Thursday morning, with the arraignment at 1pm, I kept the kids home from school. I also asked Meryl and their parents to be there. I told the kids that their mother had been drugged by some bad men, that these men had threatened to hurt me and their mother, and then that they had beat up their mother, so she had the gun they knew we owned and she killed them in self defense. I had to give a little more detail to her parents after putting the kids in the other room. As I detailed some of the sexual aspects, Cheryl's father became more restless and agitated. I could see his anger. Her mother just paled and stared ahead as Meryl held her hand. It was not a good family moment.

At the arraignment, Jake presented his side of the argument, which didn't sound like much, but the prosecuting attorney got her charged with five counts of second degree murder and held on $100,000 bail. When I went to see Cheryl on Friday, I asked her about the bail. She said that she wanted to stay in jail for a while. Her arguments about not wanting to be there with the kids and having to put up with the neighbors didn't completely ring true. Then Jake came in and said that he had permission to move her to a state run psychiatric hospital for several days for interviews and observation. At the end of the meeting she said something unrelated to the case.

"John, Meryl has lost her job, too. We have the basement that is almost like a separate apartment. Is it okay if she moves in there for a while? She's afraid to ask after the anger you showed at her that weekend." 'That' weekend was the fateful one.

I thought about it. "Sure, that's fine. The kids would love to have her around." It might actually be of help to me as I look for another job.

The first few days after Cheryl's arrest and my firing were extremely odd. It felt strange to do all the things that Cheryl and I used to share to get the kids ready, fed, and off to school. I lounged around and told myself not to look at the remaining two videos and I managed for a while. I worked around the house, cleaned up the garage and shed, and picked the kids up. The newspapers had done just what Jake said. They highlighted the facts about the sexual abuse and how she killed them to protect herself. At least they were taking her side.

That Saturday, Cheryl was transferred to a state hospital for analysis and interviews by a very good doctor recommended by Jake. Meryl moved in.

After a few beers and getting Meryl all moved in or having her stuff placed in storage, I had a nice, free day on Sunday. I had just put the children to bed and was sitting in my office when I looked up at the picture of Cheryl and me taken on our honeymoon. It had always been my favorite of the two of us. We were in a restaurant, turned toward each other as the photographer snapped the picture. You could see the love we had for each other and the look on Cheryl's face was one of joy and contentment. Her smile was one of pure bliss like I had never seen. I stared at it and suddenly felt alone and terrified. I was still in shock over the loss of the love of my life and also the possibility of raising two kids alone. All the pent up emotion suddenly overcame me and I just put my head in my hands and let it out. I must have cried for 20 minutes when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It startled me and I jerked my head up and turned to see Meryl standing there. She was crying, too, and calmly took my head and held it against her chest as the two of us let out our sadness over this situation. After a few minutes, I pulled back. We both wiped our eyes. I looked up at Meryl and she leaned over and kissed me lightly. It surprised me, but she immediately pulled back.

She hung her head. "Sorry. I didn't want to feel alone right now. I just...."

I reached out and grabbed her right hand. "Meryl, you are not alone. I'm sorry I yelled at you the way I did when I first found out. You can understand why I was angry, but it was not you I was angry at, it was Cheryl. I know that you two are very close and have always had each other's backs."

"Thank you. She's like a part of me. You know how they say that twins sometimes have a special connection? Well, we have something like that. I can't explain it except to say that she and I have always been inseparable and cannot stand to be apart for long. Your honeymoon was the longest we have ever been apart." She gave me a brief attempt at a smile, pulled her hand back, and left the room.

After a good night's sleep, I was downstairs the next morning, fixing some breakfast and getting ready to rouse the kids when Meryl came upstairs from the basement. She came into the kitchen with puffy, bloodshot eyes and was barely awake. She was also barely dressed; she was wearing only a sleep shirt and maybe panties. The shirt went just past her girlie parts and showed off her legs, which were identical to Cheryl's. I felt a stirring in my groin. I hadn't had sex in a while and she was sexy as hell, looking like her sister. Then she reached up to an upper shelf in the cabinet to get a coffee cup. Shit! She was wearing a thong and the bottom part of her ass was prominently displayed by that move. How could I be turned on at a time like this? She was my wife's twin and my wife was in jail for murder. Get a grip!

Before she could turn around, I turned back to the scrambled eggs I was making and acted like I didn't see it. I had an instant boner. She looked exactly like Cheryl, her bare ass tempting me. Fuck!

Meryl turned around suddenly and pulled down on her shirt. "Oh, sorry, John. I forgot where I was and what I was wearing." When I looked up she was blushing.

"No problem. A little flash in the morning wakes one up."

Then Meryl grinned and walked over to me. "Well, we are identical twins, so it's not like you haven't seen it before, right?" She punched me in the arm to show she was kidding.

I tried to keep up the joking mood. "Careful. That's exactly how Cheryl used to tempt me in the morning into being late for work."

"Oh." That seemed to sober her mood a little and she walked over to finish getting her coffee. "I didn't sleep well last night thinking about her. She looked so small and forlorn in the police station. I think I cried myself to sleep at about 2am."

I went over and hugged her. "Sorry. I'm having trouble dealing with it, too. I was so angry at her for cheating on me and then to find out that most of it was due to being blackmailed has made it hard for me to figure out how I feel."

"Most of it?"

"Yeah, well, I can't figure out what I believe and how I feel about all this."

"I understand. It's a lot to take in." She walked and sat down at the table in as ladylike a fashion as she could in that short t-shirt. "Are the kids awake yet?"

"I knocked on their doors once. They are very particular about nobody coming into their room to wake them up. First Natalie decided to do that since she is now officially a 'big girl' and now Ted is following in his big sister's steps. They are growing up so fast."

Meryl looked at me. "Very fast. And you know that you need to sit them down and prepare them for what the other kids may say about Cheryl, right? You know how kids are. They overhear their parents talk about this stuff and the next thing you know Ted and Natalie will be trashed for their mother being a slut. You told them a very PG-13 version when we discussed it with them and my parents and that's not what they will get from the other kids."

"I know, I know. I just have to think about how to do that."

"Let me know if you want me there." She stood up to refresh her coffee and I got a wonderful peek at her pink panties.

"Okay." I turned back to the eggs and Meryl went to wake up the little monsters for another day.

Chapter 8

Meryl and I went to the lawyer's office that day. Jake wanted to talk to Meryl and hear what Cheryl had told her and he wanted me to meet with Ronald Mason, their civil suit expert who specialized in lawsuits against companies for wrongful firing or for equal opportunity violations.

Meryl went into Jake's office and I into Ronald's. He went over the chain of events as he had them from Jake and asked about my firing. I told him what little I knew. The HR manager didn't even call me. They sent a letter which I had just received, terminating me under the company's morals clause. Ronald laughed and said he and Jake were filing for seizure of IT assets from the company and we would probably have them by the short hairs (his words). We went over what his plan was and then I left. I waited for Meryl and she came out and then we headed for the psychiatric hospital that Cheryl was in. We made arrangements for the grandparents to pick up the kids in case we were late.

When we arrived we went through a metal detector and were led into an administration office. There they took down our information and then led us to a visitation room that was pretty well furnished. The woman told us that we were allowed to sit and have a comfortable visit with Cheryl. The door would be locked and guarded and we were behind their security.

Cheryl came in and she looked better than I had seen her since the morning of the fateful gang bang. She was clean and dressed and was a little cheerful, if subdued. She had been allowed to apply just a little makeup and she looked almost normal for her, which was delectable.