Suspicion Ch. 05-06

Chapter 5.

Wednesday Night

They were finishing up their coffee after eating. The restaurant was part of one of the hot new chains, specializing in large, fire grilled steaks, and it was the most recent addition to the mall. A mall 25 miles from the home that Kathy and Paul shared. Far enough away to be 'discrete' as Kathy had promised.

Karl look across the table from Kathy, smiled and reached across and held her hand. She smiled back. Then she took a quick look at her watch: it was almost 9:00 PM already.

"Sorry I had to work so late, baby," Karl said to Kathy, "It's the life of the small businessman."

"It wasn't really a problem, Karl. It gave me an extra hour to catch up at work anyway. I was behind because I had to take a couple of hours off yesterday." Kathy replied, without really thinking.

"Oh. What were you doing yesterday?" Karl asked, with a rather sharp tone.

"I had a Doctor's appointment." came Kathy's response. It wasn't technically correct, because Bill Wattley wasn't a doctor, per say, he was a psychologist and marriage counselor. But that wasn't really Karl's business anyway.

"Everything OK?" Karl's voice was tinged with concern.

Kathy patted the top of his hand.

"Everything was just fine, sweetheart. Just normal women's issues." Kathy fed him the "woman's issues" line, because she already knew, that Karl, like most single men, wanted nothing to do with 'female problems.' He'd rather not know.

"Ahhhh," Karl resorted to that bland response, because it was so much more diplomatic than the 'yuck' that he felt.

Kathy then openly looked at her watch at that point.

"Look at the time! It's almost nine." she exclaimed.

"We can abbreviate the evening if you want. Your place or mine?" Karl said with a smile.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Could I give you a rain check tonight. I forgot to tell you the other day, but I have my period this week. You know that I get cramps, and it puts me out of the mood for making love." she explained, "If you don't mind, I'd like to call it an evening so I can go back to my place take a couple of Advils, put a hot pad on my stomach, and try getting some rest."

The look on Karl's face was not one of overwhelming joy, to put it mildly.

"Damn, I'd hoped to make love with you tonight. It's been over a week now. And except for having coffee with you at Starbuck's on Saturday for, what, a half-an-hour, I haven't seen you since last Thursday," came his discontented reply.

They spoke as they left the restaurant and walked towards their cars.

"I explained it to you on Saturday, Karl. I can't be with you as much anymore, like it has been for the last couple of months. But the time we will have can be real quality time, because now I don't have to worry about lying to Paul. Anyway, we are scheduled together again next Tuesday evening, and my period will be over. I'll make it up to you then. OK? Its not like Paul is getting any this week either, and he's had a lot less of me recently." Kathy smiled at Karl as she concluded.

"Fine, I understand. By the way, when am I going to see your apartment? I'm beginning to wonder about the place. Do you have another boyfriend stashed away over there that you don't want me to see?" Karl's question was framed in a teasing manner, but with a slightly pushy tone.

Kathy was slightly irritated by both the question as well as the attitude.

"Karl, actually, I promised Paul that the apartment would be off-limits to both of you. It's my place to be myself. I don't know if I'm even going to keep it, or if so, for how much longer. It allows me to tell Jason and Christi that when I'm not with them and their father, I'm at the apartment. I can have them visit me there, without throwing our situation into their faces." Kathy told Karl in a somewhat abrupt manner.

She didn't even consciously understand why she'd put her apartment off-limits to Karl. Truth be known, her husband had been there, and had made love to her in her bed there. Now it was like the home that she and Paul shared, not a place to be contaminated by her affair with Karl. That she was lying to Karl about making a promise to Paul didn't cause her the slightest concern, and it shifted the responsibility.

In the end, Kathy and Karl decided to agree to disagree about her apartment. They had Karl's place anyway, or could even use a hotel, if the mood stuck them.

Kathy smoothed over the situation when they reached her car, and Karl opened her door for her. She gave him a kiss full of passion and promise, and reiterated her vow to make it up to him the next Tuesday, when her next 'free' day was scheduled. He waved goodnight to her as she pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the road back to her apartment.

Back in her apartment, Kathy sighed, happy to be there, alone. She truly was tired, and looked forward to reading a little, something that she hadn't had enough time for over the past week, and going to bed. She changed into a comfortable pair of pajamas, and curled up with her book on her couch.

She tried to read for a couple of minutes, but couldn't get into the book. At that point Kathy gave into her urge, picked up the phone, and made a call.

Matthew's Home

It was almost 10:00 when the phone range. The kids had been in bed for about a half-an-hour. When I looked at the caller I.D., I was surprised. It was Kathy's cell number.

"Kathy," I said, worried, as soon as I placed the phone to my ear, "Is everything alright? Are you OK?"

"Yes, Paul. I'm sorry to disturb you. I hope you don't mind my calling." Kathy was being rhetorical; she knew that I wouldn't mind.

"Of course not, I'm overjoyed. What's going on?" came my reply, perhaps just a little wary, This was supposed to be one of the 'Karl' nights.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just sitting here curled up with a book, and I wanted to hear your voice, and check on the children," she said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world for her to be calling me when she was supposed to be with lover-boy.

She continued,

"I just got back from a late dinner; I had to work late. So I thought that I'd call and make sure you were all... you're sure that you don't mind my calling on a 'free' night?"

I laughed, and we spoke for about an hour. About everything and nothing.

When I'd hung up the phone, I realized that Kathy had really called to let me know that she was not with Karl.

By that time, it was almost bed time for me as well. I had to get up early and make sure that Jason and Christi made it to school. But there one more thing I had to do first. I logged on to one of my email accounts and opened the first email on the list.

Dear Ethos,

I'm very interested in knowing how K.G. Construction won the contract, if, as you imply, it was not on the up-and-up. There is a lot of money riding on that contract. You offered to point me in the direction, if I was willing to dig up the dirt. Give me a starting point, and I'll have an investigator on it tomorrow!

I understand that you are putting yourself in harms way by letting me know about this, and I will accommodate your desire to keep your role quiet. I'm willing to work with you on this.

Sincerely,

Thomas Butler,

CEO Butler & Sons, Inc.

The second email was even shorter.

No changes to calendar.

When is the next time K.G. and K. are together? You know, systems can go down any time, and they need to be repaired right away.

Oh and BTW, Karls email is ....

I looked at the schedule and wrote an equally terse reply, and sent it.

The Plan was moving inextricably forward.

Chapter 6.

Kathy was back home the next night, Thursday, and would be with 'us' until the following Tuesday. There was nothing terrible special that happened during that time; kids practices, lessons, games, and household things. She and I made love again after her period was over on Friday. We weren't alone for that weekend, except for in the bedroom after the kids were asleep. We had some friends over on Sunday for a Bar-B-Que, and Kathy spent a couple of hours shopping Saturday afternoon with her sister, Evelyn, while Todd and I watched a couple of College games.

Monday afternoon, after work, I stopped by Mitch's place to pick up the photos and the disks. As I looked at the prints, I must admit that if I hadn't known that the man in the original photos had been me, I would have been pretty upset at seeing Kathy with her black stud lovers! Yes, Old Mitch actually did me a favor — he made two sets of the photos, each with a recognizably different man. In one photo, he got really creative, and showed one of the men having sex with Kathy, while the other appeared to be standing there waiting his turn.

"It kinda makes the story work — two guys doing your wife, each one takin' pictures while the other one is busy," Mitch explained, his creative pride putting a big shit eating grin on his face.

Why did I always feel like I needed to wash my hands after dealing with that guy?

Once again, on Monday night, Kathy and I lay there in bed, and she reminded me that she would be away the next day. Like I didn't know. Still, I had realized that I could deal with the 'Karl' issue by simply putting it out of my mind, combined with knowing that I was going to bring this thing to a grinding halt in the near future. The two of them had best get their jollies now, because neither one of them was going to be happy when the walls came a tumbling down!

Imagine my surprise late Tuesday afternoon when Kathy called and asked if I would mind if she came home that night! This was getting really weird.

As the kids were doing their homework she explained that there was some sort of emergency problem at CableNex that required their vendor, K.G. Construction to do repairs to the system. They estimated said repairs were going to take all night. According to our agreement, that kind of situation was tough for lover-boy, but thems the breaks. Since it was a 'free' night, Kathy explained her reasoning to me, she could do what she wanted, and given the choice of being alone in her apartment, or being home with us (and sleeping in our much more comfortable King-sized bed, I mused,) she came home.

About 10:00 that evening, Kathy's phone rang, and when she looked at the called I.D., she walked outside to take the call. She was outside for about 20 minutes, and when she came back in, I didn't ask and she didn't tell. Shortly thereafter, she went to bed, and I went up and kissed her goodnight and tucked her in.

I stayed up awhile, again. I logged on to my computer system to check my "intel" and to sow more chaos.

Mr. Thomas,

Sorry for the delay in my reply. I communicate when it is safe for me to do so.

A good start to understanding K.G.'s advantage over Butler & Sons, you might check out Gerring's love life. Who is his girlfriend, and what does she do? It may take a week or two to catch them together — I think that her husband has become suspicious, and she is being very careful and not seeing him as much as she used to. I think that you can put two and two together, once you answer those two questions.

Please give me some advance warning of what you are going to do and when, so that I can make myself scarce, and not be subject to difficult questions.

Ethos

The email that I received that evening had a newly revised copy of Kathy's work calendar attached to it.

There was a memo noted on the calendar from Kathy to her boss telling him that she was attending a meeting of one of the professional groups in Washington D.C. several weeks hence, starting Thursday morning, and ending Friday afternoon. I checked the 'free time' calendar and confirmed my memory, that the Friday evening, until Saturday mid-day that week was Kathy's 'Karl' time. So Kathy would fly into Dulles Wednesday after work, get a hotel for two nights, and fly back to be in Karl's arms Friday night.

With this advance knowledge, perhaps I would throw a wrench into the happy time.

Over the next couple of weeks there were several 'free days' for Kathy. Presumably she and Karl got together, and again, presumably, did what people who 'love' each other do. I suppose that I could have tried to interfere, but that wouldn't help The Plan.

In fact, since I had sicked Butler & Son's investigators on to Karl boy, they had to meet and provide the grist for the mill that would be slowly grinding his business and their relationship, as the investigators discovered the affair, and traced my wife back to CableNex. It was after that when the fun would begin.

It is a testament to human adaptability that life at the Matthew's home was rapidly returning to a fairly normal state, with the exception that there were times when Kathy would be "at her apartment". It is also, though, a frightening example of how one can grow accustomed to evil, and learn to live with it. I won't say that my living in a state of reasonable happiness (and sexual bliss,) with Kathy was the same as the German people learning to live with Hitler, but the "don't ask, don't see" mentality became at least somewhat easy for me. I have always rationalized it by saying that I was taking actions to stop the evil festering in our marriage, but I remain amazed at how quickly the duplicity in our lives just seemed normal.

Kathy continued to see Bill Wattler, the marriage counselor, once a week, and she told me that he was really helping her to understand her emotions. We didn't try to get more specific, although Kathy told me that perhaps with a month or so, we should start seeing him together. I told her that I was glad that she was benefitting from the sessions, and reiterated that I would be happy to join her, when she and Bill felt it would help.

Something completely unanticipated happened, about 5 weeks from the time that Kathy and I had set up the schedule that surprised me and gave me hope that there might be a long-term 'us'.

It was a Sunday, and it was the first time that Kathy's 'free' day fell on a weekend. Kathy had 'gone to her apartment' that morning, instead of going to church with us. I had arranged in advance for Jason and Christi to go home with Evelyn's and Todd's brood to spend the afternoon. I would come by later bring the burgers and hot dogs for a BBQ, and take the kids home afterwards.

As I was turning out of the church parking lot and on to the street, one of those sweet little old, blue-haired ladies, who you can see, looking at the road, over the dashboard, but through the steering wheel, ran a stop sign and rammed the side of my minivan at about 40 miles an hour.

To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about the accident until I got to the hospital. There, they wanted to call someone, preferably my wife, and let them know what had happened. Instead, I convinced them dial Evelyn's number and put me on speaker phone, as I was too weak at the moment, to even hold the phone to my ear.

By the time Evelyn got on the phone, she was in a panic.

"Paul, are you alright? I'm coming right down their, this instant. Has anyone called Kathy?" came her worried voice.

"Evelyn, slow down. Let me answer your questions. First, I think that I'm alright, but they want to do some tests, just in case. Second, no one has called Kathy, and I don't want anyone to. I'll explain it to you when you get here. What you could do to help me is stop by the house on your way here, and get me some real pajamas. This damn hospital gown is leaving my butt hanging out in the breeze," was my reply.

At least that got a laugh out of her. She said I couldn't be too bad if I was worried about people seeing my butt. In fact, she told me, maybe she'd take a look herself — she claimed that she'd always thought I had a cute ass. Ha, ha, laugh, laugh. Easy for her to say. I had a splitting headache.

When Evelyn and Todd arrived (they had a neighbor keeping the kids supervised,) they had a small overnight bag with everything I might need.

By then, the Doc's had x-rayed my left arm and leg to make sure they hadn't been broken. Nope, just scraped and bruised. The x-rays of my head didn't show any fractures, or anything called a 'sub-dermal hematoma' — but because I had a headache, they had wired me up with electrodes and planned on keeping me overnight. Oh well! And, oh yes, I was going to have a hell of a black eye, along with the scrapes on my face (plus a stitch or two.) I wouldn't look pretty for a couple weeks. The swelling would come down in a couple of days.

My dear in-laws assured me that they would keep Jason and Christi overnight and get them to school in the morning. Then Evelyn would check back on me. I explained why I didn't want Kathy told: we had our agreement, and I didn't really seem to be in any danger, so I didn't want to interrupt Kathy's time with lover-boy, since that would set a bad precedent. They finally, reluctantly, agreed, and left to get back to the thundering herd at their house.

The following four or five hours I spent sleeping in a drug induced bliss. Hot damn, they have some great meds at the hospital for pain. I'm glad they're not easily available to us, most of the time, or we all be addicts. But, my head didn't ache, my body didn't ache, and I was out like a light.

When I awoke, it was dark outside, and the room was dark as well. I could hear what sounded like someone crying. Please, when I confess to this, don't laugh. Remember I was awfully drugged up and not quite coherent. Since there was weeping in my room, and I remembered that I'd been in a car accident, my first words were,

"Am I dead?"

"Oh my God, Paul. You bastard," came a familiar voice, followed by a big sniffing sound.

In my own, charming, less than entirely brilliant way, I responded,

"Huh?"

"How could you do that to me, Paul?"

Wait a minute; I recognized that voice. It was Kathy.

"WhadIdo?" I asked her, completely confused, still not sure if this was even real or a dream.

"You refused to let anyone call me. I only found out about your accident when someone at the station called me to ask if I had an 'update on your condition.' Oh God, Paul, I'm your wife, I should have been here for you." she said, before the weeping took over again.

By this time, I was pretty sure that I had her pegged. She was in the chair next to my bed on the right side. I concluded this because, something had my hand in a vice grip. Sure enough, when I turned my head that direction, there was the top of a head that looked a lot like Kathy's.

"I tol' you, I wouldn't interrupt your precious time with lover-boy, except if one of the kids was hurt. I'm not no kid anymore. I keep my word!" I firmly made my position known.

With that, I had exhausted all of my clever repartee, and fell back to sleep.

When I once again awoke the next morning, I was not looking forward to seeing Kathy. I seemed to remember making some rather less than flattering remarks about Karl ('lover-boy") and about my relative maturity. I doubted that the whole incident was amusing to my wife, and it wasn't part of The Plan. I had vowed to keep a lid on my actual feelings, and the night before, the lid had slipped.

On the other hand, I was pretty sure that she had called me a 'bastard.' The only other time that I remembered her saying that was in the middle of labor with Jason. Something about 'two minutes of pleasure' for me, and 'ten hours of pain' for her, according to my recollection.

I shouldn't have worried. Kathy arrived again in the morning with some clean clothes for me, and helped me get showered and dressed. She was kind and gentle, and didn't say an angry word. We checked out of the hospital, apparently with the concurrence of the doctors and staff, and they wheeled me out to the curb in a wheelchair. Kathy pulled up in a rented minivan, provided by the insurance company, and the staff helped into the passenger seat, to make sure that I didn't fall on hospital property where I could sue them.