Close the Deal

"You know it would be exciting, Karen. We certainly know what we are capable of together."

Close the deal.

"He must not know we planned it. Say, isn't Dave taking the kids to Orlando for the weekend?"

"Yes. A special weekend with daddy. Are you suggesting..."

"You'll be all alone; we'll have you over for dinner and drinks. Fire up the hot tub. You'll decide it's too much trouble to go next door for a suit---certainly none of mine would fit you...let nature take its course."

"I've never even dreamed of doing anything like that before but...okay...yes! Oh, my! That's only two days away."

The deal was done.

"Then it's settled! So, can you stay for a while...we can play..."

Karen kissed her softly. "I wish! I have a ton of errands to run. I've gotten a little behind over the last few days...in more ways than one. Then tomorrow the kids are off from school and I've got to get them all packed for their weekend trip."

Nina was terribly disappointed. She'd wanted to fuck; she was very horny and frustrated. Rick was still out of town and wouldn't be back until Friday afternoon. She needed a massage. She was sure she could get an appointment with her favorite masseuse. He provided exception special service and could always fit her in. She grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial.

Karen saw the police car pull up next door; two officers, a man and a woman rang the bell and waited patiently, then started to walk away when there was no answer. Karen walked out to meet them.

"Can I help you, officers?"

"We're trying to get in touch with your neighbors..."

"Sure! Rick and Nina. They are our neighbors and our best friends. Rick is out of town - Dallas, I think - on business. I spoke to Nina---in her kitchen---not more than two hours ago. We have coffee together every morning. I just got back from shopping. She didn't say anything about being out too long. I'm sure she'll be right back. Has something happened to Rick?"

"Do they have any children?"

"No. I know they've wanted children---we have two, a boy seven and a girl four---but it didn't work out for them. They were trying to adopt. Is Rick okay? They're so close...do everything together...the perfect marriage. It would just kill Nina if anything happened to him."

"Can we come in, ma'am?"

"Sure! Come on in."

"You'd better sit down. There's no easy way to say this. You're friend, Nina had a heart attack about an hour ago. She had gone for a massage. When the attendant went to get her for her appointment, he found her unconscious in the whirlpool. He called the paramedics and they tried to revive her but there wasn't anything they could do. All of the symptoms pointed to a massive heart attack. There was no sign of foul play so it's doubtful that the county will perform an autopsy."

Karen at first registered shock, then horror than burst into tears, sobbing quietly into her hands.

"Oh, my God! I can't believe it! Nina and I were...best friends...we saw each other every day. The four of us cooked out together, went out together. Nina was Rick's life!"

The female officer moved over to comfort her.

I know this is difficult, Mrs...."

"Karen, please call me Karen."

"I have to ask as part of the investigation. Do you happen to know if your friend took any drugs?"

"Drugs? No---of course not."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. We don't get things like this very often. It's a small town and when a beautiful woman dies in the prime of her life...it's very unsettling. What I meant to say was, do you know if she was on any medication? There was a bottle of a prescription blood pressure medicine in her hand bag."

"I was aware of that. The doctor said it wasn't serious. She needed to watch her diet, exercise and lose a few pounds and she'd probably be able to stop taking the medicine in a couple of months."

"Was she taking anything to help her weight loss plan...something not prescribed by the doctor?"

"I don't really know...although I saw her take some supplements---you, know, health store stuff. She took them this morning, I remember. Look, officers, I'm not a lawyer and I don't know what the rules are here but we both have keys to each other's houses. I can let you in unless that would be inappropriate."

"We're not conducting a criminal investigation, Karen, but it would help to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible."

As the three of them arrived in the kitchen nest door, the female officer spoke.

"Do you know where she kept the supplements she was taking?"

"Yes, certainly, the first shelf to the left of the sink. Now I remember the day she bought them. We went to the mall together a week or so ago and she wanted to stop in this nutrition store. I'd never been in one...didn't really understand what half the stuff was for. The labels are so nebulous."

The two officers examined the bottle, smelled the contents, examined one of the capsules and them checked something in their notebooks.

"Do you know how many she was taking? The bottle appears to be half empty and the recommended dose is one per day with meals."

"Knowing Nina, if one was going to help her lose weight---two would do so faster. I know she took more than one this morning. You, know, you watch someone taking big capsules like those, they usually need to take one at a time. I know she took two...maybe a third one?"

"Karen, most of these supplements are reasonably safe in moderation. This particular one is made from some sort of ground up South American root and is absorbed very quickly through the mucous membranes. It increases metabolism and also...libido in some individuals or so they claim. No one ever reads the crumpled up little paper when they get a prescription or buy a supplement but this supplement has been on the FDA 'concern' list for some years.

"Furthermore, according to our medical examiner, it is specifically contraindicated in people suffering from acute high blood pressure and taking her prescribed medication. A toxicology screen is performed in all deaths in the county. If Nina's come back showing high levels of this supplement, then her heart attack was most likely caused by a drug interaction. The effect of this supplement is cumulative and would have built up in her body. I'm sorry to say that her desire to lose a few pounds is quite probably what killed her. The hot water in the whirlpool was just the final trigger."

"How awful! I told Nina she should check with her doctor but she could be very head strong at times. I don't know how I'm going to tell Rick. My husband will be back home earlier; we can do it together."

"Karen, legally we're required to notify the next of kin but as I said, this is a small town. Perhaps it would be best if he heard it from friends. Could I ask you to call me---here's my card---to confirm the notification?"

"Certainly, officer. Thank you for understanding."

*** "Karen? Good, your back. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you to tell him. I'm just not very good at these things. How's he doing?"

"He's a wreck. You know Nina was everything to him. I'll check in on him now and again over the weekend. You and the kids are already hours late in getting on the road. They're too young to understand all of this right now. They're so excited about their weekend with daddy. You guys need to get going."

"Are you sure? We can do it some other time."

"No, I'm sure. I'll keep an eye on him. I had the sense that he plans to move very quickly. There is just too much of Nina in that house...too much to remind him. I told him I'd go over and help him pack up some of her personal things if he wasn't up to it."

"You're a good friend and a good wife, Karen. Maybe you're right. We better head to Orlando before it gets dark."

Six Months Later

"Karen? I don't know if you remember us, I..."

"Of course, officers---please come in! How can I help you?"

"Your neighbor---Rick. I see that there's a for sale sign on the house but it doesn't appear that anyone is home."

"Yes, it is for sale but the market is a little slow right now although we may have a good offer on it pending. We---my husband and I---are taking care of the sale for Rick; he hasn't lived in the house since right after Nina died. We're going to put ours on the market any day. It's just gotten too painful to keep living here."

"Do you know where he is living?"

"He travels a lot for his work. He seems to have buried himself in his job since his loss. I think he's been living out of a suitcase."

"Do you happen to know his line of work?"

"Some sort of big time financial consulting; I never did really understand it."

"Karen, I'm probably talking out of school here and some of what I'm going to tell you is conjecture---we don't know all the facts. A late model European sports car registered to Rick blew up three hours ago not twenty minutes from here. It's not our case; the feds are all over it---they were all over it before we even called them. We're just playing errand boy. We do not know who was in that car. The FBI lab is working on the DNA evidence. It was a very large blast. There's nothing left...no bodies. I'm sorry."

"But you're not sure? Maybe he lent the car to someone..."

"We'll let you know as soon as we learn anything. We'd better get going."

FBI Headquarters at Quantico

"Sir, there isn't a chance in hell that we'll ever recover all of the, ah, organic matter. It was a huge blast---real overkill. A lot of the DNA is contaminated. I can tell you there were two people in that car---or at least that we identified two distinct samples of human DNA. One is definitely the man in question. The other doesn't cross reference but based on the reconstruction of items of identification, we have a pretty good idea. According to the local PD, he had children so their DNA should confirm it. Evidently the two men were good friends; he was giving his best friend a ride in his new sports car. How unlucky can you get?"

"Dammit, Agent Epps, you were supposed to be watching him---protecting him. In twenty-four hours we were going to turn him over to the marshals for witness protection. What the fuck happened?"

"He wasn't out of our sight. We found high-end explosive residue in the garage at the place he was living---virtually a safe house. It was military grade, evidently not traceable since it was manufactured in the pre-taggant era. In spite of the blast, it was not that big a package. The only time we lost eyes on him---and just for a few minutes---was when he went into the parking garage at his friend's office. The car came back out in just a few minutes."

"And there were two people in it?"

"The agent on site can't be sure---the windows were heavily tinted. The car was moving fast and the agent got caught a little behind the power curve. He didn't expect him to drive out that soon---barely five minutes---or take off that quickly. He can't be sure."

"What about his finances?"

"He'd converted almost everything to liquid assets over a few months and with the help of the witness protection people secured it off shore."

"Life insurance?"

"Quite a bit of it, actually. Not an excessive amount considering his income history. Much of it paid for by his company---a typical executive perk. We put him in contact with a lawyer with whom we have worked before. If anything happened to him, we'd certainly be notified, provide the death certificate and ensure that his beneficiaries received payment."

"Who are the beneficiaries?"

"Rick was an orphan; his wife died a few months ago of a heart attack. There were no children. He set up a trust fund for the children of his two best friends in the world, his former neighbors, Dave and Karen..."

"And now this Dave guy is in all probability the other victim?"

"Ironic, really. It's a hell of a lot of money. At least those kids---four and seven I believe---will have a decent life...albeit without their father."

"What kind of guy was he---Rick I mean?"

"By all indications, a straight shooter. He came to us; we never put any pressure on him. Not that we really could have---he never broke any laws. He gave us unbelievable evidence. He testified against some of the biggest scumbags in the country. He only had one more court appearance---tomorrow against the biggest fish in the kettle. Sadly, without his testimony, that one will walk. We don't have enough other evidence. He was a masterful witness. One of the good guys...a hero."

"Shit!"

"Do we have enough here to notify the wife, Karen?"

"Yeah, I think we do."

"I'll notify local PD; she knows them. It might be a little easier coming from them."

"Nothing like this is ever easy. Tell me a little more about Rick."

"Left a foster home at seventeen and joined the Army. Earned a degree in night school and a finance degree on the GI Bill. Started out on the bottom rung and worked his way up to be one of the most respected and successful guys in his field. Very well liked, respected and trusted. Involved in the community."

"What did he do in the Army?"

"Pretty typical for a seventeen year old kid with no education; he ended up in the infantry and did a tour in combat. Came back and taught at the Infantry School until his hitch was up. Just your basic rifleman...decorated for valor in combat several times."

"Check with the marshals---has he already been wiped from the public record?"

"Yes. Effectively he didn't exist except in our records and those are of course destroyed or sealed once the marshals take over."

"Let's keep it that way. Maybe if that big fish you were talking about doesn't know he's dead there's still a chance he'll deal."

"There's always that chance. Lock him away for a few years and we'll have time to keep digging."

***

"Karen?"

"Officers! Twice in the same day! What a surprise."

"May we come in?"

"Of course."

"Please sit down. I'm afraid we have more bad news."

Three Months Later somewhere other than in the USA in a country without extradition.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"How'd you get Dave in your car without you in it?"

"He's always wanted to drive one of those things. I just handed him the keys and told him to be careful."

"The DNA?"

"I give blood. Last time I swiped a couple of the blood kits. Took a little out over a few days and stored it in the freezer."

"The explosives?"

"I have the Army to thank me for knowing what to do with them. A guy who taught explosive ordinance and demolition was an instructor at the Infantry School when I was teaching there. I just thought it might be useful knowledge to have and he had no qualms about telling me all the secrets. He was a nice guy; he died in a helicopter accident a couple of years later. The parts for the detonator I bought over the years. I paid cash and bought them on the road...one piece at a time."

"Where did you get the explosives?"

"Plastic explosive, properly sealed and kept under the right conditions really doesn't have a shelf life. Most of the bombs dropped over Vietnam were bombs made twenty plus years earlier for WWII. I swiped it back at Fort Benning. They didn't keep quite as tight control on it as they do today. Now I have some questions. Even if she took three of those supplements a day---supplements that you convinced her to buy-- it shouldn't have been enough to..."

"Kill her? It wasn't. The heated whirlpool was an unexpected plus that I couldn't have predicted. By my calculations it should have taken a few days longer."

"So, we might actually have gotten the chance to enjoy our three-way tryst?"

"Enjoyment can be such a relative thing. I'd had about all I could take of that damn dyke cow. Still, the last time we were together...it did have its high points. Can you imagine what it would have looked like if she had died in your hot tub or bed---with the three of us naked together?"

"You have a point there. Go on."

"I pumped her fat ass full of lube before I fucked her with that strap on. The amount of the basic chemical in that supplement after removing all the fillers was several hundred times more potent than the oral dose. It was absorbed directly through the mucosa in her butt."

"Where did you learn all of this?"

"Before my plans were cut short with an unexpected pregnancy and the need to support my loser husband while he got his advanced degree, I was in premed. I wanted to be a doctor. How long had you been planning all of this?"

"I couldn't have lived in witness protection doing some low level job somewhere in Arizona, living in a tract home and just getting by. Nina, God rest her soul, would have become insufferable without all the glitter. Two years ago when I went to the feds I knew I had to have an exit plan. I'd never done anything illegal. I was always afraid I'd get caught. I started easing some money off shore. I was tickled when the feds helped move my own legitimate funds. In view of my earnings potential, the large insurance policies weren't remotely suspicious. Nina seriously overvalued herself. She actually begged me to take out big policies on her. It gave her something to brag about among the other women."

"And then you convinced Dave with a wife that didn't work and two small children that he needed more insurance. How long will it last?"

"It's a lot easier for you to make it grow than me---remember, I'm dead. In very conservative investments and in view of the economy here we should be set for the long haul."

"And since I'm in control of the children's trust fund...you need me to stick around for a while?"

"A long while, I would expect."

"Why me...and when?"

"The first day I ever set eyes on you. I just never thought in a million years it could happen."

"Yeah, you had me that first day we met, when we moved in."

"The children seem to be adjusting well in spite of all the turmoil."

"The school they're attending is first rate. They live in a villa overlooking the ocean, we have servants and people to watch out for them. They're making friends. They're very fond of their Uncle Rick. They miss their father...but they're young. They'll get over it. So, four years of fidelity and two dead spouses---dead at our hands. A few million in the bank and living in paradise. Any chance the feds will ever come looking for you?"

"I mailed them a video tape before my death in which I indicated that I had received threats and believed my life was in danger. I gave them some pieces of the puzzle which I had held back as insurance. The judge agreed to admit it. The big fish took a plea; twenty years in lieu of life or worse. He's not that healthy. He won't survive his sentence. Once they had that bastard they had no interest in continuing to investigate the explosion. They had the guy who they assumed set it up. Case closed. My prints aren't on file in any commonly accessible data base. My file has been sealed or destroyed. I slipped across the border and didn't have to show any ID. I don't exist but then I can't ever go back."

"A few years...we have the money to create a new identity for you."

"Maybe in time. There's no rush. We closed the deal; the deal is done. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

"One more question. Nina said you liked her bushy muff. I don't have one of those. I've removed enough through electrolysis that I probably never will. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Dave, rest his soul, had something there. Nope, no problem at all. I love your bare little girl cunt."

"Care to explore it before lunch is served?"

"That and any other willing entrances."

"I like the way your mind works. You just closed the deal."