Good Enough - Bluetooth Expose

Life kept on. My own quiet joy and satisfaction was a thing of the past. We both still lived in the same house but hardly ever acknowledged one another. I did start withdrawing from Kaylie and Jan engaged a part-time nanny. Jan also started working a lot less hours and NEVER went out at night anymore, at all.

I was still going out one or more times a week. Sometimes I would meet up with Sam and Will or some other veterans - but often it was just me drinking in a bar, pretty much alone. Not my favorite pastime, ever. But it beat being at my new "home" alone, now, at night just watching TV.

I did have some contracted jobs lined up to do and often just worked until it was time for bed. I missed my time with Kaylie something awful.

Another month passed and so far the FBI was not snooping around me, that I could tell.

But then one day an actual chauffeur driven limo came bouncing up my long gravel driveway. A very elegant beautiful looking middle aged woman got out and headed for the front door of my house. I was watching through my barn/workshop window as she entered my house.

This was a Friday afternoon and Jan was already home. I wondered what this was all about?

Later I retrieved one of my VAR's that recorded a very, very interesting conversation.

"Jan Merrill?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Jeannette Leary. I was James Leary's wife."

She waited a few seconds but Jan was silent.

"I'm here to help you. Can we sit down somewhere?" she asked pleasantly.

"Ok. What's this about...helping me?" Jan asked as innocently as possible. Jan must have been worried about her affair with James and how Mrs. Leary was here for what reason?

"Let me explain some things. I know my dear, departed husband was well, screwing you. And for a long time. We didn't exactly have an open marriage, but we both had extramarital hobbies, let's say. I was only concerned a tad with his tomcatting around. I had, we had, ironclad prenups and he knew that if he left me for another woman I would gut him financially - at least for now, until he turned 45 years old. 45 was the magic age for James. THAT was when he finally received his entire trust fund and total control - about $20 million right now - and growing.

"James wanted to live the life of a multimillionaire before he was 45, that's where I came in. But he also had ambitions for real political power, and that's where his law degree and public service jobs came in. It also gave him access to a large pool of potential "slumming" sexual conquests. Screwing rich spoiled women was just no challenge at all for someone like James - and not much fun either. Too much equality in those kinds of fun and games relationships. He liked women like you, women that would actually "fall in love with him" that he could use and abuse and get a real ego boost from. You were probably his best conquest - and certainly the longest affair he had. Did you really have his child? Nevermind. You'll soon see why it makes no difference.

"James thought I had the family money to provide that for him right now. That multimillionaire lifestyle. We married each other for money and had the prenups to prove it. What James did not know was that I was not nearly as rich as he thought. I had the old money pedigree and friends, and the houses and retreats, just not a lot of cash - and what little of that I had was dwindling rapidly. I could fake living the good life very well, piggybacking on rich friends' private jets and vacations, attending all the elegant parties. Et cetera, et cetera. But my parents, my father especially, broke the old money credo, "never touch the capital!" He touched it, and started spending it, and it started snowballing...do you have any idea what all the taxes add up to on several multi-million dollar properties each year? James' $20+million was the NEW capital I needed. We needed. That I still need.

"James was a good enough husband for me. When he was home he was pleasant enough, skilled enough, and endowed enough for some great sex and to father two very nice children. But you know all about THAT, don't you, dear? I could live with his extra-marital hobbies. Couldn't risk him dying early though.

"But that's where insurance comes in. Part of the prenup was term insurance for James until age 50. Normally rich people don't buy life insurance - being rich is self-insurance. James thought I was already rich - money in hand - so no insurance for me, but he understood that his own fortune was not quite in his grasp so he agreed to keep a $10 million policy in force - with the other $10 million merely coming from his estate trust. His trust was a complicated thing, dealing with about 10 cousins in his family's complexities - untimely deaths meant no more than half of any individual's trust would go to that person's individual estate and be disbursed by wills.

"His untimely death, his murder, has complicated a lot of things. His family wants to insure no possibility that his murderer might receive any of his fortune. The insurance company doesn't want to pay out $10 million and IF his murderer was his wife, me, they wouldn't have to pay off. Not even to his kids. Falls under some "insurance scam" laws. Both these people now have very good investigators looking into all aspects of his death, and life UNTIL his death.

"I have my own private investigators doing their thing to protect my own interests. This is where it all gets more interesting for you. Now just a what-if here - IF your husband killed James for revenge, his own purposes - then I get the money, end of all the questions. And I can also insure that your daughter's future is very well financially secured - and with keeping her actual parentage as scandal free as possible.

"But it hinges on one key question: did your husband Jake have anything at all to do with James' murder? Think very carefully before you answer...and don't even answer now. I will be back in touch with you..."

And the recording faded out as they evidently headed out of the room.

So, would Jan sell me out now, for the money? Why wouldn't she? I was pretty sure she still harbored her own suspicions, undoubtedly fueled by the FBI and APD's inability to pin it on some specific gangbanger or other. I knew every CI the Feds and Atlanta Police had would be out listening on the street for hints who might have done it.

Jan could so easily turn from my best alibi to my worst accuser. I girded my loins for the worst.

Fuck it. I wasn't going to run away, and I wasn't going to actively try and pin it on anyone else.

What I COULD do is test Jan's professed love for me, as her husband and Kaylie's dad. OK, I would start a general thaw and see where that might lead.

What did I have to lose? If she didn't love me but only herself, I would face a very real threat of a long prison sentence. Maybe a death sentence, since multiple felonies were involved - stealing his wallet and watch, using an illegal unregistered gun, carrying without a permit, spitting on the sidewalk. Any first-year ADA could always come up with multiple felonies for any crime. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

I started my thaw the easiest way for me, with Kaylie first. Kaylie acted mad at me at first, rightly so because I had been ignoring her. But soon I had her squealing with laughter and smiling that great little smile of hers all the time. Her world was right again, and so was mine in a very significant way. I started reading her to sleep every night like I used to.

Jan would watch us together and her eyes would mist up.

I felt that was a good sign. But mostly I loved being around Kaylie, anyway. I loved her, heart and soul. It was my demon mind knowing who her biological father was that was the only problem. Sometimes you have to go with your heart - not your mind.

I started acknowledging Jan, just being polite around the house. I started accepting some breakfast foods she prepared. And I would grill out for myself and Kaylie and always cook an extra steak or hamburgers for Jan too.

The first time I did that she really did break down and ran away crying. She came back in ten minutes and ate with us though. Our first family dinner together in almost 4 months. Kaylie was just normally wonderfully joyous at the boring normality of it all.

Later that night I touched Jan on the arm and said, "I won't abandon Kaylie. I just can't. I love her too much. OK?"

Jan just nodded and walked away to her own bedroom. I went to mine.

The next two weeks saw things improving on all fronts between the three of us. Some smiles and even the occasional laughter among all of us.

Then the FBI came by and interviewed me for the first time.

They wanted to know if I knew about Jan and James. I admitted that I did. Then the big question was, just when did I find that out?

I answered that it was only after James' murder. That Jan was depressed for quite a while and finally admitted the whole thing to me. That was my story and I stuck with it. Beyond that I was very vague on the timing. Jan and I had not worked out "my story" together.

All Jan had to do was testify otherwise and a great big crack would appear in my apparent innocence.

I wasn't worried about my lawyer. Even when the FBI tracked her down, I was pretty sure I was covered by lawyer-client privilege as to exactly what we talked about and when.

I pretty much figured that Mrs. Leary was the other prime suspect, but they probably figured she would have just hired someone to kill James - for his life insurance. Since she didn't do it, I don't see how they could even indict her.

They probably could me, though. And they did.

My life was in the hands of others - just like it had always been when I was in the Marines, all through training but especially in combat.

I knew my Marine brothers wouldn't let me down. The big question was always Jan. What would she say under oath? If I went down even after she perjured herself for me, she could be at risk for prosecution as well, maybe lose her law license. Probably for sure she would lose her current associates position. Those were the "sticks" and Mrs. Leary was offering the big monetary "carrot", as well.

But somehow I ended up with a legal defense team, led by the nationally prominent defense lawyer - Edward "Ted" Diaz.

"Who is paying for all this?" I asked once.

"Don't worry about it. This is an outrageous prosecutorial overreach. They have NO case but the weakest of "opportunity and motive" and not one shred of physical evidence. Absolutely nothing ties you to the crime scene, per discovery. I can't stand for this kind of injustice." He scowled.

Then he grinned. "You also have a rich anonymous benefactor covering all expenses. Even if my time was pro bono, high visibility murder cases like this have tons of expenses. But, we're covered. You are covered, just fine."

Jan stayed by my side throughout the preparation and the trial itself. I talked to Diaz privately about some points I wasn't clear on. Specifically, could we prevent the US Attorney from compelling testimony from my wife?

"Not really. If she wants to testify she can. But if she states that she does not want to testify then they cannot make her. Probably. But then, she can't testify for us, either. If she does, she has waived that privilege and is then subject to cross-examination. Why are you asking?"

"One big question seems to be just when I learned about Jan's affair and how. I learned it from her after James's death, but even I can't remember the exact time or circumstances I learned about it. We went through a period of me questioning and her partially answering - sometimes called "trickle truth" I've learned. I just don't want any inconsistencies in our remembrances causing any doubts for anyone." I answered pretty truthfully myself. Not.

"Perhaps you will want to review all this with Jan, just so that you are both as clearly accurate as possible."

Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I didn't want to stir those waters. What was she thinking? What was really in her heart? Her mind? Where they together on the same page - or at odds? What had she already said when interviewed? How many times had she been interviewed?

The trial started and it was very stressful around our house. Kaylie became very despondent and moody as the stress even got to her. I had to hold her a lot whenever we finally got home and before she would go to sleep at night. Jan started hugging me goodnight as well - at first I just let her but soon I was hugging her back...but we were still sleeping in separate rooms. Not that I slept much any night.

The trial was not going well for the prosecution. My ex-Marine alibi buddies held up extremely well on the stand - just as they had in all their interviews. They called many, many of James's and Jan's former co-workers who all testified how pretty well known their affair was. But none could say with certainty that I ever knew about it. There was NO physical evidence linking me with the crime or the crime scene. No witnesses placed me there. (I had not actually been in "The Gold Club" and no one paid me any attention outside as I "loitered" because I always tried to be just staggering by when people were near me, as I waited for James. I also wore a real shabby hoody and almost seemed like a street person. This I took off when I saw James walk out but put back on when I walked away.)

The Prosecution also put some public Marta CC video footage of a man they claimed was me, but my face wasn't ever clearly recognizable in any of them. And it didn't even shake my alibi.

Finally the prosecution in desperation called my wife. Diaz immediately objected and claimed spousal privilege. The US Attorney spouted some previous case exceptions, and Diaz replied with his own list of spousal privilege being upheld. At this point the trial was recessed and a meeting in judge's chambers was held.

We were very well prepared. My wife and her own lawyer was present.

The US Attorney, Randall Jennings, stated "Spousal privilege can be waived by the spouse herself , if she wants to testify. I am merely giving her that option, right now. Things might just work out best for her if she does testify." Randall had a smug look on his face.

Judge Henry Cavil was not pleased. He was just about to retire after many, many long years as a judge. He was very well experienced and very well respected.

"Is that a threat, counselor? Are there charges pending against Mrs. Capeli, as well, in this matter?"

"No, your honor, not a threat. Let's just say it was some wise advice."

My wife looked very strained. Her face was pale.

"Hmmm," said the judge while observing her.

"Do you wish to testify in this matter - just to tell the truth?"

There was a strained silence for almost a minute. Then without consulting her lawyer or looking at me, she said "Yes, I'd like to testify, after all."

Randall and his gophers looked very pleased. My heart almost stopped, but then rather than speeding up it just slowed down and I got that sleepy eyed, almost bored look, all the best killer soldiers got when around combat, worldwide. No sense worrying about the future. The finger was writing.

The courtroom drama started back up with my wife now on the stand. US Attorney Randall handled this interrogation himself. He thought it was all in the bag now. All he had to do was drag - or trick - the truth as he just knew it was, out of her.

"Is it Ms. Merrill or Mrs. Capeli?"

"Jan Merrill is my maiden, professional, and legal name. Mrs. Jan Capeli is my proudest title. Please call me Mrs. Capeli."

That was unexpected, by his look.

"Mrs. Capeli, did you engage in a long time love affair with the deceased - Mr. James Leary?"

"Yes. To my everlasting shame I did. I foolishly thought that at one time he loved me and I loved him right back. But he never did love me and I fell out of love with him as well, years ago."

"Yet you DID continue sleeping with him?"

"Yes. The affair was ending, long past due, but it continued just habitually, more than anything else."

"When and where was the last time you saw Mr. Leary?"

"Two weeks before he was killed. It was a Friday afternoon and early evening at the Ramada Inn in Peachtree Corners. We spent a couple of hours together, like 5 to 7 pm, and then I thankfully went home to my loving family. To me it was just like a kind of dirty chore I still had to do occasionally and was now over for at least another month."

"Did your husband know what you had been doing?"

One of the key questions as I watched in my laid back way.

"No, he did not. I am sure of it. He was just the same loving man then that he had always been."

"So, were you intimate with your husband that very night?"

"No, I uh, don't think so. I can't really remember."

"You don't remember...hmmm."

"Is there a question there, counselor?" The judge growled. "Keep your own opinions for closing arguments."

"Yes, your honor."

"Mrs. Capeli, did your husband approach you for sex that night?"

"I don't recall but if he had I would have gladly agreed."

"You remember pretty vividly your interlude with Mr. Leary that day, but not any intimacy with your own husband. Can you explain that?"

"Certainly. My times with Mr. Leary were getting ever more infrequent and ever less enjoyable. That was the only thing making it "memorable". Kind of like having a root canal would be memorable. The normal day-to-day steadfast love of my husband and daughter was less memorable merely because it was far more normal and unremarkable. If we did not have sex that night, I am sure we did the following night. We hardly ever went more than one day or night without sex, back then."

"Back then? Things between you and your husband are not the same now?"

Jan squirmed a little in her seat at this question.

Her lawyer rose and stated "Objection! Relevance to this crime?"

"Under consideration. Counselor, I will give you a little bit of leeway on this line of questioning but you better reach a relevant point very soon. Please answer the question Mrs. Capeli?"

"Things are not the same between my husband and me now. We have not been intimate or sleeping in the same bed since my husband found out about the affair. Satisfied?" Jan kind of snarled.

"As long as you testify truthfully I am satisfied." He smiled back.

"When did your husband find out about the affair?"

"It wasn't any particular time. I was a bit depressed after the murder. I couldn't accept it, somehow - and I felt a sense of dread that wouldn't go away. James had been a part of my life for a long time, and even though my own love - and lust - for him had just about totally ended, I still admired him in many ways. I thought he was an excellent DA and then US Attorney. I followed his career and rooted for him almost like he was my sports team. I knew he wanted back into politics at the national level and I hoped he made it. I hope that makes sense to at least some people here..." and she glanced over at the jury and then me with a beseeching look. Well played, I thought.

"My depression continued and Jake started questioning me about what was wrong. I first said it was just job related, but he wouldn't let it go. Then I said that I was depressed at "Mr. Leary's" murder - that he was once a real good friend of mine. That cracked a door open and Jake kept prying, I finally admitted, weeks later, that I had slept with James before Jake and I were married. He let it slide for a few days, but stopped making love to me, and then started with more questions. I finally admitted I was still seeing - sleeping - with James right up until his death, but only occasionally. Jake took this very hard. Very hard." this last she almost whispered and looked down.

"Jake took the news of your faithlessness for your entire marriage very hard. If James had still been alive, do you think Jake would have been angry enough to have wanted to kill him?"