Goose & Gander

From the look of anguish on his face, I believed him. That didn't change the fact that he'd betrayed me, but I was rethinking my plan to bury him so deep, he would never work in Law Enforcement again. "I thought of you as family, Bart. I guess you didn't feel the same about me." I said, shaking my head. No, this Justice was going to be complete. No, this wasn't about revenge anymore. This was going to be Justice for All. Everyone was going to get exactly what they deserved.

I took a breath and asked him another question. "Who else knew about this besides you?" I asked, and he got that Deer in the Headlights look on his face. The same look on Julee's and Jimmy's faces in those pics I'd just sent him. "Remember, answer truthfully, or everyone hears about your involvement."

As a Detective, I had pretty much mastered being a human lie detector. About the only one that I couldn't detect was the woman I'd been married to for 10 fuckin' years. She'd snowed me good! Barton, on the other hand, was an open book by comparison.

"If I tell you, will you keep my name out of it? Will you erase the recording on that device in your pocket?" He said. Give him credit, he was observant. As a Detective himself, he had to be. It was then that I made the most life changing decision I could make when it came to Barton's life. I shut off the recorder and erased it in front of him.

"You're off the hook, Barton." I nodded. I was going to give him a free pass, but not totally. He was still going to have to face his family after I was done. He would still be able to work in Law Enforcement, though. "Now, tell me who else knows that I've been cuckolded." I snarled.

"Just Fred and Jimmy, and other male family members on their side." He said, then regretted the word MALE being used. I knew where copies of these pictures were going next!

I smiled at that, and he paled as he realized the full extent of his slip. "Shit!" He muttered under his breath.

"So the Mayor knows, and enabled it too. As did Judge Greene." I nodded, this being confirmation of his previous statement. That was one packet each going to their wives with the tagline 'Your Husband Knew About This!' Janet Greene was a good woman, and a friend of my parents. They'd been friends since before she married Fred Greene, the now Mayor of our town. Alice Greene, Judge Greene's wife, was kind of a shrew, but she also deserved to know what her hubby had enabled to happen!

It struck me as strange that Julee hadn't tried calling me today, but that thought had barely registered itself in my head before my cell started buzzing. Sure enough, it was Julee.

"Detective Wilson." I answered, as I usually do when on duty.

"Cal, are you at work?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm in Bart's office doing some paperwork. What's going on?" I kept the tone casual.

"Are you ready to talk yet?" She asked.

"What's there to talk about, Julee?" I asked.

"The fact that I still love you." She said. "The fact that I know you still love me." Ok, that caught me a bit off guard. I realized that even though she'd shit all over me, I DID still have some residual feelings for her.

"When would you like to talk?" I asked. "I can take the rest of the day off, but you won't be able to get into the house. I've had the locks changed." I told her.

"Will you let me in so I can get my clothes, at least? We could talk then." She said. I had to agree.

"Yeah, no problem. Cynthia is going to be there too. She's with me at work right now." I said. I figured that would be a good barrier to being tempted. I glanced at Cyn, and she had an apprehensive look on her face.

"Fine." I heard all the tension in the world in that one word from my wife before she hung up.

I looked back at Barton. "Anyhow, does anyone besides the Mayor, you, Judge Greene, and Jimmy know that I've been horned by him and my wife?"

"No, that's all of us." He nodded. "And Cynthia here too." He said, trying to implicate her.

"She's already told me, and the reason why is because Jimmy has control of all their money." I snarled. "Now, are you going to send the evidence to the DA?"

Bart got his digital camera and snapped some pictures of the grip bruise, and a few other bruises on her body. He then checked them and sent them to his PC in order to compile then and email them. "Yes, it's going today. I'll email him after I pick up Jimmy." He nodded. He would have to do it, since he was the only one he could trust, besides me, to keep quiet about the shit that Jimmy had pulled. I would keep quiet, alright. Until it was time to NOT keep quiet.

"Good. The sooner he's off the street, the better. I'd go myself, but you know." I shrugged. I did NOT want to be tied to his arrest, especially after the news of his affair with Julee went public.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not a fan of what you're doing, but what he did to you is unforgivable, in my book. And hitting his own wife isn't what I signed on to protect him from. He's going down for that, if I have anything to say about it. If he wasn't family, I wouldn't have helped him. You gotta believe that, son." Barton said. It moved me. I'd known Sheriff Stanley "Bart" Barton all my life, and up until yesterday, I respected and loved the hell outta him. I still liked him, but the respect was diminished quite a bit by his betrayal.

"I believe ya, Bart." I nodded, then stood with Cyn by my side. "Now, I have to go give Julee her clothes and get her out of my house." I said, and shook his hand.

"Will you be in tomorrow?" He asked.

"No, I'm officially taking my five days' vacation, starting today. I'll be back next Monday." I said, smiling.

"Ok, sounds good." He smiled, and I had a feeling that once the dust settled, he was going to be ok.

But I wasn't done yet. As promised, I sent both Mayor Greene and Mrs. Greene the email with all J-pegs attached, and timed it to coincide with Jimmy's arrest at the hands of his uncle.

When we got home, Julee was waiting. Cyn and I walked up to the door, hand in hand, and just looked at Julee. She had a jealous look on her face.

"Hi, Julee." Cynthia said. "Enjoy fucking my husband?"

"I could ask you the same, slut!" Julee sneered at Cynthia. Now that I compared them side by side, Cyn had Julee beaten hands down in the loos department!

"Now now, ladies. Julee, what have we said about double standards?" I asked calmly, smiling at her with a pointed look. "Remember, if you hadn't slept with Jimmy, I wouldn't have slept with Cynthia."

That stopped her dead before she started her retort. I continued. "Julee, what is there to talk about? You showed me just how much I mean to you yesterday when you were riding Jimmy the Needle. No respect. No love. Nothing but contempt. Instead of showing ANY real contrition for what you did, you first tried to make excuses, then attacked my job, and surprisingly, my cock size. I've heard of guys being too small, but too big when they aren't even what most would call porn size? Seriously, Julee? Well, I hope his little dick satisfies you, because you aren't going to be getting this one again. Now, get your shit and get out of my house."

"Julee, if you don't want a cock his size, I'll gladly take him off your hands." Cyn said with a satisfied smile on her face. Yeah, we were rubbing Julee's nose in it, and dammit, it felt GOOD!

Julee couldn't hold the tears back anymore, and the flood gates opened. "I'm so sorry, Cal!" She bawled. She was REALLY crying now, something I'd only seen a few times before. "I screwed up!"

"No, you screwed down. Jimmy used to beat Cynthia, did you know that?" I looked at Cyn, who showed off the bruise on her upper arm. I know she remembered when Cyn would wear the heavy makeup to church, and could imagine now the bruises underneath all that makeup. I remembered not thinking much of it at the time, and remarking to Jimmy that she sure wore a lot of makeup. Shortly after that, I noticed, she wasn't wearing as much as she used to. That was probably Jimmy showing some sick twisted intelligence and hitting her where he knew it wouldn't show while wearing normal clothing.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry, Cyn! I didn't know about that!" Julee had a look on her face as if she had just seen a ghost, or maybe a vision of the future if she were to leave me for Jimmy.

"Nothing you could have done, Jules." Cyn said with a shrug. "That's behind me now, though, and I won't lie. I'm going to do what I should have done years ago, and Divorce that scumbag. I'm taking his ass to the fucking cleaners."

"As am I." I said, looking at Julee. It was time to dictate terms of her surrender. "Julee, we're through. I'm suing for 75% of our joint assets. That will leave you enough to get your own place, since the house is in my name and is mine by right. You can keep your car, and I'm keeping my car. The rest gets divvied up 75/25. If you fight me on this, those pics go to your family, my family, and anyone else who's interested. I would prefer this over quickly and cleanly, but I will fight dirty if I have to. There will be no going back from this. You and I will be done. You already know how I feel about cheating. Before I EVER slept with Cynthia last night, you'd been horning me for two whole months with Jimmy. I guess the only consolation I have is that you made that asshole needle dick motherfucker wear a condom, so I shouldn't have any STDs."

Julee had stopped crying. "But I love you, Cal!" She pleaded.

"No, Julee. If you loved me, you would have respected me, and respected the vows we took when we were married. As far as I'm concerned, when I saw you and Jimmy together yesterday, I was Divorced from you then and there. All that's left is to make it official. You will be served tomorrow at work on grounds of Infidelity. My Attorney already has the pictures as evidence, and will be submitting them in Court." I stopped and let my words sink in, then continued. "Julee, will you give me the Divorce so we can move on with our lives?"

She looked down, completely defeated. "Yes." She said in that small voice that showed that she had lost.

"Thank you, Now, let's get you packed. After the revelation today, I don't think you'll want to go back to Jimmy, especially since he just got picked up on Domestic Battery charges." I said.

"Y... you're right. But where am I going to stay?" She asked.

"I left enough in your account for a down payment on an apartment and then some. It used to be the joint account, but I had 75% of it moved into an account in my name, and removed my name from the joint account, so it's now all yours." I shrugged. "I hope you make it, Julee. As much as I really want to hate you, I just can't. We've known each other too long, but I can't and won't forgive what you did to me, to us."

Julee sobered at that. She was hurting, obviously, but I steeled myself against her. It was very difficult to do, but I did it. Hell, part of me wanted to just hold her and tell her everything would be ok, but I knew better. If she had loved me, she would have stopped fucking Jimmy when I asked her if she would. Dammit, IF she loved me, she wouldn't have fucked his needle dick in the fuckin' FIRST PLACE!

That was the only thought I needed to finish steeling myself against her sorrow and considerable charms. Yes, side by side, and viewed objectively instead of with a heart full of love, she didn't hold a candle to Cynthia, all things considered. That didn't stop her from being gorgeous in her own right.

Cynthia helped us get all of Julee's stuff packed up, and it STILL took fuckin' forever. By the time we were done, it was too late to go apartment hunting, and we were all pooped out. We collapsed in the living room, with most of OUR suitcases filled with Julee's stuff. Her closet had been cleaned out, and her dresser, and her night table, and her makeup table, and her sink in the Master Bath, and... well, you get the idea.

"I never realized you had so much stuff, Jules." I chuckled in spite of myself as Cynthia came in and handed us both a beer before plopping down in my lap. Julee looked at us with an expression of longing on her face. No jealousy, for once. Just a sense of what she had thrown away.

"Well, it's been over ten years since I moved in here, and you know I never throw anything away as long as it's wearable." Julee shrugged, and I once again couldn't help chuckling.

"I know, alright." I smirked. "Jules, it's late. You can crash in the guest room, if you want."

Cynthia leaned close to my ear. "Is that a good idea?" She whispered.

"I don't hate her, Cyn. As much as I want to, I can't. I don't love her anymore, but I still kind of care about what happens to her." I whispered back. Then I looked at the expression of hope on Julee's face. "Jules, this is One Night Only. You can sleep in the guest room, but pack up your car in the morning, and remember, you are going to be Served at work with the Divorce papers." I drove the reality back home for her.

Julee choked back a sob. "Is that really necessary?" She asked finally. "How about we just go to your lawyer in the morning, and I'll sign everything in his office?"

I thought about it. As much as I really wanted to humiliate her, I also remembered the good times we had over the years. Helluva thing, memory. I looked at Cyn and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think? Should we?" I asked her.

Cynthia looked over at Julee and saw the utter despair in her eyes. Then she looked back into mine. "I think she's suffered enough for now, and yes, I think that would work."

I looked over at Julee. "Fine. We'll go to Phil's office in the morning. Then you can sign the papers and we can get the Judge to declare us divorced. We aren't going for counseling, and we aren't going to have to worry about child custody. So no worries there."

Julee got a small smile on her face. She had evaded my wrath... for the moment. The dust hadn't settled yet. Hell, the explosion hadn't even happened yet.

"I see you've replaced the bed already." She said, her voice still small and full of contrition.

"Yeah, I kind of needed an upgrade, anyway. I didn't know at the time that Cyn here was a cuddler, though. If I had, I might have gone with the queensize." I smiled, and couldn't resist rubbing some salt in Julee's wounds. She flinched visibly at the jab.

"I really wasn't that good a wife, was I?" She said, probably feeling the full weight of her decisions now.

"No, you were a good wife, until you decided to fuck not just another guy, but an asshole like Jimmy Greene. You KNEW how I felt about him. You KNEW that he was all the time wanting in your panties. You KNEW that I told him once that if he hit on you again, I would make him pay. Well, Payday is here for him. If you don't want to get caught in the fallout, I suggest you leave town ASAP when the Divorce is final." I told her in an even voice, with emphasis on each KNEW.

Julee got a look on her face that spoke of her fear. "What do you mean, Cal?"

"I mean what I say, Jules. Look, I don't hate you, but a storm is coming. When the Mayor himself enables his son to fuck another man's wife, with full knowledge that his son is in the wrong, there's going to be some serious fallout. It isn't illegal for him to have knowledge of it, or to even allow it to happen with his blessing. What IS illegal, though, is to have that Husband scheduled at work so that it is possible for his son to do it." I was lying through my teeth now, but that was to protect Bart. At least Bart had a conscience, and that was going to protect him when I detonated this all over town. "I have it on good authority that Mayor Greene was the one behind me being assigned Friday nights, even though I had that night off normally. And he made damn sure I was kept busy on Sundays, too."

Julee's eyes widened at that. "Oh my God! Jimmy used his own father to set us both up?!"

It all made sense, in a weird sort of way. See, Jimmy wasn't an asshole by accident. He took after his dad, who was in the running for Biggest Asshole In The Universe. Mayor Greene was definitely an asshole, and had more than proved it by his actions lately.

Yes, Mayor Greene was Number 2 on my hit list, right after Jimmy Greene but before Judge Greene. Bart had gotten himself off the list, but I had the feeling that he wouldn't escape completely unscathed.

I pulled out my cell and called Phil.

"Hey, Cal. What's up?" He asked when he answered his phone.

"Change of plans, Phil. Julee is going to be coming in tomorrow morning with me and Cyn, and she's going to sign the papers there at your office. Is that cool with you?" I gave him the change in plans.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Have her bring her Lawyer, though. I don't want this coming back to bite us in the ass." He said.

"Ok, I'll tell her." I nodded. "Thanks, Phil."

"No problem, brother. I got your back." He said, then Ended the call.

I looked at Julee. "Bring your Lawyer in the morning when we go see Phil."

Julee just gulped and nodded.

After we'd finished our beers, we went to bed. Julee crashed out in the guest room, and Cyn locked the door behind us when we went to bed in OUR bedroom that night. I had the strangest feeling that Cynthia and I would be sharing that bed for the rest of our lives.

In the morning, Julee called her lawyer, and had him meet us at Phil's office. After explaining the whole mess to him, he looked at her walleyed, but didn't say anything as he went over the Divorce papers and evidence. When he was done, he handed the papers to Julee. "This is the best deal you're going to get, Jules. Take it and run." That was his advice. Julee, God Bless Her, took his advice.

Thirty Days later, after the 'cooling off period', we were officially Divorced.

The Divorce from Julee wasn't the real fight. No, the REAL fight was going to be from Jimmy Greene and his daddy and uncle in City Hall. But thanks to the email I sent to their wives, we had an ally in our corner in the form of Janet Greene. Alice Greene hadn't responded, and I figured she had her own brand of justice planned for the Honorable Judge. Judge Reinhold (no relation) saw the evidence, and Jimmy was being held without bond under House Arrest at his place, thanks to his record... which had been swept under the rug until recently exposed by his own dear mother... and was found to not only be violent, but a flight risk. You see, Jimmy had a HUGE Trust Fund, thanks to Daddy Dear, and that Trust Fund was being hunted by Phil, now representing Cynthia in her Divorce from Jimmy. Jimmy was stupid enough to fight the Divorce, so Phil pulled out the Big Guns, going after the Trust Fund.

When Jimmy pled out, he was given probation, but was kept on House Arrest. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do for now.

I received a call at work from Cynthia, who was now living with me full time, telling me that Janet Greene was at the house. I said I'd be right there, told Bart that his sister was at my place, and he just nodded and smiled. I rushed home.

When I got there, Cynthia and Janet were having coffee in the living room. "I'm here, ma'am." I said when I came in, after kissing Cynthia hello.

"Cal, it's good to see you. Thank you for that enlightening email, by the way." She smiled apologetically. "If I had known my son was doing that to you two with my husband's full knowledge and cooperation, I would have put a stop to it."

"Ma'am, not many people knew about it." I shook my head. "It wouldn't be fair to say that you should have known."

"My brother knew and enabled it." Her voice had turned to steel. "My HUSBAND knew and enabled it. My brother-in-law knew and enabled it. That THING that calls itself my son has crossed beyond the pale this time! To seduce another man's wife, and to then use his own family to cover it up... Well, let me just say that whatever I can do, I will do for you." She nodded.