He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best

"You see here, there are a man and a little girl standing on the platform watching a woman walking to the train, with her back to them. The man looks very sad and the girl is crying."

"I can see that, so what?" Nancy was a bit lost.

"Now look at the same scene on your painting." The man handed Nancy the magnifying glass.

Nancy took a quick look at the bottom left corner and almost fainted.

"On yours both the man and the little girl are laughing and pointing at the woman, as if making fun of her."

"It's ... it's a fake," Nancy stammered.

"Yes, I'm sorry. But a good one."

"Oh my God!" Nancy pulled out a chair and sat down hopelessly.

"I can offer you two hundred dollars. I just want to hang it for my friends and clients to get a good laugh."

Nancy closed the deal and walked out like a broken woman. Her phone rang and she recognized her sister's number.

"Hi sis," Nancy said, trying to hide her misery.

"Don't call me sis, you bitch!" An angry voice shouted at her.

"What ... why?"

"Tom got an email from an unknown person, also sent to all our relatives and common friends. There is a link to a website, a pornographic one. There are tons of videos of you fucking a guy and all are date stamped from a year to last week. How could you Nancy?"

"I ... I,"

"You fucked the guy in your marital bed! And some scenes are in a two-cent apartment room." The voice yelled.

"I need to explain."

"No need to explain. You are disgusting. Tom doesn't want you near his family. He said you will contaminate me and my daughter. Our doors are closed to you. Go to your lover, whore." The phone went dead.

"Oh my God! They know, they knew since the beginning." There was a horrible look on Nancy's face. "What should I do now?" She became erratic. "Everyone knows, the whole town knows. I should leave from here, run away, run far away."

FIVE YEARS LATER

Bill

Bill sat on the first row in the church. He was thinking about the phone call he received that morning. He didn't tell anyone about it, how could he on that auspicious day. He had just walked Lisa down the aisle. He looked at the couple by the altar. Lisa said "I do" to her sweetheart, the young man she has been dating since her first year in college.

His mind raced back to the day he received a call from a crying Lisa. He remembered he was in his office when his princess called.

"Dad, dad, please come home," cried Lisa.

"What's going on sweetie? Why are you crying?" asked a stunned Bill.

"Please dad, come now. I'm waiting on the street in front of our home."

"In front of the house? What's wrong? I'll call your mom."

"NO! Don't call her. Just come. Please dad." Lisa pleaded.

"I'm on my way, sweetie."

While driving to his place, Bill was getting anxious. All sorts of thoughts went through his mind. Why was his daughter not at school? Why was she outside the house and not inside? Why didn't she want him to alert Nancy? Was she injured?

Suddenly he applied the brakes with a roaring sound of the tires. He was going to run a red light. Keep calm, he told himself. He knew Lisa was working on a project till late the day before. He even helped her and gave her some ideas. Together they put everything on a power point file and saved it on a USB flash drive.

Lisa was waiting one block down the street. Bill stopped the car and she hopped inside. 'Please don't go to the house dad."

"Ok Lisa, tell me, what's going on?" Bill cut the engine off.

"I forgot my USB drive this morning while I was rushing to school. I got special permission during lunch time to come home to pick it up. I found an old Honda in our driveway. I went inside the house and heard strange sounds coming from your room. I quietly walked up the stairs and peeped inside your room. The door was not fully closed." Lisa started crying.

"Ok sweetheart, inhale." Bill said in a soothing voice. He stroked her back. "Take your time."

"I saw a man in between mom's legs. They were both naked. They were fucking, dad. She's cheating on you, on us." Lisa sobbed.

Bill sat there in shock. He realized that his seventeen-year-old daughter knew what cheating and fucking was. "Are you sure of what you've seen?" He turned to face her.

"I recorded it on my phone." She took out her cell phone and played it for her father. Bill's world stopped suddenly when he heard Nancy moaning.

"Get her out of the house dad. I don't want to see her anymore. She's not my mom. My mother would never do such things."

"I will have to think about it."

"What do you need to think about? Just kick her out."

"It's not that easy sweetie. There are legal procedures to follow."

"Tell me dad, do you still want to stay with her? Do you still want to sleep with her?"

"I don't condone cheating. But we will need to know why she did it, if it's a one-time affair or has she been doing it a long time or if she'll continue with it."

"Here he is." Lisa pointed to the Honda leaving the driveway, turning away from them.

"Let's follow the guy." Bill turned on the engine.

They followed the Honda to the store. They found the guy putting his uniform jacket on while leaving his car in the parking lot and walked towards the employees' entrance.

"He works here. He's young." Bill said.

"Young or not, I don't care," Lisa replied while taking some pictures of the guy and his car.

"We already know one thing. So, sweetie, I will drop you at school. I'll drive home, pick up your flash drive and bring it to you. I'll tell your mom ..."

"SHE'S NOT MY MOM!" Lisa shouted at her father.

"I'll tell Nancy that you called me and ask to bring it to you. I don't want you to face her alone. Not now or anytime. Do you understand?"

"I understand, but why?"

"For the simple reason that I don't want her to know that we know. I don't want you through your anger to spill the beans."

"What are you going to do? I want to know everything that you are doing. I want you to keep me in the loop. Promise?"

"I'm going to wire our home. And yes, princess, I promise to keep you in the loop."

"I love you, dad." Lisa hugged Bill.

"Love you too."

"Now take me to school and bring the USB quickly as my class will start soon."

Bill parked in his driveway and walked into the house. "Honey, I'm home."

Nancy rushed out of the bedroom with shock on her face. "Oh Bill, it's you."

"Who did you want it to be?" He looked at Nancy straight in the eyes.

"I didn't expect you at this hour."

"Lisa called, she forgot her flash drive. I need to bring it to her." He approached Nancy and could smell sex on her. "Do we have time for a quickie?"

"Quickie? It's that I'm a bit tired from cleaning the house and I'm very sweaty. You won't like it. And you need to bring Lisa her USB."

"You're right."

At work, Bill surfed the internet for the best video and audio surveillance device and cell phone spy software. Later, he drove to an electronic shop and bought whatever he needed. One main decision he made, he would never touch his wife from that day forward. As promised, he would share everything with Lisa.

During the next three months, he learned a lot. He knew everything on Nancy's lover, Jason White. Jason came to his place almost every day, either in the morning when he was on the second shift or during his lunch time. On weekends, when Nancy was supposed to go shopping, she would drop by his apartment if he was not working. She also had a spare key. Bill came to know that she was buying lots of things for Jason. He watched as Jason took her anal cherry. He also listened to a conversation between Nancy and her best friend Betty, where they shared all their secrets. It was how he was aware that Betty was fucking her brother-in-law.

One Saturday, Bill searched in Nancy's handbag and found the key, hidden at the bottom. He quickly drove to the mall and had a duplicate key cut. The following week, he visited Jason's apartment. It was an old building in a notorious part of the town. The place was so cheap, that there was no security camera and the main entrance of the building was not even locked. In the apartment he placed some tiny hidden spy cams, ran by small long-life lithium button cells. He also searched everywhere and found all the expensive things Nancy had bought.

Bill started to work on a plan to get out of this relationship with maximum damage to both Nancy and her lover. He had a goldsmith make copies of all Nancy's jewelry, which would be gold- plated copper. Then he had a fake Pagnole 'The Train Station' painted by a pro with special instructions. He met a childhood friend Steve who was a corporate lawyer. When he explained his plan, the lawyer booked a meeting a couple of days later. On that day he met Steve and his cousin, Linda, who was an auditor, an expert in her field. He was honest and direct with them: he wanted to legally sink his company and then control it from a distance. A couple of years later he would have Lisa buy back the company. He would meet with Linda often, either at her office or have lunch together. She was a widow, her husband died in a car accident. She had a ten-year old son and had not been dating since the death of her husband. Slowly a friendship was born between the two. One day he invited her for dinner and a movie afterwards. She accepted. That same evening Lisa went to an overnight at her friend's place and Bill pretended to be working late.

Bill pulled into Linda's driveway. "Thank you for accepting the invitation," he told Linda.

"It's my first date since my late husband passed away."

"I understand, hoped you enjoyed it."

"I did."

"Can we do it again some time when you are free?"

"We have to work together and you are still married." She bent and kissed Bill on the cheek. "Let's do one thing at a time." She opened the door and walked to her house.

Bill encouraged Nancy to change her car. She was a bit reluctant because she liked her Lexus. When he told her that at the wheel of a BMW convertible, she would appear younger, she readily accepted. The Lexus was fully paid, so Bill sold it and cashed the money. He took out a car loan for the BMW and put everything under Nancy's name. When she signed the document, she thought it was for the ownership certificate. In between the documents, she signed other papers that would come back to bite her later on.

A couple of weeks later. Bill noticed that when Nancy goes to the bathroom after having sex, Jason would leave the bedroom naked and go to Lisa's room. He brought it to Lisa's attention and she was extremely furious. They decided to put a camera in her room. What they discovered was alarming. Jason would open a drawer and take Lisa's underwear and would stroke his dick with it. The same afternoon while Nancy was sitting on the couch, Lisa came behind her with a knife. Had Bill not intervened at that moment, Lisa would have hurt or even killed Nancy. Later in the evening, Lisa told her father that she would not have been imprisoned had she killed Nancy, because she was still a minor.

Bill was not surprised when he heard Jason convincing Nancy to divorce him and send him to the cleaners. But one thing that the lovers didn't know is that he was already one step ahead. He knew that Nancy would often let Jason drive the BMW and would even let him fucked her on the backseat. He knew when Nancy went to see a divorce lawyer, suggested by Paul and he was also aware that the lawyer would do some research on his company and all his assets. He waited a couple of days and took out a second mortgage on his house to pay Lisa's full studies. On the following day he declared bankruptcy. He knew the day he would be served Betty would change the locks of his house when they would be in New York.

On the weekend before Lisa's departure during the barbeque party, both father and daughter played their role. Paul and Betty were as friendly as ever. Paul even helped to grill some meat. No one would imagine that they were backstabbers.

On that Friday morning, while Nancy was in the bathroom, Bill took her cellphone and sent a text message to Jason: "At eight I will drive to your apartment and I want you to fuck me in the ass before I accompanied them for the last time. I want your dick in me, lover. Get permission from work and hurry home to fuck what you own. I'll tell them I need to buy a few things. Don't call or text me, I'll leave my cell phone at home in case they call me to ask where I am. See you soon, my future husband."

Bill deleted the message after sending it and placed the phone back in Nancy's handbag. What Jason didn't know was that as soon as he entered his apartment, three men would jump on him and beat him up. With a knife to his throat, they would make him send an email of resignation to his manager. Then another email to the building owner that he was leaving at the end of the month. They would then drug him, clean his apartment, remove the spy cams and take everything that can be carried away, making it look as if he left for good. They would wrap his body in carpet and place him in a van outside and drive away. One man would drive his car. Jason would never be seen again. Neither Lisa nor Linda would know what Bill did to Jason. It would be his secret which he would take to his tomb.

Friday afternoon after being served, Bill got a room in a motel. He laughed when he watched the evening news. Before dinner, one of the men who was at Jason's apartment came to meet him. He gave Bill all the cameras and received the final payment. No words were exchanged. He didn't even tell Bill where Jason's body was buried. Saturday morning, Bill left the motel, bought a new cell phone and dumped his old one. He called Lisa and gave her his new number. He drove to Linda's house. There he spent all his time mounting and editing the video recordings. He blurred Jason's face as he didn't want the police to make a link between the two lovers if ever Jason was declared missing. He stayed in the guest room and at the same time befriended Linda's son. Bill and Linda started the final phase of their scheme, where an old couple from Seattle would buy the company. The couple was in fact Linda's uncle and aunt. No employee would be fired.

Monday, he received a call from Lisa, informing him that Nancy was looking for him. They both laughed. Later he uploaded all the videos on a pornographic website. From a fake email address, he sent the link to all the people they knew, including Nancy's brother in law. He continued to stay at Linda's for the next three months till his divorce case was heard. They continued to date, but without any sexual contact. Linda made it clear that Bill would touch her only when he would be single and not before. Bill agreed as he wanted to keep his vows till the end of his marriage. One advantage of staying at Linda's was that if there would be any investigation, Bill would say that he was penniless and could not afford to pay rent and that his friend Linda was kind enough to allow him to occupy her guest room till he was back on his feet again.

The day of the hearing, Nancy was absent in court. Since the house and Nancy's car had already been repossessed and Bill was broke and unemployed, the judge granted the divorce without alimony and splitting of assets. Nancy's lawyer did not contest. Later in the hallway they bumped into each other.

" You are a very clever man, Mr. Thomson." The lawyer said.

"Am I?" Bill frowned and walked away.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

"Dad! Earth calling."

"Yes sweetie, what were you saying?"

"It's the bride father dance, everyone's eyes are on us and you are not moving at all!"

"Sorry princess, my mind was elsewhere." Bill took his daughter's hand, turned her around and they both started to move to the rhythm of the music.

"Now, I need to dance with your mom," Bill told Lisa when the song ended.

"And I promised my little brother that he would be the third on the list," Lisa smiled.

Bill walked to Linda and invited her on the floor.

Later Bill went to the bar and ordered a whisky. He sat down and his mind raced to that phone call he received at home, in his bedroom.

"Good morning Mr. Thomson, I am Dr. Henry DeSouza from Dallas, Texas. It concerns your wife."

"What is wrong with my wife?" Bill asked confused. "She is in the next room right now."

"I mean Nancy Thomson."

Bill hadn't heard that name in five years. He flung himself onto the bed. "I'm listening, doctor."

"I'm a psychologist and I'm treating my patient Nancy Thomson in her final days."

"Her final days?"

"Yes Mr. Thomson. Do you have a few minutes to allow me to explain the situation briefly?"

"Yes, carry on," said a bewildered Bill.

"Your wife, I mean your ex-wife has told me her life from the time she was a little girl to the time we met. She said you were the only man she knew till she met a certain Jason, a huge mistake she made, which she realized afterwards. She mentioned the divorce she planned and the aftermath. She is certain that you knew about the affair and set her up. She accepts her fate and the loss of her husband and daughter as she was the one who wronged you. The day she left town, she had only two hundred dollars in her pocket. She wanted to go as far away as possible because of what she did and also because of the video recordings of her sexual frolics. She took the first bus departing and landed in Texas. She got a job as waitress in a dirty second-rate bar along Interstate 20, visited mainly by truck drivers. The owner rented her a room on the first floor at a low fee, but in return he would fuck her whenever he wanted. A year later she was pregnant and as she did not have any health insurance coverage, she went to see a cheap charlatan for an abortion. The guy butchered her. After another year, the owner started pimping her out to the truckers. Some used protection and some didn't. When she was brought to the hospital, she had acute STD's and was already infected with AIDS. She had lost a lot of weight and she knows that she is dying. Her last wish is to see you before she dies."

"Doctor, I'm really sorry to hear that. My daughter is getting married today. I will give you a call next week."

"Don't take too much time Mr. Thomson. I'll give you my direct line number."

"Hey honey, don't drink too much. You'll have to drive us home later." Linda hugged her husband and kissed him tenderly.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me, darling." Bill pushed his glass away. "I will never put you and our son in danger."

"Let's go dancing, I want to feel your dick against my crotch."

A couple of days later, from his office Bill called Dr. DeSouza and informed him that due to a heavy workload he would not be able to make the trip south. The doctor recommended that Bill at least talk to Nancy over the phone. He would transfer the call to the ward where she was. There was a cordless phone there, a nurse could bring it to Nancy's bed.

"Bill, is that you?" Bill could hear a faint voice.

"Yes, Nancy, it's me."

"Oh Bill." Nancy started to cry. "I'm sorry Bill, really sorry for what I did to you and our family. Now I'm paying for it."

"I've forgiven you Nancy, I've moved on with my life. And I'm happy." Bill took a deep breath. "I need to thank you. After the divorce I married the most wonderful woman and we have a son. Lisa calls her mom and both get along very well. By the way, she got married last Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding ceremony. Her mom took care of everything. Lisa's kids will no doubt call her grandma. We are both waiting for that moment."

Bill could hear Nancy crying. He could also hear a commotion in Nancy's ward. He waited and finally could hear a panicked voice. "Mr. Thomson, I'm nurse Angelica. I'm sorry I will have to hang up." And the phone went dead.