His Guiding Light

By now, Gina was back, and she and Daniel tried to stay busy and out of the way while Zach continued with the report.

The background on Reggie was not pretty. An arrogant man from money in Austin became the preeminent music critic in the state. Two conductors had left Texas saying, Reggie had created an environment where audiences critiqued the music and performances too much instead of enjoying them, so the conductors moved on to locations where they felt better appreciated.

His scathing reviews were lauded by the local elites, but some performers had left also because they were tired of the criticism and what was becoming an 'us vs them' environment where the performers felt animosity from a growing portion of the audience.

The PI report revealed a news article from a smaller paper in the Houston area. It was reported that a featured soloist, who was emotionally fragile due to her husband cheating on her and leaving her prior to an upcoming solo performance, poured herself into her music and that one performance. Gerald's review was so brutal that she quit the symphony and refused to perform again. About a week after the review, she decided to take her own life because after losing her husband and her music, she didn't feel like she had anything left to live for. The larger Houston papers didn't report the story.

Daniel heard him say, "The man is poison."

Also, in the report, were a couple of school reports of undergrads accusing him of sexual harassment, which were buried by the school, and apparently Lisa wasn't his only 'girlfriend.' The report had detailed information regarding the inside of Reggie's house: floorplan, layout, pictures of the interior with accompanying video. Pictures and recordings of Reggie and Lisa having sex together were available on a private cloud account, but Zach was advised not to watch those if he had any intention of taking Lisa back.

He didn't have that intention.

When he had finished reviewing all the information in the folder, he joined Daniel and Gina in the kitchen. After fixing himself a cup of coffee, the three of them were steeling themselves for the next conversation, which was what was he going to do, when the doorbell rang.

Daniel went to answer it, and Zach could hear, "Pardon me, is Zachariah here?"

It was Mrs. Ortiz, and apparently, she does own a pair of jeans. Upon seeing Zach, she walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "Frank called Samuel, who called me. When I heard you were having family problems, and I knew it didn't involve your work family, I came as soon as I could."

They all looked at her speechless.

She continued, "Oh, come on. I'm not stupid. I know you, Zachariah. You've worked with us for almost twelve years as of now, and before today, I think you've missed one day of work. For you to take more than a day off for a family problem is something serious."

Zach smiled in return. If he had never admitted it before that day, then he definitively thought that he loved that woman. He returned her hug. He asked, "Daniel and I are twins. How did you know it wasn't me that answered the door?"

"Because your brother looks at me differently than you do. You two could be dressed exactly alike, and I would always be able to tell the difference." Then she asked, "I'm assuming this is about Lisa." Zach nodded. "Is she cheating? Are you sure?"

Zach replied, "We have a PI report. There is no doubt."

She asked, "So what are you going to do?"

Daniel said, "We wanted to make sure that he was around us when he found out. Miriam, his sister, works for an investment bank in Austin. When the owner was complaining about the puff piece on Gerald, she looked at the article, saw the picture, and sent it to us." Daniel turned to Zach and said, "After what happened with you and Scotty Mitchell, she didn't want you to be alone when you found out."

Gabriella asked, "who's Scotty Mitchell?"

Gina replied, "I recently found out myself. It seems that when Zach and Daniel played high school football, the team's quarterback, Scotty, persuaded Daniel's longtime girlfriend to go out one weekend during the season with him. Then he bragged, and lied, the following Monday during school to all the football players about their having sex when they went out. Daniel was crushed, and Zach was enraged that a teammate would do that to one of their own, much less to Daniel. None of the team were happy about it because they all hated Scotty.

"So, the next day during practice, Zach, who played linebacker, talked one of the offensive linemen into tipping him off when a certain play was going to be called. When that play was called, the offensive lineman didn't block Zach. Scotty was looking away from Zach and towards the other side of the field as Zach rushed through.

"Even though Scotty was wearing a do-not-hit red jersey, Zach lowered his shoulder pad, and ran full-speed into the quarterback's non-throwing arm, breaking it. The coach was enraged and kicked Zach off the team."

Zach said, "that worked out to be a good thing for me. Instead of trying to play football for some small D-III school in the middle of nowhere, I focused on my studies and my college entrance exams and got into the University of Houston. I'd probably be in Richmond or Louisville, or some other small town were it not for Scotty."

Gabriella laughed, "Remind me to send him a card at Christmas," which brought a smile to everyone.

"Our sister, Miriam, was worried that if he would do that to Scotty, what would he do to Gerald."

Zach said, "Mrs. Ortiz, Daniel's right. That man is a poison on society, and I'm about to provide the cure. I appreciate your coming here, but you probably don't want to be part of what I'm thinking right now."

She shushed him, "Nonsense. It sounds to me like you are going to need a good alibi, and you already have an attorney who can help keep everyone out of jail. You just need to be smart about this."

For the second time that morning, everyone just looked at Gabriella who said, "I know everyone thinks I'm a pompous, stuck-up, queen, but nobody screws with my family. Nobody."

"Damn."

"Watch your mouth, Zachariah. Doing what's right doesn't give you the excuse to curse."

"Yes, ma'am."

Gina snickered and Gabriella smiled. Gina liked her, too.

Zach also showed Gabriella the PI folder so she could get some background. For an hour they planned and schemed and threw out every outrageous idea they could imagine. Zach was almost in tears when Gabriella said, "We should just knock him out and cut his pecker off -- quick and simple." He had never seen this side of her and was enjoying it immensely.

Daniel let them go and go until finally, he said, "Every one of those ideas would point to a jealous spouse, start an investigation and probably put Zach in jail. Time to get serious."

Gina said, "I wish the PI had said something about a plane you could sabotage so it would look like an accident."

That triggered a thought and Zach said, "I have an idea. Mrs. Ortiz, I need Sam to send me back to Germany."

The four of them hashed around the idea until they felt comfortable with it, or at least as comfortable as you can feel with possibly facing jail time, or the electric chair, for what Zach had planned.

Zach texted Lisa, "I have to stay one more day. How was baby shopping with Mindy? Anything left in the stores for everyone else's babies?"

Lisa replied, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Come home soon. Yes, we had fun. We left a few things for everyone else. Her credit card was smokin' =D."

Zach texted, "I'll call you later."

Lisa replied, "Kiss. Kiss."

When Zach showed everyone the conversation, they all shook their head. Gabriella said, "You know, Zachariah. She's going to be stunned when this all goes down. I'll bet she does genuinely love you."

Zach shrugged, "Apparently not enough. It burns me up that she was all lovey-dovey to me on the phone as she was talking to me from his place while I was on the road. I don't want to be married to someone that can be so easily deceitful, so convincingly untruthful while lying to her husband."

The others nodded their head in agreement.

Zach continued, "Speaking of lying to her husband, later today I'm going to go have a talk with her best friend Mindy who has been covering for her."

Gabriella stayed and had lunch with them because even though Zach was being looked after by Daniel and Gina, she wasn't ready to let him out of her sight yet.

While eating with them, she said, "Zachariah, you know you don't have to call me Mrs. Ortiz. The managers at the company call me Gabriella."

"I'm not sure I could do that, Mrs. Ortiz. To me that would feel like calling the queen of England, Elizabeth or calling Pope Francis, Jorge. I can promise you that I think much more of you than I do either of them. Half the time when I greet you, I feel like I should bow and kiss your hand or do like some of the people in India that touch their elders' feet, which I always thought was a nice gesture."

Gabriella scoffed, "I appreciate that Zachariah, but I'm not anyone special. I'm just a woman that does the best she can for her family."

Zach chuckled, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Ortiz, but I do not accept that. Saying you are just a woman is like calling Beethoven, just a pianist or Michelangelo just an artist. If Daniel had a pool, you could probably walk across it without getting wet. Sorry. You can ask others to call you by your first name, but I simply cannot."

It was obvious to everyone in the room how much he thought of Gabriella, whose eyes had become wet from his declaration of devotion.

She smiled at the young man for whom she had cared for so long, took his hand, squeezed it, and replied, "We'll work on it."

______________

Later in the day, Zach drove the few minutes to Mindy's school, arriving before the time that she would normally leave. It was an older building that had seen better days, but he had heard wonderful things about the school and Mindy said the parents were incredibly pleased also. The office buzzed him in and called Mindy to allow him up. His stopping by would be unusual but shouldn't set off any alarm bells that would make Mindy reach out to Lisa before he arrived at her classroom.

As he walked in, they gave each other their normal hug in greeting. Zach carried a folder with him under his arm.

Mindy said, "Zach, this is a nice surprise. What brings you by?"

"I wanted to see how the baby shopping was going, and if there was anything you guys needed. How's Robert?"

She laughed, "Oh, Robert's great. He's enjoying the late-night ice-cream and fried chicken runs. He's gained as much weight as I have. As far as needing things, we've been good for a while."

As Zach pushed his phone across to her, so she could see the text message between him and Lisa from that morning, his smile was more a sneer when he replied, "that's the funny thing about telling lies for a long period of time. You start to forget what the truth is, so you don't cover your tracks as well as you once did. Tell me Mindy, is your credit card still smoking from last night?"

Mindy had the classic deer-in-the-headlights look at that moment. She could lie all she wanted, but Zach could tell from that look that she knew.

"I...I...I don't know what to say. This must be some kind of mistake."

He slid the newspaper article across to her as well as a picture of Lisa and Gerald having sex.

"Stop it Mindy. You've been her best friend since third grade. I know that you know. Lisa's been using you to help cover for her for years. Do you know how many times I've been out of town and she said that she and you did something? Plenty. So, what you are going to tell me is how long and why?"

"I'm sorry, Zach. Truly, I can't tell you what I don't know."

"Mindy, here's what's going to happen." Now his voice was getting angrier. "Either you are going to tell me every God damn thing you know about her and that sleazeball, or I'm going to send this link of Lisa and shithead having sex to Robert and tell him that you knew and helped her cover it up. Then you can explain to both of us what you know.

"I'm giving you a chance. Being so close to Lisa, you may not realize that guys hate for their wives to cover for their friends' affairs. It makes them think that they are okay with it and just might consider doing it themselves. It's funny how that works. I'd hate for you and Robert to be fighting during what should be some of the happiest times of yours and your baby's life."

The scared look returned, and Mindy said, "Please! I tried to get her to stop seeing him. You have to believe me. I hate that man. He nearly destroyed her."

"I don't get it either. So you need to help me by telling me what you know."

She told him everything that she did know. She told him about Lisa's first meeting Gerald and being infatuated with the good-looking professor who was an 'expert' in music. He had to be an expert because he was an acclaimed professor and critic, right? He criticized her music the same way he does everyone else. He had critiqued her playing to the point that she didn't enjoy it anymore. As a result, she should have left him, but he was so smooth and built up to such high acclaim, that she, and many others, hung on his every word. Also, she was very attracted to him, and they became romantically involved.

She said, "Zach do you remember the night we met? The reason I was with her was because Gerald was at a performance in Dallas, and we used his tickets. I was interested in you, and Lisa was a little cool. Remember? After we parted, Lisa thought about your traveling and thought that you would be a good fit for her because she would be free to see both of you. While I wasn't crazy about the travel, I thought it might be fun to try you out. That's why I was sad the night of your first date with her.

"Lisa wanted first shot because then she could have you both. I told her it wasn't a good idea. After you became engaged, I told her to stop but she never did. He didn't want children, but she did. She could have kids with you, and still occasionally see him. She's been leading this double life, and I think it's been hurting her. He's the darkness and you are the light in her life, which is why she is always so anxious for you to get home."

He asked, "I don't understand. If that were true, why does she stay with him."

"I don't know. My best guess is that I think that she misses her music and whether she will admit it or not, he was the man that took it away. Now, I think, she is staying with him hoping that one day he will give it back to her. Before she met him, playing the violin was her life. Or maybe it could be some version of Stockholm syndrome. That's the best I can come up with. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, yet." He lied.

"Please talk to her Zach. She needs you. If all she had were him, I'd be very afraid for her."

"I'm not making any promises, except that I'll keep this from Robert until two months after the baby is born. That means, if everything goes according to plan, you have about four months to tell him, or I will."

"Zach, please don't make me do that. If her affair is about to end, there isn't any need for Robert to know."

"That's where you're wrong, Mindy. You shouldn't be keeping things like that from him anyway. Lies have a way of building up over time. I'm not talking about the little secrets we all use to hide surprise parties or Christmas presents, or something like that. Once you start lying and hiding the truth from your spouse, it gets easier. If the offended spouse ever finds out, they begin to wonder what else you've purposefully hidden. Robert doesn't deserve that.

Zach continued, "You know once this all comes out, he's going to start asking you questions anyway. I'm giving you the chance to get in front of it. He's more likely to forgive you if he finds out from you instead of someone else."

Mindy started to cry because she was beginning to realize the predicament, she was in. The baby was due in two months. She didn't know how Robert would react.

Zach said, "Of course it goes without saying that you will not reveal our having this conversation to her. If I find out that you did, then I'll tell Robert everything I know, immediately."

Mindy nodded her head in understanding. She said, "Please give her a chance, Zach. She doesn't just want you in her life, she NEEDS you."

Zach scoffed at that comment, stood and turned to leave. "Remember, tell Robert, but be careful what you tell Lisa."

Zach saw a scared woman looking back at him. Without another word, he was gone.

__________________

He pretended to arrive back the following day, and as usual, Lisa was happy to see him and stayed close to him that evening. There wasn't any sex, but she slept draped over him like she usually did on his first night back at their apartment.

A couple of weeks later, he had to go to Germany, again, and Lisa was sad to see him go.

Early the next evening, about a half-hour after sunset, Lisa was relaxing at Gerald's house when she received a text from Zach, "Surprise! Plans got changed. I'm in the immigration line at the airport. Want me to grab some Chinese on the way home?"

Lisa replied, "That sounds great. I cannot wait." She didn't have to hurry, but she did need to get home. Not even a kiss was exchanged between her and her paramour as she left.

Upon her leaving, Gerald went to his upstairs listening room and began playing the music that was to be performed at the next concert he was to critique. The volume was set to equate the sound of a live orchestra. Zach couldn't believe the neighbors didn't complain.

In the darkness, Zach was easily able to enter the back of the house using a copy of the key that was hidden in Lisa's purse. He quietly made his way to the kitchen where, using a long tool procured for this purpose, he quickly removed the wax and tape he had used to plug the hole that had 'developed' earlier in the week, where the old gas line and old stove met. He could hear the gas spewing out from the hole.

Now for the tricky part. How far should he set one of Lisa's candles from the stove? Too far away and Reggie might smell the gas before it combusted. Too close, and not enough damage would occur. He did his best to judge based on the information he searched while using Wi-Fi at a local café on an old tablet which he later wiped and disposed of.

He left Reggie's house and met his brother, who being his twin, had impersonated him to and from Germany. After retrieving his phone from his brother, he stopped by and picked up the Chinese take-out. Now all he had to do was go home, act sick and wait. Knowing what he just did, he didn't think he would have to act very hard. He truly did feel ill.

Lisa was, once again, happy to see him and was genuinely concerned about his 'illness.' She put the Chinese in the fridge, warmed him a little chicken broth and put him to bed. He barely slept all night because of what he had done.

He awoke at 5:00 am the next day and carefully browsed the local news on the internet without any specific searches. He saw an article about a gas explosion at a house in the neighborhood where Gerald lived. The occupant was rushed to a local hospital and was in ICU. Damn. This would complicate things.

Zach took a quick shower and left for work before Lisa got out of bed. Now what? Around mid-morning he drove over to the hospital where they took Gerald, and it was also the one where Lisa worked. He saw an orderly smoking while sitting on a bench in the parking lot on the side of the hospital by the emergency room. Zach walked over, sat next to him, and said, "For $50 can you get me info on a patient?"

The orderly replied, "No. But I can for $100."