Lessons in Honesty Squared

"I'll leave the gag off for now. You can drink some water and pray that Theresa's story matches yours closely. If it doesn't there may be complications. We'll cover those if the need arises. By the way, shouting for help won't help you. You're in the middle of private property and behind two fences that keep people out. You won't be heard except by me. If you really start to bother me I'll just shut you up. Think about that while you drink your water."

"I'm sorry...for what it's worth. I never thought..."

"You're right...you didn't think very far down the road did you? This took me months to set this all up you know. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing. I have numerous plans to follow no matter what. Most of those plans are not in your favor at all. You might want to think about your past and what will happen when you meet your maker."

"You're going to kill me anyway? I should have known. You bastard!"

"I'm the bastard? You plotted and planned to get my wife to cheat on me with you. You worked your ass off, your own words I might add, to get her in your bed and I'm the bastard? You'll see your punishment soon enough. As I said, you need to think and pray for now."

He slumped down in defeat. He nearly knocked the water off the bench but I caught it and held it away until he settled down.

"Drink up. I'll be back later."

Walking into the other room I noted that Theresa was sitting in defeat. She'd even quit crying. Looking up into my eyes I'm sure she saw my pain since she drew a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Well 'sweetheart', you have some talking to do now. I hope you realize I only want to hear the truth and nothing else."

"Why? How could you treat me this way, Will? I'm your wife." Her response struck me as funny. Not sure why, but it struck me as humorous.

"How could I treat YOU this way? Is that your question to me 'honey'?"

I was being sarcastic when I called her sweetheart and honey. Each time I used those words in the tone of voice I did, she'd cringe. I could see that she was afraid of me and uncertain about everything.

"Talk now. Joe, your magnificent lover spilled all his guts. It took him forty minutes to get it all out. For such a big man he sure wimped out. Much like you two thought of me come to think of it. Strange, isn't it?"

"Okay...I hurt you I know. It all started a few months ago..."

"STOP RIGHT THERE THERESA! You know you're lying right now. It has been a hell of a lot longer than a few months ago. Hell, you started to call me names about eight months ago, so I know it's been longer than that. A lot longer. I told you that you had to tell me the truth. I can see you won't. You know, I have Joe all tied up in the room across the way and he's in no position to help you at all. Matter of fact, so far his story and your story are way different. That's strike one for you 'dear'. I'll give you another chance to convince me of your truth."

She stared at me wondering, I'm sure, of what I did know and how much or how long my knowledge went back. I gave her a hint.

"Why don't you start about two years ago...what was going on in your life then, that you weren't sharing with me?"

The look of shock hit her like a sledgehammer. She had no idea what I knew and I'd just hit her with my knowledge of how long it had been going on. Defeated she slumped and woodenly told me everything. She knew me fairly well and since she was in the position she was in at the moment she was realizing that the part of me I'd kept buried for so long had reached out and grabbed the limelight.

She began to remember some of the stories that Frank had talked about in the past. He'd never really told the whole story or stories of some of the ways I'd been pretty bad, but enough was talked about in her presence that she had to be aware of my dark streak.

Her story matched dumb-asses almost verbatim. It was enough different that I knew the hadn't collaborated on it, but the dates and times were fairly accurate between them.

She ended her story with a plea.

"So yes...I cheated on you with Joe. I know what he's like and that he has other women on a string, yet I fell for him again. You, I've hurt beyond anything and I'm sure you hate me. I'm sorry...so sorry. I would promise that I'd never cheat again and that I truly do love you, but I know that my actions speak louder than anything I could tell you. I do love you and I am sorry and if I had it to do over I'd never have cheated on you to begin with. I now know how much I've hurt you and I hope, for my sake that you make it quick and as painless for me as you can."

"You should have been an actress Theresa. You've tugged at my heart strings with your little confession at the end. I do love you still, but I'm sure I'll get over it eventually. You know that Frank has been worried about me? He's afraid that I've decided to embrace my darker self. He dislikes changes, especially sudden changes in family. He found the evidence for me and he was upset since he knows me so well. I'd have thought you would have understood me at least half as well, yet you managed to forgo that knowledge and do what you did...to me...to us. You speak of loving me yet how can you rectify those words with your actions and words over the last six months. Those times you called me a wimp or an asshole, or those other things. Your actions towards me surely were showing me your disregard for my feelings and love for you too. Yet you can sit there and speak of your love for me and how bad you feel that you did what you did...afterward. After getting caught that is. Tell me Theresa, what am I supposed to do with you now? You lied to me, you cheated on me, you broke your wedding vows to me, you vocally ran me into the gutter not only to my face but behind my back with him and other people too, like your coworkers. What am I supposed to do with you now...wife?"

She was crying again, her body shaking as she learned how upset I truly was. She'd had inklings before, but now she knew...and she was afraid of me. OF ME! Her loving husband.

I stepped over to her and began to undo the straps and ropes from her body. In the bag I'd set by the door were some clothes of hers and shoes. I'd changed my mind on what I was going to do with them. I knew that I'd probably end up in jail for this kidnapping and torture, but I could no longer go forward with any of my plans. The pain I was feeling was too much for me to continue. I finally realized that my quest for vengeance was something that was illusory. I would never be able to 'do' something and make it better.

Leaving her in the room still locked up but free to move about, I went over to the other room. Joe was sitting still, no movement and eyes open, staring at the wall. As I came in front of him he turned his head up towards me and looked at me. I could see the resignation in his eyes. He was certain I was going to kill him right then.

I pulled the syringe out of my pocket and stuck him in the arm. As the drug flowed into his veins he spoke, obviously thinking I was killing him with some kind of poison.

"I'm going to where ever I belong now. For what it's worth I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you and for what I led Theresa into. It was never her fault and I had no plans for anything but having her sexually. I never planned on you two splitting up and my marrying her. I just wanted her and used her. I guess I'm getting what I deserved. You, I feel sorry for too. You're becoming a murderer because of me. I hope God forgives you. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I'm...so...sooooohhhh"

He went out thinking I'd killed him. I wondered how he'd react to waking up in his car in front of his house in the morning. He'd still be naked, but he'd be alive. I wondered how long it would take him to call the cops and report me.

I left him in his car that night, still out cold. I was pretty sure the drug wouldn't wear off until about five in the morning, judging from how it had worked on him before. I expected the cops to show up sometime in the morning, maybe around ten a.m. or so. This was not going to be any kind of a happy ending...or even a revenge done well ending.

I took Theresa home with me and laid her on our marriage bed. I'd given her a light shot. She was sleeping soundly and I was sad as I left the house. All for what? Time in jail for me and a lonely life for her. I left the final recording of her lovers' words about how he'd just used her for sexual gratification. If anything she'd probably feel like a whore or slut now...but then that was the life she consciously chose when she took up with him.

I left her confession recording with her lover, sitting on the car seat beside him. His confession was beside her on the nightstand with a note. I drove over to Frank's house just as he was waking up. I sat and talked to him, waiting for the cops. He was worried for me. I think he was trying to figure out if I'd killed them or not. I finally told him what I'd done with them.

"Boy, you've done it now. The cops will be here to bust you. You'll go to jail for quite some time. Why? Why would you do that for them?"

"I guess I'm not as bad as I thought Uncle Frank. I guess I'm just a softy in the end."

"Well I expect the cops will be here as soon as they come around and call for help. What do you want to do? If you want I can help you disappear somewhere safe."

"Naw...I think I'll just take what's coming to me. I'll call a lawyer and set up a divorce while I'm at it I think."

"I already done that for you boy. They'll be by tomorrow to see you. I suppose they'll have to go to the jail now though."

"Whatever happens Uncle Frank, I want you to know that I appreciate your help on this whole mess. I love you and hope I didn't let you down."

"Let me down? No, you didn't let me down boy. You've been like a son to me all these years, and you've never let me down. You have caused me some concern of late, but let me down? Never."

I waited...rather we waited for the cops to show up. They never did. The next day the lawyer showed up and I began the divorce proceedings against Theresa. With the information Uncle Frank had obtained I was probably going to get a simple fifty-fifty split everything down the middle divorce, and that's all I wanted.

Well, to tell the truth I never wanted the divorce...just like I never expected my wife to cheat on me either. Life changes people at times it seems and this was my changed path to follow for now.

In the end, Theresa wanted to have a sit down discussion with me before signing the papers for final dissolution of our marriage. I agreed only with trepidation. What was there to talk about at this point? She'd cheated on me, I caught her and we split. Pretty simple. What I'd almost done besides what I had done should have been enough for her to hate me and never want to speak to me again.

The meeting took place at her lawyers' office. We were alone in the room, which surprised me a bit. I mean, after what I'd done to her and her lover, how could she feel safe with me?

"I know that I hurt you Will. I know this is my entire fault. I wish I'd never cheated on you to begin with. I hope you'll be able to forgive me someday. I also wanted you to know that I'll always love you. You treated me so well for the time we were married, right up until...that day. Why you let us go I'll never understand, but you did. I never told anyone what you'd done to me or to...him. You know he left town within a couple of weeks of that day, don't you? You scared him so bad he had to run. I listened to his confession and that last bit when he was sure you had killed him...I was a fool. A very foolish woman."

"Well, you'll be able to move on and find someone else now Theresa. I hope you can figure out what it is you really desire in life and I hope you get what you want too."

"That will never be Will. What I wanted and what I still want is something I threw away. I know I lost sight of what was important to me two and a half years ago now. I now know what I gave up was never worth the cost."

"I have to go Theresa. You take care."

I got up and walked out of that office nearly ready to cry. Frank was waiting for me in his pickup. As I climbed in he looked over at the lawyers' office door and nodded his head. Theresa was standing there watching me as we drove off. She was crying. That wasn't the last time I saw her, but it was the last time I ever talked to her.

We both moved on. I met a woman a few years later that pretty much grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go. She locked onto me and actually pursued me until I caught her, even though she claims it was the other way around and that I chased her until she caught me. In either case we've been working towards that big M and slowly and surely I'm coming around to her way of thinking.

Theresa moved to another city and started over again. Eventually she met and married a guy that was nothing like me or like Joe. I hoped she would stay faithful to him, but history has a way of repeating itself. Of course, she did have a scary and harsh lesson the first time she cheated on a husband.