Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

I'll admit, I was curious about how Jean would react now that she knew I was suspicious. I was hoping that her guilt would make her confess, but I wasn't overly confident. Jean had never been that good in admitting when she was wrong. It was far more likely that she would try to make it up to me in other ways.

My major worry was whether Bert could convince her to re-start the affair as her anxiety faded. Bert was going to keep working at her to get back together. She had gotten a scare and she knew that I was suspicious. But had the scare taught her enough of a lesson? If I didn't confront her, would she think that she got away with it? How would she react as her "close call" faded into memory?

I knew that I had to keep my eye on her. Jean was pretty smart and could be sneaky when she wanted too. By all indications, the "yurmail" account had been set up to create a private link to Bert that I wouldn't know about. But, I had an ace in the hole that she did not know about, the snoop program. I could now monitor her contacts with Bert.

As long as she didn't know I was aware of the account and had gained the ability to read her emails, I had the edge over her. She wouldn't use her cell phone because she knew I had access to the phone logs. The home phone had the same problem and the work phone was too public. If she wanted to keep in touch with Bert, this would be the method that she used.

The next morning, I continued giving Jean the cold shoulder. I wanted her thinking about how her actions had affected our relationship. I hurried through breakfast and left for work early. I deliberately ignored her effort to kiss me good bye and brushed by her with a curt nod. As my car left the driveway, I could see her still standing in the doorway with unshed tears glistening in her eyes. I smiled a little in satisfaction. The lessons had started.

Work that morning was busy with meetings on planning a new project. At least the work kept me from obsessing over Jean. Finally, just before lunch, I broke free and stopped by Kay's desk. "Kay, are you available to go to lunch today? I have to talk to you about something."

"Let me check my social calendar," she said with a smile. It was a running joke. Kay was notorious for her habit of eating at her desk and working through lunch. "You're in luck, I just had a cancellation. To what do I owe the honor?"

I hemmed and hawed for a moment unwilling to talk about it in the office. "It's personal and I don't want to talk about here, okay?" I beseeched.

Kay looked at me curiously and nodded. She grabbed her coat and let the receptionist know she was going out. We walked out of the building in silence. She followed my lead as I walked to a nearby restaurant. I didn't want any of our co-workers to hear what was going on.

After we had ordered, she broke her silence and questioned me. "Okay, Hal, what's going on? I've never seen you act like this before."

I took a deep breath and looked at her sadly. "I don't know any good way to tell you this. Last night I found out that Jean and Bert are having an affair."

Her response was not what I expected. There was none of the surprise or shock I had gone through. The only reaction was anger and resolve. Her lips tightened and the anger flashed in her eyes as she stared at me coolly for a long minute. "Are you sure?" She asked curtly.

I nodded and told her everything. About the blow job and the shock it gave me. The yurmail account with Bert as the only invitee. I had printed out the emails that I had found and gave her copies. As she stared at them tears glistened in her eyes and began to track slowly down her cheeks. "That fucking bastard." She whispered coldly. "He promised me that it would never happen again."

As my eyebrows shot up in surprise, she grated. "I caught him in his office three years ago with his hands up the skirt of his secretary. He swore that it wasn't what I thought. He said that they had been flirting a little and they just got carried away. He swore that nothing else would have happened and he never would have fucked her.

"He swore that they weren't having an affair. He told me that he would never cheat on me. Like an idiot I believed him when he told me that I would never have reason to doubt him again. I'm gonna kill that bastard!"

As Kay spoke, she got more and more worked up. By the time she finished, her voice was rising and the people at the next table were beginning to stare. Her fists were clenching and she looked like she was ready to start throwing things. What was worse, she was eyeing me like I was her next target. In an effort to avoid a scene, I raised my hands in supplication and pointed towards the waitress who was approaching with our food.

With an effort, Kay fought for control and sat there breathing deeply until the waitress left. Picking up her fork, she stabbed viciously at her salad and skewered a tomato. "So what excuse did your slut of wife come up with?" She asked bitterly.

I shifted uncomfortably and admitted. "I haven't confronted her yet."

At Kay's look of surprise, I explained the reasons why I had held off on confronting Jean. How I was afraid that I could not trust or believe her if her confession was forced by my action. I explained why I wanted more information.

"Don't tell me you are thinking of forgiving her," she spat.

"I don't know." I said glumly. "I'm still figuring out what to do. I don't want to throw away sixteen years of marriage before I know exactly what is going on.

"But, I have to do something." I continued. "I'm not just going to forget about it. If she is cheating on me, I need to know why and for how long. She's going to have to earn her forgiveness. She needs to be taught a lesson. I just don't know how to do it yet. For now, I just want to find out what is going on."

Kay snorted. "Good luck! I know exactly what I'm going to do. As soon I get home tonight that bastard is out of my life. As far as I'm concerned, my marriage is over. I don't care what excuse he might come up with. This is the last straw. He's history."

Kay's words struck me hard. If she confronted Bert about the affair and threw him out, Jean was bound to find out. Then, I'd be stuck in the cycle of tears and "I'm so sorry" that I was trying to avoid.

"Kay, I have a really big favor to ask," I started hesitantly. "I can't stop you from confronting Bert, but is there anyway you might agree to hold off for a while? I need your help. If you tell him you know about his affair with Jean, it's going to get back to Jean and I'm never going to know whether I can trust her. I was hoping that we might be able to work together to find out what is happening."

As Kay looked at me like I was crazy, I hastened to continue. "Look, I'm not saying we should pretend that nothing happened. I'm not going to allow the affair to go on. I'll kill that bastard if he ever lays his hands on Jean again. But, I want to get some more facts and maybe we can come up with some way to teach them both a lesson.

"We need to get our ducks in order before we decide what to do. Let's find out what is going on. Then when the time comes we can get them good. Besides, this will give you a chance to make plans and protect yourself. It will give you a chance to make sure your finances are protected before he knows what is going on."

I picked up the email and waived at her. "Look, I'm positive that they have had an affair, but, what if they claim nothing happened? I don't know if we have enough to prove it. Don't you think we might want to get some more evidence before we throw it up in their faces? If this is all we have, they might be able to come up with some bullshit explanation. All I'm asking for is your help in getting the evidence we both need."

Kay looked at me flatly. "How", she demanded.

"Do you have a home computer?" I asked. At her nod, I took out the copy of the snoop program I had burned and pushed it across the table. "This is how I got Jean's emails. I can show you how to install it on your system so you will have access to everything he does including all of his passwords. You'll even be able to find out if he has any hidden stuff on there.

"Did you know about this email account he used?" When Kay shook her head, I went on. "I think this message was written from his work computer, but it's a third party account. If he ever accesses it from your home then we have full access to it. It won't matter where he writes the emails, we can get them directly. Jean's a fanatic about deleting mail once it is received so I couldn't check out any of the old messages. I'm hoping he's saved some of them.

"Kay, if you help me with this, I promise you, I'll help you anyway I can to get back at Bert. God knows I want to get some revenge on him too." I pleaded.

Kay still looked unconvinced and shrugged noncommittally. I wanted to continue my sell job, but we were late getting back to work. As I threw some money on the table for the bill, I made a final plea. "Just promise me you'll think about it, Okay? I really need your help."

Kay reluctantly nodded and we headed back to the office. As much as I wanted to press her for an answer, I knew that I'd be better off to give her some space. Needless to say, it was not a productive afternoon.

Just before closing time, Kay came into my office and closed the door. "You promise you'll help me get evidence on Bert and help me get back at him?" She queried.

At my assent, she nodded decisively and said. "Alright, let's do it. I'll help you with Jean and you'll help me with Bert. I guess I can hold off on throwing him out for a little while." She laughed bitterly. "It's not like he's paying much attention to me anyway. I don't want to touch that bastard, but I can put up with it for a little while if necessary. You're right, I do need better evidence that he is cheating on me."

Kay grinned viciously. "But remember that you promised me that you'll help me get my revenge. Bert played me for a fool and I want to make that bastard pay. When it's time, I want to make him hurt. So what do we do next?"

For the next hour or so, we sat in my office and started to plan our counter offensive. It meant that I would be late getting home from work, but that was a bonus. Hopefully, Jean would wonder what was going on. I wanted her nervous.

Our initial plans were simple. We needed to protect ourselves and gain information. Kay was going to contact a lawyer and start the process of getting a divorce. She was also going to start quietly protecting her assets from any attempt by Bert to grab them. She told me a bit about her financial situation and why she needed concrete proof of the affair.

Kay's first husband had died and had left her with a substantial estate. Bert had come into the marriage with next to nothing. His first marriage had ended in divorce and his ex-wife had taken him to the cleaners. Luckily for Kay, her family attorney had convinced her to get a pre nuptial agreement. Bert had only limited rights to the assets she brought into the marriage, including the home they were living in. In the case of infidelity, he got nothing. So Kay wanted concrete proof of his cheating.

My situation was a bit more complex. I wasn't going to contact a lawyer, yet. I still hadn't given up on the marriage. Plus, I had to think about the kids. I had to think about the effect on them as well. I didn't want to hurt them if things did go sour

My ultimate decision depended to a large degree on Jean. If her behavior to me was all an act, I was going to divorce her. I wasn't willing to stay in a loveless marriage just because of the kids. But, if this was an aberration and she could learn her lesson, I was willing to at least consider trying to save the marriage.

At the very least, I wanted our break-up to be amicable enough that I could still play a major role in the kid's lives. Realistically, if there were a divorce, Jean would end up with custody and I would be paying support. That was not an obligation I would skimp on. I would take steps to protect myself, but I wasn't going to hide assets or try to cheat Jean. I loved my kids and wouldn't do anything to hurt them.

Gathering information was our first job. I showed Kay the process for setting up the snoop program. That was going to be our primary source of information. She would set it up at home and try to gain access to Bert's "yurmail" account. Then we would both be able to monitor any plans that might be made. Kay was not a power computer user, but she knew enough to follow directions. It was clear, however, that it was going to be up to me to search her home computer to find out if Bert had left any hidden or encrypted files.

We talked about some of that high tech gadgetry that you read about, but gave it a pass. Sure we could bug our home phones and hide tracking devices or voice recorders in the cars, but was it worth it? Neither Kay nor I had ever gotten any indication that the cheats were keeping in touch by phone. Jean was too smart for that. As for a GPS unit in the car, how much would we really gain? If the emails told us where they were meeting, we could skip the cloak and dagger of following them and be in position before they got there.

Things fell into a new routine quickly. Kay and I took to eating lunch together two or three times a week to compare notes. In addition, I was sneaking over to her house at least once a week so that I could search her computer for evidence against Bert. I found myself making excuses and lying to Jean so I could make time to spend with Kay.

Our investigation was going slowly. My search of Kay's computer hadn't turned up much. Bert just didn't use it that often. I had located a folder with some encrypted files he had created, but because he hadn't accessed the files, we didn't have his password. We were also still waiting for him to access his email account from home. So far, it seemed like he did most of his seduction of Jean while he was supposed to be working.

At home, I was trying to teach Jean a lesson by my behavior. Purposefully, I wasn't doing a real good job of hiding my suspicions. There was tenseness between us that hadn't existed before. I wanted her to be aware that my trust in her had faded. I wanted her to know that her actions had hurt our marriage and me.

Initially, my response had the desired affect. I had confirmed her worst fears that the marriage was in trouble and this hardened her resolve to stop the affair before I caught her red handed. No, she didn't confess the affair, but true to form she worked hard to make it up to me and get back into my good graces.

The ironic thing was that while I was sneaking around to meet Kay, Jean to all outward appearances was the perfect loving wife. She made my favorite meals. She was extra nice to me and didn't comment when I got snappish at her. She even made extra efforts to seduce me and keep me happy. And she went out of her way to let me know where she was and what she was doing. Although she steadfastly ignored the reasons why she lost my trust, she was trying hard to regain it.

Gradually, things started to improve between Jean and I. I guess it was to be expected. I have always been the type of person to get mad fast and then get over it. The pain of her betrayal was fading to a dull ache as the memory faded. It's hard to keep anger at a boil for a long period of time, particularly when the person you are angry at is trying their best to be nice to you. Jean's relief was palpable as things slowly improved.

For a while, things seemed to be slowly getting back to normal. My thoughts were shifting from revenge and payback to considering whether it was possible to forgive and forget. Getting on with the marriage was looking good. I still didn't have the answer I wanted as to why the affair had happened, but as my rage passed, it just didn't seem as important anymore. My new overriding concern was whether Jean had learned her lesson.

I probably would have forgiven her if it weren't for that damned email account. Jean never deleted the account and continued to use it on a regular basis to keep in touch with Bert. As long as Bert still had a private conduit to my wife, the marriage was in trouble. No matter how innocent the communications, I couldn't forget that he had slept with my wife. I would wonder when the affair might start again.

That's because Bert was using that access to work my wife. I could count on seeing two or three new emails each work day. At first, the emails were what you would expect. He was pushing her to get over her scare and meet him again, but she either ignored those emails or sent him a curt reply to tell him it was over. But, I have to give it to him. Not only was the asshole persistent, he was good too.

When he saw that Jean was unwilling to start up where they left off, he changed his tactics. He pretended to back down. Reluctantly he told her that he accepted her decision. But, did that mean that their friendship had to end too? The emails changed from pleas to get together to friendly missives about little things. He filled his emails with remembrances of the laughter and good times that they had shared. Without pressing, he was showing her how much he missed her friendship.

To my disgust, Jean fell for this crap. Slowly her responses started to change too. When he stopped pushing the affair, she stopped feeling threatened and started to respond to his friendly overtures. Soon they were emailing back and forth like a pair of old friends about insignificant matters sharing jokes and gripes about life, family and bosses. It was maddening to see her slow slip back into the mindset that caused the problem in the first place.

It took him over a month, but Bert finally moved into the next phase of his new seduction. As Jean's responses got friendlier, he started to reminisce about the lunches that they used to share. How much they had meant to him. Wistfully he asked her whether it was possible for them to get together occasionally for a casual lunch just to talk.

Jean didn't totally fall for this gambit. At first she refused his requests. But he was able to get her to talk about the reasons why, and that was how he persuaded her. For every objection she raised, he had a seemingly reasonable response. After all, what was wrong with two friends sharing a "harmless lunch"? Didn't she have lunch with other men all the time? Did I have to approve who she had lunch with?

He assured her that he was forgetting neither her fears nor her desire to save her marriage. But did her marriage mean that she couldn't have male friends? It was insidious, but slowly he managed to shift the focus of the discussion. He glossed over how the "harmless lunches" had led to their affair and focused on the lunch as a challenge to her independence. Somehow, I became the villain; I was the cause for the destruction of their friendship.

Bert didn't attack me directly. He knew that would turn Jean away. Rather, he damned me with faint praise. Bert was well aware that I did not like him. He played off of that just enough to position himself as the bewildered injured party. He focused on my dislike and turned that into the reason why I wouldn't permit them to have lunch.

It's funny how even a smart person can get twisted around when faced with a concerted snow job. Jean is intelligent, but like all of us, she does have her weaknesses. Apparently Bert knew her well enough to play on those weaknesses. Plain and simple, he manipulated her until he got what he wanted.

Jean gave in and agreed to meet him for lunch one day at work. I was sure that it was still innocent, at least on her part. She made it clear to him he shouldn't expect anything other than lunch. But, to say that I was concerned was an understatement. Given a chance, this bastard would have her wrapped around his finger. I could see that she was weakening. If he got enough chances to work on her in person, he would probably be able to restart the affair.