Loosening Up Bk. 03 Ch. 17-20

"The trouble with all of this is that it's a constant barrage on her from when she gets home to when she leaves to go to work in the morning. She told me her performance at work is suffering as a result of all this."

Dave swore, "Shit; that's classical mental and emotional abuse. He's not leaving marks on her body, but he's may as well be. She'll head into a mental breakdown at the rate he's pushing her with all that stuff."

Emily pleaded with all of them, "What can we do? We've got to do something. We're her only close friends, and I know we haven't been able to get very close to her. She told me that Brian told her not to make friends at work, so she didn't. She's scared of him and doesn't want to cross him."

Pam asked, "What's she do for work? I never heard."

Emily rolled her eyes, "She's got a Ph.D. in pharmacology, but Brian won't allow her to work in her field. He told her it was beneath their family. Instead, she works in an office where they type up the dictations of medical doctors to go into patient files. The pay is a fraction of what she could be making working in a pharmacy or pharma company. Brian tells her to lump it whenever she raises the idea of changing jobs."

Dave shook his head. He wanted to punch his boss out, but the reasons had nothing to do with work, and everything to do with how he was treating his wife.

Pam continued, "Do they have children?"

"None. Joan told me that when they got married about twelve years ago, he told her he wanted kids, but then never allowed her to come off of birth control. It was always the wrong time, and then he 'reminded' her that about four years ago she told him that she didn't want kids, so he reluctantly agreed. He put it on her, and she's sure that never happened. She'd still have kids even at this late stage, only she's afraid he'd hurt the baby or her if she went against him."

"Fuck." Dave muttered.

The others turned to Dave. He asked, "What's she think of Brian?"

"She said she loves him, but obviously she's scared shitless of him. He's got her in a corner with nowhere to go. I don't think there's much love, respect, or affection in their relationship, only her terror of disobeying him. He's told her she'd be worse off if she went anywhere else, and she's come to believe that. She hinted to me that her life is so bad that she's started to think about taking the easy way out, and I think she means suicide."

Dave said, "We need an intervention, but she's got to be ready to participate in it. We can't MAKE her do something. We'd run afoul of the law and everything else.

Emily asked, "Can you do anything at work?"

Dave shook his head, "No, in a word. Derek probably can't either. We see no symptoms of this from the man. He must be a really good actor."

The group kicked around a number of ideas. Fundamentally, they realized that to 'save' Joan, they needed to extricate her from the toxic home environment she was in, and to build up her self-confidence and self-worth again to the point where she could see the reality of the situation and then cope on her own terms. All agreed that for her to start that behavior now at home would be hopeless, as Brian would verbally beat her into submission. She didn't have the strength or skills to cope with him any further.

Owen finally held his hand up. "Here's a plan to kick around. First, we need her to buy into escaping from her toxic environment. Emily you seem to be acceptable to have lunch with her, so have another only have Alice and Pam join you, and talk to her about taking a time out from the relationship, preferably one without telling Brian where she's going so he can't intervene and bring her back under his control.

"Dave you stay out of this so you have plausible deniability. I suggest you leave the room now so you don't hear the rest of my suggestions."

Dave nodded in understanding and left the immediate room. He did stand near the base of the stairs and listen to the rest of what was said.

Owen continued, "If Joan consents to leave, ask her to go with all of you immediately. If it's safe, she could pack a small bag to go with her. I will make the plane available to take her to a rehab facility I know about that specializes in abused women. I won't tell you where it is, so you can't answer Brian's browbeating. The organization, one of the Bennett Foundation projects, is known for their innovation, especially in the area of psychologically battered spouses, but don't ask for further details for a while. This is the kind of problem they're ideal to help fix. We can have her there before dinner, and getting immediate help. None of us are equipped to deal with the emotional fallout from this situation, but the folks at this place are. If she's hinting at suicide, she's almost begging to be saved."

Owen stopped and looked at the others. Everyone agreed. Alice calmly said, "Dave you can come back in. We have a plan." Dave was back in the room in seconds. He winked at Alice.

Thursday afternoon about two o'clock, Dave got a cryptic text from Alice: 'Won't be home tonight. Traveling with package that needs care and love. CU tomorrow. See Pam. ILY. A.'

Dave did see Pam at five thirty when he got home from the office. She said, "Alice accepted the job of escort for a new friend this afternoon. I can only tell you that she's going to be one time zone away in good surroundings overnight." Pam got all teary, "Oh, Dave. She is so beat up; it's so sad. I've never seen anybody that low. She tried to hide it when we first met, but then dissolved. He told her she was losing her mind this morning and recited a whole bunch of lies to her about stuff she'd said until she agreed that he was right. She knows what's been happening and has been powerless to stop it, and have it influence her life. She started crying and we had to take her away from the restaurant. She couldn't stop. Alice texted me that she held her all the way across the country."

Dave smiled. He assumed this good Samaritan job would rescue Joan from the apparent abusive relationship with her husband -- Dave's boss. He wondered what would happen next.

* * * * *

The phone call was not unexpected. Brian called about eleven o'clock that evening. "Do you know where my wife is? Have you done something with her?"

"Brian, of course not, and no, I have no idea where Joan is. When did you last see her? Didn't she leave you a note or something, maybe a text message?

"No. Damn woman. More trouble than she's worth." The phone went dead in Dave's ear.

Friday morning, Dave mentioned to Owen that he might want to let the local police in on the intervention regarding Joan Coswell. Brian was sure to file a report of some kind, and this would save them running helter-skelter on a wild goose chase. Owen agreed he'd close that loophole within the next few minutes, but he wanted to make it a personal visit and ensure Joan's privacy.

Brian came into work at the usual time, but to Dave he seemed agitated and out of sorts. Dave cheerily inquired whether Joan had arrived home safely, but Brian only grumbled and said something about the bitch leaving. Later, Dave learned that she did send him an email telling him not to worry about her, but she had some things she had to do for herself before she returned home.

Brian left at noon and didn't return to the office.

Derek arrived in Dave's office just after lunch. Nancy smiled and waved him in the door. She and Dave had been going over substation location criteria, and seeing how they could simplify them, being all too aware of the NIMBY phenomena (not in my back yard) that citizen groups raised.

Derek glanced at Nancy and said to Dave, "Do you know about Joan Coswell?"

Dave nodded, "A little. Emily told us about the lunch with her last week where she spilled the beans on Brian's behavior towards her -- totally abusive. I assume she told you as well."

"Emily did. Joan has gone missing. Do you know anything about that?"

Dave had pondered how to respond to this question. He slowly said, "Let me answer your question in a different way than directly. If you were in Joan's shoes, assuming all that Emily heard from her is true, what would you do?"

Derek thought and said, "Get help. Let my friends help me in some way. Just nod if she's safe." He smiled.

Dave nodded and Derek turned on his heel and walked out the door waving over his shoulder.

Alice texted Dave at noon that she was back at work at Knightsbridge Manufacturing, and that she'd see him at home at the usual time. He deleted the texts right away.

The weekend was fairly normal in Circle terms. The weather was stormy one day and hazy, hot, and humid the next. Dave and Alice squelched any further chatter about Joan, and he purposefully avoided knowing Alice's whereabouts the evening before. He did note that Alice had gotten two hours of time in her pilot's logbook for the return trip in Owen's jet, but had neither taken off or landed the sleek plane.

Brian called several times over the weekend with the same questions about Joan's whereabouts. No one could help the man, so he gave up contacting the Prentiss family. Emily reported that he'd called her multiple times as well, but she had little to say to the man.

Monday, Brian was at his desk as usual, but on the phone almost constantly calling people seeking information about his wife Dave figured. Dave also assessed the situation as a man who was used to being in control, suddenly losing control of the situation completely and trying to find where to pickup the reins again.

Monday night, the board of the Circle convened the monthly Circle Member Meeting. All the Circle members were there. There were a few announcements about the construction project of the townhouses, including a revised schedule on the first four apartments that was good news to several at the meeting, specifically Ken, Nancy, Christie, and Holly.

The next item on the agenda was the approval vote for new members. These votes, the board had decided, should be conducted by secret ballot. The paper ballot was passed out, explained in detail to the group, and then people were given an opportunity to mark their ballots, including writing any comments or reservations. Ken, Julie, and Dori collected the ballots, validated that they had the correct number of votes, and then went off to the media room to tally the results.

A few minutes later, the group returned. Dori reported out the votes one by one: "We are pleased to welcome Donna Klaubert into the Circle by unanimous vote. We are please to welcome Martin and Sasha Hedrick into the Circle as affiliate members since they live so far away, also by unanimous vote. We are pleased to welcome Emily Wilson into the Circle by unanimous vote. We are pleased to welcome Erin Steckler into the Circle by ... Oh, all the votes were unanimous for everybody with no negative comments. We also had some write in candidates, but since no one knew they were up for consideration there were only single votes for those, so we will not report out on those."

* * * * *

Tuesday morning, Dave had just sat down at his office desk, when Donna came racing in like a streak of beautiful blonde. She hugged Dave, gave him a monumental kiss, and then ran away. She yelled over her shoulder, "Thank you. You should have called me last night, you rat." He laughed and knew she was on Cloud Nine because she'd become an official Circle member.

That evening the Circle hosted a reception for the new members. All were present. Despite the desire to do something significant with the Circle members, it was a work night, so after some after-dinner conversation, people faded away to their homes.

Before they left, Dave saw Emily, Alice, and Owen talking. He strolled over, and their conversation ceased as soon as his presence became obvious. "Talking about Joan?" he asked.

"Excellent guess," Owen said with a smile.

"Have we heard anything about her since she 'disappeared'?" Dave made air quotes to emphasize the disappearance.

Owen nodded. "Yeah, I got enough of a report so it didn't violate her confidentiality but told me that she was one hurtin' puppy. She truly had been contemplating suicide; it was the only way she could see to get away from the situation. She'd lost track of normal and other possibilities because Brian had hemmed her so tight. She'd been amassing sleeping pills and planning to take them this week to end it all."

Dave swore. "How long before we see her? She can't go back and live with Brian, either? We can offer her a home with us."

Alice nodded, "I agree. The Circle can be exceptionally loving and supportive of her."

Dave said, "She shouldn't engage in anything sexual with us for a long time, yet. She needs her sea legs first. "

Owen speculated, "Maybe a month at a minimum. They'll let me know. They do want to set her up with a therapist who practices in our area and that aligns with their healing modalities. They'll let me know her progress in about a week. They tell me they're working with almost full time every day of the week and weekend."

Dave whistled up at the sky, "Progress? Progress? Whom might that refer to?" He wandered away, obviously intent to keep his deniability in tact.

Wednesday morning at work, Derek met Dave in his office again. As Dave came in the door, Derek shut it.

Derek said, "Em told me about our temporarily out of town friend. I've been so mad I can spit that her husband did that to her. I would like to fire his ass, but that may be too good for him. He's got to be a good actor to pull off Mr. Cool around here, and then dominate and behave like that with Joan."

A thought struck Dave. "I have an idea. Wait a minute." He rummaged in the small bookcase behind his desk and pulled out the executives' handbook that personnel had provided as part of one of his special management development courses. He rifled through some of the pages, and muttered, "Maybe Joan isn't the only person that needs some help."

He then looked up. Dave said, "I found it. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. Well, I do know; I was so focused on Joan I only took the time to get angry with Brian not think that they were both in trouble. Let me read you a paragraph from our handbook.

"The Utility sponsors an employee assistance program to provide appropriate interventions designed to assist employees in resolving personal problems that may adversely affect their performance at work, such as marital, financial, or emotional problems ... etcetra.

"The Utility may have positioned the employee in situations that are promoting individual stress or other issues that manifest themselves in dysfunctional behavior both on and off the job. It is the duty of the colleagues of an affected individual to work with the human resource department to in turn establish a viable program of resolution for the affected individual."

Derek made a face. "We should have involved HR from the beginning, I guess. My bad."

"Mine, too, and I just took a course in this stuff." Dave said gesturing to the notebook. "Do you have a few minutes now. We could see if someone from HR could come and talk to us."

Derek nodded, and Dave called down to Gloria Bander, the woman who'd been promoted into a senior management position the same day that Dave had. Gloria came up to his office instantly."

As she went in, Nancy gave Dave a look almost demanding explanation. He frowned and shook his head negatively, indicating that something ominous was underfoot.

The men sat in the corner of Dave's office with Gloria and did a rapid briefing to her on what they knew about Brian Coswell and his wife. Dave was careful to point out that he did not know where Joan had been taken, but he did know that she was in good hands, most likely far from the Tampa-Sarasota geography.

Dave was also surprised to hear Derek reveal some things about Brian and Joan that he hadn't known. Gloria took notes, and asked some good questions. "Does anybody know about Brian's life outside or work, besides being at home intimidating his wife? Does he have any hobbies, sports, anything else?"

Dave said, "I know someone that could probably find out for us. It might take a couple of days, but with Joan gone, things might accelerate since he doesn't have to appear home for any particular reason."

Gloria nodded. "Do it. I don't want to know about it, but see what you can find out. In the meanwhile, let me see what else I have at my disposal to help remedy this situation."

After their meeting broke up, Dave placed a call to one of the Circle members. Seconds later he heard, "Harnett Investigations, Dale speaking."

* * * * *

Friday evening, Dave was playing bartender at the bar on the Circle's patio. He'd pretty well served everyone when Dale came up and ordered a Corona. Dave set an opened bottle on the counter, and gave Dale a questioning glance.

Dale smiled and looked around. They were momentarily alone. Dale said, "Yes, I have some significant news to report. Your Mr. Brian Coswell is having an affair with a young woman named Amanda Tyler. According to Ms. Tyler, her boyfriend is in the midst of a divorce that is not going well for him. He has a bevvy of lawyers trying to work things out with his wife so he doesn't get taken to the cleaners.

"Ms. Tyler also mentioned that he is a 'high up' executive in a company, but has trouble with his boss, and several underlings who are out to have his lunch and even get him fired.

"The couple have been going together for about nine months, maybe longer, and seem in love, when viewed together. Ms. Tyler kind of swooned when she talked about him. She's hooked."

Dave asked, "How'd you get all that, if I may ask?"

"Watched them interact at two dinners. Coswell stayed over at her place both nights since we talked. I just happened to run into her at Starbucks. She was alone at a table for two, and I'm bold and conversational. She started to sing to me about sixty seconds after we met."

"You're amazing."

"Old skill set and training that still comes in handy," Dale said referring to his cryptic past. Dave guessed he'd been a field operative in one of the intelligence agencies based in D.C. Now, he'd set up a private investigator firm, and also hired out as a bodyguard. He apparently had some friends he used from time to time in his business.

"Anything else?" Dave asked.

"Not for now. I have a written report for you about half done. I can have it for you by noon tomorrow. It'll have more demographic information on both parties. I can dig deeper, but to do that I'd like some idea of what you're trying to dig up if it's not just general dirt."

"Hold off for now. Give me an invoice for your time, too."

Just then Julie and Rachel came over and joined the men, both also asking for refills on their wine coolers. The conversation quickly shifted to talking about Rachel's flying lessons and how far along in her syllabus she was.