Lying Eyes

I walked into the café and spotted my friends. I sat down at our table and started talking.

"How did your meeting with your true love go?" asked Ashley sarcastically.

"More to the point; how was the sex?" asked Betty. "Don't leave out any details."

Ashley just shook her head and turned away. "Constance someday you're going to learn just how lucky you are and how good you have it," said Ashley.

"Holy shit, look who's back," said Eva pointing towards the door. "And she brought her rug rat."

"She probably wants the kid to have a look at professional waitresses in action. Kind of like career training," said Betty.

"Did you notice what she's wearing?" asked Ashley. "She's wearing the same top you had on yesterday Constance. I know I can't afford that blouse."

I looked across and Jo Anne was wearing the same DuMerrier blouse that I'd worn the previous day, only hers was blue, mine was red.

"Whatever her new job is she's probably doing better than we'd thought," said Ashley.

At about that time I noticed that three men and a woman came into the café. We were so busy staring at Jo Anne that we didn't really watch where they went until they were standing right in front of us.

"Which one of you ladies is Constance Richards?" asked the first of the men. He was standing the closest to our table and the other two men were standing to either side as if they were watching to make sure that nothing happened.

"How is that any of your business?" asked Betty.

"I'm agent Joe Friday, DEA," said the man flashing a badge.

"Then I'm not her," said Betty.

"Ladies we're going to need to see some ID," said Friday.

"I'm Constance Richards," I said. "Is this about my husband? I noticed that he was changing the locks on the doors when I left the hose this morning. Has there been some kind of security threat against us?"

"No ma'am," said Friday. "This isn't about your husband, but you're probably going to want to call him and have him hire a really fancy assed lawyer, if you're going to stay out of jail."

"Me!" I shouted. "What did I do? Are you arresting me?"

He nodded his head.

"For what, speeding? This is bullshit. I haven't done anything wrong," I snapped.

"Ma'am, do you know a gentleman named Todd Bridges?" asked Friday.

I nodded my head. "I am acquainted with Mr. Bridges," I said.

"Boy ain't she," said Betty laughing. I silenced her with a look in her direction.

"Ma'am last night Todd Bridges and a female accomplice were taken into custody for felony level possession of controlled substances. We've known about Bridges for a long time. But until now he's always been very small potatoes so we never bothered with him. Suddenly, Todd is making buys from the big fish and looking as if he wants to become a player. We needed to find out where he was getting the money to make moves like that. It didn't take any pressure at all to get Todd to roll over on his source. All we had to do was to promise him a lighter sentence and he spilled his guts and implicated you Ma'am. He told us the entire story about how you provided the money for the drugs. He even told us how you stole the money from your husband." I was shocked.

"From the way things look ma'am, you're facing jail time. Todd has named you as the ring leader here, since you provided most of the money. You'll probably get a longer sentence than he will. Then there's the fact that your husband will have to be notified and he may even decide to press charges against you for embezzling if not outright theft, for the money you stole."

"What?" I screamed. "You're kidding right? This has to be a joke."

"Ma'am, please extend your hands in front of you," he said. I held my hands out and the female operative handcuffed me. There was a bright flash of light for a second and I noticed that Jo Anne was taking pictures of me being led away in handcuffs with her cell phone camera. I was too shocked to react. I looked back at the table and my friends were also really shocked.

Ashley stood up and told me that they'd contact Danford for me and that they'd stand by me. She was sure that Todd was trying to use me to save himself. Strangely enough Ashley proved to me then, what a good friend she really was. She never said, "I told you so."

* * * * * *

Danford Richards

I looked at my watch for the fourth time since I'd come in to work. I was here at least an hour earlier than normal. I'd left the house before Constance did, so if she left her day bag at home today she'd be on her own. I guess she really wouldn't need it today. By this time the DEA agents should have arrested her. I was sure that they'd interrogate her for a while and then let her make her phone call. Constance wasn't a hardened criminal so she wouldn't hold up very well under their questioning. She'd probably start to cry and that beautiful face wouldn't be very beautiful then.

I surprised myself. I hadn't gone to the café to see them take her away. Just the thought of that happening to her turned my stomach. I guess my first instinct would have been to try to protect her even now. What kind of man did that make me? Was I some kind of wimp for still holding onto my feelings for a woman who obviously didn't care about me the way I deserved.

She had taken all of the affection and everything else I'd given her over the years and given me back what exactly? Okay, sex, but I could have bought that anywhere. This is the twenty first century after all. Everyone and everything is for sale. She gave me companionship. Again, there are any number of places where I could have gotten the best escorts on the planet. What she gave me was an illusion. The love that she always claimed to feel, the devotion I believed that we shared, and even the vows we exchanged were all non-existent. All of the best brothels in Nevada offer what they call the girlfriend experience. Instead of just screwing some woman, you get the whole deal. You go out for dinner and a show and then go home to your own house with the woman. For major clients, who book the services of a particular girl for a longer period of time, the services rendered become strangely like what I had with Constance.

The woman actually lives in your home for the length of the contract. Some of them will even have arguments with you and make demands. I could have had all of that far cheaper than the money I'd given or spent on Constance over the years. I'd also have been far better off. I have no doubt about that because in that scenario, despite appearances, I'd have known that it was faked. Deep down in the bottom of my heart I'd have known that no real emotions existed between us. I'd have known that every kiss, every hug, every sexual act, came with a price tag. And in the end that price tag would have been financial, a mere exchange of currency rather than the far heavier emotional toll that I'd taken in discovering Constance's betrayal.

So yeah, the bitch had fooled me. I made deals that made money on four continents and more countries than I can shake a stick at. I know a smattering of several different languages and can curse fluently in more than that, but Constance fooled me. I can smell it when someone is trying to get the better of me in a business deal. I can actually feel it when it's time to cut my losses and walk away. I can when necessary, be the most ruthless son of a bitch in the room, in ANY room, but Constance made a sucker out of me.

At that moment I felt it. I felt all the pain that anyone, whether CEO or unemployed burger flipper feels when the person we love most in the world, not only doesn't return our affection, but prefers someone else and just uses us to help that person.

I'd been a winner all of my life, in every facet of my life. But I finally knew what it was like to be a loser, to be second best.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that anyone had come in until I heard Jo Anne speak.

She was grinning like a Cheshire cat until she saw me. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Constance..." I said. My words trailed off and my voice broke. "The beginning of the end, I suppose."

"I was there," she said softly. "We've talked about this. You knew it was going to happen. This was your plan from the beginning remember? I took pictures. You took lemons and made lemonade..."

"The problem is that the lemonade tastes like shit. It's more bitter than I ever expected it to be. I guess it's not nearly as sweet as I thought it would be. I wanted to make sure that I took all of my toys with me when we walked away from each other, and I have. The problem is that playing with your toys all alone isn't really that much fun." Even as I said it, a solitary tear broke through my mask of stoicism and rolled down my cheek.

Jo Anne came across the floor and hugged me. It was the first time that we ever touched each other.

"I hate that bitch," she hissed. "I've hated her all of my life. No matter what happens, no matter what I do, she always finds a way to steal my joy. Even now, even today when seeing her being led away in handcuffs should have made me the happiest woman on the planet, I can't enjoy it because of the way all of this had made you feel."

"Don't worry about me, Jo-Jo," I said. "I always end up on top. Over the years I've learned to make the tough decisions, take my lumps when necessary and keep on ticking. The pain I'm feeling right now will fade and I won't get fooled again."

"Maybe, in time you'll find someone else to share your toys with," she smiled sympathetically.

"Maybe," I echoed. "But for a while, I don't think I'm even going to bother to look. I gave Constance everything I had, inside of me and out. I'm just too emotionally drained to even consider going through that again. I know you're looking out for me Jo-Jo, but for a while can I just be me?"

Jo Anne nodded and went back out to her office. I admired her ability to put this behind us and get back to work. I was sure that I wasn't going to get very much done today, and the evening would be worse.

About an hour later, Jo Anne came into my office. I looked up as she approached.

"You'll never guess who wants to see you," she said. I looked at her.

"Ashley Wilkes is out here," she said.

"THE Ashley Wilkes?" I asked in mock surprise. "The one from..."

"Ha ha," she smirked. "It's THE Ashley Wilkes that went to school with me and your soon to be ex-wife."

She ushered Ashley into my office. Ashley looked at Jo Anne with eyes as big as saucers. Jo Anne closed the door behind her.

"Danford, do you remember me?" she asked.

"Of course," I smiled. "You're part of Constance's Posse, right?"

"Uhm, your secretary..." she began.

"Assistant," I corrected. "I have two secretaries. They handle typing and filing and other clerical tasks. Jo Anne does more in the way of scheduling and attending meetings with me and taking notes and reminding me of things."

"But do you know who she is?" asked Ashley.

"Yep," I said. "She's the woman that you, Constance, and your friends bullied and picked on for most of your lives."

"Well, yeah, but..." began Ashley.

"Ashley, did you come here to tell me about my assistant or for some other reason?" I asked.

"Did you know that Constance was arrested this morning?" she asked. "They probably haven't let her have her phone call yet, but some men from the DEA handcuffed her and took her out of the café this morning."

"Yes," I said. "I know that."

"Well, why aren't you there with a team of lawyers or something?" she asked.

"Well, I was sure that Constance would probably rather let Todd handle this," I said. "I mean we both know that she's been fucking around on me with him for longer than I ever suspected. We both also know that he wasn't the only one. I'm not even sure that trip that you all took together to the islands, that I paid for, was the first time. So I am planning on going over there with lawyers, but it's not for the reason you're expecting. I figure that Connie can get one of the guys she's been fucking to get her out."

Ashley stepped back as if I'd slapped her. I looked back at the papers on my desk and pretended to be interested in them.

"You do know that she's just confused and she really does love you," she said. "Constance is still playing prom queen in her mind. She just hasn't settled into adulthood yet. A big part of that is your fault Danford. You spoiled her. You've always given her anything that she wants. It made her begin to think that the rules didn't apply to her. If you give her enough time, she'll come around. She's not really bad, she's just..."

"Drawn that way?" I interrupted.

"I was going to say confused," she said. "Think about it Danford. She really needs you this time."

A short time later, I walked out of my office and found Jo Anne sitting at her desk across from her daughter Samantha.

They were eating lunch together and the girl's eyes got bigger as I came out of the office. She jumped down from the chair and snapped her feet together and saluted me.

"Why are you saluting me, Honey?" I asked.

"My Daddy was in the war," she said. "He died there. Mommy said you were at the war too. They salute people in charge in the war and Mommy said that you were in charge of making our lives better. Every time we're in trouble you get us better."

I saluted her back and smiled. "Ya wanna have lunch with us?" she asked.

"Not today, Honey, but next time for sure," I said.

I walked out of the office. Jo Anne came running up behind me. "Sorry, Danford," she said. "I didn't think it would be a problem. She was always asking me what I did at work and what the place looked like so I..." I held up my hand.

"Jo-Jo, you can bring Samantha with you anytime you want to. She taught me something very important today. After lunch call Stewart and have him come over here. Tell him to bring the papers," I told her. I did what I needed to do. Whenever I really needed to think about something I do this twice. I jump in my car and just drive. The rumble of my overly powered engine filtered through my Magnaflow exhaust system was heaven to my ears. My car's race bred suspension is so tight that I can feel every bump and crease in the road. The car handles as if it was on wires. Driving this car is like playing a video game. Everything is precise and predictable. Even when I go into a corner too fast and the ass end breaks loose. I fight with the wheel and the pony right's herself and the big rear tires get their bite again and we rocket back on course. Driving my Mustang makes all of the bad things go away, so for a few moments my mind is free to consider my best course of action.

Usually I do the driving thing before I go into the situation so I can consider my options and my best course out of all of the possible outcomes. I do it again after the situation so I can see what my opponents have proposed and how it affects my bottom line. In this case, more than a few dollars are on the line. This wasn't like deciding whether to close a plant to save money or invest more money in it to try to make it profitable. The stakes were considerably higher here, at least for me. Both my happiness and my sanity hung in the balance. Samantha had reminded me of something that I'd forgotten. In the service I'd learned to keep my head down and do my job no matter what.

The relationship I had with Connie had become a war. She wanted to treat me badly and make me accept things that were not in my best interest. I had to keep my head down and look out for myself and the people around me, just like in the war. I didn't want to kill Constance, I just needed to get her out of my life before she damaged me even further. Surprisingly, it was a four year old who made me see that.

I had my opening. I could get rid of Constance now. And I could get rid of her without losing a shitload of money. The question was, did I actually want to? Maybe Constance did love me. Was there a chance that what Ashley was saying was true? Was she only confused and in need of some type of shock to make her grow up?

* * * * * *

Constance

I had trouble focusing through my tears. I was in jail. I couldn't believe it. Todd had blamed me for everything. The worst part was that he'd even used the surveillance tapes the DEA guys had on us to make his points seem true. When I was asking how much of the profits were mine, it was being viewed as me demanding more of the money he'd get from selling what turned out to be street drugs. I had actually given him the money. No one believed that I could be stupid enough to hand him thirty thousand dollars without knowing what it was for. No one could be that stupid. But I was.

I was stupid in more ways than one. I spent my days fantasizing and shopping while Danford ran his companies. I benefitted from his work and spent far more of his money than he ever did. What right did I have to do that? I had only, the right that he gave me. He gave me the right to do it because I'm pretty and he loves me. He works his ass off so I can go and throw money away on frivolous and unnecessary things because he wants me to be happy. And in exchange, I cheat on him. I cheat on him often because I'm the prom queen. Besides that, I'm smarter than everyone else.

I can see now that being prom queen has no value in the real world. I can also see that I'm not as smart as I thought I was. Todd was smart enough to both fuck me and make me steal money for him. Danford was smart enough to know what was going on with Todd. Ashley came to visit me. She told me she'd gone to see Danford and he'd already known that I was here. They probably contacted him, or someone that he knows works here. But Danford knew that I was here and was trying to decide whether to let me rot here or not.

The worst thing about all of this was that Jo Anne was there with Dan. The woman I've picked on and tried to belittle or crush for most of our lives is my husband's new personal assistant and he never mentioned it to me. No wonder that bitch was wearing clothes like mine. I had a feeling that if I didn't watch my step, she'd be more than wearing my clothes. She might be wearing my husband as well.

The cell didn't look like I expected. It was just a very small room. There were no bars on the door. The door was just an extremely thick steel door. I saw a face appear at the door and then it opened. Two uniformed DEA guys walked into my room and spread out. One of them stayed on either side of the door as if they were expecting me to make a break for it.

Following that, what appeared to be two couples entered the room. Stewart Copeland, Danford's lawyer, came in followed by his assistant. Her name was Marissa something or other. I'd met her a few times and really had never bothered to remember her name. Then Jo Anne came in. She didn't smirk at me or laugh at me. She looked at me the way a scientist looks at a bug under a microscope. She didn't give a fuck about me one way or another. She was totally loyal to my husband and I'm sure there was more to it. This really didn't look like employee devotion. Even the way she positioned herself between Dan and me, like she was ready to take a fucking bullet for him, spoke volumes about the way she felt about him. I really pissed me off.

"Oh Dan," I said. "I knew you'd come for me honey."

If I hadn't still been wearing the cuffs, I'd have flung myself at him so he could make me feel better. "This is all a terrible mistake," I said. "You have to believe me."

"Unh huh," he said. "Stewart."

Stew steeped forwards and started pulling papers out of a briefcase. He handed me a bunch of papers to sign. "What is this?" I asked.

"Petition for the dissolution of marriage," I read. "These are divorce papers. I don't want a divorce."

Dan looked at the agents and at the people he'd led into the room. "May I have a moment alone with my wife?" he asked. Everyone filed out. The agents looked as if they were pondering whether or not to comply with the request, but they folded.