My Wife's Boss

"That's sick and twisted," I said.

"Yes, but so is Cramer. Last thing: can you do without your computer for the next few days? If Cramer goes forward with his plan and reports you, the police inspectors will want to check the computer records to see if someone had actually accessed the illegal files after they were uploaded. If you don't touch it, then the records will be clean, and that will be even better for us. Also, make sure that your cell phone does not connect to your home Wi-fi in the coming days in case they try to use your phone instead of your computer."

Laura installed the surveillance module and wiped out all sensitive information (including my company paperwork) from my computer and my cell phone.

"The module will send us a copy of all access requests. I will contact Harry and you as soon as we have something. Good luck guys," Laura told us before she left.

"Ok, now back to more down-to-earth things," Harry said. "Garrett, do you want to file for divorce right now or do you want to wait until Daphne comes back to see if all this can be worked out?"

"Noooo!!! I want a divorce, yesterday if possible! There is no way that I can stay married to someone who can be as easily manipulated and corrupted by self-proclaimed powerful men. No, I want out, no hesitation."

"Ok then. I will call Claudia Milton tomorrow. She's the Family Law expert at my office. She's good, fair and efficient. I'll ask her to give you a call ASAP. You'll like her," Harry said.

We talked a bit more. I gave Harry the access code to my recording system, so that he could see 'live' what was going on and access what was stored on the cloud.

Christine and Harry left around 23:00. I popped a zopiclone and was out within half an hour.

It was 8:30 the next day when I received a call from Claudia Milton. She had just hung up with Harry who had explained all the details of my predicament. She was expecting me in her office at 11:00.

The meeting with her went well. She knew of Derek Cramer's reputation and was very sorry for me that I had to cross paths with that man of 'questionable reputation'. She assured me that since I had bought the house before I met Daphne and that her name was not on the deed, the house remained mine. We had no children, so the divorce would be very simple.

"What about my company? Is there a way they could force me to sell it and split the money?" I asked.

Claudia called Harry and asked him to join us. It did not take long for Harry to reassure everybody.

"Don't worry about that. There is a clause in your marriage contract that clearly indicates that your company is yours and that she can't have any claim on it. Now, they will probably try anyway, but I had everything rechecked and it's a dead end for them if they want to go there."

I left Claudia Milton's office at 12:30 and took care of all financial issues, as she had instructed me. She told me that there was nothing more I could do for now, that she was taking charge of everything, and that Daphne would be served at her office on Monday morning.

I also went to the store to replace my destroyed cell phone and took the rest of weekend to do some yard work and some catching up on my favorite TV series. Part of me was mad at Daphne, but the other part was still in denial, still unable to fully believe what was happening. I knew that I would eventually grieve for my marriage, but at that precise moment I was still too keyed up to be sad.

I was not looking forward to seeing Daphne return home on Sunday. I hesitated between sleeping in the guest room or sending her to the guest room. There was no way I would sleep with that stupid bitch again. I finally decided that it was my house, and that she was the one who had walked out on me, so there was no way I would give up my bed. She would sleep in the guest room until she found an apartment and moved out. I carried all her clothes and toiletries into the guest room, then went to the hardware store to by a new lockable doorknob and installed it on my bedroom door, keeping the key in my pocket.

When I heard Asshole's car pulling in the next evening, I put the surveillance system in recording mode. I saw Daphne giving a long French kiss to her boss, then get out of his car and wave to him as he drove away. I was "reading" in the living room when she got in.

"Hi Honey, how was your weekend?" she asked. She seemed nervous. She was doing her best not to show it, but I could tell she was not as cool as she pretended.

I did not even look at her, let alone answer.

"Ok, keep sulking and pouting. Derek was right when he said that you would do that, that you did not have the brains to understand my needs or the maturity to accept your inability to fulfill them."

She went upstairs.

I started counting: 1, 2, 3...

"GARRETT MORRISON!? What is this? You installed a lock on our bedroom!?!?"

"Correction: on MY bedroom," I said calmly. "All your things are in the guest bedroom. You will sleep there until you find an apartment."

"What the fuck? Wait until I tell Derek about this. That was not the deal!"

"Deal? What deal? I haven't signed or even accepted any of your Dickhead's crap! Either you sleep in the guest room, or you leave. Maybe Cramer's wife would make some room for you in her marital bed?"

She looked daggers at me. She did not say a word, stormed to the guest room and slammed the door. I followed up upstairs and yelled at her through the door:

"Speaking of deal, what was in there for me, by the way?"

She did not reply. I went back upstairs. It took 15 minutes before my phone started to buzz. It was a series of text messages from a number I did not know.

'What am I hearing, cuck? You don't allow Daphne in her own bedroom? I thought I had explained the program to you in simple English. Even a shop monkey like you can understand this.'

'Listen, I'll turn a blind eye to your childish crisis for tonight and let you cool down. But tomorrow, you will prepare Daphne her favorite dinner and apologize to her for your behavior. If you behave for the rest of the week, I will authorize her to have sex with you next weekend.'

'But if you don't do as I say, you will find out that my threats are real, very real. So you do as I told you and you ask no questions. Is it clear?'

I could not believe my eyes. This guy was at the intersection point between callous, delusional, and stupid. I did not reply, but I made a snapshot of the conversation and sent the image to Harry.

Harry replied after 3 minutes: 'Unbelievable. This guy thinks he's a hotshot, but he's just a world-class idiot. Don't erase the conversation, and don't reply to him.'

Cramer sent a couple more requests for acknowledgement, to which I did not reply. He eventually stopped. I did not see Daphne again that evening. I went to bed, locking the door and leaving the recording system on. I texted one of my assistants to tell him be that I would be in late the next day.

I waited until Daphne had left in the morning before getting up and prepared. I fixed myself breakfast and ate it while downloading what my system had recorded during the night. Daphne had not left the guest room before this morning. She had showered in the guest bathroom and left without having breakfast. But I was surprised she had not tried to do anything with my computer, as I was expecting.

I received a text from Claudia Milton.

'Hi Garrett, I just wanted to confirm that the divorce papers will be served at 10:00 this morning. I also told Harry. Have as nice a day as possible, despite everything.'

Before I left for the shop, I double-checked that my home system was still recording and that it would send an alert on my phone if it got activated. I had to meet with the architect at 11:00 to discuss the last modifications that my current client had requested. I busied myself with some trifles until the meeting. I was expecting a call from Daphne a few minutes after she was served, but nothing came. At 10:45, I texted Harry that I was surprised Daphne had not tried to contact me.

'This means she has talked to Cramer about the divorce papers. They might as well already be working on their threats. I'll call Laura. Stay tuned.' Harry replied.

My meeting went well. I was surprisingly able to stay focused. I took the rest of the afternoon to do some maintenance on my tools and some tidying up in the shop.

It was 15:12 when I received the alarm on my cell phone. I texted Harry that the show was on the road. He texted a thumbs up.

I connected to my system and was able to see and hear what was happening live in my house. Daphne had entered with a man I did not know. They went to our home office and fired up my computer. They did not speak much. It took the guy a few minutes to crack my password, and then he inserted a flash drive in my computer and spent a good 10 minutes doing his dirty business. The good thing is that I could get clear pictures of his face. Daphne went to the guest room and packed her stuff in garbage bags (her suitcases were in the master bedroom closet, poor little thing...)

When the guy was done, he turned off the computer and told Daphne he was leaving. Daphne finished packing her stuff and left the house at 15:56. Harry called me a few seconds after the recording had stopped.

"Ok Garrett, now go home and act normally. My guess is that they will call the cops tonight or tomorrow, so that you will receive a visit from an inspector. It takes a few hours to obtain a search warrant, so you can expect to see them tomorrow."

"Are they gonna arrest me?" I asked.

"It is possible. But if they do arrest you, you say nothing. You answer none of their questions. I have already contacted a good friend of mine, Steven Lindsay. He's a criminal defense lawyer. I took the liberty of transferring him all relevant material, including the recordings. He says this will be the easiest case of the year!" Harry replied.

I gave Harry the code to activate/deactivate the recording on my alarm system in case I was arrested. We chatted a bit more, then hung up. I was almost a basket case when I drove home.

Nothing happened that evening. No visit from the cops. No call from Daphne. No nasty text messages from Asshole Cramer.

I fixed myself a sandwich and ate in front of the television. I debated with myself about calling my parents to tell them about the situation, but finally decided it was better to wait until the storm was behind me. I'm not sure my mother would understand anything about tampering with computer system files or videos stored in the cloud. That would just make her anxious for nothing and she would not be able to bring any added value to the situation.

I was at the shop the next day when I received another alert that someone was in the house. I did like the day before. I texted Harry and connected to my system. The cops had entered my house and were trying to disable the alarm system. They must have shut the system down because I lost the communication. Harry texted me that he had seen everything and had transferred the images to Steven Lindsay.

About 1 hour after the cops had arrived at my house, two other cops showed up at my shop and arrested me. I was handcuffed and put into a police car. They quickly read me my rights and started asking questions to which I refused to answer. When I got to the police station, they took my cell phone and wallet, and I was put in a cell with 5 other guys. Not a lot of exchanges. Everybody was doing their best to stay focused on the floor tiles.

After about 3 hours, a guard came to take me to the meeting room where I would meet my lawyer.

"What the fuck," I told the guard. "I never even told you who my lawyer is!"

The guy said nothing. He left me in the room, alone. The door opened after 10 minutes and there was Derek Cramer, with a grin the size of the Golden Gate.

He sat in front of me, without saying a word. I looked at him in the eyes and said nothing. After he was satisfied that he had completely established his superiority and made clear that he was winning the war, he gave me a triumphant look and finally started talking.

"Now, do you see how serious I am?"

I did not reply.

"I asked you a question, you little bug. ANSWER ME!"

Again, nothing.

"It will be your word against mine, Morrison. The word of a carpenter versus the word of one of the most prominent lawyers in the city. Guess what will happen...?" he asked, with his eternal smirk.

He stood up.

"Ok, it seems you need to reflect some more about what I told you. We'll talk again tomorrow morning then! Maybe a night in this communal cell with your friends will bring you to your senses," he said before leaving the room. I was brought back to the cell. There were only 4 other guys by then.

Another guy came to see me in the middle of the afternoon. I was brought into the same meeting room. There waited a tall blond man, with a stern face. A 'don't-mess-with-me' face. He stood up when I entered.

"Good afternoon, Garrett. Nice to meet you. I'm Steven Lindsay. You can call me Steven. Harry called me earlier this afternoon saying he could not get a hold of you. With everything that was happening, we figured they might have already arrested you and brought you here."

I proceeded to tell Steven everything that had taken place that afternoon, including the threatening visit from Derek Cramer. Steven's jaw dropped to the floor. But he said nothing.

"Ok, you will have to appear before a judge tomorrow morning. The judge will certainly set a hefty caution, but don't worry, Harry will take care of everything. I know it will be a shitty night, but don't lose hope, Harry and I are here for you. In the meantime, keep up with the good work of not answering any of their questions. I have already officially taken your case, and I will make sure Cramer doesn't visit you again."

I appeared before a judge the next day. I was accused of possession of child pornography. I of course pleaded not guilty. The bail was fixed at 25k. I was released early that afternoon. I could not leave the limits of the city and I could not contact my soon-to-be ex-wife or Derek Cramer or anyone from their office, and I was forbidden to be alone in the presence of any person under 18. But at least I could work in my shop.

They gave me back my cell phone and wallet. Steven took me to a late lunch, and we chatted a bit more.

"I did not want to say too much at the police station yesterday because their walls have ears. But I made a few calls yesterday and did some research, and I was able to find quite a lot of interesting material about our friend Derek Cramer.

"Let me tell you a few things that will reassure you. First, when cops get a search warrant, it takes a least a few hours before they can review the material they found and obtain an arrest warrant. In your case, you were brought here before they were even done searching your house.

"Second, you were not allowed to call me or Harry, but they allowed Derek Cramer to see you. These two elements make it obvious that the whole thing was staged. And this is completely illegal."

"Yeah, but Harry says that Cramer has all the judges wrapped around his finger," I said.

"Oh no. Not all of them. You see, you can't make that many friends without inevitably making some enemies," he said with a wink.

"I have no idea what I will find at home. I hope my loving wife and her asshole did not steal everything."

"Don't worry about that. Harry went to your place just after the cops left. He re-armed the system and put it on recording again. Nobody showed up."

I went back to the shop to pick up my car and then went home to take a deserved and necessary shower. The architect had left a message saying that they had updated the plan and gotten the client's approval. That was good news. It meant I could go back to work the next day and occupy my mind with something else.

The house was a mess. They had searched everything. Apart from the doctored computer, I knew they could not find anything compromising. I started tidying up everything.

That evening, I cried for the first time. Just a week before I was a happy man in what I thought was a good marriage. Now I was a suspect of a crime, about to get divorced and being played like a puppet by my wife's boss. What had I done to deserve all that shit...? At least, I had not seen any reporters. I guess they were all too busy biting into the newly discovered multi-billion unexplained hole in public finances to care about little Garrett...

Steven finally called me at the end of the following week with a major surprise: all charges against me had been dropped! And it seemed that the inspector who was assigned the cause was not the type of guy to mess with, especially on the topic of blackmailing. Apparently, he was not very much impressed by Cramer's ploy and made sure charges would be filed imminently against Derek Cramer for blackmail, fabrication of evidence and possession of child pornography. Daphne would be accused of conspiracy to commit the said crimes.

Harry called me 10 minutes after I had hung up with Steven to invite me to dinner that evening. On my way to Harry's house, I got a call from Claudia Milton, my family law attorney.

"Garrett, Daphne's lawyer called me this afternoon and told me that she was prepared to sign the divorce papers without changes, but under one condition. She wants a one-hour private meeting with you. She says it can be at my office."

Daphne was probably the last person I wanted to see. But I told myself that if that meeting could accelerate the divorce, then it would be a good time investment. I told Claudia to proceed, that I would meet Daphne.

I had a pleasant evening with Harry and Christine. It was the first truly relaxing evening in two weeks. Christine had prepared coconut shrimps and rice. It was to die for. I felt at peace when I got back home that evening.

The meeting with Daphne was scheduled for the following Wednesday. I was nervous to meet her, even if I had no reason to be nervous, since I was the victim in that pathetic plot. When I got there, I was directed to Claudia's office, who had asked me to arrive a few minutes early so that she could talk to me.

"Garrett, I don't know what she wants to tell you, but I must warn you: there are criminal accusations pending upon her head. Do not give her any ammunition, do not say anything that could be used to discredit you if you're required to testify in court. We have no right to search her for microphones or recording devices, so keep in mind that she could be recording you."

"Ok, thanks for the warning," I said.

I was brought to a little private meeting room. Daphne was already there. I was expecting to see the bitchy and arrogant Daphne of the previous weeks. But the Daphne who was sitting in that room was a broken woman. I felt a wave of compassion for her, but the vivid memory of her little act with Cramer before leaving for their weekend quickly dissolved any positive feeling I could have for her.

"Thank you for accepting this meeting, Garrett."

"What could you possibly want to tell me Daphne, after everything you did to me?"

She started to cry.

"Garrett, I'm so ashamed of what I did to you. You're a wonderful husband. You didn't deserve any of that. I was completely under Derek Cramer's spell. When I heard that the accusations against you had been dropped and that he and I would probably stand accused, it gave me a shock that broke the spell. I can hardly look at myself in a mirror. And all that for the most pathetic sex ever."

She kept on ad-libbing with her analysis of her own behavior for the next 30 minutes. She did not question me or try to obtain any information from me.

"I understand we are done, Garrett. If I was in your shoes, I'd do the same and seek a divorce. So no, I don't blame you for divorcing me. I want to tell you that I quit my job. I told Derek Cramer I didn't ever want to speak to him again. I went back to my parents' place. I told them everything. They're mad at me. Let's say the atmosphere in the house is far from warm and cozy."