Revelation Blues Pt. 02

Indeed, Scott checked the call logs on the phone daily, the only ones made were to Fiona and other local calls. Scott also glanced briefly over Mary's diary as he was preparing his coffee early in the morning but noticed nothing unusual. He also noticed that there were no small dots. That didn't surprise him much, he didn't expect Mary to be that reckless.

* * *

The major discovery came on Wednesday night.

After dinner and spending time with Dean before his bedtime, Scott went to their bedroom and started preparing his suitcase. He then took it down to his office to add a few items he needed. Mary bid him goodnight and went up to their bedroom. As he was locking his suitcase's combination locks, he remembered the wooden box in Mary's drawer, the one that had a lock on it. Monday night he had scanned the pages of last year's diary from July onward and returned the diary to its original location in the drawer before Mary notices that it was missing, He had noticed the box again but did nothing to retrieve it and explore it.

Scott waited for about an hour, doing some work on his computer, then went up to their bedroom. He saw Mary sound asleep and the TV still on. With the sound of the TV helping cover his movements, Scott glided as silently as he could through the bedroom and into Mary's walk in closet. He used the light of his cell phone to see his way around. He quietly opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and avoided as much as possible disturbing the way things were laid out. He removed the manila envelopes and laid them on the floor, retrieved the box, then headed back silently to his office.

The box resembled a jewelry case or a cigar humidor. The lock was small but not very sophisticated. He figured he could unlock it with a paper clip. He had seen this done so many times. He took a larger paper clip, broke into two L-shaped pieces and proceeded to pick the lock. It took him a while but he managed to finally unlock it. Eureka! Scott was satisfied with his work.

Scott wished he hadn't succeeded in opening the box. While he was fiddling with the lock there was still hope. Now there was none.

There were documents, letters, and hand written notes. The first one Scott noticed was the piece of paper containing Don and Carla's address and phone numbers, the very one that Don had handed over to Mary on their flight back from Saint Martin. He wondered why Mary would bother hiding such a note. A souvenir? A sentimental value?

Just above that note Scott saw other notes written by Don. He was certain who the author was. The author's writing was identical to the one that wrote the Weldon's address. The dates were also within the last eight months time frame. He wondered what compulsion led Don to finish each note with his initials and the date. Was Don worried Mary would confuse the author with someone else? Scott shook his head, 'people do stupid things' he thought.

One note was dated December 20, it was written on a paper carrying the logo of a hotel in downtown Miami. The words left no doubt; 'I will be missing you and thinking about you. I love you my darling. My lips kiss every inch of your fantastic body. I will remember your body pressed against mine as I will be impatiently waiting for your return. Have a safe trip my love. D'.

Scott checked the date against the scan he had made of Mary's diary for that week. On the December 20 date there was 'Lunch with Fiona" and a small dot.

Did Don write this note in the hotel room while Mary was having a shower or a nap? Or after she left and handed it over to her later?

There was also a letter posted from Southern Maryland to their address in California. They knew no one in Maryland. The date stamp indicate a day in September thirteen years ago. Scott turned the envelope and saw a return address. It was to a certain Brad Blunt at the University of Maryland. He remembered their former neighbors in Redwood City. Jim and Holly Blunt. They were an older couple but that didn't stop them from socializing, they were wonderful and friendly people. Jim also worked in the Valley and Holly was dabbling in various forms of art, so that gave them common topics to talk about.

The Blunt had a son called Brad. Scott remembered the last summer he saw the 'Blunt kid'. Brad was barely over 18 years old then, he had just finished high school and was heading to a college somewhere, Scott couldn't remember which. He recalled Brad being always somewhere around Mary when the two families were having a barbecue or just lazing around the pool. He even recalled telling Mary that the kid looked like a little puppy when he was around her.

Scott opened the envelope and found a two-page letter. On the first page Brad simply related his first days at college, the sports he practiced, and how he was spending his time. The second page contained another sad revelation. The part that really shocked Scott stated 'I often dream of making love to you, of holding your body close to mine and covering you with kisses. I loved the time we spent together this summer. Unfortunately time flew by so fast. I hope I will be able to make love to you again, everything we did and more, slower, tenderly.' Scott saw that the letter was signed 'Your love that will never forget you, Brad' and the kid had drawn a flower to the left of the text. A low budget version of 'The Graduate', he thought.

Scott was going through a whole range of conflicting feelings. Satisfaction that he found evidence of Mary's misbehaving, sadness for what she had done, how she had done it, and who she had done it with, confusion as to the reasons that led his loving wife to do such things. Another one emerged tonight; incredulity that Mary would keep such evidence. She simply could not get rid of these letters and notes and kept them hidden for years. It reminded him of criminals, murderers and rapists, that kept a 'souvenir' from each of their victims or crimes. She had in that box the most incriminating evidence he could ever hope for.

Scott snapped out of his thoughts. It was getting late and he couldn't inspect and read all the contents of the box but this was probably his only opportunity. He methodically scanned each and every document or letter he found, including envelopes. He made sure to keep each item scanned in the same place and sequence in the pile.

As he was proceeding with the scanning, Scott came across a manila envelope at the bottom of the box. He opened it carefully and noticed that it contained Mary's divorce documents. Too many papers he thought and he couldn't bother scanning all the documents in that envelope, he just scanned the most important ones, including the petition and the declaration of disclosure's attachments. He couldn't but notice that Mary was not the petitioner but the respondent.

With his cell phone he took photos of the box, its contents, and of the various objects he found inside it. He stored the scans and the photos in another directory on his flash drive. He then proceeded to replace everything the way he found it, he even pressed and flattened the envelopes to remove any indication that they were recently opened. He closed the box and placed the lock in the position he found it in. He shut down his computer, put his documents and flash drive in his briefcase and locked it.

It was well past 2am when Scott climbed the stairs, as silently as possible, crossed the bedroom, into Mary's walk in closet, and replaced the box in the drawer, covered it with the manila envelopes, and closed the drawer.

He switched the TV off then headed to the bathroom.

Mary was still deeply asleep and didn't move when Scott slid under the sheets on his side of the bed. He hoped he could sleep the remaining four hours before his next day starts.

- End of Part 2 -