Surrogate Ch. 02

"You've fucked up the best man this company ever hired, you bloody slapper!"

He remained staring at Beth until she flushed bright red and dropped her eyes to her desk. After he had gone she ran into Gary's office.

"Gary, you have to sack that arrogant arsehole."

"Too late, he just resigned. What have we done Beth? Bruce was the heart and soul of this company."

Beth couldn't think of anything to say as Gary left, saying he was heading for HR. He took Bruce's envelope. He only made it as far as Beth's outer door when he met the HR Manageress coming the other way. He thrust the unopened resignation letter at her. He hadn't had the psychological strength to open it. He could just imagine the tirade it contained.

"What's this?"

"Bruce Cullen's resignation."

"Shit, not another one."

"Another one?"

"Yes, that is the sixth today already. Two designers, a Production Foreman, the Warehouse Manager and er, your assistant Beth."

Beth was stunned. "Not Gill?"

"I'm afraid so. Do you want me to get her in for an exit interview?"

Behind Gary's back, Beth was violently shaking her head. She was so busy doing that, she missed the smaller shaking of Gary's head. Gary retreated to his office to contemplate developments. He was starting to smell a big fat rat. He knew his main competitor had been trying to poach Bruce for years. If he had to guess, he'd say they had finally succeeded and he was taking some key employees with him. Gary was very aware of just how small a change you had to make to a design to circumvent patent laws. Added to that, Bruce knew everything, production costs, mark-ups, customer contacts. The lot. All of a sudden he was very, very worried.

He decided to do a royal tour of the office and factory. That always boosted morale. It backfired. Most supervisors were out of their offices when he arrived. The ones who weren't, answered his questions stiffly and formally. There was none of the usual banter he shared with his middle management. If there was any doubt at the cause, it was dispelled when Gary went into the factory toilet. Above the urinal, some artist had scrawled a scene. One of the male caricatures was mounting the female caricature from behind, over a desk, while sticking a knife in the back of the second male figure. The tour was cut short as Gary returned to his office to hide.

Meanwhile, with no assistant, Beth was having to field her own phone calls. She'd just turned down a second request from a local journalist for access to Gary. After Gary returned, she followed him into his office. He locked the door then attacked her over his desk. This time it was a distraction fuck, rather than their usual sensual coupling.

About the only thing they achieved that day was emailing off a very generous consultancy offer to Paul. The email was returned less than 10 minutes later, with the addition of the one word, 'accepted'. Beth was relieved. At least Paul was with it. The generous deal went a long way to assuaging her conscience. She knew Paul had always dreamed of a life of leisure. The fact that he had always dreamed of having her by his side while living the high life, couldn't register on her guilt ridden brain.

It was a very quiet night in Damson Glade that evening. Sally asked if Beth had contacted Paul that day. Sally replied truthfully that she'd sent him an email. When questioned, she replied that she'd received a one word reply.

"Well, that's a start I suppose," huffed Sally before flouncing off. Rhonda wasn't the only one that cleansed her own conscience by spreading the agro.

The only relief for Beth, was when one of her 21 year old twins rang and said they wouldn't be coming home from university for the inter semester break, as they were going to a friend's place in Scotland. Elizabeth and Frank were in their third years. Elizabeth was studying Engineering and Frank, Chemistry. Beth was relieved. That delayed the time she had to admit to her and Paul's children that she had wrecked their family. She was evasive when asked why there was never an answer on the home phone. She guessed that Paul wasn't up to fielding questions yet either.

That set the tone for the rest of the week. Beth and Gary feeling increasingly isolated at work and at Damson Glade. The happy couple snuck away for one afternoon at a motel, but it soon became obvious that their former passion was gone. Guilt had finally killed it. Hers at the loss of a husband. His at the loss of a friend.

Chapter 7 (A mixture of Mattb and Van1)

Sally's demons allowed her a full week before she rang Paul the following Monday. In that week, she'd found it easier to text Paul herself than nag his errant wife and friend to do it. Paul responded promptly to her questions of how he was travelling every time, with a simple, OK. She rang Paul that Monday instead of texting and was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to meet her in a restaurant that night.

Paul was already seated when she joined him. He told her he'd already ordered, as his favourite meal took a long time to prepare. Sally placed her order and opened the conversation. She tried to reach over and grab Paul's hand but he withdrew it. He obviously wasn't feeling that forgiving yet. Once again Sally cursed herself at her part in his deception.

"Has Beth rung you yet?"

Paul shook his head.

"I am not surprised, really. I am still just so angry how they handled this. If I'd have been Beth, I'd have been camped on your doorstep day and night until you forgave me."

Paul interjected "Yes, but you aren't her, are you, Sally? Looking at this from my perspective and from an outside view, I think you were played and taken for a fool."

"In what way, Paul?" Sally was intrigued by what he was saying.

"Oh, just think about it. She tells you she is willing to act as your surrogate so Gary will not have to cheat on you. But she doesn't want her husband to know. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she didn't use her idea for her being your surrogate as a shield for her real intent, which was to have an affair with Gary."

"Shit!" said Sally. "That's not something I'd thought about, before, although I was a fool not to, wasn't I?"

Paul spoke up: "Sometimes we trust people who we shouldn't trust. Because we love them, or hold them in such high regard, we don't realise we should not trust them."

As soon as he said it, he saw the flash of pain on Sally's face. "Well, Sal, sorry if that remark hurt but..."

"It only hurt because it was far too close to the truth for comfort," said Sally, her voice tinged with regret. "You are right. Your wife and your two best friends. Damn it, if you can't trust us, who can you bloody trust?"

He shrugged. They chatted like the old friends they were. Sally's meal arrived and Paul urged her to start without him. Sally finally asked the question she had been avoiding.

"So Paul, have we totally destroyed your faith in womankind?"

"No Sally. I did doubt my own faith in myself as a man for a while but then Rhonda came around last week and...well let's just say she restored my faith it."

"You're sleeping with Rhonda? Well done Paul. Gee, Beth is going to be pissed."

"Why should she be Sally? She's been bonking your husband for a year and if you believe Rhonda, they're still doing it in the office."

Sally went white.

"No, I told them to stop that."

"Does it surprise you that your expectations of their fidelity carry no more weight than mine did? You authorised them to cheat in the first place."

"But this is different."

"Why, because it's you this time, not just me?"

By mutual, unspoken agreement the diners switched to neutral topics until Sally's coffee arrived after the meal. Eventually, they made ready to leave. "You'll have to tell Beth, you know," said Sally. "Or do you want me to break the news to her?"

"Oh, I am not keen on using you as a go-between, but I really am not that keen to speak with Beth, just now, either."

"Why not?" asked Sally gently.

"Because the thought of talking to her makes me want to throw up."

Sally nodded, thoughtfully. "I'll tell her," she said. They switched topics again.

"Sally," Paul sounded tentative, "about your physical condition that means it's impossible for you to make love, have you had a second opinion?"

"Well, no, I haven't. The surgeon who I went to was supposedly the top man in Europe. I saw him at his Harley Street clinic."

"For what it's worth, I'd go to see your own GP and ask for a referral to an NHS surgeon. I mean, what have you got to lose?"

Sally yawned. "Nothing I suppose.

"Well thanks for an entertaining evening Paul. I'll just go to the bathroom and then I'll make myself scarce."

She did just that. When she came out of the bathroom, Paul was gone. She checked with the waiter if their bill had been paid. It hadn't. She asked for it and was surprised it was so low. It only accounted for her meal. Thinking about it, she couldn't remember Paul eating. She put this out of her mind as she left, already reviewing their conversations in her head.

Chapter 8 (A mixture of Mattb and Van1)

The implication that Paul was having sex with Rhonda enraged Beth. "The nerve of that woman!" she fulminated. "She's old and... and she has droopy tits! That bitch should leave my husband alone! Or I might just decide to divorce him!"

Sally shocked herself. She actually wanted to smack Beth's face. Very hard. She was finding her attitude to be very irritating.

"Don't be such a bloody hypocrite, Beth! You have been fucking my husband this past year and when Paul gets some too, you start whining like a bitch! Grow up for God's sake! Now cut Paul some slack! And please talk with him! You owe him that much, surely?"

Beth shrugged by way of reply and then said: "I just don't know what to say, Sal."

"Well if you will not speak with him, I will!" snapped Sally. She didn't raise the fact that against her express wishes, Beth and her husband were still getting it on. She hadn't decided how to handle that knowledge yet.

And that was what happened over the next couple of weeks. Sometimes Sally and Paul would chat on the phone, sometimes they would text or email. More than once she tried to raise the subject at the heart of all their problems, but he refused to cooperate. Finally, she could take no more of it and unilaterally announced that she had something important to say and she was going to say it. Paul remained silent.

She paused, deep in thought, before continuing. "Paul, I feel I still owe you an apology." She stilled his objection: "No, it's true. It's the way I feel, anyway. When you were unconscious on that first day, whilst you slept, I made you a promise that, no matter what happened, I would not let Beth being my surrogate with Gary harm your marriage. Although I meant every last word of that promise, if I had been thinking straight, I'd never have made it as I had no way of controlling what Beth and Gary did. I know that, now, but I was caught up in the events."

Paul smiled at her: "I accept your apology."

Sally breathed a sigh of relief. "But there's something else I need to tell you. I owe you my thanks, too. I took your advice and got a NHS referral to a surgeon at the local hospital.

"I went to see him last week. He told me that the Harley Street surgeon had made a hash of the operation and had given me some terrible advice. I can't prove it, but I smell Gary's hand in that. It transpired that the mistake was fixable and so the upshot is that I will soon be able to start having sex again."

"Oh, that's wonderful news! What do Gary and Beth think about this?"

Sally shrugged: "I haven't told them. I've left him and Beth living in the house, I filed for divorce last week."

"Why."

Sally sounded very downcast. "Because, I know that even after I tell Gary the news, he will still want to have sex with Beth."

"So, now you believe what this was all about Sally?"

"Yes Paul. I finally get it. I have my own money and have already moved out and bought a new town-house in a gated development just off the High Street. Maybe you and I could see each other there?"

This last was said with some hope, but that didn't last long.

"I'm sorry Sal, but I have to go away soon. This may be the last time we talk."

"No please Paul, don't go. You can't leave me feeling like this. You have to forgive me for my part in the destruction of your marriage. I just know I will never be able to sleep soundly until you do."

"Oh Sally, Sally, Sally. If only your motives weren't so selfish. How do you think I've slept since this all blew up? No, I'm afraid you will just have to live with what you have done to me."

"Please Paul," Sally pleaded.

But it was too late, the connection had been broken. With her hopes dashed and a lifetime of guilt and regrets to look forward to, Sally put the phone down sadly.

Chapter 9 (All inserted by Van1)

Two days later was a Friday. Gary had a thicker skin than Beth and seemingly had no trouble walking out the office at night to the accompaniment of an ever reducing number of condemning glares. Everyone had the same facial expression but there were far fewer faces these days. Beth was less protected and had taken to arriving at work before everyone else and leaving after the office was empty.

Thus it was that she pulled into the Damson Glade driveway to see an extremely angry man confronting Gary on his own doorstep. She parked and approached them.

"...and she confessed to me that you practically raped her at the office, you arsehole. If she's right and she is pregnant then you'd better start running, boy. I'm not the sort of person who sues cunts like you. I'm the sort of guy who makes an appointment with you in a dark alley with an axe handle. You want to hope and pray the baby isn't yours."

By this time, Beth had reached the front door.

"Who is this Gary?"

The angry man spun around.

"This poor sucker is Gill's husband. Are you the wife or the girlfriend?"

Beth automatically took two steps backwards. "I'm Gary's assistant."

"So you're the bitch that threatened Gill? Well, the same goes for you, slut. I'd steer clear of any dark alleys from now on."

With that, he spat on the ground, glared at each of them in turn before stalking off. Beth had heard enough to know that Gary had lied when he'd admitted having sex with Gill but that it had been before they hooked up. Many medical conditions have a delayed onset. Unfortunately, pregnancy wasn't one of them. She was just about to rip into him, when her phone rang.

"Hello, Beth speaking."

"Mum, where are you? Dad's dead."

"What, who, where are you?"

"We're at home."

"I'll be there shortly."

Completely ignoring Gary, Beth jumped in her car and screeched off towards the house she used to share with her husband. As she drove she desperately tried to remember how Sally had said Paul sounded the last time she spoke to him. This couldn't be true. If it was, her decision not to call Paul was going to hurt her conscience, she just knew it. When she arrived she saw her son consoling her hysterical daughter at the front gate. The effort of helping her seemed to give him strength. There were two police cars, an ambulance and a white van with 'Forensic Unit' written on the side and an unmarked van with blacked out windows parked in the drive or on the street.

"Hi mum. Our friend's grandmother died, so our Scotland trip got cancelled. We decided to drive down here and surprise you but..."

At that point he dissolved into tears himself. From the corner of her eye, Beth saw a man run out of her front door and vomit in the bushes. Leaving her children, she headed towards the door. She was stopped by a uniformed policeman.

"This is my house, let me in."

"Stay here madam, I'll get the guv."

The policeman opened the door and shouted inside. As he closed the door again, a horrific smell assaulted Beth's nose. It was like nothing she had ever smelt before and triggered her gag reflex. Shortly the door opened again and a middle aged man came out. He had a smear of what looked like Vaseline under his nose and gave off a strong smell of Eucalyptus. He also had a green complexion.

"I'm Mrs. Augustine. Where is my husband? I want to see him."

"We, ah, we think he's inside madam, but believe me you don't want to see him. In fact, it's going to take me about three bottles of bourbon to get me to stop seeing him."

"Is he...?"

"Dead madam? Yes, definitely."

"Don't I have to identify the body or something?"

"Believe me madam, you won't be able to identify him by looking. The Coroner's Officer...er...well he thinks he's been dead about a month. But the pathologist will be able to confirm that. The developmental stage of the maggots and the like. Oh! Damn! Sorry. That's obviously too much information."

At that point, Beth's self-defence mechanisms cut in and she fainted dead away.

Chapter 10 (All inserted by Van1)

A month later.

"Please sit down madam."

"Yes Inspector."

"How did the identification go?"

"Oh it was my husband all right. I'm surprised there wasn't more damage after he jumped six floors."

"Now, now madam. Until the Coroner rules on cause of death, we have to say he fell, okay? If you must know, the morgue boys always clean up the bodies a bit before inviting the public in. It makes it all much more pleasant for everyone."

"Yes I'm sure. After realising that his business was totally sunk with no hope of anyone buying that poisonous place, plus all the media attention over the last month, my husband just took a stroll on the roof of his office to get some air I suppose."

The detective shuddered. Of all the disconcerting characteristics the woman in front of him had, her habit of looking over his shoulder every time she smiled was the one that troubled him the most.

"Well, there was no suicide note, so until a Coroner's court rules differently, he fell okay?"

"What about the notepad on his desk?"

"I don't think a single sheet of paper with, "Can't sleep, Paul" written on it can be called a suicide note. Even if it was written 167 times."

Sally conceded the point.

"Now, where did we get to last time? Ah, that's it. You were telling me about what your husband said when he rang you last Friday. Can you start at the beginning again please?

"Certainly. He told me that their increased isolation from everyone at his business had caused them to be forced back together again, you know, 'my enemies, enemy is my friend', kind of thing. Gary was saying that Beth couldn't handle going to work at all last week and was having supreme guilt issues. On Wednesday night he thought he'd cheer her up a little by making love to her. He said that they were doing it missionary when all of a sudden, she just started lashing at his face with her fists and screaming. He knew his nose was broken so he quickly left and drove himself to the hospital. While he was waiting there, in the ER, Beth rang him and tried to explain. She said that she'd looked up and seen Paul's face on Gary's body. Not only that but she said it looked like the flesh was dripping off her body."

Again, the detective resisted the urge to turn around as the strange woman opposite him smiled over his right shoulder."

"You said he didn't take this too well Mrs. Briggs."

"No. Apparently he told her that he was going to ring his lawyer and get a restraining order. He suggested she get out of his house before he got home to avoid another public spectacle."

"Okay. The rest is on the public record. He came home later and found her dead in his bath. Wrists slashed."

"Are we allowed to call that suicide?"

"No, Mrs. Briggs. Again the Coroner is yet to rule on that. It's pretty cut and dried, but again there was no suicide note. Do you think that could have caused your husband to, er, take his walk on the roof?"