That Awful Burning Sensation Pt. 02

Four months had passed since Joe and Janet Deans sat down to have their talk. Joe had discovered that he had contracted gonorrhea and his wife, Janet, was the only person who could have given it to him. He knew that his wife had been unfaithful and that knowledge almost killed their marriage. What he didn't know, and didn't understand, was why?

Janet held nothing back. She told him everything. It was the hardest and most painful thing she had ever done. She knew that she had betrayed her husband, who she loved with all her heart, and she knew that it was unforgivable. In the end, as with her husband, what she didn't know, and didn't understand, was why?

Neither understood what had happened. Neither had ever been unfaithful before. The truth is that they had never been so much as tempted. They loved each other and would never risk losing what they had for something so fleeting as an affair, let alone a one night stand. That is what Janet had done. She had spent one night with a man she hardly knew and she didn't know why?

Joe had gone through hell when he found out. That awful burning sensation he felt every time he urinated was nothing compared with the searing pain in his heart. He felt betrayed, he hired a private investigator with the expectation of catching his wife with her lover, and he got nowhere. When they finally sat down together, she told him about the teachers' convention she'd attended a month before he discovered he was infected. She had spent the evening with friends and she drank too much. As her friends left, she found herself sitting with a teacher from across the state who she'd met before. He always seemed funny and trustworthy, and she let her guard down. She drank too much, danced a little, and woke up in his bed. He wasn't so irresistible that she would betray Joe so easily; and yet, she did.

They had spent the months talking, crying, and holding each other. As they worked to rebuild trust, that one unanswered question still nagged at them. Neither understood why it happened. One way or another, they both needed an answer.

Joe decided it was time, he was ready, and he brought his wife into the living room to talk. "Janet, you know I love you."

"Oh God, are you leaving me? I do love you, too! Joe, I hope you know that. I have always loved you and I'm so ashamed of what I did. I'm trying to make it up to you."

"I know, sweetie, and that's what I want to talk about. I'm done with accusations. I'm tired of the suspicion and I'm sick of the blame. I don't want any more of that. I've carried that anger and the hurt for too long; and I want to put it down and leave it behind us. I want to move forward with you. I know you didn't set out to cheat on me and I know you won't let it happen again."

She took his hand and held it. "I swear I will never let myself have too much to drink again if you aren't there with me, watching over me, taking care of me. In fact, the memory of that time is so horrible that I haven't had a drop since and I may never again."

Joe took a moment to remember how lucky he was to have a wife like Janet. "That's part of what I've been thinking about. I've never known you to get so drunk that you would behave that way. Actually, I see some of our married friends flirting with men and it really bugs me. They do it at parties, right in front of their husbands, and I know the husbands don't like it; but I've never seen you do it. You've never once made me uncomfortable with your behavior."

Janet squeezed Joe's hand tighter. "And I never want to. I see Jackie and Marie do that all the time. It's like they don't know any other way to interact with a man. What's wrong with them? I know they'd never cheat on their husbands, but they act like they want to all the time. It makes me very uncomfortable being around them when they're doing that."

Joe loved his wife so much that he was almost in tears. "I know, and that's what I can't stop thinking about. You said you didn't know why you went back to his room with that guy, and you didn't know if you'd had too much to drink or if he slipped something into your glass."

"I've never had so much to drink that I'd go to bed with someone. I mean, I've sometimes been embarrassed by my own behavior, but I've never violated my core values. Joe, I got stupid drunk a couple of times in college; but I never woke up in some guy's bed because of it. There was one time when I went to a frat party, the last frat party I ever attended, and I got hammered. Some guy I'd been dancing with tried to get me upstairs to his room and I punched him in the face! I could hardly walk I was so drunk, but I busted his nose. A couple of my friends got to me before he could retaliate and we left. Joe, if it were just alcohol, I think I would have passed out before I went with him willingly."

"I know, sweetie. That's what I've been thinking. You told me that you didn't know if you'd had too much to drink or he slipped something into your drink. I think he slipped you something. If I'm wrong, it doesn't change how I feel. I love you and I do trust you. I just don't think you could ever get that drunk."

"Joe, I think you're right; I've been thinking it for a long time now. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to sound like I was denying responsibility for it or making excuses. I think that son-of-a-bitch slipped me something. I can't prove it and I don't know how or when, but I'm certain he did. I know I should have left with the others and I shouldn't have stayed there and been dancing with him, and I do feel guilty about that, but he made me feel safe. I swear I wasn't flirting, at least as far as I remember." She laid her head on his shoulder. She still had so many regrets about that night.

"Janet, I've moved past it. I mean, we've moved past it. I know we're going to be ok, and I don't have any more anger at you. I don't even think of it as something that you did; it was something that someone did to you. I know it's in the past and that I can trust you. I just can't stop thinking that if that son-of-a-bitch did what I think he did, he will do it again to someone else. As far as I'm concerned, what he did to you is rape. It doesn't matter if you got so drunk that you lost all your inhibitions or if he slipped you a drug. He took advantage of your condition. If he slipped you something, and he deliberately created that condition against your will, then that's even worse. Whenever I think of it, I want to put my hands around his throat! I want to hear him choking for air. I want him to drop at my feet!"

Janet straightened up when she heard Joe's words. "No, please, no! I almost lost you once. I don't want to lose you again. If you hunt him down, they'll put you in jail. I can't live without you!"

"Sweetie, I have an idea. I want to go after him, but I want to do it legally." Joe was watching his wife closely, worrying about her response.

"Joe, I don't think the police will listen to me. I don't have any proof of what he did. I'm not even 100% sure he did it! I mean, I hate him for taking advantage of me, but I don't know if he put something in my drink, or someone else did, or the alcohol just caught up with me. I think I know, but I can't prove anything and I don't remember a lot of that night."

"Sweetheart, this much I'm sure of: if he did it before, he'll do it again. He's going to leave a trail of victims and broken marriages in his wake until someone stops him."

"No, Joe, please? I don't want to lose you. I came too close to losing you already. I'm not going to risk it again."

"Hear me out. Here's what I'm thinking. First, we go to a lawyer. We do this together. We do it together or not at all. We find out what we can do without getting arrested. If that discussion goes the way I think it will, our next stop is a good private investigator. If we can't prove what he did before, we'll catch him doing it again. I have an idea. It won't be cheap, but I want this bastard to pay."

Janet thought for a moment. "Ok, as long as we do it together."

"I'm thinking that we find a P.I. with some experience in getting actively involved. I've heard there are some firms that use women as actual bait, lures, to test unfaithful husbands. That's what we need."

"Ok. I'm with you." Janet was still nervous; but if Joe wanted to do this, she would be on board. "There is one thing you need to know." She looked nervous, but she was smiling. She stood, took his hands, and drew him to his feet. As they walked to the stairs she said, "When it comes to testing faithful husbands, I like to do my own tests."

Joe was smiling. "I hope I pass."

Janet was smiling along with her husband. "Honey, you always get an A!"

** ** **

It took a week to get the appointment with the lawyer and it went much as Joe expected. The advice was, "Forget about it. Put it behind you. Anything you do will just attract attention, reopen old wounds, and maybe leave you open to a lawsuit." Well, they expected that; lawyers are by nature conservative. Their job is to keep you out of trouble, not help you skirt the letter of the law. At least Joe and Janet could say they tried. The next stop was a private investigator.

They found a P.I. who was sympathetic to their cause. His name was Harvey Mattison. Harvey had a younger sister who was slipped a date rape drug when she was in college, while he was off serving his country, and he still wanted to even the score. Joe told him his idea and Harvey didn't like it.

"You're asking a lot. You want a woman to set herself up as a target for this monster. At the very least, she's likely to get drugged. At the worst, she may be raped."

"I'm not going to let anyone be a victim to this asshole ever again. The volunteer victim will never be out of your sight. That's rule one." Joe was adamant on this point.

"It's going to cost and it won't be cheap. I figure at least four, maybe five operatives at all times including our victim. She'll be watched around the clock. We'll need adjoining rooms so our victim has her support team on the other side of the door just in case Romeo pays a late night visit. It could take days to get his attention and he may not be interested. It could be a big, expensive waste of money; this kind of thing never guarantees an outcome."

"We get that." So far, it was still just Harvey and Joe talking with Janet sitting quietly by Joe's side and listening.

"It's still an awful lot to ask of a woman to be a willing target. She could have an adverse reaction to the drug. That shit isn't made in a carefully regulated laboratory. There can be all kinds of contaminants and a person can have an allergic reaction." Harvey was in part thinking out loud and in part trying to make the couple understand and hear reason. He wanted to do this thing, but he knew the risks.

"I want to do it! I want to be his target." Janet heard the words, but it took a moment to find the source. They were her words. She wanted a part in this and she wanted revenge.

"No way in hell! You are not doing this!" Joe's position was clear enough.

"Yes I am! That bastard drugged me. I'm more certain of it every day. I'm not asking someone else to take a chance because of what I did. I'm doing it!"

Harvey didn't like the idea and Joe liked it even less. Harvey wanted Janet to be as far away from this whole scene as he could move her. "He's already drugged you once. He'll know you're dangerous to him. He won't take the chance of doing it twice."

"There are huge gaps in my memory and he probably knows this. He knows the drug he gave me and what it does. I'll call him. I'll tell him I was thinking of him, what a great time I had, and how I want to see him again."

"No! Absolutely not! If you do that, he'll say you seduced him, that you entrapped him, that you wanted the drug to enhance the experience, and nothing we do will stick to him. Under no circumstances do you ever contact him! Do you hear me? If you see him walking toward you, you turn and walk the other way!" Harvey was screaming and pointing his finger at Janet. He was red in the face and very agitated. "If we do this, you are not going to blow it! Do you hear me?" He sat back down, muttering to himself. "Damn amateurs." Harvey never forgave himself for not being there when his sister needed him.

"Ok, but he picked me once for his target, for his damn victim. If I'm sitting there and he walks over to test the waters, I can certainly respond. I do have big gaps in my memory, so he won't be entirely surprised if I smile at him when I see him."

"Let me say this again. No! Hell no! You are not going to be anywhere near him when we do this. He is never to see you, never to hear you are there; he is never to think of you at all. If he does, he'll spook and we lose our chance. Are you listening? Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you! Stop yelling."

"Are you going to be a problem? There is a reason why you are hiring me, so let me do my job and you do what I say. Do you get it?"

"I get it! Stop lecturing me."

"I'll stop lecturing you when I have confidence you will do as you are told. If this works and we get him in cuffs, then you can run in and kick him in the nuts. Until then, you stay out of sight."

"Ok, but I'm holding you to that promise." The smile on Janet's face made both men more than a little uncomfortable. They would have to keep their eyes on her for more than one reason.

"There's one more thing." Harvey was looking at Janet and trying to be as sympathetic as he could. He was by nature a compassionate man who had seen too much suffering. It had given him a hard façade. "By now he knows someone reported him for the STD. He's likely to be very skittish around you. He's not going to approach you and he's not going to stick around if you approach him. That is, unless he gets you off to yourself. Then, there's no telling what he might do. If his wife found out what he was up to, and she's probably infected as well, he may blame you. This type never takes the blame for their actions. He might think you owe him something if he thinks you turned him in. You don't want to be around this guy, not ever, not at all."

Janet was starting to understand what might happen if they go down this road, but she was not deterred.

It was Joe's turn to bring the discussion back to the subject at hand. "So how do we get this started? He lives 100 miles away. Do we find out where he likes to drink and camp out there? Do we just walk casually past his apartment? What do we do?"

"I'll tell you what we don't do; we don't call him, we don't text him, we don't alert him in any way." Harvey was still looking at Janet and he was thinking. "When is the next conference?"

"It's still about seven months away. We don't even know if he's going." Janet was thinking now.

"We can use those seven months to our advantage. This guy is unlikely to drug women in his own town. He doesn't want to see his victims afterwards unless he's sure they are happy with him. He's a teacher, so he's unlikely to be traveling much during the school year. We'll take our time to think it through." Then quietly, under his breath, he added, "...and maybe we'll also come to our senses." Harvey wanted to do this, but he knew they were taking a big chance. This could all blow up in their faces and they'd walk away with nothing. Worse than nothing, they could wind up trying to explain themselves to the police. It's a fine line between baiting the hook and entrapment.

"What's this guy's name, anyway?" Harvey asked the question. Joe had never asked and didn't want to know the answer. He didn't want to put a name to the pain.

Janet sat quietly with her hands in her lap and her eyes on the floor. "It's Jack Cannon."

For the first time in months, Joe felt that pain in his heart that he thought had left him. A name made it all the more real and he knew that before this was over he'd have a face to put with the name. Joe would have more to forget. He and Janet had been through worse together and they would get over this, too, but now he had a name for his pain and it was going to haunt him until this was over.

** ** **

The months passed and the three never changed their minds or waivered in their commitment to get this guy. Each had their own reasons and each understood the other's. Harvey didn't just wait for those seven months to pass. He knew people and he knew how to get information without alerting anyone. As the date approached, he learned that their target was planning to attend the conference this year. He got his people registered as teachers and they had long discussions about how to blend in. These conversations included Janet. They had to know what to expect, how to act, and what to say. Harvey knew what he wanted and Janet trained them well. When it was time, two young women who were more accustomed to behaving like bar flies gave every appearance of being highly professional high school teachers.

As the date approached, Harvey sent his best operative George to travel across the state and survey the venue. He wanted to know the layout and how people would move through the rooms. Harvey was ready and his people knew their jobs. Joe and Janet knew that they had put their trust in the right man.

Harvey took six operatives plus himself to the conference. This included the two women who would serve as lures to attract Jack Cannon. Harvey wanted to be sure there were two people in the room with each lure at all times while he floated through the rooms. He tried to talk Janet into staying home, but Janet refused. If Janet was going, Joe was damn well going and Harvey worried about them both. He lectured them repeatedly about what to do, and more importantly what not to do; and he read them the riot act until they were reciting it from memory. Joe thought that he could approach Jack with impunity as they'd never met and several times he reminded Harvey of this. Each time Harvey reminded Joe that he would be leaving Janet defenseless and unattended until Joe finally got the point. Amateurs! He wished they'd stay at home where they belonged.

Harvey had reserved five hotel rooms for the duration of the conference. Two were adjoining and the lures shared one of them. It was never their intention to bring Jack back to the room. The adjoining room would be used by at least two of the protectors whenever the lures were there. Jack had a third room across the hall for himself and the other two protectors to use as home base. The room for the lures was fully wired with video and audio just in case with computers and monitors in the neighboring room. The team stored the rest of their surveillance equipment in the room across the hall.

Harvey also managed to reserve the room across the hall from Jack Cannon's room. In case Jack managed to get one of his lures or any other woman back to his room, Harvey wanted to be there. He managed to get some small video cameras into the heating duct of Cannon's room. If Jack got any other woman back to his room and she made the slightest indication of being drugged, Harvey would be in that room before Cannon could get his pants off. The protectors would rotate through the rooms as needed.

Janet and Joe had a room on another floor at the other end of the hotel. Harvey wanted them as far away from the action as he could get them and preferably in the next town if possible. Harvey told himself he was over-prepared, but there was something about a guy who drugs women that pushed all his buttons.

Joe had very specific orders. He could attend the meeting with Janet, but under no circumstances was he to establish eye contact with Cannon. If Joe crossed paths with Cannon, he should play dumb. "Can you do that, Joe? Can you play dumb?" Harvey was deliberately trying to provoke him. Joe needed to be ready for the worst that this week might throw at him.