The Firefighter's Widow

"Tell you what, Cal?" Neither man was sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Callie reached down next to her chair, picked up her handbag and set it on her lap. As she pulled out a thick manila envelope, Foster marveled again at what women were able to fit in those things.

"When were you going to tell me that you set us up, that you used me to sandbag Roy because you were jealous of his success?"

Both men considered trying to bluff their way out but arrived at the same conclusion independently. They were busted.

"You're a great piece of ass, Cal. We wanted to keep going as long as we could." Foster smirked. "Besides, you know you were into it. Best sex of your life you said."

"You asshole, I made myself enjoy it because I thought I was getting even with Roy for cheating on me. It never occurred to me that two guys who Roy and I trusted would stab us in the back this way. Roy always had your backs and this is how you repay him?

"It never would have happened if he hadn't been such an ass kissing grand stander." Foster snarled. "His promotions came at our expense. He had it coming."

"What about me? I thought you were my friends too but you didn't hesitate to turn me into your whore."

"Shit, Roy didn't deserve you. I bet he never appreciated what a hot number you are. You're too much woman for one man anyway." Chen gave her a cocky reply. The look of contempt he got didn't faze him.

"You two losers aren't man enough combined to carry my husband's jock strap. You are right about one thing. Roy didn't deserve an insecure, faithless slut like me. He deserved someone who never doubted what kind of man he was, someone who would die before she would betray him." She looked down at the envelope in her hands.

"When Roy got home from training, I was going to confess everything and blow the whistle on you bastards even if it ended with Roy hating me. He never deserved what we did to him." She looked bitter now. "You want to know what gave you away?"

Still smug, Chen looked at Foster and shrugged." Sure, why not?"

Callie pulled some photos out of the envelope. "Remember these?" she held up two photos that showed Roy screwing Toni Sorensen, one of the departments two female firefighter/paramedics.

"You played on the insecurity most of us wives have about our husbands being in such close quarters with the females in the department. I swallowed this bullshit hook, line and sinker." She shook the photos at them. She was gripping them so tightly her knuckles were white. "Still, part of me couldn't accept that Roy would do this so eventually I hired a private investigator. When I showed him the photos, he spotted them as fakes right off the bat. You can do a lot with Photoshop these days, but you still can't fool an expert."

The news didn't crack Foster's arrogance but Chen started to sweat. Where was this going? They had to make sure none of this got back to the department. His agitation increased when Callie waved the envelope at them.

"Once I realized what bottom feeders you are, I had the detective check you two out. He even taped that very revealing conversation you had at O'Malley's last week. You know, the one where you bragged to each other how you screwed Roy by screwing his wife. The one where you talked about how you were going to use me to ruin his career." Chen blanched but Foster just got angrier. He grabbed for the envelope and Callie actually pushed it into his grasp.

"This isn't going anywhere, bitch. You try to take us down and we'll make your life a living hell. We've got authentic pictures and video and sound of you at play. We will send all of that to your family, Roy's family, your friends, co-workers, church members and anyone else we can think of; then we'll post it on the Internet. You won't be able to show your face anywhere."

"Why am I not surprised. Now I can see the real Foster and Chen - a bully and his sidekick. It's always somebody else's fault isn't it? You take responsibility for nothing. You stab your friends in the back and treat the women in your life like shit. You're both pathetic."

Foster's face was beet red and Chen was in a panic.

"Settle down you fucking wimp." Foster cursed as he slapped the damning evidence into Chen's chest. "Find a shredder for this while I explain to our whore what's going to happen if she tells anyone anything." He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Callie's hair. Even he was unsettled when she just smiled at him.

"You know Foster, you're not only pathetic, you're stupid too. Do you think that's the only copy? By the way, I came prepared for this. My detective found out about those two domestic battery arrests down in Tennessee."

Foster yanked her head back so that he could look her square in the face. He had a way of looking at women that made them cower. Callie's smile never wavered.

"Yeah, what do you think you can do about it?"

Her purse was still on her lap and from it she extracted a box about the size of a deck of cards.

"This is transmitting everything that's said in this room to a recording device located in the detective's car out in the parking lot. Just for the record, detective Thomas is totally unaware of my intention to confront these ass holes."

Predictably, Foster brought his fist back but froze when he felt something hard pressed against his ribs. His face lost all color when he looked down at the little Berretta in Callie's hand.

"Nothing will bring Roy back or undo the wrongs we did to him, but I can give him justice."

The sound of arguing had prompted the Chief to move toward the family room when a flurry of shots reverberated throughout the chapel. The Chief crouched slightly, turned toward the sound and brought his hands up as if cradling a rifle. Once a Marine, always a Marine. It only took a moment to realize there was no immediate threat, at least not from gunfire. Some of the people around him dropped to the floor or ducked behind furniture. Most of them began to stampede towards the doors jostling him as they went. He was impressed as he watched the police officers in the room rush toward the gunfire.

Finding the family room door locked, they coaxed the terrified funeral director to give up his keys. Without a word, the uniforms wearing ballistic vests lined up to enter. The rest were arrayed on either side, weapons drawn. At a nod from the senior officer, they burst through the door peeling off to either side as they entered shouting "police" and "drop your weapon".

They all pulled up short once they took in the scene. Two firefighters lay on the floor in growing pools of blood. They had both been shot once in the chest and once in the head. The widow sat calmly with the pistol pressed against her chest. The lead officer waved everyone back and began to talk soothingly even though his weapon never wavered.

"Callie, put the gun down. Tell me what happened. I'm sure we can work things out." The widow smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Kevin. That ship has already sailed. I'd like to talk to Chief Lundquist if I may."

"If you put the gun down, maybe..."

"It's alright Kevin. Let me talk to her." Chief Lundquist had worked his way into the room. "I think Callie is the only one at risk here." With a nod, the officer stepped to the side but still did not lower his pistol. Before the Chief could say anything, the widow spoke.

"Dan, I'm so very sorry. It's my fault," she glanced at the bodies on the floor, "and theirs that Roy is dead. Almost everything you need to know is in there." She waved her free hand at the manila envelope lying near Chen's body. "For the rest, see Mel Thomas."

The Chief was disturbed at how unnaturally calm Callie seemed to be, especially since the pistol poised over her heart never wavered.

"When he was away, especially overnight, Roy always took the quickest way home. He said he couldn't waste a minute coming home to me." Her look of regret was unmistakable. "Roy took the long way this time because he drove in the country when he had serious problems to think through. He said it gave him peace of mind. I was the problem this time. I did something incredibly cruel that put him in harm's way."

She paused, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. For a moment, they thought the crisis had passed when all of the tension seemed to flow out of her body. Her smile for them was one of genuine affection.

"I'm so sorry you had to see this. Roy deserved better. God willing, I'll tell him in person."

Then the firefighter's widow pulled the trigger.