The JAG Officer's Wife

Cat had flushed crimson at the question. "He stayed the night," she said quietly while looking down at her hands which were clutched together in her lap.

The detectives glanced at each other and then Mann asked the obvious follow-up question: "Are you involved in a sexual relationship with Coach Cain?"

Cat had nodded her head as tears leaked from her eyes.

"How long have you been involved with Coach Cain?"

"Approximately nine months," Cat answered in a near whisper.

"Does your husband currently reside here?" Detective Lucas, the female half of the duo, asked.

"My husband is stationed at Camp Humphrey in Korea," Cat sobbed. "He's due to retire in three months and return home." At that, Cat had to pause the interview to take a couple of deep breaths.

"Is he aware of your relationship with Coach Cain?"

"Oh no! He must never know about my affair. It would kill him. This whole situation needs to be kept from him," Cat implored pleadingly.

"Mrs. Keel, we're going to have to interview your husband. A man was severely beaten after leaving the house which he co-owns with you. There is absolutely no way of keeping this "situation" from him," Detective Lucas said.

There was a long pause as Cat began sobbing loudly and left to gather herself. When she returned, a box of tissues in hand, the detectives resumed their questioning.

"Mrs. Keel, are you sure your husband is in Korea? Could he have returned to the United States?"

"No, that's impossible. If Grant was in the US he would be here. My husband loves me too much to stay away from our home." Cat pulled out her iPhone and tapped the screen. "See? He's still in Korea." The Apple Find My Phone clearly showed her husband's phone as being in Korea.

Mann and Lucas looked at each other thinking the same thing: all that proved was that his phone was in Korea.

"Mrs. Keel, who else lives in the house with you?"

"My son Danny," Cat replied.

"Could he have attacked Coach Cain?" Detective Mann asked.

"No, that's not possible. I heard his car leave about thirty minutes before Randy was attacked and I know he was at the school pep rally at the time. My son has a good relationship with Randy. He was Danny's coach in football."

Detective Mann was aware of the fact that Randy Cain was Danny's football coach. Ferguson winning the state title was a huge deal for the city and Danny's performance was already legendary. Mann had been to the game and had watched Cat kiss Randy on the sidelines. Everyone had assumed she was the coach's wife or girlfriend. No one knew that she was another man's wife.

"Was your son aware of your relationship with Coach Cain," Lucas asked.

"Yes. He wasn't happy about it at first, but he came to accept it. I explained to him that it would not affect my marriage to his father and he accepted that."

Mann and Lucas shot each other a look at that statement. 'How delusional was this woman?' the look seemed to say.

"Mrs. Keel, I noticed you have a doorbell camera. Can we see the video?"

Cat looked at the detectives in surprise. "I forgot all about that! I have the app on my iPad." Cat grabbed her device off an end table and tapped the screen a few times before handing it over to Detective Mann. "Just hit play."

The detectives watched as Randy Cain exited the Keel house and walked around the front of his truck where he apparently noticed a flat tire. Cain's truck obstructed their view of the events, but from what they could tell, as he was squatting to look at the tire, a tall thin figure rushed towards Cain from across the street. The figure was wearing a black hoodie, wrap-around sunglasses, and a Covid mask. The attacker brought the bat down several times before jumping on a bicycle and pedaling away, with the bat tucked under their arm.

The video was a nothing burger. You could not determine if the attacker was male or female, much less the identity. They would have the video enhanced, but it was already a high-definition recording so probably not much to be gained from that. Mann asked for and received permission from Cat to send the recording to his police email.

"Mrs. Keel," Detective Mann began, with a hard emphasis on the word "Mrs.", "Can you think of anyone that might have the motivation to attack Coach Cain in such a violent manner?"

"No," Cat sobbed. "I can't think of anyone that would do something so horrible. I don't understand why anyone would attack Randy. He didn't deserve that!"

+++

Grant Keel was sitting at the dining table in his brother's house filling out the paperwork that his divorce attorney had requested when the doorbell rang. Betty Lou, his sister-in-law answered the door and shouted to Grant that he had visitors. He arrived at the door to find two people, a man and a woman holding badges identifying themselves as detectives from the Ferguson Police Department.

"May we come in?" The male half asked.

Grant looked at Betty Lou who shrugged her shoulders so he invited the officers in and directed them towards the living room. The detectives took in the tall, slim woman and were suitably impressed. Betty Lou Keel stood an inch under six feet tall and weighed approximately 150 pounds. Her raven hair was cut into a stylish, asymmetrical bob that was longer on the right side than the left. There was a streak of gray hair on her right side in the front that highlighted the piercing blue of her eyes. Her nose had a bump in the center and was slightly off-center as if it had been broken at least once and there was a barely noticeable two-inch scar that ran from the corner of her left eye downward. She was a visually striking woman.

Grant Keel was striking as well. An inch over six feet tall and 180 pounds, Grant had the slim build of a runner, but in their research, the detectives had learned that he was not a runner but a fencer; a passion that had carried him to the 2000 Sydney Olympics and a sport with which he was still active. Keel's dark hair was beginning to show gray at the temples and his blue eyes were kind but sad. Detective Lucas could feel herself responding to Grant Keel.

"Do we call you Mister Keel or Lieutenant Colonel Keel?" asked the male, who identified himself as Detective Mann.

"Mister is fine. Or you can call me Grant. Or you can call me Colonel. I was recently promoted to full colonel but I don't usually stand on formalities."

"Promoted? It was our understanding that you were retiring," Detective Mann said.

"From active duty. I'm in the reserves. Monthly meetings and two weeks in the summer and hopefully hang around long enough to get a star," Grant said.

Detective Lucas nodded. 'Very nice,' she thought. Brenda Lucas had been an Army MP leaving with the enlisted rank of E4. The man in front of her was an Olympic medalist, an attorney, a full colonel, and had the goal of attaining the rank of brigadier general. Cat Keel was a goddammed idiot, she thought.

"We'll stick with Mr. Keel for now. I'm sure you know why we're here."

"I have a good idea," Grant replied. "Someone beat the hell out of the man who was sleeping with my wife and you think that it was me."

"Was it you?" asked the female half who had identified herself as Detective Lucas.

"No matter how I answer, I'm still going to be considered a person of interest, so I'll just keep my mouth shut about that question," Grant replied.

"Can you tell us where you were three mornings ago at 7:30 AM?"

"7:30? I was working out with my brother. He's combined a couple of the bedrooms into one large room and has outfitted them as a gym, so every morning we work out together from around 7:30 until 8:30 or so. After that, he takes a shower, goes into his home office, and logs in to his job since he works remotely. I go into the guest room, take a shower, and then get started with some of the things I'm currently working on."

"Any witnesses other than your brother?" Detective Mann asked.

"No, just him. Betty Lou, my sister-in-law leaves the house shortly before we work out to go to her job, so it's just the two of us."

"When was the last time you were at your house? The one where your wife and son live and where the attack on Randy Cain took place."

"About a week ago," Grant answered. "I stopped by when no one was home to pick up some clothes and some paperwork from my files. I didn't disturb anything of my wife's or Coach Cains."

"You knew they were having an affair?" Detective Lucas asked.

"I did."

"You seem pretty calm and detached about it."

"I've come to accept her actions and the end of my marriage. It is what it is."

"Until about two hours ago, she thought you were still in the Army and stationed in Korea. When we advised her that you had left Korea a month ago and were living with your brother, she didn't believe us. She saw your location was still at Camp Humphrey. She called your office and they told her you had out-processed from Korea several weeks previously. Your wife had a meltdown when she found that out. Hysterics, screaming, the works. We had to call for an ambulance and the EMTs had to sedate her."

Grant shrugged his shoulders. "I would say that she's Coach Cain's problem and he can look after her, but from what I read about his condition, he's not in any kind of shape to do that. As far as my location? I forgot my phone and left it on the charger on my credenza in my office. The officer that replaced me is having it shipped to me."

The detectives had a skeptical look on their faces as Detective Mann said, "That was awfully convenient, wasn't it?"

Grant shrugged his shoulders again and ignored the question.

Leland, Grant's brother, chose that moment to exit his home office and paused as he saw Grant speaking with the detectives.

"They think you did it?" Leland asked.

Grant nodded his head. "They haven't accused me yet, but they're easing into it by coming at me sideways. They were about to ask me how I knew about my wife's affair and why I didn't tell her that I was back in Ferguson. From there they'll probably ask you about my alibi and then they'll try to arrest me for first-degree felony assault before realizing that they have no evidence and no case. Then they'll get frustrated with me and tell me not to leave town before they leave to go annoy someone else."

"Sounds about right," Leland agreed.

The two detectives had been staring at Grant and Leland in disbelief as they calmly discussed what actions the detectives would be taking, their heads swiveling back and forth like someone watching a tennis match as Betty Lou Keel looked on in amusement.

"How do you know what we're thinking?" Detective Mann asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"I was an Army JAG officer. I've overseen more investigations than you can imagine. My brother was an Army CID agent before retiring and opening his own security company. We know what you're thinking before you think it."

Detective Mann had an annoyed look on his face at the thought of his game plan being so transparent. "If you know all the questions, then by all means, please answer them."

Grant looked steadily at Mann. "I knew about my wife's affair because I saw her making out with Cain after the state championship game. I'm sure you've seen the video."

Mann nodded; he had seen the video of the kiss. Everyone assumed it was Randy Cain's girlfriend but in the wake of the attack, word was starting to filter out who the identity of the woman was.

"I didn't tell her I was back in Ferguson because I don't want to see her. I'm working with a divorce attorney and I didn't want to hear her attempts at justification for her actions or her trying to blame me."

"And your son?" Mann asked. "You haven't contacted him either."

"You saw his interaction with Cain and my wife?"

"I did. He didn't seem bothered by it."

Grant nodded his head. "Doesn't seem that we have much to talk about, does it?"

"So," Detective Lucas said, "Do you have an alibi?

"Should we show them the recordings?" Leland Keel asked.

Grant nodded. "This seems like a good time."

"What recordings? What do you have recordings of?"

Leland excused himself for a minute and returned with an iPad. He pointed the TV remote control at the sixty-inch wall-mounted flatscreen. As the TV powered up, he mirrored the iPad s to the TV screen and hit play. "I have cameras around the house, including the hallway, the front door, and the backyard. This is the video from this morning."

The TV screen displayed six different camera feeds. A doorbell camera faced the street, another camera faced outward toward the backyard, and a third camera was located in the garage. The remaining three cameras displayed the kitchen, living room, and the hall which contained the bedrooms.

"This was the feed at 7:22 this morning." They watched as Betty Lou exited her bedroom wearing a white blouse, black pencil skirt, and black heels; dressed for her job as CFO of a medical services company. The camera caught her walking down the hall, losing her as she neared the end of the hallway. The living room camera then picked her up as she walked through that room before being lost and then picked up by the kitchen camera. That camera lost her as she exited into the garage. The dark garage was suddenly illuminated as the garage door raised and the camera picked her up as they watched her enter her Lexus SUV. Betty Lou backed out of the garage and the camera was able to follow her SUV as it backed into the street. At the same time, the doorbell camera picked up a side view of her vehicle as she entered the street before the garage door lowered. Leland froze the image by pressing pause.

"You can see by the time stamp, that this image was taken at 7:25 this morning. Leland then tapped the screen a few times advancing the image to 7:28. "This is me and Grant."

They watched a video of Grant and Leland approaching a room in the hall from different directions. Grant was wearing a red hoodie and red sweatpants while Leland was wearing the same thing; a red hoodie and red sweatpants. "I'm coming from my bedroom and Grant is coming from the guest room," Leland explained.

Grant entered the room first, followed by Leland. "We can sit here and watch an empty hall for an hour or I can fast forward an hour; your call," Leland said, looking at the two detectives.

"Fast forward it," Detective Mann said. Leland tapped the screen several times and froze the screen as Grant and Leland emerged from the room at 8:26. They had worked out for fifty-eight minutes.

"This is the video from yesterday," Leland said. The video was nearly identical to the video of today's activities with the exception that the times were a couple of minutes off and Betty Lou, instead of wearing a pencil skirt, was wearing a stylish women's black pantsuit with heels. Grant and Leland, again came from opposite ends of the hall, meeting at the door to the home gym wearing matching sweatsuits, this time gray. They again stayed in the gym for an hour.

Leland tapped the iPad's screen a couple of times bringing up another set of screens. "This is the same video recordings but on the morning that the asshole was attacked." They again saw Betty Lou exit her bedroom but instead of being dressed for work, she was wearing workout gear consisting of a thin black hoodie, black exercise tights, and white tennis shoes.

"I took a day off to train because I'm competing in a triathlon in a couple of weeks. Today was a bike day and I rode the bike path around Ferguson Park four times," Betty Lou explained. They watched as Betty Lou backed her SUV out of the garage and noticed that this time, there were bicycles in the bike carrier attached to the rear deck of her SUV.

As they continued to watch the recording, they saw Leland exit his bedroom wearing a black hoodie and black sweatpants, and a couple of seconds later, Grant exited the guest room, also wearing a black hoodie and black sweatpants.

The detectives looked at each other in disbelief. "Are you f'ing kidding me?" asked Detective Lucas. "Are you three for real? Do you expect us to believe that it's a complete coincidence that the three of you are wearing the same type of clothes that Cain's assailant wore on the day he was attacked?"

Leland and Grant shrugged at the same time. "We're going to let the recording speak for itself," Grant replied.

Leland said, "I'm not going to fast forward the recording but I am going to play it at double speed so you can watch. Before I do that though, can I get you two a cup of coffee or anything? Even at double speed, we're going to be sitting here for a half hour twiddling our thumbs."

After bringing everyone a cup of coffee, Leland again hit play and the five watched the counter count down. After twenty-five minutes, Leland stopped playing the video at double time and began playing it in real time. The brothers exited the room at 8:31 and walked to their respective rooms, still in their hoodies.

"That's the day in question. As you can see, neither one of us left that room. I'll make the recordings available to you without a warrant."

"Can you show us the gym?" The detectives did not look convinced about Grant's alibi.

"Of course," Leland said. The officers followed him into the hallway, glancing over their shoulders at the dark globe concealing the ceiling-mounted camera that captured the hall. They looked around the room containing the gym and then at each other.

The home gym was a large room that had been formed by combining three bedrooms and eliminating the closets and storage. Half of the room consisted of free weights, benches, an extensive dumbbell set, and kettlebells. It also contained a rowing machine and an elliptical. The other half of the room had been converted into a small dojo. Shelves had been built into one wall and held several trophies. There were also framed photos of Leland and Betty Lou fighting opponents in the ring in Mixed Martial Arts competition. In one of the photos, Betty Lou Keel was shown having her arm raised in victory by the referee as her opponent stood by dazedly as she was supported by her coach. Betty Lou had blood streaming down her face and from her nose. Her left eye was puffy and swollen closed and her nose appeared to be broken and had shifted slightly to the side.

"Wowww," Detective Lucas said softly and slowly as she looked with admiration at the photograph of Betty Lou. "Your wife is a badass."

"You'd better believe she is," Leland Keel said with obvious pride. "And for way more reasons than just this," he said as he waved his hand toward the photos and trophies. "She's fiercely loyal to her family and friends and is the best woman I've ever known. She's one of a kind and I will never get tired of letting her know that."

Grant nodded his head sadly. At one time, he had thought the same thing about his wife, but thinking back, Cat was never like Betty Lou. She never had that intense loyalty.

"What about the windows?" Detective Lucas asked. There were ordinary house windows in the room with wooden blinds that were currently in. the open position.

"Are you asking if I could have snuck out during the middle of a workout and attacked Coach Cain?" Grant asked.

"You could have. Or he could have," Detective Mann said, pointing first at Grant and then at Leland.

"That's true," Leland said. "But we didn't."

"Can you prove that? Can you prove that you didn't sneak out?" Detective Lucas asked in an aggressive tone.

"Detective," Leland said, "that's not the right question."

"Yeah? Well, what's the right question?" Detective Lucas asked, her annoyance obvious.

"The right question is: Can you prove that we did sneak out?" Grant answered.

"I'll show you two out now," Leland added.

+++

"Colonel Cardwell, how may I help you?"

"Colonel Cardwell, I understand you are the officer in charge of the JAG office at Camp Humphrey?"