The JAG Officer's Wife

The detectives reluctantly agreed.

"Hell, it sounds like it could also be the brother's wife," the DA checked the file for the name and said, "Betty Lou. Or maybe even Betty Lou's brother Bobby Lee Gearson."

The two detectives nodded glumly.

"You two know that the purpose of a criminal investigation is to narrow down the list of suspects, not keep adding to it. Y'all do any more investigating and you'll put half of Ferguson on your suspect list."

The detectives looked morosely at each other and then back at the DA who shook his head. "I'm sorry detectives, if that's the best you've got, then it's a no. There's no way I'm bringing charges or going to trial with this dog of a case. A first-year law student could get the charges dismissed. Come back when you have something."

Mann and Dunn returned to the Ferguson police station and dejectedly reported to the assistant police chief the results of their meeting with the county district attorney. The APC prioritized for them a new case, filing the Randy Cain assault under Open and Unsolved.

+++

Cat didn't fight the divorce. Her attorney advised her that it would be a waste of time. Her affair was so public and disrespectful to her husband that no judge would insist on counseling. Her best option was to agree to the divorce and over time, work on mending her relationship with her husband and repair the damage she had done to her son by making him keep her affair away from his father.

Grant had been fair in the divorce. Cat got to keep the house and Grant finished paying off the mortgage. Additionally, Cat would be eligible for a portion of his military pension. The formula that would be used was based on the fact that were married for twenty of the twenty-five years of Grant's military career, so she would receive less than half. Grant wanted a couple of pieces of furniture from the house, but little else other than some tools and his clothes.

Finally, the time came for a conversation. Grant had not been looking forward to this, but he knew that Cat needed it and he was willing to grant this last gesture. They met in a conference room at his attorney's office.

"Grant, I know what you think of me, and however harshly those feelings are or however much I disgust you, please know this; I am more disgusted and appalled by my behavior than you will ever know. I have no excuse and can say nothing to mitigate my actions. I hope one day you can forgive me and you will be able to be in the same room with me."

Grant looked at his now ex-wife. "Cat, I loved you. Hell, I still love you, despite all that you've done. But I am learning to love you a little less every day. I hear what you are saying about how you feel, but that's just a word salad as far as I'm concerned. I don't wish you harm, but I don't wish you well. I want you out of my life to the extent possible. I know we'll have to interact because we share a son and there will be events in which we will both be involved, but given a choice, I would prefer to never see or speak to you again for the rest of my life."

Cat broke down crying at Grant's words. She understood his anger and his pain, but she had one final request of her soon-to-be ex-husband. "Grant, please do one final thing for me now that our marriage is over. Please see Danny. He misses his father. It kills me that the two of you have not seen each other since you've been back. Please, see your son and talk to him."

Grant had nodded his head as he turned and left his attorney's conference room.

+++

"There has to be something I can do!" Randy whined plaintively. "I can't coach and I can't teach. I can barely wipe my own ass. I'm almost broke and my insurance is running out. What am I supposed to do?"

"OJ Simpson," Todd said.

"What the fuck are you talking about," Randy said.

"You remember when the jury acquitted OJ of killing his wife and that other guy...Goldman?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Goldman's family sued OJ for damages. Civil suits don't have the same burden of proof as criminal courts and the family won millions. OJ didn't have the money, but they took what he did have and in the court of public opinion, everyone now knows that OJ is guilty."

"You're saying I should sue Grant Keel?"

"I don't know...it's an option for you, I guess. Up to you."

"You'd take the case?"

Todd Blair quickly shook his head no. He wanted nothing further to do with this asshole. "I'm booked up but I can refer you to someone. This is probably more in line for his skillset anyway."

+++

It was a subdued gathering in Grant's apartment after his divorce. His brother Leland, Leland's wife Betty Lou, Betty Lou's brother Bobby Lee Gearson, Lynn Dunaway, and Grant were chatting in the living room of Grant's apartment above his law office when the doorbell rang at the downstairs entry. Grant opened the camera app, noted the identity of his visitor, buzzed open the door, and walked to the door of his apartment to await his visitor, who knocked a minute later.

Grant took in the sight of his son standing in the entry and pulled him in for a hug, before pushing him back at arm's length while grasping his son's shoulders.

"You look good, son," Grant said.

"You too, Dad," Danny replied.

Danny followed his father into the living room and smiled a greeting to his aunt and uncle and his uncle by marriage. He had not met Lynn but he knew who she was. They all looked at Danny is silence.

"A baseball bat? Really? I thought the plan was to 'rough him up a little'?" Betty Lou said.

Danny looked at Lynn, who said, "I've known everything since Korea. As soon as you sent your Dad the text telling about the affair, I knew about it ten minutes later."

As soon as he knew that his mother was cheating on his father, Danny had sent his dad a text. He had kept his father in the loop the whole time. They deleted their texts for deniability while at the same time, hoping that they would never need that deniability. The plan was to simply leave active duty and divorce Cat, but things had changed.

Cain was beginning to pressure Danny about not going to West Point and the level of disrespect Cain was showing Grant's family skyrocketed. After Cain had stood naked in front of Danny in his own house after coming from Cat's bed and then assaulting Danny in his own home, Danny wanted revenge.

Some people will quote the ancient proverb that if you begin a journey of revenge, first dig two graves. Grant thought that was absolute horseshit. He much preferred Francis Bacon's comment that "Revenge is a kind of wild justice..." even though he knew that Bacon was not advocating for vengeance but rather the opposite. Still, Grant felt that there was a cathartic, healing power in visiting great violence upon those who had greatly wronged you. He would not deny his son his own wild justice.

To that end, Grant had agreed to Danny's plan to end his mother's affair while also not destroying his relationship with his mother. It had long been decided that Danny would stay away from his dad and family until the divorce was finalized and the police investigation was over.

Danny shrugged apologetically. "It just all came boiling out. Every smirk he gave me. Every comment about mom being a great piece of ass. Every comment about being my stepfather. I admit, I wanted to kill him at that moment. It was all I could do to stop pounding on him. I knew that I couldn't take him one-on-one. That leg sweep he threw at me showed me how fast and how strong he was. I couldn't take him down that way, but..." Danny trailed off as he thought about bringing the bat down on Coach Cain's back. He was not happy attacking from behind, but the much bigger man would have killed him otherwise.

"When I collected my bicycle, you were cool as a cucumber. When I read about how badly you racked up the piece of shit, I thought, 'Oh yeah, he's a Keel all right. Operates just like his dad and uncle'." Betty Lou looked at Lynn who was sipping a glass of wine and listening to the conversation with amusement. "Are you sure you want to associate with this family?"

Lynn had smiled and taken a sip of her wine.

Later, after his visitors were gone, Grant sat on the sofa next to Lynn, their shoulders and thighs touching.

"Well partner," she began, "I'm glad that this is over. Now maybe we can concentrate on growing our practice and other...things." She smiled at Grant who smiled back. As long as Grant was married, he refused to act on the feelings he had for Lynn. Now that the divorce was final, he could get out of limbo and allow his feelings to grow for the person who had stood by him for so long.

The following morning, Grant was in his office reviewing a will that a client was having him draft when the exterior door buzzed indicating someone had entered the law offices of Keel and Dunaway. Lynn came out of her office to join Grant in the reception area. They did not yet have a receptionist.

"Can we help you?" Lynn asked of the portly, middle-aged man.

"I'm looking for Grant Keel," the man replied.

"That's me," Grant said, stepping forward with his hand out to shake.

Instead, the man handed Grant an envelope. "You've been served," the man said with an apologetic shrug before turning and exiting the office.

+++

Roland Cruz contemplated the wreck of a man sitting across from him. He was very aware of the assault on the former head coach of the Ferguson Wildcats. In the wake of the assault, Cain had been fired from the Ferguson School District due to his flagrant affair with a married school teacher whose employment had also been terminated.

Cruz knew that he had a reputation as a bottom-feeder. When Rollie walked into a courtroom with a client, most judges automatically attributed some level of guilt to his client before the trial even began.

"So, you're banging this guy's wife, her son knows all about it and is cool with it? Really?"

Randy nodded his head. "I know it sounds crazy, but Danny Keel and I had a really good relationship."

"You say 'had' like it's in the past. You two don't have a good relationship now?"

"He hasn't called or visited me since I was attacked," Randy said bitterly. "Nothing! And I was like a father to that boy!"

Rollie Cruz shook his head at the whole idiocy of the steaming pile of dog shit of a case that Randy Cain had brought to him a few weeks ago. It had been nearly six months since the attack and Randy was desperate for money and suing Grant Keel was his only option. The police investigation had gone nowhere. They were sure that Grant Keel was the person who attacked Randy Cain, but they could not prove it, and Keel's family had muddied the water so badly that no jury would ever convict him. There wasn't even any circumstantial evidence tying Grant Keel to the assault, much less hard evidence. The bat that had been used had never been located and the whole circle jerk the family engaged in with the black hoodies on the day in question was not proof of anything other than they were a sly bunch of assholes.

So, Rollie was left trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. He had requested, and received copies of every bit of evidence the police had and was in the process of reviewing it all and trying to determine what the hell happened.

By all accounts, Catherine "Cat" Keel had been a loyal, loving wife for twenty years. Her family had been posted to various military installations around the United States and Europe and in all that time, there was no hint of an affair or impropriety. When her husband was sent to Korea, something changed. Since Korea was considered a hardship tour, his family could only accompany him if he signed on for two years; otherwise, it was a 12-month tour. This meant that Danny would not be able to play football his senior year. After much discussion, it was decided that the Keels would purchase a home in Grant's hometown of Ferguson and Danny would attend Ferguson High School while Cat tried to find a job as a science teacher, a position she had held at various postings during her marriage.

Shortly after her husband left for Korea, Cat had fallen for the handsome twice-divorced, and ten-years-younger football coach. She had been carrying on an affair with Cain for months and her son was aware of the affair. Hell, the whole school suspected something was going on.

Grant Keel became aware of the affair and relocated to Ferguson after leaving active duty. He had not told either his wife or his son that he had relocated and moved in with this brother. Grant Keel, his brother, and his sister-in-law had avoided Cat Keel and their son during this time.

As Rollie reviewed all the evidence and watched all the recordings, an idea had begun to form in his mind.

+++

Leland, Betty Lou, Bobby Lee, Lynn, and Grant were once again meeting, this time joined by Danny. All but Lynn had been served notice that they were being sued as part of a conspiracy to assault Randall Cain, Jr.; said assault rendering him unable to work and depriving Mr. Cain of his livelihood. The plaintiff was seeking $10,000,000 in real and punitive damages.

"How bad is this going to get?" Bobby Lee Gearson asked.

Grant had shrugged at the question. "The jury in a civil suit doesn't require nearly the burden of proof as the jury in a criminal court. In a criminal court, the prosecutor has to prove beyond guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil suit, the plaintiff only has to prove it could have happened.

"Listen, I'm not going to hang y'all out to dry. This is my issue. Mine and Danny's. I'll meet with Cain and his attorney and agree to a settlement if the suit against you three is dropped."

"Bullshit," Betty Lou snapped. We're family; we stick together. Lynn is going to defend us and she is going to kick some ass. Agreed?"

Leland and Bobby Lee immediately agreed. Bobby Lee wasn't related by blood, but he had known Grand and Leland since grade school. When his best friend, Leland married his sister, Betty Lou, it had been one of the happiest days of his life.

"Then it's decided?" Leland asked. "We tell this Roland Cruz guy to go fuck himself?"

Everyone agreed.

+++

During opening statements, Rollie Cruz explained to the jury his strategy. He was going to prove to them that a conspiracy existed among Grant Keel's friends and family to attack, and then subsequently cover up the assault on Randy Cain. He further explained that although the police were unable to prove to any degree of certainty which one of the conspirators had attacked Randy, they all had conspired in the act and should all be held accountable.

Lynn's statement was simple. The police did not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone and Randy Cain's lawsuit was a desperate attempt to shake down the family of a man whom he had severely wronged by having an affair with the man's wife.

Cruz's first witnesses were predictable. He called to the stand the EMTs and the various physicians who had treated Cain to detail the extent of the damages that Cain had suffered in the attack. The was very little room for cross-examination because Cain's injuries were what they were. They were not self-inflicted (although going down that road had been briefly debated, it was ultimately decided that convincing the jury that Cain had repeatedly struck himself in the face and testicles with a baseball bat was going to be a hard sell) but instead had been inflicted by someone with a personal grudge against Cain.

Cruz next called the law enforcement officers that had responded to Cat's 911 call. The responding officers verified that the crime scene was as represented by Cruz in his opening statement.

Cruz next called Catherine Keel to the stand. Cat verified that she had been having a sexual affair with Randy Cain and that the affair had been going on for several months. She stated that Cain had told her that he was in love with her and wanted her to divorce her husband to be with him. She denied that she was in love with Cain although she admitted that she had become "very fond" of him. She was aware that Cain had made some inappropriate comments to Danny but she understood from Randy that it was "locker room talk" and that Danny was not perturbed by the comments. She was also aware that Randy had walked naked through her house after having sex with her and had made no attempt to cover up in front of Danny. Finally, she admitted that she knew that Randy had a minor confrontation with her son and Randy had to be slightly forceful with Danny to calm him down. She also admitted that she was under the impression that her husband was in Korea at the time of the attack upon Randy and was unaware of her infidelity. When she was advised that Grant had been in Ferguson for several weeks and was aware of her affair, she had a mental health crisis that required hospitalization and her being placed on suicide watch.

Lynn's cross-examination decimated Cat.

"Mrs. Keel, why did you undertake to have an adulterous affair with the plaintiff, Randy Cain?"

'OBJECTION!" Cruz shouted. "The term "adulterous affair" is prejudicial to my client, your honor."

"Maybe so, Mr. Cruz, but it is a factual term and I'll allow it," the judge stated.

"Mrs. Keel, please answer the question," Lynn said.

"I didn't have a good reason. My husband is a great guy. He's smart, handsome, and athletic and he was very much in love with me. But I was weak, vain, and insecure. At the time, I was approaching my 42nd birthday. My son was going to be out of the home soon and off to college. My husband was stationed thousands of miles away and I was lonely. Coach Cain is a good-looking, sweet-talker. All the female students and teachers had a crush on him and I was flattered this ten years younger hunk started hitting on me. He knew just what to say to me to get through my defenses. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker." Cat had to pause to collect herself. Lynn brought her a box of tissues from the defendant's table and waited for Cat to nod her head that she was ready.

"I've learned a lot over the last few months. I now know how to protect myself against sexual predators like Randy Cain," Cat stated.

"OBJECTION," Cruz shouted as he shot to his feet. "Mr. Cain is not on trial today and the witnesses' characterization of him as a sexual predator is false and inflammatory. I move that it be stricken from the record and the witness admonished not to use statements like that."

The judge looked at Cain for a moment before addressing Cruz's objection. "Whether the term is false is a question for another day. I will agree however that the term is inflammatory. But counselor, I feel kind of ridiculous for even having to point this out, but Mrs. Keel is YOUR witness. You called her; not the defendants. The objection is sustained."

Flushing with embarrassment, Cruz angrily took his seat next to Cain.

"Mrs. Keel," Lynn began, "In your opinion, is it possible that any of the defendants attacked Coach Randy Cain?"

Cat looked at the table at which her husband, son, and the other three defendants were seated. She shook her head adamantly. "No, I refuse to accept that they were so angry that they would act in a manner completely foreign to how I know them to be." Tears began to stream down Cat's face. "If they were so angry that they would attack Randy like that, then I know they are lost to me forever." Cat brought her hands to her face as she sobbed piteously on the stand.

The next witness was the chief investigating detective of the assault on Randy Cain.

"Could you please tell the jury your name, employer, and job title," Roland Cruz said to the man after he was sworn in.

"My name is Kenneth Mann and I'm a detective with the Ferguson City Police Department."

"Thank you, detective. How long have you been employed by the Ferguson Police Department?