Tom Granger

She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. I fixed us each a cup of tea and sat back down.

"Tom, before I begin, I want you to know I've never messed around on you, well, that I know of and I'll get to that in a bit. That week leading up to your shooting was supposed to be a busy one for me in Richmond however once we started it was clear that we could break each day around 3PM. That meant I could get back home in an hour and a half and not feel the need to spend the night. So Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon I drove back here and we had actually finished up that Wednesday afternoon so I took a couple personal days.

"Jennifer talked me into going out Tuesday evening for a while and we did and had a good time. Thinking back on it, I was having too good a time. Whatever I was drinking was making me feel really good as well as horny. Because I had to drive back to Richmond Wednesday morning, I called it a night around 11 and she drove me home.

"The next day when I got home Jennifer called me up and told me to grab something to go out in and meet her at her place. I wasn't thinking right and I knew I shouldn't have but I did anyway. So I went over to her house and we went out to eat and later ended up at the Cannonball. Tom, I know I shouldn't have been there. You weren't with me but I had a couple of Long Islands and honest, that was all I remember drinking.

"Things get hazy at that point. I can vaguely remember being pulled out onto the dance floor by a couple guys and I was getting really high as a kite. Somebody had given me something, Jennifer I guess. I can just barely remember her saying something about fixing any headache. The last thing I can coherently remember with any real clarity was some guy rubbing his hand all over my butt. From that point on everything is a blur and like a floating dream. Next clear thought was when I woke up and you were downstairs making coffee. I didn't know you were back.

"From what you told me, I knew you had to have something to do with how I got to bed the previous night and that I wasn't innocent with whatever happened. You got up and left to go to Bill's, at least that's what you said. You wouldn't answer my calls or anything so I didn't know what to do.

"Jennifer called me later and asked where you were so I told her you were over at Bill's. I guess it wasn't long after that, an hour or two, I guess, that a guy who said he was Jennifer's friend walked into the house."

Ellen was crying softly now but continued.

"I didn't recognize him although he looked a bit familiar. I just couldn't place him. The worse thing though was he had a shotgun with him and my hand gun was in my purse so I couldn't get to it. He motioned for me to sit on the couch and then he walked over to pick up a jacket that was sitting on one of the chairs. I hadn't noticed it until then.

"He took a gun out of the pocket of the jacket and waved it at me. Then he started telling me to do some things, dirty stuff. He made me strip in front of him, totally and expose myself on the couch."

Ellen was crying more now and she wiped her tears away and continued.

"He opened his jeans and pointed the gun at my face and told me to suck his cock. I'm ashamed to say I did what he told me and he held the gun to my head the whole time he made me do it. Then, he pushed me away and stood up telling me it was 'time to get some of that goody two shoes pussy you've been playing and teasing with'. That was about the time you drove into the yard with your truck. I didn't know it was you at first because I heard another car come in right after that and the next thing I remember was the blast from his shotgun and a couple moments later, another gunshot.

"When I looked up you were on the floor with blood all over your shirt and face and the man was lying at your feet. Jennifer was standing there trembling with a gun in her hand. I think she called 911 and in just a few minutes people were everywhere.

"They ran you to the hospital and then the EMT people checked me out and then the police asked a lot of questions of Jennifer and me. When they released us we both rushed to the hospital."

Ellen was a sobbing wreck at this point and I told her we needed to stop for now. I still didn't remember any of it but I didn't have any reason not to believe her. From everything I had been told, Ellen was as much a victim in all of this as I was although I still had unanswered concerns about why she would ever go to Cannonballs without me. She knew as well as me what a woman or man would go there for without a boyfriend or husband. If she didn't already do it, she certainly had to think about it being in that environment.

Jennifer would be another matter to deal with. Somebody fed Ellen a drug cocktail and somebody was keeping a stash of drugs in my house. They could have been Fitzgerald's or Jennifer's; I didn't know but at that point I decided I should probably get rid of what I had found and search the house to see if I could find anything else. I did find a couple loose pills in a dresser drawer in the guest room where Jennifer would sleep when she stayed over. She clearly had a drug problem. As for the bag of drugs, I gave them to Bill when he said he could take care of it.

While Ellen and I tried to get back to some sense of normalcy there was always a lingering doubt in my mind about the events of those days. I couldn't put my finger on any one thing even with a few inconsistencies between Jennifer and Ellen. One thing that did change was that Jennifer was never at the house any more. I think I caught Ellen on the phone with her a couple of times but she knew she was persona non grata in our lives if we were going to be a couple.

With still no memory of the events, life moved on for us although Bill would occasionally drop hints that he was looking after me but never shared what he was talking about. I just thought he was talking about watching my back in case Fitzgerald had any old friends or acquaintances but I didn't think much of that. He was a scumbag. He told me that Jennifer knew the guy before he showed up at my house and shot me. Given her drugs I assumed as much and was one of the major reasons I told Ellen to keep the bitch out of our lives.

About six months after the shooting, I answered the phone after walking into the house from being in the garden just as the recording started to play. It was a message that Ellen had made and once it started, picking up the phone didn't stop it unless somebody spoke.

Now the thing about our house phone is that we or at least I never use it. We each have our own cell phone and the only reason we have it is because of the internet and cable. It was part of a package deal. Until then I hadn't heard it ring for months. The ringer was usually turned down but for whatever reason it was up today. Ellen had run to the store for some things and I wasn't supposed to even be home that day. In any event I picked the receiver up just in time to hear him.

"Hey baby, I'll be off at 7 tonight and I'll meet up with you and J when you get there. Ciao. "

Whoever it was, hung up. Was it a wrong number? I didn't know but I knew how to find out where the call came from. I turned on the television and went to the set up/apps channels and opened up the call logs. The call came from Phillips Chrysler Dodge out on Rt. 29 North. I didn't know anybody out there so I assumed it was a wrong number until I looked at the call history. There were three more calls from the same location over the past couple days.

Ever since getting our cell phones, I had been receiving wrong number calls for somebody down in Roanoke. I had assumed that somebody had the same number registered twice somewhere and hadn't notified anybody of a change. This could be something similar. However given the recent history in my house and the same calls from the same place my brain went on alert.

When Ellen returned later I didn't mention anything about the call. I knew if it was for her she could access it on her cell phone if she hadn't already. I didn't understand why the ringer was on but if the 'Hey Baby' was for her it wouldn't matter.

I was back out in my garden around 6:30 or so that evening when Ellen yelled out from the patio door that she was going over to one of her work friends for a baby shower and a couple drinks afterwards. It wasn't news to me. She had mentioned it a couple days ago even asking me if I wanted to go. A baby shower; She knew the answer.

As soon as she left I was washing up and changing clothes. If she was meeting somebody she was being sloppy. For this kind of work, I needed a cold beer and twenty minutes later I was seated at the end of the bar at the 'Trap buying two cold ones for Bill and me. With a few clicks on the screen, my cell phone showed me where Ellen was; at Jennifer's and I knew damn well she wasn't having a baby and she wasn't one of Ellen's coworkers.

"Fuck me, I know who that Phillips call might be from!" Bill exclaimed out of the blue.

He then explained and said that Shirley thought she knew where one of Fitzgerald's friends worked, at Phillips Dodge; the same guy that was in the booth with Jennifer the day before I was shot. I didn't remember any of it but Bill was adamant. If he saw him again, he'd know. Shirley was up in Culpepper visiting her sister who just had a baby or she could tell us for certain.

"OK, Bill, here is my fucking plan."

We waited until Ellen's phone showed her on the move around 9PM and the two of us hopped in my truck and headed in the same direction. We were headed towards the shopping center on Barracks Road. Unfortunately, Cannonballs was located on the backside near the Tap House.

"There's Jennifer's car, Bill" I said as soon as I spotted it

We pulled up and parked behind it a couple rows back and I shut the ignition off. It was an odd feeling sitting there with Bill given the task we were on. Hell, I didn't even know what task we were trying to accomplish other than to confirm or refute that lurking emotional monster, suspicion. Even if it was confirmed, I didn't really know what my course of action would be. Bill wasn't a lot of help there.

"I'd fucking kill her." He said to me and I believed him too.

I guess it was fortune that rained down on Ellen that evening because I didn't kill her when she and Jennifer came strolling back to the car around 11Pm, each of them with a man on their arm.

"That's the motherfucker right there with Ellen that was in the 'Trap that afternoon the day before you were shot. "Bill informed me with a low and steady voice. "He was in there with Fitzgerald and Jennifer."

Ellen was dressed in a very short black dress with fucking pumps and the four of them poured themselves into Jennifer's car. When Jennifer pulled out of the parking lot Bill and me were a couple cars behind them heading back down Barracks Road toward downtown back to Jennifer's.

By the time we pulled into Jenifer's townhouse complex the four of them had already entered the home and we just parked a short ways away and out of sight.

"So what now, Cowboy?" Bill asked me sympathetically.

"Whoever is nailing Jennifer obviously got a pass from God on this one but for the Phillips dude, life is going to turn to shit for him." I answered.

"Tom, if you are OK with it, I'd like to handle this one for you. I've got something special in mind and it would keep both of us in the clear from any crazy shit that might blow up if we did something unruly, you know?"

"Bill, do I want to know what it is?" I asked. He just shook his head no.

It was after midnight now and we headed back to the 'Trap to grab one more before calling it a night.

"Bill, I know you got something planned but I don't want you to put yourself in any kind of shit over this, I mean it." I told him.

He just grinned and said the dude was going to be taken care very nicely with no loose ends.

"How about you, Tom; You and Ellen?"

"She's fucking history. Maybe not tonight and not right now, but when the time comes, I'll burn her ass good." I replied to Bill.

We parted company at that since Bill was opening the 'Trap in the morning and I drove myself back out to the farm and with a full moon over head I pulled up a chair under the oaks and sipped a beer. We'd been together ten years now and for just about all of it they had been good years.

Melancholy isn't the word I wanted for the moment. Gloom was more to the point. A hoot owl broke me out of my trepidation and I called it a night.

The cell phone went off next to my ear and I jumped up out of the bed.

"Tom, dude, sit down for this." Bill said. I did what he said.

"OK, listen, this is fucking wild; that Phillips Dodge douchebag? Well, he was found on the sidewalk in front of the 'Trap this morning, beat to a bloody mess. His name is Dickey Snyder. Tim and I were opening up a while ago to do the carpets before the lunch crowd and the police and EMTs were already there. Jesus, he was a mess. His pants were one bloody mess, that's for sure. Somebody took care of business and it sure wasn't me, dude."

"What the fuck? How in hell did he get in front of your place?" I asked.

Before he could answer I heard the sound of a glass breaking in the kitchen and an "Oh shit" exclamation. I reached for my Glock on the nightstand and I had a flash of a short yellow skirt. As I walked out into the hallway and onto the landing at the top of the stairs, my Déjà vu became real. I remembered my walk down the stairs on that Wednesday night several months ago. When I hit the landing, I remembered seeing Ellen splayed open wearing that yellow miniskirt.

When I turned into the living room I didn't see Jennifer being fucked on the couch as my memory recalled. Instead Ellen was curled up on it with an afghan covering pulled over her. She wasn't wearing yellow. Instead she had on pajama bottoms and a tee.

I turned back toward the kitchen with the Glock in my hand and she startled me as much as I did her. Jennifer had swept up the broken glass and stood there looking at me with the pan in her hand.

"Coffee, Tom? We need to have a discussion."

I just nodded and walked back toward the living room only to be greeted by Ellen in the doorway.

"Yes, we need to explain some things." Ellen said.

I then remembered Bill and the call. I ran back upstairs and picked up the phone. He was still there and I told him about the girls being here before hanging up and going back downstairs.

There were three fresh cups of coffee on the table and the three of us sat down.

"So explain." I said to both of them. I didn't let them know I had some vivid memories back. Ellen spoke this time.

"Tom, there are some things you need to know that I couldn't tell you until now, until we took care of some business. I told you some of this when we had that talk about the week you were shot. I didn't lie to you then. I just didn't have all the pieces. I told you Jennifer and I went to Cannonballs and I knew better than to go there but I did anyway and I wasn't dressed like a married woman. I think I told you that.

"I didn't have any intention of fucking around on you and as far as I know I haven't. I'm taking Jennifer's word on that because she was here. As for Jennifer, I know you told her and me that she was to never enter the house and we honored that until now. But, Jennifer had the answers to some questions I had and I needed her answers.

"I didn't believe Jennifer drugged me like we thought. I couldn't believe it and I needed to hear it from her on her own so I went over to her house one afternoon and we talked like we have always talked. It was Dickey Snyder, a guy she knew from the guy she bought her drugs from. He doped my drink on one of the nights we went to Cannonballs. What Jennifer gave me at the club was an herbal for headaches. The reason I was high is because the bastard doped me. He just didn't use enough to do what he wanted.

"He did it again the next night but that time he went all the way and made sure I was doped right. Jennifer didn't know I was out of it until we left and she told them she was taking me home. They followed us out here and the two men brought me into the house."

Jennifer broke in at this point.

"Tom, I'm ashamed of what happened next. I was so horny from the 'E' that I didn't pay any attention to what was going on with Ellen. Dickey wanted to fuck and said Jimmy wanted Ellen so the two of us got it on. I was pretty fucking high at that point but I wasn't spiked like Ellen was. My mind was only on getting laid and then the next thing I knew, you were standing in the hallway to the living room with a gun leveled at Jimmy.

"I looked at Ellen then and I knew she was totally out of it but he hadn't taken her yet. You forced the two guys to leave and put Ellen to bed. Later you threw me out. The next day, Jimmy came by all pissed because he had fronted me some ecstasy and made me tell him about Ellen and you. Ellen called me that morning and told me you left because of what happened the night before. I was stupid and mentioned it to him. I guess I was pissed at you too. I was a moron.

"Well, he headed right for her and that's when I started trying to find you. I found you at the 'Trap and told you what was happening. You headed for the house and I followed you out. The fucking bastard shot you and then - "

She stopped talking at that point and wiped her eyes. Ellen picked up at that point.

"Like I said, I needed to know what happened so that we could get on the same page again. I knew I hadn't actually cheated on you and you need to know I never would. When I found out that it was Dickey Snyder who drugged me setting me up to be essentially raped, I wanted my own vengeance.

"Jennifer and I have been working together to get my pound of flesh and earlier this week she convinced him to give me a call when I knew you wouldn't be here. I told him we had split and that I was OK with getting together later in the week. So we set it up.

"Jennifer knows some people, some of them pretty bad if you are on their wrong side and one of them was going to be at Cannonballs last night to make it a double. So when we got back to Jennifer's, we fixed everybody a drink and the bastard got a taste of his own medicine. We doped him and when he was out, Jennifer's friend and another guy carried him out of the townhouse and took him somewhere. I don't know where or who he ended up with and don't want to as long as he learns never to do that to another woman again.

I looked at both of them and sipped my coffee. I informed them of Mr. Snyder's fate on the sidewalk outside the 'Trap and hands went to both mouths.

"I have a couple things that are bothering me, girls. Ellen, you wore that yellow miniskirt to Cannonballs. It's so short a man can see the cheeks of your ass when you move just right. Had you gone there prior to those two nights? Wait, don't answer me yet. If you had, we need to have a separate discussion. I believe you when you tell me you haven't fucked another man since we've been married but like I said, we'll have a separate discussion later on this matter.

"Second, I need some answers for some things that have been bothering me for years now." I was looking right at Jennifer when I said it.

"What in hell do you have against me? What the fuck have I ever done to you?' I asked Jennifer.

Her eyes went back and forth between us and I could see her lips quivering.

"Tom, I don't have any excuse for my behavior to you over the years that you and Ellen have been married, none at all. All I can say is that when you took Ellen away from me and married her it was like a piece of my heart was ripped away from me. Ellen and I did everything together. We even shared boyfriends and when she found you, it was all over. I resented it and I know it has been irrational and unforgiveable.