What Did Happen in Vegas? Ch. 03

"I guess I was just getting impatient. I have been laid up for almost two months and I am getting stir-crazy," Tom replied.

"No more stair climbing until we get that cast off in two weeks," Dr. Jasper ordered.

"I learned my lesson," Tom said. "I won't try that again. How soon can I get out of here?"

"I would say that you'll be out of here by Tuesday, maybe sooner. I'll come by in the morning and check on you. I'll know better then."

During the exchange between Tom and Dr. Jasper, Lisa didn't move from her chair but she listened carefully to what the doctor told Tom. When Dr. Jasper left the room, Lisa followed him into the hall.

"How bad is it?" Lisa asked.

"His injury isn't serious and it should mend quickly but I am curious as to why he would have attempted to negotiate the stairs with a cast on his leg. That was foolish. Keep a closer watch on him and see to it that he doesn't try anything like that again."

Lisa wondered if the doctor some how knew why Tom had tried to get down the stairs. She felt now that she should have known that Tom would have recognized Brad's voice when he came into the house and that it would upset him. Why did she invite him in? Did she subconsciously want to hurt Tom? No. That couldn't be it. She loved Tom. It had to be a simple case of poor judgment.

When Lisa went back into Tom's room, she went over to the bed to try and talk to him but he was the first to speak.

"You can go home now, I'm fine. You don't have to bother coming to see me tomorrow or Monday," Tom said.

"I don't mind coming," she said, feeling hurt that he would suggest otherwise.

"I would prefer that you didn't come," Tom said and then turned to face away from Lisa.

Lisa felt the tears burning in her eyes as she turned to leave the room.

*****

Sunday June 8, 2003

10:00 AM

Lisa sat at the kitchen counter drinking her third cup off coffee. She had spent the night alternating between crying about her crumbling marriage and getting angry at the way Tom was treating her. Part of the time she blamed herself for what happened and then she would think of the pictures of Tom and that woman and she would blame Tom. What angered her the most was that Tom didn't seem to accept any responsibility for their problems.

Lisa wanted to go to the hospital to see how Tom was doing but she knew it would just make him angry and she didn't feel like she could handle him sending her away. "If he doesn't want me there, the hell with him. I don't need this pain in my life," Lisa said to herself.

*****

Hello Mr. Boyer, how are you feeling this morning?" Dr. Jasper asked as he came into Tom's room.

"Not too bad. My chest hurts a little but I feel okay."

Dr. Jasper checked Tom's chart and then he removed the small bandage on Tom's chest and examined the tiny incision.

"Everything looks good."

"When can I get out of here?" Tom asked.

"I'll come by in the morning and if everything still looks good I think we can send you home tomorrow. Would you like me to notify your wife?"

"I'll take care of that. Thanks," Tom said.

After Dr. Jasper left Tom called Don DeLucia at NTD. Don, who was on Tom's sales team, answered his phone on the second ring.

"NTD, Don DeLucia speaking how can I help you?"

"Don, this is Tom. I need you to do me a favor."

"Tom, good to hear from you. What do you need?"

Tom explained his situation to Don and asked him to pick him up at the hospital Monday morning.

"I'll be there. Tom, I'm really sorry about you and Lisa. I hope the two of you can work things out," Don said.

"Thanks, Don. I'll see you tomorrow."

*****

Monday June 9, 2003

8:00 AM

Lisa was in her office trying to concentrate on work when Brad stuck his head in the door.

"How did things go after I left on Saturday?" he asked.

"Terrible. We had a big fight and then Tom started coughing up blood. They had to take him to the emergency room. Apparently when he fell down the stairs he somehow re-injured his lung. He is still in the hospital."

"How long will he be there?"

"I don't know. On Saturday the doctor told him he would be released either today or tomorrow," Lisa said.

"If he was getting out today, someone would have called you by now. So it looks like it will be tomorrow," Brad guessed.

"I wanted to apologize for the way Tom acted Saturday," Lisa said. "He was way out of line."

Even as the words were coming out of her mouth she wondered why she said it. Was she just trying to be polite or was it just her anger directed at Tom.

"Don't apologize for Tom. His behavior was understandable. If the situation were reversed, I would be plenty pissed at him. I was more concerned about the way he was treating you. He seemed to be blaming you for everything. This is, after all, his fault."

It struck Lisa odd to hear Brad put the blame on Tom.

"Well, we are all partly to blame. Tom started it but you and I should not have gone as far as we did. That was mostly my fault but you, as Tom's friend, should have shown more restraint."

Brad felt his opportunity slipping away and decided that this was the time to say something to press his advantage.

"Lisa, I haven't been completely honest with you. What happen that night in my apartment was more my doing than you know. I was so upset by what Tom had done to you and, mixed with my feelings for you, I was more than just a willing participant that night. I have no guilty feelings about what we did. My only regret was that you stopped me from going all the way."

"Why were you so upset with Tom? You told me at first that you didn't think Tom was messing around. What changed your mind? The pictures?" Lisa said.

"I'm sorry, Lisa, when I told you that I had never seen that woman, I lied. I did see her. The first time was Sunday night, the first night out there. After we finished setting up our booth at the convention center, we all went to the bar that overlooks the lagoon at Treasure Island. I saw her sitting at the bar and later I saw her talking to Tom. Then I saw them together again one other night. Tom didn't see me and I never mentioned it to him. I didn't tell you because I was hoping that it was just a onetime thing and that Tom wouldn't do it again. It's just that, when he still denied everything when you he knew you had the proof, I hated him for what he was doing to you. I'm sorry. I should have told you everything right away and I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of the situation in my apartment."

Lisa sat back and looked at Brad. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Brad had known all along that Tom had cheated on her but he didn't tell her because he hoped that Tom wouldn't do it again? He didn't want to be the one to ruin her marriage? Lisa was totally confused now. Part of her wanted to go confront Tom with this new evidence but the other part of her wasn't sure if she ever wanted to see him again.

"I know this is painful for you to hear and I am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. If you'd like we could have dinner tonight and talk more about this."

Lisa looked at Brad and forced a smile on her face.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now. I don't think I'd be very good company. I need to think things through and decided what to do next. Let me get through this and maybe in a couple months we can talk about going out to dinner," Lisa said.

"I understand. I'll give you some space so you can deal with Tom."

"Thanks Brad, you're a good friend."

When Brad had left her office, Lisa began to wonder if she was doing the right thing. It might not be such a good idea to let Brad think that she has any interest in him beyond being a friend. She was going to have enough trouble dealing with Tom without getting involved with Brad and Lisa didn't want to lead Brad on.

*****

10:30 AM

Don DeLucia was waiting outside the hospital as an orderly brought Tom out in a wheel chair and he helped him into the car. They drove without speaking to Tom's house. Once inside the house Tom told Don what he needed done.

"I need you to go upstairs and into the front bedroom on the right. Get two suitcases out of the walk in closet, then go into my bedroom and empty my socks and underwear into one of the bags. Then fill the other bag with some of the clothes from my closet. I'll need several pairs of pants and at least a dozen shirts. Grab my sneakers and my dress shoes too. Then in the bathroom you will find my shaving gear and tooth brush on the lift side of the room. Pack that stuff and then bring the bags down here."

Don didn't question the instructions. He just dashed up the stairs and started to work. While Don busied himself upstairs Tom got the phone book out and looked up the number for the local All Suites Hotel. There was an All Suites about two miles from the NTD offices and that is where he planned to go. He would stay there at least until he got the cast off his leg and then start looking for an apartment.

As he was closing the suitcases, Don wondered if Tom was doing the right thing, running away like this. Don didn't like going behind Tom's back but he felt it was necessary. Before carrying the suitcases downstairs, Don took a business card out of his wallet and wrote 'Call Me,' on the back and then left the card on the bedside table next to the telephone.

By the time Don returned with the loaded suitcases Tom had made his reservation. Don loaded the bags into Tom's truck and then helped Tom into the drivers seat. It was difficult to sit in the truck with the cast but Tom was confident that he would be able to drive.

So without leaving a note or any indication of where he was going Tom backed his truck out of the garage and, followed by Don, drove the ten miles to the All Suites Hotel. Don waited while Tom checked in and then carried Tom's bags into the Hotel.

The suite consisted of a living room with a small kitchen area, a bedroom and a bathroom. Tom looked around and thought, "It's small but it has everything I need for the time being."

As Don was leaving Tom asked him to stop by his office and get his computer and bring it back to him later. Once he was alone Tom took his time and unpacked his clothes. Tom's plan was to work from his room at the All Suites until he got the cast off his leg and then he would be going back to work. All he needed was his computer and he had already asked Don to bring it to him. He would be able to do pretty much anything he could do in his office except meet with customers.

Tom looked around the room and a deep sadness came over him. He knew that he still loved Lisa but he saw no way around the crater that had been left in their marriage by those damn pictures. Tom also began to wonder how serious things had gotten between Lisa and Brad and how long it had been going on.

In addition to the pain caused by his marriage problems he knew that by leaving Lisa he had destroyed any chance he had of becoming the president of NTD. Tom wondered if perhaps he should leave NTD and start fresh somewhere else.

*****

2:00 PM

Lisa had finally found something to occupy her mind so she wouldn't keep thinking about Tom. She had buried herself in long columns of numbers balancing the sales expense accounts for the month of May when her phone rang.

"Mrs. Boyer, This is Maggie in reception, there is a man here to see Mr. Boyer and I thought you might want to handle this," the receptionist said.

"Did he give you a name?"

"No. He just said he that was a friend of Mr. Boyer's.

"Did he say what he wanted to see Tom about?" Lisa asked.

"No. He said it was a personal visit."

Lisa began to panic. Could it be the man who had sent her those pictures, the husband of the woman Tom had the affair with? What would he want? Certainly nothing good.

"Did you tell him about Tom?"

"No. I just told him that I would have you come talk to him."

Not knowing why, Lisa picked up her handbag and put the prints of the pictures she had been sent into the bag and then walked to the elevators. Lisa's mind was in a fog. What could she possible say to the man? What if he got violent? Should she alert security?

When Lisa entered the lobby she saw a tall well-dressed man that appeared to be in his early fifties standing by one of the company's display cases seemingly examining it's contents. He was dressed in a blue pin-striped suit. His hair was short and silver gray.

Lisa went over to the receptionist first.

"Is that him?" Lisa asked indicating the man looking into the display case."

"Yes."

"When he spoke to you did he seem upset about anything?"

"No. Why?"

"No particular reason. Do me a favor. Keep an eye on us and if I hold my hand up to my ear like a telephone, call security," Lisa said.

"Do you think he's dangerous?"

"No. But I am just a little uncomfortable. I just want to be careful."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on you."

Lisa could tell she had scared the receptionist and she felt guilty about that. This guy probably wasn't any danger to anyone but she was uncomfortable.

Lisa took a deep breath and walked over to introduce herself.

"Good afternoon, I am Lisa Boyer," she said.

"Oh, you must be Tom's wife. My name is Carl Koonce. Maybe Tom told you about me."

"Your name is familiar but I am not sure why."

"I met Tom in Las Vegas. We spent a lot of time together negotiating a contract and we became pretty good friends that week. I'm in town on business and thought I would stop by and see if I could invite the two of you to have dinner with me tonight."

Lisa remembered the big contract Tom brought home. Was this the man Tom negotiated that contract with?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Koonce but Tom is in the hospital."

"Really? Nothing too serious I hope."

"I am not sure how serious it was this time."

"This time? What's wrong with Tom?"

Lisa guided Mr. Koonce to a sitting area in the lobby and then told him about Tom's accident and then the fall at the house on Saturday.

Mr. Koonce noticed the tears in Lisa's eyes and sensed that there was more to the story than Lisa was telling.

"Lisa, there's something you're not telling me. I know you don't know me and have no reason to trust me but I am a friend of Tom's and I would like to help if I can.."

Lisa surprised herself. For some reason she suddenly felt comfortable talking to this man that just five minutes earlier she was ready to report to security.

"This whole horrible mess started because Tom had an affair while he was in Vegas,"

"Had an affair? When?"

"The whole week of the convention. He met some woman out there the first night and spent the rest of the week with her," Lisa said.

Mr. Koonce said, "That's not possible."

"What?"

"I said that's not possible. Tom was with me every night?" Mr. Koonce said.

"Oh, good, now you're going to try and cover for him. If that's true why didn't he tell me that he was with you?"

"Because I made him promise not to tell anyone what we were doing."

"Under the circumstances don't you think he would have broken his promise?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he didn't think you would believe him."

"Mr. Koonce, what were you doing that was so secret that you would make him promise not to tell any one."

"Please call me Carl. First let me explain something about myself. I was married to a wonderful woman for 35 years and then she got breast cancer and I lost her. During our marriage I never strayed, never even came close. I have always believed that a married couple should be able to be faithful to each other and if they can't they shouldn't be married. Based on that alone I would never lie to cover up someone else's infidelity. As to what Tom and I were doing, I was being a little naughty. I have been alone for three years now and I am not in a hurry to find anyone to replace my wife. But I am still alive and saw my trip to Vegas as an opportunity to do something I had never done before.

"So on Monday, after spending three hours at a conference table negotiating a deal with Tom I insisted that we go to dinner and then to one of the famous Vegas strip clubs. I had implied to Tom that this was all part of our negotiations and if he wanted my business he would have to go along with me. I am ashamed to say that I had such a good time that I told Tom I wanted to check out some other clubs and so we went to a different club every night.

"I made it clear to Tom that if he told anyone about our trips to the clubs it would kill our deal. I guess a ten million dollar contract buys a lot of silence. I had no idea that by swearing him to secrecy it would cause him problems at home."

Lisa's heart was starting to pound. Could this be true? What about the pictures? What about Brad telling me he saw them together? Lisa opened her handbag and pulled out the picture of the woman standing by herself and handed it to Carl.

"Did you see this woman in Vegas?"

Carl's face flushed.

"Yes. She was one of the strippers at Glitter Gulch. I think her name is Brandi. That was the first club we went to and I am embarrassed to say that she gave me a lap dance. Where did you get that picture?"

"Did she do anything with Tom?"

"No. Poor Tom was so uncomfortable that some of the girls started to call him 'Mr. Hard On' because his whole body was so stiff. I know he didn't want to be there but I didn't want to go alone and he was a good sport about it. He finally did loosen up a bit after several drinks but I can assure you that he was a perfect gentleman the whole time."

"So you never saw this girl again after that first time?" Lisa asked as she pointed to the picture again.

"No."

"Could Tom have seen her when you weren't around?"

"Not likely. Tom and I spent all of our afternoons together and as I said we had dinner together each night and then we went to the strip clubs."

Lisa's head was spinning. There were too many conflicting facts. Lisa took the rest of the pictures from her bag and handed them to Carl.

"If he was so innocent and was with you all the time how do you explain these pictures?" Lisa asked in frustration.

Carl looked at all of the pictures and then went back through them again. Finally he set the picture of Brandi down in front of Lisa.

"It is hard to tell from these thumbnail pictures but my guess is that they were digitally edited," Carl said.

"What?'

"Digitally edited. These pictures were probably edited. If you digitize photographs by scanning them into a computer or take pictures with a digital camera the pictures can be edited. You can move people around in the picture, take things out and, more important to us right now, you can add things to a picture."

Lisa wasn't quite sure she understood what Carl was telling her but she knew it was important. "How can we tell for certain if they were edited?"

"Do you still have these pictures on your computer?"

"Yes I do. Why?"

"We may be able to make them bigger so we can get a better look at them." Carl said.

"Follow me, please," Lisa said.

Lisa led Carl out of the lobby and took him into a conference room. This conference room had a desktop computer set up so that anyone using the conference room would have access to the Internet. This allowed Lisa to access her e-mail and from that the web link that was in the note she had received.

Carl sat down at the computer and quickly pointed out to Lisa that if she had clicked on the individual thumbnails they would have popped up larger copies of the same picture. Carl looked through all of the pictures and then went back to the picture of Brandi. Carl pointed to the picture of the blond and said, "Look at this picture. See how her shadow is very short. This picture had to be taken around noon in order for the shadow to be that short."

Carl then pulled up the picture of Tom standing with the blond in front of Treasure Island. He pointed to Brandi again.