MY WIFE'S BOSS by Astordatair
I was not in the best of moods when I finished putting my tools in my pick-up truck at the end of that Thursday afternoon. The client I had been working with over the previous two weeks did not seem to know what he wanted. He had asked me to make one change after the other to the initial plan of the staircase I was contracted to build. The last request made earlier that morning was so extensive that I had to dismantle about half of the job I had already done. On top of that, I had to go back to the architect and the engineer, because the latest whim of this fickle twat could not be done without redrawing the structural plans. So the next day would be an unplanned day off.
My name is Garrett Morrison. I am the main artist and owner of a small woodworking-carpentry shop specialized in the design and construction of upscale staircases. My clients are wealthy mansion owners, hotels, restaurants, and offices who can afford paying way above 50 grands for a work-of-art exclusivity staircase.
I had just turned 34 and I had been married for four years to Daphne Tupper, 29. Daphne was a young and successful lawyer at Cramer, Boylan and Hendricks, a law firm specialized in commercial and intellectual property law. We did not have any children yet, mainly because Daphne wanted to establish her career first.
I was surprised to see my wife's car in the driveway when I got home at 16:30. Daphne usually worked late on Thursday evenings so that she could finish at a reasonable time on Friday. I entered the house through the backdoor entrance just like I did every time I returned from a construction site. I had installed a small bathroom with a shower next to the door, so that I could shower and change first thing after getting in and avoid carrying dust all over the house.
The water pressure was lower than usual. Was my wife in the upstairs shower? That was odd, because Daphne usually showered either in the morning or just before going to bed.
I quickly finished, donned some house clothes, and went upstairs to see what my wife was doing at home that early on a Thursday afternoon.
As I had guessed, Daphne was freshly out of the shower and was now putting on some sexy black fishnet stockings, and there was a brand-new black dress on the bed, awaiting its turn to be put on.
"Hey honey! What are you doing here so early? And am I forgetting something? Do we have something tonight that I didn't remember?"
She looked at me with an expression I had never seen on her face before. She looked a bit nervous, but she seemed to do everything to not let it show. She sighed.
"No Garrett, you are not forgetting anything. I am going out tonight. You are not. I will be gone until Sunday afternoon actually. I will be spending the weekend with Derek Cramer."
"You what??? What the hell are you talking about? Is it a business trip or what?"
"No, it's no business trip, Garrett. Derek has a hotel suite reserved for him and me. I'll be yours again next week, but I am spending this weekend with him." She looked at me defiantly, but her whole speech sounded rehearsed.
"No you're not! I don't want my wife to spend a weekend with another man! What's that crap??"
"Well, you'd better accept it, Garrett, because that's what Derek wants. And I suggest you don't mess with him," she said, chuckling.
"Oh, I see. You're a happy part of that plan?! You want me to accept this, to suck it up and let you go!? That you will be my faithful wife after this weekend?" I asked, with dripping sarcasm.
"I never said it would be this weekend only. Derek has already told me he wanted to do it from time to time. So yes, suck it up and don't say a word. Knowing Derek, your life will be much less complicated if you shut up and go with the program."
"That remains to be seen. I'm not gonna put up with that kind of shit, Daphne. You better consider what you're doing, because I won't let that arrogant bastard drive my life. If you think I'm a pawn that you can move anyway you see fit without me saying a word about it, you're in for a nasty surprise, I'm telling you!"
By then, she was done getting prepared for the evening. I went back downstairs and grabbed myself a beer from the fridge. I saw a Mercedes just parking in front of the house. Mr. Smugness himself got out and walked up to the front door, then rang.
"Garrett, that's Derek. Will you go answer the door?" she yelled from upstairs.
I quickly punched a code into the back door alarm panel, then set up my cell phone to video recording and put it into my t-shirt pocket so that it would film everything. Then I waited in the living room.
I had known Derek Cramer since the day Daphne had started working for CBH three years before. I met him for the first time at their office's Christmas party. He was a 40-something man, with a very dominating attitude. He seemed to be very buddy-buddy with his fellow partners, and flirty and smooth with his female employees and the wives of his male employees. But in the presence of his male employees and the husbands of his female employees, all his demeanor exuded arrogance and contempt. I took an instant dislike in the guy.
Daphne ran down the stairs, furious. She went to open the door. I was watching the scene from the living room, milking my beer.
"I'm so sorry that you had to wait, Derek. I don't know where my husband's manners are," she said, with a subservient demeanor. She lowered her voice to say something else to Asswipe, but I could not get it from where I was.
"Hey Dusty Boy, I'm told you have a problem with Daphne going on a weekend with me?" he thundered, like a school principal addressing a small child, as he entered the living room to talk to me. I could not believe the gall that this guy had. He was so full of himself he thought he was the boss in my own house!
"Hey Shithead, get the hell out of my house, or I call the cops!" I said, clenching my fists.
He started laughing. Daphne was smirking beside him.
"And what do you think the cops will do? Let me answer you: Nothing. They will do nothing, you know why? Because... HEY, ARE YOU FILMING ME, YOU BASTARD?"
He had just seen my cell phone. He snatched it and tried to stop the recording, but it was password locked. He threw it on the ceramic floor. Of course, the ceramic won the match...
"Listen to me, you smart ass. Your wife is coming with me this weekend, like it or not. And she will spend time with me whenever I want her to. And no, a wood duster like you has no say in this, is that clear? And if you do anything to get in my way, you're gonna suffer. Hell will be a resort compared with your life.
"So you're gonna stay here quietly this weekend and shut the fuck up. If I hear that you upset Daphne or threaten to divorce her or that you do something even more stupid like trying to contact my wife, then everybody will know about the dubious money laundering transactions that you made or the child porn that you have on your computer."
I decided to play dumb.
"That's highly unlikely that people would learn about it. Considering I've never done any money-laundering nor downloaded or even watched child porn," I replied, mechanically.
"Oh, that's easily arranged, you know. Uploading material on your computer is an easy task, you know. I have a lot of stuff that could destroy your reputation in a jiffy."
I decided this was good cause to play even dumber.
"Child porn is illegal. If you can upload some on my computer, it means you are already in possession of illegal material?" I asked, naively.
"That's the difference between you and me. Some things that are illegal for you are perfectly ok for men of power like me who have the right connections. So I highly recommend you keep on playing with the working class and not bother the better people, you understand?"
I could hardly believe what I had just heard. That kind of crap would have been a bit overboard even in a comedy movie. But this guy here in my living room was talking seriously!
"Oh, another thing. Don't think about getting revenge on me or on Daphne. That includes getting even with her by fucking someone else. I don't want to deal with an infection passed from you to Daphne to me, all right? Because no, I'm not gonna ask Daphne to deny you sex, really. At least not for now. See how I'm not a bad guy?
"Bottom line is, you step out of line, I'll know it. All right? Now, let's go, Honey."
They went back to the front door. Daphne grabbed her overnight bag and walked out. She did not say goodbye or even look at me.
Honey. He said 'Honey' to my wife! The whole situation was so out of this world that I could not even be purely angry. My feelings were rather a mix of anger and amazement.
At that precise moment, I blessed the burglar who had broken into my house the year before I met Daphne. I was so upset that I had a complete surveillance and alarm system installed, with motion-activated cameras and voice-activated microphones that could capture everything that took place in the house and store it in the cloud. I had never shown Daphne that the system could be put in recording mode while we were in the house, so she could not know I had activated it before she opened the front door to let the slithering slug come in.
Then I had activated the recording on my cell phone. That was more like a decoy, actually. I was more or less counting on Cramer to see it and find a way to turn it off. This would let down his guard and then he would speak more freely, thinking he was no longer filmed. I was hoping this could be a good way of gathering useful material for a likely divorce. The asshole gave me so much more than this...!
The cell phone that was now all over the floor was actually my business cell phone. After I had started dealing with a wealthier clientele, I had quickly realized that if I gave them my main cell phone, I would be at it almost 24/7, because some of those people are like children: when they want something, they want it now. In their mind, there was no bad time for them to call you, even after 23:00 and on weekends. A dedicated business cell phone could be turned off at the end of the day, and I could take my messages the next morning.
So at least, I was not without a communication tool. I took my personal phone and called my business lawyer and best friend Harry.
Harry Davenport had married my big sister Jennifer 10 years before. They were the perfectly happy couple until tragedy struck. They had been married for four years when Jennifer, traveling with three of her girlfriends to Guadeloupe, got caught in a killer wave and drowned. My parents and I loved Harry, and even after my sister had died, he had always remained a member of our family. He met another woman three years after Jennifer's death. Christine is a fantastic woman that he married after one year of dating. My parents and I (along with Daphne) were invited to the wedding. To this day, Harry and Christine are like a brother and sister to me.
"Harry, I need your help!" I shouted when he answered.
I proceeded to explain the situation to him. I repeated the threats that Cramer made before he took off with my wife to their private weekend. Harry picked up on those threats.
"Ok, don't get out of the house, don't call anyone, don't answer your phone and don't open the door to anyone you don't know. And turn off your computer. Christine and I will be there in an hour. We'll bring dinner."
I swept what was left of my business cell phone, grabbed another beer, and sat in the living room to try to calm down after the events of the previous hour.
I knew that Daphne was attracted to Dickhead. Or rather that she was enticed by the aura of power that he displayed. But I never thought that she could toss me aside like some useless garbage and go with him. I thought she loved me as much as I did her. That was a resounding wake-up call.
I had met Daphne five years before, at a party thrown for the birthday of a friend of a friend. I don't even remember how I had ended up there that evening. I did not know more than one or two people. The birthday boy was best buddy with Daphne's brother, who could not even be there himself because he was in the army, and he had been deployed to Afghanistan. I had ended up chatting with Daphne all evening. We started dating the week after and married the year after.
At that time, I was still working for Mr. Duncan. Craig Duncan was the founder of his small company. He was an excellent woodworker, renowned in our area. But his accounting and managerial skills were essentially non-existent. He had hired me as a part-time accountant to do his bookkeeping while I was still in college. A couple of months after I had started working for him, he landed three large contracts that were way too heavy for the time he had to put in, but his clients would not take no for an answer. So he had asked me to jump in and help him in the field. I started by being the helper, running errands, ordering supplies and holding the long pieces he had to handle.
But I was a quick learner and it turned out that I had a real talent for the job, so after a few months climbing the learning curve, I was able to handle simple jobs all by myself or to be a real help on more complex jobs. I got my degree in accounting, but since I really loved the hands-on job, I also started my apprenticeship and got my certification after a few years. I soon became Mr. Duncan's associate and when he retired, my parents helped me by fronting the money so that I could buy him out over two years.
I was well aware that the lawyers at CBH regarded me as an uneducated dusty shop worker and did not think very highly of me, but I could not care less. My company was doing extremely well. I did not bid on a lot of projects, but those I took on were complex and very lucrative. I had hired two assistants over the preceding months, and my net income and value were higher than most of the lawyers working with my wife. But even she did not know that detail.
My train of thoughts was interrupted by Christine and Harry who had brought Chinese take-out and some beer.
"Are you ok, Garrett?" Christine asked, giving me one of her warm hugs. "I can't believe Daphne did that to you. This is so unlike her."
Harry gave me a manly hug. "Don't worry buddy, we'll sort things out. Let's have dinner and then I'll have a look at your recording."
I gave them the details of Daphne's cold welcome when I had arrived home earlier that afternoon. After dinner, I got my portable computer and retrieved the files of the two camera and microphone recordings. Fortunately, the conversations were crystal clear.
"I can't believe what I just heard," Harry said.
"Pretty arrogant prick, hey?"
"No, pretty stupid prick," Harry replied. "This guy is what, 40-42 years old? That means he ought to have been practicing law for about 15 years. So he's not a recruit. But he's so full of himself that it doesn't come to this mind that sometimes, you just shut the fuck up! Seriously, your idea of tricking him into thinking he was no longer recorded after he destroyed your cell phone was very, very clever. He completely took the bait and told us everything we need!"
"Ok, but can I really use it if it was recorded without his consent?" I asked.
"Absolutely! This is your house. You're free to record whatever you want in your house!" Harry assured me.
"So I have nothing to be afraid of. Is that what you're saying?" I asked.
"No, that's not what I'm saying. We have to be extremely careful. I did some research on my way here. Chris was kind enough to drive and take care of the take-out. It appears that our guy, Cramer, is the son of the founder of their law firm. You already knew this, didn't you?" Harry explained. I nodded.
"What you may not know is that his father, Marvin Cramer, had quite the reputation. He was not a very good lawyer, but most of the judges in the area were his former college buddies. Since he personally knew everybody, it was easy for him to win most of his cases. Unfortunately, his son Derek was a model student of his father's teachings. That's what makes him dangerous. He has a vast network of very amicable judges and if he files a case, it will be extremely difficult to obtain a judgement in our favor, no matter how illegal his shenanigans are."
"Wow... so you mean that whatever I do, I'm toast?"
"No, not necessarily. It will be difficult to win, but not impossible. I know people too, you know. The trick is to obtain enough proof to make the case a slam dunk against him. I have a plan."
"But you say that the judges will always rule in his favor?" I asked.
"Unless the case goes to a criminal court. That's what we'll try to do."
We were interrupted by someone knocking at the front door. A small brunette was standing on the porch.
"Hello, Mr. Morrison?" she asked.
"Oh, hi Laura, come in!" Harry said, behind me. "Garrett, this is Laura Foster. Laura is the computer specialist at the private eye firm we work with. I took the liberty of contacting her after hanging up with you earlier tonight.
We gave Laura a summary of the situation and had her watch the exchange we had on tape, especially the part where Cramer threatened to upload incriminating material into my computer. Laura watched attentively, then explained the game plan.
"Ok, there are two things they can do. Either they come here during the day, probably with your wife's help, then sit at your computer and upload their shit after they had changed the date to make it appear like the material has been downloaded prior to Cramer's visit. If they do that, your camera system will record everything. Just make sure you leave it in record mode before you leave for work in the morning."
She took a small grey box from her bag.
"The other thing they could do is to access your computer remotely to do their monkey business. I'm going to install this module upstream of your modem so that we can record whoever tries to access your router and what they try to upload or download.
"Take a few minutes to transfer all your personal or sensible data and files as well onto a flash drive and delete everything on your computer. The idea is to prevent them from accessing it. I'll give you a hand with this, even if only to make sure there is no hidden data that you leave on the computer unknowingly," Laura explained. She really seemed to know her stuff.
Harry jumped in.
"You see Garrett, right now, the only thing you have is a recording to sue him for blackmailing. Your case would be dismissed before you can explain it, because in public opinion it's not a very serious crime and the judges he knows would probably support him. So the best thing that could happen is that Cramer actually uploaded illegal material into your computer and told the police that he has evidence that you're in possession of illegal stuff. Then we will have a trace showing that everything had been done without you sitting in front of the computer. With the advance warning that Cramer gave us and that you recorded, we will have enough material to get back at him with a serious case before a criminal court. At this point, none of his judge friends will want to appear as condoning criminal activities, especially anything involving child porn, so they will dump him."
"That's sick and twisted," I said.
"Yes, but so is Cramer. Last thing: can you do without your computer for the next few days? If Cramer goes forward with his plan and reports you, the police inspectors will want to check the computer records to see if someone had actually accessed the illegal files after they were uploaded. If you don't touch it, then the records will be clean, and that will be even better for us. Also, make sure that your cell phone does not connect to your home Wi-fi in the coming days in case they try to use your phone instead of your computer."
Laura installed the surveillance module and wiped out all sensitive information (including my company paperwork) from my computer and my cell phone.
"The module will send us a copy of all access requests. I will contact Harry and you as soon as we have something. Good luck guys," Laura told us before she left.
"Ok, now back to more down-to-earth things," Harry said. "Garrett, do you want to file for divorce right now or do you want to wait until Daphne comes back to see if all this can be worked out?"
"Noooo!!! I want a divorce, yesterday if possible! There is no way that I can stay married to someone who can be as easily manipulated and corrupted by self-proclaimed powerful men. No, I want out, no hesitation."
"Ok then. I will call Claudia Milton tomorrow. She's the Family Law expert at my office. She's good, fair and efficient. I'll ask her to give you a call ASAP. You'll like her," Harry said.
We talked a bit more. I gave Harry the access code to my recording system, so that he could see 'live' what was going on and access what was stored on the cloud.
Christine and Harry left around 23:00. I popped a zopiclone and was out within half an hour.
It was 8:30 the next day when I received a call from Claudia Milton. She had just hung up with Harry who had explained all the details of my predicament. She was expecting me in her office at 11:00.
The meeting with her went well. She knew of Derek Cramer's reputation and was very sorry for me that I had to cross paths with that man of 'questionable reputation'. She assured me that since I had bought the house before I met Daphne and that her name was not on the deed, the house remained mine. We had no children, so the divorce would be very simple.
"What about my company? Is there a way they could force me to sell it and split the money?" I asked.
Claudia called Harry and asked him to join us. It did not take long for Harry to reassure everybody.
"Don't worry about that. There is a clause in your marriage contract that clearly indicates that your company is yours and that she can't have any claim on it. Now, they will probably try anyway, but I had everything rechecked and it's a dead end for them if they want to go there."
I left Claudia Milton's office at 12:30 and took care of all financial issues, as she had instructed me. She told me that there was nothing more I could do for now, that she was taking charge of everything, and that Daphne would be served at her office on Monday morning.
I also went to the store to replace my destroyed cell phone and took the rest of weekend to do some yard work and some catching up on my favorite TV series. Part of me was mad at Daphne, but the other part was still in denial, still unable to fully believe what was happening. I knew that I would eventually grieve for my marriage, but at that precise moment I was still too keyed up to be sad.
I was not looking forward to seeing Daphne return home on Sunday. I hesitated between sleeping in the guest room or sending her to the guest room. There was no way I would sleep with that stupid bitch again. I finally decided that it was my house, and that she was the one who had walked out on me, so there was no way I would give up my bed. She would sleep in the guest room until she found an apartment and moved out. I carried all her clothes and toiletries into the guest room, then went to the hardware store to by a new lockable doorknob and installed it on my bedroom door, keeping the key in my pocket.
When I heard Asshole's car pulling in the next evening, I put the surveillance system in recording mode. I saw Daphne giving a long French kiss to her boss, then get out of his car and wave to him as he drove away. I was "reading" in the living room when she got in.
"Hi Honey, how was your weekend?" she asked. She seemed nervous. She was doing her best not to show it, but I could tell she was not as cool as she pretended.
I did not even look at her, let alone answer.
"Ok, keep sulking and pouting. Derek was right when he said that you would do that, that you did not have the brains to understand my needs or the maturity to accept your inability to fulfill them."
She went upstairs.
I started counting: 1, 2, 3...
"GARRETT MORRISON!? What is this? You installed a lock on our bedroom!?!?"
"Correction: on MY bedroom," I said calmly. "All your things are in the guest bedroom. You will sleep there until you find an apartment."
"What the fuck? Wait until I tell Derek about this. That was not the deal!"
"Deal? What deal? I haven't signed or even accepted any of your Dickhead's crap! Either you sleep in the guest room, or you leave. Maybe Cramer's wife would make some room for you in her marital bed?"
She looked daggers at me. She did not say a word, stormed to the guest room and slammed the door. I followed up upstairs and yelled at her through the door:
"Speaking of deal, what was in there for me, by the way?"
She did not reply. I went back upstairs. It took 15 minutes before my phone started to buzz. It was a series of text messages from a number I did not know.
'What am I hearing, cuck? You don't allow Daphne in her own bedroom? I thought I had explained the program to you in simple English. Even a shop monkey like you can understand this.'
'Listen, I'll turn a blind eye to your childish crisis for tonight and let you cool down. But tomorrow, you will prepare Daphne her favorite dinner and apologize to her for your behavior. If you behave for the rest of the week, I will authorize her to have sex with you next weekend.'
'But if you don't do as I say, you will find out that my threats are real, very real. So you do as I told you and you ask no questions. Is it clear?'
I could not believe my eyes. This guy was at the intersection point between callous, delusional, and stupid. I did not reply, but I made a snapshot of the conversation and sent the image to Harry.
Harry replied after 3 minutes: 'Unbelievable. This guy thinks he's a hotshot, but he's just a world-class idiot. Don't erase the conversation, and don't reply to him.'
Cramer sent a couple more requests for acknowledgement, to which I did not reply. He eventually stopped. I did not see Daphne again that evening. I went to bed, locking the door and leaving the recording system on. I texted one of my assistants to tell him be that I would be in late the next day.
I waited until Daphne had left in the morning before getting up and prepared. I fixed myself breakfast and ate it while downloading what my system had recorded during the night. Daphne had not left the guest room before this morning. She had showered in the guest bathroom and left without having breakfast. But I was surprised she had not tried to do anything with my computer, as I was expecting.
I received a text from Claudia Milton.
'Hi Garrett, I just wanted to confirm that the divorce papers will be served at 10:00 this morning. I also told Harry. Have as nice a day as possible, despite everything.'
Before I left for the shop, I double-checked that my home system was still recording and that it would send an alert on my phone if it got activated. I had to meet with the architect at 11:00 to discuss the last modifications that my current client had requested. I busied myself with some trifles until the meeting. I was expecting a call from Daphne a few minutes after she was served, but nothing came. At 10:45, I texted Harry that I was surprised Daphne had not tried to contact me.
'This means she has talked to Cramer about the divorce papers. They might as well already be working on their threats. I'll call Laura. Stay tuned.' Harry replied.
My meeting went well. I was surprisingly able to stay focused. I took the rest of the afternoon to do some maintenance on my tools and some tidying up in the shop.
It was 15:12 when I received the alarm on my cell phone. I texted Harry that the show was on the road. He texted a thumbs up.
I connected to my system and was able to see and hear what was happening live in my house. Daphne had entered with a man I did not know. They went to our home office and fired up my computer. They did not speak much. It took the guy a few minutes to crack my password, and then he inserted a flash drive in my computer and spent a good 10 minutes doing his dirty business. The good thing is that I could get clear pictures of his face. Daphne went to the guest room and packed her stuff in garbage bags (her suitcases were in the master bedroom closet, poor little thing...)
When the guy was done, he turned off the computer and told Daphne he was leaving. Daphne finished packing her stuff and left the house at 15:56. Harry called me a few seconds after the recording had stopped.
"Ok Garrett, now go home and act normally. My guess is that they will call the cops tonight or tomorrow, so that you will receive a visit from an inspector. It takes a few hours to obtain a search warrant, so you can expect to see them tomorrow."
"Are they gonna arrest me?" I asked.
"It is possible. But if they do arrest you, you say nothing. You answer none of their questions. I have already contacted a good friend of mine, Steven Lindsay. He's a criminal defense lawyer. I took the liberty of transferring him all relevant material, including the recordings. He says this will be the easiest case of the year!" Harry replied.
I gave Harry the code to activate/deactivate the recording on my alarm system in case I was arrested. We chatted a bit more, then hung up. I was almost a basket case when I drove home.
Nothing happened that evening. No visit from the cops. No call from Daphne. No nasty text messages from Asshole Cramer.
I fixed myself a sandwich and ate in front of the television. I debated with myself about calling my parents to tell them about the situation, but finally decided it was better to wait until the storm was behind me. I'm not sure my mother would understand anything about tampering with computer system files or videos stored in the cloud. That would just make her anxious for nothing and she would not be able to bring any added value to the situation.
I was at the shop the next day when I received another alert that someone was in the house. I did like the day before. I texted Harry and connected to my system. The cops had entered my house and were trying to disable the alarm system. They must have shut the system down because I lost the communication. Harry texted me that he had seen everything and had transferred the images to Steven Lindsay.
About 1 hour after the cops had arrived at my house, two other cops showed up at my shop and arrested me. I was handcuffed and put into a police car. They quickly read me my rights and started asking questions to which I refused to answer. When I got to the police station, they took my cell phone and wallet, and I was put in a cell with 5 other guys. Not a lot of exchanges. Everybody was doing their best to stay focused on the floor tiles.
After about 3 hours, a guard came to take me to the meeting room where I would meet my lawyer.
"What the fuck," I told the guard. "I never even told you who my lawyer is!"
The guy said nothing. He left me in the room, alone. The door opened after 10 minutes and there was Derek Cramer, with a grin the size of the Golden Gate.
He sat in front of me, without saying a word. I looked at him in the eyes and said nothing. After he was satisfied that he had completely established his superiority and made clear that he was winning the war, he gave me a triumphant look and finally started talking.
"Now, do you see how serious I am?"
I did not reply.
"I asked you a question, you little bug. ANSWER ME!"
Again, nothing.
"It will be your word against mine, Morrison. The word of a carpenter versus the word of one of the most prominent lawyers in the city. Guess what will happen...?" he asked, with his eternal smirk.
He stood up.
"Ok, it seems you need to reflect some more about what I told you. We'll talk again tomorrow morning then! Maybe a night in this communal cell with your friends will bring you to your senses," he said before leaving the room. I was brought back to the cell. There were only 4 other guys by then.
Another guy came to see me in the middle of the afternoon. I was brought into the same meeting room. There waited a tall blond man, with a stern face. A 'don't-mess-with-me' face. He stood up when I entered.
"Good afternoon, Garrett. Nice to meet you. I'm Steven Lindsay. You can call me Steven. Harry called me earlier this afternoon saying he could not get a hold of you. With everything that was happening, we figured they might have already arrested you and brought you here."
I proceeded to tell Steven everything that had taken place that afternoon, including the threatening visit from Derek Cramer. Steven's jaw dropped to the floor. But he said nothing.
"Ok, you will have to appear before a judge tomorrow morning. The judge will certainly set a hefty caution, but don't worry, Harry will take care of everything. I know it will be a shitty night, but don't lose hope, Harry and I are here for you. In the meantime, keep up with the good work of not answering any of their questions. I have already officially taken your case, and I will make sure Cramer doesn't visit you again."
I appeared before a judge the next day. I was accused of possession of child pornography. I of course pleaded not guilty. The bail was fixed at 25k. I was released early that afternoon. I could not leave the limits of the city and I could not contact my soon-to-be ex-wife or Derek Cramer or anyone from their office, and I was forbidden to be alone in the presence of any person under 18. But at least I could work in my shop.
They gave me back my cell phone and wallet. Steven took me to a late lunch, and we chatted a bit more.
"I did not want to say too much at the police station yesterday because their walls have ears. But I made a few calls yesterday and did some research, and I was able to find quite a lot of interesting material about our friend Derek Cramer.
"Let me tell you a few things that will reassure you. First, when cops get a search warrant, it takes a least a few hours before they can review the material they found and obtain an arrest warrant. In your case, you were brought here before they were even done searching your house.
"Second, you were not allowed to call me or Harry, but they allowed Derek Cramer to see you. These two elements make it obvious that the whole thing was staged. And this is completely illegal."
"Yeah, but Harry says that Cramer has all the judges wrapped around his finger," I said.
"Oh no. Not all of them. You see, you can't make that many friends without inevitably making some enemies," he said with a wink.
"I have no idea what I will find at home. I hope my loving wife and her asshole did not steal everything."
"Don't worry about that. Harry went to your place just after the cops left. He re-armed the system and put it on recording again. Nobody showed up."
I went back to the shop to pick up my car and then went home to take a deserved and necessary shower. The architect had left a message saying that they had updated the plan and gotten the client's approval. That was good news. It meant I could go back to work the next day and occupy my mind with something else.
The house was a mess. They had searched everything. Apart from the doctored computer, I knew they could not find anything compromising. I started tidying up everything.
That evening, I cried for the first time. Just a week before I was a happy man in what I thought was a good marriage. Now I was a suspect of a crime, about to get divorced and being played like a puppet by my wife's boss. What had I done to deserve all that shit...? At least, I had not seen any reporters. I guess they were all too busy biting into the newly discovered multi-billion unexplained hole in public finances to care about little Garrett...
Steven finally called me at the end of the following week with a major surprise: all charges against me had been dropped! And it seemed that the inspector who was assigned the cause was not the type of guy to mess with, especially on the topic of blackmailing. Apparently, he was not very much impressed by Cramer's ploy and made sure charges would be filed imminently against Derek Cramer for blackmail, fabrication of evidence and possession of child pornography. Daphne would be accused of conspiracy to commit the said crimes.
Harry called me 10 minutes after I had hung up with Steven to invite me to dinner that evening. On my way to Harry's house, I got a call from Claudia Milton, my family law attorney.
"Garrett, Daphne's lawyer called me this afternoon and told me that she was prepared to sign the divorce papers without changes, but under one condition. She wants a one-hour private meeting with you. She says it can be at my office."
Daphne was probably the last person I wanted to see. But I told myself that if that meeting could accelerate the divorce, then it would be a good time investment. I told Claudia to proceed, that I would meet Daphne.
I had a pleasant evening with Harry and Christine. It was the first truly relaxing evening in two weeks. Christine had prepared coconut shrimps and rice. It was to die for. I felt at peace when I got back home that evening.
The meeting with Daphne was scheduled for the following Wednesday. I was nervous to meet her, even if I had no reason to be nervous, since I was the victim in that pathetic plot. When I got there, I was directed to Claudia's office, who had asked me to arrive a few minutes early so that she could talk to me.
"Garrett, I don't know what she wants to tell you, but I must warn you: there are criminal accusations pending upon her head. Do not give her any ammunition, do not say anything that could be used to discredit you if you're required to testify in court. We have no right to search her for microphones or recording devices, so keep in mind that she could be recording you."
"Ok, thanks for the warning," I said.
I was brought to a little private meeting room. Daphne was already there. I was expecting to see the bitchy and arrogant Daphne of the previous weeks. But the Daphne who was sitting in that room was a broken woman. I felt a wave of compassion for her, but the vivid memory of her little act with Cramer before leaving for their weekend quickly dissolved any positive feeling I could have for her.
"Thank you for accepting this meeting, Garrett."
"What could you possibly want to tell me Daphne, after everything you did to me?"
She started to cry.
"Garrett, I'm so ashamed of what I did to you. You're a wonderful husband. You didn't deserve any of that. I was completely under Derek Cramer's spell. When I heard that the accusations against you had been dropped and that he and I would probably stand accused, it gave me a shock that broke the spell. I can hardly look at myself in a mirror. And all that for the most pathetic sex ever."
She kept on ad-libbing with her analysis of her own behavior for the next 30 minutes. She did not question me or try to obtain any information from me.
"I understand we are done, Garrett. If I was in your shoes, I'd do the same and seek a divorce. So no, I don't blame you for divorcing me. I want to tell you that I quit my job. I told Derek Cramer I didn't ever want to speak to him again. I went back to my parents' place. I told them everything. They're mad at me. Let's say the atmosphere in the house is far from warm and cozy."
I looked at her, saying nothing. Frankly, there was nothing intelligent to reply to all this. She had made her bed, now she had to sleep in it.
"The coming months and maybe years will be a tough ride for me, Garrett. I don't know what life has in store for me. The only thing I hope is that a few years down the road, when all is said and done, I will have a chance to at least be friends with you."
"This is far, Daphne. Very far. We'll see when we get there. Good luck." I stood up and left the room. A part of me still loved her, but there was no way I could be with her again. I had fancied some revenge against her, but the events had made her a miserable woman. She had learned something, and there was no need for further revenge.
EPILOGUE
Daphne was able to get a plea bargain in exchange for her full cooperation with the authorities against Derek Cramer. She moved to another city. I have lost contact with her since then.
When the accusations against Cramer were made public, two other men stood up and filed a complaint against him for blackmail. He ended up with a sentence of 12 years of jail time. Since the police had recordings of all my interactions with him, I was not even required to testify.
After Cramer was found guilty, I filed a civil case against him and his firm, or what was left of it. I was able to get 2 M$, from which a hefty percentage went to Harry. I pretended to be outraged but it was all in good fun. Harry had been so helpful that I was happy to give him some well-deserved money.
My company is doing very well. I am in the final negotiations to acquire a specialty door manufacturer. This will be a nice addition to what we do. I now have 6 employees and they are like a second family.
I was invited at a BBQ party thrown by Harry and Christine a few days after my divorce was official. I had never met Christine's younger sister before. Kathy and I hit it off instantly. To this day, we have been dating for a few weeks. We will see where life brings us!
A few weeks after the civil case against CBH and Cramer was settled, I paid a visit to Cramer in jail. I had told the guard that I had important things to say to Cramer, and that I did not want him to leave the conversation before I was done. The guy gave me a wry smile, and told me to rest assured, that I would be able to tell Cramer everything I wanted.
Cramer walked in and turned around to leave when he saw it was me. The guard ordered him to sit down and listen.
"What do you want, cuck?" he opened. I looked at him with a sly grin.
"Oh, striking preemptively? Interesting. Rumor has it that your wife Jessica has filed for divorce? Maybe I should ask her out to dinner and offer her a night she'll remember?"
"You fucking bastard! If you do th..."
"Don't waste your pathetic spit, asshole. I've already done that. The little hummingbird she has tattooed on her upper left thigh is just lovely, isn't it, CUCK?" I asked, with a smirk.
He was as red as a beet. He was about to threaten me, again. But at the last millisecond, he realized that this would not help his cause.
"Anyway, the reason I am here today is not to talk about Jessica. I just wanted to tell you that you're an idiot. An idiot who must be reminded once in a while that he is an idiot.
"See, threatening a man in his own house and explaining in advance what you will do to him if he doesn't comply with your ridiculous demands is not really a sign of intelligence, is it? Even a carpenter would know that. Let's say that on this one, you were the one left in the dust!" I started laughing. He started boiling.
"Oh, and weren't you the one who told me that possessing some kind of material was illegal for a simple man like me but perfectly ok for a man of power like you? I am so much in awe of your power right now. I am overwhelmed by your grandeur. Maybe it's your jumpsuit? It suits you so well!"
Cramer was so mad he was now approaching neurological disintegration.
"Before I go, I have something that both Jessica and Daphne thought you might find useful, some day," I said. I gave him a sheet of folded paper. He unfolded it and examined it for a few seconds.
"What the hell is that?" he asked.
"Case in point!" I laughed. "This is a drawing of female genitalia, commonly known as a 'pussy'."
I put my finger on a precise spot on the drawing.
"They wanted you to know that the clitoris is HERE."
