Chapter 12
Has it only been three months since that afternoon? Bill asked himself as he motored home from a business trip north. It was unseasonably hot outside, almost a hundred, but inside his brand-new Continental, it was spring-time cool and the car reverberated with the country-and-western cartridge that played in the built-in player.
Sure, it was only three months, and look at him now. It was just like he had imagined it would be, just like falling off a log. Nothing stood in his way, and once he had the money he needed, there was no need to make it the easy way... this kind of legitimate operation was easy enough!
His mind wandered as he drove down the long empty highway, two days ahead of schedule and on his way home to a surprise reunion with his wife Karen... he had heard her tell the story so often now that it seemed like a memory of his own. Sure, she had been nervous at first, afraid that something might go wrong, but that was just beautiful! It made her look natural, like the wronged little bride she was supposed to be! If only he could have been there to actually see her go through her little performance, man, what a show that must have been! And those dumb, cuckolded husbands buying her act, hook line and sinker!
Tom Malloy nervously waited for the woman who had telephoned him to show, his hand shaking as he downed his third vodka martini in the motel lounge. She had only said it concerned his wife, Sandy, and her husband... nothing more, but it wasn't hard to put the pieces together.
He sat anxiously, worriedly cursing himself for all those out-of-town trips, especially the ones that weren't really necessary. He knew he could have eased off on this twenty-fourhour-a-day work-drive of his months ago. And why not? They were pretty well fixed, the house nearly paid for. All the right clubs and two new cars in the garage... Damn it, why didn't I stay home and keep an eye on her?
He knew without turning around that Karen had entered the bar; he heard the humming of the horny male customers, mostly salesmen away from home, rise to a feverish pitch as a pretty young woman crossed the red-carpeted lounge and went to the bar. Tom laughed sardonically to himself... I wonder how many of these guys know what their wives are up to right now while they sit in some bar a hundred miles from home and ogle another man's wife?
"Mr. M—Malloy," she began haltingly, her hands fidgeting at her slender waist. He turned and saw the look of fear and apprehension on her pretty young face and he knew this was the real thing — no actress in the world could have feigned this mask of dread and shame.
"Right... please sit down, and call me Tom, okay?" he managed to smile.
Karen climbed onto the stool beside him and glanced around to be sure no one was within earshot.
"You had something to say to me?" he said calmly, trying to appear unconcerned, or at the very least, less than panicky.
"I w—won't waste any time beating around the bush, Mr., uh, Tom... My husband and your wife, well, they have been, uh... how can I say it... "
"They've been having an affair?" he asked thinly, his voice cracking in spite of himself.
Karen shook her pretty head. "Not exactly... I don't think it's been going on very long. Bill said it was just that one time. You see, I was getting kind of suspicious of his behavior lately and, well, to tell the truth, I followed him. I was parked on your street when he went to your house last week. I knew something was going on, I just could feel it. You know how you get those feelings sometimes that something is wrong?"
Tom nodded, sipping frantically at the dregs of his drink. He signalled the bartender for another. "Yes, Karen... I know exactly what you mean. Sandy hasn't been herself... for about a week now."
"Well, when I got out of the car and went up the hill next to your house, you know, the one with all the azaleas and the pine trees."
"Yes, I know."
"Anyway, when I got high enough to see them, they were, well, they were naked and your wife was on top... they were making love, Tom. I saw them!" She lowered her head and managed a tear... a tear that looked to be of grief but was secretly from relief. Relief that she had gotten through the worst of this story without cracking.
"Do you remember the wall behind my pool, Karen? The red one with the flowers on it?"
She looked up, her eyes moist with tears... He's trying to trip me up, just like Bill said he might! Boy, I'm glad I know the answer to that one!
"I remember the wall... but it was blue, I think, and I can't honestly say that I recall any flowers on it. But at a time like that, you don't look for details, you know?"
Tom smiled weakly. "You're right, Karen... it is blue. That was a cheap trick and I'm sorry. But what do you intend to do now?"
"I'm going to divorce him, that's why I wanted to see you. I just thought you deserved to know what was going on before I dredge it up in court."
Tom flinched... visions of his career sinking like a battle-weary freighter flashed before his eyes. "Uh, Karen... let me ask you a delicate question."
"Okay."
"Could you see your way to forgive your husband if you knew he would never see my wife Sandy again? I mean, if I confront her and put an end to this right away, could you possibly consider not filing for divorce?"
Karen hesitated, remembering that Bill told her to take her time, not to appear too eager to change her mind. "Well... I can hardly erase the memory of that sight, Tom. It wasn't very pretty, you have to understand."
He gulped hard. "It's not very pretty for me either, Karen. But I'll be honest with you. There's more at stake for me here than your divorce. I don't mean to appear callous, but it would be worth a great deal to me to keep this quiet. In exchange for my cooperation in seeing that it never happens again, of course."
Karen tried to look innocent and it was not difficult with her pert little girl's face. "What... what do you mean?"
"I mean exactly this — would a couple of thousand dollars help you change your mind? I don't mean as a bribe or a pay-off. You could use it to take a trip or establish a bit of independence for yourself in case it ever happened again. How about it?"
Karen's eyes widened in surprise... real surprise, for this was double what they hoped to get!
"Listen... don't make up your mind now. Think about it over night and call me in the morning at this private number." He handed her a card and thanked her, placing his hand affectionately on her shoulder and kissing her on the forehead before he left.
When he was gone, Karen ordered herself a glass of champagne and hurried to the nearest pay phone... they were on their way to the big time!
Bill was laughing out loud as he neared the city limits, passing the crummy shop where he used to work. Impishly, he gave a loud honk with his air horns and waved, knowing that the pansy ex-boss of his would cringe and probably spend the afternoon on the verge of tears. He had lost most of his business to Hodge's Pool Service now, along with four of his ablest men, and though he blustered and shrieked like a woman with threats of lawsuits, nothing had ever come of it.
The Allen guy had fallen for the game even easier than the first sucker, and though he only came up with a grand, Karen took it unquestioningly. She had been under the strictest of instructions not to mention money or to hint for more if it came up... there had to be no way the cops could nail him with an extortion rap if one of those guys got smart and sung to the district attorney's office.
Of course, the Aliens and the Malloys were not on his list of customers, but with the town growing in leaps and bounds, and fresh big money arriving almost daily, he had more business than he could handle just in service contracts. Plus the gravy he got from contracting for new pools and farming out the deals with a nice fat kick-back made it easier!
Bill turned up the radio and sang along with the nasal C & W artist... Yes, sir, he had it made! Nothing could knock him out of the saddle now, nothing in the whole goddamn world!