Chapter 6
Leonard felt his pulse quicken at the sight of Jake Ralston's car in the employee's parking lot. Damn it, I've got to get a better grip on myself or I'll blurt the whole thing out myself, he muttered under his breath as he parked his three-year-old Ford a few spaces away. There was an empty slot next to Ralston's car, but something edged him away from parking there, as if even being close to his automobile was somehow precarious.
This is ridiculous, he said to himself, there's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. It's not like I was wearing a huge sign on my back that said "I fucked Jake's wife". Anna saw absolutely nothing peculiar about my behavior last night and if my own wife didn't suspect anything, why would a man hardly know; I'll just go in like any other morning and go to my desk and mind my own business and nothing will happen. Nothing will happen.
Leonard remembered how easy it had been when he got home last night after leaving Connie, how guilty he had felt on the way there, how ashamed he had been when Anna greeted him with a big hug and a dinner fit for guests. But, to his own amazement, he had discovered that the shame and guilt washed away like so much grime from a hard day's work, and by the time they were sitting alone in the living room with television and a cup of coffee, it was as if nothing had happened. Connie herself could have come to the door and he could have kept his composure. Sure, it'll be all right, just take it easy, old boy, you're shaking like a leaf. Maybe it's not every day you screw the boss's wife, but you'll get through it all right, just stay calm.
Ralston's office door was open when he walked into the front office reception area and his own telephone buzzed before he had seated himself at his desk.
"Melton, come in here," was all he said, but it was enough. No loud voice, no curses, no threats. But it was enough ... God help me, he knows! He knows!
Leonard thought for a fleeting instant of just running away, of racing out the front door and never looking back, but he swallowed his fear and walked instead into his boss's office. He was a man, goddamnit, and he wouldn't run like some sissy!
Jake did not even look up as he entered. He seemed to be staring at some defect in the wood top of his desk. There was a pencil in his right hand and it snapped in half as Jake spoke. "Shut the door, Melton ... what I've got to say won't take long."
Leonard closed the door and stood between it and Jake's desk; he knew if the big man decided to get violent, it would be a pretty one-sided match. "Yes, Jake," he said when his boss showed no sign of continuing. He was immediately irritated with himself-his voice seemed so thin and cracked compared with Jake's booming baritone.
"I won't beat around the bush with you, Melton." Jake looked up at him and Leonard felt a shiver at the hatred in this man's eyes. "Connie told me the whole story. She didn't mean to, but she did. I ought'a break your goddamn neck and I just might yet, but I don't aim to go gettin' my ass in a mess that could cost me my job. One termination at Pine Junction is enough for a while."
Leonard opened his mouth to speak but the words would not come ... termination. He'd be out of work when he left this office; God, how would they have? Where could he find another job?
"This paper here is my letter to the home office." He held up an ominously brief typed piece of paper. "I typed it myself so nobody in the office knows. Some things a man don't want spread all over town. It says I want you fired immediately for what they call 'moral terpitude'. You know what that means, college boy?"
Leonard nodded. "Yes, I know." It means I may never get another job! It makes me look like some kind of pervert, some guy who got the axe for peeking in the ladies' John!
"There will be some questions, of course. But they know how to keep their mouths shut up there, and I've got plenty of friends in the home office." He glared at Leonard until the younger man finally glanced away, unable to face him any longer. "Now the question is: do I send that letter or do I throw it away."
Leonard felt his heart skip a couple of beats. "I don't understand. Why would you...."
"Oh, shut up," the husky older man interrupted. "It ain't "because I want you around, that's for sure. But I've only got nine more months of you in any case, even if I don't send that letter." He pushed his chair back and stood up, cockily aware that the smaller man unconsciously edged away as he rose to his feet. "But there is one way you can keep your job, Leonard, and just one way...." A sneering grin suddenly materialized incongruously on his face. " ... an eye for an eye, like the Good Book says.
"I don't see what you mean," he said, though he was beginning to get the picture.
"An eye for an eye ... a wife for a wife. You went in my house and tricked and seduced my wife."
"Is that what she told you?"
"You wouldn't want to argue, would you?" Jake snarled viciously. "I wouldn't want to hear you say it was the other way around. Insulting my wife like that after what you did would call for a poke in the mouth, buster!"
"All right, all right, but I'd never agree to what you just said, never! Do you really think I'd tell my wife to ... to...."
"What's wrong, college boy? Can't ya even say it? It was all right when it was my wife, wasn't it? Fuck's the word, you son of a bitch ... fuck!"
"Okay, fuck! I won't send my wife to you like some servant girl! Job or no job, it's out of the question!"
Jake stepped around from behind his desk and for a moment Leonard was certain he would take a swing. But instead. his face softened and his voice lowered to a calm, rational tone. "Just get out of here, Melton, before I lose my temper. Go home and think about what I said and call me before three o'clock to let me know whether to mail that letter or not. Three o'clock, Melton."
"I can tell you now, I would never go along with such a thing in a million years!"
"Out, Melton, right now!" Jake growled in his best Marine Corps bark. "Not another word!"
Jake Ralston looked up at the wall clock and waited until a half minute had passed and then picked up his phone and punched for an outside line. Connie was on the line before the first ring. "He took the bait, baby. By three o'clock, I'll be on my way into that sweet little bitch's drawers, you watch! Three o'clock!"