When I was a kid, I had the biggest crush on my best friend's sister. She never even knew I was alive, but I always thought she was beautiful. I saw her all the time, and usually, she never even acknowledged my existence. Which, being a shy kid anyway, was okay with me. I grew up worshipping this girl from a distance, and as I grew out of the shy stage, I grew out of my infatuation with her. Once I graduated high school, my buddy and I went our own ways for the most part. He went into the military, and I went on to college, and eventually running my own business. We kept in touch as best we could, and whenever he came home, we'd go out and drink.
One of those times he mentioned how his sister had ended up in a bad marriage to some asshole who treated her like shit, and if his mother hadn't made him promise to stay out of it, he'd go over and beat the shit out of the guy, and get him out of her life. I sympathized with him, and tried to keep him from doing something stupid while he was drunk. We'd always laugh about it the next day, and he'd go back to his unit, and I'd go back to my life.
He finally got out of the military about six months ago, and I hired him to work for me at my company. I knew he was good with security, and he proved me right. The first month on the job, he caught one of my coworkers trying to smuggle secret prototypes out of the building. The guy was going to try to sell them to our competitors, because he was pissed he got passed over for promotion. Now, he's in jail on federal charges, since the prototype he tried to steal was from a government project. I gave Jack a nice bonus for his work.
We'd still go out and drink once a month or so, and he was still trying to figure out how to rescue his sister from the asshole, as we'd named him. Jack knew he was cheating on Stacy, but he couldn't prove it to anyone. I knew Jack was pissed, I just didn't know he was obsessed. A couple of months later, Jack called me at 2am, and asked me to go with him somewhere. I agreed, and he picked me up. We drove to a little out of the way motel, and he pointed out the asshole's car to me.
"He's in one of these rooms, fucking some bimbo he met at a bar earlier tonight. I'm trying to figure out what room he's in, so I can go kill him."
"Jack, be serious. You're not going to kill him. You can hurt him even more by letting me help you."
"I want him dead for doing this to my sister."
"Don't you think your family would be hurt by you going to prison for murder?"
"True. I don't want to hurt them, I just want this fucker gone."
"Trust me, I can help you do this, legally. You in?"
"Fuck yeah, I'm in."
"Okay, let's get out of here. We can't do anything about it right now." Jack drove away, but before we got more than a block or so, we were pulled over by the police.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. We have a report that you're harassing a guest at the motel."
As it turns out, the asshole had spotted Jack's car, and when he followed him to the motel, he called the cops, hoping to embarrass him by claiming harassment. Jack and I convinced the cop we weren't going to be any problem, and eventually, he let us go.
"I sympathize, but you can't follow him around all the time. At least, not in this car. He knows it too well. If you can change cars, do it. I hope you can catch him, legally, of course."
"I have a plan to do just that, officer."
Jack and I went back to my place, and made plans. He went home, and I crawled back into my comfortable bed. Over the next week or so, we assembled what we were going to need to do this. I have a few friends in low places, and called in some favors. I assembled enough covert camera equipment to rig up a room, and found the right place to do it. An old lady friend of mine volunteered to be the bait, and we set her up in the asshole's favorite haunts. The second night out, he took the bait. She brought him back to the room, and fucked his brains out, on camera. We now had video proof of him cheating on Stacy.
The next day, I went to the asshole's work, with my portable DVD player. His secretary showed me in when I showed her my business card, and since he doesn't know me, he was confused as to why I was there. I showed him the recording, and he went white.
"Who in the fuck are you?"
"Actually, I am an old friend of the family. I'm not looking to cause problems for you, I just want you to go away. You're going to go home, pack your things, and leave Stacy. You'll make sure that she's well taken care of, and this video will go away. Any problems, any bullshit whatsoever, and copies of this go to your family, your church, and more importantly, your bosses. This is a family-based company, and I'm sure that your bosses would take a dim view of someone in such a position of trust cheating on his wife."
"I...I..."
"Shut your mouth, my friend. It's not a flattering look for you at all. You know what needs to be done, so I would suggest you do it. I think 24 hours is enough time, don't you?"
"I don't know what kind of game you're playing..."
I leaned forward and put my hands on his desk. I'm a big guy, and he's not, so he shrank away from me pretty quickly.
"No game. A simple fact of life. Your marriage is about to suffer irreconcilable differences, and the best thing for you is to move out, and work towards a fair divorce settlement. That's exactly what you'll tell your bosses, or I'll show them the video. Either way, you'll be divorced; this way, you get to keep your dignity. Which is a lot more than you deserve, quite frankly."
"Get out of my office."
"I'm leaving, but remember. You have 24 hours to get out of the house. Any more, and this makes the rounds."
I left his office, and his secretary stopped me at the door.
"Sir? Is it true?"
"Does he have his office wired for sound?"
"Yes, sir, he does. Is he cheating on Stacy?"
"You heard the evidence."
"I'll make that if he doesn't do what he needs to do, that you'll be able to go right to the top with that."
"Why?"
"He's an asshole. He hits on me constantly, even after I filed a complaint against him. He thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread, and if he didn't have money, women wouldn't give him the time of day."
"If he doesn't follow through, I'll see you tomorrow."
She smiled, and I left the office. I called Jack, and told him how it went. He was at Stacy's house, and I suggested he get out of there before the asshole got home. I knew he'd just piss him off, and I didn't want to blow the whole plan. He agreed, and called his mom to come over instead.
The asshole did even better than we could have hoped. Instead of going home and doing what we wanted him to do, he left work early and went straight to a bar. Within an hour, he was tanked to almost double the legal limit. That's when he jumped behind the wheel, and headed for home. He almost made it, too. Less than a block from home, and he plowed head first into a phone pole, and since he wasn't wearing a seat belt, the sudden stop sent him out the front window, and right into the phone pole that started it. Death was instant, and just like that, problem solved.
As an old friend of the family, I was invited to the funeral, and as much as I didn't want to go, I went. I hadn't seen Stacy for close to a decade, and this wasn't going to be the best time for a reunion. I sat towards the back, and listened to the eulogy, and to hear that, he was the greatest guy in the world. I ended up next to his secretary, and whenever things got too syrupy, she'd nudge me, and we'd share a quiet smile.
After the service, I waited until the end to go up and see the family. I shook hands with Jack, and hugged his mom. Stacy was with someone else, with her back turned to me. When she finally turned around, I could tell there was no recognition in her eyes. Jack leaned over and whispered in her ear, and all of a sudden, she lit up.
"Oh, my god. It is you. Wow, you turned out pretty good, Eric. Never would have thought it, considering what a dork you were as a kid."
I looked her over, without being too obvious about it. Stacy had always been a little larger than most girls, and time had filled her out nicely.
