Chapter 6 A Rose with Another Name
The Coxwells returned to work on the following day, a Tuesday. Since Sarah did not work Mondays, her arrival on Tuesday looked normal. After the usual greetings and the usual small talk, she proceeded to do her job. No one (except the LLP members) had any idea what she had actually done the day before. In his own office, Jim would only confirm that he had been working on a confidential assignment and therefore couldn't talk about it. Like a good lawyer, he managed to say that without any hint of irony. His colleagues took him at this word.
So Sarah and Jim did what they always did. In fact, several weeks passed during which they heard nothing at all from or about the LLP. They continued with their lives, did their jobs, kept their bodies in shape and did the usual family things at home. Sarah also continued her regular volunteer activities in the wives' social club.
Popular among their colleagues, the couple received invitations to their colleagues homes but politely declined most of them. Their lives were already hectic. Overburdening themselves with too many social engagements would have eaten into the time they wanted to have for themselves as a couple and as a family.
The one invitation they did accept without hesitation was the wedding of Sarah's immediate supervisor, Rose Evans, to her long-time live-in boyfriend, Marc Poissey. It was of course a happy event. Sarah loved working for Rose and was happy that she had found herself a good man. In fact, the two women became very good friends because they were kindred spirits. Since Kirsten was friends with both, the three women spent time together during lunch time and at social club functions.
Sarah and Rose really wanted their husbands to meet each other in the hope that the two men would develop a friendship that was as strong as the one which they had with each other. Marc was the wild card in the sense that Sarah not know him very well and Jim did not know him not at all.
Although Rose was more than willing and happy to extend their work friendship to a friendship outside the office which include their husbands it wasn't easy. The two women tried several times to set up a social get-together that included all four. but without success.
While Jim was willing and usually available, it was much more difficult to ensure Marc's attendance. Marc was a private investigator whose working hours were unpredictable and often subject to last-minute changes. The demands of his job made it difficult for him to commit himself to a specific time and place.
Sarah had assured Jim that the Poisseys were nice people. Jim didn't doubt her as she was a good judge of character. He was always willing to make friends, but he preferred a small number good friends to a large number of acquaintances. So her idea of developing a potentially closer friendship with another like-minded couple was a good one.
Although Coxwells had exchanged spouses with the Johnsons and the Hammers, their relationship with them as couples did not extend into their general social life. In fact, they sensed an unsaid agreement to keep their distance from them. They were still employees while Bob and Norbert were still their bosses. This divide seemed to sill over into their social life. The lack of common interests, some of it generational, also discouraged the development of a deeper friendship. The only exception to the rule was Sarah's friendship Kirsten. At work they were almost equals, but Kirsten was full-time and Sarah was part-time.
For his part, Jim knew Rose officially supervised both Sarah and Kirsten, but he knew nothing about Marc, but he was willing to give it a shot.
Finally, the Poisseys accepted an invitation for a Sunday afternoon barbecue. Sarah was pleased when Rose told her that they would come but issued the standard warning that a last-minute cancellation was always possible because of the nature of Marc's work. So Sarah was pleasantly surprised when the Poisseys actually showed up together.
After their introductions, Jim took to Marc to the backyard and offered him a beer. While Jim was grilling the steaks, the two men got to know each other.
Now that the men were gone, Rose laughingly complained to Sarah that, when she was home at the same time as Marc, they were usually too busy to go out. She winked suggestively and then giggled.
"What!" Sarah exclaimed. "You were planning to have sex with Marc this afternoon?"
Then she clamped her hand on her own mouth. She had just embarrassed herself. After all, their sex life was none of her business. If they really wanted to have sex, they could have used Marc's unpredictable work schedule as an excuse for getting out of the invitation.
Rose laughed. "My, my, Sarah Coxwell, you have such a dirty mind! You automatically assumed I was talking about sex. But I like it."
"I'm sorry," Sarah apologized and then giggled. "I shouldn't have said that. Sometimes, I have a big mouth."
"That can come in handy too sometimes," Rose said with a smirk and another wink.
"Rose! You don't mean...."
Rose laughed. "You really do have a dirty mind, Sarah, but I'm not offended. As it happens, Sunday afternoon is the most likely time when Marc and I are both home at the same time." Then she whispered conspiratorially. "And we're still planning on having sex this afternoon, just later" she declared. "So, you're not entirely off the mark," she giggled again. "As a matter of fact, I will be on my Marc."
Sarah blushed but understood the innuendo. Although Rose was known to be an open person to her friends, she had not expected her to be so ribald too. It was out of character from the business-only Rose she knew at work.
Sarah decided to play it cool. Jumping to conclusions was always hazardous, especially if a person was in in the legal profession.
"Rose!" she cried, smiling, as she lightly slapped Rose's upper arm in mock indignation. "You're bad!"
"I'm glad we get along," Rose said, "but I hope the men get along as well as we do," she opined.
"I hope so too," Sarah agreed. "Jim can seem off-standish at times."
The women looked at their men and noted that, so far, they were getting along quite well indeed. Until this point, Jim and Marc had barely known each other and only in passing. What the two men knew about each other came mostly from their respective wives. As the minutes passed, an air of easy camaraderie seemed to settle in between the two men as they exchanged information about their jobs and interests and laughed at each other's stories and jokes. After about an hour, it was obvious that the friendship between the two women now extend to a friendship that encompassed their husbands.
During a few quiet moments when Jim, Rose and Marc were having a three-way conversation, Sarah finally had a chance to have a closer look at the handsome black man. He was about the same size and weight as Jim. He looked fit, which was consistent with what Rose had told her about him. As a private investigator, he had to be able to deal with potential physical threats or, at the very least, to able to be run from them.
Marc spoke English with an accent which, Rose explained, was due the fact that his family immigrated from from Haiti when he was young. It also explained his French-sounding name which he pronounced as 'pwasi'.
Sarah had learned that Marc had previously worked for several years as a federal police detective specializing in white-collar crimes. He had decided to strike out on his own and set up his own practice as a private investigator. He wanted to be his own boss. It was financially difficult at first but he had carefully built up a reputation for his honest, integrity and thoroughness.
As time had passed, his clientele grew, mostly by word of mouth. He had soon became a busy man and discovered that there was a serious downside in his new profession. He had thought that, as an independent entrepreneur, he could set his own hours. On that score, he miscalculated. His hours were actually dictated by the demands of his investigations.
Nevertheless, once he had successfully established himself, he felt it was the right time to ask Rose to marry him. Rose would have married him anyway, rich or poor, but Marc was a stickler about proving his own worth.
Initially, most of most of Marc's cases involved suspected cheating spouses and missing persons, usually cheaters who ran away with their lovers and/or the family money. He even had female clients, angry deserted wives, who came on to him in the hope of being 'consoled' and/or to exact some measure of revenge on their wayward husbands by having sex with the handsome black man.
Some were very good lookers too. That was actually the hardest part of his job. He had admitted to Rose that, being a red-blooded male, he was sometimes very tempted to take them up on their generous offer. However, he always held back. Getting personally involved with clients was a bad idea for his reputation and therefore for his business. Far more importantly, his instincts told him that travelling down the road of secret infidelity would ultimately undermine his loving and trusting relationship with Rose.
Marc's business actually took off when JH&P learned about his profession and background. It occasionally hired him to carry out certain types of investigations on its behalf. His experience in investigating white collar crimes was a definite asset. Time and again, Marc proved that he had a knack for discovering crucial information that was useful to JH&P, especially the litigation team headed by Mike Peters.
Rose told Sarah that, initially, Marc was somewhat reluctant to accept a social an engagement, citing his busy schedule and the uncertainty of his hours. It was an excuse that sounded familiar to Sarah and Jim. They declined invitations for the same reasons.
Marc knew Sarah only in passing and knew almost nothing about Jim, hence another reason for his initial reluctance. Why would he want to spend time with persons he barely knew on the rare occasions when he could be home enjoying the company of his wife and the delights she could offer? He admitted to Rose that Sarah was one hot white chick, but as someone else's wife, his moral code put her out of reach.
But here they were, getting to know each other as couples.
The two women join their husbands in the backyard.
Sarah asked her friend, "So, what made him change his mind?"
"When I found out that you and Jim were being recruited into the firm's secret sex club," Marc replied on his wife's behalf."
