AN ALTERCATION AT THE FIREPLACE
Cisco Delaney and his wife Marge were invited to a fancy fete at the home of financier Michael Blaine. Cisco had to go, since he was being given an award for his job performance at GGT, Inc. The company was founded by Blaine's deceased father, and was now run by Blaine.
Ronald (Mick) Blaine had started the company to invest some of the money he made from making kitchen gadgets. The plan was to fund promising start up small businesses. That was what GGT did while Mick ran it. It made a small profit, and did some good. When Michael took over, GGT turned into something else. Instead of helping small start-ups, it bought small companies and, basically, dismantled them, selling off assets. The by-product of this business was often the destruction of a community.
Cisco's job was to identify such small businesses. He was quite good at it. But it was eating at his soul. It was his intention to accept his award, along with the cash bonus, and resign the next business day.
Cisco was forty-six, and Marge was forty-four. He was just short of six feet, but slim. He had short, graying, receding brown hair, and blue eyes. He was quite fit due to the company gym, and his hobby of trail running. He looked his age, if not older. Yet he was blessed with strength well beyond normal.
Marge was a nice looking brunette, with a good, if somewhat voluptuous, figure. The two had met at college, married upon graduation, and raised two boys, who were both now at university. Marge worked as an interior designer for a local firm. She made good money there, and the couple was quite well off.
As Cisco watched, Michael Blaine chatted up Marge. Blaine was thirty-four, and devastatingly handsome. He was a triathlete in his younger days, and now scaled cliffs, among other active hobbies. One of those was fencing. He was over six feet, and muscular, with a shock of dark hair.
He and Marge seemed to be hitting it off well. Cisco watched in a detached way. He was not happy in his marriage, and had not been for five years or more. Marge had been a wonderful wife for many years. But she became much more self-involved as the boys aged. She was also constantly worried about how she looked, since she had a little more weight than she used to carry. Cisco reassured her about that. In fact, he liked her body as it was. But Marge didn't. Her friends were all slimmer and fitter than she. Marge, though, was prettier than any of them.
Marge had also become somewhat of a social snob. Since Cisco had been promoted in GGT, she had taken on airs. Cisco was born poor and remembered that. He didn't like Marge's snootiness. He had mentioned that several times, to no avail.
One thing Cisco did appreciate about Marge was the marital sex. She and he were both good at sex, inventive and intense. Or, sometimes, relaxed and playful. It was out of bed that Cisco was out of love. His impending resignation was, in part, an attempt to get his marriage back to where it had been. He wasn't optimistic about his prospects. Still, he had to try. It had been so good for so long.
Michael Blaine was now closer to Marge as they spoke. There was some small touching on his part. Cisco had never liked Blaine. He was unmarried, and reputed to be a dedicated skirt chaser. It appeared, now, as if he was chasing Marge.
As Cisco watched what he now thought was an attempted seduction, he found himself becoming more than simply annoyed. He became aware that his fists were clenched. However, the tete-a-tete was interrupted by a young man who approached Blaine and spoke.
Blaine patted Marge's shoulder and walked to a small platform in a corner of the room. There was a sound system. Blaine tapped the microphone and announced that it was time for some awards to be 'bestowed' - his word.
He gave small speeches as he doled out three awards to employees. Then he singled out Cisco, and spoke briefly about how much he had added to the company during his tenure as Vice President for Acquisitions. Cisco got a plaque and a check in an envelope. There was some applause.
Cisco gave a small speech. "I want to thank Mr. Blaine for this recognition of my work. I want to thank my wife, Marge, for her forbearance. It has been my privilege to work for this company for these last twenty-five years."
There was scattered applause, and a buffet meal was set out for all. Cisco went to Marge, and escorted her to the buffet and then to a table at the front, where their name plates were.
Marge said, "This must be a great day for you, babe."
Cisco nodded, "Yeah. How was your chat with Mr. Blaine?"
"Oh, Michael is charming, don't you think?"
"Not really. He seemed quite interested in you, specifically."
Marge looked away, and as she did, the man himself approached. Blaine sat next to Marge and said, "Cisco, I want to say, again, what a great job you've done."
Some dance music started as Cisco thanked Blaine.
Blaine said, "Marge, would you like to dance?"
Cisco was now more than annoyed. But, he wanted to see how Marge would react. She took Blaine's hand and accompanied him to the dance floor.
Cisco got up and asked one of the office women, Gloria Sanchez, to dance. Gloria was an administrative assistant, nice-looking and single. She accepted, and it turned out that she was very good at dancing. When the number ended, Cisco thanked her and sat back at the table. But Blaine and Marge kept dancing. Two more numbers. They were not making any secret of what seemed a mutual attraction.
Then the music paused, and the two walked over to a brick fireplace, unlit. Blaine had his arm around Marge. They were talking, face to face, close. Almost kissing.
People were starting to look at Cisco, and at the two at the fireplace.
Cisco's anger flared. It was one thing for Blaine to try for Marge. But quite another for him to do it openly at a function where her husband had gotten an award.
So, Cisco thought that Blaine was going out of his way to disrespect his top employee. He didn't understand why that would happen, but he didn't need to understand that.
Blaine was not a very intelligent man. When he took over the business, his idea was to do the switch to acquisitions. But he had no ability to accomplish that. Cisco did have that ability. At GGT, the employees and staff knew who was responsible for the large profits of the last six years. Those profits yielded large bonuses. Cisco was the darling of the staff and of lower management. Blaine hated that. He had always been rich, handsome and well liked. Top of his social set. Now.....Cisco had surpassed him in a venue where he had thought to make his mark.
Blaine had no real plan to seduce Marge at the function. But he saw that Marge was open for seduction, specifically by him. When he saw the chance, he could not resist. He would put Cisco in his place. That was the extent of his thinking about the matter. He did not consider what might happen, say, to his company without Cisco. He did not consider that Cisco might react badly. Might quit. Might do something even more extreme.
Cisco watched with more and more anger as Marge apparently fell to Blaine's advances. His anger was causing him actual physical pain, in his belly.
But then he went cold. That was a bad sign, for sure. Bad stuff happened when he went cold. His coldness allowed him to use his calculating brain without emotional interference. Emotions may have set the table, and identified a goal. But when the coldness descended, the steps necessary to achieve the goal became clear. If someone was a target, that someone was in deep trouble. Blaine was in deep trouble at the moment Cisco went cold.
Cisco got up and moved slowly toward the pair of them, now kissing by the fireplace. As he was about ten feet off, he said, "Are you both nuts?"
Blaine turned to him. He smiled. Marge said, "Cisco, I need a hall pass for tonight. Maybe the weekend."
Cisco said. "No."
Blaine piped up, "No real choice, Delaney. She's her own person. You don't own her."
Cisco looked back to Marge, raised his brow.
Marge said, "I'm going with Michael tonight, Cisco."
Cisco started laughing. Marge and Blaine were stunned into momentary silence.
Cisco said, "Mikey, what do you want with this old hag? She's well past it. I was about to have her served next week. You've done me a favor here, publicly providing great grounds for the divorce."
Marge shouted, "Liar!" A crowd of GGT employees gathered.
Cisco turned to her, "No lie. Anyway, what in heavens name do you see in this stupid, limp dicked asshole, who never worked a day in his life? Jesus, what a dumb cunt you are."
Blaine was now red in the face. He said, "Time for you to step away, Delaney, before I have to deal with you."
Cisco laughed again, right in Blaine's face. "What would you do, numb nuts? Anyway, I still don't see what attracts you to this hag. She's almost old enough to be your mother. Say.....maybe that's it. She must remind you of your mother. You're literally a motherfucker!"
The crowd gave out a nervous laugh.
Cisco saw what Blaine was going to do. Sure enough, the slap started low, with his right hand by his side. Cisco simply went with the slap, moving away from it to mitigate the force. Still, when it hit his cheek, there was a loud sound. Then, a fraction of a second later, there was another sound. Blaine's slap's follow through had put his face directly in front of Cisco. Cisco broke Blaine's nose with the heel of his right hand, causing Blaine to reel away. Blaine squealed like a little child.
Cisco watched Blaine carefully. Blaine was up against the brick mantel, Cisco saw that Blaine had seen a poker leaning against the fireplace. Cisco remained cold as he calculated how best to hurt Blaine. When Blaine went for the poker, Cisco moved a little closer. Blaine launched the poker in a big roundhouse way toward Cisco. Onlookers heard a low whoosh as the weapon arced toward Cisco's head. But it never got there. Cisco moved swiftly inside the arc of the poker. Blaine's arm hit Cisco's shoulder and the poker flew out of his hand.
By that time, Cisco had both his hands on Blaine's face. Cisco drew his hands back and smashed Blaine's skull against the lip of the brick mantel. Blaine's skull cracked like an egg hit too hard on the edge of a frying pan. Messy. Very messy.
Cisco dropped Blaine and stepped back. Security was now there, and Cisco was shoved away from Blaine. The entire incident, from the slap to the egg crack took less than a full minute.
Two security guys were hovering over Blaine now. Cisco glanced at that, but he had felt the impact, and he knew Blaine was gone. He looked for Marge. Later, when he watched the video of the fireplace incident, he saw that Marge had attacked him from behind after he had broken Blaine's nose. Cisco hadn't even felt her ineffectual closed fist blow. He also saw that she had been hit by the flying poker.
As he moved away from the fireplace, Cisco saw Marge sitting on a chair, bleeding. Two women were wiping blood from her face. At the time, Cisco didn't know what had caused the blood. But Cisco walked right by her. He could see that she was in no real danger. She was sobbing, though. Tough.
Cisco went to the head of security, who was trying to herd people into the dining room, away from the scene. He told the guy that he'd wait for police outside the front door. The guy nodded.
Cisco waited on a concrete bench just outside the front entrance to the home. He watched police arrive and rush in. Then there was an ambulance, more police. He saw Marge taken out to the ambulance, which drove away with lights, but no siren.
He wondered what had come over her, to do what she did. It was so....in your face. He couldn't comprehend it. Nor could he understand Blaine, whose actions would have resulted in ruin for his company, because Cisco would have resigned. None of it made sense to him.
Eventually a plain clothes policeman approached Cisco.
"Mr. Delaney? I'm Detective Barnes. Can I have a word?
"Sure, I've been waiting for you guys. I assume Blaine is dead?"
"Very dead, yes."
Just then a pair of fellows brought a body bag out, and loaded it into a van. Cisco and Barnes watched without speaking.
Barnes said, "Come inside, I have a room."
The two walked inside and into a small room off the dining room.
Another detective was there. She introduced herself as Mary Stuart. She was a big woman, white, with short blond hair, about thirty. She said, "This is an initial interview and I'll record it, if you don't mind."
"Okay."
