Anagrammed to Death

*I would like to thank my beta readers for their valuable input and for Randi for adding her editorial assistance.*

Dave Kendricks was upset. Angie Nee, or Miss Nee as she was usually known to her work colleagues, was normally a very private woman. Was she straight? Gay? Married? Single? Dating? Nobody knew, but she was so outwardly prim and proper that nobody really dared ask her. Though she was a popular and fairly recent addition to the staff at their workplace.

She looked at Dave and knew that there was something wrong with him. That something was troubling him deeply.

She had worked at Dobre and Company for several months and had gotten to know all of her colleagues, but Dave, she viewed as being special. He was handsome, kind, considerate and warm and compassionate. That day, he looked very upset, angry and tormented.

There was something about Miss Nee that nobody, not even Miss Nee, really, understood. She was an empath and could read people like a book. She read Dave and knew he was hurting. If she could help people through their pain, she was all for that.

"Hey, Dave. Wanna coffee break?"

He looked at her, grinned briefly and said, "Sure? Why not? Always got time for a coffee with an attractive young woman!"

She responded with a grin of her own and they headed for the ground floor of their office block where there was a coffee shop which served the best coffee Dave had ever tasted.

After they'd sat down, Miss Nee said, "Dave, I can't help notice that you seem a little down at the moment. Is there anything you would like to get off your chest?"

He looked pensive for a time before replying. "Actually, I do need someone to talk with; as it is, I'm going crazy keeping it all bottled in.

"I haven't always been a bachelor. I married young to my High School sweetheart, Carla Street. Other than meeting and marrying Carla, my high school years were mostly pretty shitty.

Somehow, I had picked up my very own nemesis by the name of Curtis King. He was some kind of a super jock, so he seemed to get a pass for all his shitty behavior.

"He would bully me, slap me around a bit, steal my lunch money and often take my dates from me. I mean, I wasn't a bad looking guy, but he was built like a Greek God, total eye candy for the girls and, so the rumor had it, some of the female staff, too.

"He managed to seduce Carla and took her away from me. She expressed her sorrow, but she moved in with Curtis and we divorced."

"Curtis and I went to different colleges after high school. I studied computer sciences and Curtis studied some liberal arts crap at a different school, but on a footballing scholarship.

"Whilst I was at college, I met Carol Jones, a fellow student who had been at our high school but we had never moved in the same circles, so we'd never met. We started dating and got married when we finished our degrees.

"Moving back home was always on our plans, I had my job here already mapped out," he pointed upwards, "and Carol had a job arranged for her at her family's business. We got married when we got back to town."

"So what happened?" asked Miss Nee. "It's obvious to me that something didn't work out to plan?"

Dave shook his head. "It all went wrong. Curtis came back home to our city when he was let go by the football team he played for on the West Coast because he wasn't as good as he thought.

"Unfortunately, he was seen as something of a conquering hero returning to his hometown and Carol's father gave him a job in his sales department."

"Oh my," said Miss Nee. "I think I can guess what happened?"

"Yeah. It was awful. I was totally blindsided by the whole thing. One day I arrived home from work and Carol presented me with divorce papers. She told me that she had met a better man and that she would be leaving me for him. And yes, it was Curtis King."

Miss Nee nodded and looked into his eyes, emboldening him to continue.

"The divorce went through, but Curtis couldn't let it go. He'd won my wife from me, but he couldn't leave it alone. Although he'd won, he had to go one better. One dark evening when I was leaving work, I was mugged. I had the shit kick out of me. I needed eye surgery to repair a detached retina, my right lung collapsed due to a broken rib, my right arm was fractured and I had a hairline crack on my skull."

"So, it wasn't a mugging?"

"They didn't actually take anything. Except for my dignity. So I don't believe it was a mugging. I think it was either Curtis or a gang of thugs he hired."

"What did your ex think of what happened to you?"

"Nothing, which did surprise me. She said nothing"

"Nothing?" Miss Nee sounded outraged.

"Yes, nothing. Not a damn thing. That makes me wonder if she knew her boyfriend had been involved and never reached out to me due to her feeling guilty? Or that she didn't give a shit?"

"It's possible," said Miss Nee. "When did that all happen?"

"Two years ago. About six months before you came to work here, I think?"

"Right, so that was quite a while before I came to work here? But there's more, isn't there?"

He nodded glumly. "Yeah. Apparently, my ex and her lover are still together. I've deliberately not kept track of them, because the truth is, I don't want to know anything about them. Now, I have learned that they are going to get married."

"How did you learn that? Who told you?"

He shuddered involuntarily. "Carol told me. The bitch sent me a wedding invitation and a personal letter."

"Fuck!" Miss Nee said. "What a bitch! Do you have the invite and the letter with you, by chance?"

"As it happens, yeah. I have them in my pocket. You wanna read them?"

Miss Nee nodded and gave an evil smile "Oh, yeah. Please, I'd like that."

She glanced at the invitation which was as the Brits say, a 'bog standard' invitation. But the letter? Oh, hell no! That was a doozy of a letter.

"Dear Dave, I am writing to let you know that at long last, Curtis and I are to get married. I know things between you and I didn't work out, but let's face it, the truth is that you and I should never have gotten married in the first place. We were really too young.

"I knew from almost the first day of our married life that we shouldn't have married and I knew I wanted something more. And the something more I wanted was a real man like Curtis King.

"I don't say this to hurt you and I'm sure you will find another woman, one who will be a better fit for your meek and mild personality, but that wasn't me. Curtis and his go-getter, take charge and right now, can-do personality was a perfect fit for me.

"However, I do regret how our marriage finished and Curtis and I would very much like to bury the hatchet by inviting you to attend our marriage. You and Curtis will have so much to catch up on.

"If you have a girlfriend, please bring her as your plus one.

Love,

Carol"

Miss Nee sighed and said "Delusional and an utter bitch, too."

She returned the card and the letter to Dave.

"Dave, we are friends. Nobody at our workplace has the first idea about my history, how I came to live in your city, what my life story is. I'm going to come visit you in your apartment this evening after work because I am going to tell you about my life story and about a plan that I am formulating to screw over Carol and Curtis get some revenge for you and to also get a little vicarious revenge for myself. Is that okay with you?"

Dave agreed. After all, getting one over on his nemesis and his ex-wife was something he could be on board for.

Six weeks later and the wedding was over. It had been a glittering affair and Curtis had made an ass of himself by flirting with every woman, but especially with the date of Dave Kendricks, the ex-husband of his newly minted wife.

Much to the disgust of many of those attending the wedding, except for the former high school jocks who gave Curtis some slaps on the back and some "attaboys, dude!" Curtis disappeared with Angie Nee, the date of his archrival.

Dave looked distraught. Carol approached him and took him outside for some privacy. "Well, I'm sorry, Dave, but it looks like the better man won the fair maiden again."

The expression on Dave's face was one of incredulity. "Don't you mind the fact that your husband is fucking my date? During your own wedding reception? Some bridal feast you are having!"

She shook her head. "Oh, Dave, that's just such old-fashioned thinking. Yes, Curtis, my Curtis, is off fucking your girlfriend, but I do know that after he has finished with her, he'll come back to me and he will reclaim me as his bride."

Dave said "But what about my relationship with Angie? What's he hoping to achieve by taking her from me?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Dave. But for some reason he has his sights set on fucking you over whenever he can."

"But why? What the fuck did I ever to do him?"

"Nothing. But that's the thrilling part of this, don't you understand? Just select a dude at random as your target and keep on fucking them over? And yeah, you were right, it was Curtis and a couple of his friends who beat you up that night. Why? Because he wanted to make another statement about how superior he was to you.

"Anyway, let's go back in and I'll let you have a dance with me. For old time's sake, of course."

"Of course," Dave said. Dave had a slightly strange expression on his face. Had Carol bothered to look at Dave she'd have perhaps seen the expression and she might have wondered what the fuck was really happening. But she didn't and the moment was lost. It was plain for anyone who cared to look. She was so far up her own derrière that not even smoke signals would have caught her attention.

They had one dance. It was stiff, awkward and Dave felt he deserved a drink or two after that never to be repeated experience.

There was a buzz of chatter, a murmur of different, somewhat angry, voices, many of which seemed to be condemnatory of the vanishing bridegroom.

Carol's father approached Dave and apologized on the behalf of himself and her mother, who was "indisposed" officially, and thus unable to attend the wedding. The truth was, he confided in Dave, his wife hated Curtis and wished Carol had never set eyes on him.

Dave commiserated with Mr. Jones. Of course, there was a great deal he might have said to Mr. Jones, but Dave decided that keeping silent would be the best option.

Eventually, Curtis and Miss Nee made their reappearances, and both staggered their arrival times so they did not appear at the same time and cause undue embarrassment to the blushing bride.

Miss Nee lowered her head, looked up at Dave and murmured "I'm so, so sorry Dave. Shall we leave?"

Dave looked outraged and they both left. Once outside his façade crumbled, and, well, the rest of the scene is best left to the imagination. Was he laughing? Why yes, he was. Curious.

A week later, Mrs. Curtis King was sitting at a street café sipping an English Breakfast Tea, waiting for the person who invited her to afternoon tea to make her appearance.

A few minutes late, Miss Nee approached the table and sat down facing Carol.

They vaguely air kissed and Carol said "Okay. What do you want? If you want more of your fuck action with my husband, I can see why you would, he's very good with his bedroom skills, I'm not keen on the idea."

Miss Nee shook her head. "Oh, I don't want any further acts of rutting with your husband. But in the interests of full disclosure, I have to inform you that all sex acts we performed were without prophylactic devices."

At this point Carol looked puzzled, and said, "What?""

Miss Nee said, "You know... the Pussy Protector? The Kitten Mitten? The one-fingered glove? A rubber? A condom?"

"Oh" said Carol. "I didn't expect him to, because he's a strong virile dude, a real man's man who always wants bareback sex. Anyway, he reclaimed me as his bride later that evening and several times a day since then, let me tell you!"

"Right, a real man's man, huh? Well, I need to tell you that we did it six times on your wedding day. And each time he came inside of me. Oral, anal, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, even missionary and he performed like a trooper. And when he flagged, I was able to provide him with the necessary encouragement to rise to the occasion. We did it in all parts of the honeymoon suite.

Carol looked puzzled. "Why are you telling me this? Oh, shit! Are you telling me that you are pregnant? What the fuck does the wimp, I mean Dave, think about that?"

Miss Nee shook her head and said "I'm not pregnant. And as Dave and I aren't dating, what Dave thinks isn't relevant, really. And Dave's no wimp. He just chose badly when he asked you to marry him."

By now Carol was starting to get angry and confused. "But why are you telling me this stuff? Especially if you aren't dating Dave?"

"I'll tell you a little bit of background about myself. I was married to a handsome, man's man, pretty much like Curtis in features and also, sadly, in attitude. Although we were married, he couldn't keep his fucking dick in his pants and eventually he came back to me with a very special gift. It was the gift that keeps on giving. So I threw the miserable little fucker out."

Carol's face lost color. "My God! You mean he gave you herpes?"

At this point Miss Nee's face was suffused with a grin that would have frightened a gargoyle off a medieval cathedral. "No, honey. Kevin, my ex-husband, gave me HIV. Which became in my case, full blown AIDS.

"After I found out what you and your piece of shit lover and latterly husband Curtis did to Dave, who is a real good guy who didn't deserve the shit sandwich you tried to make him choke down, I decided to take matters into my own hands, as it were.

"During our time together, Curtis promised to fuck me to death. When the truth is, I'm actually fucking him to death. And probably you, too, by now. Have a nice life!"

Miss Nee rose from the table and sashayed her way out of the by now crumbling life of Curtis and Carol King. As Carol burst into tears and struggled to recall how to use the speed dial for Curtis' phone number, Miss Nee was ironically humming "Like a Virgin" to herself.

She'd omitted to tell Carol that her ex-husband Kevin had been found shot to death in a tragic drive-by shooting in Detroit, Michigan. It was believed to have been a tragic case of mistaken identity, whilst he had been on a business trip. But Miss Nee knew the truth.

Miss Nee said goodbye to Dave, they shook hands and he gave he a chaste kiss on the cheek as Miss Nee vanished from his life and their mutual employer. Which was just as well, because the HR department would really have liked to talk with her about her Social Security number as there was an issue with it?

Curtis beat the snot out of Carol and got banged up in jail, yeah. You're a real man's Curtis! Way to go, dude!

Did Miss Nee (whoever she really was) pass HIV on to Curtis and, via him, Carol? They were sweating and waiting on the results.

The police asked Dave what he knew about Miss Nee and he shrugged and, in the presence of his lawyer, made a statement that exonerated himself from any wrong doing.

The police were looking for Miss Nee, but an officer who was a dab hand at crossword puzzles pointed out that Miss Nee was an anagram of Nemesis and he doubted they'd ever find her.

Carol tried to sue Dave but her lawyer told her to back off unless she wanted her own secrets to be revealed. Such as foreknowledge of the attack on Dave.

How come Miss Nee came to town when she did? Why did she deal with Curtis and Carol? Sometimes everything in life isn't wrapped up with a nice bow.