Preface: This is a fictional story intended for adult audiences. This story is about vengeance and adultery. There is no sex in this chapter.
There is the fourth and final chapter. There will be an epilog which I hope to finish in a few days.
Tuesday 12:13 PM
With nothing better to do I've camped out at Bud's place. Technically I'm not fired but I'm certainly not welcomed in the office. Bill needed to go back to his office after our meeting with Susie and Vicky. He said he would be hard to reach for most of today, but to contact Janine with any new developments.
According to Tracy, Bud's somewhere down in Houston following up on a hunch. I wish he had waited and I could have gone with him, but Tracy said he left first thing this morning. The worst thing is I feel my life is falling apart and there isn't anything I can do to stop it. I know I have good people working for me but I've always been a person to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. This waiting around was driving me crazy. Even the report that Tracy handed me from Bud did little to spell my frustration, as the audio and video captures from my house last night reveal little of consequence.
It's been a hell of a day and it's barely noon. In a sense, today is worse than yesterday. At least yesterday I was doing something, even if it was rushing about like a chicken with it's head cut off.
I find my attitude toward Susie and my marriage slowly changing. Increasingly I am having a harder time seeing how I will get past this. I am already struggling with her betrayal from Friday night. Now I am starting to have suspicions that she may even be part of this setup. If I do find out she's part of this, there will be hell to pay.
I reflect back to the meeting this morning. As we walked out I asked Bill about the stunt he pulled at the end of the meeting. In a way it pisses me off. Actually it's more than that. I'm not pissed off, I'm envious. He got to her. He waited ten years but he finally got his chance. The way I feel now, I don't want to wait nearly as long.
A knock on the door startles me a bit and I look up from the office I commandeered at Bud's to see Tracy enter.
"Bud's on the phone for you," she says.
"Bud?" I say into the receiver as I pick up the phone.
Tracy smiles at me and leans over the desk. For a moment I have a heavenly view down Tracy's blouse. Tracy gives me a naughty smile as she knows exactly where my gaze is fixed, as she punches the lighted button on the front of the phone unit and suddenly I hear the sound of Bud talking to someone. Tracy then presses the "hands free" button and Bud's voice is now carrying from the speakerphone.
"Bud?" I repeat?
"What the hell took you so long? Tracy have to give you lessons on how to operate a phone?"
"If you only knew how close you were to the truth!" I laugh. Tracy gives me a smile and finally straightens up and walks back to her desk, but not before giving me a little bit of exaggerated sway in her hips on the way out. "Wish I could have gone down there with you Bud."
"Yeah I bet, but you would have only slowed me down. We've dug up a few things down here, some really important things too. But before I spring them on you, I want to wait until I get everything tied up. Do you think you can set up a meeting between the two of us and Benner for tomorrow morning?"
"That might be kind of hard tomorrow morning Bud. I have that meeting at my firm where I have to give them my response. Bill and I have hardly had any time to go over the package they have offered and have scheduled time to look at it tomorrow morning."
"Shit," Bud grumbles. "Well, you'll need to hear what I've dug up before you have that meeting, and especially before you meet your wife and her lawyer."
"Can you clue me in as to what you have found out so far?"
"I don't want to be mysterious, but I still don't have my ducks lined up and it's best I keep things quiet until I know for sure. So somehow we need to meet tonight. You need to setup a time for the three of us to talk, and it needs to be late because you're going to be really busy the rest of today. I need you to fly down here to Houston pronto."
"Pronto? You mean right this minute?"
"Sooner the better. But before you do set up that damn meeting."
"OK, I'll get that done here. I'll ask Tracy to get me a flight while I try and setup a meeting for tonight. Do you think nine o'clock is late enough? And where am I going to meet up with you once I get down there?"
"No sooner than nine I think, and no you won't be meeting up with me down here in Houston. Come to think of it, you better make it later, let's say 10pm. Set the meeting up for my office there in Dallas. While you're down in Houston, you'll have your own little job to do. We got a bead on your secretary. She's actually down here if you can believe that."
"You're shitting me!"
"Nope! And I know you need to chat with her so write down this address and get your ass down here."
I scribble furiously as Bud gives me an address to an apartment. He reminds me once again to schedule a meeting for tonight and then we hang up.
First I call the number I have for Janine as I stand and start walking towards Tracy's desk in reception. Janine answers on the first ring and I quickly bring her up to speed on finding Heidi. Just as quickly she tells me there's no way in hell I'm going to talk to Heidi alone. She says for me to book her a flight along with my own and that she'll meet me at the airport.
I give Tracy my American Express card and ask her to perform some airport magic for two. I tell her to find the first available flight down to Houston and to find a return flight that would land at Love Field around 9pm.
While Tracy starts banging away on her keyboard I return to my temporary office to collect all my stuff and prepare for a dash to the airport. Tracy's just finishing our reservations as I return to her desk. I give her peck on the cheek as she hands me two e-tickets and an itinerary.
I give Janine a quick call to give her the flight information and tell her exactly where I'll meet her at the airport. We will both have to dash to make it in time. Just as I hang up I remember what Bud asked me twice not to forget. I barely caught Janine on the phone a second time and tell her that we need to get Bill in a meeting tonight and ask if she could set something up no sooner than 10:00 since our flight doesn't arrive until 9 pm? She says she'll get someone to set it up.
Tuesday 3:49 PM - Houston
"Now remember Janine," I say softly as we walk up the steps. "She's pretty shy. I'll introduce you and explain why you're here. Just smile and nod OK?"
She looks at me, smiling and nodding. It makes me laugh for one of the few times in the past four or five days.
Smiling myself I take stock of the building where Bud said Heidi was now living. I shake my head and hope this is something very temporary, for both of us. There was no security on the front door so we simply entered and took the stairs to the second floor. The hallway was at least clean if dimly lit. We walk down the hallway and are soon standing in front of 211B. With a nervous sigh and a glance at Janine, I knock on the door. At first I can hear nothing but then pick up the light sound of approaching footsteps.
I can see the spyglass in the door cover up and hear a "oh my God", on the other side of the door. The door chain rattles and two deadbolts later the door swings open to reveal a very surprised Heidi.
