Had Auld Acquaintance Been Forgotten?

Had Auld Acquaintance been forgot

... her life would have been a lot better.

My name is Clay Berry and our marriage was in its ninth year when things changed.

At the time our two sons, Joseph and Timothy (Joe and Tim), were seven and six. Dom (Dominque) had been in marketing, but we decided she should be a stay at home mom. We didn't need her income because mine was more than enough to keep us sheltered, clothed and fed. I am a chemical engineer and was recruited in college by a Federal Agency.

So Dom stayed home until both boys were in school full time before going back into the workforce. She had been employed by a national food distributor and her job was basically to find new markets for their products. Over the years, she had developed contacts throughout the United States and was sought by at least three of her company's competitors, but her sense of loyalty kept her from changing. Well, loyalty and the fact that we would have to move, and neither of us wanted that.

She had done some consulting work while staying at home and raising the boys. When we decided it was time for her to go back to work fulltime her company jumped at the chance to get her back.

I wasn't recruited to be "an agent", by my organization, but was needed in R&D, and I was perfectly content there. I had no desire to know any more about what went on around me than was necessary for my job. I was surprised, however, at how wide-spread chemical projects and research extended throughout the agency.

I had been there almost eight years when I was put in charge of a small lab and was given specific goals. What I wasn't given were perimeters and was free to go where my research took me. I was also given a budget and staff that boggled my mind. At the onset of my project, I was told that there would be virtually no travel involved, but by the end of my second year, I was travelling all over the world consulting with other chemists and touring their facilities.

Dom had been back to work just short of a year when her mother had a stroke and Dom went home to California to visit. She was not prepared for what she saw. Her mother's right side was almost completely paralyzed and she couldn't speak.

It didn't take Dom long to determine that her mother needed her. Her father had died when she was 11 and she was an only child so there was no other family to care for mom. Dom felt it was her job; no, not job or duty. She wanted to do it. When she told me that she had decided to take care of her mother for a while, I supported her wholeheartedly.

"Take as long as you like," I told her. "The boys and I will be fine."

Her company supported her as well and told her she could work on her projects remotely.

With both her company and me behind her, she basically moved into her mother's house. The medical types told her that her mother's speech would probably come back in time, but the paralysis was going to be permanent.

The shock of her mother's stoke hit Dom hard, but the fact that she was going to be at least partially paralyzed for the rest of her life, was almost too much for her.

The first two weeks she was with her mother, it was 24/7. She never left the house except for medical appointments and grocery shopping. The medical appointments, of course, Mom went; but the shopping trips were done by Dom alone. It was the only time she had to herself. Of course those trips had to be planned, so a visiting nurse was brought in to care for Mom.

It was Dom's third or fourth trip to the local department/grocery store when she ran into an old friend. Her name was Denise and they had been friends all through childhood and high school. They separated because Dom went to college out of state and met me. After the usual greetings and hugs, they exchanged phone numbers.

Two days later, Denise called Dom and invited her out for drinks. Dom was more than ready for a little freedom, so she made arrangements for a nurse to sit with Mom for the evening, and met Denise at a local watering hole.

That was the beginning of the end of our marriage.

"God, it's good to see you again." Denise said as she stood to hug Dom.

"I know," Dom answered. "It's been a long time."

"Tell me what you've been doing."

"Oh, my God. It's been wonderful. I married the best man in the world and we have two handsome, smart sons. Clay has the perfect job and it allowed me to be a stay-at-home Mom until the boys went to school. And even I have the perfect job. I tell you Denise, my life was perfect until my mother had a stroke." There was a pause while she took a sip of her wine. She wasn't much of a drinker, but she did enjoy a nice wine occasionally. "I've been here for three weeks and nothing has changed. She needs constant care and it is wearing on me. I miss my family, but I can't leave my mother." She took another sip of wine. A larger sip that time.

"Poor baby. You need to make more time for yourself. Just relax tonight and have fun. Things will look better tomorrow."

She was right. The night out with her friend worked wonders for Dom. The next several days went quickly and she didn't hesitate when Denise asked her to have dinner on Friday.

Dom and I usually talked four times per week, and that week was no exception. She was pleased to have renewed her friendship with Denise and enjoyed her night out. She was also looking forward to dinner with her that Friday. I was happy that she had the opportunity to reunite with an old friend.

They met at a hotel restaurant and ordered dinner. The food was great and they stayed for drinks and music after eating.

The following week we had our customary four phone calls, declared we missed each other and proclaimed our love. I tried to pin her down to a date when she could come home, but understood when no such date was forthcoming. She did mention, for the first time, the need of her mother for long-term care and casually threw out the possibility of her coming to live with us. I quickly assured her that would be no problem, and I would certainly not object should that need arise.

The week after that conversation, we only talked twice. During the second conversation, I asked her to give me an idea when she would be home, with or without her mother. I informed her that if her mother were coming to live with us, I needed time to get the spare bedroom ready and that we might rearrange the boy's bedrooms to accommodate her. We could easily move the younger boy's room so the two boys could share a bathroom. That would leave her mother with her own bathroom.

Dom was enthusiastic about my idea and she even suggested we go ahead and make that move. She also suggested we paint the room yellow because it was her mother's favorite color, and that we would move all of her mother's bedroom furniture cross country to our house. We ended the call with our normal "I love and miss you".

The following week, I found myself moving our younger son out of his old room and into his new. Before moving him in, I moved all of the furniture out, donated it, and painted the room the color our son wanted. Green was his favorite color, so the boys and I painted it green. They were excited because they were closer to each other. I painted the old room yellow and waited for word when Dom and her mother would get there.

I never heard from Dom the following week. I even tried calling her mother's phone, but got no answer.

We lived on the east coast and her mother on the west, so popping in to see what was going on was a bit difficult, but I had to find out, so I went to my boss and asked for the next week off and I told him why. I was told that there was a high level, highly classified conference in Germany that I needed to attend and he couldn't let me have the time off, but one of our agents was on her way back to the east coast and would be passing through where Dom was, so she could be asked to stop in and check on things if I wanted her to.

I hesitated because I didn't want anyone to think that I suspected something was going on, because I didn't. I was just concerned because I hadn't heard. I told him I didn't think that was necessary, and returned to my office.

What I did do was call the Santa Barbara Police Department and asked if they could make a welfare check of the residence. They agreed and within an hour, Dom called me. The only word I was able to get in was "hello" when I answered the phone. She was absolutely livid and accused me of not trusting her. The call only lasted about two minutes, and I was called everything in the book before she ended the call. The pressure of caring for her mother had apparently gotten to her because I had never heard her talk like that before.

I was in a daze. I sat there for several minutes before returning to my boss's office.

"I changed my mind," I told him. "I would appreciate any information the agent is able to garner." Then I told him about the phone call.

The agency is very careful about its people, and those of us on staff have to be very careful about our lives and how we live them. Any situation that could in any conceivable way possible, regardless of how remote, compromise the employee or their position, was taken seriously. I chose to err on the side of caution and be proactive by letting my boss know my situation.

He agreed that I was doing the right thing.

Normally, agents were not permitted to do any investigative work inside the country, but seeing as how this was just going to be an "unofficial information gathering" exercise, he deemed it would be okay.

I made arrangements for my parents to take the boys for a week and I went to Germany for the conference.

Our delegation leader was three levels above my boss and I had only met him on very few occasions. I always knew that even with my sizable budget and staff, there were sections above my level working on shit that I could only dream about. It just so happened that in one specific area, and for that one specific meeting, our projects overlapped and I was to have my 15 minutes of fame. Of course that fame was only within a very select group of people, but nevertheless, I had a chance to shine. And shine I did. For that week I was our delegation leader's best friend because I was more up to speed than anyone else, including our hosts and I knew my shit.

I never had time to think about Dom that week, but that changed on the flight back to the states. We were on a Department of Defense (DoD) Special Mission Flight which meant that it was on a VIP configured DoD aircraft.

We had been airborne for less than an hour when the delegation leader called me into his office on the aircraft. I stood in front of his desk.

"Clay, you did a great job this week and I want to thank you. You know what direction we want you to go and from now on, you report directly to me. I'll clear it with your supervisor. You'll need to copy him on everything, but it comes to me first. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." I responded. What else was I going to say?

"There's another thing I want to talk about." He hesitated. "I have the report on your wife and it isn't good. Apparently she's been seeing some guy and on at least two occasions they spent the night together."

I slumped down in the nearest chair. "Are you sure?" I asked.

He handed me a folder with a 'Sensitive' stamp on it. "I received this by courier yesterday. I don't need it back and I don't need to remind you that what you do from here on is critical. You know the agency hates any kind of publicity, good or bad, so keep as low a profile as possible." He took a breath. "Like I told you, you report to me now, so anything you need, come to me and I'll see what I can do." Then he smiled. "We can't kill anyone for you, but there might be a few things one of our sister agencies can do to them."

I stood, thanked him, and went back to my seat. I put the report in my briefcase and looked out the window and stared down at the Atlantic Ocean. I couldn't read it on the plane with all those people, so I had to wait. I tried to sleep, but that wasn't happening, and neither was eating, so I looked out my window and watched the Atlantic 36,000 feet below.

My new boss stopped me before he got into his planeside waiting car. "I hate to ask this, but I need your after action report to pass up the line. Take a couple of days to digest the file on your wife, then work on the report. After that take the time you need to deal with your wife. Just let me know how, and what, you're doing." He patted me on the back as his driver ushered him into the car.

My car was waiting for me as well, but I was my own driver and my car was in the parking lot, not planeside like his. At home, I called my parents to check on my sons. I asked them if they were okay with keeping the boys for another couple of days. They were.

There was not much food in the house, but I wasn't all that hungry. I got a beer from the fridge, took out the report, sat in my favorite chair and started reading.

"Pursuant to a request by the Assistant Director of Chemical Operations, I spent five days in Santa Barbara, California, to ascertain the status of the spouse of an agency employee. Subject employee's presence was required on Agency business and thus unable to pursue his own investigation.

"DAY 1: Subject of investigation established as Mrs. Dominique Lorraine Berry, spouse of Agency employee Clay Richard Berry. Background information provided to me indicated Mrs. Berry was in Santa Barbara to provide care for her mother. Background further stated that Mrs. Berry stopped all communication with Mr. Berry prompting this information gathering scenario. Rental vehicle was acquired and surveillance outside private residence given as location of subject was initiated at 0500 Hours.

Three hours into surveillance, subject and second person assumed to be her mother exited garage of residence in late model Toyota sedan. I followed them to a medical center. They exited two hours later and returned to residence.

Person identified as visiting nurse arrived at residence followed shortly by the departure of Mrs. Berry. Followed her to restaurant where she met another female. They ate lunch and departed in separate vehicles, but arrived at same location later identified as the residence of one Denise Whitaker, further identified as Mrs. Berry's luncheon companion.

Mrs. Berry exited the residence and returned to initial residence. Surveillance discontinued at 2330 hours..

DAY 2: Surveillance initiated at 0500 hours. Vehicle identified as the same one from the previous day and belonging to Whitaker arrived followed shortly by same visiting nurse as previously noted. Whitaker and Berry departed in Whitaker's vehicle. Followed to another private residence later identified as belonging to one Frederick Stanton. Stanton's residence backs onto a city owned green space. I made my way to that space in search of a better PO (Point of Observation). I located a place from which I could observe the rear deck of Stanton's residence and observed Whitaker, Berry and a male assumed to be Stanton relaxing on the deck. Shortly after sitting, they were joined by another male whose arrival was met by shouts of joy from the other three. The four then gathered in a group and excitedly opened a brown paper bag brought by the new arrival.

The contents of the bag were scattered on the table but I could readily identify two glass pipes and numerous small bluish-white rocks I assumed were methamphetamine crystals. This was confirmed when Whitaker and Stanton put the rocks in the glass pipes and lit them.

It wasn't long before all four were inhaling smoke. I observed subject conduct for over an hour before the four started making amorous overtures resulting in Berry and Stanton engaging in overt kissing and fondling of each other. Whitaker and the unidentified fourth man were involved in the same amorous actions. More access to the glass pipe, and all four of them were increasingly and overtly displaying obvious sexual overtures.

Subject actions were followed by Whitaker and Berry being teased into undressing to the waist before the four disappeared into the house; at which time I requested assistance from another agency employee who assumed surveillance at the residence of Berry's mother. That surveillance continued until I contacted the agent at 0500 the following morning and was told that Mrs. Berry had not returned.

I returned to the Stanton residence to find Whitaker's car still parked there. At 1000 hours, Whitaker and Berry exited the residence followed by the second male who by then had been identified as Jacob Donald. Donald kissed both females before getting in his own vehicle and departing. Whitaker and Berry did likewise in Whitaker's vehicle and returned to Berry's mother's residence.

The visiting nurse departed shortly after Berry's arrival. No further arrivals or departures were observed that day.

DAY 3: Surveillance commenced at 0500. Shortly before 1100 hours, Whitaker departed.

Whitaker returned at 1545 hours with what appeared to be an overnight case. I was relieved by the same agent who surveilled the residence the previous night.

DAY 4: Upon relieving the night agent at 0500 hours, I was informed that after dark he observed a single light at the rear of the residence. He went to find the source of the light and discovered it came from a bedroom. He further observed Berry and Whitaker nude and in the same bed. (Seven photos attached in envelope identified as Enclosure 1 to this report)"

At that point, I stopped reading and opened the envelope identified as Enclosure 1. There was another, larger envelope labeled Enclosure 2 which I set aside. Inside Enclosure 1, were seven photos obviously taken through a window of Dom and her friend Denise naked on the bed and engaged in sexual activity. I put the photos back in the envelope, closed the file and sat there.

My new boss said Dom spent two nights with a man. He didn't mention the time with Denice, so there was still one more sexual episode in the file and the second envelope most likely covered that time.

I hadn't touched the beer I had, so I poured it down the sink, got another one and returned to my chair and the report.

"DAY 5: Surveillance commenced at 0500 hours on the mother's residence and continued with no movement either coming or going until 1700 hours when the visiting nurse arrived. Berry left almost immediately carrying what appeared to be an overnight case. She arrived at Whitaker's residence. Vehicles belonging to Stanton and Donald were already there. An unlocked gate made access to the back yard possible. I made my way there and observed though a window four naked bodies in a bedroom. Two were on the bed engaged in sexual intercourse and the other two stood filming the activities. Using my agency issued phone, I took several minutes of video of the activity before returning to my vehicle. (See envelope identified as Enclosure #2). Surveillance terminated at 2300 hours."

I opened the second envelope to find a disc. Without hesitation I played it and saw Dom in bed with a man. They were fucking like rabbits with the other two vocally urging them on. The surveilling agent's agency phone was able to pick up the sound in the room and I heard things like "Pound that pussy", "Fuck her good", "Take it all, Dom, take it all" and other verbalizations. The video lasted only long enough to show beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Dom was engaged in adultery.

The next morning I was called in to see my new boss. He had read the report and, I'm sure, seen the photos. I don't know if he saw the video and I didn't ask.

I thought I was being tested so I took the offensive. "Adultery is considered a crime in the military. Is it the same here and if so, since my wife is committing it, is either she or I in trouble?"