Miller's Trauma

Miller's Trauma

Yes this is another Greenville Story.

I don't know if I ever thanked you all for your comments, kind, constructive or even critical. Some authors say ignore the comments and I usually did but now I read them without taking it personally. But its hard. You need feedback. I have learned not to take them to heart. But the first time someone wrote that they enjoyed the story and to keep writing, I wanted to run outside and scream in joy. I did do a little dance in my living room My last story, Hal's Story 2. I was compared to qhm1 and I think I cried a little.. When someone wrote the story sucks, I promised myself to never write again. Hopefully they have made me a better writer. I thought I would do maybe 2 stories but this will be my 26

th

.

This story is another departure of my usual fair. Maybe I'm growing as a writer. It started as one idea and morphed into something else. This is the story of 3 people dealing with the trauma of a cheating spouse. My last story part 2 of Hal's Story was the easiest I've ever written. This story has been the hardest and by far the longest I've ever written. Still no editor.

This story idea has probably been done before and most likely by better writers than myself. This is a story that questions his manhood on many different levels and he faces them.

I hope you enjoy the story.

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The Beat Down

"Stop hitting my Daddy!" I could hear my 6 year old daughter yelling at the stranger that was beating me. Not only was he beating me, he was slapping my face back and forth. One of the worst things you can do to a grown man is slap him. Only one step from spitting on him.

How did I get to the point of being beat almost to death by some guy I never met? Easy he was fucking my wife and I walked in on them.

My daughter and I were out for the day. We had planned on spending the day with my parents taking Jill to the Zoo and than dinner. We weren't supposed to be home until 8pm. It was going to be a family trip but Heather begged off at the last minute saying her cramps were real bad. Since Jill was looking forward to it just the two of us went.

After visiting my parents as we were leaving my dad tripped on the steps and twisted his ankle bad enough to be needed to taken to the ER. We spent 4 hours waiting to see a doctor, get X-Rays, wait for the results of said X-Rays and again talk to a doctor. Luckily it wasn't broken but sprained pretty good. They wrapped it up and we took him home. Surprisingly for a 6 year old Heather was more worried about her Papa than going to the Zoo. He promised we could go when he was better. Once he got settled we headed home. I didn't feel the need to call Jill to let her know the change in plans.

45 minutes later we pulled up to the house to find a blue beat up Chevy Malibu in my driveway. For what ever reason I didn't have any strange feelings about the car. We went into the house with Heather yelling for her mother. She wasn't downstairs so I headed up the steps with Heather close on my heels. All the bedroom doors were open and I heard a noise that shouldn't be coming from the master bedroom of I wasn't in there.

I got to the door and there was some guy fucking my wife from behind. Without thinking I ran in and grabbed him by the hair to spin him around. I'm not a fighter. Never had been. I'm 36 years old. 5 foot 11 inches tall. I have been called lanky. I own a food truck for God sake. I have and never had a need to fight. So I grabbed him and spun him around and got one good shot. It wasn't a good shot, it was very ineffective glancing off his ear. He turned after being hit and proceeded to beat me like Tyson beat Spinks. He punched me in the face several times knocking me into the dresser. He followed up with more punches to my gut area. As I slide down almost out of it and unable to defend myself he started slapping me back and forth, forehand and backhand. Calling me a little bitch. Someone who can't satisfy his wife. That she needed a real man to fuck her.

I heard my daughter yell, "Stop hitting my Daddy!" than I heard her scream and hit the wall. Then silence and blackness.

The Hospital, meeting Cooper and Smith

"Sir, Sir, can you hear me?" A voice very far away. She sounded like she was talking to me but I wasn't sure. I tried to open my eyes but my lids wouldn't move. So I went back to sleep. My last thought was of my daughter. I hoped someone was protecting her because I couldn't.

"Mr Scales, can you hear me? Mr Scales squeeze my hand if you can hear me." This time it was a man asking the questions. I squeezed his hand. I opened my eyes and saw a short Indian man in a blue lab coat standing over me. "Mr. Scales, I'm Dr. Singh, your in the hospital. You been here since Saturday when a neighbor found you beaten. Its Monday. You have a severe concussion, both cheeks bones are broken. An orbital bone is also broken as well as 3 ribs and your left wrist. Are you able to talk? The police have some questions about what happened."

Clearing my throat, "Yes I can talk. I need to know where my daughter is, Is she okay? He hurt her."

"Calm down Mr. Scales, The police will answer all your questions shortly." The doctor answered without answering.

A nurse gave me a sip of water a few minutes later. After she left an indeterminate amount of time the door opened again and 2 detectives walked in and introduced themselves. Sargent Cooper, a tall Black guy with a bushy mustache and DC Smith with a swarthy complexion who would be better named Scalizi or maybe Martinez. Maybe he got his color from his mother side.

The first question, Can you tell us what happened. Before I answered I asked where my daughter was and if she was okay. After some hesitation they asked why I thought my daughter might be hurt. I told them the story of finding my wife having sex with some guy I had never seen before. There was the Blue beat up Chevy Malibu in the driveway when we got there. I know I was jumping around telling the story.

"My daughter ran into the room yelling not to hit me anymore and as I passed out I heard her scream and hit against something. I don't know if the guy hit her or not, I can only assume he did."

"What was your wife doing while this was going on?" One of the detectives asked.

"I don't know, I was fighting for my life. She didn't say anything the whole time. The fight seemed like it lasted for hours but was probably less than 5 minutes at the most. I'm not a fighter. He seemed to know what he was doing with his fist. I answered your questions now answer mine. Where the hell is my daughter? I'm not saying another word until I know!"

"Calm down Mr. Scales, We don't know where your daughter or wife is right now. You were found by your neighbor, a Mr Hubbard, after he heard some screaming and saw a blue car peel out of your driveway. A few minutes later as he was walking towards your house he saw your wife's car drive away. He went in when he noticed the front door was open. He called out and not getting an answer he checked the house and found you in the master bedroom unconscious.

The room showed signs of a struggle and the techs found 2 different blood types, yours and an unrelated female. It was found on the opposite wall from where you were found. The bed and living room sofa showed signs of sexual activity. We tried to contact your wife by phone without success and reached out to her relatives you have listed in your phone. So far we haven't been able to reach her."

"What do you mean unrelated female? There was only my wife and daughter there. Was there someone else there?" My mind was racing. My daughter may be hurt and no one knew where she was. My wife may have ran off. Either with this guy or from this guy.

"We don't have all the information to answer that for you. The investigation is still ongoing. Do you have anyone we can call for you?" Cooper was trying to sound sincere but years of doing this made it sound hollow.

"I don't have any family here. My brother lives in North Dakota and my parents are dead. Jill and Heather are...or were the only family I have." I was starting to understand that I may have lost my family. At the least my wife, at the most my daughter. Right now she was by biggest concern.

Cooper walked towards me, "Mr. Scales, can I call you Miller?' I nodded my head in the affirmative, "Miller, we're going to do our best to find your daughter. I have a 10 year old girl myself. I can understand how you feel. And the also the bastard that did this to you."

"I appreciate that guys, if I come up with something myself I'll let you know."

They both left and I feel asleep not realizing how tired I was.

Jill's Story A perfect life

I had such a good life, no it was great actually. My daughter is such a nice girl. Never a problem, always polite. Never gave me a hard time even as a baby. Even though everyone says she looks like me she's definitely a daddy's girl. She would run to Miller as soon as he came home and never leave his side. Go with him on the weekends to work on the food truck. He said tips tripled when she worked with him so the crew loved having her there.

My job was perfect. I was an accountant at Apex Accounting. It wasn't very stressful and I always had weekends off.

We lived in a beautiful 3 bedroom home in a lovely neighborhood. There were kids for Heather to play with. The neighbors watched out for each other. I had a yard with a huge flower bed in front and Koi pond in the back.

My husband Miller might not be every woman's dream but easily 85% of the women would love to have a man like him. I would get comments all the time about what a catch he was. He's tall and lanky. Its the best way to describe him, lanky. Full head of red hair from his mothers side and clean shaven. He is whip smart and funny. He's the kind of person that makes everyone feel good and comfortable. He's not the life of the party, never the center of attention. But you know where he is because of the laughter. People comment about how intently he listens to someone. They say its like the world stops and they are the only people that exist. He looks them in the eye and responds to what they said not what he wants to say.

He owns one of the cities most popular food trucks, Carolina Delights. He could make shoe leather taste good. That's how I met him, at a food truck He was working at, at the time. Called Ethiopian Delights ran by a nice African couple, Harriet and Nishan. They ended up opening a restaurant and sold Miller the truck 2 years later. He was just starting cooking and was only a helper at the time. They were closing up and I wanted to get one of their Pulled Jerk Chicken Sandwiches with red cabbage slaw. He was reaching up to pull down that little awning they have and I asked, maybe begged for a sandwich. He just happened to have enough for one more sandwich so he gave it to me. I was so pleased I ran off without even tipping or saying thank you.

I went back the next day to thank him for his kindness and noticed how handsome he was. I asked him out because he was not only cute in a boy next door way but very funny. We went bowling and ate bowling alley nacho's. It was the best date I ever had.

We dated for 8 months before he asked me to be Mrs. Scales and another 6 months before I was walked down the aisle. 2 years to the day we had Heather and life was complete. The next 8 years was the best of my life.

So why did I screw it up?

Sargent Cooper's Story A break in the case

Damn, how can someone disappear so completely? This Scales chick just fell off the face of the earth. Searching her house gave us no clues to where she could be, if she's dead or who she was having sex with. The last evidence we had of her whereabouts are 2 ATM withdraws from banks within the city and her taking out the maximum both times.

We ran the DNA found in the bedroom and on the living room sofa. Hers was on the sheets showing she had sex with someone. Lots of sex it appears. Besides vaginal secretions there was fecal matter also.

The seminal fluid didn't match anything in the database. On TV it appears everyone in America is in the crime database which isn't true. You have to have committed a crime, served in the military or have done a DNA test somewhere along the line. Whoever Joe Boxer was, he was a ghost so far. Not even fingerprints bought up anything.

The blood showed to be Miller Scales which was all over the dresser and carpet. Considering how badly he was beaten it was to be expected. Its been a while since I've seen a grown man that badly beaten, especially by one person. Either Scales can't fight worth shit or this guy is really good with his hands. Hence the aka of Joe Boxer for now of Suspect #1. Smith is checking out boxing clubs and gyms in the city. How do you ask for what you don't know. Jill Scales didn't belong to a gym or even work out. We had to check out every angle we had. Cutting down on the haystacks to find the needle.

The second blood sample showed that Jill Scales was the mother of whomever the sample belonged to. We're assuming it was or is the daughter. Sadly it also shows that Miller Scales is not the father. So not only does he get his ass beat like a drum he finds out he's not the girls biological father. The sample started in the middle of the chest of drawers mixed with hair and ended at the bottom with some on the carpet. It appears the child was either thrown or pushed against the chest and slide onto the floor. The hair and amount of blood shows she probably had a head injury.

We spent the next couple of days interviewing almost everyone at her job. Twenty five people all told. None admitted to knowing she was having an affair. She never took long lunches or even worked late. She talked about how much she loved her husband and family. Most people knew him as he would bring his food truck to the job for lunch once or twice a month. They even gave us permission to review her work computer which showed nothing. No strange or suspect emails. Another dead end.

Canvasing the neighbor yielded no clues except the next door neighbor Mr. Hubbard saw the Chevy leaving but didn't notice who was driving and the wife's car leaving a few minutes later. Nothing showed on any of the ring camera's.

Because of the missing and possibly injured child this became a priority investigation. We had reporters calling within hours. The Chief of Police and PIO thought it best if we put out as much information as possible with the child and mothers pictures as well as a description of her vehicle.

2 days after we spoke to Scales we got a break after getting her phone records. They showed an inordinate amount of calls to 2 numbers over the last 2 weeks. One belonged to a Clay Riggins. White male, 27 years old, 6'2" 195 pounds. Played Tight End at Appalachian State and in the Arena League for 2 years for the Iowa Barnstormers. He was a member of the App State team that beat Michigan. Now he was a gym teacher and football coach at Hunter Huff High School.

The other number went to a prepaid cell phone so we didn't know who owned it.

We went to interview Mr. Riggins. Stopping at the office we found out he had been off the last 2 days and had just returned to work today. As we went to his class the bell rang for class change. He came out with the students and seen us coming down the hallway. He's eyes got wide and he took off running. Why people run I have no idea. We have your name, picture and address. We will find you eventually. We got lucky and he ran into a group of girls and tripped knocking several over. Smith was right behind him. As he went to grab him Riggins reached up and punched at him. Caught Smith with a pretty good right cross but he was able to shake it off and follow up with his own one two to his nose which took the fight out of him. I guess he was one of those guys who can throw a punch but not take one. We grabbed him up and handcuffed him,

Since it happened in a high school and every kid having a phone it was all over social media before we got to the car in the parking lot. By the time we got back to the station is was on mainstream media. When we walked in the door the phones were ringing asking for information and interviews.

Miller's story continues, Who the hell is Clay Riggins

Its been 3 days since my beating and my wife and daughter disappearing. I was discharged a day after being interviewed by the police. I haven't heard anything from them since. I had to stay at a hotel because my house was still a crime scene. They let me get some clothes as long as I was escorted by a police officer. I was surprised by the amount of blood in the bedroom. Seeing the chest where my daughter was thrown into made me mad. I wanted to find the guy and this time do things the right way. With a gun or big stick. Nice and slow, a knee at a time, elbows and than hands. I wanted him to suffer.

I had called my parents to let them know Jill and I would be getting divorced. I explained that I had caught her cheating. They were really upset because they loved Jill like a daughter. I didn't tell them about the beating and Jill and Heather being missing. There was no need to worry them anymore then

they already are. I later found out they had seen the news reports after I called them.

I called Jill's parents, They had been contacted by the police asking if they knew where she was. They didn't have any contact with her for a couple of weeks. So they weren't surprised when I told them we would be getting a divorce.

A crime of this type, husband almost beaten to death, missing little girl made the news for days. I wasn't back to work. I was able to contact Ed, one of the chefs, and had him run things until I got back. He and everyone else were really upset about what happened to me. They went to the commissary kitchen like any other Monday but when I didn't show up they freaked out because it never happened before. They called and not getting an answer they drove by the house seeing it blocked off with crime tape. Mr. Hubbard told them what happened to me and they rushed to the hospital. I have a good bunch of people working for me.

I won't be able to work for some time. My ribs hurt whenever I move. My face is a swollen mass. And one eye was still closed. It wasn't physical damage that worried me. I had to admit I was scared of going out in public. They hadn't found the prep yet. What if he wanted to finish the job. I had to think about what he did with my daughter. Every time I think about her I cry. I've never felt so helpless in my life. I couldn't defend her or avenge my manhood. What is a man with a family? He supposed to be a provider, which I am, a protector with I'm not. My wife had to seek sexual satisfaction from another man.

As I'm laying on the bed in my hotel room my cell phone rings. I didn't know the number but have to answer in case its about Heather. Its a reporter from the Greenville Times. He's asking if I knew my wife was having an affair with Clay Riggins?

"Who the hell is Clay Riggins?" I ask bewildered.

"Mr. Scales, the police arrested him earlier today. Do you have anything to say about this?" The reporter said matter of factly.

"No comment for now." and I hung up. The phone rings again with another unknown number. I let it go to voice mail this time. It rings another 5 or 6 times. 3 radio stations and a TV station asking for interviews when I check the messages. None from the police.

I call the police station and ask to talk to Cooper. When he answers, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me you arrested the guy? I had to hear about it from the fucking newspaper calling for an interview."