I asked Cheryl, "What will it take to get you out of my life?"
"Oh good. We're negotiating. How much you got?"
"How about $10K?"
"How about twenty?"
"How about you just leave? Get out of my house."
"You're going to kick a poor widow out into this blinding snowstorm with nowhere to go? That's truly heartless. I'll freeze to death. It'll be on your conscience." Cheryl tried to keep a straight face but couldn't.
"Cheryl, it's August. In Florida. No blinding snowstorms."
Cheryl laughing said, "See. You're too smart for me. It's hopeless to try to deceive you. I'll just have to take you on as my partner. We'll make a great team."
"I'm not going to be your partner."
"We'll see. I have to be here anyway. At least for a while. You told the police Roger and Jimmy came after you because you and I became lovers. Instead of the real reason. We have to be living together to truly sell that story. We can have a lover's spat later and I'll leave. But I'm here for now. We'll have a lot of fun together."
That was part of the talk Cheryl and I had after I got home to find Cheryl in my bed. The cops finally let me go about 10am, a little over nine hours after Jimmy shot and killed Roger. I went over my story with them at least a half a dozen times. They told me they wanted to see me again the following morning for a signed statement. They also wanted to talk to Cheryl.
I got home and checked to see if the spare key was still under the potted plant next to my front door. It was gone. I found Cheryl in my bed naked and asleep. She evidently doesn't believe in sleepwear. I just stood and watched her sleep for a while. She is not someone who you'd want to kick out of bed. She must have sensed I was watching her and woke up, stretched and asked, "Do you want to sleep, talk or fuck?" That's when I asked her what it would take to get her out of my life. And that's when she told me she's staying to sell the story we're romantically involved. I was too tired to argue.
"I've been sitting in a hot police station for hours. I'm going to take a shower."
"OK." Cheryl got up from the bed and started to undo my pants belt."
"What are you doing?"
"Helping."
I finished undressing, with Cheryl's help, and started toward the bathroom. Cheryl followed me. I stopped and looked at her. Cheryl said, "What? I could use a shower too. Well, another shower. Can't have too many. You've had a hard night. You're tired. I'll do all the work. Scrub you up, wash you down, real good."
And she did scrub me up real good. She washed every inch of me. I returned the favor. Amazing how your tiredness goes away. We were in the shower until the water started to turn cold. We helped dry each other off. I was thinking, "Maybe she should stay for a while."
After our shower, we got into bed. Cheryl climbed on top of me, cupped her chin in her hand on my chest, looked up at me and asked, "What happened with the cops?"
"I haven't slept for twenty-four hours but we need to talk. Get our stories straight. I'm going to give you the short version. "I told the cops I found out about Abbie's infidelity from my counterpart at the Miami Beach resort. When Abbie returned home, I called the hotel's point man at the police, Lt. Markey.
"By the way, Cheryl, Markey will protect us so when you meet him don't tell him anything, don't trust him, but don't get an attitude with him. We want him to remain friendly. He'll help us."
Cheryl replied, "Like I'm going to trust a cop."
"I forgot who I'm dealing with. Just be nice to him. Anyway, I called Markey and he gave me information about Roger and you. I decided to contact you to see if you knew about your husband's affair with my wife. You were shattered by the news that your husband was playing around. You and I decided to confront the two cheating spouses so I took Abbie to Miami to meet with you and Roger."
"Why'd you need two hotel rooms? And how'd you get my phone number."
"They asked about the rooms. I told them I was planning to spend the night in Miami and I didn't want to be in the same room with Abbie, let alone the same bed. I had your name and address from the police report. That's all I needed to get your phone number from the internet."
Cheryl said, "Smart. I'm going to need a look at the police reports on me."
"Sure. You showed up in Miami with Roger and Roger brought Jimmy and his gun as backup in case I got violent. You told Jimmy to leave because he was being so belligerent. Roger and Abbie agreed to end their affair and Roger left to meet up with Jimmy.
"You stayed. There was a connection between you and me and we both sensed it. Abbie felt left out, got angry and went into the other room to lie down. You and I were really hitting it off and you invited me to dinner."
"I invited you? Why didn't you say you invited me?"
"I'm a married man with a wife in the next room. I have standing in the community while you are just a wanton hussy."