Xenodiagnosis: The detection of a parasite.
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Harold Arlen; Johnny Mercer: "I should stay away but what can I do? I hear your name, and I'm aflame. Aflame with such a burning desire."
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Revenge.
The concept is simple. Get back at someone for something they've done or were planning to do.
There is no perfect revenge. A pleasing one is where they know it was you that caused IT, and then have to live with IT the rest of their lives, whatever IT is.
A seemingly random revenge leaves doubt, in their mind, as to who was the instigator.
To kill someone might feel good to you. However, when a person dies, much like when someone is stupid, they don't know of their predicament. A dead person just goes to sleep and never wakes up. They never understand that they are turning into dust. Of course, if they aren't dead, you may end up on the receiving end of their revenge.
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My name is Tres Malvado. I've been married almost thirty years to JoAnna. Our kids are grown and, for tax purposes, we've put our house into a trust. We can live there forever, but the kids call the shots and own it when we're gone. My favorite asset is my Azimut 70 yacht. It is seventy feet long and worth about a million and a half. I love to sail the open waters and I plan on living out my retirement sailing from port to port. Those plans used to include JoAnna, but now I'm actively interviewing potential sea slaves.
Over the last sixty days I've been busy making plans to leave my wife. At times, over the course of my marriage, I've often wondered if JoAnna was faithful. If she wasn't, she was certainly making it difficult for me to complain. JoAnna goes out of her way to please me sexually. Once I found out about her lover, or should I say one of her lovers, or maybe her current lover, whatever, I faked a medical issue to ward off her sexual advances. I am free from STDs and intend to stay that way.
I own and actively participate in a software company. Business is very brisk and quite profitable. About six months ago I decided that the time was ripe to find a buyer for my business and retire. My attorney, Jim Parko, is a classmate from college. We barely knew each other then, but I started using him a few years into my venture. We've been to his parties, and they to ours.
It was about three months ago that negotiations picked up speed for jettisoning my company. Proposed contracts had already bounced back and forth a few times. I was reviewing the latest redlined copy at Jim's office. After spending an hour going over the changes, we paused for a bit.
"What other projects are keeping you busy Jim?"
"Been helping a junior partner with his pro bono work. As disgusting as it sounds, he got the Hendricks twins' conviction overturned. Good legal work but distasteful none the less. They are free on bail but a retrial has already been scheduled."
"Are those the guys that raped and sodomized two couples?"
"One and the same. They carjacked the SUV carrying the couples and terrorized them for over forty eight hours. All four suffered permanent damage to most of their body parts. Lots of cuts and burns. Lots and lots of burns."
"Let's hope the justice system prevails this time."
"I think it will. The judge's instructions to the jury were ruled incendiary. The new judge will certainly be aware of what transpired the first time around. I've also been helping another colleague with some minor work for the convention center and hotel. With attorney client issues I can't go into details. I'm going to the restroom. That computer over there has a DVD player that makes copies."
In a strange move, Jim flipped open a folder and left it in the middle of his desk. The folder was pointing towards me. Combine that with his bizarre DVD remark and I was more than a little confused. Jim was out the door without looking back. Curiosity got the best of me. I stood and looked down at the folder. The picture on the top of the stack was a lady on the ground and a startled hotel worker with a cart.
Jim's behavior befuddled me. I looked at the picture again and my stomach tightened. In the background, a couple was waiting for an elevator and they were looking back at the commotion. The lady in the couple is JoAnna. I have no idea who the man is. I grabbed a sticky note and copied the date and time of the picture. I definitely need my investigator to check this out. There was a DVD in the folder. Based on Jim's comment, I think I'm supposed to copy this.
After starting the copy process, I sat back down with my mind all tangled. I had just put the DVD back into the folder when Jim came back into the room.
"Can I put this folder away Tres?"
I nodded "Yeah, looks like I've got some homework Jim."
After I left Jim's office, I contacted Roger, the private investigator my brother used in his divorce. He set about finding the damning evidence.
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I probably don't want to know how Roger came up with it, but I had a copy of the insurance investigation report. While I read the report, I was fast forwarding through the DVD I'd made at Jim's office. Once in sync, the report was much easier to understand.
The insurance claim, on my screen, was from the ritzy hotel in the convention complex. They were being sued due to a maintenance worker pushing his work cart into an elderly lady. These are usually open and shut cases due to the surveillance cameras. I read the transcribed report from the worker and chuckled.
'I was, like, headed down to the lobby and this babe with knockers like bowling balls was, you know, bouncing towards me. I just, you know, couldn't take my eyes off of her melons and, shit, I plowed into the old lady.'
I watched the video and ended up laughing out loud. I was watching Ms. Bowling balls so closely that I failed to see the accident. I backed up the video and paid closer attention. Sure enough, like a mechanical soldier on a coo-coo clock, the worker's head slowly followed Ms. Bowling balls and the little old lady never stood a chance. I backed it up and started creating a timeline. In one of the still frames, waiting at the elevators, I found my wife. She was arm in arm with a man I did not recognize. JoAnna has a tattoo on her upper arm that she loves to display, and as such she always wears sleeveless blouses. There was no doubt in my mind that this was her.
I had the whole day's video. I found that they were gone about two hours before returning to the lobby. Her hair was not as well kept as it was previously. I felt pretty stupid. How could I have missed the clues? This video was a few months old, and I'm not so naive as to believe I caught her the only time she strayed.
I had nothing to go on yet, but my legal pad was filling with things I needed to do in a divorce. I decided differently. I would slow the process down by not filing for divorce. I would liquidate and start sailing the world, without JoAnna. She would have to file, based on abandonment, after a year. I'm not bothered by having to split some assets, but I'll be damned if I'm going to share my software company proceeds.
Roger's first report took about a week. Bad news and more bad news. We don't know who the guy in the video is. We do know that JoAnna is screwing Charlie Andrews. She and Charlie are using our vacation beach house. Charlie used to belong to Grey Lakes Country Club, where I'm a board member. He's divorced and his wife raked him over the coals, so much so that he can't afford the country club now. Makes me wonder if JoAnna was the harlot behind that downfall?
It would take several weeks to get all my financial ducks in a row. I didn't want to tip my hand, so I made an appointment with my doctor. I explained how I did not want to have sex with JoAnna and to please test me for STDs. He told me about the over the counter medication, ketoconazole, which drastically slows getting an erection. I could deceive JoAnna by telling her it was a combination of medications causing my ED. If JoAnna wanted to get frisky, I would be unable to respond.
Randy's reports showed that my slut wife was fucking Charlie once, sometimes twice, a week. Turns out Charlie wasn't the only one the slut was fucking. Tim Stark, who sits on the board with me, was screwing her too. His ass is toast as his wife has chewed his butt off for simply flirting.
After a few weeks, with my limp cock, JoAnna completely quit trying to have sex with me. I stopped taking the meds, and found relief the old fashioned way, with my palm.
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Finally, the sale of my business was completed. Jim had structured the sale so all of the proceeds were deposited out of the reach of the US government. Jim also created some shell corporations for me.
I sold my yacht to one of the shell corporations. Several more shell to shell sales before it was sold to the corporation holding my software proceeds. Leaving a paper trail for selling the boat, I paid off the loan on the yacht, and split the remaining money amongst my kids.
Friday would be my last day before 'turning over the keys' to the new owners of the business. Four more days until my new life begins.
Roger called "Tres, I need you to watch and listen to today's video. How about Cottonwood Park? Meet me by the lake."
"I'll be there. Shouldn't take me more than fifteen minutes."
There weren't many people at the park. Roger was pacing when I approached.
"Hey Roger, why are we sneaking around?"
"As soon as you hear this you'll understand."
He started the video on his phone. It started with JoAnna and Charlie entering our vacation beach house.
"No need to watch this shit, let me fast forward."
Somewhat funny to watch at high speed. JoAnna's head bobbing up and down. Charlie, muff diving, putting her legs on his shoulders. Legs going stiff. Charlie pouncing on JoAnna. Pump, pump, pump then roll off. Roger slowed the video down. Charlie and JoAnna, lying flat on the bed, started talking.
"You ready to do it this weekend babe?"
"Yep, Tres and I are going out on his beloved little boat on Saturday. Your idea to drug him with that date rape stuff is perfect."
"I've rented a boat. I'll follow you. Once he's out, blink your lights. I'll tie up and come aboard. Are you sure you know how to kill the engines?"
JoAnna responded quickly "I think so. Once aboard, we can pull him up to the deck and toss him overboard. After that I'll drink some of the date rape stuff."
"Perfect. I'll guide us miles from his body and then cut the engines. After that I'll take my boat back to the marina then anonymously report a boat adrift. When they find your boat, you'll be out cold. Convince them to test you and they'll find the date rape drug. Tell them there's some cash and jewelry missing."
JoAnna leaned over and kissed Charlie "On Sunday night you can make love to a rich widow."
My mind was spinning. I had to get to them before they got to me. I'm reminded of that line from the spaghetti western 'If you're going to shoot, shoot: don't talk.'
"Don't do something foolish Tres. She's not worth it" Roger cautioned me.
