Chapter 4

It was Saturday and this was the beginning of the end for two marriages. I knew when I returned home on Monday that my marriage would be over. I headed to Jenny's place since her husband was paying me to keep my eyes on her. I parked on the hill overlooking the gated entrance waiting for Roger to leave. I made sure that when he left home that he would be able to see my vehicle; after all, he should see his money working for him.

I thought I'd call Doris one last time. The phone rang and she picked up.

"Smith residence," she said.

"Hi, Doris, it's just me. I found out I'll be gone for two nights and won't be back till Monday. Thought I would call you and let you know."

"Are you following Jenny to her sister's house?"

"Who told you that I was following Jenny to her sister's?"

"Oh, um, Roger called. I guess he wanted to talk to you and mentioned it."

The only person who mentioned Jenny's sister was Jenny. Roger told me she was meeting someone. He's the one who suggested she go see her sister. That was a major slip up by Doris.

"I'm following her because she might be having an affair. I don't know anything about her seeing her sister."

"Jake, when you get back we need to talk."

"Talk? About what? Do you want to tell me something, Doris?"

Her voice was soft and nervous.

"It can wait till you get back on Monday. I'll talk to you then."

"Sure, Doris, I'll see you Monday."

"Jake, um... I... um... okay, I'll talk to you Monday." She always ended our phone conversations with, 'I love you' but I guess she just couldn't get it out this time.

Roger pulled out of his drive and I saw him pull up the hill behind me; he thought he was out of sight. He had a pair of binoculars checking out my vehicle. What a dork. While he was watching me I called Jenny on her tracphone.

"Hello," she said when she answered.

"Geez, Sally gets called sweetheart and I just get a hello."

"Hi, honey. Where are you? Roger just left for his so-called overnight meeting."

"I'm staring at your house while Roger is up the hill staring at me. Are you packed and ready to go? Put your suitcase in your car and then leave the property. I'll follow you. After Roger leaves, we need to come back and do a little computer work before we head out. Why not head to the twenty-four hour shopping center and we can leave your car there and just use mine."

"Okay, honey. See you in a few."

"You sound a little down. Having second thoughts?"

"No, I never thought I'd be a divorce statistic. I wasn't overly in love with Roger but I tried to make it work. I'll be over it when I see you. Bye for now."

She hung up the phone and I saw her car pulling out of her drive. Roger must have seen enough as he jumped back in his Porsche and took off. We met in the shopping center garage and she parked it in a very discreet area. She slipped her suitcase onto my backseat and got in the front with me, leaned over and kissed me. A very gentle and loving but yet powerful kiss.

"Jake, I love you with all my heart and soul. Please never hurt me like Roger has."

I didn't reply. I know she had to be thinking about me ending my third marriage. I thought it best to be quiet right then. I knew she was making a statement, not wanting a conversation, so we headed back to the house to finish our computer business.

Monday morning came and we had spent two wonderful days together. I took Jenny back to her car. She had talked to her father and told him she was leaving Roger and was wondering if it was alright to come home. His wife was glad to have one of her daughters back in the house. They were always surrounded by servants and were glad to have family there.

I decided to stop by the office before going home and facing Doris. Jim and Sally were both there already. Hell, it was ten o'clock, they had better be there. I didn't recognize Jim when I saw him. He had shaved off his beard and moustache and also shaved his head bald. He looked like a different person.

"What the hell did you do?" I asked.

"Hey, good buddy, I didn't want to be recognized at the swap meet so I shaved it all off. I scared the shit out of Sally this morning when I came in. I grabbed her from behind and she did that stupid elbow trick you showed her. Man, I'm still hurting."

"Serves you right, you pervert," laughed Sally.

"It there some bad news to report Jim."

"Afraid so, buddy. Do you want to see the evidence?"

"No, I know what Doris' ass looks like. I don't need to see some pervert with his dick in it. Besides, it's Roger's dick we're interested in. Only show the pictures of Doris if his dick's in her. Do you know what I mean?"

"At this meeting, when they have it, you don't want me showing pictures of Doris unless she's doing Roger. I got it. I have pictures of Roger doing about three other women, so I'll just show those."

"Thanks, Jim, I appreciate it. Did Doris or Roger know who you were?

"They were so shit faced I doubt if they knew who they even fucked. Sorry about that but it's the truth. I've got pictures of everyone at that party, maybe fifteen couples. What do you want me to do with them?"

"Just file them. If you have names, put them on the back. If we ever get any as clients, we will have a head start."

"Will do Jake, and again, sorry about Doris. For something brighter, how was your date with Jenny?"

"It was great. Maybe I'll tell you about everything except the love making sometime."

"Did you say lovemaking? You usually say, fucking or having sex. What gives?"

"Drop it, pervert," said Sally. "Leave the boss alone. He said he would tell you later. Go put on a hat or something. The glare off your head is bothering me," laughed Sally.

"Just so you guys know, Jenny moved back with her parents for now. Roger or someone will probably be contacting us about divorce proceedings soon. Are we all set with the computer files, Sally?"

"If you made the changes in their home computers, we're set to go. To be honest with you, boss, I only met Jenny the one time and she seems nice; I'm glad we're setting up that bastard husband of hers."

"Okay, guys, that's about it. Time to go home and get divorced. By the way, Sally, is this business protected against a divorce?"

"Jake, on paper we are running in the red. I don't think Doris will go after it. You might want to take this paper with you explaining our negative worth in case the issue comes up."

"Thanks, Sally. Catch you guys later."

I left for home to watch my third marriage go down the toilet. Three years, almost a record. My first one did last four years but that was only because I was in the service. The second lasted two years. Should I really try again? Something to think about.

I arrived at home and Doris was on the porch of our condo. It was just a small two bedroom place. Doris always wanted a mansion but I didn't have any money. I pretty much lived job to job.

I didn't even have to go in the house. Doris already had some of her bags packed and sitting on the porch.

"Jake, I'm leaving you and want a dissolution of our marriage."

I just looked at her instead of saying anything. I knew she was nervous. She also seemed sad. Finally I spoke.

"Okay, you want out, then I'll ask for a divorce. If this ever comes back to me, I want it known that it was you that had the affair. My only question is why Roger? He's a scumbag. Is he that great a lover?"

I was mildly calm. I didn't hate Doris. I wasn't about to yell and scream at her.

"You know this isn't about love. It's about money. Jake, the money I received after the old geezer settled with me after my first divorce is getting low. I'm down to about sixty thousand dollars. You know me better than anyone. I like nice things and I want a big house and fast cars. All the things you can't provide. I know that sounds materialistic but that's who I am."

"What about the sex, Doris?"

"The sex with you is great, Jake. I can't deny that. I have never had sex with a man that is better than you. Hell, you're twice as good as Roger will ever be, but I'm in my thirties, Jake. I know I have the looks to attract men but my looks won't last forever. Roger is rich and can afford to keep me in the kind of comfort I want. I can have sex with anyone, Jake. I need to look at my financial future. With you there probably isn't one. I know you understand."

"Yeah, money isn't my forte, I probably never will have much. I guess I should have known we wouldn't last that long together."

"We made good sex together though, didn't we, Jake? No man could make me cum the way you can. I do have to say I will miss doing it with you. Please don't hate me, Jake. I don't hate you. In fact I do have strong feelings for you. It's just time for me to move on, to have a rich man keep me."

"You do realize you're whoring yourself out, don't you, Doris? Sex for the person with the most money."

"You're right but we all sell ourselves out for something. At least my price is high enough to keep me in comfort. Jake, even though I'll be with Roger, I'll come see you if you ask me too."

"No, the problem is you were my wife and you fucked Roger and probably others. I now have to live with that. I will hold that against you. No, I don't hate you but I hate that you did it while being my wife."

"How long did you know about Roger, Jake?"

"Not long enough to put a stop to it. What do you expect to take with you?"

"All my personal things and what's left of my settlement if it's alright with you. I'm not expecting anything from the business and the apartment is rented. You'll need the furniture. I'll be moving in with Roger tonight. You do know that Jenny moved out don't you?"

"Yes, I followed her, remember? She didn't seem to be having an affair this weekend. She just visited her sister like you said. I guess Roger just wanted me out of the picture so he could have his way with you."

Doris was almost crying. "You know, I hate myself right now, don't you, Jake? I hate what I did to you and if Jenny didn't cheat on Roger I hate what I did to her. I can't help it that I'm this way. I just want nice things. Please forgive me, Jake."

"I won't forgive what you did, Doris, but I don't hate you either. I hope you actually get what you want in life. You've given up a lot more than you will ever know. By the way, Sally gave me the breakdown of our business. It is in the red. Good thing you don't want an equal division of assets."

"Jake, do you want to do it one more time for the road?"

"Afraid not, Doris. Give it to Roger. Make sure you tell Roger that I'm not through with him yet. The next time he sees me he's going to wish he didn't. I'm going back to the office and start the divorce procedure. I'll expect you to be gone when I return tonight. Make sure you give Roger that message. He made a big mistake messing with anything that belongs to me. See ya around, Doris."

"See ya, Jake."

She was crying as I left. It might be hard for people to understand my feelings. I can't hate her. If anything, I felt sorry for her. My only getting even with her was not to tell her that Roger was broke. That's enough revenge on her. Now for Roger it was a different story.

Jake The P.I. The Conclusion:

It's been a couple of weeks since the shit hit the fan. We, our agency, got a call from Roger's lawyers to attend a meeting the following Monday. Of course I was sending Jim and Sally to the meeting. It was for a divorce decree before a judge. Roger was accusing Jenny of adultery and of course Jenny was counter-suing on the same charges.

I've talked to Jenny a couple of times on her tracphone since the split. I told her we couldn't see each other till all this divorce stuff was over with. I didn't want to ruin her case and besides the few weeks apart would give us time to think. Doris had moved in with Roger. She didn't know his financial situation yet but she would find out soon enough. Jenny was back home with her folks for now. I was just hoping they were going to back her up in court.

Note: All the facts in this case were repeated back to me by Sally, Jim or Jenny. So this is a short version of the court case. If I miss passing along some of the evidence I was told, I'm sorry. This is just to give you an idea of what happened at the hearing.

The judge called the meeting and said that he had the right to settle all cases that came before him. His decrees were final. Any appeals would have to be made within a week of the verdicts he decided. They would have to have conclusive evidence for him to overturn a decision. He told both parties that very rarely happened - in fact in his court it never happened - so they should both be prepared that day.

On one side of the table sat Roger Bennet and his lawyer. Also Roger's father, Ed Bennet, was present. I might mention here that Roger's mother passed away two years ago. On the other side of the table sat Jenny and her lawyer as well as Jenny's father, Bob Moore. Of course at the head of the table sat the judge and a transcriber. If there were any witnesses, such as Jim and Sally, they would sit at the far end of the table. There was a bailiff at the door.

Judge Balo explained that just because they were in such a relaxed setting they should not mistake it as not being a courtroom. All courtroom procedures would be adopted.

The judge began by asking Mr. Cruz, Roger's lawyer, to state his case.

"Judge, my client wants a divorce from his wife, Jenny, of ten years. He has positive proof that she has been cheating on him on more than one occasion. We have documented evidence that she has been carrying on a long time affair with someone named Brian also. My client hired a Private Investigation firm whose employees are waiting in the outer room to testify to the facts."

"Let's bring them in now so we won't have to listen to the testimony twice." Sally and Jim sat at the far end of the table.

Mr. Cruz asked Jim, "Was your firm hired by Roger Bennet to run an investigation on his wife, one Jenny Bennet?"

"Yes, we were."

"What evidence did you find that she was cheating on her husband?"

"None, sir. None whatsoever."

Roger screamed out, "That's a lie. I have documents."

The judge said he wouldn't have outbreaks like that in his courtroom. Mr. Cruz apologized to the judge and told Roger to be quiet, and he would handle Jim.

"Didn't you send some letters to Roger stating that his wife was cheating on him. Didn't you get the information off her computer. Don't lie in the court, sir. We have the evidence right here."

"I'm not lying. We did send those letters to Roger as he requested. We did get them off a computer drive, but it didn't come off of Mrs. Bennet's computer. It came off of Mr. Bennet's computer." Roger jumped up and said that it was a lie and they didn't have permission to go into his computer.

Again the judge reprimanded Roger and told him if he did it one more time he would be held in contempt of court. Again Mr. Cruz apologized to the judge.

"Who gave you permission to search Roger's computer?"

"Roger did. Here's our consent form that states that it is okay to search any part of the premises to obtain information including phone records and computers. That's what we did. We made copies of the hard drives on both computers and then went through them for evidence. All was done with both Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's permission. Here are the signed consent forms."

The judge looked over at Jenny and asked her if she ever used her husband's computer.

"No, sir. Other than sending a few letters to my sister and a couple of girlfriends, all I do is play a few games on my computer. I've never been on Roger's."

The Judge looked at Jim and asked, "These letters were copied off of Mr. Bennet's computer, not off of Mrs. Bennet's computer. Is that what you are saying?"

"Yes, sir. Roger wanted some evidence quick so when we came across the letters we sent them to him. We later found that they came off of his computer."

"Let's go on," said Mr. Cruz. "Did you find evidence that Mrs. Bennet had met a man at a restaurant and then took this same man to her motel room."

Jim replied, "Yes, sir, that's true. She had left her husband for two days a few months back because of a spat and what you said followed."