Chapter 5: Sarah

After Chris left the presentation there was clearly no reason for me to stay either. The guy from American Muscle that I'd charmed earlier looked hurt that I was leaving before their presentation even started. "What about later?" he asked with a whining tone in his voice.

"Sweetie, as much as I was dreaming about fucking the shit out of you," I said. "There can't be a later. I'm doing this to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" he asked.

"My husband," I whispered. "He's very jealous and it looks like he followed me here." I winked at Darryl, and he got up and headed towards us.

"Here he comes now," I said. I watched as the guy's eyes got bigger when Darryl approached. Before Darryl got near us the guy was gone. "Let's get out of here," I laughed to Darryl.

Darryl and I went back to my hotel room to talk and to plan. Darryl was probably the most polite man I knew. He stood by the door in my room shyly, while I walked around grabbing things until I noticed him standing there.

"Darryl, it is okay for you to have a seat," I said.

"Well, that went really badly," he said. "I really think our girl had a shot at it until those other two whores showed up."

"Believe it or not, the other two weren't pros," I said. "The dark haired Latina thinks she's going to be his next wife."

"What about the volleyball player?" he asked.

"Her name is Amy, and she just wants to fuck him before her friend marries him," I replied.

"Well, I still think our plan has a chance at success," he said. "Our chances would be even better, if those two don't show up at the dinner."

"They probably won't be there," I said. "The dinner is for customers not vendors. So we should have a clear shot."

Darryl's phone rang and he answered it. It was Arturo, checking on us. Darryl ran him through what was going on and relayed the news from home. Carl's wife had gone into labor as soon as he got back. It was as if the baby had waited to be born until his or her Daddy was there to witness it.

As Darryl relayed the information to me, I had a strange thought. I wondered if I'd ever get married and have a husband and children of my own. Almost as soon as the thought popped into my head I expunged it.

I'd been having really weird thoughts since this case started.

"Darryl, what do you think about this case?" I asked him.

"It's fucking weird," he said. "This guy is pretty fucking sneaky though, I'll give him that. I'm not sure he isn't sneakier than the guy we caught who was fucking his kid's teacher though. But sooner or later they always slip up. Sooner or later we'll nail his ass. I'm sure of it."

"Darryl, why are you so sure he's cheating?" I asked.

"Oh my fucking God," said Darryl. "Listen to this." He played me the tape of Chris calling his wife at home after he left the presentation. Darryl thought it was funny as hell. He kept playing the last part over and over. "I love you, Helen ... beeeeeeeep,"

Suddenly, I was pissed. I had never felt angrier or sadder in my life. "Shut the fuck up Darryl," I screamed. There were a few silent moments between us. Then I took a breath and apologized to my friend.

"Did I do something wrong?" Darryl asked.

"I'm sorry D; it's not you it's me. I just have this feeling that we're the bad guys this time," I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Sarah, we're not the bad guys or the good guys. All we do is observe and compile evidence. Our targets are judged by their own actions. They'd still be just as guilty if we weren't there. What we do brings resolution in difficult situations."

I'd heard that fucking speech from Arturo more times than I could even remember.

"Darryl, what if the reason you couldn't get any evidence on this guy is because he really isn't cheating?" I asked. "You said we only observe, if we were cops, us planting and aiming hookers at him, hoping he'll fuck one of them, would be called entrapment wouldn't it?" he nodded his head.

"I think we've gone beyond observing and are now trying to force this guy into doing something he isn't. And that does make us the bad guys," I said.

"But he has to be cheating," said Darryl. "He simply has to have something on the side. There's no other explanation for it."

"No explanation for what?" I asked.

"For taking all of that shit from his wife," snapped Darryl. "She treats him like hell and he just laps it up." I nodded and Darryl continued.