Chapter 1: The Cheating

My name is Andrew Coleman. It is what law enforcement calls an AKA. The reason for that will be explained later. I led a normal life. I graduated high school about middle of my class then went to a public university. I majored in marketing and upon graduation I got a job in sales. I loved sales and I was good at it. Ten years later I was general sales manager for a regional company. I had never married so I was doing fairly well, economically. That’s when I met Mary Ann. She was a divorcee with a 10-year-old daughter. We fell in love and were married within a year of our first date.

Mary Ann had ‘inherited’ a small real estate firm from her first husband. That’s the way she told me she got it. I found out later it was part of the divorce settlement.

Things went smoothly for the first few years. I am telling the truth when I say I was a good husband and a great father to her daughter. I did not want kids, and I had a vasectomy when I was 25 years old. Mary Ann had her tubes tied after her first child so there was no problem there.

The problems started when there was a recession, followed by a pandemic, then another recession. Her real estate business almost tanked. Almost, but she saved it. She took on a silent partner. This partner was so silent that he was kept a secret. No one, not even me, knew his name. That caused a problem in our marriage.

“Why can’t I know who this guy is?” That was a sure-fire way to start an argument that would end up with me sleeping in the spare bedroom for a night or two.

Her answer was always the same, “He wants to remain unknown. If I told you he would not be unknown anymore, would he?”

This secret was driving me crazy. Why could she not tell me? I’m her husband, for god’s sake. I’m not going to tell anyone. I felt I should know.

After three months of this ‘silent partner’ crap driving me crazy, I discussed it with my best friend. I had known Troy since grade school. He always had my back. This time he also had a solution!

Troy owned his own business, an auto parts store. After a couple of break-ins his insurance company had demanded he put in an electronic surveillance system. He bought a deluxe ‘spy package’ from the local spy shop and personally installed hidden cameras after closing one night. He discovered that the break-ins were an inside job. He suggested I do the same.

I do not work at her real estate company, I hardly ever even go there, so I do not have the keys. But I know where Mary Ann keeps her extra set here at the house.

One day she told me that she was going to a mortgage convention in St. Louis. She would be away for three days. That was my chance.

I waited until the secretary locked the place up and left for the day, then went in. I hid the cameras all around her office, another in the lobby and one pointing out into the parking lot. They were motion activated and recorded both video and sound. They sent everything to a web site that I could access anytime I wanted.

I did not have to wait long to discover what was going on!

The day after she came home from St. Louis, I got the surprise of my life!

I accessed the site and watched my wife sit at her desk and do the normal things she did every day. At 5 pm she closed the office and her only employee, the secretary, left for the day.

Mary Ann waited at the locked door until a black SUV pulled up. Out of the vehicle exited a black man. A very large black man carrying a gym bag. I recognized him. He is James ‘Poppy’ Diaz. In college he was a second team All-American tight end his junior year. He could have been a high draft pick except for the fact that the summer before his senior year, he was caught ‘importing’ a boat load of marijuana into the states. He was given 5 years and was out in 3. Everyone who follows football knows his story. I am a big football fan and could have used him on my fantasy team last year.

Anyway, Mary Ann opened the door for him, then led him into her office. I watched as he took her in his arms and they kissed! As his tongue tried to strangle her, his hands squeezed her ass.

They broke the kiss, and he started to un-button her blouse. She was grinning as she let him!

“Did that dumbass you’re married to question you about our trip to New Orleans?”

“Hell no, he bought the ‘mortgage convention’ story. He thinks I was in St. Louis at the convention. Your friend seems really nice.”