Chapter 2

I took a long hot shower, put on shorts and a T-shirt and sat down in front of my computer to make a list. This was a preliminary short list. I could always add to it after geting some answers from my loving wife.

1. Run the asshole’s plates and see who he is.

2. Take the three bedroom doors off their hinges and stow them in the garage temporarily. I don’t want her to run in a bedroom and lock the door when she gets home Saturday. I could always kick the door in, but my way is much more economical.

3. Force Karen to answer the seminal question- Why?

I called in to my boss and told him I needed a few days off to solve a personal problem. Brian is a great guy and very perceptive. He asked the question, not to pry or be nosy, but because he truly cares about his friends and Brian and I are close. He asked if the personal problem involved Karen and the marriage. I told him yes, and when I get things sorted out I would come in to tell him, in detail, what the “personal problem” really was. His response was short and to the point “Do whatever you have to do Jake, and if I can help you in any way, just ask. He gave me his private cell number with the admonishment. Jake, if I don’t get a call from you, I’ll be super pissed. I may have some resources even you don’t know about.”

That evening I went out to our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant and had eggplant parmesan with two draft Yuenglings, the best domestic beer available. It felt very strange to eat alone and not have Karen across the table, having a back and forth conversation on any of a variety of topics. Karen and I are conservative politically. We are not happy with the current administration and the president’s propensity to bypass Congress with executive orders. That is not the way the founding fathers envisioned government should run. I really missed my wife, and I vowed that I would get her back “come hell or high water.”

Thursday morning, I was up by six. A quick shower and a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and I was ready to get to work on my plan. I called the precinct and asked for Detective Doug Rawlins. He was busy but promised to call back. While waiting for Doug to call back, I started on the door removal project. I knew Doug would do this favor for me or almost anything else I asked of him. When you go into combat with someone at your side and you know your life depends on that person just as his life depends you, a bond is forged that will not break for any reason. With Brian and Doug as a start, I was building an effective combat team.

Just as I finished stowing the third door (remembering to remove the bathroom locks as well) the phone rang and I picked up. “Hey, shit for brains, are you in the lockup and need me to bail you out?” “Crap, Doug, I wish it was that simple.” I laid it out to him, from the Porsche pulling into my driveway to Karen leaving with the asshole behind the wheel. When I finished the humiliating story, Doug said, “Whatever you need buddy, just ask. I’ve got your back just like you had mine in Fallujah.” I told him, “That’s about what Brian told me—welcome to my team. I might need more, but right now I need you to run this license number. It should go with a late model Porsche 911. Also, anything else you can dig up on lover boy.” Doug said “Give me a couple of hours and you will know more than you want to know about this asshole.”

I knew I could count on Doug for what I needed, and he didn’t let me down. In less than two hours, I knew all I needed to know about the shithead, His name was Victor McDonald; he was 29 years old, ten years younger than Karen. He didn’t hold a regular job. The police knew he was involved in shady deals, from running book, to an occasional drug deal. He had a record as a known sex offender, resulting from a statutory rape conviction when he was 22. That episode also got him 18 months in the slammer. I now knew who this fuckwad was and where he lived. I vowed on my love for Karen that he’d wish he never messed with me and mine.

I loved her, but what the hell is Karen doing with this shithead loser? My world was rapidly disintegrating around my ears. Thank God for friends like Brian and Doug.

I went in to work Friday morning at my regular time and tried to reassemble the structure in my life. Everything in the office was still familiar to me. There were even stretches of time of over an hour when I didn’t think about Karen and Victor. Given his record, he might be harming Karen at this very moment. Damn, stop letting your mind wander to the worst outcome. There is nothing more you can do until you talk to Karen tomorrow. Interesting how in all the Loving Wives stories you’ve read, when the husband suspects his wife of infidelity, the first thing he does is leave the house and turn off his cell and laptop while the frantic wife makes multiple phone calls and emails, trying to get him to listen to her. For shits sake, I would give anything to talk to Karen right now to find out exactly where our marriage stands. This really isn’t the standard “strange car in the driveway” scenario.