Chapter 4

Melinda’s voice was fragile, even weak, when she said, “Same here, but Patricia George didn’t need to die. That part is a huge regret for me. The rest, meeting you, Jackie, and then you, Charlie, and you all finding me and taking me in, I’d go through hell to have that. Looks like I’m doing that, though, doesn’t it?”

I had to break up the maudlin scene and get them back to the generally happy people they normally were. “Both of you stop. Melinda, you had nothing to do with her death. I know you liked her and all, but there are people working on justice for that. Yes, it was a needless loss, but we need to move on. OK?” She nodded. “Let’s go find something to eat.”

We did nothing constructive the next day until later in the evening when Melinda talked us into going to a movie and pigging out on popcorn. It took our minds off the issue at hand for a bit and was a welcome distraction.

Back at the hotel, the girls pulled me into the shower enclosure, just big enough for the three of us, and we shared a nice, sensual, happy shower. When we were done and dry, we spent at least two hours making love. Just before we laid down in each other’s arms, they both climaxed, Melinda on my erection and Jackie on my tongue. I was coming in Melinda at the time.

After catching their breath, they leaned forward, kissed each other passionately. Then I heard Melinda tell Jackie, “Thank you, again. Thank you for all this. Thank you for loving me.” Then she got my attention. “Charlie, I love you. Thank you.” She clenched her vaginal muscles on me a bit and giggled, then they hugged it out, Jackie ran to the bathroom for a towel and after pulling Melinda off of me and cleaning us up, we snuggled together and slept.

The welcome distraction from that activity by far overshadowed the earlier one at the movies.

Brenda called at two in the afternoon, saying she and a team were at my house, and we could come out any time. They’d need our help to check the safe and everything. She also said not to talk to anyone but her while I was there and not mention anything anyone was doing. That was imperative. No mention at all. She’d explain later.

When we got there, there was a van with a big antenna on it and a sedan in the driveway. The antenna was pointed at the house. Novel concept. Brenda met us outside and showed me a card. It basically repeated what she’d said before. No mention of the other people.

We checked the safe, and yes, someone had tried to open it, but they didn’t get it done. I don’t have a cat anymore, but when I leave the house, I generally put a cat hair on the door seam at the lower left of the door. I showed it to her, without making a sound getting a smile and a nod in return. You wouldn’t see it unless you were looking, very closely, or knew it was there. I opened the safe and verified that Melinda’s things were there and undisturbed.

She led us out in the back yard as far as we could get before needing boots. It was pretty chilly outside, so this wouldn’t last long.

“Charlie, girls, they have already found one bug in the house. They are looking for more. We need to go back in and talk about anything but the break-in and the activities at hand. I recommend the girls talk about school or something and you and I can talk about movies or something. We need to talk so that devices will have something to pick up and transmit. We DON’T want to advertise that we know they were there or what caused it. OK?”

We all nodded, went back inside and then I had a brainstorm. Dinner. That would make noise and conversation would come easy.

“Ladies, remember that chicken thing you made a few months ago?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m hungry for it again. Any possibility?”

“The chicken will have to be thawed in the microwave, but yeah, we should have everything.”

The conversation went on for a couple of hours. We showed Brenda the whole house, with Jackie explaining which room Cheryl’s was, how we needed to use the gym a little more, and how nice the tanning bed felt after a long twenty minute session. On and on the two of them talked. It was organic. It was natural. I noted after an hour or so they were actually just talking. Getting to know each other.

The crew, two guys and a young woman, packed up their stuff, and after getting Brenda’s attention pointed outside toward the driveway. We all went out behind the van where the young woman briefed Agent Francis on the findings. Four bugs were found in the master bedroom, kitchen, family room, and guest bedroom. The good news was that they were found. The bad news was that they were identifiable as items our country used in covert operations around the world.

“Any way to trace them back, Sheila?” Brenda asked her.

“Only one of them. The one in the kitchen. It’s an omni and pretty powerful. Picks up everything for about forty feet. Dining room, breakfast table, kitchen bar, hallways in both directions, all that. It’s ours. There is a number on it, but I doubt you’ll be able to trace it. It’ll show up as going out on an op and not coming back. Happens all the time. We’ve hung red ribbons next to them, so you’ll be able to find them if you want them removed. The repeater they’re using is in the tree in the front yard. Cell phone technology. Relayed through a proxy. It may have some numbers on it, but we can’t get to it until it comes out. It looks like a knot on the tree. Of course, one with a red ribbon on it, now.”

“Run the number anyway. Just in case. Remember guys, this is as sensitive as things get. Lives are at stake, not the least of which is this little brown-haired girl here.” She pulled Melinda back to her and hugged her from behind. “In addition, we have government agency equipment trying to find and probably silence witnesses in a high-profile murder case. Not good in any way of looking at it. Keep it in this portfolio only and don’t talk to anyone except me, Deputy Director Anderson, and the director. No one else. No one.” She got nods as the tech team loaded their gear and took off.

“OK, people, that’s the score. Your house is bugged. If we remove them, they know we know they are there. If we leave them in, and it’s a normal human reaction, you’ll act differently. Try not to. We’ll give it a few days, but something will happen to them, I’m sure. Charlie, send me all the footage you can from the cameras. Remember who Cheryl is and act accordingly. The trial is supposed to start late next month. I’ll be in touch. Happy New Year, by the way. Be good tonight.”

She shook my hand, hugged each of the girls and was off on other business.

New Year’s Eve and the ball drop was a little anti-climactic for us. Brenda was right. It’s hard to act normal when you know you’re being listened to. We had a quiet toast to our recent wedding vows and hit the sack. It was a shame, but I apologized to the girls for letting work ruin New Year’s and promised them I’d make it up to them. They smiled and nodded, kissed me, then each other and held hands over my chest as we went to sleep.

The Director opted to have the devices removed. They were able to trace the big one back to a State Department ordered surveillance and the background operation behind Bradley Johnson’s protectorate and his Aunt Linda’s kingdom started to unravel. For her, the worst of it was when Williamson directed the DIA to help the FBI and the CIA fix the Gerald Burnstead problem. She and her husband were both implicated as participants. Flight records, airport gate surveillance records, and other various clues led to that conclusion. While it was completely legal, for the most part, for people to be doing what they were doing at his resort, there were morals issues, and blackmail issues, not to mention missing people, causing a bit too much grief.

Extradition was being looked at, as was forceful extraction, but it was a matter of weighing everything and finding the best option for the long term, as well as not breaking the very laws they were using to try to take him down.

The court case started the last week of January. Witness Jane was called as the first prosecution witness. She told her story, answered a few questions, and was released. The FBI was able to set up an off-campus room for the testimony, so very few people even knew where she was. She was in Atlanta, but nowhere near the federal court building where the trial was being conducted.

She was not called back. Bill George testified, reiterating everything Witness Jane said, and within three days, the jury was handed the case. Four hours later Bradley Johnson was convicted of second-degree murder and a number of crimes involving the coverup of the murder itself, to include the conspiracy in the movement of the body into the country. He’ll serve every bit of eighteen years before he can try to talk his way out of prison. It was quite the complicated affair.

Gerald Burnstead was convicted as an accessory after the fact and a few related crimes, in absentia. He’d be in trouble if he returned to either his New York or his Florida residences. He faced about ten years before he’d be eligible for parole.

Bill George was soon after charged and pled guilty to statutory sodomy, by proxy, a strange Aruban case to be sure. He paid a two million dollar fine, gave two million dollars to a charity for the boys’ benefit, and promised never to step foot on Dutch soil. If so, he was looking at life in an Aruban prison.

Melinda dropped the cover story of being Cheryl Cantrell, my niece, and asked me to take her to her parents’ home. It was Valentine’s Day when Melinda sat Melissa and Mike down and explained everything. From the job application to that day. She told of making love with Patricia George, of witnessing the murder, of going into hiding, of Jackie and me finding her and taking her home, and of the wedding.

At that, Melissa and Mike both smiled. Melissa spoke for both of them. “Baby, we could hear in your voice that you were happy. In Aruba, and now at Charlie’s house. We could tell. We’re happy for you. Very happy. Now that you’re safe, anyway.” Giggles spread.

Melinda went on to talk about the investigation, the bugs in the house, the trial, and the aftermath. She thanked her parents for trusting her enough to spread her wings and learn about life by living it. Then she laughed and promised never to do it again. We all broke up laughing at the way she said it. I was just relieved that her parents were happy for her and could share in her joy.

They fed us some type of vegan dinner, asked us to take care of their little girl and told us to stay in touch. We promised to do both and bid them farewell.

“Can we stop at Burger King on the way to the plane, Charlie?” My second wife was NOT vegan. Jackie couldn’t stop laughing.

Once we got the school records straightened out and Melinda became Melinda Cantrell, by her own choice, and with her parents’ authorization and blessing, our lives normalized quite a bit.

Nothing was heard of about the murder case for a couple of months, but after I brought the girls back from a spring break in Belize, we had a bit of a scare. The weather was getting warmer, the girls were wearing less and less, and as they walked from school to our car in the parking lot, two men approached them. One of them called them by name and asked them if they wanted to party.

“No, and please leave us alone,” Melinda said first. Jackie was already bringing her phone up to her ear and they were walking backward toward some friends when the other man spoke.

“Gerald would like to send greetings to two of his favorite girls. He just wants you to know you’re not alone in the world. Please keep him in mind in everything you do. Or when you think about what you have already done. He also thinks you might want to come back for another summer. You might still be young ... I mean pretty ... enough.” With that, they turned and walked away. Jackie, ever the brave one, snuck through the parking lot and got their license plate number. Melinda got more than one picture of them, straight on and profile.

Melinda remembered one of the men as one of those that took Patricia’s body outside. She knew the other one as a driver. Fred and Mack. She didn’t know the last names, but Fred was the one she saw picking Patricia George’s body up, throwing it over his shoulder and taking her out. She immediately called me and asked me to call Brenda.

They raced home, and by that time, Brenda had asked for all the pictures. She wanted to know which one ‘Fred’ was and got to work.

“Jackie, why didn’t she ask which one Mack was?”

“Jesus, Melly, you aren’t blonde. I hope to God you’re kidding.”

“I remember Charlie telling me the story about when you two met. Next time I’ll warn you!”

Jackie chased her into the back room and I heard a bunch of laughing and screaming. Tickle screams, I think they were. At least I knew they were still in moods capable of handling all this.

We heard back that the two made it out of the country, but the feds now have names, pictures, and video of them leaving by way of New Orleans to Aruba. Brenda said if we see them again, call her immediately from any of our phones. No need to worry about being a secure line. She just needed to know immediately.

The girls had a party at the house for a few friends two weeks before school let out. Jackie had a couple of her senior friends over and Melinda had a couple of her junior friends. They shared friends as well, as I remember seeing a couple of the girls with my one of a different grade. Just an observation. I was glad that after all that had happened they still socialized well. It could have been more traumatic. I was thankful, more than glad, I guess.

It was during that party it was learned by the other girls present that the reason Jackie and Melinda never had boyfriends at school or from town was that they were already taken. By Charlie. Some of the kids knew Jackie and I were married and had been shown her wedding set, for one reason or another. Jackie had just stopped trying to hide it, and recently, more so at the party, Melinda let her guard down. She was tired of hiding it and making excuses. She was in love and didn’t care who knew. There was nothing nefarious happening and it was all legal and on the up and up, but it did bring some ‘Oh, my gosh!’ and ‘Really?’ reactions. They were very understanding when the story was told of how Melinda had changed her name when she entered school and how she was trying to hide from trouble. I asked all the girls there to kind of keep that part of the conversation low keyed. They all swore nothing that happened at the Cantrell residence would leave the Cantrell residence.

“Cool,” I said. “The Vegas thing.”

They said, “Exactly, but it has to work both ways.”

My wives said I blushed when I nodded, and they all giggled at me. No telling what they were up to.

It wasn’t a surprise to me then, that when the girls left school the next Wednesday that the small gathering stayed close to Jackie and Melinda when they saw Fred and Mack out in front of the school in a big black sedan. Jackie, without taking her eyes off them for long, so they wouldn’t know she was doing it, brought up Brenda’s contact information on her phone. She put the phone on speaker and asked the girls to hush for a bit.

“Agent Francis.”

“Brenda, Jackie Cantrell. Frick and Frack, sorry, Fred and Mack, are out in front of the school in a big black four door car. Looks like Melinda’s Dad’s Ford Taurus. Same kind of car, anyway.”

“Don’t move and don’t let them know we’re talking.”

“I’m still looking at them. They don’t know, I don’t think. They probably think I’m all petrified and stuff. Am I old enough to get a gun and shoot them in the face?”

“No, hon, I’ll take care of that for you.” Jackie told me later they both giggled when Brenda said it. “OK. I sent a message out on the wire. If they leave from New Orleans or Atlanta, I know we’ll get them. Any others, and we have to just hope they’re using their real names to leave. Pretty doubtful, though. They didn’t use them to enter the country, we know that. We’ll see. Ready for some fun?”

“Sure. What do you mean, though?”

“As soon as you hear the sirens, just put your hand up a bit and twirl your finger in a circle. Tell me about the look you see on Fred Matthews’ face when you do that. It should be just a minute now. The locals are reporting that they think they can block him in, even if he tries to leave.”

“Brenda, I hear them, but I’m not moving. I don’t want Jerkwad to get suspicious. I want you to throw that bastard in jail.”

“You’re a bright girl, Jackie. Hug Melinda for me.”

Jackie hugged her, and they looked over to the thugs just as three cop cars bracketed them into the curb. Guns were out, policemen were yelling, and thank God, no one started shooting. It was, after all, a school zone. It was only the desire for revenge on their part, and the cool actions of Jackie, Melinda, and their posse, that helped get those two off the streets. Gerald Burnstead had two less minions to help in running his resort of ill repute.

“Thank you, girls. You can go home now. Tell your husband I said, ‘Hey’.”

“Will do. Thanks again, Brenda. Byeee.” Click

They told me the whole story when they got home. I couldn’t be any prouder of my wives.

Jackie graduated with good enough marks, as well as good SAT and ACT scores, to get into the local university engineering program. She didn’t qualify for any hardship scholarships, wasn’t a veteran’s child, wasn’t of color, and wasn’t a firewall four point oh student, so she pulled her money out and started the process. When I found out and we talked about it in early June, a week later, I asked her how she wanted her spanking. Did she want it with her panties up, panties down, nylon or silicone spatula, or just my hand.

“What?” she screeched. “Why would you spank me?”

“Your money is to be used for sweatshirts and movies and gas, remember? Ooooh, we need to think about getting you a car, too. Anyway, don’t worry about your tuition or any of that stuff, hon. Plus, you’ll be living here at home. Locals can do that as long as they keep their grades up. Two point five or better, I think. Something like that, and in any case, we all know you can do better than that.”

“Oh, OK. I remember now. Thank you, Charlie, my loving husband and fulfiller of dreams throughout the house. Should I call Father and tell him he can buy a new car with my college fund?”

“Sure. As far as I’m concerned you can tell him to shove it up his...”

“CHARLIE! Stop. That’s not like you. They were right, you know. Even if they won’t forgive me, they were right all along, and I would have been a lot safer not to have gone. Sometimes I wish I had listened, but then when I feel your heartbeat under my hand and hear you breathing next to me at night, I’m glad everything happened the way it did.”

“True, but forgiveness is divine. They’re holding a grudge against their own daughter. No sense in that. Not something I’ll ever do.”

“Remind me to give you a daughter someday soon and we can test the theory.” She smiled and kissed me. “So, no spanking?”

“Not this time.”

“Shucks.”

Melinda heard her. “You are such a slut for attention. I’ll spank you, slut, but you’ll have to stay still. You’re bigger than me.”

“Don’t forget that either, Melly!” Off they ran, Jackie chasing Melinda to the back of the house again. Laughs and tickle screams filled the house. Wonderful noise. Just wonderful.

Jackie, as I’ve said before, is a five-foot four-inch redheaded wonder. She’s light, and thin, but nicely shaped. Her breasts are a bit large for her frame, but not big, as are her buttocks. I don’t like the terms big boobs and bubble butt, so I’ll use ‘hourglass figure’ instead. With a twenty-inch waist, both her top and bottom look substantial. I’m not a boob man, I’m more of a leg guy, so I couldn’t be happier. Her legs are so perfectly shaped and so very loooong, with four Ohs. She’s perfect, in my eyes. Yes, she is, to me, simply stated, just perfect.

Melinda is an inch shorter than Jackie. At five-foot-three, and about the same weight, maybe a couple pounds less, she is as close to perfect as most men will ever see. Her hair, when we met, was dark brown, her natural color, for the first eight to ten inches, then light reddish brown, maybe a light shade of auburn, from there down where she had her mother color it a couple of years ago. Her hair was down to the bottoms of her shoulder blades. It’s growing out now and as she has the ends trimmed, she has less and less of the auburn. She’s asked my opinion, and I’ve told her I like her natural color, the rich dark brown. It complements her light brown eyes extremely well. She’s leaving it to grow out, for now.

Both girls look young, and they are, so naturally they look young, but when I met them, Jackie really did look about thirteen. Now I understand it was on purpose. She used makeup and her ensemble to create that look, much like younger women primp and dress to look older. Melinda was naturally younger looking and would pass for fourteen or fifteen any day, without help, even though she turned seventeen in December. Jackie could work to pass for thirteen or fourteen if she wanted or make herself look like a twenty-two to twenty-four-year-old, looking hard at another birthday coming up with hardly any work at all. Definitely versatile.

Since the early November time frame, just after we found her, my love for Melinda grew. In leaps and bounds, it grew. There was no doubt when she asked to stay that I would want that. On her birthday when she asked us to marry her, I wanted that, as well. I wanted her as another spouse later when we all said, ‘I do’, and I want her still now to this day. Jackie and I have had this conversation and we have always felt the same. Melinda grew on us like an invasive, yet very welcome, vine of affection and this much later we feel more like one than we do like three together. This could only occur with mature attitudes and experienced histories. I can’t imagine a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl entering a relationship like we have without what these two have brought into it. One with a silver spoon upbringing and the other one blue collar, albeit with daisies cross-stitched into it as liberal hippies might have, they are so different, yet so alike in their outlooks and desires. I’m just fortunate to be the target of those desires.

I told them to come up with something for a getaway over the Fourth of July holiday. It would be a three-day weekend, but I was also closing the plant for the day before and two days after to give my employees some time off. We’d reached several milestones, early, on a couple of big projects, and not only could I afford to give them the time off, I could afford to pay them for it. Bonuses next Christmas were going to be substantial, too. I take some of the credit, though, because I think my wives helped my creativity and allowed me to find some holes in some walls I had butted up against.

They asked how long we could be gone, and without knowing what was really being requested, I said “two or three weeks, if you need that long.”

“Would you let us go scuba diving?” Melinda asked. Jackie was beside her, smiling.

“Melinda, Jackie. I won’t LET you do anything. I won’t ever tell you that you CAN’T do anything, either. I am your husband. I’m not your father, or your keeper or your owner. If you want to fly, and I think Jackie does, or you want to scuba dive, or ski, or whatever, I will do what I can to help. Within reason. I won’t take you to the top of the mountain if you decide to ski. You’ll have to do that yourselves. Not my thing. I’ll stay at the bottom of the hill and pray you make it to the bottom.” I smiled, they hugged me.

“We found a place east of Aruba, still Dutch, but a different island.” This was Jackie.

“Curacao?” I asked.

“No, Bonaire. A little farther east. There is a place there where we can learn and then dive. But it takes more than a week to do both. The Harbor Village Bonaire is the name of the place. It’s a resort near a harbor. Oh, Jeez, no shit, Jackie. I surprise myself sometimes. Near a harbor, indeed.”

“Jackie is trying to say they have boats for fishing and diving, and we can have a ball. We don’t have to just do that, though. Totally up to you, Charlie, but it looks and sounds fun and it shouldn’t be too hot. Between 78 and 90 degrees, are the averages, and it doesn’t get much cooler or warmer. The water is supposed to be around 80, about like the pool. They also are supposed to be off the normal hurricane track. Research can be fun. If it’s not for school. Hah!” Melinda was having a ball with all the research they’d done.

“OK, ladies. Make reservations. The second through the twenty-second and we’ll go learn something new.”

“Will Mobile be OK for the stop and do you want to use Signature again, Charlie?” Jackie remembered that from when we went to Aruba to pick up Melinda. Aruba is about 40 miles within our maximum range, and I don’t like pressing things like that. This place, if east of there, will be just a bit over our range, so not even worth trying. Factoring a tailwind into your maximum range is kind of like handing the keys to your airplane over to Neptune, God of Everything Wet, and letting him have it. Ferry tanks are a pain if we don’t need to use them. For this, we don’t. Way too easy just to stop and fill up.

“Yes, and always use them if we can, hon. We have an account with them and get perks and stuff the more we stay with them. They’ll look up everything you need. Just give them the tail number and your name. Same time. Noonish on the second. We’ll leave here in the morning, but not too awfully early.”

I worked quite a bit for the next three weeks. We had lots to do and I wanted to feel good about shutting the shop down on the first and letting everyone go for those extra three paid days off. It had been planned for a while, so everyone knew it was coming. Most had short trips planned. I only knew that because as I walked around the plant, people thanked me for the time off and talked about what they were going to do over the super long weekend.

We had a Harley club at the plant that was heading out for a poker run. That would have been fun and I’ve gone before, but this time other activities prevail. No longer being a single man, I have other fish to fry. I might have to give my Iron to one of the girls, buy a bigger bike for myself and another sporty for the other one. Neither has said much about the scooter in the garage, so they may not be interested at all. Time will tell.

A few days before the first of the month, I had the girls double check the reservations at the hotel, the dive school, and with the flight services people in Mobile, both the going and return appointments, and all was ready to go.

Wednesday night, we double checked our bags, the girls asked me a million questions about if I had everything, and we finally went to bed. They were so excited, we didn’t get to sleep for a bit.

Melinda got us started going with a little romantic smooching. She kissed me, then reached over me to kiss Jackie, rubbing her middle on my soft member. When she hunched down onto it a little, dry humping nonchalantly as if it was nothing, my soft member became my firm dick. When Jackie reached down to see what was going on she giggled, taking ahold of it and placing her hand under it and pushing up on it while her wife was using her pubic mound to push down on it, turning my firm dick into my hard as nails cock.

“Melly, get on him. Make love to him, hon.”

Melinda peeled her panties off as she straddled my midsection and eased herself down on my erection. She’s pretty tight, always, and it’s really hard not to ejaculate too soon. Especially since we’ve been busy and haven’t exactly been ‘knocking boots’ a bunch lately. I held off, though.

I pulled Jackie to me and kissed her, holding her ass with one hand and pulling her into my thigh while she rubbed my chest. Her hand wandered down and helped Melinda again. She made a V with her fingers and rubbed her knuckles on me while her fingertips worked on the object of my coital activities. I was holding Melinda’s side with my other hand and rubbing up and down on her flank. Making love with these two girls was always interesting. We never knew, I don’t think, who would be where, and when. Like this time.

“Melly, turn around and lay on your back.” She sat up straight and spun a hundred and eighty degrees then leaned back. I turned loose of Jackie and reached up for Melinda’s tummy and ultimately, her breasts. “Charlie, bite the back of her neck.” I did, and as I did, she reacted to it, giving Jackie the clue, it was time to bite her clitoris. This was in perfect synchronization, just as I was all the way into her channel, causing her to scream and convulse in an epic orgasm. When she clenched her vaginal muscles, it set me off. Her stomach muscles contracted, and she sat bolt upright. Jackie felt all that happening and bit my dick lightly right on the bottom where the urethra runs and sent me reeling as well. I must have had fifteen spasms pumping everything I had into that wonderful little woman.