Chapter 3

His abrupt promotion to lieutenant in the Nevada DPS got Roger Bertram thinking. If he played things right, he could have a couple of concubines, but no more than that. Well, he could put them to work in some way to help earn their keep, or at least one of them. Actually, having one around to clean the house would be nice as well. Since his wife Alice had left him for a casino manager in Vegas (she regretted marrying a man who wasn't rich), Roger hadn't had anyone to take care of the house. He did it himself, but that was a hassle that he tended to delay as long as he could.

Of course, that didn't mean that Alice actually did any of the housework herself. She apparently paid gullible college guys and gals to do it for her with sex. Cheating to get unpaid labor was easier than being faithful and having to do it herself, or getting a job and hiring a maid with their combined income. Infidelity wasn't a release from deprivation, as it was for Roger. It was an exchange of services, a matter of convenience.

Sadly, Roger didn't learn that until later. If he had, he would have been free of her sooner. Not that he was a hypocrite, but it just confirmed that sex to his wife was nothing more than a business transaction. She never actually seemed to relax and make an effort to enjoy it. It was all about what she could get for her pussy.

Before that point, he just assumed that she was a good homemaker, if nothing else. She had to be good for something, since she seemed to view sex as a chore that was necessary to have a man pay her way in life. When he had been young and naïve, he didn't know any better. He never found out just how great sex really could be until he broke down and had a few affairs with female friends that proved to be at least modest improvements over Alice.

In a manner of speaking, Roger felt almost grateful to the man who took that shrew off his hands and gave him back the chance to have some great sex for a change. Marriage to Alice was every bit as exasperating as he had been warned that it would be, back when he was a rash young man straight out of the Academy, and thought that she was the most fun-loving gal that he had ever met.

Even though she made him wait until marriage for sex, she at least gave him head before that stage. He foolishly thought that her decision to abstain was for religious or philosophical reasons. The truth was that she wanted to have a guaranteed return on her physical investment. She feared that if she put out, as she later confessed, they might break up at some point and she wouldn't be entitled to a red cent. Once she safely had him, she would be free to act as she pleased, since she could always get half of his possessions.

Roger spent most of his marriage trying to treat Alice as an equal and respect her, only to have her show him nothing but disdain. Dating a policeman wasn't good enough for her after a while, and she made it plain to him. He honestly tried to be a good husband, although it proved to be more frustrating than it was worth. He eventually lost any real interest in sex with her, as it was always based on a trade of sorts. Marriage to her was like prostitution, except that most whores turned out to be better in the sack.

His first extramarital fling was with Sue, a fifty year old widow who lived across the street from him. It happened when he was 38, two years before his divorce. Despite a dozen years of an age gap, she was still more active in bed than Alice. She wasn't doing it for money, after all.

So soon after her husband's death, she didn't want a new spouse yet. She just wanted some fun for once, and she looked for an unhappily married man. She wanted someone not ready to leave his wife, but hungry for pleasure, just like her. When Roger bedded her, she reveled in the fact that she pleased him better than his wife, but she also warned him that she wouldn't want anything serious. Since he wasn't eager for a new spouse, this was good news to the detective.

That was 5 years ago, of course. Since then, Roger had slept with some more ladies, none of them at work. He also tested himself to see if he was sterile, out of idle curiosity. It turned out that he was quite potent, so he examined some of his wife's records and learned that she had her tubes tied a couple of years into their marriage.

Before then, she had taken the pill religiously, even when she claimed that she wanted to try to conceive by him. She had no intention of getting pregnant, which meant a major lie on her part. Since he had been unfaithful and didn't know about her cheating, however, he didn't feel right about leaving her over that. It also didn't occur to him that she might be up to more than simply freeing up cash for shopping and gambling (she had a distinct fondness for slot machines).

Nevertheless, the incident had caused a major argument when he confronted her over the question. In the long run, her sterilization benefited him, but it was still a deception. He let it go after a while, since he realized that he had quit being totally honest with her, particularly about his sex life. The fight was one more step in the disintegration of their union, adding to their mutual animosity.

The final two years of Roger's marriage were enough to guarantee that he was jaundiced on the institution. It was mostly a sexless hell on his part, since the number of extramarital liaisons was small in number and none of them lasted for more than a few months. He also had a one-night stand with a bank teller, but that wasn't much more than a drunken romp that he could barely recall. He certainly didn't remember it being a life-altering experience, or even a significant one.

In all probability, Alice ironically fooled around on a nearly constant basis by this point. It was a good thing that she kept it (mostly) to a small clique of college frat boys and sorority girls, because she might have otherwise infected Roger on those rare nights that he succumbed to the urge to bribe his wife for sex. It was odd that Alice got more action than Roger, and she actually liked it less.

The end began to be undeniable when Alice gave Roger a "Dear John" postcard with a photo of her new beau. Evidently, she had met him a few weeks before at the same casino and found out that he was the manager. Realizing that he was rich and somewhat influential, Mrs. Bertram decided that he was Mr. Right. Naturally, her thighs were opened for him on the first date, and he asked her to leave her man for him. He hadn't proposed marriage yet, but Alice didn't dare to risk losing her golden goose. The prize was worth taking her chances with him.

"So, that's it, huh? You want to leave me for him because he runs a casino? Well, you gamble enough that it could come in handy, I guess. You have a sick sense of humor, Alice. 'Dear John' letters are supposed to express some sorrow that the marriage didn't work out, while acknowledging the hard reality of these things. You're just rubbing my smaller finances in my face, making it obvious that you have no class.