Chapter 7

6:50 PM

Lisa was waiting to board her flight to Denver. She looked at her cell phone again but just like the last time she looked at it, the battery was still dead. She wondered if she should have tried to call Tom before she left the hotel. If she had, would he have talked to her? Well, when she got back to Denver he would have to talk to her. She was going to go straight to his room at the All Suites from the airport and try to straighten things out.

6:55 PM

The knock on Tom's door was barely audible but Werner heard it. He jumped up and moved quickly to the door to let Brandi in.

"He's in the bedroom asleep," Werner said. "Get your clothes off and then I'll help you undress him."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Brandi said. "You said all I had to do was party with you and another guy. You never said he would be unconscious."

"I said he was asleep, not unconscious," Werner said.

"Then wake him up. I'm not doing someone while they're asleep," Brandi said.

"Come on, you're getting paid so what's your problem?"

"If I am fucking a guy that's awake, I know it's something he wants to do," she said. "I am not comfortable fucking around with some guy that doesn't even know what's happening?"

"I just want to get some pictures of you with him," Werner said. "It's a joke I am playing on him."

"Oh, a joke," she said. "I don't know what you're up to but I have an uneasy feeling about this. I never asked why you took all those other pictures of me but it did worry me. Now you want to take pictures of me in bed with a guy that isn't even awake? If you really want me to do this it'll cost you another $500.

"What? You have already been paid plenty for this."

"I was paid to have sex with you and let you take some pictures of me. No one said anything about me getting into bed with some guy you drugged. I am guessing this is some kind of blackmail scheme and if you want me to do this it'll cost you $500."

Bill Werner was getting nervous. He didn't like having to negotiate with Brandi and he was afraid that the extra money would have to come out of his own pocket. In the end he realized he had no choice. He had to get the pictures and worry about the money later. "All right, I'll get you the $500 now get undressed. We don't have all night," Werner said.

Bill Werner was waiting for Brandi to start removing her clothes as he thought about fucking her on the bed while Tom Boyer lay next to them unconscious. Werner's erotic thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice behind him. "What does she have to do for the $500?"

Werner turned toward the voice and saw Tom Boyer coming out of the bedroom and before he could think of anything to say there was a knock at the door. Werner was frozen in place and things seemed to be moving in slow motion around him. He turned away from Tom and watched as Brandi went to the door and opened it. At that moment Bill Werner's world came crashing down on him.

Two uniformed police officers entered the room. One of them with sergeant strips on his arm said, "William Werner?"

Tom pointed at Werner and the two officers approached him. The sergeant said, "Mr. Werner, I have a warrant for your arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit felony fraud."

Bill Werner just stood there with a blank look on his face as one of the officers handcuffed him. While this was taking place, another man entered the room. He was wearing tan Dockers and a sport jacket. Tom could see that this man had a police badge clipped to his belt next to his gun.

"Mr. Boyer?" The plainclothes officer said.

"That's me," Tom said.

"I am Detective Furgeson, I have been assigned to this case," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Our information is that this man," he said as he pointed at Werner, "was going to drug you so that he could take compromising pictures of you with this woman."

"That was my understanding also," Tom said. "I believe he did try to give me a spiked drink."

"You didn't drink it?"

"No I poured it into that coffee cup on the table next to the sofa," Tom said.

"Smart move. I'll be taking that with me then," detective Furgeson said.

"How did you know what was going on?" Tom asked.

"I got a call from the DA. He told me what was going down and that the woman, Ms. Wilson here, was cooperating with us. She was wearing a wire and we recorded everything Mr. Werner said to her this evening. I thought your boss called you to tell you what was going on."

"I think he did but I missed the call and before I could listen to the message he left me Werner showed up at my door," Tom said.

"I just have a few more questions, then I'll get out of your way."

"Okay, but do you mind if I sit down. My leg is beginning to hurt," Tom said.

"Please do," Furgeson said.

Tom sat down on the sofa and drank the Scotch that he had left in his glass and then spent the next forty-five minutes answering Detective Furgeson's questions. When Furgeson was done with his questions, Tom asked him, "How did you find Ms. Wilson and get her to cooperate with the investigation?"

"I really don't know," Furgeson said. "When the DA called me he said that they had found the woman and that she was willing to cooperate but he never told me how they found her.

8:15 PM

As Detective Furgeson was preparing to leave Tom's room, Zack showed up.

"Are you all right, Tom?" Zack asked as he came into the room.

"I'm fine."

"I was worried when I couldn't get a hold of you earlier but I was sure that once Werner showed up you would know what was going on."

"Thank God Brad found those files, otherwise Werner might have been successful."

"I don't think so," Zack said.

"What do you mean?" Tom said. "If it weren't for the detailed plans that Werner had on his computer we wouldn't have known that they planned to drug me and get pictures of me with that woman."

"Actually we had another source for information about what was supposed to happen tonight," Zack said.

"We did? From who?"

"Ms. Wilson told us everything."

"How did they find her?" Tom asked.

"It's not how they found her that is important but who found her." Zack said.

"Okay, then who found her?" Tom asked.

"Lisa did. That's why you haven't been able to find her. She went to Las Vegas to find Ms. Wilson," Zack said.

"How the hell did Lisa know where to find her?"

"I'm sorry, Tom, I don't know," Zack said. "Lisa called me from Las Vegas this afternoon. Luckily the DA was in my office at the time. Lisa told us what was going on and somehow she got Ms. Wilson to cooperate."

"Is Lisa home now?"

"No. She had to take a later flight than Ms. Wilson. The DA didn't want to take a chance on having anyone associated with this conspiracy seeing Lisa arriving on the same flight from Las Vegas as Ms. Wilson," Zack said.

"What the hell did she think she was doing? She could have put herself into a lot of danger," Tom said. "Was she so sure that I cheated on her that she had to go looking for the final proof of it? "

"No, Tom. You have that wrong. She did it because she knew the truth and wanted to find out who was doing this to you. She took the risk because she loves you."

It was after ten o'clock when Zack finally left Tom's room. Zack had filled Tom in on what he and the DA had planned for David Ransom. The DA was sure, based on what they already knew, that Bill Werner would roll over on Ransom. So all that would be left was to arrest Ransom but Zack wanted to make things as painful for Ransom as possible.

"Mike is going to keep Werner's arrest quiet," Zack told Tom. "I have called a meeting tomorrow to officially announce that I am taking the company public and who the officers of the new company will be. Ransom will be at that meeting thinking he has won until I announce the new company president. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM. I want you and Lisa in my office at ten o'clock. Ms. Wilson will also be there."

Zack Morgan outlined the rest of the plan for Tom before he left Tom alone in his room.

10:20 PM

Tom was sitting on the sofa trying to decide what to do. He was too wired to go to bed. He knew he would not be able to get to sleep for quite a while. He thought about having another Scotch but wasn't sure that would be a very good idea. He thought about calling Lisa but decided against that. He didn't know when she was getting to town and figured it would be better to wait and see if she would call him. If she didn't call him, he would call her in the morning to make sure that she would be in Zack's office at ten o'clock.

In spite of his better judgment, Tom reached for the Scotch bottle but before he could pour himself a drink someone knocked on his door. Somehow Tom knew it was Lisa and he became angry. Not at Lisa but at his inability to move as fast as he wanted to. He was worried that she might leave before he could get to the door.

After what seemed like an eternity to Tom, he reached the door and opened it. Lisa didn't even look at him. She just pushed passed him into the room.

Tom followed Lisa back into the room but neither of them spoke until Tom lowered himself onto the sofa.

"Tom, we need to talk." Lisa started and then she laid into Tom venting some anger and frustration. "Why didn't you call me and let me know you were getting out of the hospital Monday?"

Tom suddenly found himself on the defensive. This is not how he expected their reunion to go.

"Because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of helping me pack," Tom said.

"I only said that because I was hurt and angry," Lisa said. "I never wanted you to leave."

Now it was Tom's turn to show some anger. "I have been trying to get a hold of you since Tuesday morning," Tom said. "Why haven't you returned any of my calls?"

"I was in such a hurry to get over to Las Vegas to find Brandi that I forgot to charge my cell phone before I left," Lisa said. "My battery was dead so I had no idea that you had been trying to reach me."

Lisa stopped and took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. "Shit," she said mostly to herself and then repeated it. "Shit."

Finally Lisa looked at Tom. "This is not how I meant this to be. I didn't come here to fight with you. I came to tell you that I was wrong and I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I wouldn't believe you when you told me that you didn't have an affair in Las Vegas. Most of all I am sorry for everything I did to you."

The tears were streaming down Lisa's cheeks and it hurt Tom to see her that way.

"What you did to me?"

"Yes. If I hadn't gone out that night with the stupid idea of trying to teach you a lesson, you would not have come looking for me and then you would not have been in the accident and I would not have... I am so sorry. Every time I look at you and see you with your cast and your bandages, I know I did that to you."

"You didn't do that. A drunk driver in an SUV did it. How did you finally figure out that I was telling you the truth?"

"Carl Koonce stopped at the office to see you on Monday and Maggie called me because she didn't know what to tell him. Carl and I had a long talk and he not only told me the little secret you two shared he also showed me that the pictures that were sent to me were fakes but I guess you already knew that."

"Of course they were fakes. They had to be but I was shocked that anyone would have made those pictures and I couldn't believe that you didn't realize that they had to be bogus," Tom said.

Tom's comment hurt a little but Lisa was pleased to hear that there was no anger in Tom's voice as he spoke.

"Once I knew the pictures were fake I figured out that Bill Werner had taken them."

"How did you do that?"

"You told me that he was on the show team," Lisa said. "Monday I went down to the development lab to talk to Brad."

Before she could continue Tom cut in. "You went down to see Brad? Why?"

"It's not what you're thinking," Lisa said.

"Then why did you go to see him?"

"I had just found out that he lied to me," Lisa said. Brad told me that he saw you with Brandi twice the week you were in Vegas. After talking to Carl, I knew that was a lie and I went to confront him. I wanted to know why he lied to me."

"What did he say?"

"He wasn't there," Lisa said, "but while I was looking for him I met Jim Brasso. While I was asking him if he had seen Brad I noticed that there was a photo editor on the desk where he was sitting and when I asked him about it he explained how you could add or delete things from a picture and no one would ever know. Then he told me that editor belonged to Bill Werner. That's when I knew that Werner had to be involved."

"I had been racking my brain trying to think of who took those pictures," Tom said. "Zack and I figured it out Monday evening. Then Brad called me last night and told me he found the picture files and more on Werner's computer. "

Tom went on to tell Lisa about the call he received from Brad the night before.

"Then where does Brad fit into the conspiracy?" Lisa asked.

"He doesn't," Tom said. "Brad thought, like you did, that the pictures were real. He just saw an opportunity to go after you and he took it. I am grateful to Brad for digging up the evidence that can put Ransom and Werner in jail for what they did," Tom said, "but I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he tried to do with you."

Lisa winced at that comment knowing that Tom was thinking about the night of the accident and what she had done with Brad that night.

"How did you figure out that the girl from the pictures was in Las Vegas and how did you know where to look for her?" Tom asked.

"Carl recognized her," Lisa said. "He said that she worked in one of the strip clubs that you and he went to. Carl remembered her name and where she worked."

"So you just ran over to Vegas by yourself to find her?"

"No. Carl went with me," Lisa said. "Apparently he took quite a liking to you and wanted to do anything he could to help us."

"So, once you found her how did the two of you persuade Brandi to cooperate?" Tom asked.

"I just explained to her how much trouble she would be in if she didn't cooperate with us. That's when she told me that she was coming to Denver today and that she was supposed to get a room in this hotel and then call Bill Werner. I knew you were staying here so I called Zack and told him what I found out. Zack just happened to be talking to the DA at the time so we had Brandi talk to the DA and he talked her into helping us trap Bill Werner."

Tom was impressed. He always knew that Lisa was intelligent but the fact that she had not seen through the phony pictures right away had bothered him a great deal. At times he had wondered if it was because she wanted to believe that he could cheat on her but now he was sure that she had just been fooled, as he might have been if the role had been reversed.

Lisa had been pacing back and forth in front of Tom as she spoke and he was beginning to feel the warmth that he had always felt when he was with her. Now that Lisa had discovered the truth about Las Vegas it was up to him to forgive her for what she had done.

When he pictured her with Brad, it hurt. But was that all Lisa's fault. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to tear them apart. Couldn't he forgive her for falling into the trap? After all she didn't finish what she had started. There was nothing to prove that what she told him happened that night was true but he believed her. If she were going to lie about that why wouldn't she just lie and say nothing happened.

Tom was suddenly aware that Lisa was staring at him.

Tom said, "What?"

"You seemed to have left the room for a while there. You body was here but you mind wasn't. Did you just take a painkiller?" Lisa said.

"No, I am very alert. I was just thinking about how much I still love you."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lisa started crying. She dropped down on the sofa next to Tom wrapped her arms around him and Tom put his arm around her. They sat quietly for a long time.

"Well, what do we do now?" Lisa asked. "Are we going home now?"

"No. Not tonight," Tom said.

"Why? Are you still mad at me?" Lisa asked as she began to worry that things weren't going as well as she thought.

"No."

"Then why aren't you coming home with me?" Lisa asked.

"Because we are staying here tonight," Tom said and then he kissed Lisa on the forehead. "I am too tired to go home tonight and I haven't had anything to eat other than a handful of nuts since breakfast."

Lisa quickly wiped away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. "Do you have any food here?"

"I have some ham and cheese in the refrigerator," Tom said. "Would you get us a sandwich and a beer?"

Lisa didn't say anything, she just kissed Tom on the cheek and went to the kitchen and made two sandwiches.

11:15 PM

Tom called Zack's office and left a message on his voice mail. "Lisa and I are together and we will be in your office at ten o'clock.

"Now can we go to bed and make up?" Lisa asked.

"I'm not sure that I would be any good to you in my current condition," Tom said. "I'm exhausted from the physical activity, and my head is still spinning. I don't know what to concentrate on right now. The fact that we are back together or what's going to happen tomorrow."

"You don't have to perform for me. I just need to be close to you for a while. Things between us have been strained for so long now I just need to love you and to convince myself that this is over," Lisa said.