Act 2: Two Conversations

Two Conversations

Teri: Background:

I pulled my four-year-old Honda minivan out of the parking garage of my office building in downtown San Francisco and headed for my appointment in Sausalito.

I smiled a little as I remembered that Michael helped me find this van, even though he called it my "mommy van". Michael is a car guy — since his firm became successful he always drove a sports sedan with lots of features and horsepower. Some men use a big powerful car to compensate for other failings but Michael just loved cars. He encouraged me to get something sportier but I told him I was a mom and I should have a "mommy van." He just smiled and went to work on the internet to find me the perfect van and he did. It was a year old with few miles, being sold by a family who worked for the State Department and were being posted overseas. I was a little nervous getting a used car but Michael arranged to get it inspected and I saved a bundle on it. He didn't expect anything in return but he did allow me to take him to lunch. Soon we had a monthly lunch meeting. I got the exclusive investigators contract with his law firm, but only through competitive bidding.

We did share one unbreakable bond and that was from one awful day in Los Angeles. The thought of it got me back to the serious reason for my trip to Sausalito.

It was 10 AM and it was Friday, Michael's 50th birthday.

Where are you Michael?

I didn't want to go to Sausalito. I didn't want to face Helene. I didn't want to serve the divorce papers and I didn't relish dropping the bomb of the evidence of her infidelity on her.

I had last seen Michael on Wednesday two days ago when I had flown down to Palm Springs, my briefcase full of photos, e-mails, recordings, and DVD's that proved without a doubt that Helene had been involved with Brian Taylor for the last seven months. I had reviewed it all and I knew that once Michael saw even a portion of what I had seen their marriage was over.

At first I couldn't fathom what had prompted Helene to get involved with Brian and especially prompt her to betray Michael the way she did. Was it some whacky brain thing that has to do with menopause? I knew it couldn't be Michael — he was the kindest, gentlest man in the world and also the most loyal. He was also the tall quiet self-assured handsome man that many women only dreamed about — including me. He had been gone a great deal the last year or so while he was putting together the huge merger but that should be no excuse to toss out 25 years of marriage.

After I looked over all the evidence especially the e-mails and Brian's personal and financial reports I thought I had an idea why she had started the affair with Brian.

I shook my head.

I had been in love with Michael ever since we met just over 15 years ago. I was 21 and a new field agent fresh out of the FBI Academy and Michael was my first boss. He treated me with respect as he did all the other agents. There was never even a hint of impropriety. Michael was a one woman man and that woman was Helene.

We had only worked together for a few months when a botched bank robbery and hostage situation changed our lives forever. Usually the procedure is to wait out the hostage takers, but they were hopped up on drugs and threatened to start killing the hostages right away. Michael and I were the only agents there at the time and we had made our way to the emergency exit at the back of the building. We had unlocked the door with a key provided by an employee who had managed to escape.

When we heard the first shot from inside the bank Michael looked at me and said,

"Teri, we can't wait."

"Tear gas... now!" He yelled into his radio.

"Ready?"

I just nodded holding my 9 mm straight out as he opened the door a crack.

There was another shot and we moved into the back of the bank in a hurry.

What I saw next stayed with me until this day. Sometimes the memory would explode into my brain at the oddest times. Two of the hostages were lying on the marble floor in pool of rapidly spreading blood and one of the hostage takers had a woman on her knees in front of him holding her by the hair. He had a gun to her head and was screaming.

"You're all going to die... all die..."

That was the last thing he said. Michael blasted a hole in his head. Even through his wool balaclava mask I could see the look of surprise on his face. His mouth was still open with his last words. His gun dropped and he fell onto the screaming woman.

At that point everything seemed to slow down.

The tear gas from the cops out front smashed through the windows distracting the other robbers as they turned toward us.

I put two rounds into one of them. He dropped his assault rifle and fell back. Michael put down the third one with shots to the head and neck. His blood spurted everywhere as he spun around, weapon thrown in the air, hands momentarily raised as if he could fend off the bullets that struck him.

The fourth robber had hidden behind a desk near the front of the bank and he came up firing through the tear gas. With the tear gas he was probably firing blindly, but with an assault rifle on automatic he didn't need to be accurate to cause damage. I took up a stance like I was at the range at Quantico and steadied my automatic. I realized that I was never going to get him in time and vaguely wondered how it was going to feel to get shot.

Michael came out of nowhere, firing and pushing me aside and down just as a burst reached us. A round slammed into me and finished the job Michael started. I remember laying there on the cool floor gasping for breath.

"Jeeeze... that hurt!" I thought. The right side of my rib cage felt crushed.

All of a sudden it was very quiet except for the loud hiss of the gas canisters, and some sobbing. It all seemed far away. The front doors burst open and several gas mask wearing SWAT team member raced inside.

"They're too late. It's all over. FBI to the rescue." I thought.

Then I realized I hadn't seen Michael get up. My injuries seemed unimportant and my blood turned cold.

"Michael, where are you?"

I groaned as I rolled over. I knew I had some broken ribs but my vest had saved my life. Later I was told the round that hit me came in at an angle otherwise it most probably have penetrated the vest.

Michael was lying on his side not more than five feet from me. He wasn't moving and his head was a bloody mess.

"Oh God... not Michael!"

One of the SWAT guys came out of the gas and kicked my gun out of my hand and pointed his M-16 at me.

"Don't move!"

I looked at him. He seemed younger than I was.

I croaked out, "FBI... We need an ambulance for Special Agent Connors... right now!"

Michael survived but his career ended. He told me later that Helene told him if he didn't leave the FBI she would take the children and leave him. She wasn't going to go through life never knowing from day to day if she was going to be a widow by nightfall.

We both got accolades but I always knew it was my rookie mistake that almost caused Michael's death. He had saved my life but he never spoke about it and every time I tried to tell him how sorry I was he'd cut me off.

"Teri, it's over... don't worry about it... I'm fine."

My fractured ribs healed but my soul took longer. After five years I left the Bureau and married a cop. That marriage was a mistake and lasted only long enough for me to get pregnant. I think I realized early on that I loved only one man. I took my savings and headed for San Francisco with the idea of setting up my own private investigation company.

After a few months with few clients I finally worked up the courage to go see Michael.

"Teri... you look wonderful... pregnancy definitely becomes you." I blushed wishing that my little girl I was carrying was his.

As always, he was unselfish and a godsend. He became a silent partner and steered business my way to include an experienced retired Oakland police detective, Greg Tellar, who became my partner. Greg had the experience and the contacts in the Bay area and soon we had so much business I had to hire more staff and our little firm took off. I was especially pleased when we won the contract at Michael's firm.

But, I never thought I would be investigating Michael's wife, Helene.

Helene had not been very happy to see me in the hospital room with Michael after he had regained consciousness. I had been there most of the three days he was unconscious, and Helene had been there very little.

After he woke the hospital staff called her. I never forgave her for taking over two hours to get to the hospital after he had awakened. I was a wreck, ribs taped, drugged on pain medication but I refused to leave him. Helene blew in smelling like expensive perfume and looking like a model — not a woman who was almost a widow. She apologized to Michael after giving me the "what the hell are you still doing here" stare. Her excuse was that she was in the middle of an important case and just couldn't walk out of the middle of an important trial.

It pissed me off that she had done that to Michael and it pissed me off more that he seemed to accept that she was just that way. I thought she was a vain, selfish bitch at the time and it seemed events proved me correct. It was a shame it had to hurt Michael so badly to find out.

Conversation 1, Teri and Michael

Michael picked me up just after lunch at the Palm Springs airport. It was already 108 degrees (F) and we retreated to the cool of his townhouse in a gated golf course community off Frank Sinatra Drive. He looked strangely relaxed and fit. The couple of weeks off work seemed to have helped him unwind. It was too bad I had to bring such devastating news.

He poured us each an iced tea and we sat at his dining table which looked out over a beautifully manicured golf course.

"Michael... I have everything here. I've gone through all of it and if you have any feelings about trying to get back together with Helene... then please don't look at any of this."

He just shook his head and began to study the thick file. It detailed all Helene and Brian's meetings over the last couple of weeks. Each of my operatives wrote a detailed report giving time and place and how long Helene and Brian were together along with what kinds of recording devices were used. My people were very good at surveillance. I had another file which contained copies of e-mails between the two of them for almost a year as they were leading up to their affair, and after the affair started. For some reason Helene had saved all their correspondence. That was a big mistake since after they became intimate Brian's messages became more explicit.

Michael, ever the detail person took his time and read the details of the meetings. His eyes widened with surprise and perhaps dismay when he read the last entry.

"So Saturday night and part of Sunday she took him home and fucked him in my bed? Sorry." He apologized for his language but I knew that was what it was — just fucking.

"That's okay Michael." I understood full well that for Michael that final act of infidelity and spousal treachery would be the straw that destroyed the marriage.

"And you have photos, DVD's and recordings of all these meetings?"

"Yes, except for the day you had us start surveillance... that afternoon at the Palace we could only get some still shots and plant the bug... well about an hour and a half after they arrived."

"So you mean you missed their fucking?"

"Well no... we just missed round one."

Michael winced as I said that.

"I'm so sorry Michael."

Helene's ongoing infidelity was not news to Michael, just the degree and all the facts. I had briefed him over the phone as we investigated over the last couple of weeks without going into a great amount of detail — just times and places. Now he was seeing everything. I hoped he didn't want me to stay to see the DVD's. I had already watched all our recordings of Helene and Brian fucking. They had met four times in the preceding two week period — three times at the Palace in the afternoon, and the last time over the past weekend at Michael's home. From the look and sound of the meeting it appeared it was the first time she had invited him to the house. What a fool!

"Let's see the photos."

I reluctantly handed him a fat envelope containing maybe a hundred 5X7 photos. Most were stills from the DVD's.

"Michael they're in chronological order with the first day of surveillance on top."

He took out the first photo — it was of Helene only. She was wearing only a Palace Hotel plush white terrycloth robe and the photographer — my female operative, Janice as a room service waiter, had caught her just as she came out of the bedroom of the suite. She had a brush in her wet hair — obviously having just come from the shower.

"She really is beautiful... isn't she?" Michael asked.

I didn't need to respond — he had said it more to himself anyway.

"She has that freshly fucked glow — yes she's beautiful."

He said it so quietly and sadly, I thought my heart would break.

I wanted to wrap my arms around him and just hold him and try to make all the anger and hurt go away.

He got up and took a bottle of vodka from the bar and brought it back to the table. I shook my head when he put two glasses on the table. He poured himself a couple of shots worth and then tossed it back.

Michael quickly rifled through the photos. They were all pretty much the same — Brian fucking Helene, Helene fucking Brian — some oral, some missionary, some with her on top. I'm glad it was the photos and not the DVD's with the sounds of Helene calling out Brian's name as she came. Michael quickly got to the last photos — the two of them fucking in Michael and Helene's bed. He looked at the last photo and then put them back in the envelope. He poured himself another drink.

I didn't know if he picked up on the dispassionate look on Helene's face in the last few photos — almost a sense of disconnection. Of course I had seen all the footage and heard the sounds. Watching Helene in bed with Brian over the past weekend at their home, I was convinced that Helene was acting — faking orgasms. I had wondered why the hell she doing this to herself and Michael if she didn't get some enjoyment out of it? Was she always a frigid bitch or did she hate Michael that much? Once I got to the end of the DVD I discovered why.

"Teri... I've seen enough... I still can't believe it. It's like these are photos from some bad porn movie... except staring my wife. Over the last couple of weeks I've wracked my brain trying to understand it. Why on earth would she do this to me... to herself... to our family... didn't she think about what would happen if I caught her?"

"Michael I think you need to read the e-mails."

"Why?"

"You're the detail person Michael... I think you'll see what I saw."

"Okay"

I handed him the stack of paper. He put another shot of vodka in his glass and began to read. He took his time occasionally sipping from the glass.

Finally he pushed them away and just stared into space.

After a few moments he came back and said,

"I can't believe it... she let herself be suckered in by this bozo... Jesus Christ... I thought she was the smart "question everything" litigator. Like an idiot she never confronted me!"

I just looked at him.

"I see the pattern... he starts with the flattery and that continues... but Helene has been BS'd before... but then in every message he takes a dig at me... never calling me by name... just "the husband" then it becomes "the always absent husband"... then the "faithless husband" and finally the "unfaithful husband", after he keeps suggesting that I must be having an affair. He even has the balls to suggest that my lack of interest in sex with Helene is proof positive of that affair!"

Michael pointed to one sentence in an e-mail written by Brian last December... "Helene he must be having an affair... because I can't see any reason a sane man wouldn't want you all the time!"

"Looking back, Helene started acting more distant about that time but I was so wrapped up in the Charos deal I hardly noticed. Christ... the New Years party! Brian was there and I know he danced with her at least once. She seemed very quiet after that and then she got drunk, which was very unusual for her and she took me home and... well I guess tried to show me what I was missing... or what I was going to miss from then on... because that was the last time we had sex... there was no love involved she was a wild woman... trying to fuck me to death."

"Oh sorry Teri... didn't mean to embarrass you"

"They started fuc... oops having sex in January but he keeps it up the dirt on me even after he gets what he wants. What's he going to get out of this other that fucking my wife? I don't even know the bastard so I guess it's not personal... but why?"

"Michael, I think I have the answer."

He waited.

"Money."

"What?"

I ordered a background check on Brian Taylor and came up with some interesting facts.

"Oh?"

"Well first just some information — Brian is thirty-five and has been with Helene's firm for ten years. He graduated from Hastings with honors and he is originally from the Denver area. He made partner at 30 and is a huge money-maker for the firm. They love him and as far as they're concerned he can do no wrong. He lives in the city in a three million dollar condo. His mortgage is huge. He's been married twice before and has a child by each and an ex wife who he pays alimony and child support to. They both took him to the cleaners — bet you can't guess why they divorced and why they got such good settlements?"

Michael just looked at me... the truth starting to dawn on him. The hurt and anger in his eyes was palpable.

"Michael... he lives high and is so over his head in debt that he is only one missed payment from having his Porsche repossessed and condo foreclosed."

"Michael took another sip of vodka."

"So this is all about getting at Helene's... and my money?"

"Yes... that's my guess... but there's more."

"What more could there be?"

"He hates you Michael."

"What."

"Well... it's only partially personal... he just hates the idea of you."

"What?"

"Apparently Brian came from a very modest background and he wants to live the rich lifestyle and he resents anyone else who he sees as successful and happy... he has broken up a couple of other marriages already and in one case got the wife pregnant. He seems to be a true sociopath who can't be happy... or at least what he perceives as happy... unless he can be putting the screws to someone else... especially if he perceives that person as someone who is happy and in a happy marriage."

"Christ!"

"I'm confused. How can he hope to get our money? I can't imagine Helene loves this guy... she never said that in the e-mails... anything on the recordings?"

"No... but if he can get you out of the way he might have a chance..."

"Well he seems to be well on his way now doesn't he?"

"Yes and no."

"Huh?"

"Michael... I have been all through this stuff and have watched all the DVD's and I have to tell you that on Sunday Helene ended the affair."

Michael just looked at me his eyes filled with confusion.

"So she fucked him in my bed and then tells him it's over?"

"Basically, yes."

"How'd he take it?"

"Not well... but what is important is what she told him. I can't ask you to watch that DVD although I can tell you that from what I saw Helene was faking it for the entire weekend. She had obviously made up her mind that it was over."

"Gee guess that's Helene's MO these days... she gives a consolation good bye fuck and sends us on our way!" Michael said bitterly.

"Listen Michael... I made a transcript of what she told him... and I think you should read it."

"Teri... just tell me, okay?"

"Michael, in brief she tells Brian that she really does love you and that she intends to forgive your affair and that the two of you will go off on the trip she'd planned and put your marriage back together. She said she realized that you were all the man she ever needed and she wasn't going to throw 25 years of marriage down the drain."

Michael looked stunned. I handed him the pages of the transcript. He just held it but didn't read it.

"So what did that prick Brian do?"

"Well it seems our Mr. Taylor was stunned for a bit. I think he really thought that he might be going with Helene on this trip if it ever came off. But he really pulled out the big guns and told Helene how much he loved her and he even went so far as to propose marriage. She declined and stuck to her guns and finally had to demand that he leave."

"So Helene finally woke up?"

"Yes, but Brian now has decided to blackmail her."

"What!"

"We have a video feed from her office on Monday. Brian met with her and told her that unless she gave him $500,000 he would expose her infidelity to you and give you all the e-mails along with some other details. Apparently he had snapped some photos of them in compromising positions."