Chapter 4

Jeff walked out of the plush office in St. Louis and nodded to the receptionist before making his way to the elevator. One more hurdle behind me. Only one more to go. Years of work will soon pay off in spades – I hope.

He could hardly maintain a professional air as he waited for the elevator while wishing he could turn cartwheels or yell at the top of his lungs. If everything goes the way it should, I’m about to become a millionaire. Somehow he continued with a look of boredom as two other people walked up to wait with him. The ride down seemed to take forever. Finally in his rental car in the parking lot, he beat his fists on the steering wheel and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Yes!”

After finding a secluded spot under a tree at the edge of the lot, he parked, but left the motor running so the air conditioner would continue to cool the car on this beautiful spring day. He had to call Diana, even though he still might not tell her about their good fortune until it was a done-deal. Things could still fall apart at the last moment, though he doubted it. They have to have my invention and the software that goes with it, and ... the only way to get it is to buy it from me.

He had been a freelance engineer for several years now, and as a sideline, also sold equipment to law enforcement throughout the country. He had done the work on his invention in his small shop at home, rented labs, and motel rooms. No one else owned a piece of this. He had waited until his patents and copyrights were firm, all the while enhancing his system. It made modern combat aircraft radar look like the fifties black and white TV compared to today’s high definition color. The outfit he just left was one of the government’s biggest electronic contractors and the main office of Wainwright Inc. They wanted his radar – badly. He had hired patent attorneys who assured him that they would protect his interests. He wasn’t going to be screwed by big business using his invention free of charge while tying things up in court for the next ten years.

In addition to the sizeable fortune up front, he would receive royalties on every unit produced; his attorneys would make sure of that. Plus, as the technology trickled down to the public, he would get the same cut from the sale of any of those units. Even if he was screwed out of the royalties, he would still have enough out of the front money for Diana, Arlene and himself to have anything they wanted, within reason, for the rest of their lives.

Despite how hard the first years of their marriage had been on Diana, she had finished school after having the baby, gotten a job, and helped him work his way through college, then stuck with him through his time in the Army. When he quit the firm and a good paying position to go out on his own, she had again ridden out the hard times with him, never complaining and always encouraging.

He had been away from home a lot in the last few years, both with the engineering job, and building his invention as well as the infrequent assignments with his team. But the engineering jobs had paid very well indeed – when he got them – and he made a little profit with his supply company. Diana thought that the engineering was all he was doing. Oh, she knew he was always “tinkering around” in his lab when he was home, but that was the extent of her knowledge concerning his invention.

Now he would soon be able to make it up to her for being gone so much of the time. They could buy a new house – a big one – and he wouldn’t be traveling all the time – at least for work – but they could travel for fun all they wanted to. Arlene could have the best schools, or go to school on the Internet, or have a tutor if she wished. He wasn’t into buying yachts or having expensive parties or into blowing money for the hell of it, but they would soon be able to have the good life that his wife and daughter deserved without the constant money worries of the last years.

He took his phone out, but he wouldn’t tell her yet, just check in and tell her he would be home in a few days with some time off. He dialed and waited, and was about to hang up when she answered, breathless. They talked for a while, but she seemed preoccupied. He had heard something in the background that caused chills to run up and down his spine. She had casually commented that the TV had been on too loud, and he went with it. She never could lie worth a damn. He cut the conversation short, said his good-bye and hung up. He hadn’t gotten around to telling her he would be off sometime soon; he just wanted to get off the phone. His great day had just evaporated. That had been a man’s voice in the background just as she had answered the phone. If there wasn’t something wrong, why had she tried to cover up with the TV routine? Shit. Looks like I’ve been away too long.

He dialed the airline as he thought, If I can get a flight soon, and the traffic isn’t too bad, I can be home in hours. It wouldn’t hurt to let this bunch stew for a few days, anyway. I’ve already threatened to sell my invention to their biggest competitor, and I was serious when I made the threat. If they think I’m getting cold feet at the last moment and could be out looking for a better deal, they might hurry up with their act, or maybe even come up with more cash. Win. Win. And I’m going to win at home, too. Nobody is going to slide in while I’m out working my ass off. Not this late in the game.

He lucked up and got a flight out in two hours, though at a premium rate. He didn’t care; he wanted to be home as soon as possible.

The flight seemed to take forever, but he grimly used the time to plan.

After getting a rental car instead of having Diana pick him up, he swung into the parking lot and entered the detective agency owned by a longtime friend. He was a retired cop, a good guy, and a true friend. He also owed Jeff for work that he had done for him on several occasions. He hadn’t, of course, charged Fred anything for the work.

As he walked into the office, the receptionist looked up from her computer. “Well, look who’s here,” she exclaimed. “It’s been a long time since you’ve been around, Mr. Matthews.”

“Hi, Alice. Good to see you again. Is Fred in?”

Without comment, she picked up the phone, spoke for a moment, then said, “Go on in. He’s eating his lunch at his desk.”

Jeff knocked once on the door and went in. Fred Wilson was a graying mid-fifties guy who used to be one of the best homicide detectives around. He stood up to shake Jeff’s hand and almost bumped his large drink off the desk with his paunch. He caught the drink and said, “Brenda is always telling me I need to go on a diet and start exercising.” After setting the drink back upright, he grinned and continued, “She just might be right.”

Wilson went into the adjoining bath and came back with a towel. While wiping up the little that had spilled, he said, “Jeff, that frown has been on your face so long it looks like it’s going to be permanent. And you look gray as a ghost. What’s up, my friend?”

Jeff sat in one of the chairs facing Wilson’s desk. “Fred, I need to borrow four of your high-resolution cameras and your van.”

Fred looked very intently at Jeff, then after a few seconds, “Shit,” he finally said.

“Yeah, that’s about what I thought, too.”

The detective opened a drawer on his desk and tossed Jeff a set of keys. Coming to his feet, his lunch forgotten, he said, “Come on, the cameras and the rest of the equipment you’ll need is in the storeroom.” As they passed his receptionist he instructed, “If anybody calls, I’m out until I tell you differently.”

“Yes, Sir.”

A couple of hours later, Jeff was parked down the street in front of his house in a very much-used “plumbing” van. For the next several hours, he sat in the back of the van in the sweltering heat staring at the side door of his house on a monitor that obviously cost plenty. The inside of this old dilapidated van looks like the bridge of the Enterprise, he thought. The camera would zoom until the doorknob filled the screen. He played with the equipment until he grew bored, then just backed the zoom down and watched his house.

It grew dark and the outside lights came on automatically. He could still see anything he needed to with the streetlights and his outside house lights, but the camera had a light enhancement if he needed it. Fred had given him a crash course in setting everything up, although Jeff could have figured it out for himself, but Wilson was thorough, cautioning him about double-checking everything. He had stepped back and looked at Jeff just before they parted.

“It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re emotional. One of the things that kept me alive through thirty years with the police department and three gunfights was to keep my emotions in check. Clinical, detached,” he cautioned. “Treat it like it’s your job. Do it right, or don’t do it at all. Don’t fuck up!” With that, he turned and walked back into his office without a backward glance.

Nothing happened until just after eight o’clock, and it happened so quickly that Jeff almost missed it. He backed the recording up and ran it again. Then again, and froze it. “That’s the punk down the street,” he said aloud. He watched the recording yet again as Jack appeared from the back of the house, stepped up to the side door, opened it without knocking, and went inside.

“Damn,” Jeff muttered, “Why couldn’t I have been wrong?“

The side door opened into a short hall, then into what used to be their full basement. Half was taken up by their double garage and the other half was – for want of a better term – their playroom. It had two couches, three large overstuffed chairs, a pool table, a ping-pong table, a giant TV, exercise equipment, and just about everything else they could think of, and afford, to put down there.

He had planned to put two of the cameras in the playroom, one in his bedroom, and one out by the pool. The one by the pool would be easy. He could put it in the shrubbery with no problem. He would have to be careful putting the cameras in the playroom. But he didn’t know how he was going to manage the camera in his and Diana’s bedroom without being caught. He hated to think about sitting in that hot van waiting for Diana and Arlene to go out, but he might just have to.

There was a gnawing in his guts as he checked around the van for anyone close enough to see him. He got out with his case, made sure the van door was locked, walked casually across the street, through the vacant lot to the back, then up to his side door. He carefully started to turn the knob, but it was now locked. He slipped his key in, muffling the sound as much as he could, and quietly opened the door a crack.

After putting his ear close to the door, he listened for a while, then eased it open and when he still heard nothing, made his way noiselessly inside after making sure the door was closed properly. The hall light was on, and as he eased up to the playroom door, he realized that only the light at the steps leading to the main part of the house was on. Even so, he took his time searching out the playroom as best he could in the poor light. Good, they’re upstairs.

He put one of the cameras at the far end on a shelf near a power outlet. That way he didn’t have to worry about replacing batteries. He adjusted the tiny antenna, walked to the other end of the room and checked the reception on the small hand-held monitor he carried. Touching the remote, he panned back and forth and tested the zoom. All worked perfectly. Now for the second one.

There was a storage room at one side of the big room, ninety degrees to the first camera. If he could set the second camera up in there, the two would cover the entire playroom. He went into the storage room and placed the camera on a shelf, moving some junk to place on both sides of it. The junk wouldn’t interfere with its operation and would tend to camouflage the camera should someone enter the storage room, which he doubted would happen. An extension cord and this camera was also attached to an outlet.

He left the door open about halfway and was testing out the cameras when he heard the back door close on the other side of the house. Had someone left, or had someone else entered? He just sat and waited, knowing he couldn’t put cameras upstairs now without being seen. He couldn’t decide which was worse: imagining what was going on up there, or knowing for certain.

He passed the time playing with the cameras, then sat brooding. He had just gotten up to walk around and stretch his legs when he heard someone coming down the stairs. After quickly stepping back and looking through the crack at the back of the door jam, he could see most of the playroom, plus everything showed up on the small monitor, and he had no doubt, on the large monitor in the van as well.

As he squatted down, his knees popped. In the stillness in the storage room, it sounded like a gunshot to him. He flinched, sat on the floor and waited.

The lights came on fully and Diana came down the stairs without a stitch on. She had one of her long 120 cigarettes in her mouth. She walked purposely over to the end table near one of the couches, pulled out a drawer and took out a lighter, flicking the wheel several times in a row, but the lighter refused to light. She did have on one article of clothing, her husband noted: a pair of spike heels. This is not your average casual attire, he thought sardonically. His cock stirred in his pants as he saw her, though. It had been over a week since he had some of her pussy, but with a sickening in his stomach, he seriously doubted if it had been that long since she had sex.

He heard a man’s voice, then footsteps. The voice asked, “Where did you get off to, Sweetheart?” the voice dripping with something – contempt, sarcasm? The same guy he saw enter the house came into view and continued, “My dick will get up again in a few minutes and I want to put a load up your pussy.” He was wearing a pair of socks.

Gut gnawing rage pumped adrenaline into Jeff’s system as he thought of Diana fucking this guy – having fucked this guy – they were too casual for it to be otherwise. Jeff’s stomach felt as if he had just swallowed a dose of pure acid. His hands shook. He didn’t know whether to get up and kill the guy, or cry. Instead, he thought about what Fred had said: “Don’t fuck up. Treat it like a job.” I’ve gone this far; I’ll go the rest of the way, he vowed while trying to suppress his anger enough to reason.

After taking the cigarette out of her mouth, Diana spun around when Jack entered the room. She pointed her finger at the muscular nineteen-year-old. “Tonight is the last time. This is it. I mean it.”

Before Jack could comment, Arlene and Arnie came down the stairs and into the room. Arlene didn’t even have on shoes like her mother. It was the first time he had seen his daughter nude since she was a small kid. Seeing her in a bikini and seeing her nude were drastically different things, he decided. She looked like a slightly younger version of her mother, high-set, long conical breasts that bounced and jiggled as she walked, and a beautiful face with pouting, kissable lips. Both were brunettes with auburn highlights, their thick, wavy hair dropping to their asses. Diana’s breasts were still a little larger, but he would bet that Arlene would catch up in a year or two. He could see his daughter’s nether lips peeking out through sparse and trimmed pussy hair like her mother’s.

Shit, he thought, What am I doing looking at my daughter? But then he looked harder. If he hadn’t completely lost his mind, that shiny wetness on her pussy and upper legs was come. Shit, he though.

Arnie was as nude as anyone else, but his cock was standing up almost to his belly, while Jack’s flopped against his legs as he walked. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had just finished fucking Arlene.

“Mom, did you find a lighter?”

With the comment, Jeff realized that Arlene had an unlit cigarette in her hand. Shit, I go off for a week and my whole world changes. When did she start smoking? And what is Diana doing letting her smoke?

Jack spoke up, “You two don’t need a lighter just yet. I want to see you priss around with those cigarettes awhile first.”

Arnie walked up behind Arlene, put his arms around her and tugged on her nipples. He pulled harder, making Arlene wince. “Ouch, Arnie. Not so rough.”

“‘Rough’ my ass. Jack can do anything he wants and you don’t complain. Don’t start with me, Arlene.” With that, he roughly milked her nipples. Fine streams of milk spurted out from her breasts. After a couple of seconds, Arlene whimpered a little and shivered.

Damn. She just had an orgasm, Jeff thought. And she gives milk just like her mother. Shit, do I even know my wife and daughter anymore?

Jack turned to Arnie. “I thought I told you that you could watch, but not touch, Little Boy,” he said with a sneer.

“Jack,” Arnie shouted, “You’ve bullied me for the last time. Yeah, I know you can beat my ass. I’m only sixteen and you’re nineteen. But I can last long enough for me to call the cops. Then how are you going to explain this? You’ve fucked my girl – my used-to-be girl – and I can’t stop you, but I’m going to get mine, too. I’ve got pictures now, just like you. Pictures of you fucking Arlene and Mrs. Matthews. I’ve got them on my computer as well as my phone. If something happens to me, they get e-mailed to the police and other people. You might beat me up and even kill me, but you will burn for it if you do,” he said, defiantly, almost shouting. “I’ve lost my girl, but I’m tired of you getting all the pussy and me getting nothing.”

Jack shoved Diana out of the way and started toward Arnie. “That did it, Punk. You ain’t got shit. I’m fixing to kill your wormy ass,” the dropout snarled.

Both women yelled at the same time.

“He does have pictures, Jack,” Arlene said. “He came in with his phone right after you left the other day. He told us exactly what we had been doing. And, and ... he fucked us the same way you did. Don’t Jack. Don’t hurt Arnie,” Arlene pleaded. “I still love him. I sure don’t want those pictures to go to the principal at the school, and they will, as well as the police if you screw with him. I know him, and he means it.”

Jack hesitated as Diana joined in. “Right now, you have all the pussy you want, but if you screw with him, you’ll wind up in jail with the shit descending on Arlene and me as well.”

Jack was so mad he was shaking. He pointed his finger at Arnie. “All right, but you better stay out of my way,” he yelled.

Arnie just laughed at him and again milked Arlene’s nipples.

Jeff shook his head. What the fuck is going on? He could end this and stomp Jack’s ass in the process. His military training coupled with years in the dojo assured him of that, but what did Jack have on the two women? If I jump in now, I’ll never get all of Arnie’s pictures, and what does Jack have? As much as he wanted to stop this right now, logic told him to wait. And ... he knew what waiting would entail.

Arnie had just confirmed that Jack had been fucking his wife and daughter, and he already said that he was going to fuck Diana when his dick got up again. The sick feeling intensified. I’m not sure I can stand this. Trembling, he fought the urge to kill.

I have to watch this asshole fuck my wife. If I stomp his ass or kill him now, those picture will still be out there somewhere with whatever else he has over Diana. What in the hell did Diana do that gave him this much leverage over her? Did he catch her fucking somebody else? There is just too fucking much shit that I don’t know, he thought, virtually grieving that he couldn’t kill Jack right now. Damn you, you son-of-a-bitch. Your time is coming. You’re going to regret having been born.

Jeff looked away from the scene in front of him, but there wasn’t anything for him to look at other than the monitor, and it was showing him the picture from the camera near him. To pass the time and try to get his mind off what was going on, he changed to the other camera, panned and zoomed, but the earphones he wore, and the mikes he had planted near the couch and pool table continued to bring him the conversation and every sound Jack, Arnie and the women made. When he removed the earphones, he could still hear them almost as well. He put the earphones back on and looked out the crack, steeling himself as best he could.

Jack was now kissing Diana and fondling her strutted breasts, pulling on her nipples and making her milk spray. Jeff’s stomach threatened to rebel. The last thing he needed was for them to hear him throwing up and realize someone was watching them. Jeff didn’t know whether the upset stomach was caused by watching this prick fondle his wife or the anger that threatened to take control at any second now. Oh fuck, I want to kill that bastard sooo bad!

Jack’s cock had swollen some but still wasn’t all the way up. Maybe the bastard won’t be able to get his dick up. Fat chance. With those two in the room, a dead man would get a hard-on.

“Get down on your knees and suck my cock. Get it hard,” he ordered Diana, since he had run out of Viagra. “And while you’re at it, hold that cigarette up and look sexy with it. You haven’t done it for me in a couple of days, and I want to see you look really good like you used to do when I walked by your house. You always stuck your nose up in the air like your shit didn’t stink. Well, Bitch, look like that now, but suck on my cock while you’re doing it.”

Chapter 5 »