Chapter 19

[Ted] Late October

"He can do it," Missy assured Julia. "Let me get him off first and I'm sure he can stay soft. 'Course, I'll probably have to do it twice, but hey, it's for a patient, right?" Missy ended in giggles.

Julia wanted to keep upping the pressure on Janice. The next logical step was to move Ted to an evening shift where he would strip to use the pool, hot tub, and showers with the women. His preparation had been limited, and she was concerned about him getting aroused. Not that it would be the first time, or any great disaster. She just thought it important that Janice see her son at ease in an adult situation. A hardon could spoil the impact.

"OK. One thing, though, Missy. I don't want you around for the first few nights. I'm afraid there is just too much between you and Janice. It has to be just about her, her son, and the adult women."

"Do you think Janice might just hole up in her room?" Missy asked.

"Not a chance. If she knows the Ted is going to be naked, she will need to be right there. She may try to seem invisible, but that won't last," Julia declared.

It took some scheming to get Missy and Ted to a place where she could masturbate him without anyone noticing. Just the situation made her task easy, even with the second come.

For three evenings, Ted swam and used the hot tub with pre-selected women. Janice was always around, but she never got in the pool or tub, and she never spoke to Ted. On the third night, when climbing out of the pool, Ted walked over to her and just said "Aren't you going to swim, Mom?" The next night, she was in the pool when Ted arrived.

[Cliff] Early November

"Are you really ready for this?" Cliff asked Jessica as they got out of the car in the restaurant's parking lot. They had talked for several days about going to the place where Marie had lunch at least half of the work days. It had been Jessica's idea. She was almost obsessed with proving that her mother no longer had any hold on her. Even better would be showing Marie that her felonious efforts to get keep Cliff away from his daughter, though inflicting much pain, had ultimately failed.

For all of the years that he was legally forbidden to be near Jessica, Cliff had risked arrest by shadowing her in disguise. After Marie took his business away, he found a job quickly. He lived in a minimal apartment and used all of his meager funds for three things. First, he put away every possible dollar toward eventually starting another business.

He tried to be at any event where Jessica might appear. He got help from a professional makeup artist and learned how to disguise the postures, gait, and mannerisms that could make even a disguised person seem familiar to a close friend or a spouse. At Jessica's prom, he was a waiter, for example.

Another part of his money was spent building a dossier on Anne Mellenkamp. She was the social worker whose fraudulent report caused the judge to enjoin Cliff from seeing his daughter and resulted in the more severe settlement that cost him his company. He had kept an exhaustive log of Mellenkamp's cases, with the help of a bribed clerical worker.

Cliff had used two different disguises to check out the times Marie came to the restaurant and where she typically sat. In shadowing Jessica, he had seen Marie many times, but even after all of the years, he had to fight back the rage whenever he saw her.

He had not been in favor of this 'taunting mission' as he saw it, but revenge was becoming increasingly important to Jessica. In a way, he hated to see it because it was so contrary to her normally sweet nature. In discussions with Julia, though, she had pointed out that change in her beliefs and assumptions was essential. If some personality change came along with it, that was inevitable and not necessarily bad. Jessica HAD to become more independent, self-confident, and self-reliant. Being able to take action against another person was a sign that was happening.

They arrived in time so that they would be seated long before Marie arrived, if she even came in that day. They chose a table, rather than a booth so they were more visible, and they made sure it was right in the path she would take to her normal section.

As it turned out, they had to repeat the whole thing the next day because Marie did not show on their first try. If there had been any inkling of what Marie's response would be, they would certainly have abandoned the whole idea.

Actually, they had talked at some length about what effect seeing them together would have on Marie. Jessica very much wanted her mother to be affected, and Cliff could not deny the same wish. They agreed that she would be angry. That was always her first response to anything against her wishes. They both hoped that they could trigger some serious feelings of loss and possibly even regret. They had both endured huge amounts of suffering at her hands and they wanted her to at least sample those same emotions.

Their table was a two-top, with the seating in line with the aisle. Only one of them could sit facing the entryway from which Marie would approach. Cliff insisted that he face the entrance, and his argument that seeing him would hit Marie the hardest won Jessica over. She agreed that Marie would recognize her instantly, even from behind. The impact they wanted was Marie seeing the two of them together.

They got the impact they wanted. Marie, with a companion right behind her, froze in her tracks. Cliff saw her immediately and stared right at her, his face an expressionless mask. Her face went deathly white and then began to flush a bright crimson. Jessica saw Cliff's stare, assumed its meaning and turned in her seat to stare at her mother, whom she had not seen for months.

To do the things she had done to her husband and daughter over the years, Marie could not have been completely healthy mentally. Yet, because she was so determined, forceful, and skillful in her manipulations, the extent of her psychosis never became obvious. Actually, she was so good that no one but her victims and those trying to help them would ever think she was anything but normal.

Jessica and Cliff's intentional taunt hit Marie far harder than they could have imagined. The last fourteen years had been for her a series of failures, and since Jessica left her, there had been no option for her but to admit that to herself.

Certainly, she had gotten her divorce from Cliff, gotten him totally out of Jessica's life, and stolen the company from him. At that point, she had felt very successful. The company, however, was not a cash asset. It had to be managed, and she had failed. In the end, she had gotten nothing from that part of the plan, and had had to make it on her own after all.

Because of her drive and intelligence, she did make it, and she had another whole phase of her plan to fall back on. Jessica could score a big settlement that was pure cash, and Marie could benefit from that.

Now, the plan for Jessica had failed. The only other opportunity open to Marie was to find another husband that she could rape. She had been finding that far more difficult than her ego had led her to expect.

The only part of all her machinations that she could look on with satisfaction was her humiliation and destruction of Cliff. Despite her opinion of men, she had to acknowledge the he had been genuinely fond of Jessica. His obvious pain at the complete separation from his daughter that she had forced upon him was a significant triumph, psychologically, if not financially.

Now, innocently walking into her usual lunch place, she saw that her single 'win' from all of her efforts was in fact a loss, as well. All of her work had accomplished less than nothing. It was too much for her.

Looking about frantically, Marie saw a steak knife on the table right beside her. With the reflexes and the strength of the crazed, she grabbed the knife and lunged toward Cliff in one motion.

Marie was totally focused on attacking Cliff. She had no thought of hurting Jessica, but Cliff could not know that. All he could see was the mad woman dashing toward them from about twelve feet away, knife raised for a strike, screaming at the top of her lungs. His only thought was for Jessica, and he jumped from his chair and sprang forward to protect his daughter.

Cliff was big and strong enough that he probably could have overcome Marie and disarmed her, even in her crazed state, if he had concentrated on that. He had only one drive, though, and that was to protect Jessica. After shadowing her for so many years, he finally had her back, and the possibility of any harm coming to her was unthinkable.

Of course, as Cliff moved to shield Jessica, Marie aimed at where he was, making it seem to him that she was indeed going for her daughter. When they came together, Cliff turned and threw himself over Jessica, exposing his back completely to Marie. Although he did not know it, that was what Marie wanted all the time - a chance to kill him. Hurting Jessica never entered her mind.

A steak knife is not a sturdy weapon and Marie had nothing but her rage going for her. Cliff had on a blazer that was quite sturdy. Nevertheless, Marie sank the knife into his back three different times before her hand slid down over the blade and the shock of the resulting cut jolted her out of her fit.

By the time a couple of male diners and the restaurant manager got to the melee, Marie was standing holding her badly bleeding hand, looking confused. Cliff was still bent over the screaming Jessica, the knife still sticking out of his back, having sunk in about an inch and a half. Blood was oozing onto the back of his blazer.

The alert cashier had called 911 immediately and a patrol car was the first respondent. The cashier and several diners assured the officer that Marie was the offender and the officer took control of her first.

Cliff was reacting to the shock and Jessica was incoherent from panic, but the officer had to first make sure that Marie did no more harm. At that point, she really was no threat, having gone almost catatonic. She squeezed her hand tightly and did not move and said nothing.

Many minutes later, as Cliff lay face down on a gurney on his way to the ambulance, Jessica was sobbing beside him. He was now fully aware and a plan had quickly formed. "Jessica, listen to me. Listen carefully. Do not say anything to the press or to any lawyers. Only answer questions from the police. Do you understand me? Can you do that?"

"But ... but people should know the truth," she protested.

"They will, Honey. They will, I promise. This is our chance to get revenge on the social worker. Please, let me handle it. OK?"

"OK, Daddy. I love you. Are you sure you're OK?"

"I'm not hurt badly. They won't let you ride in the ambulance. Take the car and I'll see you at the hospital. Call Julia and ask her if she can come to the hospital. Will you do that?"

"Julia, thanks for coming down. I didn't want to get anyone else involved," Cliff said when Julia came into the ER area where they were attending to him. Since she was an M.D., she had access. "Look, I want to turn this into a revenge opportunity. You know how much Jessica wants that, and so do I. Cory Bellamy is one reporter that I think will do it right. Will you contact her, please?"

"But Cliff, she's pretty radical!"

"I know. I'm betting that she is also honest. Wouldn't she be the most credible if she agrees to do the research?"

"I see your point. But what if she blows it off or sabotages you?"

"How much worse off will we be than we are now?"

It took a couple of hours for all the examinations, stitches and shots. When Cliff was finally released, Cory Bellamy was waiting for him, looking more than a little skeptical. As soon as he was able to disentangle from Jessica, they approached the reporter.

"Miss Bellamy, you are a well-known crusader against abusive fathers and your work has caused many of them to be punished. I have studied your work carefully and I do not believe that you have ever manufactured evidence or ignored contrary evidence. My question for you is this: if I give you evidence of fathers being wrongly accused and convicted of abuse, with the collusion of a social worker, will you pursue it and report it?"

"You will have to tell me a little more, Mr. Longley," Cory answered.

"Fair enough. When Jessica was ten," he said nodding at Jessica, "my ex-wife sued for divorce. It was a disastrous marriage, but that is not germane her. Out of the blue, she threw in charges of abuse against me. They were totally without basis. There was no corroborating evidence of any kind. Jessica's testimony was never taken, nor was she ever interviewed by a psychologist, which the law at that time stipulated. The social worker presented a report to the judge, which she was obligated to act upon. I had to give up my business and I was enjoined from any contact with Jessica.

"Now, you have only our word on our case. Ever since then, I have tracked all of that social worker's cases. I have talked to many of the fathers and the children from whom they were separated. I have discovered more than a little evidence hinting at financial kickbacks from the mothers. If I hand over all of that evidence to you, will you do some honest research and reporting?"

"Are you implying that I would be anything but honest?"

"You have never done anything on the 'other side' of the abusive fathers issue. My guess is that there have been opportunities that you have chosen to ignore."

"That itself is a strong accusation against a reporter," Cory said with obvious anger.

"So there has never been a case where the father was wrongfully accused, in your opinion?"

"Society has to err on the side of the safety of the child."

"And your assumption is that the mother is always the safe parent?" Cliff demanded.

"My mother is a monster," Jessica interjected. "Leaving me with her without Daddy's protection has ruined my life."

Cory stood uncertainly for quite a while. It was Cliff who ended the silence. "I'm sorry to have taken your time. I was mistaken. You're not a reporter. You're a crusader. I'll find someone else."

Father and daughter were both glum at dinner that evening. The taunting mission had gone terribly awry. Cliff's attempt at salvaging a revenge opportunity from the attack had misfired. Marie was in custody, but somehow, that was not cause for rejoicing, either. Because of the pain-killers, Cliff retired early.

Just as Cliff and Jessica were sitting down to dinner the next night, the doorbell rang. They were both irritated because it seemed like they had spent the whole day talking to one detective or another, and they thought it was over.

Jessica went to the door and moments later, Cory Bellamy stalked into the kitchen. "I am a reporter, dammit!" was her opening comment.

"Oh?" was all Cliff said, reflecting his distinct lack of joy at Bellamy's presence.

"Anne Mellenkamp is now the director. She has been one of my main sources over the years. How can you make such accusations against her?"

"I did not even mention her name, did I?"

"You pissed me off. I went digging this morning."

"Was anything I told you about our case untrue?"

"Not that I could find," Bellamy admitted.

"Well, you'd better keep digging, then. I must have lied to you somewhere along the line," Cliff spat out.

"You are really bitter," Bellamy observed.

"As the kids say, well duh-uh!" Cliff retorted. "In a system where a man is guilty until proven innocent and proving innocence is impossible, I was raped. There is no other way to say it. Why should that make me bitter? I'm not sure why you came here. Why don't you just leave?"

"If any of what you say is true, then Mellenkamp used me and made a fool of me," Bellamy said.

"Oh, so if dozens or hundreds of men have there lives ripped up and their children left fatherless based on lies, that's not worth your attention. But if your main source happens to use YOU for here own purposes, THAT's worth it. Does that about sum it up?"

Bellamy was very angry at that point. Nobody had talked to her that way in a long, long time. She was at the top of the journalistic heap locally, and this man was making her sound like she had prostituted herself.

At that point, Jessica jumped into the fray. "Why don't you just get out of here and write your usual story. Tell everyone how the courageous social worker saved me from a horrible life with my monster father; how in her anguish that the monster had gotten his hooks back into me, my mother attacked him. That's what sells, isn't it?"

Bellamy just stood there with her fists clenched, breathing deeply. That had, in fact been her inclination when she first heard the story. That was what it had to be, wasn't it? That was what the mother was now telling the police. Bellamy turned and left the house.

Who would have guessed that Marie's crazed attempt to stab Cliff could pose a far greater threat to him than the relatively minor wounds she had inflicted on his back.

The next day, after Cliff had gone to the office, the doorbell rang again. This time, it was a different reporter. "Miss Longley, could I ask you a few questions?" Jessica ushered the man in, and he immediately asked "Why would you move back in with the father who once abused you?"

Jessica almost panicked, but she and Cliff had talked about this possibility. She quickly went to the phone and called him. "Daddy, one of them is here. You were right."

To the reporter, she said "My father will be here in about twenty minutes. Wait out in your car." Not liking that response, the man asked "Has he got you so brainwashed that you can't even answer questions by yourself?"

Jessica laughed out loud. "So, you just bought Marie's line, huh? Listen, if you will promise to listen with an open mind, we'll give you a story that will make your year. Otherwise, just leave and don't come back."

"I'll ... I'll be in the car," the man said rather uncertainly. Jessica immediately got on the phone to Julia again.

When Cliff arrived, the reporter came to the door again. "You'll have wait a little longer," Jessica told him. "My psychiatrist is coming over." Now really confused, the reporter went back to the car.

When all four were assembled and introduced, the reporter asked "Miss Longley, why is Dr. Waxman here?"

"To keep me from scratching your eyes out," Jessica answered. "There never, ever was any abuse. Daddy and I were victims of collusion between my mother and the case worker. It is a pattern that has been repeated many times against many fathers since then."

"Who was the case worker?"

"Ann Mellenkamp, who is now the director," Cliff answered. "If you are genuinely interested, I will give you a copy of a detailed file that I have kept over the years. Otherwise, we have nothing to say except what Jessica already told you. Oh, I will tell you that there were no previous accusations before the divorce hearing, there was no corroborating evidence, Jessica's testimony was not taken, and she was not interviewed by a psychologist as the law stipulated at the time."

"I don't think he's any more interested than Bellamy was," Jessica said.

"You told this to Bellamy?" the reporter asked. Whether intentional or not, Jessica had made a brilliant move. This reporter, Eamon Fernandez, would do anything for a chance to upstage the local star.

Eamon, whose interesting name was a compromise between an Irish mother and a Spanish father, would actually do anything for a chance to do some real reporting. Oh, he had done lots of reporting and done it very well. He was at the top of the local sportswriting heap. Because he had been a standout running back at Addison, that was where it was always assumed that he belonged. Much as he begged for a chance at hard news, his superiors were loathe to give up his work on sports. As he neared thirty, Eamon was becoming very concerned about being 'pigeon-holed'. His top journalism grades should get him some choices, shouldn't they?

Cliff could see that it was avarice that would motivate Fernandez to take a look. He had rejected Bellamy on the same basis, but at least Fernandez did not have the prior reputation. Then, the young man blew away Cliff's assumptions.

"Ms. Longley, Mr. Longley, I have to apologize for baiting you. I did not mean to offend. It was my clumsy way of testing whether I had read things right."

"Read things right?" Cliff queried. "Wait, you're a sports reporter, aren't you?"

"I would like to be much more than that," Eamon answered. "I think this might be my chance."

"Why would they let you cover this story?"

"I didn't ask them to let me. I can justify it a little because of your own college sports career, Mr. Longley, but I am really doing it on my own. If it gets me fired..." Eamon gave a dramatic shrug.

"Was there something that caught your interest about this case?" Julia asked.

"A good friend of mine at college had his dad taken away in a similar situation. It has stuck with me ever since. Plus, I hate people like Bellamy who use the media for their own crusade."

Julia had to leave as soon as she was sure that there was no psychological crisis for Jessica. After Julia left, the other three spent over two hours going over the copy of his files that Cliff gave Fernandez. By the time he left, Fernandez was not only convinced, he was excited.

Fernandez was young, talented, energetic, and hungry. He had a job with a local TV station, but he was completely tied up with sports.

His first challenge was to make sure he got the chance to run with the story he had been given. To do that, he took a big risk of losing his job and being blacklisted. Marching directly into his editor's office, he told her "I've got a blockbuster in my pocket, and I want permission to do it myself."

That, of course, required a lot of explanation, and the editor was suitably impressed. "Let's see the file," was the editor's demand.

"Is it my story," Fernandez asked.

"I can't make that promise."

"Then, I will have to resign and run it as a stringer," Fernandez declared.

"You got that evidence as an employee!" the editor almost shouted. "It belongs to the station."

"Well, that fight will take place well after the story is dead, won't it? All you have to do is let me do the story. The station will get the glory."

The editor had already seen Bellamy's initial piece in the paper, and she was as eager as Fernandez to score a win. They went back and forth for a while longer before the editor said "All right. It's your story. But you're done here when it's over."

"When it's over, I'll have more offers than I know what to do with," Fernandez bragged.

Just like an exceptional athlete who is at their best in pressure situations, Fernandez saw his entire journalistic career on the line, and he responded brilliantly. Acutally, it was a poor start because of Bellamy. The second day after the stabbing, Bellamy had a big article in the paper. It discussed the penchant for abused women to stay with or return to the abuser. It quoted heavily from Marie, who was painted as a heroic mother trying to protect her daughter from an abusive father.