Chapter 3: Ab Inito (From the Beginning)

For the next several hours we sat there watching the videos over and over again.

When that didn't get us anywhere, I took another DVD player from one of the bedrooms and hooked it up to the television so we could watch the videos side by side in split screen mode.

None of which helped us at all.

For example, one thing we learned was that both videos were definitely two recording of the same event but from two different angles. Another thing was that they were also of such good quality that they equaled any professionally made porn movies I've seen. I'd like to say that I am speaking strictly from a photograph point of view, but I can't. The simple fact is I stayed with a massive hard-on the entire time I was watching them.

By twelve o'clock in the morning, I was tired of sitting there with an erection so I tried to convince Rachael that we were getting nowhere watching the videos.

For some unexplained reason, she seemed hesitant to stop. However, she relented so I wrote off as stubbornness. That's when we began going over affidavits in the case file and butted heads like a couple of goats.

"I'm telling you, Vince is lying! There's no way it could have happened the way he said it did." I told her.

She looked shocked. "What makes you say that?"

Rachael opened her briefcase, took out a notebook and started writing in it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She looked at me expectantly, "I'm starting a list of your objections."

That's my Rachael, organized to a fault.

"We've been friends long enough for me to know what Vince is and is not capable of." I told her candidly.

Rachael conceded, "Alright, I believe you. But, my intuition is telling me that was set up!"

"Even in the face of all that evidence?" I pointed to the coffee table containing the case files. "Sanders, has not one, but two videos. To top it off, he's also got corroborating testimony from Gloria, who I might add, hasn't changed her story a bit from day one." Then a thought occurred to me and I asked, "Hey, you didn't ask her about it did you"

She laughed, "No, she came to me."

"Well, what did she say?"

Grimly, Rachael answered, "She denied it. Her whole story seemed rehearsed. I got the feeling that Gloria was trying too hard to convince me she'd slept with Vince."

"I thought you two are friends? Don't you think she'd tell you the truth?" I pointed out.

Sourly, Rachael responded, "We were Marty. But, apparently, even friendship has its limits."

"Huh?

Rachael explained, "Think about it, Marty. Gloria knows that Lilly is an attorney and as such, an officer of the court. If it ever came out that the two of them were in cahoots to defraud Vince out of half the marital estate, the best thing she could hope for is a stiff fine and disbarment. They'd both be facing a hefty prison term for perjury."

Rachael was right, that was reason enough to keep anybody's mouth shut.

"So what makes you think Vince is telling the truth?" I asked once more.

With a genuine tone of perplexity in her voice, Rachael replied, "I can't put my finger on it but there's something just not right with those videos. The whole thing looks setup, contrived even."

"I didn't see anybody holding Vince down. His hands didn't look tied to me. Remember, the camera doesn't lie, does it?" I reminded her.

Rachael suggested, "Just because we couldn't see his hands doesn't mean they weren't tied."

"Do you really think that Vince, a man, was overpowered by Lilly, a woman, and tied to a bed?" I asked.

Then the obvious occurred to me.

"That would mean Lilly is an expert with ropes and knots.

Rachael added, "That plus be a lot stronger than she looks!"

"Hum, is she a dominatrix?"

Laughing, Rachael replied, "Not that I know of; but, it is possible."

"Possible is not good enough. Tell me how she did it. Explain to me exactly how a woman her size overcame a man and tied him to a bed. After you do that, then you can tell me how Gloria, another woman, molested him."

Rachael, hesitated a few seconds then said, "I can't tell you how Lilly tied him up; I don't know yet. As to how Gloria screwed him, that was the easy part!"

It was the most outrageous thing I'd ever heard. "Easy part? Are you serious?"

"Sure. The hard part was tying him to the bed; the rest was a piece of cake."

Rachael was silent. I could tell she was thinking.

"The reason you don't know is because it can't be done." I told her. But since I was supposed to be considering all possibilities I said, "But, just for the sake of argument, let's assume that Lilly did manage to tie Vince up. You still have to explain the erection he had?"

She smiled, "Every heard of messaging the prostate?"

"Isn't that a myth?"

Rachael laughed, "Nope, it's a scientific fact."

'Where did you learn about that?' I thought to myself; but, I decided not to ask.

"If Lilly or Gloria had done that to him, why didn't Vince say anything about it in his affidavit? Better still, why didn't we see one of them doing it on the video?"

Making eye contact with me, Rachael queried, "How many men do you know would want it to become public knowledge that a woman stuck her finger, or possibly even a foreign object, up their ass? Would you? And, as to why we didn't see it on the video, it could have occurred before the video started."

"I see your point. The problem is, in either case, he didn't say it; we didn't see it; and, therefore, we can't prove it. So what's left?"

Rachael responded, "I don't know, maybe one of them slipped him a Viagra or something?"

"I didn't see him swallow anything; did you?" But I knew she hadn't so I continued, "Even if one of them did, once again, Vince didn't mention anything about it in his affidavit. So we have no reason to assume otherwise."

Rachael suggested, "There is another possibility. It might have been a purely a response to physical stimulation. Anyway, there are other ways for a man to get an erection, you know!"

"Like what?" I asked.

Almost seductively, Rachael suggested, "Maybe Vince just simply became aroused when Gloria got on top of him? Tell me; if an attractive, desirable, naked woman started rubbing herself on all over you wouldn't you get aroused too?"

"No!" I lied.

She looked at me disbelievingly.

So what did I do? Did I confess and tell her the truth. Hell no! I told another lie.

"Take it from me; the only time a man will get aroused is if he wants a woman."

Without hesitation, Rachael asked, "Is that a fact?"

"That's right!"

She laughed and said, "Why don't I believe you?"

Maybe it was because I was lying through my teeth!

But, I had to say something.

"Let's assume, again for the sake of argument that you are right and, by some as yet undetermined means, either Lilly or Gloria did manage to "get it up" for him."

She interrupted, "Or both!"

"Okay. That's possible, kinky, but possible. I won't quibble over that one. How do you explain the fact that Vince didn't just buck her off of Gloria as soon as she climbed on top of him?"

It didn't surprise me in the least when she said, "Because once she was up there she locked her ankles under his legs."

"So? I've known women who've done the same thing. That doesn't prove anything." I replied. Then I thought about it and it occurred to me she might be right ... at least on that point. Pride, however, kept me from telling her.

Inside, I really didn't want to admit that Rachael could be right. It just offended my masculinity to think that a woman, any woman, could overpower a man and get that much control over him.