Crime & Punishment Pt. 01

Martha must have said something to Laura who decided that we should sit down and relax awhile. She led me to a table and got us seated. June her secretary was there with her husband Willie. As were another secretary and her boyfriend. We were making small talk for a while, the guys naturally falling into talk about sports. Laura soon excused herself to go chat up a few of her colleagues that we had missed. I used the opportunity to pump June for information about Laura's office generally and Frank Patterson in particular. He had arrived the previous August from the firm's Buffalo office where he did commercial finance. He was a senior partner. I tried not to let the questions get too specific because I did not want to appear jealous or suspicious, but I got the sense that June was being equally cautious about what she said. We were dancing around the elephant in the room that we both knew something was happening between my wife and Frank Patterson.

The evening mercifully ended early and we drove home in my car since Laura had taken a cab to the party.

"You're awfully quiet my love," she said. When I didn't respond, she went on.

"The trial got to you didn't it?"

"I guess. The more I think about it the more I see a man driven beyond his endurance trying to defend his home. Leroy Johnson was a good father and husband. He was the victim of an assault on his home and his person. He was an innocent man who walked in on a nightmare yet he was the one I prosecuted: the least guilty person in the room."

"Wow, you've got that little boy-scout conscience of yours up." She stopped to rub me on my arm and kiss me on the cheek.

"In the legal world thing are never black and white. You have to do things that sometimes make you feel uncomfortable, Don Quixote. It's all for the greater good," she said then added.

"But I love you boy-scout, promise never to lose that innocence of yours. I'll get you out of the Van Patten cesspool as soon as I have my partnership and a bun in the oven. Then you can spend all your time tilting at legal windmills. Trust me baby I will take care of you," she said resting her head on my shoulder.

I didn't reply. We got home without me reveling what else was bothering me. That the only difference between Leroy and I was that he had more guts than I did. We were both tired and settled into bed. I had trouble falling sleep, but eventually the post-trial fatigue took over.

I woke Saturday morning to a warm wet feeling around my manhood. Through sleep filled eyes I saw my wife straddling my morning erection. She had tossed the covers off me, lifted the bottom of the granny nightgown she had worn to bed the previous evening, and slipped my morning wood between her legs.

"Morning sleepyhead," she said with a wicked smile on her pretty face.

"What brings this on?" I asked. She had done this before, but not since the first year of our marriage when there never seemed to be a wrong time for sex.

"Well I've a wonderful husband who though tired and burned out from trial escorted me around a boring office party. He smiled and played the good husband and even did a little politicking which is his worse talent, being both shy and introverted. So he deserves his most loving wife's attentions this morning." With that speech out of the way she lifted off her cotton gown revealing her extravagantly shaped body in all its glory.

She rode me slow and easy making no rush of it. I lifted my hands to her tits cupping the tender flesh and then tweaking her aroused nipples. I used my abdominal muscles to pull my upper body up until I could suck a nipple into my mouth. I teased it with my tongue then bit down gently when I knew she was aroused. She likes her breasts treated rough, but not too rough. She moaned and tried to twist away, but I caught her in my arms. Holding her as my mouth moved back and forth between her breasts. She began to move faster on my cock. I am not fast to orgasm and after waking me from a dead sleep, she had a tremendous head start. Then without warning she climaxed. I felt her vagina muscles clamped around my prick and then continue to clinch and release. She melted into my arms as we collapsed back onto the bed. She went limp on my body and lay still upon my chest. We lay there, me savoring my erection buried inside her, her still coming down from her release. She lifted herself up onto her arms, and then crushed her lips to mine, her tongue invading and taking possession of my mouth.

"You were a very bad boy," she said as she began to wiggle and slide herself over my erection. Taking her time but purposely picking up the pace. She deliberately worked her internal muscles to maximize the feelings of her movements, griping me hard then letting go until I was ready to burst. Then she eased off smiling.

"Not just yet lover. I'm not finished yet," she said.

She let my arousal slide back then started up again bringing me to the edge and then drifting back. This woman knew me. She was far more experienced in bed than I would probably ever be and she had spent the time to learn my buttons so she could work me as she pleased.

"Shall I let you come Sweety?" she said giving her low sardonic 'I'm in charge' laugh.

"Yes," I groaned.

"Ask nice."

"Yes, please, Laura."

"Please what Baby? Tell me what you want."

"Please let me come."

At that she picked up the pace moving up and down me like she was driving a fence post. Her right hand buried itself between her legs and she rubbed her self frantically. A minute later she let out a scream and then said, "COME BABY! COME RIGHT NOW!"

I let go with an eruption that hurt it was so intense. We collapsed together, she laying in the crook of my left arm. We lay in a contented after-glow while she fell back to sleep. My body still trembling with the intensity of our love making. I lay pinned by her body easily able to move her off me but unwilling to do so. The sun light filtering in through the bedroom curtains became more intense as the morning sun rose higher in the sky. I turned to check the time. It was closing on nine. The black cat that Laura had fallen in love with as a kitten last year came wandering into the bedroom meowing for her breakfast.

"Going to have to wait for breakfast Midnight," I said, not an original name I know. Laura stirred then looking over me toward the cat.

"Morning kitten. Sorry but mommy was horny," she said. Midnight meowed in answer.

"You made an awful mess in me Patrick," she said.

"What! I made a mess what about you. I'm soaked." I don't know how other women are but when Laura comes there is a lot of fluid. She does not admit this. The discharge is allegedly all mine. But she, I, and the bed were all soaked and there is no way it was just me.

She reached her hand down between her legs, brought it back up, and said, "Look that is you."

Making a pouty face she said, "Want to clean me up?"

"No."

"Yes!" she said and began to crawl up me until her labia covered my face. Well what can you do I began to lick our combined excretions off of her and to play mischievously with her. I licked from back at her ass cheeks to the front of her pubic lips watching her arousal start then without warning I grabbed her thighs pinning them with my arms and dove in hard on her clit. This was of course the point of the exercise, we had done it often. I do not particularly like the way I taste, but I love her flavor and by now I was fully aroused again. I held her as she screamed and wiggled trying playfully to get free and I kept at her hard till she came, soaking me heavily with her juices. When I released her she jumped free of the bed then leaned down playfully to slap at my erection. She brought her face very close and just touched the tip of her tongue to my resurrected manhood before jumping back with a laugh.

"Hold on to that, I will need it later," she said as she headed for the bathroom. "Do me a favor and feed Midnight."

As I fed the cat I tried to remember the conversation from the night before, had I misunderstood it. Was it possible she was leading this Patterson guy on until she got her partnership without intending to put out for him? I wanted to ask and yet I was afraid to broach the subject. We had never been the jealous kind of couple. I had never worried about Laura being faithful. So how do I raise these concerns?

That night and Sunday, she jumped my bones again and again. I was still trying to find some way to ask what was going on. Then Monday she was home about eight o'clock, tired. We passed a quite night. Tuesday I had Night Court in Tomkrill Town Court. It is a small fairly rural town at the North East Corner of the County. It is mostly traffic citations handled by the town attorney. Once a month they have a misdemeanor calendar. The usual, domestic disputes that got out of hand, petty thefts, bad check claims, and all manner of disputes that would have just gone away but for the State Police inserting themselves where they were not needed. It can be a busy night or over in an hour. Depends on the breaks. It was a slow night.

Laura had diner when I got home about ten. She made sloppy joes from a mix, and oven baked steak fries out of the freezer bag, with a mixed salad also from a bag. Nothing from scratch but these had become the staples of our life. Laura was never much of a cook and our mutual work commitments dictated how we lived. After diner she dragged me into the bedroom. We made love very slow and with quiet passion, me on top in the missionary position. When it was done she cuddled with me.

"Laura, are we alright?" I asked not knowing how to frame the question.

"Of course, I just needed you tonight. We are very close to the partnership. Once I have that, we are set. This time next year I could be very pregnant." As she said the last sentence she moved closer to me and wrapped herself in my arms.

"Do you really need to be a partner?"

"Of course! The money will make everything easy for us. I've earned it," she said as she turned her head to me. "Pat, you are not jealous because it is me and not you?"

"No, concerned about losing us because of something that is just about money."

"Oh baby. I'm not going to change. I will always love you. It is always going to be us, just hopefully more of us," she said placing my hand on her belly and kissing me hard and deep. And that is where we left it. There are times in the middle of a particularly dark and lonely night I wish that we had been truly honest with each other, but then the morning comes and reality returns and I know that what happened was meant to be.

__________________________________________________

Wednesday at 5 p.m., I was sitting in the back of the 39 Corporate Woods Parking Lot. The building was a style less rectangular box; it was where Brentwood & Stringer occupied all the second and most of the third floors. I was in one of the unmarked Ford sedan that the DA's investigative staff used. It was a simple matter to borrow it for an evening. I just had to fake an excuse like visiting a witness who I had interviewed over the phone that morning. Laura told me over breakfast that she had to work late and that I should not wait up as she would be very late. She left me with a passionate kiss and a protestation of her love.

I borrowed the unmarked car because I did not want Laura to recognize my car. I waited outside her office. I did not have to wait long. Laura and Frank exited the building just after five and got into a two seater late model silver gray Mercedes. I followed as best I could. Frank was a driver with a heavy foot on the gas. They drove to Volponie a rather nice if pricey restaurant just north of the Latham traffic circle. They got there about five forty and I could not risk going in so I waited in the car. About seven thirty they exited. A brief kiss took place as he helped Laura into the Mercedes and then took off in a very slow and cautions manner. I found the change in driving habits odd but had little time to reflect on it as he soon pulled into the drive way of a side hall colonial in Loudenville, the plushiest of Albany's suburbs. The house had a detached garage but he pulled right up to the front door and they went in. The lights came on in the hall and then in a second floor room. I waited on the street for about forty five minutes I saw the light on the second floor dim but still I waited another hour to make sure. Finally I just gave up and went home.

Arriving home I took a shower and prepared for bed. I had no illusion that I could sleep. My mind kept playing over images of Laura with another man. I did not cry and not because of any belief that men don't cry, but because I don't cry. It does not mean that the hurt is not there or the pain not as great. I had all the feeling of sorrow and loss that I expect every man would have in those circumstances. Before the night of the Leroy Johnson verdict I would have bet my life that Laura loved me and would never be unfaithful. I do not gamble because I am not good at it and Laura had certainly proved that a wise practice. I pondered the question of whether her actions were the result of a lack of love or a lack of respect and decided that it was both. At this point I felt too much self-pity to contemplate what I would do and put that decision off until tomorrow.

Laura came in about midnight. I pretended to be asleep. The marriage was over, I saw no need for a confrontation at this time. As I lay there Laura bent over and kissed me tenderly on the forehead. Then undressed and headed for the bathroom. When she returned to our bed she was scrubbed clean and in a plain cotton nightdress. She climbed into bed and proceeded to snuggle against me. It made my skin crawl, but I gave no evidence that I was awake.

Thursday was a bright cold winter day. I barely slept and rose earlier than usual. I did not want to see Laura and left before she was awake. At work I was called in to see Stan Kondos, the DA. Stan had only one ambition in life to sit with his ass firmly on a judicial bench. To this end he was clearly intent on running for one of a series of judicial openings.

In New York the judges of the lower State Courts are elected. Oddly this court is called the State Supreme Court with the highest state court called the Court of Appeals. So in New York cases start in the Supreme Court. Stan wanted to run for the Supreme Court. Unfortunately he lacked the money to buy the support of the requisite county political chairman. Although elected, Judges rarely have to run, a judicial convention takes place where the delegates chosen by the various party chairmen pick candidates to run unopposed. It is a source of income for the party chairman since the seats are sold. Discreetly of course but sold nevertheless -the only caveat was that the appropriate Bar Committee had to review and approve the candidates. Just to keep the Judges moderately Judicial and the system appearing honest.

My old coach had put a wrench in the works. As Laura had predicted he had run for governor and been handedly elected. Governor Kincade had forced through a Judicial Reform bill. He could not get Judges appointed as opposed to elected, but he did restructure the various judicial districts more fairly and forced a special election for more judges before a judicial convention could be called. The State Bar president then stepped forward with a special screening committee. Stan Kondos as a DA with a tough but fair reputation had a good shot if he could raise the money to run the standard campaign, about a hundred thousand dollars. With that kind of cash he could expect the law firms to pony up an amount equal or double that for the front runner. Stan had to be happy about my victory of Friday as it played well to the women's groups and the law and order crowd.

Stan's secretary showed me in and to a seat. Stan wasn't there but entered a moments latter giving me a pat on the back.

"Good job Pat. Always know I can count on you."

He needed to. In an office that arguably did significant trial work and that the voting public judged solely on the basis of its last trial, I was the only genuine trial talent he had. The chief assistant and the only one of us receiving a respectable attorney salary Dexter Eling was a hopeless cause in a court room, but he was a good administrator. Dexter ran the office efficiently. I had no grudge with Dexter. He was a good and fair administrator which was the extent of his talent and he knew it. Unfortunately Dexter despised me. There could have been a lot of reasons including that some people just dislike others for no reason, but I was reasonably sure Dexter was jealous of my court room successes or probably more accurately embarrassed by his own lack of any. The balance of the full time attorney staff was just Sheila Kneeler, from an old line Van Patten family, who did whatever Stan needed done at the moment- more his personal assistant than an attorney. There were rumors about the two of them, but then there are always rumors. For my money her awkward physicality and generally drab looks were against a sexual element to the relationship. She might be willing, but I doubted Stan was. The rest of the staff were part timers and happy to stay that way.

We had three part time attorneys who filled the greater balance of their time working in their private law offices. They covered the various courts and let me and theoretically Stan cover the big trials. Stan only showed on the slam dunks or when the Victory lap was due to be run.

"Pat, I have decided to go for the Judgeship."

"Good for you -YOUR HONOR congratulations."

Stan gave a good laugh at that.

"A bit premature, which brings me to why I wanted to see you. I am going to resign early to run. I know legally I don't have to, but to raise the money I will need to kiss some ass and well with the present ethics wind blowing I would hate to get stung."

It made sense in a way. If Stan called in the numerous favors he had earned in the job while still in it he could be charged with selling his office. If he were gone then the campaign money was simply given on expectation. Of course he would need a way to still leverage his DA office. His next words let me know what was up.

"I am going to recommend Dexter for the interim job, he knows the office and can always get assistance from me if he needs it," he said.

It made sense. Dexter Eling would be his man in case anyone were to forget what favors had been done. Stan had paused as if reluctant to go forward. At that moment I knew something unpleasant was coming.

"We are moving up Sheila Kneeler to chief assistant." He said.

If Dexter was nearly useless in a courtroom, Sheila was just plain useless. She was one of those attorneys who got through law school by memorizing the work and regurgitate the answers on cue. They end up taking the bar exam over and over until lightning strikes and they manage a pass. Appointing Sheila had only one advantage, her grandfather was a state assemblyman and daddy was the county executive. Stan was looking at me waiting for an explosion. None was coming. What really did I care, I had no expectations that I would get the nod even though I was the choice based solely on merit. It was Stan's next words that would eventually seal all our fates.

"That leaves an opening full time, I am going to hire Mary Ellen Seamon," he said which brought me straight up in my chair. She was straight out of law school. I had interviewed her for the part time position she now held and recommended against her when it became apparent that she lacked the temperament needed in a courtroom. She was a very young woman, about five feet tall with short brown hair. She looked about seventeen and acted about the same. In a courtroom she was someone that the most inept defense counsel could walk right over and often did. We had her working the easiest night and town courts and still had problems.