Revelation Blues Pt. 01

Scott stopped dead, he was astonished by that statement, "Carla, you have your own business and he is unemployed, how could you be dependent on him? It's the other way around I would have thought."

"It's a long story, but I owned a similar business before in my name and it didn't fare well. I had to file for bankruptcy and that didn't go down well with the suppliers and the banks. That's history and I learned a lot from my mistakes. When I started this business, I had to register everything in Don's name. On paper, he owns the business and the stock, and the bank account is in his name. If we divorce I would lose the business and will not be able to start a new one. I can always get a job but I would lose years of hard work, a good business, and my autonomy."

"I'm sorry Carla, I didn't know. I understand your concerns better now. In any case we need to deal with this matter as quickly as possible. We can't let it rot and poison our lives. I hope for both our sakes it is nothing serious but if it is we have to face it and deal with it. I'll do some digging on my end and keep you updated about my findings. I guess you will be doing the same, so let's stay in touch and see how things develop at both ends."

They left her shop at the same time. Carla turned off the lights, set the alarm, and locked the door. They said their goodbyes and she gave him the usual kiss on the cheek.

"Scott, maybe we can have lunch together one of these days."

"Sure Carla. That would be nice."

They each headed in a separate direction towards the car park.

As he walked towards his car Scott thought of Carla's lunch offer. He was somewhat amazed; neither of them invited the other to lunch or dinner without their spouses before. That must have been just a nice thing to say he thought. Maybe that's her way of saying that they had a closer friendly connection now.

As he got into his car he leaned back and let his thoughts refocus on the the things Carla told him. He sighed and whispered "What now?". He started his car and knew what he had to do. He had to find out what his dear and loving wife was up to, if anything. Facts and fiction were mingled and he needed to do some sorting out. This is like Caveman falling in love with Lady Gaga in Camelot. Someone had to revisit the bloody script.

Chapter 5 – What Now?

Scott drove home with his car stereo turned off. He wanted to focus and not get distracted by the news or the music. He started organizing his thoughts and making a mental check-list, setting priorities, looking for facts, deciding what to do next.

One part of Scott's brain was having a hard time believing what Carla told him about Mary. She has always been a loving wife and mother. She always took good care of her family, they were great friends and lovers. Their sex life was always good and often excellent. Mary never indicated any dissatisfaction with their sex life, hell, with any aspect of their life. The contrast between his perception and Carla's suspicions was striking, not to say unbelievable.

The other part of his brain was facing the reality; something serious happened, no question about that. The question is what and the seriousness of it. Carla is a rational person and couldn't simply invent what she shared with him, and what Mary allegedly told Don led him to have some very serious doubts about Mary and her behavior. 'No smoke without fire' they say. Trust is a hell of a thing to mess up with.

He wondered if he should confront Mary or look for evidence first. His professional approach to problems always drove him to look for facts before acting. Yet, this was not a professional situation and he couldn't afford to let it fester and poison their life. He needed an immediate feel for the situation, a pointer that would determine his course of action.

The first thing he should do is have a serious conversation with Mary. No point playing a cat and mouse game with his own wife. He would tell her about his chat with Carla and see how it goes from there. Mary will probably deny everything and probably prove to him that something sinister that he still couldn't comprehend is lurking behind Carla's story. He would rather be secure in their own marriage than save their friendship with Don and Carla.

He needed to write down what Carla told him as well as his recollection of all the events that happened during the last six months and that struck him as odd, out of context, or out of character. Scott had an excellent memory, he also had a diary, albeit a professional one, Mary also had a diary; he was the one who bought it for her. This will take him some time but he was confident he would be able to paint a decent picture of the last six months and hopefully find out the anomalies or the pointers he needed to proceed with his search.

He should retrieve and check all the phone bills for the last six months, maybe even year. Mary doesn't have a cell phone, she didn't want one, so the only phone she could use is their home phone. They didn't have any public phones anywhere near their home and he couldn't imagine Mary standing outside, chatting with Don for hours. This task would be the easiest. Scott filed the bills and never checked them before because he had no reason to. Now he does.

He also needed to check their credit cards statements. The types of spending and the amounts were irrelevant, but the time and date and location may help him pinpoint where Mary was at a given time. Mary paid a few things with her credit card, she would withdraw cash at the ATM and pay for many of her small purchases with cash. The two most common things she paid for by credit card were the shopping, generally at the supermarket, and the gas for her car.

Scott arrived home around 10pm and parked his car in the four-car garage. As the garage door slowly opened he noticed the empty spot; Mary was not home, probably still with Fiona. He entered the house through the connecting door, dropped his briefcase in his study and hung his suit jacket on the back of his chair. He took a pad and a pen, went to the bar and helped himself to a good serve of his favorite Scotch whiskey. He then went to the kitchen and heated the meal Mary had prepared for him.

While the microwave was doing its job, Scott sat down on a kitchen chair, sipping his whiskey and fiddling with the notepad. He reflected upon the fact that this was the first time in over 15 years that he had to consider the possibility of his wife having an affair. He shook his head. He knew of and heard about so many affairs, more than he cared to remember, men and women, young and old, in his private and professional circles, most ending with separation or divorce. He thought how ironic it was that he knew about all those other couples cheating stories but never suspected or imagined this happening to his own couple.

The sound of the microwave bell interrupted Scott's thoughts. He got up and got his meal and sat back at the table. He nibbled at his meal, he wasn't particularly hungry or aware of what he was eating, he was just performing a routine. He pushed his plate to the side and started writing.

He replayed his conversation with Carla and wrote down everything she told him, every detail he could remember. When he had a doubt about something she said or the way she said it, he underlined his notes and put a question mark in the margin. He didn't want any distortions or misinterpretations later. As he wrote, he became certain of the fact that Carla, and by extension Don, could not have invented such an extraordinary story. There were clearly some very disturbing things. He definitely needed to get the facts straight and discover what was really happening in his wonderful life. This will be a challenging process.

Once done writing his conversation with Carla, Scott started writing down all the odd things he noticed about Mary's behavior during the last year and the circumstances or events that happened before and after each argument they had, no matter how minor. Some events that happened when they were out with Don and Carla, such as one particular night in a night club and what happened at the spa, Mary's behavior last Christmas, and more recently the ring episode. They weren't in any chronological order, just a quick brain dump.

Carla mentioned Mary complaining about his frequent travel. True, he traveled a lot for business and many of his trips spanned over several days and sometimes, but rarely, several weeks. He used to ask Mary to accompany him whenever possible, before Dean was born and after, when they could have someone to look after him. Mary enjoyed it immensely and would spend weeks after their return telling friends about the new places or new countries they visited. Sure, she complained about it occasionally but only when it upset other plans they had.

Scott paused and dropped the pen. Again his mind wandered and asked himself why he never considered that Mary could cheat on him. He was having a hard time accepting that idea, that she could have had or is having an affair. For Christ sake he is not living on another planet; he knew that some people cheat sometimes and that, more often than not, they get caught. Yet he thought that he and Mary were different. They were close friends, they had such a good life, they have gone through so much and done so much during those 15 years. Their couple was strong, he thought, and their commitment to each other was solid. Why would he ever think of her cheating? Why would he think there are reasons she would want to leave him?

Mary never gave him reasons to suspect her. On the other hand, he had to admit that if there were signs he didn't notice them. Not typical of him, not at all. He was the one that would notice the smallest flaw in a business plan or an inconsistency in a movie or a story. He was the one that would notice the slightest change in Mary's make-up, dress style, or behavior, as he did in the last few months. But then again, he never noticed anything serious enough to indicate an affair. Only small things. Sometimes he would ask her, they would talk, and she would explain the reason. Sometimes she was simply not feeling well, occasionally she was upset because he was traveling when they were supposed to go to a party of to a PTA meeting, or something about the neighbors' kids that upset her, or any other reason that all seemed plausible at the time. Scott took her word for what she was doing during her day and had no reason to doubt her. He simply trusted her. Despite some very blatant flirting in the very early days of their marriage that he attributed to the collapse of her first marriage, the company of her wild artists friends, her happy go merry attitude, and occasionally a bottle of wine, he kept on trusting her. Loving her. Damn that love, could it have blinded him so badly?

Fate had it that his discovery, or at least his suspicions at this stage, he corrected himself, came in a totally unexpected manner. A simple phone call from a woman who had doubts and was afraid of what might happen to her life. What if Mary was really having an affair and Carla didn't call? This could have gone on forever! He shook his head again.

He needed to find out about those 'affairs' Carla referred to. If Mary did indeed have one or several affairs in the past, she certainly managed to hide them, and hide them well. If he can find any trace of these affairs and prove at least one of them, then there is no reason why she couldn't be having one with Don right now. Maybe he shouldn't have taken everything she told him in the past for granted, maybe he should have behaved differently and been more inquisitive.

Suddenly he became upset with himself. "Damn it! I am not the frigging Spanish Inquisition. If every time I noticed something out of the ordinary I started interrogating Mary and challenging each and every explanation she gave me, I wouldn't have given the slightest chance for our marriage to last that long." he thought out loud.

He was the one traveling and wining and dining with suppliers and business colleagues, he was the one who had opportunities to meet women, anywhere, anytime, and have affairs, like some of his colleagues. He never did, never looked, and never allowed situations where this could happen. He certainly would not have tolerated a suspicious and abnormally inquisitive partner; life would have been a constant hell. This is why they invented the word 'Trust' in the first place and considered it the pillar of any strong relationship, including and above all marriage.

'Trust, but verify!' wasn't that what Ronald Reagan used to say? Well, now is the time to verify!

- End of Part 1 -