Strange Car in the Driveway - A Sequel

"Gary has already proven himself to be a better manager than you could ever hope to be. I offered him as the first task in his new role, the opportunity to fire you, but he turned it down. He asked me to fire you, instead. He didn't want to appear vengeful."

Thomas abruptly stood up and clapped his hands, twice. "Go on! Leave! You are now dismissed. Under the terms of your employment contract, I have recorded this interview, so there'll be no opportunity for you to deny any of this. That Bible you had Mrs Conlon swear on? Maybe you'd better actually start reading some of the stuff in it."

Karen stood up, took her purse and left the room. She was too numb to cry. That would come later.

After their breakfast meeting, Gary had sat, lost in thought. He still hated what Vera had done to him, and forgiving her would be a hard, tough road to take, but for the sake of the kids, should he at least take a look at trying to patch things up between them?

Thomas had told him to take a couple of days off until he took over Karen's job, and Gary decided that he should drive to his house and at least try to talk with Vera. Divorce was still his preferred outcome, but he felt it the right thing to give her chance to talk with him, though what she had put in the letter had pretty much told him all he needed to know.

He made up his mind and decided to drive home to speak with Vera. If he spoke with her, he reasoned, perhaps they might be able to salvage their marriage, their family, fill in the crater she had left in it.

As he turned into his street, he noticed that there was, again, a strange car in the driveway. This was no rusty beater of a car. This was a high end SUV. Beneath it he could see a messy puddle of blackened oil, proof of the presence of the wreck that had occupied the same space the evening before.

All the rage he had felt yesterday came back, but at least threefold. It was thrumming in his head.

He parked his car on the pavement in front of the house. All thoughts of reconciliation were now gone. He walked swiftly, but quietly, to the house, he opened the door, stepped into the hallway and stealthily closed it as silently as he could.

He heard voices, happy, laughing voices, from the lounge to the right of him. A male voice and two female voices, his wife and, presumably, the other voices were Reg and Penny. He heard Vera say: "Reg, perhaps I should have allowed you to install video cameras to capture how Gary reacted!" She joined the other two in their laughter.

Gary opened the door quickly and was confronted by the sight of Reg, who was sat between Vera and Penny on the sofa. He had an arm draped possessively round their shoulders and each of them were holding his hand.

As soon as they saw Gary, the laughter stopped. They all looked at him. Vera gasped.

Gary returned their gaze. He was furious and they could see it in his eyes and his stance.

"Vera, yesterday I was sure I wanted to divorce you for the cruel trick you played on me, and also, for abusing and using our friends, Larry and Kara. You bitch! You fucking, rotten bitch! You made fools out of all of us. And why? For a damn, fucking play! How dare you do that?"

Vera looked stricken, unable to think of a response. Reg had removed his arms from the shoulders of both women, he and Penny were looking pensive, concerned.

"When I saw that wreck of a car on the drive, I was scared at what I'd find. I thought that there was no way a successful, wealthy stockbroker would drive a heap of shit like that, so I was wondering what I'd find. Could he have raped you or worse, killed you?"

Reg interjected at this point: "Damn! That wasn't something we'd even considered when we collected the car from the wrecker's lot."

Vera looked aghast: "Oh, Gary! I never thought of that! I'm so sorry."

Gary looked at them, shook his head before continuing. "After that, I hear the evidence from the lips of my own wife that, despite her previous protestations, she was actually cheating on me and on our three children. You broke my heart; you devastated me!"

Vera replied with tears in her eyes: "But it wasn't true! None of it! I explained that in the letter I left for you. You did read all of it, didn't you?

Gary continued: "Of course I did! Please tell me why, wife, that the letter made not the slightest difference to how I felt? I still feel that you cheated on me. In fact, the letter made it worse; the letter showed that you didn't give a fuck about me, or my feelings.

"You deliberately plotted with strangers to destroy me, to wreck our family! The only time you mentioned our children was when, as a sort of throwaway remark, you wondered if we might take them out for pizza? Take them out for pizza? Were you out of your fucking mind? You honestly thought you could just take me and our children out for pizza and that would, somehow, magically erase what you did to me?"

Vera shook her head. "It wasn't like that, Gary!"

Gary shook his head. "That's bullshit, Vera. It was exactly like that. I just heard you say to Reg that you wished you had installed video cameras to spy on me when I was in utter mental agony!

"What kind of a wife does that? Certainly not a loving wife!"

Gary shook himself, slightly. "Anyway, where is my gun? Is it back in the gun safe, yet?"

For some reason Penny took it upon herself to answer. "It's not in your gun safe, Gary, it's not here, but I promise you, it is in a safe place."

Gary glanced at her, shrugged and said "Your promise means nothing to me. I am the licensed holder of that gun. If it's not in my safe place, it's not in a safe place."

He turned to look at Vera: "Where are the kids? What have you told them?"

She replied: "They're at school. I told them you were away for work. I am really sorry, Gary. Can't we talk this through?"

He shook his head. "You having your co-conspirators here has not helped, Vera. I'm leaving, now."

When he was outside, he took out his phone and dialled 911 to report his missing gun. Although he was pleased to be able to drop them in the shit, he knew that it was a legal responsibility as the licence holder to report the theft of the gun as soon as he could. In his mind he was certain that the gun had been stolen.

The operator took his call and arranged a call back, which was swift in coming. He spoke with a detective who said he was heading the team that dealt with firearm thefts. "Sir, can I have your name and address and the type of gun you say was stolen?"

"Yes, my name is Gary Conlon, I live at 42 Glade Avenue, Morristown. My gun is a S&W .38 Special."

"Sir, when did you notice it was stolen?"

"My wife advised me that my gun was gone, yesterday. In fact, my wife and two of her 'friends' took the gun from the house and I don't know where it is, but I think her friends have it."

"Why did they take the gun?"

"It's a long story, but at the moment I'm feeling responsible for anything that might happen should the gun fall into the hands of a criminal."

"I can appreciate that. Where do you think the gun is, now?"

Gary thought for a couple of seconds before replying. "I think it might be either in the car owned by her friends, or at their house. I don't have their address but the registration of the car is 'KING REG'. It's a custom plate, I think. Because his name is Reg."

"Where's the car, now?"

"It's parked on the driveway of my house."

"Okay, Mr Conlon. We'll be there as soon as we can. And I'll inform the ATF, too. They might have some officers they can send out, though this is short notice."

Less than ten minutes later an unmarked car, a marked patrol car and an ATF SUV arrived outside the house. The occupants gathered around the SUV on Gary's drive.

All of the arrivals clued those in the house that something was going on, and they came out. Gary noticed that whilst Vera looked angry, Reg and Penny were looking worried.

A large man in a cheap suit walked over to Gary. "Are you Gary Conlon?"

"Yes, that's me."

"I spoke to you on the phone, I'm Detective Cox. I'm presuming that the man there," he pointed at Reg "is Reginald Spranzer?"

Gary nodded "Yeah, didn't know his second name, though, but that is Reg."

The detective approached Reg: "Are you the owner of that SUV, sir?"

"Yes, I am" Reg sounded so nervous that he seemed on the point of squeaking.

"Sir, please open the car so that I can search it."

"No! I won't do that! You can't search my car! It's on private property and besides, you don't have a search warrant!"

Detective Cox shook his head. "Sir, your car is on private property, but as it is not your private property, that's neither here nor there. As for your point about a search warrant being required, you are wrong. Police officers are allowed to search a vehicle without a search warrant when we have probable cause to believe that evidence, stolen property or contraband is located in a vehicle. Your name has been mentioned in relation to a firearm that has gone missing from 42 Glade Avenue.

"Now, you can either give us the keys or we will force entry into your vehicle. I'm good with either option, sir."

With shaking hands Reg handed over the keys. Within a couple of minutes the officers had found the .38 stored in an unlocked glove box on the passenger side, along with several Ziploc bags of white powder and two other Ziploc bags, one containing tablets the other, capsules.

The detective gave a bleak smile to Reg, saying: "I think someone might have some 'splainin' to do. Now, we will apply for a search warrant for your home."

Reg, Penny and Vera were all arrested and taken in separate vehicles for questioning.

Gary thought he'd fallen down a rabbit hole. Just what the hell had been going on?

Gary phoned Thomas to give him an update on the situation and Gary waited at the house as he knew their children needed someone there when they came back from school.

When the children had all arrived home he said: "Kids, your mother had to go to the police station to answer some questions. I don't know when she'll be back, but before she does come back, there's something I need to talk with you about."

The children reacted in horror as their father told the story of what their mother had done in as child friendly a way as he could, bearing in mind that his audience were 14-year-old twin girls and a boy of 12.

Gary hated having to do this but he wanted to get his story out before his wife could get it out in either a spun sanitised version, or in a way that made him the villain of the piece.

Vera was held overnight and bailed the next morning for her part in the unlawful removal of Gary's .38 revolver.

As the chemical analysis of the white powder in the Ziploc bags proved it to be cocaine, the tablets ecstasy and the capsules Rohypnol, Reg and Penny were not instantly bailed out and had to wait in the County Jail for several days before they were released, after further questioning. Their children were able to stay with Penny's elderly widowed mother whilst they were in custody.

The fact that Reg and Penny had cocaine, ecstasy and a date rape drug in their car and more at their home, forced an unbridgeable gap between them and Vera, as Vera suddenly realised that perhaps allowing Reg to guide her into writing a play in which she had imagined having an affair with him was a mistake. The date rape drug was a major indication that Reg and Penny had further plans for Vera, and perhaps even for Gary.

Vera received a $600 fine for her part in allowing Reg and Penny to take the gun, Reg and Penny (as the instigators, since Reg had advised her to have the gun removed from the house) each received a $1,000 fine and six months in prison.

For the possession of the drugs, Reg and Penny each received a $2,000 fine and five year prison sentences. "What about my babies?" wailed Penny. "My mother is too sick to look after them, now!"

The judge looked at her, incredulously. "Now?" He shouted: "Now you are starting to think about your children? That's too little, too late, Ms Spranzer. Your children will have to enter the foster care system. You have no one to blame but yourself for that."

Reg lost his stockbroker's licence and their house would have to be sold, as without his income they could not afford the hefty mortgage payments.

There was an initial counselling session booked for Gary and Vera. The counsellor opined that because, despite her fine words in her confession letter, Vera seemed to lack any genuine understanding of how cruel she had been and that what she had done had so badly hurt Gary, that further counselling as a couple would be pointless, so she recommended no further counselling.

Thomas introduced Gary to the partners in the law firm which would be representing him. The name of the law firm was Hardisty and Austin.

They all shook hands in Thomas' spacious office. The female who was clearly in charge, was of medium height, and imposing, yet in a non-aggressive way, spoke first. "My name is Dee Hardisty, this is my brother, Ken Austin. We went into partnership as Hardisty and Austin after I represented Ken in his divorce. At first I got on Ken's case because I thought he was being weak. Then I realised he was in shock, and that many betrayed spouses must also be in shock because the love of their life had smashed their hearts to pieces.

"Ken went back to college, studied law, got his degree and we set up in practice, together, representing people like you in divorce actions, and also dealing with business law issues, using Ken's knowledge of the business world."

Ken Austin grinned at Gary. "Actually, Dee was right. I was being weak. I'd caught my wife and my female boss in bed together and it shook me to the core, to be honest. But in my opinion what your wife put you through was far worse. We've seen the letter your wife wrote you, Mr Conlon. But we'd appreciate if you told us your story in your own words, please?"

After hearing his story and having a private conference in an adjacent room Dee and Ken returned to the room and agreed that based on the evidence that they had seen that Gary should file for divorce on the grounds of cruelty.

Although normally U.S. courts required more than one example of cruelty to be grounds for divorce, his attorneys argued that deliberately setting her husband up to make him think that she was having an affair and then accusing him of being paranoid, followed by the 'performance' of the play, was cruelty in the meaning of the divorce laws.

"Your honour" Dee Hardisty argued: "It's our contention that, based on the contents of the letter of confession that Mrs Conlon wrote, especially with reference to the fact that Mr Conlon's gun was removed from the marital home to stop Mr Conlon using the gun on himself or on other people involved in this situation, that any reasonable person would have known that this whole charade was an act of monumental cruelty of such a vile nature that the marriage would be irreparably damaged.

"Also, your honour, my associate, my brother, Ken Austin, has filed for damages against the University, the Drama Department and the Drama Lecturer, Professor Fenella Foster, for allowing this travesty of a so-called play to be performed when it was known by Professor Foster that Gary Conlon would be an unwilling and unwitting participant."

Justice Norman Klipman nodded. "Ms. Hardisty, in Family Court we see a great many distressing cases, of which this is a particularly horrible example. I am going to allow the divorce on the grounds of cruelty.

"However, custody of the children will have to be considered. Before that happens, I want psychiatric profiles of both parents, then I will make my judgement appertaining to custody. I have appointed a Board Certified Psychiatrist, Dr Edward Walker, to carry out the profile tests on Mr. and Mrs. Conlon. The case is adjourned for two weeks."

Twelve days later, Dr Edward Walker was in the chambers of the judge. They'd worked together for several years, Eddie produced reports on parents, children and other family members for the Family Court that Norm presided over. They'd long ago dispensed with judicial or medical titles.

"Well, Eddie, it's good to see you again. You have the reports for the Conlon versus Conlon divorce case?"

Eddie nodded. "I do, Norm, but there's been some weird shit that's come up. I even had to get a colleague of mine to check some of my findings. Incidentally, what custody arrangements are you looking for?"

Norm shrugged. "It might not seem fair to Mr. Conlon, but I'm toying with the idea of primary custody for Mrs. Conlon, perhaps a 70/30 or a 60/40 split? You have any objections to that, based on the reports?"

Eddie nodded. "Unfortunately, I do." Norm interrupted: "That's going to hurt Mr. Conlon, especially seeing what his wife did to him."

"Actually, I doubt it will," replied Eddie. "All will become clear, soon.

"I'll give you the salient points from the psych tests; you can read the full test results, later."

He unconsciously pushed his glasses up his nose and started reading. "I'll read Mr. Conlon's first. He is suffering from some fairly minor PTSD as a result of his wife's actions. He also has a mild anxiety disorder, some insomnia and trust issues, but, in truth, he is nowhere near as badly affected as he could have been. He's receiving therapy through his employer's insurance program.

"However, Mrs Conlon is another matter altogether. In fact, her results were so disturbing that she was the reason why I got my colleague, Doctor Susan Reynolds, to check my findings and why I had extra tests run on Mrs Conlon.

"Mrs. Conlon is one very, very sick woman. In fact, with the results we got, I am surprised that she managed to make it to her age of 35 without really fucking things up.

"She has a severe Narcissistic Personality Disorder, with elements of psychopathy, too. She also suffers from Schizophrenia and a Dissociative Identity Disorder."

Norm let out a low whistle. "Is that why she did what she did?"

"Yes, in short. The problem is, I have only dealt with one other patient with similar, though not the same, diagnoses. You might remember the case? She was a divorcee and an apparently doting mother of four young children. She was dating a guy, and because she misinterpreted a casual remark he made that caused her to wrongly assume he didn't want children, she murdered her children. She was placed in Brookhaven Psychiatric Hospital, where she remains, six years later."

Norm sat back in his chair. He looked thoughtful. "So, you think Mrs. Conlon is capable of hurting her children?"

"I'm sorry to say this, but based on the disordered thought processes revealed in her letter to her husband, where she acknowledged that what she was doing was cruel and wrong, but that she was just going to go ahead and do it anyway, and my extensive tests on her, I think Mrs. Conlon is capable of just about anything. In fact, Mr. Conlon and their three children are truly fortunate that Mrs. Conlon didn't kill them all, in my professional opinion."

Norm looked pensive. "So, what's your suggestion for custody?"

"Full custody for Mr. Conlon and very, very limited visitation rights for Mrs. Conlon. In fact, Mrs. Conlon is so potentially dangerously ill that Susan and I are ready to sign the necessary paperwork to have Mrs. Conlon committed to Brookhaven Hospital for long-term inpatient treatment."

Two days later the custody arrangements were read out in court. Vera Conlon had a breakdown and had to be sedated by paramedics. Her breakdown expedited her removal to Brookhaven Hospital.

In a way, her diagnosis made Gary feel, if not better, certainly more at ease with what had happened.

He and the children would recover, he knew, but he was aware that it would likely be a long process, with the help of counsellors for the children and himself.