Chapter 151

"I'm going out of town for a while. I have a chance to do some consulting in Chicago for a week and I'm leaving in about half an hour. I'll call you when I get settled. How are things with you?"

"Not so hot. I don't have any proof, but I think Monica is cheating."

"Any idea with who?"

"Not a clue. It's just a suspicion right now."

"Where is she?"

"Some charity thing down in Orange County."

"And what will you be doing tonight?"

"I've got an all-nighter here with my tax people. We'll have dinner delivered and work all night."

Mike paused.

"Hey, about Monica. Call Pete! He's a PI. He can check her out and you'll know what's what."

"Yeah! Got his number handy? I'll call him now."

Mike had the number in front of him. He gave it to Shane and ended the call. He watched television and saw Monica and Paul use the bathroom. The first time it was Monica, nude, peeing. Even from directly above she was a knockout! Mike never understood what his brother saw in her, other than a great body, but choice of spouse wasn't up to Mike. Paul peed when she was done and a while later they came in dressed and used the mirror. The lights went out and Mike assumed they went out, too. Mike turned on the motion sensor and went back to watching television. Mike's personal car was parked in the visitor's lot at the hotel. He carried all his extra gear down to the car and stashed it in the trunk.

Back in the room he dusted with epithelial skin cells and hair. Wiped anything he might have touched even though he wore gloves the whole time. All he had to carry was the video camera and the computer case for the laptop. Inside the carrying case was an empty laptop case with just enough room inside for the 9mm. He would be leaving a square piece of thick plastic that he would use to capture all the GSR from the shot. GSR, he learned from television, is gun shot residue.

The light flashed. Mike went into the bathroom and prepared the weapon. He watched the monitor and saw Monica, nude, come into the bathroom. She stood at the sink and looked into the mirror. A few seconds passed and Paul stepped up behind her, wrapped her in his arms and held her breasts in his hands. Monica turned to face Paul and Mike watched as she slipped Paul's erection between her thighs. Her arms went around his neck and they kissed.

Mike pulled the camera from the hole and replaced it with the gun. He made sure the GSR wouldn't get on him and then he pulled the trigger twice, quickly. The sound was deafening!

Mike resisted the urge to look. He packed everything as quickly as he could and walked out into the hallway. He saw no one until he got to the elevator. The first one to stop was going down and was coming from the top floor nightclub. Mike joined the crowd and at the ground floor walked out with the crowd.

Ten minutes later he was on the road. In the late morning he heard on the radio that millionaire businessman Paul Samuels had been killed and his companion was in serious condition in a hospital in Orange County California. Mike called his brother on his cell.

"Shane, I just heard on the news that Paul Samuels was killed. Is that your Paul Samuels?"

"Yes." His voice was flat. Empty.

"The radio said he was killed and his companion was in serious condition. Is it anyone we know?"

"It was Monica."

"Monica!"

"Yes! Monica. They were fucking in the hotel bathroom and someone shot them! The police think it was a pro."

"I'm coming back! I'll be back in L.A. tonight. Damn, I'm sorry, Shane. Is she going to live?"

"I don't know. I haven't gone to the hospital, yet."

"If you do, don't drive yourself. This is too emotional a time to do that. Damn! Let me get back. I'll be there as fast as I can without getting arrested for flying low."

"Yeah." He hung up.

When Mike left the hotel in the night he had a quarter tank of gas. He filled up in Barstow and paid with his credit card. After talking to Shane Mike gassed again and headed home.

It came out that Paul was in pretty heavy to some loan sharks and had been cheating Shane for over a year. The police never charged anyone with the hit. Monica got out of the hospital and Shane had no trouble getting a divorce. She got nothing except a huge, nasty looking scar down the side of her cheek and a breast that was no longer there. The bullet entered her breast and exited from her hip. Monica would never have been much of a mother anyway. Shane paid for a six month lease on a cheap apartment while the divorce went through. When the divorce was final her lease was terminated. Shane and I never saw her after the divorce.

There are brothers you can screw over, and brothers who won't let their brothers down. Mike wondered, over the years, if he was ever going to tell his brother what really happened. Would you?

Some guys are clueless. I was one of them. Clueless men ought to have meetings somewhere. A place where we can get together, have a beer or six and feel stupid together. Trouble is, we wouldn't know the meeting was for us.

Mary and I married in our early twenties. We got together often enough to make three kids and have occasional fun between the pregnancies too. I read the books that told me I was supposed to be the good husband and stay faithful. I followed the advice. When Alison left home to go to college I wondered what Mary would do. No more kids at home.

What she did was start volunteering at the hospital. Three days a week she was there. She worked in the gift shop some days, in the pediatric play room some days and probably other places as well.

We had a nice circle of friends that we gathered while we all we raising our kids and we still got together about once a month for bar-b-ques or parties in our various homes. I was close to three other guys in the circle basically because we were the ones who loved fishing. Four or five times a year we would take off for a weekend fishing trip together.

I thought our marriage was pretty much like the ones around me. Kids gone, wives doing stuff, some working and some not, husbands settled in our careers and biding our time until retirement. When we went fishing we talked about all that. We sometimes even talked about our relationships and sex.

In May the four of us went fishing. Sitting in the boat quietly watching the spot where my line entered the water we talked softly. It started with Jack talking about going to Stanford to visit his son. His wife found an empty condom wrapper in his room and was really upset. Then Paul mentioned that on the way home from visiting their daughter at school his wife had mentioned that Cally told her mom that she was having sex with the guy she was dating. We all laughed when he described the guy. He was always wearing torn, worn out clothes, needed a shave and slouched.

Mike didn't say anything for quite a while. I noticed and asked, "Mike, what's going on in there? You seem deep in thought."