No wonder Chuck preferred the shady side of things. It is so much easier. We “know” Mason and Armstrong are guilty of something, but have no idea exactly what, nor do we have any clue about how to gather information. Trey is a likely ally, who may remove the threat of Mason and Armstrong, or he may not. We need to get information, to protect Bridget. The question is how?
I was pleasantly surprised to see Bridget approaching my office no more than two hours later.
She practically beamed, “Well, that was easier than I thought.”
“Bridget, you are amazing. How did you do it?”
“I went to the executive floor of the Wellborn Building and found once you get off the elevators there is a glass wall with a double door. On the other side of the of the doors was a large desk. The desk had two women seated near the ends. Each admitted guests through a door near her end of the desk. There was no way I was getting past them.”
“And?”
“There was a bench. I sat down, spilled my briefcase onto the bench and the floor and waited about five minutes for a man to exit the offices and head for the elevators. I acted frustrated and said I was in a mess. I was looking for the woman who’d been Mr. Wellborn’s assistant.”
“Clever, did it work?”
“He started to snub me, but I looked pitiful, and he told me that Ms. Simmons now worked on the eighth floor for the CFO. I thanked him and went down to eight. There was no security, and I found her almost at once.”
“And she gave you the number?”
“She is a piece of work. When she next smiles, her face will probably crack. I have never gotten a more stern looking over. She told me, in no certain terms, Mr. Wellborn was not reachable, period. I told her I had information about Mr. Mason trying to harm Mr. Wellborn. She told me that made no difference, she could not reach him.
“Then, she wanted every detail of what I knew. She got the names of the projects, asked if I had the files, and how I came to suspect Mr. Mason.”
I worried that my name came up. “And what did you tell her?”
“I said I did not know him but noticed his was the only name common in all the files. It must have taken 15 minutes for her to take the notes on all I had to say. When I finished, she stared at me and said, she had told me there was no way to get ahold of Mr. Wellborn and she hoped I understood. She turned her back on me — I took that to be my cue to leave.”
“She could not reach him and yet took all those notes.”
“My bet is before the elevator got to the lobby, she was talking to him. I am glad all the files are in a safe deposit box. What do you think will happen?”
“I have no idea. I will say the interest she showed says to me Trey wants to do something.” I wondered what would happen. Mason surely is not going to just say, “oh well” and exit stage right.
++++++
Every week I was asked to go to a meeting, or two. BHA often didn’t know what people would wish for. I was there to assure if the wish was business oriented, I’d be there to hear it.
I’d been to eleven meetings, at every one the speaker was a member of the get the bitch and her new guy — as long as I don’t need to do anything crowd. I figured the next mayoral campaign would revolve around stopping the radical increase in muggings and beatings.
Today, we were going to hear from Bob. I got a look at Bob, middle-aged, dazed, and confused — probably wanted both the wife and new beau beaten to a pulp. My observation had been the weaker they looked, the more mayhem they wanted.
He got up, I looked up.
“Hi, my name is Bob.”
The group said hi and he started.
“I guess my story is typical. We got married young; had to. Eventually, we had two more children. I didn’t get an education, started working in retail, now twenty-two years later, I am assistant manager of the store. I’ll never be manager; I don’t have a degree.
“My first daughter is now 22, she just graduated college with a degree in accounting. That day was the proudest of my life. My son is 18 and a senior in high school, his little sister is 16 and a junior. My wife went back to work maybe 10 years ago and six weeks ago admitted much of that time she’s been having an affair with a coworker. They decided to get married.
“My kids live with them, prefer him to me, and much as I’d like to say the betrayal was all her, I know a lot is on me.
“Without a degree, I found if I worked harder than anyone else, put in more hours, worked the bad days and shifts, I could get near the top. As assistant manager, they have even more leverage on me. They dangle the carrot – manage a store — I work harder. My wife could have an affair for years without my knowing it, because I was never around.
“Her new guy makes less money, but he’s around. The kids love him.
“I would love to make them suffer, but I can’t imagine what I’d ask for. What I wish for is the wisdom to know how to put my life back together. Thanks.”
He sat back down, and I was already wondering what I could do to help him. My own case struck me. I wanted revenge, got it, and it made absolutely no difference to me. I started turning a corner when I came to work, helping others get back on their feet.
That wasn’t true, either. I didn’t start to turn a corner until I met Bridget. Moving on helps, revenge doesn’t. Divorce is a beginning, or it needs to be. Maybe that is not true for everyone — but it was for me and for Bob.
++++++
I was waiting for Chuck, early the next morning. He just smiled and said, “This is getting to be a habit. I know you’ve made coffee, let’s get some and sit.”
We did. (After I closed the door.)
“I heard the most remarkable share yesterday and must tell you what I think.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I was at the meeting in Aurora. The speaker did a good job of explaining himself as a man devoted to his wife and three children. In fact, he has been so devoted to earning a living for them, he’s left them alone. His wife found a man, who makes less, but is happy to share time with them. His request was he help him put his life together.”
“I hate wimps like that.”
“Wimps?” I asked with as little emotion as I could show.
“I happen to know a little about this one. The guy got his high school honey pregnant and married her. He has spent two decades working his ass off so the kids could get the education he didn’t get. His wife gets bored and finds some other guy. She doesn’t care he makes less; she’ll bleed our guy to make up the difference.”
I sat and stared at him. He decided this was some test of wills and gave me a blanker look.This will get us nowhere, it isn’t a contest! I furrowed my brow, to show him I was considering my response. I knew what I wanted to say but thought a pause would help him believe it was from a lot of thought.
“Chuck, we are talking about the opposite sides of the same coin. Two people married too young and went about doing the right thing. My bet is they never spent ten minutes talking about the sacrifices or whether other choices were available. They put their heads down and made a life.”
“And she fucked him.”
“No doubt about it. She is a slut, let’s string her up in the public square. Make her wear a scarlet A the rest of her life.”