Ben said, “I’m sorry, Tom, I didn’t know they were going to do anything like that until just now. They told me they had pranked you, but not how. That was way over the line. You OK?”
Tom shook his head. “I don’t know. I will probably find out later. Remember how I’m a straight shooter? Well, I came home last night and confessed to Mary. I begged her to forgive me. We haven’t spoken since, but I will never forget the hurt in her eyes. I don’t think I can continue working here, so I quit. I am going to leave now. Thank you all for the attempt to destroy my marriage. Very funny.” Dead silence fell over the room. Tom’s personal assistant, Cynthia, started sobbing. Tom stood up and walked out of the room, taking the USB drives with him.
Cynthia, still crying, stood up and glared at the men who had pulled the prank. “You are all lower than slime. Tom is the kindest man I have ever known. I hope you rot in hell, and I hope he sues you for every penny you have. I agree with Tom. I can’t work here anymore either. I quit.”
Tom drove directly to the nearest hospital emergency room. He told the nurse he needed a drug test because he thought he might have been drugged at a party. They took the blood, urine, and hair, but also called the police, because of their duty to report. The police wanted to see the video, so he got his laptop from the car and plugged in one of the USB drives. They watched the videos together. He could see the cops were pissed. That was when the nurse returned with the test results. He had been drugged. The detectives asked if he wanted to press charges. Tom told them he did, and gave them the names of the guys in the video. Then he called Mary. It went right to voicemail.
Tom went home to wait for Mary. Unless she came early, he knew it would be an hour before she got home. When he came in the door he was surprised that Brucie didn’t greet him. He looked around the whole house and couldn’t find him. He was still looking when Mary got home 40 minutes early. He asked if she knew where Brucie was. Mary told him to come into the living room. They both sat on chairs, and Mary said, “Don’t say a word until I am done. Not a word. I left work a bit before noon, turned off my phone, and removed the battery. I have never been as hurt as I was last night.”
Tom started to speak, but Mary shouted at him to shut up until she was done. Then she went on. “There’s a guy at work I know you don’t like. His name is Jeff Hamilton. You know he has been chasing me for a while. I took him to the Holiday Inn and fucked him for a couple of hours. Then I came here, picked up that damn dog you love so much, and took him to the vet. I had him put down. Now you can feel like I did last night. How do you like it? In a few days we can talk about how to put our marriage back together. Now get out before I get back. I will be gone an hour or two.” She got up and walked out.
Tom stood up, went to the bedroom, and started packing a suitcase. Then he realized he really didn’t need it. When he came out, Mary had left. He wrote a note and left it on the kitchen table, along with a USB drive and his wedding ring. The note said:
“Mary, I thought I had made a horrible mistake. I didn’t remember it, but I thought I had cheated. Turns out I didn’t. Nothing actually happened in that hotel room, and I was completely out of it. I didn’t make a decision to hurt you. You went out in cold blood and hurt me as much as you could. Big difference. Then, today, I found out it was a sick prank by some guys at work. They drugged me and set it up so I would think I had cheated. When I thought I had cheated, I felt worse than I ever have before in my life — well, until tonight, but I came home and told you anyway. I tried to call you around noon, and again after the meeting where they told me about the ‘prank’. Oh, they also told me I was being promoted to a VP position, with a 50% pay increase and a company car. I quit and walked out instead. Then I went and got tested for the drugs. It was positive. You didn’t answer either call. I guess you were busy with Jeff. You will be free now, so I hope maybe it will work out with Jeff. The USB drive has videos of the whole prank so you can see exactly what went down. I know I won’t be able to get past what you did. This is goodbye. You won’t see me again. Probably nobody will. I’m done. Between you, the job, and Brucie, everything I love is gone. Brucie was innocent. When you told me you did that, I knew it was over. The woman I loved would never have done that. Have a good life. I’m so very sorry. Maybe I’ll see you again on the other side.”
Meanwhile, Mary was parked down the street, waiting for Tom to leave. She was talking to her sister Pam. “Well, he left. Now he knows how I feel. How is that stupid dog, by the way? I told Tom I had him put down. The bastard deserved it. Well, He’s gone, so I’m going home. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Mary had just arrived home when a police car pulled up. They asked if Tom was home, and when Mary said no, they gave her a card and told her to have Tom call about his case. Mary said, “What case?”
The detective said, “Well, if he didn’t tell you then we can’t, and his phone is going right to voicemail.” They left and Mary went inside, where she saw the note and ring.
When she read the note and saw the ring, she collapsed. It took her 10 minutes to get up and look at the videos on the USB drive. She then tried to call Tom, but it went right to voicemail. She got in her car and started driving around to motels looking for him, and called his number a few times, with no success. The cell tracker couldn’t locate him. She called the police and told them about the note. The police said they would put out an APB. She gave up about 2am. She was crying the whole time.
Tom had turned off his phone and removed the battery. Then he drove to a town about 30 miles away where he checked into a motel. He cut up all of his ID, credit cards, etc., and threw the pieces along with his wallet and money clip into a dumpster behind the motel. He wanted to make identification hard. He also smashed his phone and threw it in with the rest. He left the keys in the unlocked car under the driver’s seat. Once inside he left the cash he had by the TV, drank a couple of shots from the minifridge, laid down on the bed, swallowed a whole bottle of his wife’s sleeping pills, and went to sleep. He didn’t expect to wake up. When he did wake up, he was surprised to find himself in a hospital, with one of the detectives sitting by his bed.
“Hello, Tom. You scared a housekeeper at the motel half to death. You owe her an apology. When you arrived here unidentified, our department ran your prints. Since you had a security clearance in the Navy, they got your identity. Our computer said I was working a case where you were the victim, so here I am. Your wife and your boss Ben are both in the waiting room. They couldn’t come up to the ICU until you were awake and out of danger. Ben gave the hospital your insurance info and said the company would cover anything your insurance didn’t cover. We arrested the five guys who pulled the ‘prank’, and they have been charged with drugging you, kidnapping, illegal restraint, and reckless endangerment. All are felonies. Nice of them to make videos admitting their guilt and showing the crimes being committed.”