Chris screamed again and hurled everything off the top of the dresser. Jewelry, perfume bottles and other totems of female beautification sailed across the room, smashing into the walls and careening off the hardwood floor. Chris was completely out of control.
He tore their large, ornately framed wedding picture from the wall and hurled it towards the bed. The picture sailed across the room and crashed into the man’s skull, knocking him sideways out of the bed and onto the floor.
Karen cried out. “Stop, Chris. Stop!”
Chris started toward the man. Every muscle in his body quivering to inflict some sort of physical pain on him for being with the woman he had committed his life to.
Pell burst into the room and screamed, “Chris, stop!” But Chris tackled the guy and delivered a blow with his fist to the guy’s face.
6:52 pm FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC
Arthur Kent picked up the handset and pressed the flashing line button at the request of his demanding but incredibly efficient secretary. Carl Moscovitz’s nasally voice said, “Hi Arthur, got a minute?”
“Go ahead.” He clicked an icon on his computer screen that started a recording of the conversation. “This got anything to do with that IR out of Maine I read this morning?”
“You don’t miss anything, do you?”
Arthur nodded. What a kiss-ass. He had promoted Carl to Northeast SAC and sometimes wondered if that had been a mistake.
Carl filled him in on his meeting with Pell.
“That’s it?” Arthur said.
“Pretty much. I’ve got two of my best men on it. If this really is something we need to work it out quick, similarly if it’s all a bluster about nothing, we need to work that out too so we move on without wasting too much resource. We’re looking at all of the obvious avenues, focusing on Sarah Burns. I also called a PHD friend of mine at DyNAcorp. I ran it by him – no details, just concepts. He confirmed what you would expect. Setting up this kind of lab is a big deal. Costs a huge amount of money for equipment. But it could be located anywhere, in a basement, a garage that sort of place. The key is the brainpower. He claims there’s only a handful of people in the world capable of something like this and he knows most of them.”
“So what do you think?”
“Gut feel. There’s something here. I’m not sure if it’s what Pell claims but it could very well be.”
He scribbled notes as Carl talked. “I want twice daily updates. Morning and afternoon. Anything else comes up, you know how to get me.”
Arthur hung up the phone, finished his notes and headed for the gym downstairs. He needed to blow off some steam and think. Half an hour on the heavy bag should do the trick.
7:02 pm Quincy, Massachusetts
“Don’t do it!” Pell cried as he pulled Chris off the stunned man. Chris pushed him away and raised his fist to strike him again. But then he stopped, briefly regaining some control, he knew that this could easily escalate into something much worse than a cheating spouse. How could she do this to him?
“I can’t believe this, Karen,” he said as he jumped up, stumbled past Pell and out into the hall. He had to get out of here, out of this house.
He turned and screamed from the top of the stairs, “You better get your stuff out of the house before I get back. If you’re here tomorrow, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Wait. Please,” she cried after him.
“Come on, Pell,” Chris said as he leapt down the stairs and ran out to the car.
As soon as Pell was in the car, Chris peeled out of the driveway and down the street. For whatever reason, he drove to his office. Once he had parked in front of the building, he slammed his fist into the steering wheel and slumped over it, burying his head in his arms. “Why?” He moaned. “Why has she done this? Who is that guy? How could she?” He broke down and cried, jerking with each sob. One fateful moment had changed his life forever. His seven-year marriage was over. He could never reconcile what he had walked in on. He knew himself too well to entertain that thought.
Most of his employees were virtual and the office was dark. Pell hadn’t spoken since they left Chris’ house. He passively watched Chris let it all out, he knew better than to comment at this point. After a few minutes Chris began to calm down and regain some control.
“This is my office,” he explained, furiously wiping the tears from his face. He was still in shock. “We can spend the night here.”
Chris pointed out the kitchen area and the bathrooms as they walked through the building and then guided him to an office with a comfy couch. “You can bed down here. I need to be on my own for a bit. I need to think.” As Chris left Pell and headed up the hallway he looked back. “Thanks, Pell,” he said quietly.
If not for Pell, he could easily have been a double-murderer right now. It was a long night. He went to his office and finally dozed off sometime after 4 am.
When he woke up, he was sitting in his chair with his head tilted to one side. After a few painful minutes of swiveling his head around, he was able to get rid of the stiffness that had set in as he had slept.
Looking at his computer screen, he remembered why he was sleeping in his office. It had the feeling of a bad dream, but it had happened – his wife had been in bed with someone else.
He shook his head in disbelief as he hauled his stiff, cramped body out into the kitchen area. It was a little before six in the morning. He poured himself a cup of cold, twelve-hour-old coffee and dropped down into a chair.
What the hell would he do now? They had been happy. How could she do something like this? It wasn’t as though he hadn’t had opportunities to cheat during their marriage. Temptation had knocked many times but his love for Karen had kept him in line. Was it that simple – that romantic? Was it his love for Karen? Or was it something else? A deep-seeded need for consistent connection fostered by the unbearable loss of everyone he truly cared about as a child in that gas explosion– a psychological weakness that had blinded him to the realities of the world, of human relationships in particular? No, it wasn’t his fault! He wouldn’t let himself fall into that self-blaming induced malaise. He had been there once before and it had taken him a long time to get out.
She had defiled the sanctity of their marriage. In his bed, under his roof. What a slap in the face.
“Good morning,” Pell crackled walking into the kitchen
Chris nodded. He most certainly couldn’t say that it was.
They were quiet while Pell stretched. “How you feeling today, man?” He asked sympathetically.
“I don’t know,” Chris shook his head. “I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to really think this through.”
“Of course,” Pell said. “Meanwhile I’m going to call Carl and then I’m thinking to go over to Harvard and see what we can find out about Sarah Burns. Maybe we can talk to some of her professors or advisors. You never know, maybe there’s something there. You want to come with me?”
“I’m gonna pass,” Chris said. He was surprised to hear how sad his own voice sounded. “I’ve got to get this other stuff ironed out. Good luck though, Pell. I hope you do track her down.”
“I’m the FBI guy, right?”
“It’s so ironic. Almost unbelievable,” Chris said.
“What’s that?”