“Positive Naomi. Now let’s open another bottle of this Merlot and retire to the bedroom. I can hardly wait to see what you’ve brought to wear for me tonight,” says Justin smiling.
The next morning, Justin fixes breakfast for the two of them. Bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I could adjust to this type of treatment, thinks Naomi. She hasn’t been pampered like this in a long time.
Before leaving, Justin reminds Naomi not to text him with her phone. “We don’t want text messages between us. It is something that could later be retrieved from our accounts. If you need to get in touch, just call me. Our phones don’t record our conversations.”
“No, I won’t,” smiles Naomi, “you tell me this all the time. When do you plan to set this up?”
“Ryan has a meeting on Thursday in the Springs to go over contract details with a large development company. We need to wait until the contract is signed before doing anything. Once that contract is signed, the company will be in a position to almost double in size over the next year.”
“Okay, bye sweetie,” waves Naomi as she walks out the door. I’m going to be happy, loved, and wealthy, she reminds herself as she drives out of the parking lot and heads home.
Thursday
Late Thursday afternoon, Cooper calls King to inform him the contract negotiation went well, and they have a new contract for a mega-sized housing project on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. The expected start date is later this summer. Cooper asks King to meet him at home later this evening and he will explain all the details and discuss the next steps. They agree to meet at 7:00 pm. Everything is working out nicely, thinks King.
King arrives at the Cooper home at 7:10 pm. He has never been a stickler for timeliness. When Cooper hears him at the door, he simply yells “Come on in.”
King walks into the open great room carrying his black leather briefcase and sees Cooper sitting in one of his high back recliners reading some paperwork. An open Coors Light sits on the small round table next to his chair. King looks through to the kitchen and sees Naomi cleaning up the dishes from dinner. She looks at him, “Hi Justin, how are you doing?”
“Fine Naomi, thanks for asking,” he responds.
“Justin,” says Cooper, “would you like a beer?”
“That sounds good. A little celebration.”
“Hey Naomi,” shouts Cooper, “would you mind bringing Justin a Coors Light?”
Naomi pulls a beer from the fridge and carries it to King, handing it to him with a smile, but not saying anything.
“Thank you, Naomi,” nods King with a wink.
“Let’s go into my study to review the contract and talk,” suggests Cooper. Both men then retreat through the double French doors into Cooper’s large office. Cooper shows King the contract and explains some of the details. He then discusses the need to hire more people over the summer in preparation for the work ahead.
“Are you ready for another beer?” asks Cooper.
“Yes, I am.”
“Okay, wait here and I’ll go get us one,” Cooper tells him as he leaves the office.
King quickly gets up out of his chair and goes to the bookshelf behind Cooper’s desk. He knows where Cooper usually keeps his handgun, hidden behind the second row of books. King reaches behind the books sweeping his hand side to side until he finds it. A silver snub nose Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver. King grabs it and quickly puts it in his briefcase, then sits back down in his chair. Moments later, Cooper walks back into the room with two opened cans of Coors Light. “Here you go,” he says as he hands King another beer.
The two men remain in the office for another hour discussing the next steps in fulfilling the new contract, and the future of the company. Cooper then addresses what has been bothering him.
“Justin, you do know that I’m going to need you to be at the top of your game for this project,” advises Cooper.
“What do you mean?” says King with a look of surprise.
“We need to keep projects on schedule, this contractor is very cost-conscious.”
“I know that,” says King with indignation.
“Maybe, but your effort has not been the same the last couple of years. With this new contract, you will need to step it up.”
“I’ve done as much for this company as you have,” insists King.
“I know you have. I’m just saying we need to bring our best to this project. It will mean you will probably be working more hours and not taking so many afternoons off.”
“Don’t worry Ryan, I’ll pull my weight,” says King with a bit of an angry tone. “Believe me, getting this contract was very important to me.”
“Okay then, I’ll see you in the office tomorrow. Have a good night Justin.”
It is after 9:00 by the time they finish. Cooper walks King to the door telling him to drive safe.
“This company has a bright future,” says King as he turns and walks away. A very bright future for me that is.
Once King returns to his condo in Lone Tree, he removes Cooper’s .38 caliber revolver from his briefcase and opens the five bullet cylinder. It is empty. Typical Ryan, he has a gun for protection and doesn’t even keep it loaded. Guess I’ll have to load it myself.
Friday
The next day at noon, Naomi meets her sister, Serena Mills, for lunch at the Creamy Spoon Bistro in downtown Castle Rock. Five weeks ago Naomi had shared with Serena tales about her affair. Serena herself is happily married and not thrilled over Naomi’s cheating. However, she loves her sister, so she tries to be as supportive as possible, without approving of the affair. Naomi has not told her sister who the other man is. After talking for a short time, the topic of Naomi’s affair comes up.
“Are you still seeing this other guy?” asks Serena.
“Yes, and I spent the night with him on Tuesday.”
“Seriously?” a surprised Serena asks.
“Yes. Now, I know you don’t approve, but I haven’t felt this good about myself in several years. I feel alive again.”
“Have you told Ryan how you feel?”
“No, I haven’t been able to do that yet.”
“Naomi, if you are so unhappy with him, you need to be honest. Sneaking around with another man can only make things worse.”
“Yes, I know. I will tell him soon. But I had to be sure first. I also needed a plan for life after Ryan.”
“Who is this mystery guy? I’m dying to know. Will I know him?”
“Sorry Serena, I don’t want to say anything until after I tell Ryan. It’s only fair to him.”
“Well okay. If you need anything from me, you know I am here to support you.”
“I appreciate it. Thank you Serena.”
On her drive home, Naomi receives a call from King. She presses the answer button on her steering wheel to talk hands-free.
“Hey Naomi, you doing okay?”
“Yes, just had lunch with my sister.”
“Great. Hey, when is your next book club meeting?”
“Uh, next Wednesday evening at seven. We are meeting at my friend Debbie’s house.”
“That’s perfect,” exclaims King. “Next Wednesday night will be the night.”
“The night?”
“Yes, the night you become a free woman, and then we can get married. We’ll have to wait a while of course so as not to raise any questions. You haven’t told anyone have you?”
“No, I haven’t told anyone.”
“Good. We’ll talk more on Monday, bye.”
Naomi feels a pit in her stomach. Is he going to kill Ryan next Wednesday? Naomi pulls into a nearby Circle K to calm her nerves. She sits parked in her car for ten minutes taking deep breaths trying to compose herself. Once her breathing returns to normal, she goes into the store to purchase an ice-cold soda to quench a sudden thirst. I hope Justin knows what he is doing, she thinks to herself.
At home that evening, Naomi tries to be herself around Ryan to avoid arousing any suspicion. She puts extra effort into be
ing nice and acting like everything is fine. However, she feels like her emotions and guilt are displayed like flashing red lights across her chest. At times she feels nauseous. She drinks several glasses of red wine to calm her nerves and hopefully, help her get to sleep.
All her worrying over Ryan noticing something is different or wrong is a waste of emotion. Ryan is focused on the business and what needs to be done to successfully fulfill the new contract, while also keeping all their current clients happy. He chats about the new contract at dinner and joins her wine-drinking by having a Coors Light. To Ryan, everything is great. He has no suspicion of any affair or danger he may be facing.
The Following Monday
It is now Monday when King receives a text message from Naomi. Are you going to call me soon?
King immediately calls Naomi, “what are you doing texting me!” he screams. “I told you never to use texting. It can later be discovered on our phones.”
“I’m sorry Justin,” Naomi pleads, “but I hadn’t heard from you and I don’t know what is going on. I’m nervous.”
“I’ve been finalizing our plan. You need to trust me.”
“I do, but I need you to talk to me.”
“Meet me at the Starbucks in 15 minutes, bye”
Naomi is surprised at how abrupt King had been with her. She drives to the Starbucks, only a ten-minute drive, and waits for King. He pulls up five minutes later.
“Naomi, sorry I yelled, but we need to be careful,” reasons King. “I will do it this Wednesday evening while you are at book club. You won’t even have to be there.”
This makes Naomi feel calmer. She does not want to have an active role in killing Ryan.
“I will meet with Ryan at your house Wednesday evening. When you get home, it will be done.”
“Okay, how are you going to accomplish this? You said it would be painless.”
“It will be. I’ll bring over some Captain Morgan and mix us a couple of rum and cokes. He likes those. While mixing them, I’ll slip the drug into his drink and he will peacefully pass away.”
“Won’t the police be suspicious?” asks Naomi.
“No, we will make it look like a suicide. Your role will be telling the police you told him about your affair the week before. That will be his motive to commit suicide.”
“He commits suicide by putting a drug into his own drink?”
“No, once he is dead, I will need to put his gun in his hand and shoot him in the head to make it look like a suicide.”
“What?! No, I don’t want to do that Justin.”
“Naomi, we have to. Remember, he will already be dead, but we can’t have the coroner digging too deep to find a cause of death. With alcohol in his blood, his grief over the affair, gun in his hand, gunshot to the head, and a suicide note, it will be an open and shut case. Even if they do a typical drug screen, they won’t find this drug.”
“What kind of drug is this?”
“It’s called Rohypnol. Sometimes referred to as roofies or the date rape drug. It knocks people out and they usually can’t remember much afterward. Too much, and it will kill you. But it’s hard to detect unless it’s specifically screened for. There will be no reason to screen for Rohypnol.”
“You have this drug?”
“Yes, I do.”
“What do you use it for?”
“Oh, it has its purposes.”
“Are you sure this is the only way Justin?”
“It is if we want to be free, married, and wealthy. Ryan won’t feel a thing and he will die believing you have always loved him.”
“What will I tell the police?”
“As I said, tell them you told Ryan about your affair the week before and he was devastated. On Wednesday evening, you were at book club and when you came home, you found Ryan dead with a suicide note on the table. I’ll print out a suicide note from his office computer before you get home.”
Naomi doesn’t say anything for several minutes, then softly says, “okay Justin, I’ll trust you. I just want this over and live with you the rest of my life.”
“Be patient Naomi, it will happen. Love you.”
“Love you too Justin.”
Wednesday
On Wednesday morning, King calls Cooper to set up a meeting. He tells Cooper he has some concerns over the latest contract and would like to discuss it with him that evening.
“Why not just come in and discuss it here?” asks Cooper.
“I can’t leave the job site right now. How about if I stop by your place tonight, say around seven-thirty? I’ll bring some of your favorite rum and we can discuss it over a couple drinks. It’s nothing serious.”
“Yeah, that would okay. Naomi has book club tonight.”
“Good, I’ll see you tonight.”
Everything seems to be falling in place for King’s and Naomi’s plan to eliminate Cooper from the business and her life. King knows he will have to pull this off perfectly for it to work. He has been thinking about it for some time now and believes he has all the details covered. At around 5:30 pm, King tries to eat some dinner before having to leave for Cooper’s place, but doesn’t seem to have much of an appetite. King can feel the tension in his stomach.
Naomi leaves home at 6:50 pm. As planned, she calls King on her cell phone to let him know she is on her way to book club.
“Are you still sure about this Justin?” she nervously asks.
“Yes, everything is planned out.”
“Justin, I’m very scared. I was shaking as I drove out of our cul-de-sac.”
“Just calm down Naomi, you need to act like nothing is unusual tonight. Remember to call me before coming home and I will let you know if it is okay to return. Just don’t text me.”
“Yes, I know,” says Naomi as she exhales a deep breath.
“Now just go to your club meeting and try to relax. Talk to you later,” says Cooper.
After Naomi’s phone call, King knows he is clear to go to Cooper’s home to take care of business. He goes to his briefcase and removes the Smith and Wesson revolver he took from Cooper’s bookshelf. He opens the cylinder and is reminded he still has to load it. King goes into his bedroom and retrieves a box of .38 caliber bullets next to his own Ruger 6 shot revolver from the top drawer of his dresser. King also owns a Glock semi-auto .40 caliber handgun. This would be his preferred choice of gun, but he needs to use Cooper’s gun for the mock suicide. Cooper’s gun will more than do the job.
King opens the box and removes five .38 caliber hollow point bullets from the box. Hollow points are better, as they cause more damage to the body. He opens the cylinder with his left hand and carefully drops a bullet into each hole of the cylinder with his right hand. He then snaps the cylinder closed and places the gun into the right-hand pocket of his blue nylon windbreaker jacket. He then zips the pocket shut.
King then goes to his bathroom, opens the medicine cabinet, and grabs a small bottle of white tablets. This is the Rohypnol he will use on Cooper. The bottle of tablets goes into his left jacket pocket, which he also zips shut. On his way out the door, King grabs the new bottle of Captain Morgan rum and a pair of latex gloves from the small table in the foyer. He is now ready.
King leaves his home in Lone Tree at approximately 7:05 pm driving his silver BMW four-door sedan. He arrives at the entrance of Sandy Lane at 7:25 pm and parks his car on the cross street of Oak Avenue about fifty feet from the corner. King does not want any of the neighbors to see his car in Cooper's driveway or parked out front. The homes on Sandy Lane sit on spacious lots with an abundance of trees and are set back from the road a good 100 feet. He walks the eighth of a mile down Sandy Lane to Coopers’ home at the end of the cul-de-sac. It is now dusk, so King is hoping none of the neighbors notice him walking.
Cooper answers the door and invites King inside. He doesn’t notice King’s car is not in the driveway. King holds up the bottle of rum and says he will fix them a drink.
Cooper nods in agreement, “that sounds
really good right now. What is it you want to discuss?”
“Let’s have a drink first and relax. I just want to go over some details of the project. That will help me determine what resources we will need.”
King mixes two rum and cokes in the kitchen. He does not put any Rohypnol in Cooper’s drink, but he makes Cooper’s strong and his weak. King wants to get Cooper’s blood alcohol level up some before he gives him the drug. He walks into the living area and hands Cooper his drink. Cooper is sitting in one of the tall back leather recliners and King sits in an adjacent recliner with a small round table between them. He then starts talking about the major project in Colorado Springs and what he believes it will entail. After about a half-hour, King grabs Cooper’s empty glass and goes back into the kitchen to mix them another drink.
This time, he not only makes Cooper’s drink strong, but he also puts two tablets of Rohypnol in the glass. He stalls a bit to make sure the tablets are completely dissolved. The carbonation of the coke helps with the process. He then goes back into the living area and hands Cooper his second rum and coke.
King changes the topic for a bit by asking Cooper what he thinks of the Colorado Rockies' chances this year. They talk baseball for about 15 minutes as Cooper enjoys his rum and coke. Cooper then brings the conversation back to business.
“So how many people do you think we will have to hire?” asks Cooper.
“I’m thinking probably ten more electricians with one being a supervisor,” answers King.
“That’s in the same ballpark I was thinking. Have you checked on the supply chain for the wire and components we will need?” Cooper asks.
“If supply remains the way it is now, we will be okay. I’ve given our supplier a heads up and he doesn’t see an issue. Of course, if something goes haywire with copper supply or parts manufacturing, you never know for sure.”
King inquires, “Is there someone here you would like to promote to supervisor, or would you rather bring someone new in.”
Cooper pauses for a minute. “I think, uh….., I’m sorry, what was that again?”
Behind The Lies Page 16