Hits & Mrs.

by Karen Stollznow

  Chapter 12

  The next morning Dawn awoke to a tender kiss from her husband before he left for work.

  She didn’t kiss him back. Who knew where those lips had been last night?

  “I’m sorry I was late last night. Have a good day, honey. I love you,” David whispered softly to her, but she pretended to be asleep. As she heard his car drive off she remembered where her lips had been the night before.

  They’d been all over Gil Godsend.

  It was an exciting evening of illicit fucking in crazy places around his home. It started on the kitchen counter top, moved to the dining room table and down to the wine cellar, and ended with soapy wet sex standing in the shower. These were the kind of spontaneous, uninhibited sexual encounters she hadn’t had since she got married.

  But… it wasn’t the passionate lovemaking she shared with her husband. That is, that she used to share with him before he changed, she thought wistfully.

  Dawn thought about David the whole day.

  Perhaps she was being petty about his quirks. Perhaps he had his own complaints about her. Okay, okay, she knew that he did. She was aware that she could be nagging and controlling at times. David once complained that she treated him like a project she could “fix”. She annoyed him with her spending sprees on clothing, trinkets for the home, and anything on sale. She saved a lot of money spending money on things she wouldn’t have otherwise bought.

  And, as she proved last night, she could be impulsive.

  Apparently, the spirit of her sensible sister wasn’t guiding her actions then. She gazed at her wedding photo and became sentimental again. David wasn’t such a bad husband after all. He did share the household chores. He was her handyman who mowed the lawn, maintained the cars and computers, and prepared the taxes. He was the father of her children. He was a good man, and she loved him. She couldn’t let twenty-seven years of marriage go to waste. For better or for worse, that’s what she’d agreed to, right?

  Dawn felt guilty because of her rash behavior the night before. What she’d done was totally out of character for her. What was she thinking? The rendezvous with Gil was meant to be retaliatory sex, a tit for tat tryst because her husband was cheating on her. Well, she feared David was cheating, and Gil implied he was cheating, and he was psychic. But could Gil have been wrong? Could she be misreading her husband’s behavior? Was he really having an affair? Because if he wasn’t, then that meant that she…

  Well, she didn’t want to think about that.

  Was David a cheater? She had to find out for certain. But how could she do that? Should she start reading his emails and text messages? Should she follow him to watch his movements? Should she hire a private investigator to track him? She’d once watched an episode of a talk show about those detective agencies that use sexy undercover agents to tempt husbands to see if they will cheat. Maybe she should hire one of these women to test David and find out if he was cheating on her, or if he could be tempted to cheat.

  The thought of testing him this way was titillating but scary at the same time. It was intimidating to think about a younger, more attractive woman flirting with him.

  Dawn searched online and the nearest business was an agency in San Francisco called Suspicious Minds. What a clever name, she thought.

  Do you suspect that your spouse is cheating on you?

  Be the first to know and not the last to find out.

  We use surveillance, tracking, computer forensics, and other monitoring methods to find you proof and give you the truth. Our team of licensed private investigators are discreet, confidential, and accurate.

  Get the peace of mind you deserve.

  Their client reviews were glowing.

  I suspected that my husband was two-timing me…and he was! The caring and professional team from Suspicious Minds was able to find solid evidence for me so I could move on with my life, without my cheating husband.

  This agency will catch your cheating son of a bitch boyfriend red-handed!

  I highly recommend them.

  Don’t sit around wondering if your man is a dog. Find out for sure.

  There were dozens of similar reviews and it struck Dawn that in all of them the man was guilty of cheating. There weren’t any reviews in which the wife or girlfriend was relieved to discover that she was wrong. She did some further research online and found the statistic that 85% of women who suspect their husbands are cheating are correct. Sure, David had never come home smelling of perfume or wearing a shirt collar covered in lipstick kisses, but Dawn discovered that many of his behaviors were the tell tale signs of a cheating spouse.

  She grabbed her coat and headed straight over to Suspicious Minds.

  When she arrived at the agency, Dawn expected that the place would look like something out of an old black and white detective movie. There would be a mysterious private investigator wearing a trench coat and a fedora and smoking a cigarette in a dimly lit office amidst a cluttered library of books. Instead, Suspicious Minds was a bright and airy office with sweeping views of the city. It was furnished with white leather couches and black calf hide accent chairs. There was an aquarium filled with exotic fish and the walls were lined with modern art.

  There were no Sherlock Holmes stereotypes here. It was an office full of professional women. A secretary welcomed Dawn, made her a macchiato, and then led her to a room where she was met by a woman who was very attractive and well dressed. She introduced herself as Claudia Cox.

  No wonder their success rate was so high for catching cheaters, Dawn thought. What man could resist this stunning woman?

  Claudia led Dawn to a chair and the two of them sat down to chat about her concerns.

  “What can I do for you today, Mrs. Pierce?”

  “I think my husband David is having an affair,” she blurted out.

  “What makes you think he is?” asked Claudia.

  Dawn frowned.

  “Well, all the typical warning signs are there. His work habits have changed. He doesn’t come home until very late at night. When he is at home he ignores me. He’s paying more attention to his appearance. He’s buying new clothes and getting his hair cut without me having to remind him! And we’re not…intimate anymore…”

  Claudia heard these complaints every day. They were all of the supposedly “classic” signs of an affair that people read about in tabloids and women’s magazines.

  “I’m sorry to hear this,” she said sympathetically, “but these behavioral changes don’t necessarily mean that he’s cheating on you. Do you have any proof?”

  “Yes, I do! I was told that he’s cheating on me.”

  It was usually “the other woman” who broke this bad news gleefully to the wife. A malicious mistress who was tired of her lover’s promises that he would leave his wife, and wanted to pressure him to take action.

  “Who told you that he’s cheating on you?” asked Claudia.

  “A psychic,” Dawn said matter-of-factly.

  During her time in this job Claudia had heard just about everything, but she hadn’t heard this one before.

  “A psychic?” Claudia repeated.

  “Yes. He’s a really famous psychic too,” continued Dawn. “His name is Gil Godsend. Have you heard of him?”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake, Claudia thought. She should have known.

  “Yes. I’ve heard of him,” she said with disdain.

  “He’s very accurate,” gushed Dawn.

  “He’s a fraud,” Claudia muttered under her breath, but obviously loud enough for Dawn to overhear.

  “But he knew personal details about my deceased sister that no one else could know!” Dawn argued. “Then he told me that my husband was keeping a secret from me. There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be right about that too.”

  “Unless he had an ulterior motive for making you believe that,” Claudia replied.

  She recalled Kate and Abby’s experiences with Gil and shivered.

  “You…didn’t…um…do anything with
him, did you?” she asked carefully.

  Dawn’s face turned bright red in embarrassment.

  “Um…Gil made me believe that David’s secret was that he was cheating on me. Um…he convinced me that I needed to get revenge by cheating on him. Um…so, he and I… had sex,” she admitted.

  “Oh, no!” Claudia cried in shock.

  This was now the third woman who had been manipulated by Gil in as many weeks, that she knew of…

  “But how did you guess that something happened?” Dawn asked.

  “Gil Godsend has a reputation with the ladies,” said Claudia. “And a penchant for conquering married women.”

  “Oh.”

  Dawn felt a little stung. She thought she was special. But that explained why the young and handsome Gil was interested in an older, married woman. Maybe this meant that he was wrong about her husband.

  “So, will you take on the case for me?” asked Dawn.

  “Yes, and I’m going to handle this one personally,” Claudia promised. “I’ll track David and see where he goes and what he does. If he’s having an affair, or even if he’s just capable of cheating, then I’ll catch him.”

  “Thank you.”

  Dawn sighed in relief. She was still convinced that David was cheating on her. Of course, that belief justified her actions of the night before.

  Claudia and Dawn created a detailed profile of David. When they were done, Dawn received a timely call from him letting her know that he would be working late in the office until 10pm that night.

  “Typical,” hissed Dawn.

  “But this is the perfect time for me to start the surveillance,” said Claudia.

  Dawn was very nervous about what she’d find, or wouldn’t find.

  It was after business hours so Claudia drove to David’s place of work to verify that he was indeed working late.

  He had already left for the day.

  So far, this wasn’t looking good. Where was he and why would he need to lie about what he was doing?

  The next morning at 7:00am Claudia sat in her car parked outside the Pierce home. She watched David tumble out of the house into his car and she followed him stealthily. He drove to work directly without any detours. Claudia found a vantage spot outside his building where she could observe David through the tall glass windows of his office. He sat at his desk all day long, stooped over his computer, and only occasionally left his cubicle to grab a cup of coffee or chat with a colleague. There was a framed photograph of him and Dawn at the beach on his desk and Claudia watched him pick it up. She couldn’t see his face to find out if he was staring at the image with love or frustration.

  At 5:03pm, David left his office and got into his car. He drove to Boon-Nam, a posh Thai restaurant in the Pacific Heights district. Claudia knew the place and was a fan of their mo hor and geng sap nok gradtaa. David parked his car and disappeared into the restaurant. Was this a planned rendezvous with his lover? Minutes later he emerged carrying several brown paper bags and climbed back into his car. Was this food to go that he planned to take back to the office while he worked late? Or was he on his way to a romantic night in with another woman?

  Claudia trailed him from a safe distance. David drove to a nearby neighborhood and pulled up at a magnificent home that had amazing views of the San Francisco Bay. He walked along the path, rang the doorbell, and a woman answered wearing nothing but a silken dressing gown and a smile. This must be his mistress! But no, David handed her the bags and was given money in exchange. Clearly, he was working a second job as a deliveryman for the restaurant.

  But why was he doing this in secret?

  This pattern continued for three more days. Then David changed his routine. He left work on foot at 1pm. Was he meeting with a lover for lunch?

  Claudia trailed him and he led her to a jewelry store. She followed him inside and saw him holding an exquisite platinum diamond bracelet. Was this a gift for his mistress? She pretended to browse the bracelet display so she could sidle up to him and strike up a conversation.

  “That’s a gorgeous piece!” she enthused. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

  “It’s a present for my wife, Dawn,” David replied.

  “It’s beautiful,” Claudia said, eyeing the diamonds as they sparkled beneath the store’s lights. “What’s the special occasion?”

  “In one month we’ll be celebrating 28 years of marriage,” he said fondly.

  “You don’t look old enough to have been married 28 years!” Claudia flirted gently.

  “Thank you,” he said, not buying her flattery at all. “We married young.”

  “I don’t know if I could stay married to the same man for 28 whole years,” Claudia said with a cheeky grin and a wink. “I’d get too bored. I find it exciting to meet new men,” she said suggestively.

  He noted her subtle come on. This one must be a gold-digger, he thought.

  “I’m a happily married man,” he said steadfastly. “I’ve never been bored with my wife. I think she gets bored with me though. I’m a boring guy,” he said a little sadly.

  Claudia dropped the matter. Sometimes she felt guilty that she had to lead these guys on, but she also knew that a faithful man couldn’t be led on…and this was a faithful man.

  “I think you’re a sweetheart. Your wife is going to love her gift,” she said.

  “I sure hope so!” said David. “Dawn saw it in the window of this shop months ago and fell in love with it. Then and there I made the decision to get it for her, no matter what it took. I’ve been doing overtime at work and holding down a second job to save enough money to buy this bracelet. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing more to destroy my marriage by trying to keep this a surprise,” he revealed. “I think my wife suspects that I’m having an affair!” he chuckled as Claudia winced. “But I’m not that kind of guy.”

  “Well, it was nice to meet you and congratulations on your anniversary,” she said sincerely.

  Claudia took a look at some jewelry for herself, noting a pair of peacock green Tahitian pearl earrings that she wanted to buy. Then she left the store. She had a report to write.

  The next day the two women reconvened at the Suspicious Minds office. Dawn sat across from Claudia, looking tired and stressed. She hadn’t been sleeping at night and she’d taken to biting her fingernails.

  “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Claudia asked.

  “I’ll take the good news first,” Dawn said hopefully.

  “The good news is that David has been keeping a secret from you…but it’s a good secret! You have a wonderful surprise on the way. He’s been working overtime and he took on a second job to buy you a special gift for your upcoming wedding anniversary.”

  Dawn looked visibly relieved, but very guilty.

  “David is a good man,” Claudia continued. “So the bad news is that he didn’t cheat on you. You cheated on him.”

  Dawn was dumbfounded.

  “So, he’s not an adulterer…but I am,” she admitted, staring at the floor in shame. “But Gil was right about David keeping a secret from me,” she conceded. “I wasn’t to know it was a good secret.”

  “Many people keep secrets from their spouses. It was a clever guess, that’s all,” dismissed Claudia. “The real issue here is that Gil manipulated you into having sex with him. I think you should report him to the police.”

  Dawn shook her head.

  “No way!” she refused, just as Kate and Abby had. “I’d be too embarrassed to admit I did something so stupid. And what would I tell the cops? I saw a psychic who told me my husband was keeping a secret from me, so I had sex with him. They’d just laugh at me.”

  “You’re a victim of his scam, but you’re not his only victim. Two other women came to me recently with similar stories of abuse and there could be more if we don’t do anything,” Claudia urged.

  “I just want to move on with my life,” Dawn said with tired eyes. “Isn’t there anything else you can do?”

  “It’s iro
nic that you came to me of all people for help about Gil Godsend,” said Claudia. “Before I became a private investigator I spent years exposing his scams to the public. Yet here he is, still scamming people. It just didn’t seem to make any difference.”

  “I can’t let this happen to anyone else. Please… try again,” Dawn begged.

  Claudia gave a reluctant nod.

  “I will,” she promised.

  Dawn was happy with the outcome of the investigation but she was crushed by her own actions.

  “How am I going to tell my husband what I’ve done?” she cried.

  “Just be open and honest with him,” Claudia advised. “You were tricked by a con artist and it’s not your fault, but the two of you might want to see a counselor to sort out your communication problems.”

  “You’re right,” agreed Dawn. “This is a terrible misunderstanding. The whole mess shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

  Dawn went home to repair her marriage; not that David even knew it was broken. She was going to put forth an effort to right her wrongs. She would stop trying to “fix” him and start trying to fix herself. She would quit her nagging and controlling behavior. She wouldn’t go on those shopping sprees anymore. And when he kissed her goodbye in the morning, she’d kiss him back. Tonight, she was going to make her husband’s favorite meal for dinner, even if he did eat it out of the fridge at 10pm…

  Chapter 13

  Rainbow Woods and her friend Sally met in a coffee shop in Fairfax. Rainbow ordered an affogato; an espresso shot poured over a scoop of ice cream. Sally studied the menu and changed her mind three times before she finally settled on a cappuccino.

  Claudia was sitting at a table nearby and she noticed the two women as they entered the coffee shop. They were typical Bay Area socialites who had too much Botox injected into their foreheads and dermal filler squirted into their cheeks. She eavesdropped their gossip about their sexy new yoga instructor when she heard Sally change the topic.