Match Point

by Chelsea Dorsette

  Danielle had a pretty good idea that Patrick would probably be drinking a beer on a Friday night before going out to dinner and she was delighted to see his beer glass sitting on the coffee table when she arrived. “That beer looks delightful,” cooed Danielle using a tone of voice indicating she would love to have one. Banking on the fact that Patrick had good manners, she was thrilled when he offered her one. Everything so far was working perfectly and now was her chance! As he disappeared into the kitchen, Danielle pulled out of her pocket three roofies that Dayan had given her and looking quickly over her shoulder, dropped them in Patrick’s beer. When he returned and handed her a beer bottle, she held it up and said, “Cheers! Here’s to the weekend!” Watching him take a long gulp from the glass she couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement. Just a few more sips and he would be out cold.

  Sure enough, in less than ten minutes Patrick was passed out. It was now ten minutes before 8:00 pm and Danielle had to make her move fast before Kelly showed up. Taking off all her clothes and placing them around the couch, Danielle then undressed Patrick and positioned him sitting up on the couch. She then straddled her legs on either side of his hips and sat on his lap facing him with her back to the front door. Danielle knew by the way she was positioned on his lap with her head blocking his face that Kelly would never be able to tell he was passed out. Just as she heard the door handle jiggle she put her arms around his neck and started kissing him.

  Danielle had never known how sweet revenge could be until she heard Kelly come in the door sweetly calling out his name, then gasp in shock and leave slamming the door behind her. Getting up off Patrick’s lap she got them both dressed, laid him down on the couch and started hunting for the safety box key. She knew exactly what the key looked like and it only took moments until she spotted his key ring. Taking the key off the ring, she went out to the parking lot and gave the waiting Dayan both the safety box key and her key to the clubhouse.

  It was already dark outside and the club had been closed for two hours, so chances were extremely good that Dayan could get into the clubhouse, steal some money from the safety box and get out sight unseen. Less than fifteen minutes later Dayan returned, gave her half the stolen money and both keys back. After making plans to meet up at Casey’s Pub in a few minutes to celebrate their handiwork, Danielle went back upstairs to put the safety box key back on his key chain. After throwing out her beer bottle, she locked his door and left. Little did she know that Tom Buckley, Patrick’s neighbor, had been in the shadows of the condo building letting his dog relieve himself and saw everything that transpired in the parking lot between Danielle and Dayan.

  ***

  Kelly couldn’t stop crying. Her heart felt like it had been torn in half and she was humiliated and felt completely betrayed. She didn’t have to see Danielle’s face to know it was her. Kelly had always sensed that Danielle had a thing for Patrick but she never gave a moment’s thought as to whether he liked her in return. How had she made such a stupid assumption that she was the only woman he was dating? Seeing them completely naked and being intimate with each other ripped Kelly to pieces. He must have forgotten the time because just that afternoon they had agreed to meet at 8:00 pm. Or maybe Patrick wanted her to catch them because he was no longer interested in her.

  For two hours Kelly ran every scenario through her head trying to understand what had just happened. Nothing made sense. She had thought things were going really well between them, but obviously she was dead wrong. The more Kelly thought about Patrick’s deceit, the angrier she became. There was no doubt in her mind that tomorrow morning she would call the club and cancel her club membership and lessons with Patrick. She wanted nothing more to do with him ever again.

  ***

  Patrick had never woken up with such a horrific headache in his entire life. Not only was his head splitting, but he felt groggy and was having difficulty sitting up. He was utterly confused as to why he had fallen asleep fully dressed on his couch. In addition to the pounding in his head, he also felt sick to his stomach. Looking at his empty beer glass from last night he couldn’t recall anything that happened. One minute he was enjoying his beer waiting for Kelly to come over and the next thing he knew he was now just waking up! And it was almost 11:00 am.

  Slowly standing up while holding the arm of the couch for support, Patrick stumbled toward the bathroom. As he passed the telephone sitting on his kitchen counter he could see the red message light blinking. Perhaps Kelly had called last night and said she couldn’t make it and he fell asleep. Anxious to see if that was what happened, he hit the message button as he rubbed his aching head. Instead of hearing Kelly’s voice on the machine, he heard the male voice of his boss Jeff Michaels telling Patrick that he wanted to speak with him as soon as possible. Patrick couldn’t imagine what was so urgent that Jeff would call him on a Saturday, let alone ask him to come to the club without explanation on his day off. His head was in such a fog he couldn’t think straight, but managed to get into the shower. After taking three aspirins and forcing down half a bagel, Patrick got dressed and headed over to the club.

  ***

  Danielle was beside herself with joy. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Immediately after arriving and opening up the clubhouse Saturday morning, the first thing she saw was the telephone message light blinking. As she put away her purse and took off her jacket she hit the button and listened to the message. Punching her fist up in the air and dancing around with excitement Danielle let out an evil laugh as she deleted it. They did it! The first part of Dayan’s plan worked…getting Kelly out of the way. By quitting her club membership, Danielle knew Kelly was pissed and would never want to see Patrick again. Now it was her turn to kick up the charm and have him all to herself.

  ***

  “Please close the door behind you,” Jeff said as Patrick entered his office. By the tone of his voice, Patrick knew something was up and it wasn’t good.

  As Patrick sat down in the chair he asked, “What’s up, Jeff? Is something wrong?”

  Looking squarely at Patrick Jeff said, “It appears that $2,000 is missing from the cash box from this week. Do you know anything about that?”

  Patrick was shocked and confused. His head was still spinning and he was having trouble processing what Jeff was saying. Looking confused, Patrick said. “I have no idea why there’s money missing. You and I are the only ones who have a key to that box and everything seemed in order yesterday.”

  Jeff had always liked and admired Patrick and from working together for so many years, Jeff had always trusted him implicitly. That’s why he had given him the club director position. But there was something about Patrick’s manner as they discussed the missing money that had his radar up. Patrick definitely wasn’t himself and he had no choice but to assume his odd manner was because he was lying and feeling guilty that he got caught.

  Taking a deep breath Jeff said regretfully, “Patrick, I need to get to the bottom of this missing money. I’m afraid I need to ask you to give me back your key to the box and as of today, I’m going to have to temporarily suspend your employment until I get some answers.” Patrick just stared at Jeff dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He wondered if this was all a very bad dream.

  Taking the cash box key off his key chain Patrick uttered, “Jeff…uh…I…uh…”

  Holding up his hand in a gesture to silence Patrick, Jeff said, “I’m really sorry about what has happened. I hope you are telling the truth, but right now I have to protect the club’s assets and integrity. I hope you understand.” Nodding his head in defeat, Patrick left Jeff’s office shaking his head in confusion and bewilderment.

  ***

  It seemed to Patrick like everything was crashing down all around him. He had been trying to contact Kelly for two days and she wasn’t returning his calls or his texts. Worried that something bad may have happened to her, he had gone to her condo a couple of times and she never answered the door. He had
even surreptitiously gone to the club during her usual lesson times, but she was never there.

  Patrick couldn’t understand why he was still feeling sick and wondered if he had come down with some kind of virus. His head still pounded and he could barely eat due to an upset stomach. He was especially perplexed about why he couldn’t remember anything from last Friday night.

  All he could remember was coming home, taking a shower, getting a beer and watching TV. Why couldn’t he remember anything else? Why was Kelly not returning his calls? Why was he being accused of stealing money from the cash box? He was worried sick that he was going to lose his job permanently and that Jeff might report him to the police. Having a record for stealing would jeopardize any future hopes for a management position and his career would basically be over. And why did Danielle keep contacting him to go out for dinner or drinks? Patrick was pretty sure he had been clear with her that he wasn’t interested, but all of a sudden she was trying to push the envelope to go out with him. Something very strange was going on all around him. He didn’t know what, but he sure as hell was going to try to find out.

  Chapter Twelve

  Dayan couldn’t wipe the self-satisfied smirk off his face even if someone handed him a washcloth. His day of getting revenge had finally happened and he was finally the club director because of Patrick’s suspension. He didn’t care that Jeff Michaels didn’t seem that thrilled when he offered Dayan the promotion. He thought the guy was a son of a bitch anyway, but he kept those feelings carefully concealed. All he cared about was getting rid of Patrick and getting the job. Ever since their plan had come to fruition, Danielle and Dayan had become thick as thieves and their sexual practices turned even more kinky and dark. For once, his life wasn’t nine miles of bad road going nowhere. He figured it was tough shit that he had to connive for the job and ruin other people’s lives. After all, people had done that to him all his life so it was his turn to exact the same treatment. Dayan had worked hard to get where he now was and nothing and no one was going to take it away from him.

  ***

  It had been a week and a half and Patrick had still not seen or heard from Kelly. He knew she was OK because her car would be in different parking spots at her condo development when he would go over. He couldn’t imagine what he possibly could have done to alienate her this way. He had fallen in love with her in a very short time and was beginning to make plans for their future. The Friday night they were supposed to have dinner, he was planning on talking to her about moving in together. Patrick was desperate to contact her to find out what was wrong, but she continually ignored his calls and texts. He had also not heard back from Jeff Michaels about the stolen money or his job and the silence was driving him crazy and making him feel very off balance.

  Patrick knew if he didn’t let off some steam he was going to explode, so he grabbed a towel and left for the pool to do some laps. After a 30 minute workout he felt better and a bit calmer. Leaving the pool area, he headed back to his unit via the mailboxes. Seeing Tom Buckley getting his mail Patrick called out, “Hey Tom, how’s it going?”

  After explaining that he had just returned from being out of town for a week, Tom inquired about how Patrick was doing. “Still breaking ladies’ hearts at the club, dude?” teased Tom. Shaking his head, Patrick told Tom the whole nasty story of what had happened in the past week and a half. Tom listened in silence but as the story unfolded, he was pretty sure what he witnessed in the parking lot between a guy and a gal the Friday night before he left for his business trip may very well have something to do with what was happening to Patrick.

  As Tom explained how he had seen a guy and a girl in their parking lot on Friday night around 7:00 pm exchanging something, Patrick listened with curiosity. Tom went on to recount how after the guy handed her something, the girl then went up to Patrick’s floor while the guy remained in a car. “I thought something fishy was going on,” Tom said. “Because then about fifteen minutes or so later when I was coming back from walking the dog, the gal came down, handed the guy something and then went back up to your floor again.” As Patrick listened to the description of events, his body went cold. “I thought it was really strange when about ten minutes after that, I heard a loud door slam and it sounded like it came from your place. When I looked out my window, I saw another woman come down the stairs and speed away in a car.”

  Every fiber in Patrick’s body was telling him that what Tom had witnessed had something to do with everything that was happening to him. After quizzing Tom about what the people looked like, he knew for sure that he had been set up by Danielle and Dayan. He just had to prove it.

  It was as if a light was suddenly switched on. The story Tom told him was beginning to jog some foggy memories. Suddenly he remembered that Danielle had called him while he was waiting for Kelly to arrive. Something about a purchase order? He had just poured a glass of beer and the last thing he remembered was offering Danielle one. That’s when he lost all memory. Was it possible that Dayan had given her some kind of drugs to put in his beer? It was all starting to make perfect sense. Danielle had drugged him, taken the cash box key from his key chain while he was passed out and given it to Dayan to steal from the box.

  But how could he prove that Danielle was actually in his condo? Taking Tom Buckley’s story to the police wouldn’t be enough. Patrick needed proof. Then it struck him. Racing to the kitchen, Patrick looked into the garbage can. Sure enough, he could see the empty beer bottle he had given Danielle. His beer had come out of a can so he knew it was hers and that her fingerprints would be all over it. That would prove she had been there.

  All of a sudden everything started falling into place. As luck or laziness would have it, he had not washed the glass he had been drinking out of that night because he had been so sick and caught up with everything that had been happening, he never got around to washing the dishes. That glass would prove if he had been drugged. These facts along with Tom’s eyewitness account would have Danielle and Dayan in very big trouble. The only missing element was Kelly. From Tom’s description of the woman he saw after hearing the door slam, it was definitely Kelly. Why wouldn’t she have woken him up when she arrived? He had left the door unlocked for her to just come on in. Why would him sleeping on the couch make her this damn mad at him? He was going to have to get to the bottom of that, but right now he had to call the police.

  ***

  Both Dayan and Danielle froze when three police men entered the clubhouse. Jeff Michaels had seen them enter from his office and was up and on his feet to find out if something was wrong. Trying to look calm and casual, Danielle asked, “Can I help you, officers?”

  Officer Target looked her squarely in the eye and with no expression said, “Are you Danielle Brown?” Nodding her head in affirmation Officer Target walked over to her and said, “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.” As he handcuffed her he explained, “You are under arrest for drugging someone without their knowledge or consent. You are also under arrest for conspiracy to commit theft.” Jeff Michaels looked on without saying a word as the scene continued to unfold.

  As Officer Target took Danielle away, Officers Bradley and Wahl stepped toward Dayan and said, “Are you Dayan Molina?”

  The minute Dayan started to run he knew he wouldn’t make it out of the clubhouse. The officers had a feeling he would try to escape and were ready the minute he moved. In seconds they had him lying face down on the floor and were handcuffing him behind his back. After reading Dayan his rights, Officer Wahl said, “You are under arrest for trafficking drugs, conspiracy to drug someone without their knowledge or consent and for the theft of $2,000 from the club cash box.”

  Jeff Michaels couldn’t believe what he was hearing! He had come close to firing Patrick for something he didn’t do! He was mortified at the thought. Now it all made sense why Patrick had seemed so strange that Saturday morning when he asked to speak with him. Patrick had obviously been drugged the night before and was still suffering t
he effects the next morning. Jeff was elated to know it wasn’t Patrick after all. He should have known, but there was no other explanation how someone could have gotten into the box, until now. As he watched the officers take Dayan away, Jeff immediately set off to track down Patrick.

  ***

  Kelly couldn’t believe what she was reading. It sounded like a story straight from a soap opera. As she sat reading Hilton Head Island’s local newspaper, The Daily Packet, she gasped as she read the story about how two employees of Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center had framed the club director for theft. It was uncovered by the news reporter that the male employee wanted the club director job and ruthlessly planned to frame the current director so he could get the position. The reporter also uncovered that the female employee was jealous of the relationship between the club director and a female tennis member and not only drugged the director, but set up a fake intimate scene to end the relationship between the member and the director.

  Kelly was so shocked, she couldn’t close her mouth. As she re-read the story over and over again it started to dawn on her that Patrick had not cheated on her or let her down in any way. He was the victim of a terrible situation. She had been so angry and hurt that she wanted nothing to do with him ever again and completely shut him out of her life. Now that the truth was out, she felt horrible. He had been trying to get in touch with her for two weeks since that Friday night and she wasn’t there for him.

  Now that she understood what he had been going through and how desperate and upset he must have been, guilt raked through her. Throwing on a light jacket, she left her condo to go find him. She hoped desperately that he would forgive her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Patrick knew the minute Kelly walked into the clubhouse that she had read the newspaper article. Her face was frozen with fear and guilt as she approached him tentatively. Now that all the facts were uncovered as to why she stormed out of his condo that Friday night, his heart went out to her. He realized how heartbroken and upset she must have been, thinking that he was being intimate with Danielle. Before she could even open her mouth to say how sorry she was, Patrick pulled her into a tight embrace and just held her as she cried. Her nerves had been on edge the past two weeks and just seeing him and feeling his arms protectively around her released all of the emotional pain she had suffered.