The Grave Switcheroo (2 page)

“Then another week passed by and one day when I was feeling particularly lonely, I went back to the cemetery. I talked to my John and told him how much I missed him. You know, the love he and I had, it could never be replaced, and it would be foolish to think that a bit of fun in the bedroom was even close to what he and I had, as soul mates”

“And guess what …. on the way out of the cemetery that evening, I see Garry again. And this time time he’s with another woman! They are leaving a grave side. He spotted me, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he is pleading with me to not approach him.”

“I did not call him or anything … I must say I was suddenly very confused.  Maybe she was his sister or another relative? But I am not sure. So after they left, I go to the grave and see it’s a man grave  who had passed away a few months before. 

“Then it hits me! ... I am thinking .. is he’s a guy who tries to find women who are lonely and vulnerable ...get into relationship with them and take their money? Maybe he’s even looking for a widow who will take him in for good and support him?.”  Laura stoped, took another sip and looked at her friends.

“Hmmm … you wonder ... if that was even his wife’s grave he said it was?”  Sophia said, leaning forward.

“Honestly ...now I doubt it. I’ve never really looked into it since that day though.”  Laura admitted .

“Well, I think we will do just that.  Tell me his wife’s name, the name on the grave that you saw, do you remember?”  Marsha asked.

“Yeah it was Stacy, Stacy Anderson or something”  Laura said, touching her forehead with her fingers 

Marsha pulled out her smart phone, looking up the obituaries and the name. There was silence around the table

“Not matches” Marsha said after a while. “yes, there was a Stacy Anderson who passed away,  but she was married to a man named Robert, not Garry. And Robert is still alive. You are right Laura, this smells fishy. I am sure you can locate Robert and find out the truth and confirm it was his Stacy’s grave or what ” 

“Yeah, I might as well do it …God!  this makes me so upset!” Laura said angrily “He is stalking women in the graveyards, getting friendly with them… and then using them to get their money. He is going to continue to fool around with other vulnerable women and wreck their lives”

“Laura, it’s just the way some people are. Haven’t you heard of gigolos before? At least you’re done with him, without losing too much money.”  Cynthia said, leaning over and patting on Laura's arm.

“Yes, I guess I am lucky … but you know what, I’d really like to make sure he can’t do this to anyone else.  I mean, that woman he was with last week, what if she falls in love with him? She is the next one who will be hurt when she finds him gone after using her and taking her money”  Laura’s anger was showing through.

“What are you thinking of?”  Marsha asked her.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I want to hurt him or anything … but he deserves to get something ! You know it is generally not my nature to hurt people, but when I think of him picking on women in cemeteries and all that, it boils my blood”  Laura shook her head.

“How about if we set up a trap?”  Sophia spoke up … she had been listening quietly for a while

“A trap?”  The other three stared at her.

“How about we find a grave of another man who died recently, and one of us other than Laura goes out there,. If we are lucky he will also contact her. Then she would find a way to take him home, where Laura and others will be waiting.  Together, we can get the truth out of him 

“We need to teach him a lesson and tell him he is now exposed. Hopefully, he will stop doing this to other women.  If you want, I can talk to my husband and maybe Dan will even get some of his men involved."  Sophia said, lowering her voice as if they were already in a conspiracy.

The reference to her husband Dan, made other ladies look at each other. It was never mentioned aloud but was common knowledge that Dan belonged to a mob or some mafia and was apparently a high ranking member, given their life style.

“Sounds good to me” Laura said and then quickly added “ Well, as long as he doesn't get hurt too badly or something. I just want to him to learn that it is wrong, what he is doing to women, first getting their sympathy, getting them involved in a relationship and then taking their money”

“Oh, we can do this ... and this will be exciting ! ”  Cynthia said “Let’s set a bait. I volunteer! I’ve always wanted to be an actress, this will give me a great chance to play a part.” 

“I think we will be ok as long as he doesn't get violent or something.”  Marsha said cautiously.

“Violent? I think my husband can make sure this man gets the message ... that getting violent with us can get him into very serious trouble”  Sophia chuckled. Others looked at her, surprised how cool she sounded saying all that. 

They all knew Sophia loved her husband, but she perhaps loved his power even more.  Often times they could see her enjoying free perks at posh places because of him and his connections.

Suddenly, they all felt excited and thrilled. This was something that they felt was right out of suspense novels! And what the heck, they thought,  as long as Sophia’s husband got involved, they would be secure taking on a scoundrel like Garry.

They spent the next hour discussing their plan. They all agreed that they should only go ahead with this once Sophia had talked to her husband and got him on board. Two things were necessary, getting Dan’s support and finding out if the whole thing was even true and if Garry was a liar and a cheater as Laura suspected him to be. Sophia said she was confident her husband would agree to get involved and help them

Finally they got up to leave, promising each other to work on the plan, over the coming days

A Plan Created

The next week was spent in phone calls and developing their plan. Yes, Sophia confirmed, her husband was on board and agreed to provide them protection. His suggestion was that Cynthia should somehow bring Garry to a place where others could also get together and surprise him and not give him too much time to react or escape. 

Laura went to administration office at the cemetery and got the confirmation about Stacy Anderson. Yes, she was late wife of a Robert Anderson and not anyone named Garry. This made the group's resolve even stronger to confront Garry.  

Laura told them that Garry had met her first on a Thursday afternoon and tha, Cynthia should perhaps try Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays as there was a better chance of running into him then. She figured on weekends there are too many visitors to cemeteries and Garry may not come to hunt for his prey. Laura also located a man’s grave who had died a year back. They hoped Garry had not seen another women at the same grave, or they might be pulling this for nothing. 

Cynthia’s husband was away on business trip. Her children studying in colleges in other cities, she had a lot of free time. She actually started going to cemetery starting Wednesday.

For the first two days, nothing happened, there was no sign of Garry. But it was on Friday that she was about to lose hope and abandon her search, when she saw a man standing at a distance and looking at her. She immediately turned towards bent over the grave she was waiting by. 

She was there for almost half an hour, with her head down and pretending to be sobbing, when she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned around, her heart skipping a beat. There he was, a tall lean man, with dark brown hair and a  handsome face. 

“I am sorry” He spoke gently “I couldn’t help but notice you.  I was visiting my wife’s grave over there.”  Cynthia could tell from Laura’s description, it was Garry.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so loud.”  Cynthia said in a bit of a Midwestern accent. 

“No, no, I didn’t mean you were loud, I just wanted to know if you were okay … and  I thought I should say hello” He extended his hand … “I am Garry.” 

Cynthia shook his hand. He had a warm and strong grip. She had to admit he was both good looking and a good actor.

“I don’t know ...I miss him so much.”  Cynthia looked at the grave, letting out the sobs again.

“It’s okay, I totally understand …. I am going through exactly the same myself" He said, his voice was gentle and sad  

They stood there, glancing at grave and looking at each other. Then after a few moments he said “Maybe we should talk?  There is a coffee shop right outside on the street, if you want, we can go there for a cup of coffee?” Then he added “You see, I have found that talking things out with someone who is in the same situation, helps.  I mean I’ve been mourning too, and believe me it does get easier” He spoke in voice that was soft and smooth like silk.

“You are very kind …yes, maybe we can do that“ Cynthia said, her heart now beating a little faster. “But actually my lawyer is coming over today at my place to finalize my husband’s will and other financial matters. It’s been a bit complicated. And I can’t put this meeting off any longer. If you don’t mind, maybe we can meet tomorrow? In fact, why don’t you come over to my place? My maid makes very good coffee” Cynthia said, looking into his eyes and giving him an approving look while still keeping a soulful expression

He smiled “Oh, I don’t mind that. Of course, we can meet at your place tomorrow” He said that a little quickly, as if grabbing the opportunity before she could change her mind. His eyes seemed to have a twinkle at the mention of her husband’s will.
She could almost see the greed in his eyes when she gave him her address. Oh, he smells money already! she thought. Cynthia tried not to show any expression of doubt or uncertainty. She could not believe it would be this quick and easy.

“Sure that’s fine, I’ll come over.”  Garry agreed.

After that she left quickly, without making too much coversation. She had to alert others as soon as possible. All of them had to be at her house earlier than Garry’s arrival.

The moment she got in the car she called Laura first and then called the other three. They were all ecstatic and agreed to meet at her place within the next hour.

By the time Cynthia reached home, she could see Laura’s car already parked on her drive way. She quickly got out of the car and walked into the house and went straight to the living room, where she found Laura pacing around. The moment she saw Cynthia, Laura's face lit up.

“Oh my God! You really did it, girl !” Laura said, all excited, smiling and hugging her. “Tell me, tell me all the details!”

“Wait! let the others come and then I’ll tell you all …” Cynthia said smilingly, as if almost teasing Laura

Laura was about to raise her hand in protest, when the door bell rang. It was Sophia. They had hardly sat down when Marsha also arrived.

The next few hours passed rather quickly. They were all excited and happy that they had found Garry so easily and also that he had agreed to come where they wanted him.  The opportunity was perfect, Cynthia’s family was away and they had the house to themselves where they could stage a perfect drama.

The plan was to ask Sophia’s husband and men to wait in adjacent room. Cynthia was to meet and greet Garry first and once he was well inside the house and the front door was locked behind him, Laura and other women would come in and face Garry. They would try to get a confession out of him, make him feel ashamed and hopefully put enough fear in him not to do this any more to any other woman.

The Grave Switcheroo

The next day things went mostly as planned. They were all there by the afternoon and waited around the house. Garry called about quarter to five, asking to re-confirm directions. He arrived a little after five thirty.

Cynthia felt a surge of excitement and apprehension, as she walked over to open the front door. And there he was, dressed in black trousers, light blue shirt and light gray jacket. His dark brown hair were shining and combed back neatly. He looked polished and cool, Cynthia thought. 

“Hi, here I am' He smiled "Is this is really your place ?  Nice!" He asked, showing awe in his voice.

“Yes.  Thank you”  Cynthia smiled.  “Come on in ”

As they walked in the hall way, she said “I am sorry, my maid had to leave for a day … some family emergency, she told me. Maybe we will sit here for a while and then we go out”

“Oh, yes, certainly …” He said quickly “In fact I’ll to take you out this time, we can have coffee at your place the next time”

They walked in to the living room and Garry looked around approvingly at the wall paintings and expensive furnishings