The Suicide Princess (14 page)

“Yeah, I need to get home, too. Cool meeting you,
Anthony.”

Derrick threw a few twenty-
dollar bills on the bar as he said, “That should take care of everything.” Derrick patted Jacob on the back and finished with, “Now go find yourself some fun, buddy,” as he walked away.

Jacob, completely filled with rage, watched Derrick walk through the door and out of the bar. Jacob reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the small digital voice recorder he bought earlier in the day. The device made a small beep as he pressed the stop button. Jacob walked back to his rental car, and once inside,
he pressed play on the voice recorder. Jacob heard Derrick's voice emanating from the device:

Listen buddy, you keep your hands to yourself, I'll keep my hands to myself, and we'll get along just fine
…

I got you, you fucke
r!
Jacob thought as he stopped playing the recording.
I so got you!

Jacob drove to the airport, and stopped in a nearby parking lot to remove the tint from the windows. He used the paper towels and glass cleaner to return the glass to its original state as it was when he rented the car. Jacob returned the rental and walked back to his own vehicle in the long-term parking garage. Jacob looked at the clock on the car dash and saw it was nearly five o'clock in the morning. Completely exhausted, Jacob just reclined the front seat and fell asleep in his car.

Jacob spent the better part of the next two weeks preparing for his inevitable confrontation with Stephanie. He had the video of Stephanie with Derrick, he had the recording of his conversation with Derrick, and there was no room for Stephanie to wiggle her way out of accepting responsibility for what she was doing. Jacob also knew Derrick's derogatory description of his relationship with Stephanie would only further encourage her to be willing to end the marriage quietly – otherwise could prove humiliating for her.

Ten days after he recorded Derrick, Jacob was in the cockpit with Mark once again. After leveling off at thirty-seven thousand feet, Mark cautiously asked, “So, how's everything going?”

Jacob, wearing his white, short-sleeve, button down shirt with pilot lapels, slid his pilot headset from his ears. The headset ruffled his short, brown hair, and he paused before answering, “I'm not sure if the answer is good or bad.” He continued, “It's bad in that I confirmed everything, and she is cheating. It's good, though, in that I have everything I need to make sure she doesn't rake me over the coals in a divorce.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad you at least have something to protect yourself,” Mark said as the cockpit bounced from a light patch of turbulence.

“Thanks to you. If it wasn't for what you told me, I would have run in like an idiot and been left with nothing.”

“What steps are you taking before you walk out?” Mark asked.

“I'm being fair with her. I opened up a new bank account, at a different bank and in just my name, and I'm just going to transfer half of all our savings to it. I also signed a lease on an apartment, and I'm only going to take what I absolutely need from the house. I'll leave her with half the savings and most of the stuff in the house. Then when it's time to discuss the house, I'll be open. If she wants to keep the house for herself, she can have it. If she wants to sell it and split the equity fifty-fifty, then I'm okay with that, too. I think I'll come out of this pretty clean.”

“Sounds like you have it all worked out,” Mark said approvingly. “When are you pulling the trigger?”

“She thinks my next overnight flight is next Tuesday – I told her that, today. I know she'll stay out Tuesday night and not come home until Wednesday after work. That gives me all Tuesday and most of Wednesday to transfer the money from one bank to the other and get everything moved out of the house.”

“You need any help moving?” offered Mark.

“No, but thanks anyway. This is going to be really tough for me, and I think I need to do it alone. I know I may look like I'm holding it together pretty well, but I think I'm still in shock. Once the reality of this sets in, I'm going to fall apart. I think I need to be alone when that happens.”

“Just let me know if you change your mind. Do you know what you're going to say to her?”

“I'll be there when she comes home on Wednesday – I'll be there waiting. I'm not sure what I'm going to say, but it will be short and to the point. The only thing I need to figure out is how I'm going to get her car.”

“Why do you want her car?” Mark asked perplexed.

“Both of the cars are in my name to keep the insurance cheaper, since someone has a problem with the speed limit. My car is paid off, and I don't give a shit what she does with it, but her car still has a loan on it. The car and the loan are in my name, and if she stops paying on it, it's me that will take the hit. I trust that she'll pay on it, but I'm not taking any chances with it. So, on the way out the door, I'm taking her car and she can have mine.”

“I know this is going to sound like a complete contradiction from what I said before, but just be cautious not to be too vindictive,” warned Mark.

“Do you think I am? I kind of feel like I’m being pretty fair,” said Jacob.

Mark replied, “No, I think you’re being extremely fair, but just keep it that way. Take it from someone who’s been there, this may get painful and hurtful for
you, and you might want to lash out and become cruel. But someday, this will all be over. When you look back, you’ll want to know that you were the bigger person, and you didn’t stoop to a lower level.”

“I hear you, and I think I am.”

Mark continued, “You’re the man in this situation, so don’t forget to always act like a man.”

Jacob thought about what Mark just said, and he replied, “You’re right. That’s why I came to you with this – I knew I could trust you to give the best advice.” Jacob smiled and changed the topic, “Now level off at thirty-seven thousand feet, and maintain a heading of zero eight six degrees at four hundred twenty knots.”

“Flight level three seven zero, heading zero eight six, and four two zero knots,” Mark replied as he adjusted the aircraft’s auto-pilot settings, and the two flew their passengers into the heavenly blue sky.

***

The following Monday night eventually arrived, but the days and nights until then were filled with awkwardness between Stephanie and Jacob. The silence in their home was deafening while neither said barely a word to the other. On Tuesday night, Stephanie broke their silence.

“Tomorrow is your overnight flight?” she asked from the living room.

Jacob, who was making a sandwich, replied, “Yeah, I'll be gone until Wednesday morning.”

“I'm going to stay over at Karen's tomorrow night. I don't feel like being alone in the house.”

Jacob, knowing this was all about to become very real, replied, “Okay, have fun.” The words were there, but the tear building in his eye showed he was reaching the limit of what he could endure.

Stephanie was curled up on the couch. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing black workout shorts and a tank top. With her phone in her right hand and the television remote in her left, she began a text message with Derrick.

“Guess who!”
she typed.

“My bad little princess?”
Derrick quickly responded.

“Care for some company tomorrow night?”
asked Stephanie.

“I do, but I'm in the mood to go out,”
said Derrick.

Stephanie asked,
“Dinner?”

“No,”
replied Derrick,
“Let's go have fun. My buddy's band is playing tomorrow night at a bar over by Boylston Street. I want to go check them out.”

“Okay, but only if you promise me we won't be out too late. I absolutely have to be at work on Wednesday, okay?”

Without a second thought, Derrick replied,
“Pinky promise! But I have a request of you...”

“Anything for my sexy man,”
said Stephanie.

“They’re an AC/DC cover band, and a lot of the people will dress up in school uniforms like the band did back in the eighties. I know a lot of girls go to their shows in schoolgirl outfits, and I'd love to have my own little schoolgirl there.”

“I have the perfect thing in my closet from Halloween,”
Stephanie told Derrick.
“This will be so much fun!”

***

The following morning, Stephanie packed her bag while Jacob slept. She dug through her closet until she found all the pieces of her outfit, and as she placed each item in her bag, she knew Derrick was going to love what he saw. Stephanie was uneasy about the idea of wearing a naughty schoolgirl outfit to a bar when it was nowhere near Halloween, but if Derrick was so willing to have that kind of fun with her, there was no way she was going to turn him down. Stephanie hadn't done anything like this in years.

Stephanie got to work and sat at her desk when she saw a post-it note stuck to her computer monitor: “My office the second you get in!”

The handwriting was unmistakably Bill Webber's, and Stephanie went to his office as the note instructed. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Bradford, this close, I'm this close,” Webber said as he made a motion with his thumb and index finger barely spread apart.

“This close to what?” Stephanie asked.

“This close to pulling you entirely off the Hutchinson case.
What the hell is going on with you?”

“Did I do something wrong, Bill?” Stephanie asked.

Webber opened a manila folder with the printouts of three emails. He held the printouts in his hand as he said, “Bradford, you were asked three times, three god damned times, to prepare the discovery files to send to Hutchinson's defense attorneys. They were due yesterday. So, is there any reason why I have a voicemail waiting for me this morning saying they never got them?”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!”
Stephanie exclaimed as fear rushed over her. “I forgot to send out the discovery files. I'll go do it right now.”

“Don't bother!” Webber declared. “I've got the interns working on it, and they're almost done. And I called the defense attorney and I made up some garbage about there being an error with arranging the courier. I'm getting tired of making excuses for you, Bradford.”

“I'm so sorry, Mr. Webber. I just have so much going...” Stephanie started to explain before she was interrupted.

“Stop, just stop.
It's been nothing but excuse after excuse over the past few months, and to be honest, I don't care what's going on in your personal life. I don't show up in your kitchen at nine o'clock at night, so don't bring your home life with you to work. One more time, Bradford, and I promise you, you'll be doing nothing but misdemeanors again.” Stephanie apologized again, until Webber replied, “No Bradford, I'm sorry I trusted you with this.”

Stephanie left Bill Webber's office and went to the conference room to join in the meeting which was set to begin at any moment. As she walked in, she could feel the gaze of everyone falling on her, and it was a feeling of being not wanted.

“Since Stephanie Bradford decided to show up, it looks like we can get started,” said Kevin, the attractive, young attorney who had taken over as the lead prosecutor on the Hutchinson case.

The room filled with the shock as Stephanie replied, “Fuck you, Kevin,” and walked out of the meeting.

Karen, who was also in the meeting, chased Stephanie into the hallway and asked, “Steph, what the hell? What are you doing?”

Stephanie stood in the hallway, wearing a silk white blouse under a black suit jacket, a black skirt with black heels. She answered, “I'm not listening to that. If no one wants me in there, that's fine, but he doesn't need to be an asshole about it. And you don't have to sit there and just watch
.”

“I don't have to sit there and watch? You want me to start fighting with my co-workers because you can't keep it together long enough to get through one case? Trust me, I understand this new-love thing you're going through, but it's no excuse to let your work go to shit. Whatever you do, is because you choose to do it, so don't go blaming that on me.” Karen paused and ended with, “It's your career, throw it away if you want.”

Stephanie walked away, and didn't go back to the meeting. Instead, she walked out of work all together. She clutched her purse in her left hand as her right hand feverishly texted Derrick, “
I need you to take my mind off of the world today
.”

She walked to her car, holding her phone and waiting for Derrick's response. She reached her car, and not hearing back yet, she thought
not today Derrick, please not today.

“
Taking your mind off the world is my specialty
,” Derrick replied as Stephanie was sitting in the driver's seat of her car. “
What were you in the mood for
?”

“
Anything to make me smile
,” she answered.

Stephanie met Derrick about an hour later at the entrance to the Franklin Park Zoo. She shouted, “This is the best idea ever,” as she wrapped her arms around him.

Stephanie looked oddly out of place, walking through the zoo in her business attire, but she didn't care. In fact, she didn't have a care in the world while her hand was in Derrick's and the two walked together talking about Stephanie's worries.

They stopped in front of the orangutan exhibit, and they watched the apes play. A large male sat behind a younger female, grooming her burnt red hair, and picking bugs from her. The male groomed and petted the female, and Stephanie said, “They're just amazing. They're so much like us, but their lives are so much simpler.”

“They live in a glass cage,” Derrick sarcastically replied. “How much more simple can you get?”

“Look at them, they're just so happy. Why do our lives need to be so complicated?”

He answered, “Because we choose to make them complicated. People are never happy with what they have – we always want more and more. In some ways, it's good. It keeps us moving forward and makes us want to improve our lives. We just need to learn when to stop and realize when we have enough.” He gently squeezed Stephanie’s hand and said, “We need to realize when we have what we really need to make us happy.”

“Are you falling in love with me, Derrick?”

Derrick stared Stephanie directly in her beautiful brown eyes as he replied, “I'm trying not to. God knows, I'm trying not to. But yes, more and more every day.”