Chapter 22 The Lingering Goodbye

I had been shocked at Conor's offer to kill David and had immediately turned it down with a nervous chuckle. He let the subject drop, but it weighed on my mind over the next couple of weeks, as I tried to carry on as if my life hadn't been turned upside down.I continued staying in Chicago to support my mother for several days at a time, then would go home for a day or two, mainly to keep an eye on things there.

The videos were sent to my phone any time David was in the office at the house. I got to watch in real-time as he fucked Vanessa over the desk, or she sucked him off.I got to listen to them both referring to me as "the bitch".I got to watch Vanessa waltz in like she owned the place, wearing my robe, and heard them talking about his plan to divorce me as if it were no more life-changing than trading in a car.

I had to endure the indignity of getting checked for STIs.I had to nervously wait for the results - which were clean, thank God - only to be told I should be checked again in three months to be safe, since David had multiple partners, some of whom were paid escorts.

Conor had suggested I see the doctor that the Family used. Everything was done off the record, so there would be no insurance trail that David could find that would clue him in to the fact that I was on to his lies.I was just happy that I didn't have to explain David's cheating to my own doctor, who had treated me for years and had taken care of me after my miscarriage.That would have been the ultimate humiliation.

The same doctor tested me to see if I had traces of the sleeping pills in my system.I wasn't sure how recently he had drugged me, but nothing showed up in my bloodwork. I was glad to hear that there shouldn't be any lasting effects of the medication itself.

On my short visits home, I always found very obvious signs that Vanessa had been there.She clearly wanted the affair to be discovered, and David either didn't care enough to cover his tracks, or thought I was too stupid to figure it out on my own.

Despite what he told Vanessa, I didn't think he was actually planning to divorce me.He had too much to lose, and she wasn't smart enough to realize he was just stringing her along. His comment to Scott that she was the "greasy burger" to my filet mignon was proof enough that he didn't truly care about her.

I smelled her perfume on the sheets, so I "accidently" fell asleep on the couch every night that I was home. Things were missing or moved around in my closet, my drawers had been rifled through, and my sexiest lingerie was missing.I assume she threw it out.We were completely different sizes and body types, so it wouldn't have fit her if she'd been disgusting enough to try to wear it.I found a pair of her ripped panties under my side of the bed, and another in the laundry hamper.She left a bottle of her moisturizer in one of the drawers in the bathroom vanity.

There were condom wrappers in the bottom of the waste basket. David hadn't used a condom with me since about six months into our relationship.I was grateful that he was at least being careful with his affairs.I took photographs of all of it, so I would have more than enough documentation to throw at him when I filed for divorce, which I planned to do just as soon as Mom was back on her feet.

And then, Mom fell again.She tried to get out of bed during the night at the nursing facility.She fell, striking her head on the corner of the metal safety rail on the bed frame, and then again on the hard tile floor.She was rushed to the hospital, where she lapsed into a coma from the resulting brain bleed.She died two days later.

As with my miscarriage, David had been unreachable that evening when I'd called to tell him. Each call went to voicemail.Each text remained unanswered.As awful as I knew he was by then, I still tried to turn to him for comfort.After all, he loved my mother and had always appreciated the fact that she treated him like a son. But, he was in Louisville with Vanessa, and he couldn't be bothered to check his phone.He had told me the next morning that he'd taken one of his sleeping pills and it had knocked him out.I barely acknowledged the blatant lie.

He had made it to Chicago the morning of the funeral, not able to tear himself away from the project - and presumably Vanessa - any earlier than that.Luckily, Sherry had been there to support me while I'd made the arrangements.I was surprised to see my Uncle Pat slip in the back door of the funeral home shortly before the services started.I hadn't seen him since he'd visited me in the hospital after the car accident when I was young. Conor and my other cousin Kieran were with him.Liam had arrived on his own a little earlier.

I didn't bother introducing David to them.He had no idea they existed, after all.Conor and Liam spent most of the time glaring daggers at him from across the room. David had never even noticed.He was too busy texting on his phone or trying too hard to play the role of the caring, solicitous husband. I barely restrained myself from screaming at him to get the fuck away from me.

After the service, David slipped away to the restroom, and Chris and Sherry were gathering up the photos of Mom that I'd brought in for the visitation.Uncle Pat and Conor took the opportunity to approach me.My uncle hugged me and told me that Conor had filled him in on my "feckin' gobshite husband".I smiled at the thick brogue that only slipped out when he was agitated about something.Conor leaned over and whispered, "The offer still stands. Just say the word, girlie."

I smiled, and declined his offer again, telling him that I thought divorcing him would be enough.Uncle Pat just nodded and told me to call him if I needed anything at all.He made me memorize his number, which I found a little silly but did anyway.

I went back home to Indianapolis, and Liam and Conor continued to track David's activities for the next few weeks.Liam discovered that Scott and Vanessa had been texting one another and had progressed to "joking" about killing me, and making "hypothetical" plans for how to go about it. I was horrified that David's web of lies had led to this - his brother and his mistress thinking that my death was something to laugh about.

Three weeks after I returned home, I finally felt strong enough to file for divorce. I had evidence against David, Scott, and Vanessa for the mortgage and bank fraud, the drugs and gambling, plus the embezzlement from the firm.I wanted to turn it all over to the police as soon as I left the attorney's office. I had planned to call my attorney to file the next day, and I talked it over with Conor the night before. He encouraged me to reconsider a harsher punishment for David at least.

"Look, girlie, I'm gonna give it to you straight.Yeah, it pisses me off that the piece of shit thinks he can get away with fuckin' over a Flanagan.But that's not why I want you to give this some thought.Say you turn him in to the cops.You give them the evidence we got for you. But how can you be sure the charges will stick?" he asked.

"We've got a lot of evidence, Con," I reminded him.

"But what if some of it gets thrown out, or they get good lawyers to convince the jury there's reasonable doubt? It only takes one bleeding-heart schmuck on the jury, and you're screwed.You've got the videos, but they ain't as solid as you would think," he warned.

"I talked to our lawyer. He knows all the tricks to gettin' guys off, believe me.He said there ain't no corroborating evidence, and their lawyers are gonna point that out.David's gonna spin some bullshit about lying to his brother, saying somethin' like he was drugging you to make himself look like a tough guy when he really wasn't. You don't have any proof he gave you the pills, 'cuz Doc said it wasn't in your bloodwork.Unless they catch David or his jackass brother with the coke or the other stuff, they can't charge 'em with that either just based on the video.There's no proof what was really in those baggies, and they sure as hell ain't gonna admit it in court.They got your signature on the mortgage applications and the deed to the condo, and video of you signing it.It ain't like you can tell you're spaced outta your gourd on pills in the damn thing either.You look OK, maybe a little sleepy."He stopped and heaved a sigh.

"Bottom line is, Lila girl, if they gotta good lawyer, the cops won't have much that'll stick. They got the mortgage fraud for the Maui condo, maybe, and then the embezzlement and false invoice scam.That won't amount to much time in the cage, especially for that fucker you're married to since he ain't been arrested before.Our guy thinks he'll get off with a nickel, maybe a dime if you're lucky. With good behavior, they'll be out in half that time."

"Nickel and dime?" I assumed the cage he mentioned referred to a prison cell, but I was lost on those two.

"You're not much of a Flanagan, are ya?" Conor teased. "Nickel and dime. That's five and ten years," he explained.

"Sorry, I'm not up on my prison slang," I retorted.

"Look, you gotta live with it, whether they get off with a slap on the fuckin' wrist, or we fuck 'em over for ya. Whatever you want, girlie. You just let me know."

I thanked him but told him that I still planned to file for divorce the next day and let the police handle the rest.That night, I dreamed of the baby I'd lost.In my dream, David, Scott and Vanessa stood outside my hospital room, taunting me and telling me I should have died, too.

I woke up before dawn, with tears streaming down my face, and sat huddled on the couch until the sun came up. I replayed Conor's advice in my head, trying to ignore his warnings and do the right thing.

That resolution lasted until mid-morning, when I got out of the shower to find a new video had popped in on the burner phone.Scott had apparently arrived while I was in the shower, and he and David were casually chatting about stealing my mother's inheritance, then David complained that I had the nerve to still be depressed and rebuffed his advances.

He talked about cheating on Vanessa with some other slut, since Vanessa was out of town, and I wasn't "putting out".It hadn't stopped him from trying, repeatedly though.He tried to grope me if I got within two feet of him and was angry that I kept falling asleep on the couch.

As I watched the video, it was like watching a stranger - a crude, cocky sonofabitch who I'd never met before in my life.There were no traces of my David left, and I snapped. I pulled out the burner phone, and I made a call that would end his life and change mine irrevocably.The truly sad part was, I was OK with that.David had ceased to be a decent human being, and apparently, so had I.

Liam agreed to handle the dirty work.Volunteered, actually. He spent the next two weeks devising what he assured me was a foolproof plan."I'm an expert at this, Princess. You need to trust me," he told me repeatedly.

I got through those two weeks on autopilot.I made my mental to-do list and reviewed it ad nauseum.My anxiety was under control if I had a solid plan, and Liam's plan certainly seemed solid.He had covered every contingency.At his suggestion, I had invited Sherry on an all-day shopping trip so that I had a rock-solid alibi. Iwanted to invite Vanessa to join us, which Liam informed me was a truly diabolical twist of the knife.

"Now you're thinking like a Flanagan," he praised me.

David went out on his boat most every Saturday in nice weather, and this Saturday would be no exception. He almost made it too easy.I had suggested the lake as the scene for his "accident", after re-watching the videos and hearing David brag to Scott that I thought he walked on water.

Friday evening, he went to bed in a huff because he wanted sex, and I turned him down.I got up early the next morning to pack him a lunch, using the excuse that I wanted to make up for our fight the night before.In reality, I needed to help establish his time of death in case his body wasn't found right away.If the packed cooler was still in the boat, the police would assume he had "fallen" into the water when leaving that morning, rather than returning that evening.David had thrown a small hitch in the plan when he overslept a little. I had to roust him out of bed so that I could stick to my timetable.

I walked him down to the dock, still pretending to be the loving wife trying to make up with her husband.I handed him the cooler and watched as leaned over to set it in the boat.He turned to me with a smirk, clearly amused that I was following him around like a lost puppy that morning.He was so sure that he had his poor stupid little wife wrapped around his finger.I relished the shock that spread across his face when he realized that he was so very, very wrong.

He pulled me in for a hug and I returned it briefly, before reminding myself that this wasn't my David.I stepped back and tilted my head slightly as I stared into his eyes. I smiled, and said softly, "I know about Vanessa, David.I know that you've been having an affair."

He jerked back a little, his eyes widening in surprise, before he faked a look of concerned confusion.

"What are you talking about?Why on earth would you think I'm having an affair, baby?You know I love you." He tried to pull me into his arms again, and I took another step back, holding up my hand to ward him off.

"Stop lying, David, just stop."

He took another step toward me, and I backed up again in some strange sort of dance.

"Vanessa is just someone I work with.I know you've not been yourself lately, but this is ridiculous, baby. I would never cheat on you.You know that," he told me, condescension dripping from his tone.

"Stop," I told him, shaking my head. "I know about Vanessa, I know about the mortgages, and the condo, and all of the other women.I know about Scott, and the drugs, and the gambling.I know about the embezzlement. I know about the sleeping pills and the gaslighting.I know where you were when I lost our baby and almost died.I know where you were when my mother died.I've seen the videos, David.I know it all."

I spoke slowly and deliberately, keeping my voice calm and my tone light as I recounted his sins.

He froze, his entire body stiffening and every bit of color leeching from his face.His eyes widened and his jaw worked, as he tried desperately to formulate some kind of a response.

"Do you know how it feels to drown in lies? Do you know how it feels to drown in betrayal?" I asked as he just stared at me.

"No, you don't," I answered for him, "but you will."

"Each lie will make your lungs burn as you try to gasp for air, feeling desperate for one last breath. Each betrayal will make your chest heavy, your heart weighted down with dread and fear until you think it will burst out of your chest."I paused, eyeing him as he dropped his head down in defeat.

"But don't worry, your pain won't last nearly as long as mine has."He raised his head to look at me with a faint sliver of hope that I would let him off the hook.I chuckled bitterly. "My only regret is that I won't be able to watch...but he will."

I nodded my head toward Liam, who had approached the dock without David noticing.David turned, his body jerking when he caught sight of the gun in Liam's hand. I merely smiled as I said, "It's all right though.Liam has promised to describe every horror you go through in vivid detail the next time I see him."

David sputtered out a plea for his life. "Don't do this Lila.God, baby, I'm so sorry.Please, you can't do this.I love you, please, don't-"

I interrupted his begging, unable to stomach any more of it."Goodbye, David, I'll see you in Hell."