Bloody Trick Pt. 01

Mark then called the tip line set up by his local police force and identified himself. There was a pause when the operator decided to believe him. He was placed on hold and then a few minutes later a detective answered the phone.

"This is police detective Mike Rawlins. I need you to understand that this conversation is being recorded and the call is being traced per department policy. Now, how may I help you?"

"Detective Rawlins, this is Mark Wallace. I believe you are looking for me in conjunction with an incident at my home. I just want to assure you and the District Attorney that I am well and uninjured. I set up the whole scenario involving my wife, her lover and boss, and our family and friends to let them all know that I knew about Willa's affair. I understood that the police would most likely be called in but I did not believe that charges would be filed before I returned to set the whole situation straight. I never intended for anyone to be embarrassed except Willa and Dale."

The good detective then questioned Mark extensively to determine whether this was the real Mark Wallace and not an imposter. The poser list stood at twenty-five right now. A murder case always brought out the strange and unhappy who would do almost anything for their fifteen minutes of fame, even risk jail or prison time. These poor people who confessed to crimes took up much of the police's time as all leads had to be investigated. Rawlins told Mark this after he was convinced he was talking to the real Mark Wallace.

"Mr. Wallace, we need you to come in. We need to discuss this whole episode. As soon as I can I will let the D.A.'s office know that you are indeed alive and well. Are you or have you been in any danger?"

Mark shook his head even though he knew Detective Rawlins couldn't see his move. "No, Detective, I am not in any danger and I am not being coerced. I left town a few days after starting this whole shebang. I didn't include anyone in my plans. Partly this was to keep the whole thing secret until I was ready to pull the trigger, so to speak, and also to keep anyone else from being implicated in case I did break a law or two. I have also not contacted an attorney except to change my will before all this happened and to keep my wife from destroying my business by keeping it out of her clutches."

Mark assumed that the local police would have been alerted to his presence in their town by Detective Rawlins. He fully understood that all cell phones can be tracked by the 911 system. He, thus, was walking down the street and continuously moving as he talked. A local bus stopped at the corner so he jumped on and paid the money to the driver. He didn't really care where he went right now. He could always get back to the bus depot and head back to his rented cabin.

Just as he did so a police patrol car drove past and he could see the officer craning his neck to check out anyone who would match Mark's description and using a phone.

"Detective, I know that you have tracked this cell phone and that the local P.D. is now searching for me. I will not resist arrest if they catch up to me but I have no intention of coming in right now. I have let you know that I am not missing or dead. I know that the D.A. will have some embarrassment but I assume he is tactful and astute enough to turn this situation to his advantage without looking too foolish. The average citizen will realize he was just following the evidence and had the public's best interest at heart. I am taking out the battery now and I will contact you again soon."

Before Detective Rawlins could interject any comment Mark hit "End" and immediately pulled the back off the phone and pulled the battery out. No signal could now be sent. He looked out the back of the bus as it turned a corner and watched a patrol car go on down the street and not follow the bus. Mark got off at the next stop and enquired about which bus to take back to the depot. He was soon back on the ride back to his cabin.

After getting back to the cabin, Mark took a chance and put the battery back into the phone. He didn't believe the police could track it when the phone moved from city to city between uses. He called his attorney and soon was giving him the whole story of what he had done. His attorney wasn't happy. "Mark, you could be charged with a multiple of crimes starting with conspiracy. You admitted that you knew the police would get involved and you intended the Willa and Dale would be accused. The D.A. might even try to get you for filing a false police report as you knew the police would be involved in this. You have now alienated every friend and relative who believes that you have been murdered. Willa might even go after me since you just changed your will and the succession order at your business. How do I prove I had no knowledge of what you were planning and did?"

The attorney went on for a bit before finally getting control again. "So, now what do you want to do?"

Mark knew his old friend would not be happy with him so he had not tried to stop his diatribe or even correct him on some false thoughts that he had. "Right at the moment I suppose I need representation with the D.A.'s office. I am sure that Detective Rawlins will get him involved immediately before the man can call another press conference about the grand jury."

He stopped and let the attorney acknowledge that. "Then I would like you, or someone who specializes in divorce law, to file for divorce from Willa. I have not had any contact with her or any of our friends or family but I would imagine she has been ostracized since this all went down. This was my intended outcome all along. I wanted her to figuratively wear the "Scarlet Letter-A" and have the entire community against her and that shit head, Dale Timmons. When the time is right, and I will leave that up to you, I want Dale served with alienation of affection papers. I don't know if he has a non-fraternization policy but he needs to pay for fucking my wife."

Mark paused and thought as his attorney jotted down some thoughts. "I guess I might also need someone to fade the heat for me when I come back. I don't think I could face reporters right now. I am sure they would ask very embarrassing questions, questions I have no intention of answering about the whole thing, the affair, the party, what I did, who I set up, the whole thing."

His attorney agreed and they set up a way for Mark to remain in contact just in case the D.A. went after a wire tap on the attorney's phone system. Mark hung up and then called Kellie Parsons, his chief operations officer or COO.

"Kellie, this is Mark." Kellie promptly hung up. He called again using the switchboard and, after identifying himself, had the phone transferred to Kellie's office but asked the receptionist to listen in and reconnect him if she hung up on him again.

It was a minute or so before Kellie picked up the phone. Mark assumed that the receptionist, a long time employee, advised Kellie to listen to Mark this time as he knew the policies involving phone conversations.

"This is Kellie Parsons. How may I help you?"

"Kellie, don't hang up on me again. I would hate to have to find someone to replace you. This is Mark."

"How do I know it's you?"

Mark chuckled. "My little experiment in framing someone has worked all too well. I understand why you are skeptical as it does look like I died in my bed and someone absconded with my body. I do assure you, though, that I am alive and well."

Kellie went through the twenty question thing to reassure herself that this was actually her boss and friend. When she was assured he was alive and talking to her then she had other questions. "When are you coming back? I am assuming you are not here in the city. Have you contacted Willa yet?"

Mark got serious. "Let me answer your questions one at a time. First, I don't know when I will be coming back home. My attorney is talking to the D.A. since I may have fractured a law or two with my stunt. Hopefully they can negotiate an end to this that doesn't need me to serve jail time. Second, I have no intention of talking to my wife in the near future. She has been carrying on with that dipstick for too long. She has just been using me for a place to sleep and pay her bills while carrying on with Dale."

Kellie gave a surprising response. "I wish you would talk with her. Yes, I agree she was doing something extremely disrespectful to you and your marriage but the thought that you might be dead has shook her to the core. I won't say that she loves you but she does hold you in high regard. She has been calling here almost daily. At first I thought that she was trying to take over the company and I was loathe to talk with her.

When I did talk to her I found out that her whole family has disowned her for all of her peccadilloes and the accusation that she might have murdered you. She has no one to talk to. She has been devastated with worry about you. When the evidence came out that you knew about her affair she told me that she could see how anyone would believe she had something to do with your disappearance. On top of that the D.A. announced yesterday that Dale was in financial trouble. She immediately contacted me about that and wondered if Dale had you done away with and was setting her up for the fall."

"I guess I can understand her position. I actually only wanted to publically humiliate her for what she has done to me and to us. Here we struggled to get the business off the ground and become profitable so that then we could start our family. Recently she wouldn't even talk about children any more. We had picked out names. We bought the house in anticipation of filling the bedrooms with kids. We had a plan. She decided on her own that she was more important than us. Some of the comments that were provided to me in the transcripts and the recordings showed that she doesn't love or respect me. I am wasting my time in this relationship and I was getting depressed knowing I might not get to be a father until I find someone else and I might be getting too old to enjoy being a dad. She had to pay."

He paused to catch his breath and calm down. He was becoming angry. "I know this wasn't the best idea to get this out into the public but I was becoming angry at how she was treating our marriage and the possibility of how she could destroy everything we worked on if we divorced. At least this way I might lose everything but she will still carry the stigma of what she did to us."

He paused again. "Hell, with the way the media plays all of this, she will always be the woman who might have done in her husband. The news reports after I return from the dead will not be as salacious as the ones when I disappeared. Many people will completely discount the fact that I am still alive and keep thinking she is a murderous bitch."

They switched gears and Kellie brought Mark up to speed on the business. The huge warehouse was still being constructed. Kellie didn't say anything about whether the blood spilled at the site had gotten any attention except the fact that the police had called in some very powerful ground radar instruments and had scanned all the footings along with other construction sites looking for his body. Cash flow was fine. Willa had only tapped one account to set up her attorney. There was no other cash outflow that was unanticipated.

When Mark felt he was fully caught up he promised Kellie he would contact Willa and let her know he was alive. She provided him with an alternate number since Willa's phones, both landline and cell, were jammed with people either condemning her, praising her (yes, some people actually believe she did a good thing), or news media trying to get a scoop on everyone else. Willa was also in hiding somewhere in the city. She had to promise the D.A. she would not attempt to leave town for any reason.

Dale was also in hiding. He was getting mostly death threats. His business was tanking. Many of his customers were cancelling orders or putting them on hold until his personal problems could be addressed. Gretchen had filed for divorce immediately after the first news story broke. She apparently was fed up with his philandering ways and was not going to stand by her man as he was accused of killing her lover's husband. She even put a restraining order on him. Mark was happy to hear that news.

Mark had to charge his cheap cell phone after the long conversation with Kellie. The call to Willa would have to wait until after lunch. He left his phone and walked down to the restaurant overlooking the marina and ate.

Getting back to his cabin he found his phone was fully charged so he started to dial Willa but stopped. She probably wouldn't answer a call from a strange number. He dug out his personal phone and put the battery back in and then dialed her new number. She would be able to see by her caller ID who it was.

Willa answered on the third ring. She was hesitant. Mark had thought to twist the knife so to speak by starting out speaking in a ghostly voice but decided Willa had probably suffered enough. "Willa, this is Mark." He paused for her reaction.

It was very quiet for a long time. Mark finally broke the silence. "Willa, are you there? This is Mark. I am alive and unharmed."

She started to bawl. It wasn't even just crying. It sounded like a full out complete breakdown. Mark tried a couple of times to talk but it was obvious that she was not hearing anything right at the moment. He held his tongue until she started to get back into control. Finally through her hiccups, slobbering, and hoarse throat from the crying she managed to ask, "Mark, is this really you? You sound like him but so did some of the others. How can I be sure?"

Mark reminded her of the first time they got caught in the rain during a date. They had been in the middle of a tryst when the deluge had started. Of course they had never talked about the incident with anyone else.

"Oh, Mark, it is you."

"You said something about others sounding like me. What happened?"

"Over the last week I would get some phone calls. Some even came from your cell phone number and a couple of them came from the house phone number. I suppose a hacker stole the numbers. Each time a ghostly voice that vaguely sounded like you would accuse me of murder. It was driving me crazy. The only reason I answered this time was because Kellie called me a few minutes ago and told me you were alive and going to call me."

She gulped and then must have put down the phone to blow her nose and dry her eyes. When she picked the phone back up she continued. "I was shocked when she called. With all the evidence I was starting to believe you had been killed and then your body hidden. I even accused Dale of that. The only thing I knew was that I was innocent."

Before Mark could retort she continued. "I don't know whether I should be relieved that you are alive or be mad at you for what you have done to me and to us. I want to hug you and shake you at the same time. If I yell at you it is just because I was so worried about you and scared you were dead. At the same time I want to know why you did this. Why, Mark? Have I treated you that badly?"

Mark knew this conversation was going to go downhill quickly. He had to get his dig in and then he could hang up. "First, Willa, you were fucking Dale, your boss. Second, you wouldn't contemplate having any children. Third, our sex life was in the toilet. Fourth, you seemed to just be using our house as a place to sleep and stay out of the elements while carrying on your work and your affair. You didn't seem to give a damn about anything we had ever planned. You wouldn't confide in me anymore. The only thing you were interested in was how the business was doing so you wouldn't have to worry about money. I bet you even came back to our house that night with a load or two of Dale's sperm violating your pussy and your ass. Yes, I know that you gave him full access to your ass and never would allow me to even touch you there."

She started to object but Mark hung up and shut off the phone. He then pulled the battery again and put the phone in his duffle bag.

Mark was now exhausted. His bones even ached. He supposed that he had been tense this whole day. First the trip to the city, then the phone call to Detective Rawlins. After that the cat and mouse game with the local cops and then the trip back here. The phone calls after getting back to his cabin just put paid to his whole day. He decided on a nap.

When he woke it was dark. He walked to the restaurant and had a light meal. As he ate he tried to decide what he should do in the near future. He was getting bored here. Fishing was okay for a short time but he couldn't just hang out here forever. It was time to move on.

After he walked back to the cabin he turned on the TV. He had never been much of a television watcher but had always enjoyed sports and news channels. He checked the local news to see if the D.A. had announced that Mark was alive but there was no mention of the case today. Mark figured that the politician was still trying to decide how to spin the fact that Mark had hoodwinked them all without the D.A. looking the fool.

He searched the guide for some kind of show to watch and settled on an old rerun of The Fugitive. He figured he might get an idea of what to do since the show was about a convicted murderer who moved from place to place trying to clear his name at the same time trying to keep from being caught.

Should he do the same? He still had the bulk of the $10,000 in cash with him. Unlike the 1960's, when the show had first aired, he would have access to the internet, his credit cards, and, as he banked at a large national bank, he would have access to his money anywhere. He would have contact with his attorney from virtually anywhere. The same with Kellie, she could contact him at anytime. She was a good business person and he could count on her keeping the operation running. Any new contracts could be handled via Fed-Ex if necessary and he could fly in and meet with a prospective client and then fly out again without the police knowing about it.

In the morning he went online and started to plan his extended vacation. He decided on the east coast first of all. That was where a lot of the nation's history was concentrated. He had always wanted to explore Boston and Baltimore as well as Washington D.C. Hell, he could probably spend a month in the Smithsonian alone.

By the afternoon he was ready to leave. He gave his rod and reel to a youngster who had been hanging around the pier. The urchin looked sad and hungry and professed a real love for fishing but couldn't afford the gear. Mark gave him everything that he had. The boy was ecstatic.

Mark then went and bought a bus ticket. He planned to use the bus to get to the nearest city with an international airport. From there he could fly anywhere.

Here you go. Some might feel this is a good ending, some might want more. I am also posting the end that I envisioned for any one not bored too much by this point. Like other stories I will permit a different ending as long as any writer attempts to stay true to the characters I have outlined. So feel free to submit a continuation or a different ending.