DC&H: Kathy's Fall

"You're right, I stopped taking my pills," I said. "I was planning to let you get me pregnant and then surprise you. I know how much you wanted to start a family so I thought it would be nice surprise when I told you about it."

"That plan would only have worked if you and I had been having sex but the last time we made love was the day before you stopped taking your pills," he said.

"It's just that I was so upset about what Mr. Bartlett and Jack wanted me to do that I wasn't in the mood to have sex during that time," I replied.

"Were you aware that last night was the most fertile night of your cycle?" he asked.

How did he know about that? It wasn't true, I had only put that on my calendar to fool Jack. There was no way for me to explain this to Fred.

"No. I wasn't aware of that. I had too many other things on my mind to be thinking about that, I said.

"It just strikes me as odd that you were planning on having sex with Benson last night, which happens to be in the middle of your menstrual cycle and it never occurred to you to insist that a condom be used, but it did occur to Jack to require it," he said.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked. "That I knew I was fertile and was willing to take a chance that I would get pregnant? I would never do that."

"One more question Kathy," Fred said. "How long have you been fucking that rat bastard Hanson?"

"What?" He knows everything. How could he?

"No more lies. I know that you were keeping track of you menstrual cycle and had marked last night on your day planner as the day. I know that Hanson demanded that Benson would have to wear a condom and since I wasn't fucking you the only one left is Hanson. He wanted to get you pregnant, didn't he?"

I started crying and couldn't find any words that would explain my behavior.

Fred said, "It was Hanson that wanted your pussy shaved, not Benson, and you did that for him in spite of me telling you not to do it. That shows me that he has more influence over you than I do. Lest you think I am just making wild guesses about this stuff, last night when I came home from work I came to the front door and looked in. I saw you standing naked in the living room and I saw Hanson playing with your ass and then he kissed your stomach the way a man often kisses the stomach of the women that is carrying his baby or in this case, will be carrying it.

"Did you think I would be so stupid that you could have his baby and make me think it was mine? Or were you planning to leave me all along? You spent last night with him didn't you?"

I couldn't respond to his questions. I couldn't form the words to defend myself. I could have told Fred that I didn't spend the night with Jack but what difference would that make? He saw me naked with Jack in our house.

Fred left the room for a few minutes and when he came back he was carrying his suitcases. I jumped out of my chair and ran to him.

"Please don't leave me. I love you. I don't love Jack. I told you he black mailed me. I had no choice but to do what he asked," I pleaded.

"Why didn't you just continue taking your birth control pills and lie about it to Jack? You certainly didn't have any problems lying to me. I think I would have to believe what you told that rat bastard more than anything you have told me lately," he said. "I forgot to tell you, last night when I was watching you and that asshole I heard you say, "I love you," to him. So where does that leave me?"

"I don't love him. If I am pregnant I will have an abortion. I love you. Please, you have to believe me," I said.

I don't know why I said that. I was sure that Jack could not have gotten me pregnant but I was saying anything that popped into my head trying to stop Fred from leaving.

"No, I don't. As for the baby, don't abort it on my account."

I collapsed on the floor and remained there for more than an hour. When I finally forced myself to get up I went to bed and slept until ten o'clock Sunday morning.

I spent a lot of time Sunday crying. Fred was gone and I knew there was nothing I could tell him that would bring him back. The complete truth would make him hate me even more and I knew telling Fred more lies was not the answer either.

It wasn't until Sunday evening that I began to seriously think about what I was going to do. I had thought about calling in sick Monday to avoid having to face my work associates. I changed my mind. I decide to go in and tell people that Fred and I had fought Friday before the party and that he got drunk and said all those things to hurt me. Then I would talk to Jack and see where I stood with him. My hope was that Jack would find a way to salvage the National deal and that he wouldn't blame me for what happened Friday night. Jack said he loved me so I would have to play on that.

Monday morning I went into the office determined to act as it nothing was wrong but things were wrong, very wrong. No one would talk to me. Most people would not even look at me and I caught a few people whispering about me behind my back.

When I got to my office I closed the door and sat at my desk with my head in my hands. Had Fred's scene at the party turned everyone against me? I wondered how I would ever begin to win back the respect of the other employees if they believed what Fred told them in his little speech.

I waited until ten o'clock that morning before I called Jack's office. His secretary informed me that Jack had gone over to Mr. Benson's hotel for a meeting. This was the first good news I had heard in quite a while. If Jack was meeting with Mr. Benson that meant the deal was still alive. I just hoped that Jack would still take me with him. I would at least have a career. As soon as that thought came to me I was filled with self-loathing. That was the kind of thinking that cost me my marriage. It was at that moment I realized that I had to make some changes in my life but I didn't know what they would be yet.

At two o'clock that afternoon I got a call from the receptionist in the lobby. She told me that William Jefferson and Veronica Peters from the FBI wanted me to come down and talk to them.

I didn't like this turn of events. I assumed that they wanted to talk to me about my whistle blowing on the CEO and President of DC&H. All my previous conversations about that had been over the phone and I had Jack available to help me with my answers. Being face to face with the FBI was more than I thought I could handle.

As I left my office, Mimi Sanders approached me. I was hoping that she would speak to me but afterwards I wished she hadn't.

"Did you really think you could fuck your way to the top? I guess if you have Mr. Hanson's baby you'll be the next president of the company," Mimi said and walked away.

I was too stunned to respond to her comment. When I looked around I realized that several people had heard what Mimi said and they were all looking at me like I was road kill.

I moved quickly to the elevators and pressed the down button several times in hopes that would speed the elevator to the fourth floor. I was desperate to get away from the unfriendly faces that now watched me. When the elevator finally arrived I hid in the corner until the door closed, hoping no one else would get on with me.

When I got to the lobby the receptionist pointed out the two FBI agents and I went over and introduced myself to them. Both agents stood up. Agent Peters stood in front of me and Agent Jefferson stood behind me. Agent Peters was the first to speak.

"Mrs. Alpin, we would like you to accompany us to our offices. We have some questions we would like you to answer," she said.

Now I was scared. "Am I under arrest?" I asked.

"No," Agent Peters said. "We just need your help to clear up some questions we have."

"Can you tell me what this is about?" I asked.

"We would rather wait to discuss this at our offices," Agent Peters said.

I knew that I had the right to refuse to go with them. After all they said I was not under arrest and they didn't show me any kind of warrant but I somehow knew I really didn't have a choice. I was going to have to go with them.

Agent Jefferson drove and Agent Peters sat in the back seat with me but there was no conversation. I was in such a panicked state that I was barely conscious of the trip to the FBI offices in downtown Indianapolis. When we got to their building the two agents led me to the elevator and Agent Jefferson pushed the button for the seventh floor. On the ride up I hoped that one of the agents would say something to reassure me that I was not in some kind of trouble but neither of them spoke.

On the seventh floor I was led to a small windowless room and I was asked to take a seat. Agents Peters and Jefferson left me there alone. I was quickly getting the impression that this was not going to be a friendly interview. I sat alone in the room for ten minutes with my fear building by the second.

Finally the door opened and Agent Peters came in and with her was Mr. Benson. I was stunned. What the hell was he doing there?

"Hello, Mrs. Alpin," he said.

"Hello, Mr. Benson."

"Actually it's Special Agent Mark Walker," he said.

My heart began to pound so hard I thought I was going to pass out. "Oh God. What is going on?" I cried.

"Relax, Mrs. Alpin," he said. "We aren't after you."

"I don't understand. What is going on?" I asked.

"Let me explain," Special Agent Walker said. "When you contacted the SEC with concerns about activities involving Mr. Ward, the CEO, and Mr. Salter, the President of DC&H, they got very interested and brought the FBI into the investigation. We quickly learned that the charges you were making against Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter were accurate and we started building a case against them that we could take to the grand jury.

"During the investigation there was one thing that bothered us. How was it that the manager of the accounting department in Indianapolis could have so much information about the activities of Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter? We checked you out and found that you had never worked in the New York office and had never met either Mr. Ward or Mr. Salter.

"It was about that time that the real Mr. Benson contacted the Indianapolis FBI office and said that he had some concerns about the way DC&H was conducting business here. That's when we found out that Mr. Hanson had moved down here and that he was running the National Pharmaceutical deal. We knew that he had worked closely with Ward and Salter in New York and our investigation showed us that he was spending a lot of time with you."

I thought to myself, "Jesus, does everyone know that I was fucking Jack?"

"When we saw the pattern that was starting to develop we decided to perform a sting operation here. When Mr. Hanson offered you as a gift to secure my signature on the contract I had almost enough evidence on him but then your husband interfered and blew our plans for Friday night. Luckily for us your friend Hanson wouldn't let go of the deal that easily. He called me Saturday and offered me a big kick back if I would still sign the contract. This morning Mr. Hanson came to my hotel room and handed me $100,000.00 and I put him in hand cuffs," Agent Walker said.

"I had nothing to do with this deal. I didn't know that Jack offered me as a gift to you until after he had already done it. As for my blowing the whistle on Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter, I only did what Jack told me to do. I didn't think I was breaking any laws. I knew that what Jack wanted me to do with you was wrong but he promised that he would take care of me if I did it," I said.

"How was he going to take care of you?"

"He promised that when he became the Company President or CEO, which ever he could mange to get, he was going to make me a Vice President and I would get a big bonus," I said.

"Did you ever consider that he might be lying to you?"

"No. I never thought he would do that. Are you saying that he was lying?"

"No. I only wondered if you had ever considered the possibility," he said.

"Am I in a lot of trouble?" I asked.

"Well, you may have lost your marriage, you will certainly lose your job, and after Friday nights spectacle you have probably lost the respect of the people you worked with, don't you think that is a lot of trouble?" he asked in return.

"I mean am I in trouble with the FBI?"

"No. We have the people we want. We just need you to fill in some of the blanks. I need you to explain how you got involved with Mr. Hanson and tell me everything he wanted you to do for him."

I spent the next three hours telling Agents Peters and Walker about my sordid relationship with Jack and how he had coached me when I contacted the SEC to blow the whistle on Mr. Ward and Mr. Salter. I told them all about Jack insisting that I would have to have sex with Mr. Benson to save the deal. Thankfully they didn't make me go into detail about Jack making me shave myself or that he wanted me to have his baby. By the time they drove me back to get my car I was exhausted and depressed.

That night I went home and started to think seriously about what I was going to do.

Tuesday morning I called the head of personal and resigned from the company. He didn't make any attempt to talk me out of resigning. I guess everyone knew about me.

The next day I got a lawyer and told him everything that had happened. I knew that Fred would file for divorce and I would need a lawyer for that and I thought I might need a lawyer to handle the fallout from the mess at DC&H. This turned out to be the smartest thing I had done in the last six months.

Over the next few months my lawyer contacted DC&H's legal department and told them how Jack had used his position to pressure me into having an affair with him and that he used me to do his dirty work, which was all inappropriate behavior for a company VP. He told DC&H that I was going to sue them and they quickly offered to settle. They knew they didn't need any more bad publicity. After legal fees, I ended up with nearly $500,000.

When the divorce papers came, I instructed my lawyer to include my settlement from DC&H in the community property so that Fred got half of that as well as half of the proceeds from the sale of the house. After the divorce, Fred moved to California to start his own investigative agency.

I decided that I had to get out of Indianapolis. I had lost most of my friends and one of the few I had left told me that Carol Studwell had told everyone at work what Jack and I had been doing. I couldn't believe she had betrayed my trust like that. Then I remembered how she kept pouring me scotch so that I would keep talking. I guess in a way I deserved it. The other thing my friend told me was more disturbing. She said that there was a rumor around the office that I had stayed with Jack for a month after the party while he tried to get me pregnant. That was a malicious lie. The only time I saw Jack after the Christmas Party was when I testified against him at his trial.

After that I moved to Columbus Ohio. Connie Bradshaw, my old college roommate, moved there a few years earlier and she told me that the local community college was looking for someone to teach some business courses.

It has been three years since I moved to Columbus and I am finally starting to feel better about myself. I heard that Fred remarried but I don't know to whom. I hope that he is happy and his new wife isn't as stupid as I was. I recently started dating a very nice man. He is a professor at Ohio State University. I have been working toward my PHD there and he taught one of my classes. We have been dating for about four months and things are going very well. My hope is that when I finish my degree that I will be able to teach business ethics at the university level. I think I have learned enough from my own experience to uniquely qualify me for that subject.

My goal in writing this story was to simply and honestly tell anyone that was interested what I had done. I have no excuses. You can judge my actions for yourself but please be kind when you think of me. What I did was terrible, what I have suffered for it is worse. I lost my husband, my self-respect, and the respect of my friends, my beautiful house, and my job. Some of you may feel that I deserved even more punishment. Maybe you are right but I am only human. I made a mistake and I have paid for it. Now it is time to forget the past and move on with my life.

The End.