Ruined - A Marriage In Ruin

I turned back around, opened the door and started to walk through.

She screamed, "Wait Jack, I will tell you everything, everything you want to know. Please don't leave me."

I spun around once again and glared at her with all the hurt and anger I could muster and spat out, "You were warned, you had your chance and thought you could get away with only one episode so you lied. You had your chance Kelly." And I screamed back at her, "IT IS OVER!"

David hurried after me and finally caught up with me as I was getting into my car. He grabbed my arm and asked me, "Do you really want to file on the charge of infidelity?"

"Yes I do, she had her chance. Somehow I must have misjudged her all these years. I wanted her to care enough to confess everything but she couldn't even be honest with me now. Go ahead and file."

I drove out to our house, my house now, and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator. Actually I grabbed two and went into my office and sat at my desk and practically chugged down the first one. Then I drank the second one more slowly as I sat and reflected on all that had happened. I had multiple copies of the video downloads squirreled away in safe places but I didn't think I would even have to make that public because I had her confession.

My head snapped up when I realized that I had walked out of the office without the tape. I called David quickly and said, "This is Jack, did you pick up the tape recording of Kelly's confession before you came running after me?"

"Oh shit," I heard him say, "No Jack I didn't. I rushed out after you to catch you and I completely forgot about the tape. I am so sorry Jack."

I was so careful in everything I planned and then because I was hurt and angry all at the same time I had screwed everything up by charging out of there without my tape. Damn. "Well David, why don't you give Richard a call and see if you can run over there and pick it up. But, my guess is that their answer will be something like this. 'We thought you had everything you needed when you left so we just erased everything, sorry.' I will be shocked if you are actually able to get it. But don't worry even if you don't get it because I have plenty of evidence to file for infidelity anyway."

"Okay man, I am sorry. I know you didn't want to use the video downloads and now you might have to if she fights the infidelity charge."

"Don't worry about it David, everything will work out."

After I hung up with David I went to the refrigerator and got another beer. Damn, how could I be so stupid.

I wasn't lit up but I was feeling no pain as I sat and watched the evening news before going off to bed. I thought I heard a vehicle come onto the yard so I slowly pulled myself up and out of my chair and went to the back door. I walked out onto the porch and saw a dark form moments before the lights went out. Something hit me on the back of the head and all I saw was blazing light and then I drifted off into total darkness.

Beep.......beep.......beep.....is what I heard. It didn't take me long to realize that the beeping was close beside me. I opened my eyes and tried to turn slightly to my right to see what it was when the excruciating pain hit me full force. I thought my chest was going to explode and the pain shot straight up into my head creating flashes of blue and silver stars. 'What the fuck!' I thought. I heard a slight rustling nearby and felt a surge of something in my body and I was out again.

The next time I heard the beeping I opened my eyes and looked around as best as I could without moving. I had learned my lesson from the first time. I saw a nurse sitting in the chair beside me. I tried to turn again slowly this time but I couldn't turn.

"Hi Jack, I am Susan and I am your nurse. Please don't try to move okay? Everything is going to be okay and I will explain everything to you but please lay still. Do you understand me?"

I think something was jammed down my throat but I was able to nod my head a little so I nodded that yes I understood.

"Jack, I need to go tell the doctor that you have regained consciousness and then we will be right back in here, okay?"

Again I nodded that I understood. It was finally dawning on me that I must be hurt and in the hospital but I couldn't recall anything about how it had happened. I guessed that someone would eventually tell me so I just lay there with my eyes closed until I heard them approaching me again.

"Mr. Hagen,,, Jack, I am Dr. Julius. You have had several serious injuries as a result of a beating during the robbery of your home. Now that you have come around I am very certain that you will be okay but you had to be restrained so you wouldn't reinjure yourself by excessive movements. I am sure you felt the extreme pain when you tried to move yesterday, am I right?"

I had no reason to smile but I know a slight smile came to my face as I once again nodded my affirmative to the pain.

"Yes, we should have been a bit more proactive on the restraints so you didn't have to go through that pain. I am sorry. I think we can take off the restraints now nurse Johnson, but Mr. Hagen, do not try to do anything on your own yet, okay?"

I nodded and also pointed to the tube down my throat.

"Yes, we can also remove the ventilator now, nurse Johnson will do it."

The restraints were removed and the tube was removed as well. My throat was killing me and I couldn't speak. I was given a sip of water and after a short time I could talk but my voice was really crackly and it hurt a lot so I just whispered. "Will someone tell me what happened to me please?"

Dr. Julius said, "Jack, it is 7:00 am and you have just regained consciousness and gotten off the ventilator. Your throat is going to hurt for a few hours at least and we just want you to rest for now. Nurse Johnson is going to sit with you and after you have had a chance to rest we need to let the police know that you are able to talk. I will give you a while before we make that call so you can recover some but you will need to talk to them and they will be able to tell you everything that happened."

"I can tell you that medically you have some serious injuries including a concussion, three broken ribs and multiple contusions. You also had a punctured lung from one of your ribs that caused your lung to deflate but EMT's got to you in time to resuscitate you and after repairing the damage to your lung we were able to re-inflate it. You are actually pretty lucky Jack. If you hadn't been found quickly you most certainly would have died. To put it bluntly you have been beat up about as thoroughly as you could get. You were unconscious for five days, came to for a couple of minutes yesterday and were out again until today. We are going to monitor you closely for a few more days and then you will probably be free to go home."

As promised I had the rest of that day to rest with Nurse Johnson sitting close by the entire time. Any time I moved quickly I got pretty severe pains so I lay pretty still. By later that afternoon I was able to sit up and with a great deal of assistance was able to use the facilities.

Susan, Nurse Johnson, and I had some time to talk and I found out that she had been about three years behind me in school. Her name then was Susan Fisk and she had married Chad Johnson and she had a three year old daughter, Emily. Apparently Chad was like Kelly and had been cheating on Susan so she divorced him. I told her what had been going on with Kelly and of course she was quite sympathetic.

The next morning bright and early I was entertaining two police detectives, Harold Robbins and Josh Carter. I asked them to fill me in on what had happened to me before they got too far into asking questions.

Detective Robbins said, "Well, apparently it is a robbery that resulted in an assault on you. We found a two by four on the porch alongside you and it had your hair and blood on it. There were no finger prints on it so we assumed whoever wielded it had been wearing gloves."

"The door to your house showed no signs of forced entry but of course that is because you came out onto the porch and the door was already open."

He continued, "When we searched the house we discovered that a number of pictures had been removed from the walls, there was an empty strong box in one of the desk drawers, all the file cabinets in the office had been ransacked, the drawers and closets in the bedrooms had been searched and there were empty drawers and racks of a jewelry box in the master bedroom. We see evidence of a robbery but of course don't have a clue to what was actually taken."

Detective Carter jumped in, "When you are able to go home you will have to look things over and determine to the best of your ability what has been taken. The doctor told us that it might be three or four more days before you are able to go home. At that time we will have you go over everything with us and we will update the reports."

Robbins jumped back into the lead and said it was time to ask some questions. "What do you remember of the attack and what happened after?"

"Well," I said, "Not much I am afraid. I had had a couple of beers and was watching the evening news when I heard a vehicle drive onto the yard. I got up to go see what it was about and stepped out onto the porch and saw the hint of a person kind of in shadows or darkness and then the lights went out. I cannot recall seeing or hearing anything else until yesterday. I am afraid I will not be much help in solving who did this."

"Well," Robbins said, "I think we still need to ask you a few questions which should help us work through this. Where was your wife when this happened?"

"My wife and I are separated. We are in the process of getting a divorce so I actually have no idea where she was at the time," I said.

"Tell me Mr. Hagen, can I call you Jack?"

"Yes of course you can."

"Is your divorce going amicably or is there contention between the two of you?"

"I guess I would have to say it isn't going well. She is contesting the grounds that I am planning on filing under."

"And what grounds will those be Jack?"

"I am going to file on the grounds of infidelity. We have a prenuptial agreement and her settlement is significantly less under those terms of divorce so that is what she is contesting."

"Well if I might say so, that gives her plenty of reasons to do you harm."

"Detective," I added, "I just don't believe she would do anything to hurt me. I can't believe it."

"That's okay," he interjected, "It will be something we will look at very closely however to do a thorough investigation. So are there any other people who might have a reason to do this to you? Do you have any business relationships that may have gone bad? Have you had any disagreements with neighbors or friends or family or any others?"

"No, I can't think of a thing."

"Okay Jack. I know we will have to take a complete inventory of what was taken when you are able, but two things I want to ask about now. Did you have any cash in the house, perhaps in the strong box? And, how much would it have been? Also, did you have anything else in the house including jewelry and artworks that would have had a 'significant' value? I'm talking about thousands of dollars of value or greater."

"Yes there was some cash in the strong box. I would say it was upwards of $8,000. I usually keep around $10,000 in cash on hand but I know I have paid some things out of it recently so it is probably at about $8,000. There were some nice pieces of jewelry but maybe only a few over $1,000. There was nothing else of significant value that I can think of at the moment."

I didn't tell them about the hidden safe behind the bookcase yet because firstly the detective never mentioned it and secondly I was pretty certain that no one would have found it and I wanted to keep that a secret if at all possible.

"Well Jack, I think that will be it for today. If you think of anything please don't hesitate to call me and when you are ready to go home let me know so we can do that inventory. If we have any other questions we will stop by here or at your home if you are there."

Over the next four days I got progressively better. I had plenty of naptime most days but some of the time I sat and talked with Susan. I had a several visitors including Wally, Amber, David and Sam. Kelly did not come and see me and other than Amber none of her family came to see me either. I suppose that was understandable under the circumstances but I would have actually welcomed the visit. Richard, Kelly's attorney did come to see me. We had been friends for years before this whole divorce thing started and I was glad he had come. Everyone told me how sorry they were that I had been injured and wished me well. Both Amber and Sam kissed me on the cheek before they left and they both had tears welled up in their eyes.

I had some difficult times over those four days. Though I slept I know that some of the time I was having bad dreams. I would wake up in a panic with my heart racing and felt tears in my own eyes. A few times when I awoke I wasn't sure where I was but it seemed that Susan was always there to sooth me with soft words and touches. At least one time I know I woke myself up screaming but I don't recall any of the bad dreams or the reason for the screams.

I found out later that she stayed at the hospital with me even when she was off duty and only went home to clean up and change clothes each day. She told me it was because of the events of my marriage that were especially close to her heart and she wanted to be there for me. I really appreciated that too.

Dr. Julius stopped to see me and let me know I was going to be discharged. I was happy for that and immediately started to get ready to leave. Susan helped me get ready and actually wheeled me down to the lobby and out the door where Wally and Amber were waiting to take me home. She wished me good luck and gave me a big hug.

I know she really cared about me and I was thankful for her but my life was in a turmoil including my marriage and my health so I didn't pursue any further relationship with her. I told her I would like to call her sometime in the future and that was it.

When I walked into my house I could see the mess that was still there. Wally and Amber offered to help me straighten up but I told them that I would rather leave it like it was for the time being until I had looked everything over. I promised them that I would call them to come help me when I was ready. They reluctantly agreed and left me alone.

The first thing I did was walk into the office and check on the safe behind the bookcase. Everything was in there including quite a bit more cash, certificates of deposit and some stocks and bonds. It was obvious that no one had found the safe or those things would have been taken too. The DVD of Kelly's infidelity was safely there as well.

I looked through the rest of the office and other than the cash, my laptop computer and a few numbered prints of wildlife by Terry Redlin nothing appeared to be gone. I did notice that bank statements and credit card statements appeared to be laid out on the desk so I am sure someone must have looked through them. I called both and alerted them that my account numbers might have been compromised and to be on the lookout for unusual activity.

After a couple of weeks the investigation into the robbery and beating was moving slowly because the police really had no evidence that would connect to anyone. Detectives Robbins and Carter updated me often on the status of their work but so far no additional leads had come up. They did mention that because there were no high value items taken it was a dead end trying to trace things through fences like they do in some crimes. On their last call they both pretty much indicated that it would be put on the back burner unless some meaningful evidence came to light.

In the initial stages of the investigation they had asked some serious questions about Kelly and me. I had been open and upfront with them in most instances. One thing I felt pretty strongly about was that Kelly wouldn't have hurt me and why take things that she would have gotten in the divorce anyway. I guess the detectives agreed with that reasoning too because nothing came of it.

I had established new bank accounts and had new checks printed because I felt my old accounts had been compromised somewhat. Fortunately there was no activity that I couldn't explain but I still felt safer in establishing the new ones. I had purchased a new laptop computer and had reorganized everything in the office. I was back in business.

I sat down to pay some of the bills that had piled up while I was out of it and came across a bill from REDSS, Inc. A light bulb clicked on in my head for the first time since the robbery. REDSS stood for Remote Electronic Data Storage Solutions.

I had video surveillance of my yard. It encompassed the house, the grain bins and machine shed. The video feed went into the computer in my 'grain office' out by the bins and dryer. Every night that feed was uploaded to REDSS as a storage backup system. It was retained by them and I paid a monthly fee based on the amount of data retained by them. Every month I would go in and delete the oldest data to keep the fees manageable. I hadn't deleted anything from the time of the robbery. I had video!

I immediately logged on to the website for REDSS and selected the day of the robbery from the archives and I downloaded the entire day onto my laptop so I could view it. I was hoping that the quality would be good enough to identify who had beaten and robbed me. If it was good I would copy it onto a DVD and give it to Detectives Robbins and Carter. That would get the investigation going again.

As I scanned through the day I realized there was nothing there that I would give to the detectives and I knew now that they would never solve the crime.

The rest of the bills were paid and I started planning how I was going to move forward with the rest of my life. I decided to make contact with an old friend of mine from college days who worked for Cargill (one of the largest grain merchandisers in the US). Through him I arranged to meet with the powers to be in their acquisition department. It is amazing what people connections will do to make things happen. After about two weeks I had worked through my plans with Cargill and I took a little side trip to Las Vegas. I ended up flying to Phoenix because I had some business there and then drove up to Vegas to do a little gambling. After two days I flew back home and put all of my plans into action.

I called David and had him call Gentry Grain to set up a meeting for me with Kelly and her brothers Tom and Carl and her sister Amber. I told him that he should mention that with the impending divorce the grain reserves required by the state would no longer be sufficient because they wouldn't be able to include my grain stored there. I had David tell them that I wanted to sit down and discuss the situation with them and come to some resolution.

I think David shocked them because they readily agreed to meet with me. I guess they hadn't given any thought to what would happen if my grain was no longer in the equation.

I walked into the office and greeted them all, "Hello Tom, Carl, Amber, Kelly. I guess you understood one of the reasons I felt we should sit down and resolve some issues."

Tom started to say something but I held up my hand and said, "I think I called this meeting and I suggest you all just sit here and listen to what I have to say before you make any comments. I honestly think it will be in everyone's best interest if you do that."

"First I would like to put this divorce to bed if you will. Sorry about the dig Kelly." I put the last draft of the divorce down on the table in front of Kelly and told her, "Sign these please."