Three Blind Mice

The next question I had to ask myself is would it be something the FBI might find interesting. Using my home computer, I copied and posted a web address in an email to my work account that would lead anyone to the page where her books were offered from.

That night I sent an email to Ruth Susan Truscott. In it, I explained that these were the seven books she had published from the time I met her until now by using a pen name. I believe the main female character is her, so could these actually be a diary of her lovers or johns? I pointed out that the male subjects were so detailed in the descriptions that they came across as real. Since the males in her book were all esteemed in their community and considered the cream of the crop, could she be using real persons as fictional characters?

If she read the books, she would learn that each book was like a chapter in an ongoing story. The books all dealt with a married woman's ongoing sexual relationship with the five men in her life. Each of the men she slept with provided her with a different kind of sexual satisfaction. Each one having an ongoing relationship with her without knowing about the other.

I sent her a text message letting her know about the email. It did not surprise that I got no response from Ruth. As she had said Sue Ellen's friends' husbands and I are the 'three blind mice.' Since I hadn't heard back from her, I figured that what I was thinking might be right. I had no choice but to play the waiting game.

________________

It was six months later on a Thursday morning I came out of the Plant to discover Ruth Truscott waiting for me. It was the first time I had seen her dressed in blue jeans. Ruth was definitely my kind of woman. Healthy with a bit of meat on her bones. Built for comfort more than speed. Dining at her wye would be a pleasure. Diving into her globes would be like resting on the clouds.

"I got someone to drop me off Jack," Ruth said. "We need to have a long private chat somewhere where we can't be overheard."

"Let's go through the drive-through at McDonald's," I said. "Then we can take our breakfast and eat it on one of the picnic tables at the Jackson city park. Since no one will bother us there if there is anyone around."

"That's perfect," Ruth said.

I unlocked the passenger side of the truck and let her get in then walked around to the other side and climbed in. She opened up about herself and I learned she wasn't dating.

"Is it because of the type of people you end up dealing with has kind of soured you on having a serious relationship," I asked?

Ruth thought about it for a while and it wasn't till we had picked up our order that she responded.

"Your question may have hit my situation in the bullseye," Ruth said. "In my line of work, you see the reality of our world. To start a relationship, I think we all start it by wearing our own version of rose-colored glasses."

"A lot of logic in that comment," I said. "When I discovered my wife's image on those emails, I started looking at our relationship and I learned a lot of things and the way they happened didn't seem to add up. I guess you could say I learned how to take my glasses off. I believe you're going to be telling me that what I suspect is right."

"And what is your gut telling you," Ruth asked?

"That my wife and her friends were recruited well attending Penn State," I said. "Then sent here to set this area up. They are high-class hookers trained to service the powerful or those who can influence things."

"Pretty close! Each lady is only allowed to have four clients," Ruth said, "The clients are upper class. Your wife, for example, comes from a pretty powerful group. One is a federal district judge who makes almost two hundred thousand a year. The second is our local representative in the senate. The third is the chief of surgeons at Southeast hospital, and her fourth was our district supervisor until his arrest this morning."

By this time, we had reached the park. Climbing out of my truck we took our food and coffee and sat down at the bench.

"Interpol took down the overseas end of the international operation last week," Ruth said. "They were able to get everything. Each client was charged four thousand a month of which they kept five hundred. The ladies got the rest tax free. Your wife was at the top of the chain. All who took the bait were screened, a lot of them got online sex talk and nothing more. Their major moneymakers where the ladies like your wife."

I guess my face said it all because Ruth said, "Her books are what you believed them to be her diary. That part of her living is legit. We still haven't located her offshore account yet, but we know she's been in the business for eight years. Just over six at this location. There are over six thousand of these high-class hooker females being taken down worldwide. It was being operated by the Russian mafia."

"I'm here to give you a heads up," Ruth said. "Your wife and her lady friends will be arrested at the gym this morning and charged with prostitution, tax evasion, and criminal fraud. It's all being thrown in together under the Rico Act. They all will be doing major time."

I was torn apart, but I said, "I got to get tested to make sure I do not have an STD and find a good divorce lawyer."

"Two more things we have had a reward offered on this group for a long time you will be given seven hundred thousand dollars once we get a successful conviction," Ruth said. "The next two weeks are going to be super busy for both of us but afterward I would like to get to know you a lot better."

"Ruth I would like that too," I said. "I think I'm going to lose a few friends when this all comes out."

I dropped her off at her office, watched her go to her vehicle and unlock the trunk. She put on her holster, vest and hang her badge so it was visible. I wound down my side window.

She walked towards me and said, "I'm part of the team that's going to arrest your wife, any message for her?"

"Just tell her that it was the information I provided you because of what I found in my email," I said. "That has taken them all down."

"I just might do that," Ruth said with a smile. "Because it was the system, they used that brought them all down."

Once arriving at home, I texted both of my wife's best friends husbands saying that the three of us were three blind mice and that our wives were all being arrested by the FBI this morning. If they wanted to know what I knew they could call after two pm. I set the alarm for two pm. I shut the phone off and went to sleep.

I got up at two thanks to the alarm and had a shower first thing. I turned on my cellphone. I had five voice messages on my answering service. One from Ruth, one from each of the two husbands, one from my mother and one from my employer.

The company when I returned the call had heard of the arrest and offered me the night off. I took it. I told him I would call the group leader to inform him what needed to be done, and then would go on Friday night to set up things for the weekend so no production time would be wasted.

I called Ruth who told me that the three ladies had been taken to St Louis and would remain in custody until their bail hearing which was set for Monday. She asked me if I was available to go out for supper. I said I had to respond to the other blind mice's call before I could answer that.

After two more quick phone calls, the other female's husbands would be over to find out what I knew at three pm. I called my mother and learned my wife's arrest had made the lunch hour news. I promised her I would stop over on Friday to tell both my parents what I knew before I went into work.

After calling Ruth to say that supper was on. She said she would text me with a time and the place as soon as she was free.

I still had half an hour, so I went through my wife's personal dresser and makeup table for the first time in my life. It took most of that time to discover the well-hidden little notebook with a routing code for bank transfers from her overseas accounts to our local bank. It showed its current balance. I knew I should give it to Ruth but first I was going to have a chat with my computer-savvy coworker.

Ben and George showed up together both looked like I felt. All three of us had our lives as we knew pulled from beneath us. After giving them a beer, we sat down, and I told them everything from making the new year's resolution until now.

"So, you suspected," Ben said. "But had nothing to go on until this morning."

"That's right," I said. "Even at first the FBI believed that the images of our wives had been stolen and were being used."

"Shit! And if you had of said anything it would have blown up in your face," George added. "All three of us were dubbed from the start."

"The FBI agent I have been dealing with," I said. "Told me we were the three blind mice and that for now, it needed to stay that way. Based on what has been revealed to me today I can understand why. It was mostly done that way for our own protection."

"The question now is when will we learn anything new," Ben asked.

"The ladies' bail hearing will be held Monday," I said. "Since it's such an international case I can suspect a major news release tomorrow morning from the FBI in Washington. The agent told me they were making arrests all across the country today. I'm going to hire my divorce lawyer tomorrow."

"Does anyone have an idea why our wives picked us," asked George?

"My gut tells me this was all set up during Obama Presidency," I said. "When many things were done because people were looking away. Even in our society today we are barely touching the surface of what they were doing. The more I learn the more I believe we will never know what was being done because the democrats are throwing everything against the current administration to keep the truth from being found."

"Our wives picked us because of our political view made it impossible for anyone to believe that we would fall for what we have," I added. "We were too trusting and accepted what they said without question."

"All three of us are conservatives by nature but we have a liberal point of view towards the conduct of others," I explained. "We follow the law because of our respect for the law. Those who have another political view feel that the law does not apply to them. That was what allowed the Russian mafia to come in such a way because I think we will find that the liberals were their biggest customers."

"You got the right Jack we at the state police department have found that three-quarters of the crimes committed are committed by liberal-minded or hardcore Democrats who believe they are above the law," Ben said. "And nothing we say or do is going to change their minds. Not even having to do time for what they did."

"Well Sue Ellen always voted democrat straight down the line, I said. "I voted for the person I thought would do best in that particular position. Her problem was her own greed. She could have walked away, and no one would have known. So could have your wives. They failed to realize that with time the truth always finds a way to come out."

I then pulled out and showed them the book that I found hidden and said, "This appears to be the codes for my wife's offshore accounts. I'm not sure but I am going to have it checked out by someone I trust before I turn it over to the FBI on Friday. You might want to go home and search your house tonight because once I turn it over you most likely be served with a search warrant."

"Once the fed has it, they will seize the funds as proceeds of crime," Ben said. "Can you wait till Monday morning before turning it over."

"Yes, I can but we never talked about this did we," I asked? "And we voluntarily turn over what we find to the field office on Monday morning before our wives bail hearing."

"Talk about what," they both said with huge grins.

The address Ruth had given me was not a restaurant, so I used Google Maps to direct me. It turned out it was her private residence. I surprised to find it was a nice looking home from the outside. I would like to be able to say we discussed business, but we didn't. It was a get to know you a bit better time. I ended up leaving about eleven pm with plans to get together on Saturday.

After leaving her place I headed over to the plant to check on things. I talked to the group leader who gave me his approval to take to the computer geek since he was way ahead on his project. I took him up to the office that overlooked the work floor below. Once I explained what had happened and what I found he went to work using the web to reveal what he could find. The web address took us to the bank where we punched in a bunch of numbers and bingo her account appeared.

It shocked us both to learn how much she was sitting on. Within half an hour he had transferred twenty percent out of four different accounts and had it backdated three days. With my permission, he took out the amount needed to pay off his mortgage.

He opened up two new accounts at a different offshore bank for him and me.

"Your wife had invested her funds wisely and bought some major stock back in the day cheaply," he said. "The FBI will have a hard time seizing this if they can. When you turn it over to them explain that under state law that what is in these accounts is community property. That gives you the legal right to half of it. In divorce court, if it comes up you just say you had this done to protect some of your equity."

"I could not have done it without your help," I freely admitted. "So, thank you in advance."

I sent out a text message to Ben and George as to what I had learned.

I worked for three or four hours laying out the production schedule for the weekend to make sure there was no downtime for anyone before going home.

For some reason, I couldn't get to sleep for a long time. I guess I had too much on my mind.

I got up around seven and flipped the channels on the tv looking for any national updates that were available to gleam. None of the regular news stations had any information but MSNBC announced that there would be a press release at eleven am that morning from FBI headquarters. I decided it would be best if I watched it at my parent's house.

It was sad watching the press release from the FBI as they discussed how they had taken down an international cartel dealing in blackmail, prostitution, and other numerous crimes.

Forty-five major cities had been hit, six-hundred twenty-five counties, in all fifty-two states. The clients were all upper class in society and had political influences. The cases where blackmail was involved was to get charges squashed or changes made to laws to make things easier for the criminal organization.

Over a thousand people were charged with prostitution, seventy- five percent were females and twenty-five percent were male. Ten percent of both were gay. Part of those taken down were pedophiles and as a result, there were further ongoing investigations. The criminal organization operated primary in democratic controlled areas of the country and had been in business for over ten years. No particular gender was concentrated on. What was highlighted was the sexual desires of the clients they were serving and their lifestyle.

The organization was in twenty-five countries primary operating in countries that had some sort of a democracy type of government. It was set up and ran by the Russian Mafia operating out of Belize.

MSNBC pulled up a list of the top thirty democratic cities in the USA and confirmed that they were all on the list of where FBI takedowns had taken place. It was upsetting to have to listen to the commentators claim that this was a hit job set up by President Trump to take the public's attention off of his other problems. The fact that this criminal operation was set up under a democratic President's administration was not mentioned once after the FBI had concluded its press release.

My dad now totally pissed off took the remote and changed to the other cable news channels only to discover as he said the same type of shit. They were all blaming Trump for the corruption the FBI had uncovered.

In frustration, my mom said, "Just turn the propaganda channels off, and let Jack tell us what he knows. At least what he tells us will be the truth as he knows it."

"Well, Mika Brzeszinski the co-host of 'Morning Joe' says that President Trump's efforts to undermine the media's influence and control what people think is under minding effectively what is the media's job to do," I said. "You can go to U-tube and see the clip as if it was broadcast live," I said. "Out of the horse's mouth, we learn how truthful the media is. As a 'news' organization it's their job to control what their views believe."

"That explains why most of the media hates our President," My dad said. "He sees through their mistruths. Didn't Mika and Joe used to be his friends when he was a democrat?"

"So bottom line this whole three year of anti-trump shit is because the democratic party and the mass media see our President as a turncoat and a traitor." Mom said. "It's the worst insult to all of them is to see in the white house. So, because of their hate for those who have left the democratic party they have done everything they could to destroy him. Even if it means hurting society and hiding the truth."

"Enough talking about the hate, they have," I said. "The truth has never mattered in the public society and never will. Otherwise, Joe Biden and his son Hunter would be under investigation, If it did, we would a completely different society."

So, I started explaining how it all started and what happened to this point. When I was done there was nothing but silence for a few minutes.

"I'm so sorry son," My mother said. "I had no idea that when I was setting you up with Sue Ellen, I was setting you up with a hooker."

"Mom none of us knew," I said. "No use looking back at what-ifs or I should have. There's nothing to be gained by doing that. We made the best decision we could with what we knew at that time. So, let's promise to ourselves that we are not going to waste time questioning our own conduct."

I asked my mom for the yellow pages and I started looking for a lawyer. Finding one I called and made an appoint for two o'clock. I left my parents' home knowing that my mother would carry the feelings of guilt for the rest of her life.

After getting out of the divorce lawyer's office I went into the walk-in clinic in Jackson and got in within thirty minutes. The doctor drew the blood needed for the test to be done. His only comment was if I was you, I would be doing the same thing.

I had gone back to work and was in my office following up on what I had done the night before. I had gone through the whole plant checking on the progress of each person's assigned project. Answering any questions, they had and giving a few of my own. The group leader knocked on the door and I said come on in.

"The staff asked me to ask you if there's anything they can do," he said? "Off the record, they think the world of you because you show a genuine interest in what they do. Every time they make a suggestion to make their job easier you find a way to get it done."

"Well having worked the floor for years I knew how frustrating it is to have the tools or supplies I needed to get things done in a steady manner," I said. "We have a good crew by paying attention to what they need we have increased our productivity greatly. The dayshift Manager has been instructed to pick up a few of my management styles. Just thank our team for me for carrying enough to ask, and let them know if I need their help, they will be the first I come to."

Sometimes it's the littlest of gestures that hit home the most. I was thankful for being alone because what I had been holding in came out. I just sat there letting it go before getting back to the task at hand.