Adultery When We Were Married by DanielQSteele1

[Ramesh_Rocky]

“I’ll be back, Paul. Is it okay if I call you Paul?”

“Why not? It’s my name. You mind if I call you Mr. Maitland?”
I shook my head. How the hell could I like the guy, and not want to be in the same cell with him?
I stood to leave. He looked at me again and I didn’t see the darkness in him.
“You ever think, Mr. Maitland, how we wound up like this? Me in here with a wife I love more than life itself and want to strangle until her heart stops, and you out there with a wife that you gave your life to, and she threw you away. How do things like that happen?”
“I wish I knew, Paul. I really wish I knew.”
I was walking across the street and back to the courthouse when I saw Debbie walking in from the Bay Street entrance. She carried the briefcase she’d started using since she’d started with the Public Defender’s Office and as always she looked good. She also looked like she’d lost her last friend and it was plain she’d been crying.
I kicked myself, but there was always the possibility that something was wrong with the kids. I knew that’s what I told myself but I knew it just kept her thinking that I still cared about her and, of course, I didn’t - I really didn’t!
I cut her off and it was an indication of how deep in her thoughts she was that she didn’t see me until I was standing directly in front of her. She had to stop abruptly.
“Bill. I didn’t-“
“Is everything okay, Deb? The kids alright?”
“The kids? Yeah - they’re both fine, I think. Haven’t talked to Kelly in a couple of days. BJ’s back in college and seems to be doing okay, if I can stay on him to do his homework.”

“Then?”

“Clint...just flew out of JIA.”

I couldn’t help feeling a little twinge of, something, but I had liked the guy. “I’m - sorry, Deb, I know you liked the guy. Is he coming back soon, or at

all?”

She clouded over and I knew I’d said exactly the wrong thing. “Why are all men such stupid macho idiots?”

“To give women something to work with?”

She looked at the big clock on the wall of the entrance to the courthouse and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to check in with Johnny. You’re looking good, Bill. That head wound cleared up nicely.”
Then she walked away. Something felt odd about that encounter and then I realized she hadn’t been the one pushing for us to talk. She must have really


developed feelings for the guy and, again, I didn’t know quite how that made me feel.
When I got back to my office there was a blonde guy in the waiting area who looked vaguely familiar, although I wasn’t sure where I knew him from. Cheryl said, “This is Mr. Tucker, Mr. Maitland. Do you have a moment?”
I headed into my office and told her to send him in.

He folded his long, lanky frame—he had to be about six foot three or four—into the chair opposite me and said, “It’s Gil Tucker; we met on the Bonne Chance. I could see you trying to place me. Remember, at the Captain’s Dinner.”

I remembered. I was surprised that Ms. Stein hadn’t eaten him alive but he looked none the worse for wear.
“Yeah, it’s good to see you again. What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to talk to you about Paul Donnally and see if I can get permission to see him. The officer on duty down there said he was being kept away from the general population and not receiving visitors.”
“How do you know Donnally?”

“We used to be next door neighbors, for years, and I’m his best friend.” “What kind of guy is he? Did you have any idea he was going to try to

strangle his wife?”

“No. Not that she didn’t deserve it. Actually, that’s kind of strong but, anyway, Paul is the last person on earth anyone would ever expect to do ANYTHING violent. It’s not in his nature, or it wasn’t. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him get really angry in all the years I’ve known him—until recently.”
“What happened?”
“Too long to go into. She’s been cheating on him for years and he was blind. She’s the...the kind of woman...I’ll tell you the kind of woman she is. Paul is my best friend. He pulled me out of Hell when my own marriage fell apart. Even knowing what she’s done to him, if she showed up at my apartment at 3 a.m., I don’t know that I wouldn’t do her. That’s the kind of woman she is.
“Anyway, he found out what she was up to, the kind of woman she really is, in the worst possible way. I had to scbang up what was left and try to put him back together again. He might have been able to walk away, but the bitch wouldn’t let him alone. He tried to avoid her but....and when he met her  he
snapped. That’s all I can figure. I still don’t understand it.”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “I need to talk to him. I can get him the best defense attorneys around. I have a little money, actually, a lot. I worked for Bell Labs and I have a few patents. I’d like to get him out of the jail.”
“He doesn’t want to get out. I was just down there and he’s in a single cell for the safety of everybody else down there. He put two inmates into the hospital and nearly put one of the jail officers out.”

“Paul? Paul did that?”

“There’s things about the man you obviously don’t know.”

“Obviously. It’s like finding out that the world is flat. But I’d still like to see him.”

“Sure, I’ll call down and let them know to let you in. Do I need to remind you not to bring in any files or hacksaws?”

He smiled back.

“Attorneys are much more effective.”

As he stood to walk out, he looked back at me and said, “He’s not the kind of man you think he is, Maitland, he really isn’t, no matter what it looks like.”

I watched him as he went out the door, thinking that everybody deserved one friend like Gil Tucker, or Lew Walters.