I did what anyone would do after receiving news of this magnitude.  I called my mother.  When it came to being a rock in the middle of a crisis, it was only natural that I would gravitate to her for stability and reassurance.  Yes, Laurie…the world is round, the sun will rise and if you keep crossing your eyes like that your face will freeze in that expression for all eternity. 

But my mother had her quirks like any human being.  I never quite realized until that moment that the way she dealt with calamity was to digest it for twenty four hours before taking any action whatsoever.  So…when I told her what had just transpired outside of my apartment building it was only natural for her to say something like, “Well that’s just terrible…did I tell you what happened at bingo last night?”  Unfortunately, in my current state of panic, I could not afford to indulge her and my voice probably hit a high note or two of hysteria before I could impart the necessity of accompanying me to the police department as my moral support. 

My second phone call was to my boss…a woman I would not wish on my worst enemy.  She hated me.  Trust me when I say, the feeling was mutual.  We were both aware of her level of incompetence to the point where it would be in her best interest to have me suddenly no longer employed at the same company.  Most of her days were spent trying to find a way to make it happen...and my current problem would positively have her salivating.  There was no way I was going to divulge more than absolutely necessary to this piranha and so I simply told her that I would be out due to a personal emergency…the understatement of the century.

The final phone call was to my fiance’s lawyer.  He had already received a phone call from Danny, my fiancé, and would meet us at the station. 

I suppose it was rather serendipitous that we already had a lawyer working for us at the time that could be called without qualm…but it was just another problem to add to the current one as far as the lawyer and I were concerned.  Things were going to get really bad…really soon…but not everyone was aware of the extent of the damage…yet.

In June, just several months earlier, Danny picked up a woman that he had met in a public park.  For the moment, let’s ignore the fact that he was engaged to me and that what he was planning on doing with this woman went beyond what most people would consider acceptable behavior for a man planning on being married in February.  The facts of the case are that one cried attempted sexual assault and the other denied it vehemently.

Several days after the incident occurred, he confessed to meeting this woman, planning on taking her out for a drink or two and then perhaps getting lucky.  It had just gone all wrong somehow and now he needed me to intercede on his behalf.  That was my job…to clean up after Danny’s mistakes.  I sat there in the chair, hurt beyond belief at his betrayal and furious that he would have the unmitigated gall to ask me to save his ass…yet again.

“I need you to help me,” he pleaded, “perhaps if you go and talk to her she’ll withdraw the charges.  You can bring that bracelet I gave you for Christmas…the gold one with the opals…and give it to her.  A gift…not a bribe.  Tell her I’m sorry for any miscommunication.  She’s poor…I’m sure she’ll jump at it.”

That’s right…the man I planned on marrying up until that very moment was asking me to commit witness tampering after having confessed to picking up a woman for sex. 

I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that Danny may have actually attempted something like aggravated sexual assault…I was too personally affronted by the whole idea that he had tried to cheat on me.  The more serious issue was just beyond my comprehension.  I was angry and hurt and this wasn’t about a crime…it was about the fact that he had intended to engage in sex with a woman who wasn’t ME. 

It was the only way I could handle it.

While I couldn’t agree to what he wanted me to do…I couldn’t bring myself to quite say no either.  This was personal…to hell with the law…I was a wronged woman and I had every right to the truth.  Knowing Danny the way I did…aware of his amazing ability to lie when cornered to the point where one lie followed another which followed another until you were too exhausted to care anymore, I realized that the only hope I had of getting to the truth would be through this woman.  So I agreed to have a chat with her…

But the first thing I did was remove my engagement ring.  As far as I was concerned our nuptials were on hold until this was resolved and even then, I had a strong feeling that they would never occur.  I did put it back on briefly for my visit with this woman though…and then again after events in September...but Danny and I both knew it was only for show.

She lived in a bad section of town.  I felt out of place and vulnerable as I parked my car outside of her building and started searching for the correct apartment with Danny’s directions in my hand.  There were clusters of Hispanic males in wife beater t-shirts loitering in the parking lot and I felt as if they were sizing me up or calculating whether I’d be gone long enough for them to steal my car.  I decided to meet the fear head on and immediately walked up to one of them.

“Do you know which apartment is Ada Geigel’s?” I asked.  The swarthy man pointed to a rickety set of stairs barely clinging to the outside of the decrepit building.  I smiled my thanks and headed up to meet the other woman.