Page 21 of Drowning in Lies

As I did, a video of David and Scott came into view.It appeared to be recorded from somewhere behind David's desk.In it, David was leaning back, sitting with his feet propped up on his desk and Scott sprawled in the chair in front of it.As they started speaking, I pressed the button on the screen to turn up the volume.

The first few minutes were just general chit chat about a NASCAR race they'd watched that afternoon.Then David remarked,"I can't believe I lost a thousand bucks because he blew a goddamned tire with one lap left to go!" Scott just laughed, and David flipped him off.

The topic of conversation shifted to me as Scott asked how I was feeling, and when I would be released from the hospital.David told him I would be discharged the following day, and that he really needed to get back to the hospital to sit with me.Scott chuckled and agreed.

"Where the fuck does she think you are right now?"he asked, then laughed again when David explained that he'd lied and said he needed to get some things wrapped up at work so he could take off the next day to bring me home and spend the day with me.

"What did you tell her about last night?"he asked after that.

"Well, I sure as hell didn't tell her I was fucking that hot redhead I met last weekend.I told her I was out wining and dining a new client and didn't realize the ringer on my phone was off."

"And she believed that shit?"Scott asked.

"Why the hell wouldn't she? We're soulmates, remember?"he sneered. My stomach rolled as I remembered referring to us that way in the wedding vows we'd written. He had called me the love of his life, and I had said we were soulmates.

"God, you are the luckiest fucking asshole on the planet. Your wife is gorgeous, rich, and totally fucking clueless."

"You forgot to add that I got to spend the evening fucking Trisha's brains out.You wouldn't believe what a screamer she was.I thought for sure the hotel was gonna kick us out."

He and Scott laughed as Scott made a lewd thrusting motion with his pelvis.I felt sick watching them.I vaguely registered Chris and Sherry both cursing behind me as they watched.

"I am going to have to watch it with the sleeping pills for a while though. I read the warning labels this morning, and it can cause pregnancy complications, so that may have been what caused her to lose the baby. I just hope it doesn't show up in her system in any of the tests they've run on her."

"That's a damn shame. It's working perfectly to drive her nuts.I could hardly keep a straight face last week when Sherry asked her about the trip. Lila had no fucking idea what she was talking about, and you could tell she thought she was losing her mind when you showed her the tickets she'd ordered online and the texts she'd sent you about it.I can't believe she can have entire conversations and work on the computer in her sleep, man.That's some crazy shit."

"Well, lucky for me she does, or I couldn't get her to do half the shit I need to access the money. She's signed so much shit in her sleep it's unreal. And if she ever finds out about the mortgage I took out on the house, you covered my ass by getting her on video where she signed for the fucking thing."

"Yeah, you fucking owe me for that, bro.God, can you imagine showing her that video? She'd be ready to check herself in to the nuthouse,"Scott joked."It's too bad we didn't think of taping her when she signed for the Maui mortgage."

"I'm not worried about it.She hasn't caught on yet, and if she ever does, I'll have her and everyone else convinced she's crazy by that point."

David's cellphone rang on the desk, and he answered it. From his end of the conversation, it was clear that it had been Sherry calling to ask when he would be returning to the hospital.

"Hey Sherry, how is she? Everything OK?"he asked, the concern in his voice clearly faked.He paused to listen to her response, then told her he was just about finished up at work and would be back at the hospital in an hour or so."Yeah, I was able to clear my schedule so I can spend all day with her tomorrow.Thanks for sitting with her so I could come in to work for a while.I didn't want her to be alone."

My stomach rolled as I fought back the urge to vomit. Luckily, the video ended then because I couldn't listen anymore.

Chapter 11: The Search

"I am truly sorry that you're having to go through this, Lila." James Horton's kind sympathy was almost too much to bear, and I couldn't stop the tears that flooded my eyes as I replayed snippets of that video over and over in my mind. Chris pulled me up to wrap me in his arms as he quietly asked Sherry to grab some tissues and a bottle of water for me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried for what I promised myself would be the last time. David didn't deserve one fucking tear, and I was through letting him tear me apart inside.

Chris loosened his hold as Sherry handed me a tissue, and I apologized when I saw the wet spot on his shirt from my tears. He just smiled and assured me it was OK, then opened the bottle of water and handed it to me.

"Drink this, and we probably need to make sure you eat something, too. We don't want you fainting on us again," he said firmly, and Sherry murmured that she would go find me a snack, returning with a bag of trail mix for me to nibble on.

"Detective Horton? The crime scene van just pulled up." I heard one of the officers call out from the front door.

James walked out to greet them and escorted them in a few minutes later. "Lila, these are two of our evidence techs, Maria Vasquez and Paul Stanhope. They will be collecting and documenting anything of interest that we find in the office today. Guys, this is Lila Montgomery, the owner of the house."

After the introductions, I showed them all to the home office at the back of the house. While the technicians busied themselves unloading and setting up their equipment, James explained what kinds of things they would be looking for.

"Chris mentioned that David might have gotten access to your accounts via the desktop computer. We will need to collect that to be analyzed by our computer guru, along with any recording devices we find. Are there any other computers or devices that David may have used?"

"Well, I have a laptop that I took to Chris and Sherry's house, but I haven't seen anything to indicate he used it. I double checked, and I don't have any passwords saved on there, and I'm logged out of all the banking sites. My email would be the only thing he had access to," I replied. "Oh, wait, I do have my old laptop here. I got a new one in the Spring, and just stuck my old one in the cabinet over there until I had time to wipe the hard drive and dispose of it, but I kind of forgot about it. I have no idea if I was logged into anything on there or not."

"OK, we will need to take that as well then. As soon as the techs finish documenting the room as it is now, we will begin the search. You are welcome to observe, but I need you to stand outside of the doorway to do so please. The search authorization you gave us covers anything in the room."

I nodded my understanding, and Chris, Sherry and I stood in the hall by the door to watch as the four of them looked at a still shot of the video on the tablet, trying to determine the angle the video was taken from. One of the techs walked over to the tall filing cabinet that was just to the right behind the desk and looked at the architectural model of a house sitting on top of it. He picked up something small that had been sitting partially behind the model and placed it into a marked evidence bag. The model was the one that David had constructed for his final project to complete his undergrad degree, and he had been so proud of it. It had been slightly damaged when we moved from our apartment into this house when we got married, and he had been livid with the moving company. I didn't go near the thing for fear of breathing on it too heavily, so it wasn't a surprise that he picked that as a safe place to hide his camera.

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