Page 8 of Very Special Forces

"Thestupidity."

"Just tobe clear... do you want your marriage to end?" I asked.

Fayeshook her head. "No. I want my husband. I love him and I can'timagine life without him."

I said goodbye and left her alone on the garden bench. Thevalet delivered my car to the curb and I drove off after pluggingin the address for Steve Wendell's head office. The meeting withFaye Wendell hadn't been exactly as I expected. Like her statement,there was no great defense but she did appear to have irrefutableproof that she wasn't a gold-digger. If the evidence came through,it flipped the situation. The question was: did Steve Wendell knowabout his wife's new money? Didheexpect a payday? Without appearing too obviousabout it? By filing to divorce his wife for fraud, perhaps thatwasn't the case but I couldn't be sure. If he was really all aboutgetting money for himself and jettisoning his wife, why would hehire us? It didn't seem like the actions of a guilty man unless hethought he were smarter than us. No, if he knew Faye was wealthierthan he, how had he gotten it into his head that he was being usedfor money? It didn't make any sense.

Manynational businesses wanted glossy offices downtown where they couldbe seen, but not Steve Wendell. The head offices for Wendell'sAutos occupied the two floors over the auto shop business that borehis name in a small industrial complex that also housed a partssupply shop, a kitchen showroom, and a lighting store. I walked upthe narrow staircase and asked the zebra-print-wearing receptionistfor him. She took a long look at me and raised one veryover-plucked eyebrow. "What's the nature of your business?" sheasked in the strongest Jersey accent I'd ever heard.

"It's aprivate personal matter. He is expecting someone from my firm tocontact him," I said as I handed her my card.

"Is he?"She didn't move for the longest moment but finally picked up herphone and jabbed the numbers with the end of her pen. "Boss,there's a Lexi Graves from the Solomon Detective Agency to see you.Okay. Sure." She dropped the handset and pointed to the corridorbehind her. "He says you can go in. His office is at the end of thecorridor."

"Thankyou."

"You'rewelcome," she drawled. The phone began to ring again and she turnedto answer it, forgetting me instantly.

Iskirted the desk and walked to the office, politely knocking andwaiting to be called in.

The mansitting behind the desk didn’t need to tidy up his strawberry blondhair so much as to have someone tell him three days of beardstubble was not a look that suited him. His open-necked shirt wasrumpled and his eyes were bloodshot, like he'd indulged in one toomany beers the night before. Either that, or he'd been crying too.Not exactly the sign of a man who was happy to be getting a divorceor gleeful at a sudden windfall.

He stoodup and held out his hand, giving mine a fast shake before hegestured to the chair on my side of the desk. "I'm Steve. Thanksfor coming," he said. "I wasn't sure when to expectyou."

"Ipicked up the case this morning," I explained. "I wanted to comeand see you as soon as I could. I understand this is a difficulttime for you."

"Let'sbe real. It's a crap time. My wife just shattered mylife."

"Didshe?" I asked as I sat down.

SteveWendell rocked back in his chair and for a moment, I thought hemight pop his feet on the desk. Instead he swiveled a bit, barely afew degrees from one side to the other. "She doesn't want to bemarried to me. She wants my money. Helluva lot of money forforty-three days 'work'," he said, adding air quotes.

"Youwrote in your statement that your wife asked you for money tofinance a lifestyle. What did she say exactly?"

"Something like she wanted to take time off to focus on otherthings and she would need support. She said she was worried itwould be a lifestyle change and she didn't want things to get toohard."

"Thatdoesn't sound like a demand for money."

Stevehuffed. "It started that way for my best buddy, Al. His wife wantedto be a homemaker so she gave up work when they married. Not surewhat she did to maintain their home since they had a housekeeperand she was always out spending his money. I have never known awoman to shop like that. Don't think I ever saw her wear the samething twice and Al isn't exactly making the big bucks."

"Iunderstand your wife has a job she likes and has no intention ofgiving up."

"Well,she can't now her meal ticket is gone. Big B's girlfriend thoughtshe'd pull that too. She was a lawyer but turns out she was justplain crazy."

"BigB?"

"Sorry,a buddy of mine. He's tall, hence Big B."

"Okay.I'm looking into both of your finances and I understand your wifeis independently wealthy."

"She'sgot some money. She was pretty sensible with her modeling income.She owns a house."

"Andthere isn't a pre-nup?"

"No.That was a dumb move."

"Why'sthat?"

"Ithought Faye was marrying me for me. If I'd realized it was for mymoney, I'd have insisted on an ironclad pre-nup." Steve waved hishands around his office. "I barely graduated high school andstarted out as an apprentice on the shop floor. Now I own a bunchof shops with plans to franchise more nationwide as well as takingover another business that's got the locations but not themanagement. I've made a lot of money, and I stand to make more, andI've been smart with my assets. I own this businessentirely."

---