Secrets and Lies - 6. Gregory Parker (Fair Enough)

Gregory Parker

(Fair Enough)

What the hell was I supposed to do? Murder was not an option. Or rather, it would have been my last resort.

Gregory Parker was fifty-two years of age. He was well-off and he was a man who showed he was wealthy. His clothes were elegant, he had a large mansion, he owned several companies, and his five cars were expensive. The marriage with Gloria had added to his wealth. He had married the woman two years ago. Gloria Parker was twenty-six years of age. It was said that the two of them had arranged a deal. I had understood that it was all about money. It was said that Gregory Parker and his wife lived separate lives. I found that in fact they did not make a good couple.

While Gregory Parker was a distinguished man, his wife was a chatterbox. I had invited the two of them several times and I had heard her talk at dinner. The woman blathered and only talked nonsense. I found that she was an example of ignorance and stupidity. People usually ignored Gloria Parker’s embarrassing and painful chatter. Gloria, however, seemed not to realize that people ignored her and considered her a bother. She mindlessly prattled on all evening long. I wondered why Gregory Parker had married her. The woman was a pain and a curse. Gregory Parker had always been well-off. I doubted that the man had been in need of money.

I met up with him for lunch one day in August last year. He confided in me that day. His confession struck me. I had not seen it coming.

I don’t remember exactly why I confided in Jayden T. Baxter that day in August last year. I had not planned it. It just happened. I needed someone to talk to because I was in a desperate state.

We had a lively conversation and I was surprised to find that Gregory Parker was interested in poems. I myself had never really been interested in poetry and poetry had never been a topic of conversations in my house. At least, I did not remember. Or maybe I had just never paid attention. I don’t remember how the conversation turned to poetry. Anyway, I told Gregory of the line of a poem that I had read on the internet: ‘I will follow you with the hatred of a thousand dying suns’. The line had caught my attention. ‘With the hatred of a thousand dying suns’. I found the term was truly powerful, epic, frightening, and awe-inspiring. I could not really explain why the words spoke to me. Anyway, they spoke to Gregory as well.

The words instantly spoke to me. I could relate to them. They expressed my very mood. My guard went down. I felt the need to confide my predicament in Jayden.

Silence fell when I had finished the sentence. The atmosphere in the room was suddenly tense and the threatening words lingered in the air. Gregory’s face had turned ashen and his shoulder’s had slumped. I gazed at him. I felt bewildered at this turn of events. Gregory’s face and his entire appearance had totally changed. The self-assured man had turned into a broken man from one second to the other. I was feeling at a loss. I had not the slightest idea of what was going on. I leaned back in my chair and my eyes rested on Gregory’s ashen face.

I blurted out the truth and I couldn’t stop until I had told him all. I told Jayden that Gloria had blackmailed me into the marriage and that she constantly kept up her threats. Everybody thought that I had married her for her money. But this was not the truth.

Actually, my wife was not wealthy. She had inherited a certain amount from her parents, but she had almost no money left when she approached me. She was used to a life of dissipation and she was not willing to put an end to it. She came up with a solution to her problem that perhaps was natural for a woman like her. She sought to marry a wealthy man. However, she was not a first-class woman. Gloria lacked intelligence and charm, she lacked looks and wits. Her efforts were fruitless. No wealthy man cast an eye at her. And so she changed her approach.

I don’t know exactly how she found out about my secret. But she did and then she approached me. She blackmailed me. I saw my life ruined and I saw me burn at the stake. So I agreed. I married her. I could have coped with the fact that she lived on my money. But she wanted more and more.

Is there a way to effectively bribe someone to silence? Don’t think you pay them once and then they will keep silent forever. They come again and again and they want more and more. I thought I would be able to control her when I married her. But I was a fool. She made me bleed and she would bleed me to death. I didn’t know how to get rid of her. What the hell was I supposed to do? Murder was not an option. And yet I had already considered it. But it would have been my last resort.

Silence had fallen. I was totally perplexed. What did Gregory expect of me? What was I supposed to do? What did Gloria have on him? His answer revealed his predicament in its entirety.

"I’m not into women. I’m into men," I said when Jayden asked me. We gazed at each other and the words lingered between us. I watched Jayden as the words sank in.

We had known each other for many years and I had not had a single clue. Gregory watched me as the words sank in. I struggled to cope with the truth.

"Throw her out of the house. Declare her insane," I said, but I instantly knew that this would not solve Gregory’s problem. What if Gloria blurted it all out? I understood that Gregory wanted to keep his secret a secret.

I could see that Jayden was totally perplexed. But Jayden T. Baxter is a thinker. I could see that his mind was already working on a solution. He came up with a plan that surprised me.

The plan sounded far-fetched, yet I was sure that it would work out ultimately. It was manipulative and immoral maybe. But the end justified the means, at least under the given circumstances.

I asked Gregory who was into his secret. There was only one man who was, apart from Gloria and Gregory’s former lovers. Gregory had trusted a domestic servant. The man had left years ago. I suspected that Gloria had either tracked the man down or had run into him accidentally. I considered the man the only risk factor, but I trusted Gregory would find a way to deal with him. I told Gregory to find the man and make him leave the town or better the country. I told him to next see two specialists in men’s health issues and get two medical certificates that attested his impotence. Incurable, unfortunately. The next step of the plan was to feed the gossip mill.

What stood between Gregory and his wife? Everybody saw that they did not get along very well. Who had said that Gregory Parker suffered from a certain illness that threatened conjugal fidelity? Was it just a rumor? Maybe. Then again, it would explain Gloria’s reserved and somewhat odd behavior. The young woman, only twenty-six years of age, was confronted with Gregory’s illness. How can a young woman cope with it? The poor woman was to be pitied. We would have the gossip factory work for a while. We would steer it and control it from the background.

When the time was right, Gregory would, with a heavy heart, file a petition for divorce in order to guarantee his wife a better and happier life without him. Should Gloria come up with any accusations or turn to blackmail Gregory again, then, sad to say, we needed to feed the gossip mill again.

What was wrong with the woman? Was the woman heartless? Was she insatiable? Did she want to ruin Gregory who had offered her a life of dissipation and now guaranteed her a future filled with happiness? What was wrong with Gloria? Was it ill nature? Greed? Vengeance? Lack of decency and modesty? Ingratitude? Delusions of grandeur? The options were many.

The plan sounded far-fetched, yet it worked out in the end. Gloria and I were the center of interest for some time until the gossip factory found new stuff to work on. People spoke behind our backs. They pitied me and they pitied her. Gloria was steered in one direction.

I offered Gloria a better life without me in the end. She accepted the divorce and was clever enough to hold her tongue in order to not damage her own reputation. I had no scruples. It was just and reasonable. I thanked Jayden. He had helped me out of my predicament with his manipulative and somewhat immoral plan.

My plan was manipulative and immoral maybe. But it worked out in the end. It released Gregory from a trouble and burden, and Gloria did not really come to harm. It was not exactly a win-win situation, but definitely a satisfactory result that was fair enough.