Odelia was slaving away at her computer as usual, working on some article for the Hampton Cove Gazette, and Dooley and I were resting peacefully in a corner of the office, where Odelia had organized a fun cozy little nook for us to do what we do best: nap!
Suddenly the door to the office opened and a woman entered whom I’d never seen before. She was stylishly dressed, stylishly coiffed, and was also very tall, with long legs clad in nylon stockings under a short black skirt. All in all she reminded me of a model.
Odelia looked up from her computer and gave her new visitor a smile.“Hi, there. What can I do for you?”
“I’m not sure,” said the woman, and laughed an uncertain laugh, then took a seat at the desk. “A friend of mine says you’re the person to see when you find yourself in some kind of big trouble—and I’m definitely in big trouble.”
“What trouble would that be, Mrs…”
“Barn. Erica Barn, though for the last three years I’ve gone through life as Erica Strauss.”
Odelia blinked.“Strauss as in…”
The woman nodded.“I’m Carl Strauss’s wife.”
“He’s a golfer,” I whispered for Dooley’s sake.
“A golfer? You mean like Gran?”
“Exactly like Gran. Though I don’t think Gran is in Carl Strauss’s league. Mr. Strauss is a professional golfer, which means he plays golf for a living.”
“Is he any good?”
“He’s the best. At least when he’s not running around cheating on the woman he happens to be married to at the moment.”
We both turned to Mrs. Erica Barn, who appeared to be the latest Mrs. Strauss—or rather the soon-to-be ex-Mrs. Strauss if I interpreted her words correctly.
“I want to divorce Carl,” said Erica Barn, “only he doesn’t want to.”
“Your husband doesn’t want a divorce?” asked Odelia, obviously surprised.
“He says he still loves me and wants to give our marriage another chance. Only I don’t want to give it another chance. As far as I’m concerned I’ve given it too many chances already, and every time Carl has let me down. So I’ve decided that enough is enough.”
“I think if you really want to divorce Carl there’s nothing he can do to stop you.”
“He can make it very difficult for me,” said Erica, “and that’s exactly what he’s doing. He told me he’ll fight me every inch of the way.”
“Look, if you want out, you get out. It’s that simple. Nobody can force you to stay married against your will.”
“I know, but at what cost? He’ll try and drag my name through the mud. He’s going to destroy my career if I let him. And then he’ll take me to the cleaners and make sure I’m left with absolutely nothing. I’ll leave the marriage with only the clothes on my back.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a model,” said Mrs. Barn. “Only I haven’t modeled since I married Carl, and I’m not getting any younger, so if I want back in, it’s going to be tough going. And with Carl talking every modeling agency into blackballing me, it’s going to be even harder.”
“I see,” said Odelia. “I’m very sorry about that, Mrs. Barn.”
“Erica, please.”
“But I don’t see what you want me to do. I’m a reporter, not a lawyer, so…”
“I know, but I was thinking that maybe you could go and have a word with Carl? Someone needs to get it through that thick skull of his that this marriage is over, and that I’ll never go back.”
“You want me to talk to Carl.”
“Carl is not an unreasonable man. He’s simply surrounded by a lot of unreasonable people. Someone needs to get through to him. Someone who’s on my side.”
“And you want me to be that person for you.” Odelia looked understandably skeptical.
Erica nodded.“Look, I understand that this is a very unusual request, Miss Poole.”
“Just call me Odelia.”
“But frankly I’m desperate. Carl has canceled all my credit cards, he’s cut me off from my own bank account—I’m currently staying at an Airbnb in town, paying with what little cash I have left, but if I don’t go back to work soon I’ll be broke. Only I’m in some kind of limbo right now. The agency that used to employ me also works for Carl—for his line of clothes and his line of footwear. So they don’t want to hire me as long as this divorce thing isn’t settled. You see what kind of predicament I’m in right now? Carl is a very influential person, even in my industry. He’s worked as a celebrity model, and knows all the key people. So I’m persona non grata as long as Carl doesn’t let me go.”
Odelia clearly took pity on the woman, for she nodded.“Where is Carl staying?”
“He has a house near the beach,” said Erica, looking extremely relieved. “Oh, Odelia, you don’t know what this means to me.”
“I can’t promise you I’ll succeed. But I’ll have a word with your husband, and I’ll do my best to convey the message that he needs to accept that the marriage is over.”
“He cheated on me, you know. That’s why I left him. And it wasn’t the first time either. He keeps hooking up with all these different women. I know he thinks I don’t know. That he can do this behind my back. But I know. Of course I know. I mean—everybody knows.”
“He’s not very faithful, is he?”
“No, he’s not. Carl has issues, that’s obvious. It’s like an addiction. He just can’t stop. I confronted him about it, of course. And he promised he’d get help. But he’s made those promises before, and each time he breaks them. And so I think for my own sanity I need to put this behind me, and create as much distance between myself and Carl as possible.” She opened her purse and scribbled something on a piece of paper. “This is Carl’s number, and this is his address. Just tell him I sent you. I’m sure he’ll take your call.”
4
Odelia decided to pop into her boss’s office to have a chat about this interesting new story that had just been thrown into her lap. She gave the door to his office a quick knock and ducked her head in. “You’ll never guess who just came to see me,” she said.
Her aged boss looked up from his computer, his white beard waggling bemusedly.“Erica Barn, also known as Erica Strauss.”
She blinked at the man.“Are you psychic?”
Dan laughed.“Of course I am. Didn’t you know? No, she came in here before I showed her your office. She was looking for the famous Odelia Poole.” He leaned back with a grin on his face. “You’re becoming famous, honey. Which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’m hardly famous, Dan.”
“Tell that to Mrs. Strauss.”
“Who doesn’t want to be Mrs. Strauss anymore,” said Odelia, taking a seat at her editor’s desk. “She’s decided she wants a divorce, and she wants me to help her get it.”
“So now you’re a divorce lawyer, are you?”
“Carl is refusing to grant her the divorce, and Erica hopes I can convince him.”
Dan turned serious.“It’s a fascinating story, but watch your step, my pet.”
“Why? You don’t think Carl is liable to get physical with me, is he?”
“No, but he might sic his horde of lawyers on you. The man is extremely litigious, which is probably why we haven’t seen a lot of stories about his rumored infidelities in our local papers. At least not in this paper, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“You don’t want me to write about the man’s upcoming divorce?”
“Once it’s in its final stages, by all means, but I don’t want to risk the man’s ire by writing a lot of unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo.”
“I’ll make sure to keep it clean,” she promised with a grin.
“We are a family paper, Odelia,” Dan reminded her. “And also, unfortunately we don’t have the money to defend ourselves if Carl Strauss’s expensive lawyers descend on us.”
She was a little surprised by the line Dan was taking.“So what are you saying? I should handle this as a personal matter in my own time, not as a representative for the paper?”