86

THE REST OF THE week went by slowly, and each day Carol Singer waited for the other shoe to drop.

There was no doubt that she and Fiore made love in Room 606. The day after Bruce told her about the tapes, she walked over to the Biltmore to check the location of the room. She recalled that it was not directly on the corridor, but required her to step into an alcove before reaching the door. Carol took an elevator to the seventh floor and walked down the hallway to 706. It was just as she remembered, and Room 506 was in the exact same location, two floors below.

That meant, she realized, that as Bruce continued to listen to the tapes, he would suddenly recognize her voice along with Fiore’s. He would hear her sighs and her moaning with pleasure as the two lovers engaged in whatever it took to satisfy each other. Carol anticipated her husband’s shock and then outrage at the words and sounds burning his ears. It was impossible to avoid vividly picturing the confrontation that would take place between them.

Carol had already mentally rehearsed the response she would give him any number of times. The scene with Bruce permeated her consciousness at all hours of the day or night but it never came out the same way twice. At times she saw herself breaking down and begging for forgiveness. At others she defended herself and blamed him. He was at fault for pushing her into an affair by constantly neglecting her in favor of politics and his law practice. Depending on her mood, there was a different scenario for the inevitable encounter that would occur.

But there was no doubt in her mind that Bruce’s awareness of her infidelity meant the end of their marriage. It troubled her deeply when she considered the total amount of pain she’d inflict on him were he to lose the election to the man who was sleeping with his wife.

Carol was also distressed about the situation with Fiore. She felt betrayed by his carrying on another affair at the same time, one she had no inkling of whatsoever. It forced her to wonder about the kind of man who needed more than one mistress. When they discussed their sexual fantasies one night, he told her that he always wanted to see what it was like to make love to two women at the same time. Carol wondered now whether his becoming a lover to both of them was a prelude to his thinking about bringing both Pat Hanley and herself into bed with him.

She had no idea when Doug’s relationship with Hanley began. She thought that perhaps it was after she stopped seeing him, when he became a candidate for governor. If that’s when it happened, Carol had only herself to blame for giving him that opening. He had every right to believe that their affair was over and that he could look for someone else.

But if he started an affair with another woman, why didn’t he just leave Carol out of his life? Why couldn’t he walk past her in the lobby of the Biltmore that night without saying a word? Why did he stop to speak to her and invite her up to Room 606?

Did she want to have anything more to do with Doug Fiore? Would she meet him again if he called? Carol wasn’t sure of the answer.