I’m sure all of us have been tricked or duped by someone in our lives who wore a mask of sanity. Maybe this person wanted to gain something you had. Your affections, your confidence, your trust, simply to use those items gained, only to use them against you. Some may have more sinister reasons than others. I think to a certain extent we all do this. Take for instance all the “first dates”. Of course on a first date you’re not going to unzip your pants after the meal (well some of you might)… Maybe I should have said top button… You’re not going to say you find it comforting to pull fistfuls of your hair out when no one’s watching cuz that would really be laying it on too thick. There is nothing wrong with a sane amount of mystery and appropriateness in situations where first impressions make or break you.

I’m more talking about a con artist type of person ..I’ll give you a for instance. I believe I have mentioned before that I am obsessed with real life murder mysteries. I just finished watching a doozie on 48 Hours; the episode was called “A Knock on the Door”.  The story began 30 years ago in Olathe, Kansas; A love triangle among extremely conservative Nazarene Christian’s. The wife, Melinda Harmon said it was a home invasion involving a couple of black dudes (how cliché.)  She told police at the time that two strangers beat her husband, David Harmon, beyond recognition after breaking in around 2am. She claims they wanted her husband’s bank keys since he worked at a bank. During the scuffle she claimed she was knocked out for over an hour and once she came to she ran to the neighbors to call 911. The next call she had her neighbor make was to her husband’s best friend, Mark Mangelsdorf.  In all actuality he was there before police arrived since he was really the one who beat his best friend to death as he lay sleeping in his bed. Apparently Melinda and Mark were having an emotional love affair and they were so conservative in their religious beliefs that murder seemed like a far better choice than divorce.

This poor David Harmon obviously didn’t see this coming, otherwise he would’ve been sleeping with one eye open and his glock under his pillow. Mark, his best friend and Melinda, his wife were wearing such an amazing mask of sanity that Harmon was wiped off the face of the Earth before he could even question whether they were having an affair.

25 years later, they are finally paying the consequences for the masquerade game they played for so many years. The gig is up and even though they went on, albeit separate from one another, to lead quite successful lives, justice eventually caught up with each of them and pulled them out of their respective million dollar homes and from the arms of their “perfect family”.

Obviously, none of us will have a story as good as David’s.. or as bad for that matter since we are able to tell it. I would like to hear from my readers. Please tell me about the best mask that someone has used on you.. I will share mine tomorrow.