I watched him open the file and read over it, shifting in my chair when the silence stretched again. Maybe he was here to intimidate me after all.
“What is your relationship with Jim Turner?” he asked, and I sighed in relief. I’d been one nervous inhale from passing out.
Okay, that was an easy question I should be able to answer without making them think I was a criminal.
“We used to be in a relationship, and he’s the father of my children.”
More silence, the sound of more pages turning. “When did your relationship end?”
“Two years ago.”
“Isn’t your daughter only two?”
I clasped my hands in my lap, then released them again. “He took off before she was born.”
He looked at me for the first time since coming into the room, his gray eyes wandering over my face. “Have you spoken to him since you broke up?”
I put my hands on the table, palms down. “A few times.”
“What about?”
“Child support. Visitation. The Darth Vader helmet he left at my house and I sold on eBay.”
Agent Jenkins tilted his head, looking more interested than before. “Why did you break up?”
I hugged my arms around my body. “Various reasons.”
“I need more than that,” he said, his focus now solely on me, papers lying forgotten on the table.
“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” I said, not wanting to dig up things I’d rather forget.
“It is very relevant since I need to know if you parted on good terms and would be willing to help him move drugs.”
“Drugs? Is that what you arrested him for?”
Why am I not surprised?
“Among other things. Now, if you’d please answer the question.”
I looked at my lap, hoping this would all be over soon. “He stuck his wick in someone who wasn’t me on our coffee table and then took off with all our money.”
Money I’d worked hard for. Money I needed so I could take a few weeks off after Lena’s birth. Money that made the difference between us having a roof over our head and living on the street.
I’d been lucky I had my virtual assistant job already back then and could keep working. It was hell on earth working with a newborn and toddler in the house, but we made it out the other side. And now it had all happened again and I only had myself to blame. At least this time he didn’t take all my money.
“If you think I’d ever help that sorry mother puffer, you’re delusional. I hate him with the heat of a thousand suns and hope he burns in hell,” I said, looking directly at Agent Jenkins.
“Is there any record of Mr. Turner moving out?” he asked, not impressed by my passionate declaration.
“My name was the only one on the lease.”
Something that should have made me realize right away that he didn’t plan on sticking around, even back then. But he said it was easier that way. Of course it was if he was planning on leaving all along.
“But if you want to check my story, look up his marriage certificate. He got married three weeks after he left me.”
It was also three days before Lena’s birth. I didn’t find out until almost a year later, when I finally tracked him down and his wife answered the phone. She didn’t even know I existed. They didn’t last, and I couldn’t say I didn’t feel some sense of satisfaction when I heard she left him for someone else.
“I think that’s all I need for now. Don’t leave the state, and be available in case we need you to come back in.”
