“What my partner is saying,” Troy remained calm, nodding to Knight that he would take over from here, “is that from everything we can find out about Mindy, she appears to be a fine, upstanding Christian citizen. Are there any indiscretions you can tell us? As her best friend, you would likely know information about her that we couldn’t uncover by speaking with anyone else. If there is something, you need to tell us. It would help tremendously.”
“Well…she is going to kill me if she finds out that I told you this.”
“And she might get killed if you don’t,” huffed Jon.
“Mindy recently found out she is pregnant.”
A pregnant single woman certainly fit into Troy’s theory about why the women were being targeted. Could it go even deeper? “Was she planning to have an abortion?”
“Absolutely not! She would never consider such a thing. It violated her beliefs. I know it seems like an oxymoron—a Sunday school teacher getting pregnant out of wedlock—but I believe Mindy really did love God. She had a deep need to be loved and lost all wisdom when it came to men. She kept meeting these jerks online. In two years, she’d gotten involved with two married men. One stood her up when they were supposed to meet and the other got her pregnant.”
Troy knew he was on to something now for sure. Even Jon was starting to give credence to his theory. The two looked at each other, sharing an ah hah moment.
“In her defense, she did think he was single. He didn’t tell her about his wife and kids until after she told him she was pregnant. Mindy was devastated. She’d thought he was the one. I know she wasn’t necessarily living right, but Mindy is a good woman. If she wasn’t so insecure about being single, I don’t think she would have ever been so vulnerable to these jerks she kept meeting.”
“Do you know the name of her child’s father?”
“Yes, I do. Excuse me for a moment.” Sophie Lang went around the corner, probably to another green-painted room, and came back moments later with a Post-It note. “I don’t know where he lives, but this is his name and cell phone number. Mindy called me from his phone one day when her battery died. I never told her I kept the number. I don’t even know why I did. I guess part of me always knew something would eventually go wrong with their relationship because of the circumstances. I’ve spoken with him since Mindy disappeared, but I wasn’t going to say anything about him because I honestly don’t think he had anything to do with it.”
“Let us determine that.” When Troy looked at the name and number on that piece of paper, he knew that he’d stepped in between a rock and a hard place.
CHAPTER 17: A STICKY SITUATION
Natalie made it to Aneetra’s house within forty minutes of their phone conversation. The front door was unlocked so she walked in, calling out her name.
“I’m in here,” Aneetra yelled from her bedroom.
Natalie found her sitting at the edge of her canopy bed, sheets crumpled, surrounded by soaked tissue. Her reddened eyes and swollen cheeks bore witness to her troubles. “Oh honey!” Natalie hugged her tight. The drawn shades added an extra measure of gloom.
Aneetra relaxed in her arms, trembling as she cried. “I don’t understand why God allowed this to happen. It’s so unfair.”
“I know, honey.” Natalie’s heart ached with a level of sympathy she’d never felt for anyone else before.
“I tried so hard to be a good wife. Why wasn’t my best good enough? He has a wife and children and has to have a tramp, too? What kind of woman goes after a married man???”
Ouch! She knew Aneetra wasn’t intentionally taking a shot at her character, but it still hurt. Natalie had done some low down stuff in her past. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. Natalie silently repeated 2 Corinthians 5:17, one of the scriptures she’d memorized after she got saved, which she’d used to encourage herself during times of insecurity. Though she had no doubt that she’d been for given of her sins, at times feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy would still pop up.
Upon learning that Aneetra hadn’t eaten since their lunch in the conference room yesterday, Natalie tried to get her out of the house. “I don’t have the energy to go anywhere.”
Natalie was able to convince her to at least eat something. She scavenged through Aneetra’s kitchen, finally settling on a frozen dinner that Aneetra ultimately let go to waste. Natalie had planned to stay with her friend for as long as she was needed, but she would have to leave to get Nate by six o’clock or the preschool would slap her with a three-dollar-per-minute late fee. She had texted Troy to see if he would get off in time to pick up Nate, but so far she’d gotten no response. And he wants another baby! Times like this are when Corrine’s presence was missed greatly. She’d often picked up the slack. Natalie was about to ask Aneetra if she would mind her bringing back Nate when the front door slammed.
Marcus slowly walked into the bedroom. Beads of sweat rested on his bald head. His countenance was of a man who’d been given the death penalty. “I’ll be out of y’alls way in a minute.” His deep voice was painful and soft.
Natalie almost felt sorry for him. One glance at Aneetra reminded her of the real victim in this scenario. Aneetra stared at him, Natalie stared at Aneetra, and Marcus refused to look their way. He walked into their closet, grabbed a T-shirt and as he made his way out the room, Aneetra spoke. “Get lipstick on your clothes?”
Marcus turned to face her, pointing to a darkened stain on his shirt. “It’s not lipstick; it’s ketchup. I would like to change my shirt without any drama.”
“There wouldn’t be any drama if you weren’t out there screwing around.”
“Yes, I messed up, Aneetra, but life happens. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m hurting, too. Quit thinking that you’re the only one suffering here!”
Aneetra got in his face. “Yeah, I’m sure it really broke your heart getting some from both your wife and mistress. I hope whatever she gave you was good because you’ve destroyed our entire marriage because of it!”
“You think the affair ruined our marriage? We’ve been messed up for a long time, but you’ve been too busy with your head up in the clouds to see that!”
“Oh, so this is my fault!”
Unsure of what to do, but no doubt feeling like a third wheel, Natalie crept out the room. Her standing there seemed so invasive though she could still hear everything they were saying to each other from the living room. She hated to leave Aneetra in the event that Marcus stormed out on her again, but she really had to go get Nate and there was no way she could bring him back here now. If this was how things were last night, no wonder Aneetra had had Lynn pick up her girls.
“It’s freakin’ ketchup for goodness’ sake!”
“For all I know it could be anything! You’ve proven to be a liar!”
Natalie sent Aneetra a quick text apologizing for leaving and saying that she’d check on her later. The sound of the doorbell hadn’t been enough to interrupt the couple’s shouts. Natalie tried to lay low for a second, hoping whoever it was would go away, but the person was persistent. She would have to get rid of them however she could because she needed to go get her son. “Troy! What are you doing here?”
“Working. And you?”
“I came over because Aneetra was upset and I didn’t want her to be by herself.”
“You’re a cheating idiot!”
“And you’re too demanding!”
“Doesn’t sound like she’s alone now. You don’t need to hang around here while they are arguing like that. You’re putting yourself in harm’s way.”
Annoyed, Natalie frowned at him. “She just found out he was cheating on her. Do you seriously expect her not to be upset?” She noticed a figure across the street sitting in a truck. “What is Jon doing here? Better yet, you never explained why you are here.”
“Natalie, we have ourselves a real sticky situation here. I suggest you go get Nate and call and check on Aneetra later. Right no
w, I need to speak with Marcus.”
“About what?” She stopped Troy as he began to push his way into the door.
“Official police business. Go home! I’ll talk to you later.”
“Troy—”
“Leave, Natalie. Now!”
Natalie wanted to challenge him. Tell him that he better not ever speak to her like that again—that he could have responded to her text message—that simply because he was a detective, he didn’t have the right to boss her around like some ordinary citizen; she was his wife and, police work or not, he’d better remember that. There was a whole bunch that she could say to him and that she probably would say to him at a later time. Right now, she knew better. As upset as she was with Troy, she knew how dedicated he was to his job and she saw his determination to enter the Bennett home. If she continued to protest, she could see her husband slapping handcuffs on her wrists to get her out the way. She saw it in his eyes. It was like the look she gave Nate when he had gotten on her nerves one too many times. Natalie pushed past him without saying another word. She hopped in her tweener and headed to the preschool, already late, hoping the light rain didn’t slow down traffic too much.
CHAPTER 18: CONFLICT OF INTEREST
By the time Natalie got to the center, she had racked up a hundred and twenty dollars in late fees, which had to be paid before Nate would be allowed back at school. They didn’t take checks so Natalie would have to leave a little early tomorrow in order to have time to stop at the ATM before work. The staff members, who were generally very pleasant to her, were visibly irritated. Nate was the last child left. His bag was already packed and sitting on the table beside him where he had fallen asleep.
Natalie almost regretted waking him because he did nothing but whine all the way home. The pit stop at Wendy’s to pick up dinner didn’t change his temperament. He cried as he ate. His nuggets were too hot, they weren’t hot enough, a French fry fell on the floor, yadda, yadda, yadda. Natalie exhibited as much patience with him as she could, considering her own emotional state wasn’t that great. She quickly gave Nate a bath and got him into bed. She tried to say prayers with him, but he cried all the way through and she gave up. Her mind was so jumbled she didn’t have clarity with saying her own prayers. She lay on the bed, deep in thought.
8:37 p.m. Troy still wasn’t home and no word from Aneetra. Maybe Troy wanted to talk to Marcus man-to-man about marriage. Nice thought, but far-fetched. Troy and Marcus didn’t spend time together unless Aneetra and Natalie dragged them to a couple’s outing. They got along well enough, but they never seemed to really click. They seemed to simply tolerate each other for the sake of their wives. Troy wouldn’t take the liberty to talk to Marcus about something so personal. Besides, in his own words, he was “working.”
Troy’s biggest case was the murdered women. How was Marcus connected? Maybe he was questioning Marcus about another case. No, all of his other cases had been delegated so he could focus solely on this one. The fact that he was questioning Marcus at all was unsettling. Anxiety overwhelmed her so much that she found herself calling both Troy and Aneetra, but neither answered.
To have so many questions and no answers was nerve-wracking. It would have been nice if, when her phone rang, it was either Troy or Aneetra calling her back, but from the caller-specific ring tones she’d programmed, she knew it was Corrine. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Nat. Is Nate still up?”
“Nope. He’s knocked out. He was really whiny tonight.”
“Aww. I’m going to call him tomorrow and wish him a happy birthday. I miss my little bud. I can’t wait until his party.”
“I hope you’re not still planning to ask your lover to come with you,” she did not try to mask her sarcasm.
“Yes, I am. And please don’t refer to him as my lover. He’s my boyfriend.”
“He’s someone’s husband.”
Her daughter sighed. “It’s unfair for you to judge him without even knowing anything about him.”
“I don’t want to meet him. I’m sort of offended that you are so lax with bringing a married man around me. Would you be taking him to Toni’s house?”
“No. What’s your point?”
“That you are not respecting me. I may not be that much older than you, but I still deserve your respect.”
“I wouldn’t take him to my mom’s house because I know how she’d be. She never gives people a chance because she’s too busy judging them from jump. I told you because we’ve always been able to keep it real with each other. I’m not trying to disrespect you, but I don’t want to keep secrets from you, either. I know you’re my birth mom, but for real, Nat, you’re also my best friend and big sister all in one. I don’t need you to approve of me dating him. I love him and he loves me and we’re going to be together no matter what you or anyone else thinks about our relationship. You act all righteous, but you’ve dated married men before.”
“And it didn’t work out.”
“Okay. That was your situation. Let me make my own mistakes, if this is a mistake. My point is that you are fine. You’re happily married to Troy and you got there because you had something to compare your experience with him to.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt. I also don’t want you participating in the destruction of anyone’s marriage.”
“He’s not happy.”
“If his marriage is falling apart, let it happen without your participation. This is wrong, Corrine, on so many levels.”
“I feel what you’re saying, but—”
“Hold on a sec. Troy is beeping in.” Natalie clicked over. “Hey, where are you?”
“Sorry I missed your call. I saw where you had texted me earlier about getting Nate. Anyhow, don’t wait up for me. I got called to a murder scene.”
“Hang on, let me get Corrine off the other line.” Natalie promised to call Corrine back after she finished speaking with Troy, but Corrine didn’t seem interested in continuing the conversation. She said she’d call Nate tomorrow. “Okay, I’m back.”
“You could have stayed on the phone.”
“No, that’s okay. We were bumping heads about this married dude she’s dating anyhow. Why did you need to talk to Marcus?”
“Babe, I can’t get into that. I only wanted to check in and tell you what’s going on tonight.”
“Why is it you can tell me other things, but when I start asking questions, all of a sudden everything is off-limits?”
“There’s clearly a conflict of interest here. I’m not going to tell you anything that could possibly jeopardize my case. I also don’t want you going back over there until things calm down.”
“You can’t tell me what to do. If Aneetra needs me, I’ll be there for her.”
“You can be there for her without being at her house. Jon and I literally had to break up a fight between them.”
“Did you arrest Marcus for domestic violence?”
“Marcus wasn’t the one doing the hitting.”
“You arrested Aneetra?!?!”
“No. We didn’t arrest anyone. All I’m saying is that emotions are very high around there and you need to stay away from the house—not Aneetra—until further notice. I don’t want you caught in the crossfire.”
“Point noted, but not necessarily taken to heart.”
“All right, Natalie, I don’t have time to do this with you right now. I have to go. I don’t know what time I’ll be home, but I’ll be there as soon as I can. Please make sure the alarm is on. Last night when I came in all the exterior points of entry were left unsecured.”
“O-kaayy.” Sometimes she hated his overprotectiveness, but it did creep her out a little being in a big silent house alone while her husband was out looking for a serial killer. The exterior alarm was on, but she got out of bed and turned on the motion sensor downstairs as well. Better safe than sorry.
CHAPTER 19: ALL AN ACT
Corrine hung up feeling stressed. She hated the friction between her and Natalie. It
hurt knowing that Natalie was disappointed in her, but she hoped she’d eventually come around. Sure, technically, she and Brent had no business crossing the line, but it wasn’t as if they’d planned this. Working so closely together, they’d started out as friends and it evolved from there.
She stared out the window of the downtown Sheraton on East North Water Street where she would be staying for the duration of her business trip. Her room faced Navy Pier and overlooked Lake Michigan. Butterflies tickled her stomach as she recalled being at the top of the Ferris wheel earlier that afternoon.
“You okay?” Brent walked in, carrying hors d’oeuvres he’d gotten from the hotel club lounge.
“Yeah.” She decided not to tell him about her conversation with Natalie.
“You have to taste this. It’s really good.”
He handed her a toothpick with lettuce, meat, and melted cheese. It looked like chicken salad on a stick, but it tasted so much better. “This is good.”
“I should’ve asked the lady what it’s called so I can have Hannah look it up and make it.”
The mention of his wife’s name caused her second bite to get stuck in the middle of her throat. “Do you think she would? I mean, with her being so distant toward you and all?’
“Oh, yeah, you’re right. Then maybe you can make it for me.” He scooped her up and led her to the bed where they fell on top of the comforter. “Something’s wrong. I can tell. Spill it,” he said while nibbling her neck.
“Natalie says that I’m contributing to the destruction of your marriage.”
“Well, that goes to show that she doesn’t know everything because Hannah and I are married by name only. I’ve told you plenty of times before that it’s over between us. It was over long before I met you.”
“When are you filing for divorce?”
He sighed, heavily, lying back on the pillow. “How many times must I tell you that I can’t file for divorce until our youngest starts kindergarten? Hannah is not working and if I divorce her now, it will screw my son up. She’s been his primary caretaker the only two years of his life.”
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