I didn’t know why it bothered me. But Molly and Paul acted like it was beneath them to hang out with me and Greg ... and here they were, taking Roger and Darlene and their brood out. I’d bet Paul didn’t consider asking Roger to foot half the bill. And with five kids, their share would’ve been more than half.
“Did you know Paul split from Mrs. Jensen?”
“Yes, I’ve heard something about it.”
“My daddy said we barely eked out a free meal.” She giggled. “Paul told me it was like good riddance to bad rubbish. He was glad to get rid of Mrs. Jensen.”
“Is that right? When did they split up?”
“Hmm. I can’t remember. They were together as a couple two Saturdays ago, you know, when Paul took us out to dinner. Paul sat by me,” she emphasized, though she’d already mentioned it before.
Funny, it was “Paul,” and “Mrs. Jensen.” She obviously had a crush on Paul Jensen. “Have you talked to him since that Saturday?”
A lot of silence passed between us before she finally answered, “No.”
Not for one minute did I believe Darlene didn’t remember much about Roland N. Doe. And for certain Ellen was lying. After all, if they went to dinner two Saturdays ago and Paul and Molly had parted ways since then, when would Paul have told Ellen it was good riddance to bad rubbish?
◆◆◆
My mind raced on the drive back to Mother’s. There were some things that didn’t add up. Molly must’ve suspected Paul’s infidelity more than a week ago, assuming she was the one who dumped the love nest contents at Twice Blessed. Of course, this needed to be verified. Equally, Paul must’ve known she had found out something and he cut off her bank account because it was the day before when Molly’s check wouldn’t clear her grocery purchases. However, when I paid for Molly’s groceries, she hadn’t said anything to me about her and Paul having split up. I wondered if they stayed a few days together, portraying themselves as stable for the sake of Sarah and then all hell must’ve broken loose. But even so, more curious in this scenario was that it sounded like Ellen had recently talked to Paul. Why would that be?
Unfortunately, Paul and Molly had nothing to do with Greg. That was their marriage falling apart. I had my own much bigger worries. Beginning tomorrow, I needed to plan Greg’s funeral, which meant I needed to call Jordan Hughes to cover for me.
I wanted to tell Jordan that I needed to talk to the police, that my husband was dead, and funeral arrangements were necessary. And this was all assuming I wasn’t arrested in the meantime. But I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. Instead, it came out downplayed. “Jordan? Sorry to call so late. Something has come up. Is there any way for you to cover for me tomorrow?”
Of course, she couldn’t possibly know the gravity of my situation and in a calm voice she answered, “Emily, I have to take Hannah to the doctor in the morning. Her appointment is at ten. Would it be possible for you to go in for a few hours and then I’ll be glad to relieve you?”
I assumed the police would be questioning me before long and I needed to plan a service for Greg. Unfortunately, I really needed this job and didn’t want to risk losing it. In fact, I would need to accept the full-time position once Jordan became a Trustee. It didn’t look good to be asking for time off right now, especially to be questioned by the police in connection to my husband’s murder. Hopefully, I could persuade the police to interview me in the afternoon.
“Yes, I believe I can do that. Thank you.”
As soon as I hung up from Jordan, I called Mother. “Mom—”
“Emily, are you on your way home?” she asked cutting me off.
“Yes, I—”
“Then hurry up. We have something we need to discuss.”
◆◆◆
My foot pressed on the gas and I disobeyed the speed limit. My heart was pounding inside my chest and threatening to break a rib. My mother had told me to get home now and then she’d hung up on me. I knew something terrible had to be wrong. But could it get any worse than my husband having been murdered in a dive hotel?
“Mom, what is it,” I screeched out as soon as I threw the door open.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.”
“Where’s Ava?” I panicked looking around for my daughter.
“She’s already put to bed. She’s fine ... I hope.”
“What do you mean, you hope?” I was about to have a panic attack. Following her into the living room, she flopped on the couch and Piper jumped up in her lap. I sat on the edge of the love seat, my nerves on pins and needles. “Mother talk to me,” I urged in a high-pitched voice, one nearing hysterics.
My mom took a bunch of deep breaths. “Okay, you know how for the last few months Ava has demanded that we sit with her while she takes a bath?”
“Yes,” I answered, keeping my response short because I wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Oh Lord,” she murmured. “Tonight, when she was taking a bath, she remarked being glad Mr. Jensen was out of the house and maybe she could stay the night with Sarah again.”
My eyes bulged out, scared to death of where this conversation was going. “What are you saying?”
“Ava said she was taking a bath and Paul Jensen came in and watched her. Dear God. She said he had a banana, or something, in the front of his pants. She said he made her feel weird and creepy.”
“My God,” I uttered. “Did he touch her? What else did she say?”
“That’s all she said, except that she hasn’t been back to Sarah’s since.” My mother dabbed at tears on her cheeks. “Oh, Emily, it’s affected her to the point she hasn’t taken a bath without us standing guard for all these months. She probably needs treatment, especially when you add what happened to her daddy to the situation. She’s a full-blown mess right now.”
“Oh God,” I repeated scared to death that Paul Jensen had touched my daughter and the whole horrid truth was submerged just below the surface.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
(Friday - The Day of Greg’s Scheduled Return)
I spent the night again at Mom’s house. I couldn’t bring myself to go home, especially to a lonely bed. Each time I thought of Greg, one side of me was devastated that I’d never see his beautiful smile again. Of course, the other side was just so angry for what he got himself into. I couldn’t rationalize his behavior in my mind. We hadn’t had any big fights in a long time, other than, of course, our doozy over him leaving for this seminar. Imagine my reaction, had I known he wasn’t on his way to Vegas, but was instead headed to a sordid motel. I would’ve killed him. Oh wait, someone did. When I tried to make light of the situation, it backfired, and I broke down and cried heartbreaking tears until I was too exhausted to keep it up.
Intermittent sleep plagued me all night long. When I dragged myself into the shower, my brain was a muddled mess. Right now, I felt like the worst mother in the world. Ava needed me and I had to go into work. My mother was keeping her home from school today and hopefully she’d sleep late. With any luck at all, Jordan would show up to replace me before Ava woke up. Maybe I’d be able to come back home and cuddle her before the police wanted to question me. Once I talked to them, I’d have a better handle on when his body would be released and then I could plan Greg’s funeral.
On the drive to the bank, it was a feat to keep from doing a turn and heading over to Molly’s house. I wanted to know where Paul was. I wanted to confront him about what he did to my little girl. She was only eight. How could he? As soon as I was off work, I intended to call Liam and let him know what Paul did to Ava. That sleazebag.
Walking through the door, I gave a nod to Dianne Livens. Bailey Hutchins had walked in with me. “Is Fred in?” I asked of Dianne. I needed to speak to the bank manager about taking off work this afternoon. I probably needed to take off tomorrow too, but hated to push my luck. Tomorrow was my alternate Saturday to work until noon.
“He just came in and headed straight for coffee.” She gestured toward the breakroom.
“Ok
ay, thanks.” I went down the hall, past the restrooms and poked my head in the breakroom. “Mr. Jenkins, can I have a moment?”
“Of course,” he said in his friendly way. I watched as he dumped two sugar packets into his steaming hot coffee.
“I was wondering if it would be okay if I took off work this afternoon. It’s ... my daughter.”
Once again, I couldn’t face up to everything that was going on. It was too much for me. When I found a therapist for Ava, I probably need to make my own appointments.
He frowned. “Oh dear, there must be something going around. Jordan was taking Hannah to the doctors today.” He shook his head and added three cream pods to his coffee.
“Jordan said she could cover once she gets out of the doctor’s office with Hannah.”
“Of course, that’ll be fine.” He vigorously stirred his coffee, took a tentative sip and then added another packet of sugar. “I’m not ordering any more of this coffee,” he remarked. “It tastes like crap.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. I really do appreciate it.”
“Any time,” he assured me. “Family first.”
“Thank you,” I repeated and headed back to the front.
The first hour crawled by in slow motion. There were hardly any customers going through the drive-thru and only two people had ventured inside to the counter. My eyes were glued to the clock, waiting for Jordan to show up.
“Bailey, do you mind if we do your quarterly review now,” Mr. Jenkins asked. “It’s seems there’s a lull in activity.”
“Of course, Mr. Jenkins.” Bailey smiled at us and then followed Mr. Jenkins to his office.
The bank did quarterly reviews on each of the employees. It was a survey on how we liked our job, how it could be better, were we happy, how could we be happier. It was something Mr. Jenkins did, though I really thought it served no purpose. But he was the bank president and my boss, so I always told him I loved my job and couldn’t be happier.
“Thank you and have a nice day,” I said as I wrapped up a drive-thru customer making a small deposit.
Dianne was maintaining the commercial lane when someone drove up with a stack of checks to be deposited. She was going to be busy for a while. “Lucky me,” she sneered when she pulled the wad out of the tube.
Being a teller, I had access to our clients’ bank balances and if a customer inquired about the status of their account, I was authorized to provide them with the information. But it was against bank policy to snoop on my own into customers’ finances. Doing so could get me fired. Even so, I couldn’t stop myself from looking up Molly and Paul Jensen’s bank dossier. My hands flew over the computer keys, praying that Dianne didn’t notice me doing anything. If she asked, I was going to tell her I was checking my own account. But it would be better if she stayed busy.
Within a few minutes, I was able to confirm what I had already thought. Paul and Molly only maintained a couple of small checking accounts. Opening each account, I noticed Paul had transferred five thousand from Molly’s account into his, leaving hers with only a few dollars. Then he had wire transferred his account to another bank. No wonder she didn’t have enough funds to pay for her groceries.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Dianne was still busy and Bailey wasn’t back yet. Glancing back at the Jensen’s portfolio, I noticed an old account. It was closed now, but the bank still maintained a record of it. Opening it up, I peered at the ledger. The account looked to be an old investment account that was closed back in January. The closing amount was approximately ten million dollars. It wasn’t a direct transfer to another institution so there wasn’t any way for me to know where the funds were moved to. Paul was an investment broker though, so he may have invested it in one of his get-rich investments, according to him.
Just as I was about to close out their information, I saw that Sarah had an account. My first assumption was the Jensen’s had set up a college fund for their daughter as many parents did. But when I looked at the entries, I noticed it was recently established by Molly and only Molly had access to it. The initial deposit was six million dollars. Some college fund! And she did it the next day after her check fiasco at the grocery store. She must have been diverting money in anticipation of kicking Paul out of the house. It was also the same day the expensive goods showed up at Twice Blessed. I’d say Molly had an exceptionally busy day that day.
“Well, that took forever,” Dianne complained.
“Sorry,” I apologized knowing it could’ve just as easily been me getting stuck with the deposit.
Jordan’s car flew past the front glass windows and came to an abrupt stop in one of the employee parking spaces. A second later she was through the door. “Hey Emily,” she said on approach. “I got here as soon as I could. I hope you weren’t too inconvenienced.”
“No, not at all. How’s Hannah?”
“Tonsillitis,” she moaned. “My mother is keeping her.”
“I’m sorry. I feel bad that your daughter is sick and I’m asking you to work in my place.” I gave her a genuine sad look. “I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t really important.”
“I know that. You’re extremely reliable. Besides, it’s only half a day now anyway.”
“Thank you, Jordan. I really do appreciate it.”
◆◆◆
“She’s still in bed,” my mother told me as soon as she greeted me back at her house. “She doesn’t want to come out of her room. She says she wants to stay in there until she rots.”
I frowned. “Okay, I’ll go up and check on her.”
For the next hour, I did nothing but hold Ava while we cried together. She was so upset about losing her dad. And I was so upset about losing my husband. We were both basket cases. I feared she was under too much stress to pry about Paul Jensen watching her take a bath, so I kept my lips sealed and let her grieve the loss of her father.
Eventually she was the one who mentioned it. “Did Gigi tell you about Sarah’s dad?”
“Yes, honey, she did.” I pulled her back and looked into her eyes. “Anytime someone makes you feel uncomfortable, I won’t you to know you can always tell me. I might not be able to make it right, but I can try.”
“I know. I knew I should’ve said something, but I just couldn’t. It was ... embarrassing.” She let out a pitiful sigh.
“Yes, it is. You’re too grown up now for a man to be in the same room with you. Paul shouldn’t have been in there.”
“I know,” she said in a low voice. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Honey, I’m not fussing at you. Paul’s the one who did something bad. Not you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She began crying again. “Yes, I did.” Her crying became a horrific howling noise that not only broke my heart, but it also scared me to death.
“What do you mean, honey?”
“He wanted me to ... he ... he made me...” She wailed loudly. “I can’t say it.”
My heart was thundering. “Did he touch you sweetheart? You can tell Mommy anything and I’ll know you didn’t do anything wrong. I promise.”
She buried her face in my chest and cried out, “He made me ... let him dry me off. I didn’t want him to. He just insisted. Oh, Momma, I’m so sorry.”
I was going to kill Paul Jensen. “Baby, you did the right thing by telling me. Paul’s an adult and he knows he shouldn’t be doing that. You didn’t do anything wrong. This is not your fault.” I pulled her tight against me, feeling the vibrations coming from her pounding heart. “Did he do anything else?” I dared ask.
“No, but Momma, he really dried me off ... everywhere. I hated it. I’m sorry.”
“Oh baby, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. I want you to know I’m so very proud of you for sharing with me. It took a lot of nerve to say that. I’m just so proud of you,” I praised again. “And Ava, I want you to know that I love you all the more because you told me.”
While I calmly held Ava in my arms and inhaled the delicious
smell of her strawberry-scented hair, I was fighting the urge to track Paul down and castrate him. All I could think about was Ellen going on about Paul noticing how hot she looked. Paul had a problem, and I intended to report him.
Ava and I finally pulled ourselves together enough to join Mom in a light lunch. Tuna salad sandwiches and chips, which I aimlessly swallowed. My mind was traveling down a thousand roads right now. All the way from who was that damn bitch in bed with my husband, to what I wanted to do to Paul Jensen because of what he did to Ava. When my phone rang, it startled me so bad, I dropped a chip on the floor and almost knocked over my tea glass.
After glancing at the ID, I frowned in the direction of my mother. “It’s coming across as the Fort Worth PD.”
My mom glanced at Ava. “Take it in the other room.”
I nodded and on my way into the living room, I accepted the call. “This is Emily Mills.”
“Emily, this is Detective Tanner Sutton. I’m a detective with the Fort Worth Police Department. We’d like to talk to you. We were hoping you’d come down to the police station ... just for a little chat.”
He made it sound so casual, like I had nothing to worry about. “Yes, of course. I have an errand to run. Can you give me a couple of hours?”
“Yes, but don’t keep me waiting ... you understand?”
Now, he’d made it sound so serious. “I’ll be there.”
◆◆◆
My errand was straight to Lucas because I wasn’t about to be questioned by the police without an attorney present. And if he told me to keep my mouth completely closed, I’d do that too. Thank goodness he was just finishing up with a client when I arrived.
“Twice in one week,” he joked when I entered his office. “Kay’s going to think we’re seeing each other.” He chuckled. Then just as quickly he put on a serious face. “I’m assuming this is about the other day ... when you told me you were in trouble but couldn’t discuss the situation with me.”
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