Alayna prayed for the hours she spent with Gloria and Warren to pass quickly. She had hoped they would play with the girls, but they seemed content to sit on a bench while she pushed Rosa on the swing. When Emilia and Addison decided they wanted to ride on the roundabout, she sat Rosa between her older sisters’ legs and pushed the disk while she ran alongside them.
“Why don’t I take over for you for a few minutes?” Warren yelled as she trotted by.
She wanted very much to say no thanks and keep going rather than sit with Gloria, but she really had no choice. “Sure.”
“Do you do this every weekend?” Gloria asked.
“Not every weekend, but most Saturday mornings.”
“It’s no wonder you stay so slender.”
Was that a compliment? Her very first from Gloria.
They fell silent, watching Warren propel the roundabout by grasping the metal bars and pushing it along.
“Why are you living in this neighborhood, Alayna?” Gloria asked.
She scanned the park. A black mother pushed her baby in one of the hard plastic seats on the swing. A Latina mother stood protectively at the bottom of the slide ladder while her son climbed it, then rushed around to the bottom as the boy sat down and prepared to slide down.
“It’s not affluent, but I’ve never heard of any drive-bys or assaults, and truthfully, it’s the only neighborhood I can afford.”
“But surely Aaron gave you money for the girls.”
“Five hundred a month, which was what the court mandated. I usually save it for emergencies. The police froze the account and confiscated what was in it a few days ago. They said they were investigating where the money came from.”
The woman’s searching look had her counting to ten. “I’ll show you the paperwork of the custody and support agreement, but it’s a matter of public record.”
“I would have thought a judge would have placed the amount of support high enough that you could at least live in a better apartment.”
“Aaron’s lawyer saw to it he didn’t.”
“You asked for spousal support, didn’t you?”
“No. I didn’t want his money, Gloria.” She’d just wanted him to move on with his life and leave her alone. She’d taken the child support for the girls in case they needed medical or dental care, but she wouldn’t be beholden to someone who hated her for anything.
When Gloria continued to eye her, she drew a deep breath. “I’ll gladly show you the paperwork so you’ll know I’m not lying.”
“That won’t be necessary. It’s just …”
“Aaron told you I was taking him to the cleaners and led you to believe I’m an unfit mother who didn’t deserve to give birth to the children, let alone have custody.”
“He did say your demands were making it difficult for him.”
“Only because he refused to pay the children’s support on time. When he was three months behind, I took him to court to get it. That’s a matter of public record too.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “He resented having to give the money to me.”
Gloria fell silent. “Why would he lie about something like that?”
“He’s upset because our marriage didn’t work out, and he wants to cut me out of his life, but as long as I have the children he can’t do it. He thought if he made enough noise in court, the judge would see things his way. But the thing is…I always put the children first. Ahead of myself. Ahead of everything.”
It had been her experience that men rarely put anyone ahead of themselves. They believed they were more important than anyone else.
The way Bowie acted the night before, after such wonderful lovemaking, gave her heart a twist. His need to know what had caused her to leave before was understandable. But she read more into it. He wasn’t certain of her. And she’d earned that after what she did to him in the past. But how and when could she tell him what destroyed her relationship with her family?
“The police think you and the children may be in danger.”
“Is that what Detective Gray said?”
“Yes.”
If she was going to use what her son had done in an attempt to wrestle her children from her, she had another think coming.
“If he thinks I’m in immediate danger, that my children are in danger, why isn’t he here doing something about it?”
The children ran from the roundabout to the teeter-totter. Warren put Emilia on one end and put Rosa and Addie on the other. Since the weight was out of balance, he pulled Emilia’s end down.
“You could come to Pennsylvania with us.”
“Aaron has a court order that makes it illegal for me from leaving the state with the children.”
“When did he do that?”
“Right after the divorce.” He’d said, you’re not taking my kids anywhere, bitch. But she’d spare Gloria that.
“If Aaron’s—gone, you can petition the court, Alayna.”
She remained silent for a moment. “We have to wait until he’s identified as the man in the car. Until we know for certain, the court won’t allow me to do anything.” She paused. “I’d be glad to bring them out for a visit, but I’m not relocating. I had a hard time starting over, Gloria. I had to study California law, and take college classes to be certified here. I don’t have the money to do it again and work. Emilia is happy in her current school, and Addison in the preschool. The daycare they go to runs a preschool starting at age three for Rosa. I don’t want to uproot them when they’re doing so well.”
“And I don’t suppose you want to leave your boyfriend.”
Gloria’s snide tone triggered a flash of resentment, and Alayna strode to the teeter-totter. “It’s time to eat, girls. You don’t want to wear Grandpa out.”
“Taco?” Rosa said.
“I’m sorry, baby, Mama didn’t bring any tacos, only home-made nuggets, grapes, and potato salad. But we can have tacos tonight for supper. And I have a special desert fixed.”
She half wished Rosa would throw a tantrum and give Gloria and Warren a good taste of what raising a strong-willed two-year-old was all about. Instead Rosa stuck out her bottom lip but remained silent.
They retrieved the cooler from the car, spread a plastic tablecloth over the well-used picnic table, and set out the food.
“Where’s Bowie today?” Warren asked.
She mentally braced herself for another attack. “I think he’s working from home today. He’s preparing for a new assignment. I’m supposed to call him when we leave the park.”
He glanced over to where Gloria and the girls were engaged in a game. “You never had an affair with your boss, did you?”
“No.” She met her ex-father-in-law’s gaze. “All I do for Mr. Kappes is research the law for his cases, write briefs and letters, and make sure everything is delivered or filed on time.”
Warren nodded, his face crumpling with what looked like sorrow. He seemed to have aged years overnight. “My boy went off the rails, didn’t he?”
She patted his arm. “I’m sorry, Warren.”
“No, I am. The things he did can’t be excused.”
She’d dealt with Aaron’s machinations, his threats, his relentless quest to hurt her too long to believe he wouldn’t rise from the rubble like a cockroach to continue doing it. “I don’t know what drove him to embezzle funds. He drank a little socially, played golf mostly with clients, and played poker one night a week. Unless things changed drastically after the divorce…”
“He’s been gambling, Alayna. Thousands of dollars’ worth. He’s been taking trips to Vegas with Bliss and losing big.”
Shocked, she remained silent. They’d been homebodies with two little ones when they were married, except when he was making her life hell.
“I’m sorry. The last year of our marriage, he was gone most of the time. Working and seeing other women, including Bliss.”
“You couldn’t have stopped him. Gambling is an addiction, just like alcohol.”
His gaze trailed to Gloria. “She doesn’t want to believe it, even after Detective Gray told her about it. He told us about your apartment being broken into, too. She wants to believe it was someone else. She doesn’t want Aaron to be responsible for destroying their things and putting the children in danger.”
“The police will sort it out, Warren. Try not to worry too much. The super’s going to put a new deadbolt on my door today or tomorrow. We’re being careful.”
“Good. Your boyfriend, Bowie… He seems like a good man to have around.”
“Yes, he is.”
“I’m glad you and the children have someone.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Thank you.” Although once Bowie went back to his full-time duty, she didn’t know if they’d continue to see each other. He was already getting cold feet.
Bowie lounged in the chair across the desk from Detective Gray. The open floor plan of the room didn’t allow for much privacy. He wondered how they heard their suspects and witnesses above the ringing of phones and the rumble of other voices.
“Has she said anything about her husband?” Stansberry asked.
“She said her ex tried every way he could to punish her for their marriage not working. And he tried to take the girls from her.”
“Anything else?”
“She made a list of people he might go to if he was in trouble.”
Gray cocked his head. “Why would she do that?”
“She doesn’t believe he’s dead.”
“Why not?”
Bowie remained silent for a moment. “I think it’s because he hounded and tormented her so much, it’s hard for her to accept that it might be over. But I agree with her. He isn’t dead. Whoever’s in the car, it isn’t him.”
“Why do you think that?”
“If I had a million dollars hidden somewhere, but I was having difficulty accessing it, and I had the cops and other assorted pissed-off guys on my ass, I’d kill someone, put them in my car, and burn everything in the hottest flames possible to obscure my identity. Then I’d do whatever was necessary to find the key to getting my hands on the money so I could get the hell out of dodge before the results of the identification come through.”
Gray leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. “I just met with Harper’s parents, and they’re in complete denial that their son would be capable of embezzling money from his clients.”
“You mean Mrs. Harper is adamant that he would never do such a thing. Her husband is probably just staying mum to keep the peace. I think he probably has a better grasp of what his son is like, since his wife is the same way.”
Detective Stansberry leaned forward in his seat. “You met them?”
“Last night at dinner.”
“You’re getting rather cozy with the ex-Mrs. Harper,” Gray said.
He’d managed to keep his cool when Gray called him out of the blue and asked him to come in. He’d known it would be to pump him for info, but the man could take a flying fuck through a rolling doughnut if the detective thought he’d betray Alayna in any way. “Which is your business because?”
“It isn’t my business, but she’s still a person of interest.”
“In what way?”
“We’re not at liberty to say.”
Bowie studied the man, his mind racing. Alayna and the children were the only connections he had to Harper. And Gray knew he was alive.
Bowie reached for his phone and unlocked it with a thumb brush.
“What are you doing?” Stansberry asked.
“I’m warning Alayna that her ex-husband is still alive.”
“We’d rather you didn’t do that.”
“I’m sure you would. You don’t really give a damn what happens to her, but I do.” His thumbs worked the keyboard on the screen, quickly typing out He’s alive.
“We have people at the apartment building and people following her.” Stansberry reached for the phone.
Bowie hit send and bounced to his feet so Stansberry couldn’t grab it from him. “If this ambush you’ve arranged goes south, and she or the girls are hurt, you’ll pay with your jobs.”
He was on his way out of the door before they could stop him.