She was also weak-willed and easily directed, so a few orgasms and I could see her becoming hooked on him. Women often believed that sex and love were one in the same, but in reality, the feelings the man had for them usually didn’t even extend past the length of his penis.
“What was Evelyn doing there?” I asked.
“Visiting,” he answered, exaggerating each syllable. “She had a container in her hand, so she was probably just dropping something off for her granddaughter.”
“And did she leave with the container?”
I could tell he subtly wanted to roll his eyes. “No, she didn’t.”
And there was my answer. The old troublemaking bat was the missing link. Whatever she’d dropped off for Alexandra, along with whatever she’d possibly said to her, had set this entire thing in motion. Though I wasn’t inclined to think that whatever she’d dropped off at the office was a hoodoo concoction of sorts, I wasn’t completely convinced that it wasn’t.
“Thank you,” I replied. “I’ll need copies of these photos.”
“Do you plan to confront her?”
Now, he was simply being nosy. “And if I am?”
“Mr. Hamilton, have you ever considered the possibility that this guy isn’t out to hurt Alexandra? Maybe, just maybe, if she’d been happy with you, she wouldn’t be doing what she’s doing? I mean, when my ex-wife left me, I was pissed and angry at the world. But then I realized that I’d been a shameless alcoholic who worked too many hours and didn’t appreciate the little gestures she did for me. She’d make picnic lunches that I never attended, and the lengths she’d go to in order to get me the perfect birthday present was glossed over when I never even acknowledged the gift.”
I pressed a finger over my brow at the audacity of this layman to think that he could offer me life advice. “Well, if you’d looked like me and had my money, I guarantee that your ex-wife wouldn’t have ever left you,” I replied. “Send me copies of the pictures and continue to keep this under wraps from her father.”
He stared at me as though he was considering ignoring my request.
“And I will wire you extra as promised for the secondary surveillance,” I added, reminding him that I had him by the balls. Then, I stretched out my hand. “Do we have an understanding?”
He shook his head and grasped my hand with what appeared to be a degree of difficulty. Then, he walked off and I hopped into my car, feeling slightly unsettled about believing that the old Miller woman had done something to interfere with my relationship with Alexandra. I felt even more insane as I considered confronting her and propositioning her into reversing “it.”
Unfortunately, I had no proof and no leverage.
-----
Ethan
The letter that I’d gotten from my grandfather had brought my mother back to the forefront. Earlier that morning, I’d tried leaving it on the side table in my bedroom, but it had called me back upstairs. Now, it was on my desk at work and whenever I sat down, my eyes wafted over to it.
The envelope was old. It was colored as though the paper had been dipped in coffee years ago, but the liquid hadn’t been enough to damage the paper. I would have recognized my mother’s handwriting anywhere although I wasn’t sure why. I was also sure that it hadn’t been a coincidence that the letter had been stuffed into that particular book as one of the main characters in the novel had also served time for murder. However, that character had been framed for his murder and I was pretty certain that it wasn’t the case in my mother’s situation.
Alexandra was currently not in the office as she was out preparing for the diabetes fundraiser that was finally occurring this weekend. I hadn’t given her an ultimatum on the Roderick situation, but I’d imposed a tacit one for myself. Continuing on in the shadows was only going to drive me even crazier and relief was only going to come in the form of being with Alexandra, or not having her as a part of my life. I could only hope that, if her ultimate decision was to remain with Roderick, it would also mean leaving her position. Love was a jealous parasite and the feeling was so domineering that it made me uneasy of what that parasite would leave behind if it was suddenly ripped from my soul. It was said that time healed all wounds, but I’d had