comin’ from. I’ve lived that life, stomach growling, face sunk in, hurtin’ so much in the gut that you stop feeling it ’cause your stomach is like, what’s the use of complaining anymore? Those days are behind me. I am not ruled by money, despite all of that. I don’t know who he thought I was, or who he expected me to be, but I can make one phone call and end all of this shit right this very minute. I mean, how far does this damn rabbit hole go?”
“Okay, before you throw in the towel, let’s explore this. Hold on.” She held her hand up, deciding to go a different approach. “Let’s take a few steps back and think about what you can do to garner more information. No man, no matter how private he is, lives in a bubble. The answers you want are out there. You just need to find the right people, places or sources. First question: Is your mother still living?”
“Yes.”
“I’m assuming they may not have been particularly close since you don’t know much about him, or maybe he sold her a bill of goods, who knows, but is there anything she shared with you that you think is helpful? I mean, really think about it.” He mulled his thoughts for a few moments. “If not, maybe press her a bit more.”
The man’s complexion deepened and he sucked his teeth. “That’s not an option.”
“Why not?”
“My mother was in a bad car accident eight years ago. It caused all sorts of problems and it’s a wonder she even survived. With physical therapy, she’s able to walk again. However, she didn’t get out of this unscathed. She can’t speak. She understands sometimes, but her verbal and written communication is pretty much at zero. Every blue moon she’ll say, ‘No,’ or ‘Yes,’ or something we can’t really understand, but that’s about it.”
“Oh, Lord, I am so sorry.”
“Yeah… so that avenue is closed. What do you know about this man, Lauren? I’m sure you wonder why I even care at this point, but it’s bothering me. It’s not fair. He can’t go on and be dead without giving me some answers. I deserve answers. I wanna know why he abandoned my mother and me. I want to know what his life was like and how he thought. I want to know what made him happy and what pissed him off. I deserve to know these things, and no amount of money is gonna make me not want to know.”
Folding her hands on her lap, she looked at him for a long while, then leaned forward.
“I tell you what. You ask me what you want to know, specifically, and I will answer to the best of my ability.”
“All right. What did he like to do in his spare time?”
“He honestly seemed to be a workaholic to me, Aries. Benjamin was always on the move. The fact that he had a heart attack, though terribly sad, didn’t shock me. He kept far too busy for a man his age. He didn’t seem to take much time to relax. He did tell me that he enjoyed reading about Asia, Japan, especially. He also enjoyed traveling when he had time years ago. He had a fondness for traveling to Japan, too, the history of the Korean War and Thailand cuisine. He was heavily into Asian culture, and the reason I know is because when certain books would come in, I would let him know, per his request, and he would come through and get them sometimes. That’s how I found out about his travels and affinity for Oriental furnishings. Oh, he also loved coffee.”
Instead of the man being pleased with the information, his jaw seemed to tighten and his brows bunched.
“Hmmm… all right. Did you know any of his ex-wives? He had two of ’em and a girlfriend of about four years before he died. And a son with one of the ex-wives.”
“I knew of them… He never got specific and would just make a joke about alimony from time to time. I believe he was actually married three times, not twice, but one of the marriages was annulled. He would speak of the women in passing; he was still on good terms with those two from my understanding. His first wife passed away, just in case you didn’t know. That should be public record. All of this should be public record, actually, but it may be in files that you have to