Moonlight Road (Virgin River #11)(98)

“Child care?” he asked, flipping open his laptop and getting online.

“I know. Terrifying thought, isn’t it? She treats them to her wild mood disorder and within a couple of months agrees to a divorce without a settlement if there’s a cash incentive. It’s pretty cost effective to give her fifty or a hundred grand to go away and the divorce is actually filed and recorded. Unfortunately for Albijana, some of her victims have had second thoughts after buying her off and reported the scam to the police.”

“But before they marry her,” Aiden said, “she treats them to a sample of her considerable sexual talents. This guy, her alleged partner—I’ve never seen him, nor did I know he existed—is her pimp.”

“Pretty much,” Ron said. “She’s been married and divorced a number of times in a number of states. Yours was a fluke—your lawyer hadn’t passed the bar after four tries, left a big stack of cases on his desk that were neither filed nor recorded, thus your marriage was recorded and not your divorce. That was a major screwup for them. It led to my staff finding that your marriage was not her first, that none of the subsequent marriages were legal. Bingo.”

He looked at the laptop screen where he’d just opened up a photo. Erin, who was listening attentively and hearing little or nothing from Aiden’s side of the conversation, looked over his shoulder. “God,” Aiden said in a breath. The woman was Annalee; the man had a very sinister, mature look about him, but Aiden instantly knew that was only one of his looks. “That’s her,” he said. “And the guy? I caught her in bed with him—a young sailor who said he didn’t know she was married, that he met her in a bar at ten o’clock in the morning. Jesus…he cried. I thought he was eighteen and scared to death—the only thing that kept me from beating him senseless.”

“Mustafa Zubac, goes by the name Mujo.”

“How’d you get the pictures?” Aiden asked.

“They’ve been arrested in the past several years. They just haven’t been prosecuted for their pretty simple fraud. They get out on bond and make a run to another location.”

“I knew she saw me coming,” he muttered. “I couldn’t prove it, but I always knew it—she caught me practically getting off a boat after a two-year assignment. A young doctor with money to burn. Jesus. But the navy? She went into the navy?”

“The history is sketchy, but I think what happened was she immigrated with her parents and hooked up with Mujo, a compatriot, after she’d enlisted. Albijana didn’t have it easy in Bosnia—her neighborhood was in constant conflict, but Mujo had it even worse and was a member of the underworld at an early age, the only thing that kept him alive. Both of them learned how to lie, steal, cheat and scam, probably as a matter of survival when they were young. They’re devastatingly good at it. And no one learns to live in the shadows like a couple of kids who grew up in a war zone.”

“No kidding. Now what?”

“Well, here are your choices—when she calls to ask if the payoff and documents are ready, you can tell her you know the whole story and that there are warrants for arrests of herself and Mujo, and I’d be very surprised if you ever saw or heard from her again. Or, you can pretend you don’t know and help flush her out for the police. The local police would love to take them into custody—the FBI would be happy to take them from there. It’s entirely up to you.”

“Much as I’d like to help, I’m going to pass,” Aiden said. “I just don’t want to create any more drama for my family or Erin. This has been as terrible as I want it to get.”

“That’s the option I would have taken,” Ron said. “Don’t be shocked if the local police ask for your cooperation, but it’s entirely up to you—don’t be pressured. In the meantime, we’ll petition the court with the appropriate documentation to have your record of marriage to Annalee Kovacevic nullified and removed. We’ll send you copies. That will take a couple of months, but we’ll keep on it.”

“I appreciate it, since I bought your colleague a big fat diamond and it doesn’t look like she’ll give it back.”

He laughed heartily. “Congratulations! Have a date set yet?” he asked.

“Not till you deliver the all clear, Mr. Preston.”

“We’re on it. Hopefully it won’t be long. Give us a heads-up when and if you hear from Albijana and deliver the bad news, will you?”

“When and if?”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll be tagged as wanted immediately. If they sniff that out, they’ll probably be on the move.”

“Life could only be so kind,” he said. “Thanks, Ron. I don’t know how you did this, but thanks.”

“I have a really good team—they’re relentless at finding the facts. You’d be amazed at the things people try to hide, Dr. Riordan.”

“Well, God bless you for it.”

Ron Preston chuckled. “You won’t be blessing me when you get the bill. Be sure to sit down when you open the envelope.”

He refrained from saying, Worth every penny. Instead, he said, “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

Erin and Aiden were not the only ones waiting impatiently for Annalee to contact them again. By the time Aiden had told the immediate members of his family about the dramatic turn of events, everyone was anticipating the outcome. They didn’t have to wait long. At the end of the sixth day Aiden received an e-mail: