Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(4)

The doorbell rang, startling both women. Carla laughed and pulled back. “I bet that’s the police. And you didn’t even make your list yet.”



***



Jen sat at the kitchen table looking over the form the female police officer had pushed across to her.

“Is the list missing any item that your ex-boyfriend removed from the apartment?” Officer Sanders asked.

Jen shook her head and passed it back to the officer.

“How about your purse. Are you missing anything from there?”

“No,” Jen whispered, the weight of the formality of filing a police report pressing down on her heavily. She stole a glance at Officer Sanders, impressed at how put together she was. Her brown hair was pulled back into a neat bun, and not one single hair dared stray out of place. Her pretty face looked free of makeup. And the gun on her hip kept drawing Jen’s eyes. She bet that Officer Sander’s boyfriends never cheated on her.

“How about your bank accounts, did he have access to them?”

Jen’s heart dropped into her shoes like a brick. “Oh God, we have a joint account. We were saving for a vacation.”

“If his name was on the account, you have no recourse even if he cleared it out, but you should check all of your accounts while I’m here, just in case. Can you do that?”

Jen nodded mutely and grabbed her phone. She punched in the URL to her only bank to check the two accounts she held there. A small cry built up in the back of her throat. It escaped as she flipped the phone around so that Carla and Officer Sanders could see it. Her single account showed $212.42 and the savings account she shared with Adam showed only $0.01.

“There was over eight thousand dollars in there last week!” she told them, her voice strained and cracking.

Officer Sanders mouth tightened into a grim line. But her eyes said she saw this every day. “And that is the account that you share with him?”

Jen nodded, the tears flowing again. Carla moved closer and hugged her.

“How about this other account, is the balance there OK?”

Jen nodded against Carla’s chest. “Yeah. That’s how much is supposed to be in there.” She felt sick. Not only had she been cheated on and robbed, but now she was completely broke too.

Officer Sanders nodded and scribbled in her notebook. “Here’s what I can do for you. I’ll write up a report and I’ll look for your ex-boyfriend. If I can find him, I’ll arrest and charge him for the theft of your items. Then the district attorney’s office takes over the case. Just the arrest may be enough for him to return your items.”

She stood, put her notebook in the front pocket of her uniform shirt and took the piece of paper from the table. “I’ll be in touch.”

Officer Sanders rounded the table and headed for the door. Once there, she stopped and offered Jen a final piece of advice. “You seem like a good person. Don’t let this get you down. Just don’t be as … trusting next time, at least not until you’re married.”




***



Two hours later, driving North to Westwood Harbor, Jen replayed the last sentence Officer Sanders had spoken to her over and over again. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that Officer Sanders had been about to say naive, but had changed the word to trusting at the last minute.

Her thoughts swept across her brain savagely, like a grass fire over an open field. Naive, that’s me. 26 years old and I’ve got the street smarts of a 12 year old. God I just need to get away. Westwood Harbor may not even be far enough. Maybe I should move to another state. Another country even. I could join the Peace Corps. Or the Army. Yeah right, I’d do great in the Army. I’d probably shoot myself by the end of the first week. Better stick with the Peace Corps.

As she approached the first freeway entrance for Westwood Harbor her thoughts slowed long enough for her to realize she hadn’t even called Jerry to let him know she was coming. She’d emptied her apartment and dropped a note to her superintendent, along with her keys, in his dropbox. She’d had vacation coming up at the cafe so she asked her boss if she could take it, and she gave Carla an official letter of resignation. She knew she could add impulsive to her list of negative traits but she didn’t care. She felt like she couldn’t spend one more minute in San Francisco. For her, the entire city had become one big reminder of Adam and his betrayal. She wanted out.

Jen picked up her phone and almost called her brother. Instead, she threw it on the passenger seat and took the next exit. She’d be at his house in five minutes anyway.





Chapter 3





Jen parked her car in Jerry’s driveway, thankful that the lights were on. Jerry was a firefighter, and sometimes he worked odd hours. Plus it was late. She checked her phone. Just after midnight. She walked to the door and tried the knob. Locked. Jen knocked on the door, the night air feeling good on her face, which was puffy from crying. She turned her face to catch a breeze and waited for Jerry to come to the door. After a minute, she knocked again.

Finally, the door swung open. Jen tried to put on a happy-to-see-you face for her brother, knowing he would see through it in an instant. But it wasn’t Jerry. It was a stunning, exotic-looking woman, almost as tall as Jerry, with hard, watchful eyes and an imposing stance. She was wearing a forest-green silk robe, belted at the waist. “Yes?” she asked, her voice tightly coiled.