Chapter 9 #4
She looked at the one and nodded. “Yeah, I sure do. That’s Tim, Timothy. … Geez, what’s Tim’s last name?” Frowning, she told Burton, “He was working for Roger for a while, doing some sort of maneuvering of goods, but I don’t remember. Import, export, some BS like that.”
“Interesting.”
“Why? Are you looking for him? I did see him the other day.”
“Did he come here?” he asked curiously.
“Oh no, he was at Colbert’s place.”
“Well, his wife was badly beaten up,” Burton shared, “and we were investigating it a little bit deeper to find out everything we can.”
Alexandra frowned. “Somebody beat up his wife? Don’t they have triplets?” she asked, her eyes widening in horror.
“Yes, they do, and I’m helping to look after them while she’s recovering in the hospital.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear she’s recovering,” Alexandra said, with a shudder. “Some of the men involved around his place are kind of scary.”
“Have you ever seen them hurt anybody before?” he asked, watching her closely.
“No, I sure haven’t. I would never have allowed something like that,” she declared, shaking her head.
“That’s absolutely not my kind of thing.
I’m a very strong proponent of women’s rights, even though I had a relationship with somebody who’s very much the, …
let’s just say, an old-fashioned man and women-stay-at-home type, but obviously that didn’t work out. ”
“Is that what Colbert wanted you to do?”
“Well, that’s what he thought I should do, but he wasn’t talking marriage like I thought he was talking marriage. He was just talking a relationship and then dangling marriage like a carrot on a stick,” she scoffed. “Again, my fault for not having a better understanding of who he was.”
Burton added, “You don’t seem to be upset.”
“No, I’m not upset at all,” she said, with a laugh.
“A tiger doesn’t change his stripes, and a leopard doesn’t change his spots.
I mean, Colbert came to me from another woman, so it was always in the back of my mind that he could do the same thing to me.
I know a lot of women don’t look at it that way, but all too often that’s exactly how it happens,” she acknowledged, with another shrug.
“So, in my instance, karma definitely came around and bit me on the ass,” she admitted, with a wry smile.
“Ah, sorry about that,” Sammy added.
Alexandra turned to her, laughed, and stated, “No, I’m also much better off now. I do have a partner now, and he’s not involved in any of that scary stuff, so I know I’m better off.”
“Scary stuff?” Sammy asked curiously.
“Yeah, whatever business dealings Roger was in, he got angry and uptight about it just before we broke up. I often wondered if it had something to do with the breakup. Honestly, I was around him a lot, and, in many ways, I probably heard more than he ever wanted me to. So that breakup was likely more opportunistic on his part to get rid of me, as I was somebody who could cause him trouble later. The fact of the matter is, I’m just not that kind of person. ”
“What kind of person are you?” Burton asked playfully, and Sammy’s heart skipped a beat hearing that flirty tone.
“I’m happy to move on and to not have to deal with any of that and those men again. They are scary to say the least.”
“Do you know who those men are?”
“I don’t really know them, but I know some names,” she replied cautiously, “and I would certainly be able to identify them.”
They spoke with the woman for a few more minutes, digging for anything on the relationship. Burton looked through the pictures on his phone. He held one up for Alexandra to see.
She nodded. “Yeah, I know him.” She reached for his phone and flicked through a couple photos and nodded. “Yeah, I know all three of these. They are definitely part of his group. What are you looking at them for?”
“Because they were, … more or less, let’s say, involved in some way.”
Sammy and Burton spoke with her for a few more moments, and, now armed with the names and information about Colbert’s associates, they had something.
Alexandra was looking more than a little worried now. “Do you really think they had something to do with the beating?”
Burton nodded. “It also had something to do with Timothy,” he added quietly, “but I don’t really know exactly how this will all pan out. But, if you had any idea who Colbert was working for, that could help.”
She stared at him and shook her head. “That’s an interesting question because he never would talk about it.
There were always meetings in his office, and I was never allowed anywhere close, and they were almost always set for days when I wasn’t even around, so I wasn’t a part of it.
But it’s obvious that he had somebody in power whom he worked with. ”
She frowned as she looked back at his phone, now in his hand. “I don’t think he would be somebody who would attack a woman, but you’ve certainly given me something to think about.”
“And that’s good,” he stated, “because if he’s in any way afraid that you might have something to say to anybody about his activities, it might come back on you.”
She frowned at him. “And yet you came here.”
“I did,” he admitted, “because a woman is still in the hospital with devastating injuries, who hasn’t yet healed enough to get home to her babies. A woman who didn’t do anything.”
Alexandra stared off in the distance and nodded.
“Okay, I get that, and I understand why you had to come, but do not come back here again. I can walk away from this free and clear, and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity, but I won’t have any excuse if they see me talking to you again.
I would never tempt fate like that, and I hope you understand. ”
Sammy nodded, then spoke up. “Look. We also found listening devices in a couple of the houses we all live in,” she shared, “so you may want to have your place checked.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “What?” she cried out.
Burton nodded. “Yes, so keep that in mind too.” She cast a nervous glance back at the apartment behind her, and he nodded. “It’s a pretty simple listening device, but you do need to keep it in mind.”
“I don’t even know how to check for something like that,” she cried out, frowning.
Burton nodded. “I have the equipment, and I can come back with it if you want. At least then you would know for sure.”
She immediately nodded. “Yes, please,” she said, her lips trembling slightly. “Can you come back tonight?”
He turned to Sammy, who replied, “Yes, we can—or more likely Burton can.”
“Good,” Alexandra said. “Go get the equipment now because you have no idea. The thought that someone is out there, listening in? … It’s enough to make things nonnegotiable in my world.”
“Do you know if he used devices like that before?”
“Absolutely he did,” she cried out softly, “but I never thought he would ever use something like that with me.”
“Yet he has to have a way to see if you’re being true or not, doesn’t he?”
She stared at him and then whispered in a hoarse voice, “Please, go get the tools and check. I’ll wait right here for you.” She glanced down at her watch and added, “I mean, like now.”
He turned to Sammy, who nodded. “He’ll be right back.” Then they quickly walked back to the car and headed back to Anderson.