Page 102 of I’ll Be Watching You

“What?” she said bluntly. “I have ten minutes before my kids get out of school, and I’m not going to talk about their father around them.”

This would be good, I thought as I sat down at my desk.

“My firm was hired to run a background check on Peter Stockman. I need to confirm some information.”

“Nine minutes,” she said.

“You were still married to him when he started working for the VA in Phoenix ten years ago, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You filed for divorce four years later. I’ve ordered a copy of the divorce records, but they haven’t arrived at my office yet,” I lied smoothly. “Can you give me a basic summary of what led to the divorce?”

“Really? What is this for?”

“He’s applied for a position at a pharmaceutical company I am not authorized to disclose at this time. We are verifying his résumé, education, personal and professional references. I can send you up the ladder to my boss if you’d prefer to speak with the man in charge.”

Jack was staring at me with his mouth slightly open. I didn’t know if he was shocked at how I lied, or that he knew I may be passing this woman to him if she put up a roadblock.

“No, fine. Can I ask a question?”

“Yes, I will answer if I can.”

“Does the job he may get pay him more money than his current position?”

I have done dozens of background checks for employers and not once has anyone asked me that question. My mind quickly ran through why she might want to know. Was he late on his child support? Had he stolen money from her? Mortgaged their house? If I told her that he’d be making substantially more, she might not be honest, thinking she could get part of it.

“I don’t have that information,” I said.

“Probably wouldn’t matter either way,” she said under her breath. “Six minutes.”

“Why did you divorce your husband?”

“Because he lost our children’s college funds gambling,” she said. “This, after he went through the Gamblers Anonymous program. It didn’t stick apparently, or he lied to me about doing anything about his problem. He stole from our girls. I couldn’t forgive him, so I left. There was more than that, but that was the big thing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.

Gambling, I thought. Gamblers needed money. He stole from his own children. Was he still gambling? If so, how much? Within his income? Or did he need to find money another way? Like getting paid off to look the other way during a drug trial . . .

So many possibilities. I would ask her about his work, except that she had already moved to Maine before the Neurovantix drug trial.

“He listed a Mildred Maddox as a professional reference, and stated he’d worked for her for nine years until she retired and he was promoted to her position. I have a call into her. But he neglected to indicate his direct association with Mrs. Maddox. Do you recall?”

It was better that Teri didn’t know I’d already spoken to Mildred.

“He worked for Mildred when we were first married. I never thought she’d ever retire, but I remember he told me that she recommended him for her position when she did. Not that the extra money stopped him from being consistently late with child support. I don’t even take alimony—I have a job, I do fine—but he hasn’t even replenished their college funds, which he promised to do.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t an answer to a question. Look, Peter is a smart guy who does a great job at work. He’s always had his bosses and coworkers telling him he’s amazing. So I’m sure he’ll do a great job for your company, because he always has. He’s never been fired, always goes above and beyond and works long hours. Professionally, he is a good employee. Personally, he has a lot of failings. I gotta go. My kids are here.”

She hung up.

“Wow,” I said. “Gambling.”

“I can’t believe she told you that,” Jack said.

“She wanted to,” I said. “He may not have been a cheater, but gambling is like adultery in the sense that you feel betrayed by your spouse.”

Jack sat down across from me in my office. “That means what? That he needed the money so looked the other way?”

“Could be. But who paid him? Was it Neurovantix? Because their study wasn’t fully funded at the time.”