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But I'm doing this for her.
No, I'm not sure even I believe that anymore. I don't want Gloria anywhere near Cat ever again, partly because the woman upsets her, but mostly because I don't want her telling my girlfriend about all the things I did with her. Gloria's vague threats might mean nothing. She could simply enjoy causing trouble.
Just as I'm skulking around the house from behind, approaching the front corner, a nondescript four-door car pulls into the driveway. The visitor parks right behind what I take for Gloria's vehicle. The cherry-red convertible looks like a luxury model, though I know little about cars other than how to buy and drive one.
A man steps out of the other car.
I pull out my mobile phone and take a picture of the gent as he saunters up to the front door, then brings out a key to let himself in. I approach the living room window and peer inside, hoping for a glimpse of the man and Gloria. I don't need to wait long. The couple walks into the living room and sits down on the sofa. The house appears to be furnished in style, probably with designer furniture to match Gloria's designer clothes and her expensive car.
The man pulls Gloria into his arms and kisses her passionately.
He is definitely her new lover. I snap a few pictures of them snogging, then sneak around the front of the house to capture an image of the license plate on the man's car. I also photograph Gloria's license plate. With this information, maybe I can figure out who the geezer is.
I mean to head back to my car, but I need to pass by Gloria's house to do that. As I slink away, movement catches my eye in a different room, and I sidle up to the window. Gloria and her lover are in bed. Naked. Fucking on top of the sheets as if they couldn't wait even to pull the covers back before they started shagging. Though I feel like a ruddy voyeur, I take several pictures of the couple in flagrante. They go at it like animals. Gloria hadn't been quite that passionate with me, a fact for which I am grateful. Behaving like a rutting stag does not appeal to me.
Now that I have some evidence, I return to my car and drive back to the campus to pick up Cat. After dinner, I tell her I need to work on lesson plans for next week, which is true, but that's not the main reason I need time alone. I don't get my wish, though. Cat insists on watching the telly while I sit on the sofa with my computer on my lap. I glance up and find her smiling at me, the expression soft and affectionate.
Bile rises into my throat. I grab my water glass from the table and guzzle the entire contents.
With the woman I love nearby, I plug my mobile into the computer and download the pictures I took today. Then I find a website that will let me search for public information easily, just by paying a fee. My search gives me what I wanted to know—the name of the man who owns Gloria's house. He is Darnell Miller, and he serves as the chief of police in Ballesteros. That means he does have influence in the community, though I doubt he's as powerful as she wants me to believe.
Miller also owns Gloria's car. I'm certain he paid for all her designer clothes too, and her jewelry. Where does a police chief get that kind of money? Darnell Miller must be bent. I suppose he could have inherited money, but to afford all the luxuries he lavishes on Gloria, the man would've had to come from the Rockefeller lineage. I doubt that. I've come across bent coppers before, and I can sniff them out from a mile away. Miller smells as dirty as a heap of rotting rubbish.
Now that I know who Gloria's lover is, I have no idea what to do next. Confront Gloria? That would be risky. If her lover is corrupt, he won't hesitate to use every method at his disposal to cover up his misdeeds. I'd hoped gaining more information would help somehow. But now I realize that I need to give up on this quest. To keep going might bring trouble, and I can't risk Catriona getting caught in the middle.
So I shut down my computer and crawl into bed with Cat.
I will only use the information I've gathered if Gloria or Darnell Miller forces me to do it. Neither of them can know about my past.
Unless the chief of police has connections I don't know about yet.
