When I first posted this story, I forgot to thank my editor -- Skubaill. He's helped edit my last two stories, and I can't say thank you enough. As most writers understand, editing is the hardest part. And editing your own work is harder still. Not only that, but it's nice to have a fresh perspective of your story. Sometimes, it really helps to have something pointed out to you that you have totally missed. Skubaill had helped me with that twice, and if he's willing, I'll impose on him for future stories.
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I knew things had changed when Ronnie Stetzer returned to town. At one time, he had been my wife, Cindy's fiancé. Ronnie had broken up with Cindy a year before I met her. She had been very upfront about the fact that Ronnie had broken her heart when he decided to split with her and marry a rich woman ten years his senior.
I did a little digging as I got closer to Cindy. I didn't want to get emotionally involved with a woman if she would go running back to her first love. I'm a police detective, so investigating Ronnie was fairly easy.
"Detective Bricker?" a young female police officer asked as she approached my desk.
"Yeah, that would be me," I responded as I squinted at her name tag, "Officer Collins."
"What are you working on, Ted?" My partner, Mike Sullivan, asked. He was third-generation police, and he was a good one.
"Just a background check on my girlfriend's ex-fiancé," I responded.
"You think she's cheating on you?" he pressed.
"No, nothing like that. I just don't want to go any further with Cindy and then have the old fiancé show up and have her go running back to him."
"Don't let the Captain catch you doing it," Mike said with a smirk. "He gets his shorts in a knot about stuff like that."
I just smiled and opened the envelope. The contents were unremarkable. Ronnie had, as Cindy had told me, married a Katherine Winton. They had been married for about a year and had a little girl, Stacy. Aside from a few speeding tickets, Ronnie didn't have any criminal history. He worked as a financial advisor for the Winton Financial Group. I knew that the Winton Group was fairly big, handling billions of dollars of investments.
In addition to Ronnie's history, I had also requested information on Katherine Winton. She was the only child of Roger and Margie Winton. Roger had founded the Winton Group. Katherine had a degree from Columbia University and apparently was a financial advisor at her father's firm. She had no criminal background at all.
Everything seemed on the up and up so far. But before I put my heart on the line, I was going to do a little checking. I would discretely inquire as to whether Ronnie's marriage was a solid one or not. Normally, that would pose a little bit of a problem. How do you inquire about a couple of rich people without stirring the hornet's nest? Fortunately, there had been several break-ins in their neighborhood. And, at that time, I was working a series of break-ins in my area. I decided that I could always claim that I was looking for a connection.
I did further investigations on my day off, and I wasn't worried about any blowback. Worst case scenario, I'd get my wrist slapped for pushing too hard. In many quarters my inquiry would still be viewed as a good thing.
What I found was that Mr. and Mrs. Stetzler was apparently a loving couple. There was no sign of any discord between the two. One of their neighbors described them as the perfect couple.
Satisfied that Ronnie was happily married, I continued to date Cindy. She didn't have the gorgeous looks of a model or a movie star, but she was very pretty. She was about five-seven, with soft brown hair and hazel eyes. Cindy had a very pretty face, but it was her loving heart that drew me to her.
We were married about a year later, and almost nine months to the day our little girl, Amanda, was born. Life had been good for eighteen of our nineteen years together. We had our share of disagreements, but nothing serious until recently. Usually, our disagreements would occur when we disagreed about doing something. Cindy was an only child and had been spoiled by her parents. However, over the years, she learned to curtail her stubbornness.
When our daughter was born, Amanda became my little princess. We were especially close, and our family was very tight. However, for the past year, Cindy and I seem to be drifting apart. I began to realize that we did less and less stuff together. Still, our lovemaking was very good, and we did it at least two times a week, most weeks more. Cindy seemed the happiest when we were cuddled together. I knew she still loved me deeply.
I still loved Cindy but in a different way. It was no longer like the hot passionate love we had when we were first married. We were like two old shoes that had seen better days but went together well. Still, I did love my wife deeply, and I especially loved the life we had built.
It was when Amanda finished high school, Cindy's change seemed to accelerate. She seemed to be at loose ends, and the closer it got to when Amanda would leave for college, the more uneasy Cindy became. I was now the Chief of Detectives for the Sheriff's Department, and I had thirty-two detectives under me. Since this wasn't a high-crime county, the job wasn't too stressful. It did have its moments, but usually, it was nine to five for me. Cindy still worked as a dental hygienist.
About a month after Amanda left for college, Ronnie showed up at a BBQ given by a couple, John and Ann Smythe, who were really more Cindy's friends than mine. Still, John and I got along great as he owned a security company, and we always had plenty to talk about. I had no idea that Ronnie would be there, but I was sure that Cindy knew. She immediately detached herself from me, which wasn't unusual, and began to circulate. But after an hour, I went looking for her and found her and Ronnie sitting on the front porch.
When I walked out, Cindy's neck got slightly red, which was her tell that she was up to something I wasn't going to like. She quickly introduced me to Ronnie, and I felt my stomach squeeze. As a cop, you developed an internal instinct, and mine told me that this was real trouble.
Cindy tried to blow it off like she was surprised to see him, and they were just catching up on old times. But her neck flushed red during the entire explanation. I decided that I wasn't going to blow the whole thing out of proportion. As a police officer, you are many times confronted with extremely unpleasant situations. Still, you have to handle them calmly and professionally. Sometimes, it was very distasteful.
I remembered one time, I had to take a little boy away from his mother. It had been ordered by the court. I can still remember the little boy's pitiful screams as I placed him in the social worker's car. The little boy's heart was broken, and his mother collapsed on the front lawn, totally destroyed. I still have bad dreams about that incident, but I did what was required of me. I pray that that little boy and his mother were reunited, but I could never find out. The records had been sealed for some reason.
On my next workday after the BBQ, I did another investigation of Ronnie. What I found out was that his wife had died of cancer a year ago. In all the years since my first investigation, Ronnie didn't even have a speeding ticket.
