Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
I texted her.
I’m in the coffee shop across the street when you’re done. xxx
An hour passed and I texted her again.
I’m going home. Call me when you’re done and I’ll come pick you up.
Two more hours, nothing. No read receipts on my texts, even.
Pop and I talked, and he told me that he had word Greg O’Connor had been arrested. I knew there had to be a connection.
“Did you do this to O’Connor, Pop?” I asked.
He was quiet on the other end of the phone.
“Pop?”
“Maybe,” Pop answered.
“Fuck, Pop.”
I hung up and hit the wall with my fist. Was Tia gone? Had she been presented with a way to escape me and taken it? No. There was no way. I wanted to believe that what she and I had was real. It felt real. It felt completely fucking real. She wouldn’t leave me. Would she?
For hours, they interrogated me, left me waiting in that room, came back and asked the same questions again with different phrasing. And then repeat. All day.
They started to talk about the rap sheets of some of the people in Tommy’s father’s “organization” as they called it. They talked about murders that they couldn’t pin. They’d said that the Ferrano family was suspected of a lot of different illegal activities. They told me they were even linked with slavery trade overseas, with cocaine crops in South America, with mass murder down in Mexico where Earl Johnson, a Ferrano “foot soldier”, was found with a gunshot to the face and three gunshots to his genitals. At the same site, they’d said, a cartel leader had been found decapitated and castrated, his own genitals stuffed in his mouth. I threw up into the waste basket, just some liquid because I hadn’t eaten, and of course that made them even more suspicious about whether or not I knew anything about that situation.
They also carefully watched for reactions as they talked about how that cartel’s compound had been found with eight murdered men in addition to Earl and Juan Carlos Castillo. Four women had been set free and had ID’d someone matching the description of Tommy Ferrano as having been there with guns, urging them to leave.
They said a woman matching my description was reported as being there as well. I shrugged it off, saying I hadn’t ever been to Mexico, and didn’t know what they were talking about. There had been no record of Tommy landing there or of him leaving the country but there were eyewitness accounts initially. I was told that those had since been retracted.
I continued to tell them that I knew nothing about what they were talking about. They asked me personal questions about Tommy. They asked when his birthday was. I didn’t know the answer to that; we hadn’t gotten there yet but I said March 1st. They told me his birthday was April 5th (I was close. He’d told me that he turned 29 a few months ago when his father bought him the house) and then asked me if I’d think it was strange that two people were engaged but that one didn’t know the other’s date of birth. I shrugged and said he hated birthdays so maybe he lied when he told me his birthday.
They countered by saying perhaps I was afraid to reveal that I was really a prisoner, not his live-in girlfriend. I clammed up and told them that they needed to either arrest me or let me leave. That was when the door opened and Susie, my social worker, came in. Shit. And then it went on and on, with Susie trying to get me to talk.
She put her hand on mine, asking them to leave us alone for a minute. I hadn’t seen her since my graduation day. She was such a sweet lady, had always been nice to me. I knew we weren’t really alone. It was obvious that they were watching us through the mirrored glass.
“Tia, they’ve told me that you’re saying that you’re with Tommy Ferrano of your own free will.”
“Yes,” I answered.
“That’s not what I heard, honey. Are you scared? You don’t have to be. The police want to help. They can help you. I can help you.”
“I don’t need their help, Susie. I’m fine. I told Rose and Cal I’m fine. I’m telling you, I’m fine.”
“I’ve known you for over half your life, Tia. Meeting some guy who’s known for being connected, for being the son of a crime Don? Moving in with him and cutting off contact with everyone other than a few quick conversations that are obviously designed to make people believe you’re okay? Come on. This isn’t you. What’s really going on here?”
I shook my head. “Susie, I’m fine. I love him. He’s not mafia, that’s ridiculous. His father may be, I have no idea. But, he’s not. I know nothing. Can I go?” I got to my feet.