“He’s a friend.”
“Can you elaborate on this?”
“A good friend.”
I wasn’t purposely being short with my answers, but I didn’t want to say or do something that I would regret. I had no idea who this guy was or why he was there to ask me questions. I certainly didn’t feel comfortable sharing details about my life if I didn’t know who I was talking to.
“Miss, I need you to be honest with me. How do you know this man?”
“Where did you get that picture?” I said as I reached for the snapshot in his hands. It was a close-up picture of Brandon and me at the bagel shop. “Who are you? Why should I answer your questions if you haven’t even identified yourself?”
“I told you, my name is Carlos Rodriguez. I’m an investigator with the federal government.”
“With whom in the federal government?” I asked suspiciously.
“I work with the Securities Exchange Commission,” Carlos said as he pulled out his identification and handed it to me.
I took some time looking over the identification and handed it back when I was satisfied he was who he said he was. But I still didn’t know how I had anything to do with an investigation of Brandon.
“I’m dating Brandon. What else do you want to know?”
“Has he been moving money around lately? Were you privy to any conversations where he discussed hiding assets, or have you participated in helping him hide his fortune in any way?”
“No, I hardly know him.”
“He’s involved in some serious stuff. I’d advise you to stay away from him if you value your life and the lives of your loved ones.”
“What? Aren’t you involved in investment issues? What’s going on?”
“Listen, you seem like a nice lady, and I can’t go into all the details of this investigation. I can tell you that this man has some pretty dangerous people involved in his scam life and it’s not the place for a young mother like yourself.”
“How do you know I have a child?”
This guy was really starting to freak me out. Brandon didn’t strike me as the type of guy who was involved in dangerous things
, but that message I received through the online system was still in my head. Whatever was going on in Brandon’s life was getting out of control, and I didn’t want to be part of it any longer. I couldn’t risk something happening to me or my son and I didn’t want to be part of the drama.
“I’m an investigator, ma’am. Here’s my card. If you think of any other important information, please give me a call. And like I said, I’d try staying away from the trouble that Mr. Baker has himself in.”
“Okay, thank you,” I replied as the man left the office and I continued sitting there.
The whole encounter had seemed rather odd. How did this guy even know who I was? I had only been on a couple of dates with Brandon, and I couldn’t have been the closest person in his life that they were able to contact.
But none of it mattered. As much as I was starting to like Brandon, I certainly couldn’t be in dangerous situations. He was going to have to figure things out before I was going to spend any more time with him.
“What’s going on? What happened? Are you going to be arrested? Am I going to be arrested?” Robert said as he rushed up to me.
“No, Robert, neither of us is going to be arrested. I can’t really talk about anything more than that.”
“You’d tell me, right? I mean, if they were after me, you wouldn’t keep that to yourself?”
I had to laugh at the paranoia that Robert had and couldn’t help but wonder what sort of trouble he was getting himself into that he actually thought someone was coming after him.
“I’d tell you, Robert. Now I’m going to get back to my desk and my work, if that’s all right with you?”
“Sure, yeah, of course. You do what you need. Let me know if you need any help. I think you’re doing a great job.”
I quickly made my way back toward my desk and grabbed Mattie as I continued walking down the hall. She pulled away from me and we looked at each other with an understanding that there was a lot we had to talk about.