Page 57 of The Girl He Loves

Chapter 21

Monday Night

Tyler’s exhaustedby the time he and Doug come home. He falls asleep on the couch, and I carry him to bed without waking him. By the time I have him tucked in, Josie and Jayne have arrived and are in the kitchen with Dax.

Josie’s looking at the papers Justin gave me. She doesn’t even glance up when I enter the room. “Did you do the test?”

“Yes,” I say and sit in the chair next to her. Dax offers me a hard cider, and I accept. My nerves are shot.

We let Josie read in silence.

“Wow,” she says. “He wants you to pay him back within ninety days once the test determines he’s not Tyler’s dad.”

My anger stirs, I say, “How would I be able to do that?”

“He says if you can’t do that, he’ll take the twelve thousand you have in your account as the down payment and follow that with monthly payments for one year.”

Dax slides off the counter he’s been sitting on. “How does he know you have twelve grand in your account?” Apparently, his anger is stirring, too.

I shrug. “We didn’t have a joint account, and I switched banks when we divorced. But it’s almost on-the-nose exactly how much I have saved. That’s the money I was going to use to offset my loss of income when I did my student teaching.”

Jayne says, “It’s odd he knows how much you have.”

Josie taps my phone. “Any chance you have spyware on here or your computer?”

Dax says, “Could he guess your password?”

All these questions are too much. Spyware? I hand Josie my phone, then stand to get my laptop. After retrieving it, I sit, plug in my password, and wait for the page to load. I scan my bank’s website and find a tracker that logs when I signed in. Sure enough, there are more sign-ins to my account than the ones I’ve done.

I swivel the screen to Dax. “He’s been logging in. Or someone has.”

Josie rolls her eyes. “Don’t be nice. It’s okay to accuse him. How do you think he got your password?”

“He was carrying your laptop when he found me in the living room the other day.”

I think it over, wondering. When we divorced, I made sure to put as large a separation between us possible. Tyler was the only link. And though I tried to keep our lives separate, I also went for an amicable relationship. Clearly that message was lost on Justin.

“I keep a book in my dresser drawer where I log all important info. Like passwords,” I say.

Dax says, “That should be in a safe.”

I say, “Duh, and when I have a safe, I’ll put it in there.”

He holds up his hands in apology.

Jayne pats Dax on the shoulder. “Now we know he’s been coming in and breaking things, tapping into your accounts, and who knows what else. Bloody wanker. Do we know why?”

I shake my head and type Justin’s name in a search engine. “Right after our divorce, Justin changed firms and didn’t pay child support for a quarter because he claimed he was unemployed.”

Josie snaps her fingers, recognition on her face. “I remember that. We tried to prove he was out of work for only two weeks.”

“Cost me a grand, remember?”

She nods. “He gives, and he takes it back.”

I point to the screen where I’ve pulled up his firm’s website. “He’s now an associate partner with that firm. That’s why he has the new car, clothes, and hairstyle. He’s damn well making enough money to pay child support.”

Jayne asks, “Could a woman be involved?”

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