Page 86 of Mob Knight

“You deny using profanity in front of the children?”

“Of course, I do. Which kids, and what did Iallegedlysay?”

“You don’t need to keep stressing allegedly.”

“Apparently, I do because I did nothing wrong. I’ve never even said damn in front of a kid.”

“That’s not what was conveyed to me. Past incidents were shared but not previously reported.”

“Past incidents?”

This is some motherfucking bullshit.

“Yes. It’s come to light that you have a habit of swearing in front of kids.”

“Since when? Martha, I’ve worked for you since I came to America. You were my supervisor while I did my clinical hours during grad school. How can you believe this is congruent with what you know about me?”

“It isn’t. That’s why it’s such a shock and disappointment.”

“Who’s accusing me?”

“I can’t disclose that.”

“Don’t I have a right to face my accuser under American law?”

“This isn’t a court case.”

Yet. I’ll go after whoever this is for libel if they wrote this accusation down and defamation if they only said it. This could ruin me.

“Can I read the accusations in full?”

“No. That’s confidential.”

Convenient.

I extend my arm to take the papers my supervisor holds. I want to see what the reprimand says. She hesitates before giving them to me. Did she think I would sign them blind?

I skim the allegations before reading the document more closely. This is some motherfucking bullshit. It claims during a home visit yesterday, I became frustrated by uncooperative parents and lost my temper. It states I not only argued with the parents but swore at them in front of their children. I can’t believe this family would report me for something I didn’t do. It’s out of character for them. I reread a paragraph and realize it wasn’t the parents. Someone supposedly overheard me. I can’t believe this.

I know this is a ridiculous claim because the neighbor to the right of this family’s apartment wasn’t there. They’re traveling out of town right now, and the household to the left only speaks Spanish; whereas, the family I was with only speaks English. There was nobody close enough to hear me to report me.

“This is entirely made-up, Martha. Whoever is doing this is doing it on purpose to ruin my reputation. Do you know who it was? Is it somebody you’re familiar with? Are they a reliable source?”

I feel my temper on the verge of exploding. After what happened a few days ago in the subway and on the street, then on my run with Cormac and Finn, I’ve been hyper vigilant about anybody who might be out to harm me. This feels as premeditated as almost being hit by a car. I wonder who this could be and what the purpose is.

Is this something connected to Cormac? Could this be Pablo finally getting his retribution? That doesn’t sit well with me because the more I finally think about the situation with Pablo, the less I think he could possibly care about me and what happened all those years ago. Anything he says about me now is a way to antagonize Cormac, so I pretty much rule him out. Not entirely. But most of the way. That leaves me wondering if this has to do with my family.

I hoped I wouldn’t have to admit any connections to them yet, but it’s becoming unavoidable. I’m certain Santiago will have plenty to say when I see him this evening. He’s been nagging me to come over, and I’ve been putting it off for days. I suspect he knows about Cormac, and if he knows, then so do other members of our family.

“Martha, do you have any other witnesses to substantiate this? Have you reached out to the family? Do they corroborate this story?”

She hesitates before responding. “They’re too scared to admit what they heard.”

“Scared? What on earth could they be scared about with me? I’ve known them for years, and there’s never been an inkling of trouble between them and me.”

“Yes, well, you stayed out of the Cartel’s crosshairs until now, but your boyfriend certainly is causing a stir. The person who reported this mentioned they heard you on the phone arguing with your boyfriend before you went inside, that you were already short-tempered.

“What? This is going from the ridiculous to the insane. Martha, my boyfriend and I didn’t speak yesterday while I was outside my client’s home. And even if we had, we’ve never had an argument, so there was nothing to report. This is entirely fabricated. Someone is trying to cause problems for me.”

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