Chapter 1

Kathy was a single mother. A NEW single mother, on her own, in a new home, for the first time. The father of her son, Vince, was a good guy, just not husband material. He also wasn’t father material, being selfish and self-centered. So counting on him was not something that she was going to hold her breath on. But he did contribute to raising his son by giving her enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. He also bought many of the baby things before Dylan was born. Even with his help, his line of work led her to think that he wouldn’t be there for them. You see, he was a drug dealer.

She didn’t know that when she moved in with him after she got pregnant, but the late night calls, being out all night, the low life friends he hung out with, were the first clues that there was more to him than what he showed. But the kicker was he never went to a job but always had money. Lots of money. To his credit he didn’t run away or abandon her when he found out she was pregnant. In fact he asked her to marry him but her sensibility kept her from saying yes. And with his financial support she moved out on her own.

Things were going pretty good for her and Dylan. But it began to fall apart a few months after Dylan was born. Vince came over late in the day, clearly agitated and nervous. He related to her that a car full of his friends were pulled over by the cops and were arrested for small amounts of drugs they had on them, but all the money they had was confiscated as well as the car. None of this would have been a problem by itself but when put together it hurt his business. He was out about ten grand, four of his dealers were very shaky and were afraid that the narcs would be targeting them. And since he bailed them out the cops were probably looking at him, not because his friends said anything, but because they all knew each other and he had bailed them out.

She tried reassuring him that everything would be okay and he had nothing to worry about. That seemed to have worked as Vince calmed down and thanked her for listening to him as he left. After seeing Vince leave she went through the apartment looking for anything that could be seen as drug paraphernalia and got rid of it just in case the cops came looking for Vince.

She was still on edge when two days later Vince stopped by, looking even worse than before. From what she could gather he was on his way to talk to the last dealer, he had to pick up the proceeds from his sales and to get an accounting of how much product he had so he could get some more for him. As he was about to turn on his street he saw several guys running into the front of the house, the lead guy holding a think long pipe in his hand. It was the cops, and they were raiding his friend’s house. He got out of there quickly, and not wanting to go home, came to her place.

She didn’t want him here, especially if the cops came after him. But she felt she owed him and let him stay the night. The next day Vince made several calls to find out what was going on with the dealer. His demeanor went from bad to worse as he found out that he was indeed arrested and was charged with distribution. They also confiscated all of the money found on him, 150K, along with twenty guns they found in another part of the house, it seems he was also a gun collector.

She could see that Vince was losing it as he hung up the phone. She tried to talk to him but he left the apartment quickly leaving her talking to herself as the door closed. At a loss to make of what happened she went to check on Dylan, who was still fast asleep. She kissed his head and went back to the front room and sat down on the coach, thankful that it was her day off from the diner.

A couple hours after dinner, with Dylan asleep in his crib, she sat down at the kitchen table to write checks to cover her bills when a knock on her door broke the silence. She got up and went to the door and looked out the peep hole where she could see a man in a business suit.

Ensuring the chain was on the door she opened it up enough to look out and asked, “Can I help you?”

He saw her and smiled warmly as he responded, “Hello, I’m sorry to bother you but I am looking for Kathy Samarillo?”

She frowned as she responded, “I’m Kathy, but my last name is Gouben.”

He wrinkled his brow and looked at the number on her door and said, “Oh. I was informed that Vince’s wife lived at this address.”

She looked down for a moment before saying, “I know Vince, but I’m not his wife.”

He nodded his head and quickly asked, “Do you have a son with him?”

She unknowingly nodded her head, “Yes.”

He smiled warmly again, “Ah, good, you are the person I am looking for. May I come in?”

She was unsure about letting him in, and when she hesitated, he responded, “My apologies, my name is Albert Gordon, Vince works for me.”

She knew the name, and when Vince talked of him he always mentioned that he was dressed sharply and in an expensive suit. Feeling more at ease she closed the door and removed the chain and let him in saying, “Please come in and have a seat. Vince mentioned your name and how well you dressed.”

He smiled and entered the apartment and stood next to a chair directly across from the coach and turned to her as she closed the door.

“What can I do for you Mr. Gordon?” she asked as she sat down on the coach.

After she sat down he took a seat in the chair and responded, “Please, call me Gordon.”

Gordon? “Okay, Gordon.” She directed him to the couch and after he sat down she sat in the chair to his right.

“Thank you. I am looking for Vince, he has not been returning my calls and his mother does not know where he is. I was hoping he might be here, but it doesn’t seem so. When was the last time you saw him?”

“This morning. Would you like something to drink?”

He waved his hand no as he replied, “Oh, no thank you. Did he say where he was going?”

She thought for a moment, the morning was hectic and disjointed and she couldn’t recall if he said where he was going, “No, he made a phone call and left.”

Gordon sat back for a moment, “Do you know where he could be?”

She wrinkled her nose and said, “Well, he’s rarely here, maybe once a week to see his son. If he’s not at his mom’s, he could be at Jimmi’s or by his cousin’s Sam. It’s been a while since we were together but he use to spend time at Junior’s bar. Outside of those places I mentioned I don’t know where else he could be.”

He shook his head and said, “I’ve tried those places, and several more, I have not find him. It seems that he has dropped off the face of the earth, which has me worried.”

“Is he in trouble?”

Gordon seemed to be mulling her answer over before getting up and saying, “I don’t know. But if he is, it is not me he has to be worried about. Thank you for your time,” he stood up and reached inside his jacket and handed her his business card, “This is my card, call me if you hear from Vince.”

She took the card and said, “I will.”

The next morning she dropped Dylan off at Mrs. Jackson’s home and went to work at the diner. She liked Mrs. Jackson, an older African American grandmother who cared for five other children ranging in ages from new born to six.

They were done with the morning rush and were relaxing when two men walked into the diner. It was easy to tell they were detectives, the bulge of their guns in their suit coats and their demeanor gave it away. Until she met Vince she never had problems with the police, she ran the straight and narrow, so her feelings towards law enforcement were positive. But her opinion changed soon after she began her relationship with Vince as the cops would pull them over for minor infractions which would give them an opportunity to search the car, Vince, and finally her. After the fifth search she soured on law enforcement, as well as Vince. When she found out she was pregnant she called it off with Vince, not wanting her child to be exposed to his lifestyle, and the harassment. Since then she had no interaction with the police.