Chapter 2: Life Goes On: Me and Mickey

So, there I was, now a single father, 33 years old with a growing practice in psychiatry, making good money and already divorced. My life looked grim, trying to raise a daughter by myself. I had to find some way to get rid of the empty feeling so it would not affect my daughter. I decided then and there to begin to do some of the things that I had planned earlier in my life. I needed some money and I needed help quickly.

One more thing to know about me. Because of some of the things we did in Special Forces in places like Afghanistan long before the first Gulf War, me and some of my buddies were able to make a few bucks under the noses of our commanding officers. The drug trade was flourishing and we just thought it was our due to confiscate some of the dollars from the locals. It was a safe bet that they wouldn't complain and we were not a group that they wanted to make enemies. By way of warning, we found the meanest son of a bitch Tribal Leader in one of the many mountain ranges there, took him out, and mounted his head on a sharp stick. That was a very well recognized sign to the locals. It worked to a degree but we decided it needed a booster shot so we picked another mover and shaker and took him and his lieutenants out. Our rep was sealed, and we had few complainers. So, by the time I was done, I had a nice piece of change in several numbered accounts in Switzerland. No one, including Karen, knew about this part of my life and she knew nothing about the money. I had never had reason to touch it and of course, I never talked about it.

After the divorce was final, I pulled some money out of one of those accounts and invested it in a fund set up for Mickey for her education. I still had plenty of money elsewhere and I only drew on it as needed. My practice was beginning to take off and I had enough coming in to let the rest of it ride. Karen could never touch any of the funds I earned from now on since they were post marriage funds. She never learned of the other monies either.

So now it was just my daughter and I. We moved to a nice apartment just a short walk from my office and I hired a wonderful older nanny to make sure I didn't ruin Mickey's youth. She would give me the time I needed to find my way again and to let the hatred and pain of Karen's betrayal fade. They took to each other right away and made my life much more fun. I loved Mickey to death and I would have spoiled her every which way but nanny Grace made sure that didn't happen. Mickey grew up to be a wonderful girl and a beautiful one to boot. Her beauty she got from her mother. From me, she got her independent spirit and her love of adventure.

I spent more and more time at my practice and took an interest in the psychology of antisocial behavior. I loved the challenge of dealing with people who appeared normal in almost all respects but were deeply troubled and suffered from phobias, obsessions and other neurosis. I thought maybe it would help explain Karen. I took only those clients who could pay well and those whose obsessions were not public knowledge. I gradually got the reputation of one who could be trusted to get those people who were famous out of trouble. My client base grew as the years passed and I found myself more and more fascinated with the criminal element in that subset of famous people I treated.