Chapter 20

The lake was breathtaking. It was much warmer today and we didn't even need gloves or scarves. There was no wind and the water was just totally placid.

"Joe, I know you've told me a couple of times that you don't want to talk about the case, but can you suspend that decision for just a minute or two? I have an idea I want to run by you."

"Go for it, Cupcake. I'm all ears." I started to beg to differ because I had been privy to much more than his ears today, but thought that may get us off track again.

"I remembered the name of that business. It was 'G-Fource'. It was spelled like the number 4 – G F O U R C E. What if it stood for Grizolli, Genieve, Green and …..somebody else?"

He said, "Really? G-Fource? I never realized that. That's an interesting concept. I'll have to think about who the last G would be – oh wait, I know. Gilman. That would be the 4th G."

"Gilman? Like Terri's ex-husband? Her name was still Grizolli on the card I found."

"Yeah, that's where they met. He'd gone into business with her dad. His auto repair shop was a legitimate business until then, but when Grizolli got involved, it became a front for the distribution of illegal materials."

"What kind of illegal materials?"

"Guns and drugs. I was new on the PD at that time. I was still in uniform. Terri and I were on the outs, as usual, because she knew I would bust her or her family if I could prove anything."

"How did you continue to date her back then? You knew what was going on. Didn't you have a problem reconciling that with your personal life?" I was really curious and had just never understood this about Joe and Terri as a couple.

Joe's face was sort of screwed into a scowl. "I told you I would tell you anything you wanted to know. Are you sure you want to know? It's not a really happy story."

"Yes, Absolutely." Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. What the hell, I'd already said yes.

"Have you ever done something just to get along? You know, just because it is easier than all the grief you would get if you didn't?"

"Sure."

He seemed to be trying to figure out how to tell me about it. He finally just jumped in. "Terri and I were together more on than off from the time that I was 15 years old until I was about 23. Even when I was in the Navy, if I got any time off, she would come see me. It was just easier than the alternative. If she wasn't there, I would go out with my buddies and pick up girls. It wasn't like it was ever exclusive with her, you know, and she knew that, but if she was willing to do the work, travel to see me and everything, hell, that was fine, too. Terri was always a sure thing and back then that was pretty damned important to me." He was looking at his feet and kicking around some rocks on the shore of the lake. Periodically he would reach down and pick one up and then throw it hard across the water. "Makes me sound like a real jack-ass but you know that description fit me for a long time."

He stole a little glance at me under his long eyelashes. He was really ashamed of his behavior with her, I'm sure. He drew himself up with a deep breath and said, "I treated her really shitty and she always came back for more. I guess it was an ego thing or something. My big ego combined with her lousy self-esteem made us fit in perfectly with both of our families. They all just figured we'd get married and live miserably ever after. But I knew that wasn't what I wanted. For either of us, really. I'd love to see Terri happy like I am with you. She deserves that. She's really not as bad as she wants you to think she is." He winked at me. He had conflicting emotions. He knew I was jealous but he wanted me to see why he still treats Terri with some respect and protectiveness.

"Anyway, when I got out of the Navy and went to the Police Academy, she thought I should be ready to settle down. But I wasn't – not with her, anyway. Eventually, of course, I got out of the academy and started working on the force. I kept hoping she'd meet someone and ditch me because when I tried to break it off she'd get so upset. She would threaten suicide and actually tried a couple of times. Finally, she got pregnant, or at least she told me she was. My sisters think she was faking it all along. I'm not sure, but I knew I had a responsibility to her if she was pregnant and I couldn't turn my back on her."

I had been wondering if Joe would ever tell me about his 'engagement' to Terri. I guess this is his way of doing that.

Another deep breath and he continued, "I was so fucking miserable. I didn't know what to do. I was going to marry her because I thought that was the right thing under the circumstances, but I knew that it wasn't going to work. I didn't love her. She didn't love me – it was more of an obsession than love. A counselor we went to called us 'co-dependent'." He was smiling and shaking his head like he hadn't thought about that in a while.

"You went to a counselor?" I asked, surprised.

"Jeez, Cupcake, after her suicide attempts, my career conflicting with her family's 'business' and then getting pushed into a marriage I didn't want, I had to have some counseling. I was getting more violent with her and I knew that was just going to get worse. At first, I went to the counselor alone but he said we both needed to come in. We'd been to a couple of sessions and Terri realized I think for the first time, that ours was not exactly a match made in heaven."

We had started walking around the lake and it was a beautiful day. Joe was talking easily now and I knew it was good for us to talk about things like this. He was holding my hand and casting glances at me periodically but mostly we were both just looking at the lake and the trees around us.

"And then," Joe stopped walking and put his arms around me. He looked into my eyes and said, "a beautiful girl who I had treated very shabbily in the past tried to kill me with her father's car." He leaned in and kissed me. "I guess that's when Terri sort of snapped out of it. I was in the hospital getting my leg set and she decided that she needed a way out. She knew it wasn't going to work either, for all the reasons I mentioned before. She called it off. Thank God."

"What did she say about the baby?" I had to hear it from him.

"She said she'd miscarried. I don't know what really happened. I didn't doubt her at the time. Maybe she never was really pregnant like my sisters said. Either way, I'm glad it worked out. So, that's the whole story. After that, we would get together periodically just for sex, but it wasn't more than that. It was easy and familiar and convenient like I told you before. That's sort of where we were when she worked at the G-Spot auto repair shop. I didn't have any big moral issues to deal with other than sex out of wedlock, but you know that I didn't have a problem dealing with that one!" He was laughing, glad to have the big conversation out of the way, I'm sure.

"After a year or so she married Gilman. That was bizarre, too. We were together in bed one night sort of catching our breath and she told me she was eloping with him the next day. I nearly had a heart attack. I was sure he was going to blaze in with a gun and kill me. Obviously their relationship wasn't any healthier than mine had been with her. The tables were turned, however. In that relationship, she was the one in charge – the one on the ego trip and he was the weaker, more obsessive one. I told you he's still sort of trying to get her back."

We'd made it completely around the lake and had stopped to rest on the same rocks we'd stopped at earlier.

"So, getting back to your theory," Joe said, thoughtfully, "if it really was Grizolli, Gilman, Genieve and Green, that gives us a connection to Sara's family's business. It also tells me that Terri may actually have some information on Jeri Stephenson's murder, which I was beginning to doubt."

He helped me back up the path to the cottage and pulled me into a warm embrace. His mouth was warm and wet on mine, a sharp contrast to the cool mid-day air. "Stephanie, you are beautiful and clever. I think you may have put two and two together today."

I felt so proud of myself. I also felt very, very hungry. We decided to get in the car and go in search of lunch. After that, I knew I would be wanting a nap since Muffin, um, Joey and I had gotten into the habit of taking one every afternoon.