Illusions of Trust

Prologue

The woman narrowed her eyes, a sigh escaping between pursed lips as she assessed the man before her. 

Plump, a sheen of sweat covering his blotchy skin in a way that made her skin crawl every time his weasley eyes darted up to look at her.  His breath hitched, a hand swooping through his thinning hair before he adjusted his coke bottle spectacles. 

"Richard, might I remind you, you are writing a letter to a high school girl not the prime minister." She hissed, her body itched as if maggots were wriggling along her skin at the sight of him. 

"You want it believable right? Get off my back." Richard grumbled, erasing away a portion of the paper. 

"The girl hasn't heard from her 'mother' in a year. I'm sure she is desperate enough to believe anything at this stage."

"Why the rush?" 

She stared for a moment, her lips pulled tight. She turned towards the window and sighed. "Have you found anything about her mother?" An echo of emotion ringing through her tone. 

Richard paused a moment before reaching into the bag he had brought with him. Throwing several documents onto the desk before him.

"We ended up finding some traces of her in South America for a while but then she just up and vanished."

"Interesting. Richard, why do you suppose that is?"

Richard choked back a sigh, "I don't know . . . maybe she was afraid of her own kid or something."

"A mother afraid of her own child?" She clamped down on a chuckle. "What a foolish thing to say."  

Richard's rolled his eyes, going back to his imposterous letter. "Just an idea."

She cleared her throat. "What about the father?"

"I'm gonna need way more time for that one. He was never in the picture to begin with so I would need some blood samples to even begin to search for him."

The woman looked glumly out the window, staring up at the half risen sunrise.

"My turn. Might I ask a question?" Richard asked as he stood and walked towards the woman.

"You may," The woman continued to stare out the window, but a wave of uneasiness began to rise within her.

"Why are you doing this? You have the kid, why do you need the parents?"

The woman smiled and turned to the man, eyes gleaming. "We need to control the child, and with that we need a bargaining chip."