Two days after the meeting at the medical examiner's office, I came home (well, Lauren's home) from work. Lauren was sitting in the recliner in the living room crying. I quickly dropped my briefcase on the floor and walked over to sit on the arm of the chair next to her wrapping my arm around her. "What's wrong?" I asked as I wiped tears from her cheeks.
"The baby wasn't mine. They told me there was a 0% chance I was the father. In a way, I'm relieved. Does that sound weird?"
"No. I could understand how it could be worse if you found out it was your child who was killed," I sympathized.
"Yeah, but in a way I was also hoping it was. At least I would know there is the possibility I could have children. I'm also angry that I thought we were putting things back together, but she was sleeping someone else. I know I can't get too mad because I wasn't an angel myself, but I really thought she wanted to make us work. Six months hadn't even passed, and she already gave up."
"Are you sure you don't know who she could have possibly been seeing?" I inquired.
"Now that I think about it, there was this guy named Austin with whom she went to graduate school. They hadn't seen each other in a while, but she saw him at Miami-Dade College in March. He had accepted a position as an adjunct there. They had been exchanging texts and hanging out every once in a while, but I didn't suspect anything. Camila has had a few male friends since her first year in college, and I had no reason not to trust her with them," she explained.
"You need to tell this to the investigators," I advised. "He could have gotten mad that she wasn't going to leave you or wanted to get rid of the baby. They need to look into this guy."
"I know. I'm going to call the Miami PD investigator on the case now."
I went to make dinner as Lauren talked on the phone. Finding out that Camila was having an affair and got pregnant by someone who wasn't Lauren were the best things that could happen for me. No one would even suspect me now. Although, they could still look at Lauren as a suspect even though she said she didn't know Camila was pregnant. Finding out that she got pregnant by someone else could be the perfect motive for her murder.
I helped Lauren plan Camila's funeral. Lauren wasn't all that down anymore. I guess she felt betrayed by Camila. Still, she didn't want everyone to know that Camila had cheated and gotten pregnant by the guy she was cheating with. Her wish wasn't granted because the local news got leaked information from the autopsy report. They knew before we did that a man named Austin Mahone was wanted by Miami PD for questioning, but they couldn't find him. That made him look even more suspicious. He had been missing from work since around the time Camila went missing. Things just kept looking better.
At the funeral reception, Lauren was growing annoyed by the stares and gossip that were going on. The attendees didn't have the decency to keep from talking about Camila's affair. All they would do was suddenly become quiet whenever Lauren walked by. Lauren's parents, Mike and Clara, seemed angry rather than sad during the whole thing. It was like their whole opinion about Camila had changed after hearing the news. I guess the thought of having taken her in and helped her through college was salt in the wound.
After the reception, we went home and changed out of our dress clothes. That's when Lauren brought up an expected topic. "I want to go have my sperm count tested."
"What? Why?"
"I need to know once and for all if I can have children," she explained.
"What are you going to do if you find out you can't? Are you going to start testosterone therapy?" I asked.
"No, I just want to know," she replied.
"Okay, but what is bringing this on all of a sudden? I know there's the thing with Camila, but..."
