Beautiful and talented painter, Selma Halpern + charismatic architect husband, Jamal Halpern + bubbly baby boy, Rae Halpern. The stars had finally aligned in Selma's favor.
But by the strike of midnight on a fateful day in April, it seemed like the...
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20.
Selma stood in shock of what Jocelyn had just said about Kunle Anand. She knew Jamal wouldn't fold his hands and let himself be blackmailed, but she didn't expect for him to have a whole private investigator without informing her about it. She also didn't expect it to be her client. For goodness' sakes, did he commission her as part of an act to follow her?
Like he heard her thoughts, Kunle took the cue and informed Jocelyn, "Mrs. Halpern actually made a lovely painting of my mom some days ago and that's how we met. I'm sorry for the confusion but if you could have your seat, I'm willing to clarify this situation for all of us."
Selma sat on the wooden bench opposite Kunle and Jocelyn settled in to her right. The store was moderately quiet with few customers coming in and most leaving with takeouts. Kunle himself had a Nitro Cold Brew in front of him that looked totally untouched. When they walked in, he had been bent over his laptop which he had shut now and pushed aside.
Selma patted down Rae whose eyes were roaming the little space and occasionally, shook his rattle that made very little noise. He looked content enough, and Selma found Kunle smiling at him.
"I see our little painter is doing good," he commented, bringing up the memory of Rae making a mess of himself and Selma with green paint that day at the gallery.
Selma smiled tightly at the reminder and then shook her head from the distraction. "I- why are we here? What did Jocelyn mean by PI?"
"Actually," he was slowly picking out his words as if to find a milder way to express this situation without offending Selma. "I did lie when I told you I was a finance intern at your husband's company. That was simply to throw you off in case I made a slip up about something I knew about him. I started working for Jamal Halpern towards the end of March as his private investigator but I couldn't exactly tell you that."
"But why?" Selma interjected, "did Jamal ask you to spy on me or something?"
Jocelyn raised her finger at that moment and stood up from her place beside Selma, "I'll go order something for us, and let you guys go over this. I'll be right back."
Selma understood Jocelyn didn't want to get involved in the issue and she assured her it was fine to be there, but Jocelyn shook her head no and slipped away to avoid the awkwardness that was due to ensue.
Selma put her heads in her hands. "This is so messed up. I literally saw you yesterday. You mean you only got that painting to get closer to me?"
"No, not at all. That wasn't part of the job. I saw how talented you were and asked Jamal if it was okay to commission you for my mom's gift. I did not have any business being around you at all, I was never to follow you. Please let me explain, Mrs.—"
"Call me, Selma, please. And fine, go ahead and explain all this to me."
Kunle leaned forward and placed his elbows onto the table. He was almost whispering now as he spoke to her. "Jamal hired me after he got a set of pictures during his business trip. The pictures were sent by mail to his hotel room in a bid to blackmail him with a clear message, they threatened to kill your child."
