07

It wasn't until after his death that she began to understand him.

Until then, she had never truly known him. 

There was so much about her husband that she had taken for granted. 

He didn't talk to his parents, because they couldn't accept that he left their faith in favor of another. He grew up in a small town, and had always wanted to live in a big city, to experience that life. He worked in the pharmaceutical industry, and made an extremely comfortable living. He took care of the financials, which she'd never minded, because she wasn't so great with numbers.

He wanted a family, so they'd been trying to have a child. He wanted a small farm out in the country, and they'd been saving up to purchase land. He didn't have a problem with her working, but felt it was his duty to take care of her, regardless.

So many little things - put together, they'd made up the foundation of her life - made up the entirety of everything she knew about the man she'd decided to spend the rest of her life with. 

Now, only five days buried, that foundation crumbled beneath her feet.

The potbellied detective sat across from her, tapping his fingers against the rough surface of the wooden desk. His mouth was settled into a deep frown, and his eyes stared at her expectantly.

"I... I don't know," she said again. Her hands wrapped around the edges of her chair's uncomfortable seat. "I really don't know."

"You didn't know that your husband was selling drugs illegally?" he repeated, the disbelief in his voice grating against her skin. "You didn't suspect that your husband was making more money than someone in his position should?"

"No!" she repeated. "He - he made a good salary. We were comfortable. He was good with money." Everything she ever believed about him came to the surface. "He's a good man. He works hard. That's why we had money - because he had a good job and he worked hard and he was good with money!"

The officer grimaced, but otherwise didn't share his thoughts. She felt pathetic - an idiot - because if what they were saying was true, then she had been nothing more than a stupid, scatterbrained woman who fell for another man's trap.

Regardless of the truth, however, she couldn't help them. She couldn't help them.