"Any new update?" she asked Gibson immediately after the man took his seat.
"Not much of one," Gibson answered.
The investigators have not been able to connect your husband to the purchase of that mask or the sex toys as well.
"Nothing at all on it?" Reyona asked.
"Actually, we have been able to get the manufacturers of those products. We were able to get details of their outlets in Kayooma. Still, we haven't been able to connect any of the purchases around that time to him. We started in the areas close to where you stay, and nothing has come up yet. There are no records of him making any of the purchases. So now, we are extending the search to the area farther from where you stay or his workplace."
Reyona nodded slowly as the man talked.
What a bummer!
It would have been a great thing to hit Thomas right now while he was still reeling, but then there are other ways.
"You still have those pictures, don't you?"
"I have," Gibson answered.
"Good. He has gone beyond the days that he was supposed to respond to the divorce papers, right?"
"Yes, he has," the lawyer responded.
"Charge it to court. I no longer want just the divorce. I need to sue him for defamation. I need him to pay back all the money he stole from me. I need him to bear the full wrath of the law for what he did to my person and to my business through slander."
Gibson looked at Reyona in surprise.
She was certainly different from the woman he had seen on the first day.
That woman had been concerned about giving her handsy husband some leeway.
The woman in front of him at that moment seemed like she didn't care if the sky would collapse.
The saying "Hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned" was the fitting thing that came to his mind.
He had been aware of the things that had happened to this woman in the past few weeks.
If she was ready to take her husband to court in such a situation, then that means the man had run for his dear life.
After Gibson had ensured Reyona that he would get things done as fast as possible so they could go for the court dissolution that week, she stood up to leave.
Then something came to her, and she turned back to Gibson.
"I think I know why you haven't found Thomas's name on any of those purchases," she said confidently.
"Why?" Gibson asked curiously.
"I might be wrong, though but check out this person."
She gave him the full details of the woman they were supposed to check out.
She seemed so sure that Gibson didn't doubt that they would find something useful.
Gibson didn't envy her soon-to-be ex-husband at all.
**********
Reyona's phone was vibrating even while she had her meeting with Gibson.
But after seeing the caller ID, she silenced the phone.
Immediately after she came out of the law firm, she called her back.
"Hello, ma. Are you alright, ma?"
"Of course, I am alright," Reyona answered, even as her stomach rumbled with hunger.
She remembered that she had not had anything to eat since morning.
Remembering Celia's ridiculous spread that morning only made her hunger increase.
She couldn't believe a lot had happened in just one day.
"That is good to know. I think you shouldn't come here for now, though. You can stay where you are and just have a good time."
That got Reyona's interest and took her mind off the thoughts of food.
"Why? What is happening?" She asked without the slightest apprehension.
"Nothing. I just feel like you needed the break, ma. So, just take enough time for yourself. You can even take some days off and come to work later."
Reyona wondered when it had come to the point that her employees felt they should protect her against something.
The fact that Charlotte thought that her poor attempt at hiding something from her would make a difference was hilarious.
Reyona wasn't amused, though.
She was hungry, and that didn't leave room for much humour.
"What is it, Charlotte?" she asked tersely.
"People are here."
"What people?" Reyona asked as she sat up straighter in her seat.
"Reporters, ma. They are everywhere outside the company. Andrews and the others had told them to leave, but they said they just wanted to get clarifications from you. That is why I think... "
"I understand. You all can get off work. Let me know once everyone is gone."
"Yes, ma," Charlotte said.
Reyona disconnected the call, and she sent a message to Toria.
For a moment, she wondered if it had been a good idea to go on air after all.
Good idea or not, she couldn't back down now.
So, she thought of what to do without turning her company into a circus.
She dialled a number as she thought of the perfect solution.
"Hello, Rouarke," she said as the person picked up the call.
"It is good to hear from you, CEO Lanoth. Err, can I still call you that?"
"Just call me Reyona," she answered simply. "Can you have dinner with me tonight?"
"Oh, that will be my pleasure," the man answered eagerly. "I would have called you anyway; I saw..."
"Dinner. Over dinner, Rouarke. I am famished."
"Very well, ma'am. Where should I meet you?"
Reyona looked around at the softening evening light as she tried to remember if there were any good restaurants around.
The station where Rouarke worked was not far from her present location anyway, so she might as well kill two birds with one stone.
She remembered a place with Italian dishes just some distance from where she was.
"Can you meet me at Ariel's Bistro?"
"I will be there in minutes," Rouarke said eagerly.
Reyon disconnected the call and drove the few distances to the small, intimate bistro with its bubbly owner.
Reyona had discovered the place a while ago when she had an Italian client who wanted a place where he could eat food that could pass for homecooked.
Phil had suggested the place, but he was having another meeting with a client, so Reyona had offered to bring him.
She could remember that she had left the place not just full of the pot roast the cook had laddled on but also sated with the good Italian music playing in the background.
The place was just as Reyona remembered it.
The owner, Ariel Fitzgerald, had the habit of coming out to greet the guests as her girls settled them down.
The smile on her wrinkly face reduced when she saw Reyona.
"It is you," the woman said through a snort.
Reyona looked around to be certain the woman was really talking about her.
She could remember how hospitable the woman had been the last time.
"Excuse me?" Reyona asked as she saw the customers who were seated in the bistro turning around to look at both of them.
The smiling lady who was taking Reyon to her seat stepped back and moved behind the woman.
"You. Bad woman. My daughter showed me. You are cheating on your husband. Cheating and bad women are not allowed here. This is a family place. I cannot sell food for you."
The heavily accented words were like stabs to Reyona's suddenly sick stomach.
Shame made the hunger that Reyona had been coming with vanish within a twinkle of an eye.
The fact that the people around her were not making it a secret that they were gossiping about her was even worse.
They pointed and whispered behind their hands as they pinned their gazes on her.
Reyona felt like the ground should open and she should enter it.
"You don't know anything about me," she managed to say as she turned to leave.
But the woman was not done.
Behind Reyona, she shouted, "Riconosco una prostituta quando ne vedo."
Reyona was not as versed in many languages as her travel-bug sister, but she understood what the woman said quite fine.
I know a harlot when I see one!