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her car from something an angry, unfaithful husband might do in a rage.
    He didn't want to scare her, so he cleared his throat a couple of times, not moving closer. Her head turned at the sound and she sat upright in the seat. He could see she'd been crying and he wondered what her lousy husband had done to her.
    He wanted to tell her to cry for both of them, because he couldn't. Her hand rose to block the light from glaring directly in her eyes. "Jack?" Her voice was soft, but with a very lost quality.
    "Yes, Mrs. Cooper. I just happened to see your car over here." He pointed across the street. "My business is over there."
    "Don't call me that," she exclaimed with some anger. "Just Nia," she finished.
    He could certainly understand that, he thought, as he asked, "Nia, what are you doing out here?" Her lovely features nearly crumbled, and he added quickly, "If those TV people left you here, I will—"
    "No," she exclaimed, interrupting him. "He took all the money out of our accounts. Every last penny."
    Her hand fell to the open window ledge, clutching it, as he approached. Then he crouched by her car to be at eyelevel with her.
    "Nia, no," he uttered, feeling the anger he'd been wrestling with all day rising again. "Rotten bastards," he swore.
    He thought perhaps he shouldn't have said that, but Nia was watching his mouth with a partial smile of anticipation.
    "Say it again," she whispered, glancing at his eyes, then back down at his mouth again.
    He nearly smiled. "Your rotten, no-good bastard husband deserves ..." He got stuck on that and he didn't want to completely shock her.
    "He deserves a disease," she offered with relish. "An awful, sexual one," she added.
    Jack decided they both liked that one immensely as they looked at each other with partial smiles.
    Then Nia sighed, with her smile leaving. "So Dan didn't come home for several hours, and I found out when I went to the bank to withdraw some money for a motel room that he'd used the time to withdraw all but one dollar from our bank accounts. Dan knows money," she said.
    "A motel room?" Jack asked, trying to keep the anger from his voice. How could Cooper throw his pretty wife out on the streets with no money? At least he knew Sadie had a couple of credit cards. One with both their names on it, which worried him.
    "Dan brought your wife home," Nia whispered, as if she was going to wound him, which she did. "To stay," she added—the final blow.
    Jack stood, smashing his fingers into a fist over the deposit bag. "Those ..." He stomped one way. "Those ..." He stomped back. "How could they," he finally uttered. He was at a loss to find a name to call them that was vile enough for their actions.
    "Bastards!" Nia exclaimed, and he knew the betrayal wasn't as fresh for her as it was for him. She'd been through a horde of emotions already about this newest ambush, while he was just freshly seething.
    Of course, he'd suspected his wife was cheating. He'd been dealing with it for a while. He'd prepared himself for the encounter today. Emotions in check. However, for the first time since it all started, something had come along and blindsided him. He thought he was more enraged with the way they were treating Nia than he was angry about the infidelity.
    He heard Nia’s car door open and close as he continued to pace.
    "Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just blurt that out like that and upset you."
    Nia's voice sounded worried and the height of his anger immediately ratcheted down before it. "Damn it, Nia." He stopped pacing and turned to her. "Don't apologize."
    "I guess there’s no way not to be upset," she said, shrugging. "This is all so unreal."
    Jack unclenched his fingers from the bank bag. "It's like I never knew her," he said slowly.
    Nia wrapped her arms around her waist, as if she were cold. She still wore a short-sleeve white blouse over jeans, but her work apron was gone. "How could they change so much and so quickly?" she muttered.
    Jack knew if they both didn't