Ellen was able to get some food for the family thanks to Nigel’s help. When she got home from work Sunday, she sighed as she looked at the clock. 7:03 p.m., long after Nigel and Ralphie's dinnertime. There was no sign of her boys, but she did find empty pizza boxes in the kitchen trash.

It's just as well, Ellen thought. Ellen was broke, even with Nigel’s gift, but apparently Nigel had more saved so they could get some pizza. Perhaps she’d been too hard on Nigel for wanting to help with the finances.

She also needed to get in touch with her divorce attorney. Rick’s last alimony payment was over a month late! At least he’d been keeping up with child support payments.

Her cell phone rang.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Is this Ellen? This is Agent Appleton calling. Our mutual friend, Sally, gave me your information.”

“Thanks for calling back.”

“I need some more information from you. I have been tracking a similar case and want to make as many correlations as possible. Can I stop by?”

“Yes, please do. I'm at my wit’s end here,” Ellen said with genuine anguish in her voice.

“I will leave now. Give me thirty minutes.”

Agent Appleton gathered information from Ellen's computer.

“So do you know how my computer got hacked?” Ellen asked.

Agent Appleton looked at her like she was a dullard; his gaze was intimidating to say the least.

“Not yet. I will need to give the information to our forensics guys. It may take a while,” Agent Appleton said.

After the evidence was collected, Ellen showed him to the door, and he promised to be in touch. Ellen had an uneasy feeling about all of this.