PART 3: The One Small Lie and the Big Red Flag

 
… con’t from Part 2

My son, David, had now been in Arizona for a few days. Kathy and I had been on the phone regularly. By the end of the week, though, the number of our calls decreased substantially. It was during one of those, I remembered that I needed to share the information concerning Julie.

Since Kathy had no idea that I was aware of their communication, it was only natural for me to begin with a question …

“… oh, and before I forget: Have you been in touch with Julie?“

“No.”

RED FLAG: That was not the correct answer.

As simple as it was, I thought I confused her. So, I rephrased it …

“I’m sorry, let me try that one again: Have you been communicating with Julie, you know, by email or by phone?”

“No, I don’t even remember the last time we spoke.”

Except I knew with 100% certainty that Julie and Kathy spoke the previous weekend. At that point, I dropped it, as if it were no big deal.

But, it was a big deal.

Red flags were everywhere. I knew, from those two lies, I was facing a very large problem, something I certainly did not want to realize right after sending my son to stay in her home.

In no time at all, I had four credible individuals who confirmed the relationship between Kathy and Julie, in addition to Julie’s own admission. I was never able to nail down precisely how long they had been communicating. The only aspect that seemed assured was that it was more than one year, since it was referred to as “years” — that’s plural.

On that original Sunday, when I called Kathy back, she asked if I could house-sit for a week that she and her husband would be out of town. I agreed without hesitation. That week was about one month away, and had now taken on an additional role.

I decided not to mention anything about Julie, again, until I was face-to-face with Kathy. Ideally, I’d be able to drop in the same question, unexpectedly, during a casual conversation. I was not expecting a different answer, but I wanted to see her physical reaction, something that would tell me a lot. I knew what I didn’t want to see, but I was fully prepared to see it.

As I think back to that first call from Kathy, I was so taken by her compassion, that I showered her with praise and gratitude. She proudly accepted my gratitude, and when she stated “what’s family for?” with so much compassion, I was truly touched . . . only to realize it was all part of a huge, malicious lie.

She called and pretended as if she knew nothing of my son’s dilemma, when in reality, she actually knew everything. As did Julie.

Kathy has NO shame.

Kathy was so convincing, that I had completely forgotten I told my dad all about David’s week on Saturday, the day before Kathy called me.  It was during a call with dad about a week later, that he surprisingly revealed his call to Kathy just after he got off the phone with me.

The day before Kathy called me to “see how we were doing”, dad called Kathy and told her the entire story about David. Her Sunday call to me was an entire deception, a maliously-planned lie in coordination with Julie.

To get David enrolled in their school district, Kathy convinced me she needed a certified copy of his birth certificate, as well as a notarized document transferring temporary custody to her. As I think back, I really wonder what she and Julie could have done, or had even planned to do.

I was faced with a myriad of ever-growing deceptions, and at that point, I had yet to determine: why.

Continued in Part 4, the face-to-face reality …