I looked through the glass door and saw two people standing looking back at me; a man and a woman. My hair was in a ponytail, I had lounge pants on, I don’t remember if I’d brushed my teeth, and the house looked like wild animals had been swinging from ropes and throwing objects just to see where they would land. The two standing outside my door were dressed in dark suits, carried computers in black cases and had definitely brushed their teeth.
Ari was lying in my bed upstairs watching tv and Sofia was upstairs in her room, not feeling their best from the late night of trick or treating the night before. I propped open the squeaky storm door a foot wide and looked at them with a confused smile. My initial thought was that they were on a tour around the neighborhood to encourage everyone to get out and rock the vote in the mid-term elections the following week. Although, they were a tad overdressed.
“Katherine?” the woman said, as she looked me in the eye.
“Yes”. I said, looking back and forth between the two of them. I wanted to tell them that they forgot their dark sunglasses to complete the CIA look, but something told me this wasn’t the time for jokes.
The woman moved a binder she was holding out in front of her, and it caught my attention. I obediently noticed the shiny badge lying directly in the middle of it. My next thought was that Bill was so mad that I gave him pushback the previous few days, that he’d done something to ‘get even,’ and that was somehow involving the police. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
“I’m Special Agent, Ashley Schmidt.” She paused, gathering a reading from my face. “From the Attorneys General office.” She introduced the man next, but I’d forgotten his name as soon as she said it. “We’re here investigating Revision Skis”.
I felt a slight sense of relief that they weren’t police that Bill had sent, but disappointed that they weren’t just telling me to get out and vote.
“Do you have a minute?”
I pushed the squeaky door open farther. “Come in”.
My willingness to invite them in and to talk about Revision at length was most definitely something that helped me in the bigger picture, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Before I knew it, I had two special agents sitting at my dining room table.
“Two things” I started off, as Ashley pulled out the chair next to me. “First, my kids are upstairs so I may need to step away at some point. Two: I’m sorry for the mess.” as I embarrassedly motioned towards our big couch piled with the loads of laundry that I couldn’t seem to get through.
She smiled and couldn’t seem to care less. I was clearly more concerned than she was. The man sat across from us, comfortably pulling out a laptop and setting it up on the table. It seemed that he was the note-taker that day and didn’t say much. If I hadn’t brushed my teeth, this was not going to be great for Ashley.
She dove straight in, not wasting any time.
“Did you know that you’re listed as owner of Revision Skis?”