“The address on file for her was only a half hour away and one day I found myself in the neighborhood and decided to pop by.” He shakes his head. “The second she opened the door, I knew I was in trouble.”

I'd seen a couple pictures of her on the internet. When the story had come out during Sullivan's initial run for governor, some journalists had tracked her down and taken some photos. She was of medium height, brown eyes, high cheekbones, full lips.

“Did the affair start that day?”

“No. We just talked for an hour. Laughed over the whole thing. Promised to get our spouses together and have dinner some night.”

“But that never happened?”

He shakes his head. “In fact, I didn't see her for another three years. Then I was up in Maryland for a meeting and I ran into her. She and her husband had moved up there a couple years earlier. We had coffee and well, you could tell she was unhappy. The marriage was on the rocks. She never saw him. He worked constantly. After that, we'd see each other a couple times a month.”

“When did the affair start?”

“In December of that year. Kim, my wife, was out of town for the week. The other Kim called and said she'd be down in Virginia for a couple days visiting her folks. She came over and, well—”

“How long did it last?”

“Six months. I stopped when my wife told me she was pregnant.”

“Was the other Kim okay with it?”

“I guess so. I never heard from her again.”

“Then how did Jessie come into the picture?”

“Well, she'd already changed her name when I met her. If she'd come to work for my campaign and said her name was Jessie Kallomatix, I don't know if I would have let her work for me. So, when I met her, her name was Jessica Renoix. She worked hard for me for three months, then one day she comes into my office, tells me point-blank who she is, that her mother had gotten drunk one night and told her about her affair with me. Then she shows me a little baggy and a piece of paper. The baggy has a lock of my hair in it, says that she cut it off my head one night when I was asleep on my desk. The piece of paper is a DNA test. She says that I'm her father and that she wants a hundred thousand dollars.”

“And you gave it to her?”

“I did. And she disappeared the next day. I didn't hear from her until three months ago.”

“What did she say?”

“It was an email. I have the same private email I had back then. It was a picture of her and my son.”

“That must have gotten your attention.”

“Sure did.”

“And this time she asked for two hundred grand?”

“Yep.”

“To stop dating your son?”

He nods.