I felt genuinely sick hearing exactly how carefully Roland had protected himself this whole time. He hadn’t simply hidden his own behavior from me. He’d created an entirely believable story, for anyone who might notice something unusual happening.
Fortunately, Mr. Halloway had never fully believed him regardless. He said I’d always appeared genuinely healthy myself, and the people visiting our house at such strange hours certainly hadn’t looked anything like medical professionals.
I showed him the photographs I’d taken of Roland’s notebook. As he read through the entries, the color drained entirely from his face. “Dear God, Paloma, we genuinely need calling the police right now.”
We contacted emergency services, though the dispatcher initially treated my report with real caution, apparently hearing it as some complicated domestic situation. They promised sending an officer once one became available, but Mr. Halloway immediately insisted waiting simply wasn’t good enough. “Roland could genuinely come back at any moment now.”
Then my phone rang. It was Marnie. “Paloma, I got your message. What’s genuinely going on?” I told her absolutely everything — the tea, the camera, the photographs, the other women, the disturbing records found on Roland’s laptop. Marnie stayed silent until I’d genuinely finished the whole account.
“I’m coming over right now. And I’m bringing someone with me too.” About an hour later, Marnie arrived alongside Detective Osei, someone she knew through the hospital who specialized in complex criminal investigations. I handed over the flash drive, and after reviewing the evidence carefully, Osei’s entire demeanor changed completely.
“This is considerably bigger than simply what he was doing to you specifically. Based on everything you’ve found here, he’s been running a genuine criminal enterprise for years now.” She immediately called for additional officers. Investigators began tracing information from Roland’s own records, and within hours, they’d identified several men across different states, all appearing connected to his network somehow.
But there sat one genuine problem. Roland was still entirely free. And instead of remaining out in Ashmere for three full days, as he’d told me, police learned he was actually expected home that same evening.
Detective Osei decided they genuinely wouldn’t wait around for him to simply disappear. They were going to let my own husband walk right back into our house. And I was going to be waiting there for him.
