Bette was seated inside the interrogation room and Agent McKinnon requested three glasses of water to be brought in. Agent Johnson joined them a few minutes later. Immediately, the air in the room was filled with a cheap cigarette stench and Bette squeezed her hands together tight to stop from wrinkling her nose. It wasn’t her place to judge. Agent McKinnon didn’t share the same concern. She shook her head, “God, Johnson, you stink. I told you to lighten up on these cigarettes, man. You are one pack away from a lung cancer.”

Agent Johnson just shrugged, “You sound just like my ex-wife. My father smoked all his life and he is still alive and well.”

Bette coughed discretely, not interested in their banter. She wanted this interrogation to be over so they all could move on with their lives. The agents looked at each other and nodded. The female agent took a small notebook from her inside pocket as they sat down on the other side of the table.

“Ms. Porter,” Agent McKinnon started, looking at her notes. “Where are you from?”

Bette looked at her, startled. Alice made her role-play for hours yesterday and never, in any of their scenarios, that was the first question. Nevertheless, this particular question was part of the role-play and Bette just went with the flow, “I was born in Geneva, Switzerland to a Swiss mother and an American citizen, Melvin Porter Palmer.”

“Could you elaborate, please?” Agent McKinnon asked as she wrote in her notebook.

“My mother died when I was a young girl and this is when I learned that my father was an American citizen. Mother never talked about him until she learned that she was terminally ill. She told me he was a businessman and they met at a café where she worked as a waitress. She knew he was married but that didn’t stop them from having an affair. He was the love of her life.” Bette reached for a glass of water and took a sip, collecting her thought. “When she died, I was in a foster care for a few years and then a very nice couple adopted me. My life was just fine…until my half-sister contacted me.”

“Your half-sister?” Agent McKinnon looked up from her notebook.