"My husband Tom cheated on me with that Filipina chick, Angelica Arroyo, and I think he's serious about her, what am I going to do?" Roseanne Burton-Stanfield sobbed, and the six-foot-tall, blonde-haired and blue-eyed Texan woman looked at her best friend Sharon Winston, who was too busy checking her cell phone to pay attention to her. Welcome to my dreary little life, Roseanne thought sadly.
The two of them were sitting inside the food court of the North Park Shopping Center in the City of Dallas, Texas. Roseanne Burton-Stanfield and Sharon Winston were both members of the stiff upper crust of Texan society, having married rather well-off men. Women in such marriages knew that their husbands, being rich and powerful, liked to have their cake and eat it too. It was just part of the deal. For Roseanne, a good Christian woman who took her vows seriously, it was as though the world was ending...
"Roseanne, would you stop whining? Geez, I have an early afternoon appointment with my acupuncturist, so, um, later," Sharon Winston said tersely, and the slender, green-eyed redhead got up, shot Roseanne a dirty look and walked away, clutching her pearls like a haughty, melodramatic bitch. People walking by stared and shook their heads. Roseanne sat there, feeling devastated, both by the evidence that the private investigator showed her, and the fact that her best friend Sharon Winston acted so callously.
Roseanne Burton-Stanfield met Sharon Winston one fine day at the University of Houston in September 2000. At the time, nineteen-year-old Roseanne was a varsity cheerleader, studying business management at University of Houston while practicing her favorite sport. Sharon was the daughter of West Texan socialites. It's through her that Roseanne met her future husband Thomas Stanfield. The two of them had been close friends for ages. That's why her behavior shocked Roseanne so damn much...
"Detective Tang, what are you doing here?" Roseanne asked, and she blinked in surprise as the tall, handsome and well-dressed, trim and fit Chinese-American private investigator seemingly materialized in front of her. Six feet tall, with dark hair and bronze skin, he looked very handsome in a dark gray suit, blue silk shirt, black silk pants and shiny black shoes. An enigmatic look creased his handsome face, and Roseanne thought she saw concern in Detective Jiang Tang's eyes.
"Forgive me for sneaking up on you like this, ma'am, I came in for lunch and you seemed to be in distress," Detective Jiang Tang said in that deep, masculine voice of his. Roseanne felt a frisson coursed through her. When Roseanne began to feel concerned about her wealthy husband Tom Stanfield's late-nights at work, she confided in her good friend Reginald Jackson, the tall and handsome African-American corporate attorney who was a senior partner at the law firm where she worked.
Roseanne Burton-Stanfield had been good friends with attorney Reginald Jackson for ages, ever since she started working as an office manager at Doyle, Jackson & Winters, one of the top law firms in Dallas. The firm had close to forty lawyers, and a fleet of secretaries and assistants. Reginald Jackson was one of a few black lawyers there, and felt quite alienated from the other big-shot lawyers because he was married to a white woman named Mildred O'Neill and had a mixed-race son, Joel Jackson.
Roseanne definitely empathized with Reginald Jackson's unique situation. Interracial relationships continued to be the source of much talk in Dallas, even in the twenty-first century. She remembered how her family reacted to her dating a Mexican guy named Jorge Guillermo, shortly before she met her future husband Tom Stanfield. Texan society could be a hostile environment for those who broke the unwritten rules...
"I know just the man to help you, my dear," Attorney Reginald Jackson said, after Roseanne told him of her suspicions regarding her husband Tom Stanfield. Roseanne knew that her husband was stepping out on her, but she wanted definite proof before she did or said anything rash. At Mr. Jackson's recommendation, Roseanne hired his good friend and former roommate Jiang Tang, a licenced private investigator operating out of Dallas, Texas.
Roseanne, who initially pictured a white male ex-cop, was pleasantly surprised to meet the tall and handsome, thirty-something Jiang Tang. The youthful Asian-American gentleman held a Criminal Justice degree from Texas Southern University, where he met Reginald Jackson, and had served in the United States Marine Corps. Roseanne realized that she was staring, and asked Detective Jiang Tang to join her. Graciously the younger man accepted, and smiled at her.
