“No,” he said. “Nothing like that. This had nothing to do with my family. Zero. Zilch. Nada.”
Clements closed his pad- finally-and said, “That should do it for now. But I want you to think about who could’ve gotten ahold of the keys and the code to the alarm. Right now this does seem to have all the makings of some kind of inside job. Not only did the person, persons, have access to the house, they also seemed to know the house very well. I mean, they knew you didn’t have a chain on the back door and they could enter that way, so it seems like at least one of the perps had been in the house before. Maybe he was a repairman or a plumber, a mover, he delivered a rug, something like that. So if you can think of any times when someone could’ve had access to the key and the alarm code, can you let me know as soon as possible?”
“I’ll let you know right away,” Adam said, standing up.
“I’m gonna have to talk to your wife and daughter again now,” Clements said.
“Are you kidding me?” Adam said.
“It won’t take long, but I need to talk to them.”
“Why can’t it wait till-”
“Because it can’t, all right?” His tone left no room for discussion.
Adam and the detective went out to the living room, where Dana and Marissa were sitting on the couch, across from Sharon and Jennifer. Being around Sharon, especially when Dana was in the same room, was always awkward for Adam to say the least.
About five years ago, when Adam and Dana were having serious marital problems, Sharon and her husband, Mike, were also having trouble in their marriage. Sharon called Adam one day at work and asked if she could come by his office for some advice. Adam said that would be fine and arranged to see her at seven o’clock, his last appointment of the day, when the other therapists were out of the office. Adam gave Sharon some informal marital counseling, and then he hinted that things weren’t going so well in his own marriage. He knew exactly what he was doing- exposing his own vulnerability as a way of letting Sharon know that he was interested in her- and he already knew that she was attracted to him, because she had been flirty with him for years. They commiserated with each other about their marriages for a while, and then Sharon confessed that she’d often fantasized about “something happening” between her and Adam. Adam, who counseled people having affairs practically every day, knew that getting involved with Sharon would be a huge mistake and could create a rift in his own marriage that would be impossible to repair. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things. He was as human as anyone else and had been flattered by the interest from another woman and simply couldn’t resist her.
They only had sex that one time, on the therapy couch. There were no ethical issues because he wasn’t actually treating Sharon, but he didn’t want to get into a full- blown affair with her or deal with the pain and drama that would inevitably follow, so he wisely told her- and she agreed- that they had to consider this a one- time thing and go on with their lives. She wound up working things out with her husband, and Dana and Adam went into counseling and managed to improve their marriage- well, for the most part. Adam still felt there were serious underlying problems in their relationship, mainly a lack of closeness, and he considered confessing the affair to Dana. Normally he advised his patients to confess infidelity because he believed it was the only way to truly heal and reestablish closeness and trust in a marriage. But in this case, because he didn’t feel any emotional involvement with Sharon, he decided that confessing the affair would only hurt Dana and do more harm than good. So instead he worked on exploring his reasons for the affair and developed strategies for becoming a better husband. While he regretted what he’d done, he refused to blame Dana or himself. Marriage had ups and downs, and his minor lapse had hardly been atypical. He had done the best he could under the circumstances, and if he got into in a similar situation in the future he would try to make a better decision.
He would have preferred to cut off contact with Sharon completely, but, of course, this was impossible. They often saw each other around the neighborhood or at parties, and Sharon and Dana were good friends, and so were Marissa and Sharon’s daughter, Hillary. Adam and Mike occasionally played golf together at Adam’s country club got and along well. Sharon and Adam were always friendly with each other but, although they avoided discussing the affair, there was a simmering attraction between them that would probably be there for the rest of their lives.
Detective Clements asked Marissa if she’d come with him into the dining room.
Marissa, looking exhausted, asked, “Again?”
“It’s okay,” Adam said, glaring at Clements. “It won’t take long.”
When Marissa and Clements left, Dana said to Sharon and Jennifer, “You two should go home now, it’s late.”
“Are you sure?” Sharon asked. “Because if you want us to stay-”
“No, it’s okay, really. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.”
“I know,” Jennifer said, “we’ll bring over bagels and coffee in the morning.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Dana said.
“No, we want to,” Sharon said.
Sharon and Jennifer took turns hugging Dana and then came over and hugged Adam. Trying not to notice the very familiar scent of Sharon’s perfume and how it was starting to give him an erection, Adam said, “Thanks so much for coming.”
He meant it, too. It was very thoughtful of her to come over in the middle of the night to give her support. She didn’t have to do that.
“Of course I was going to come,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I?”
When Sharon and Jennifer were gone and Dana and Adam were alone in the living room, Dana asked, “Why does he want to talk to Marissa again?”
Adam didn’t want to tell her that Clements had mentioned the bong in Marissa’s room, knowing it would only upset her. He figured he’d tell her about it tomorrow.
“I think it’s just some more routine- type questions,” Adam said. “He knows how tired we are, so I think it’ll only take a few minutes.”
Adam could tell that Dana knew he was keeping something from her- a woman always knows; well, almost always knows- but she let it pass.
“So how’re you doing?” Dana asked.
“Okay, considering,” Adam said.
“Maybe you should talk to somebody.”
Earlier, Detective Clements had asked Adam if he wanted to talk to a psychologist, which Adam had thought was a slightly strange question to ask a psychologist.
“I’ll have a session with Carol,” Adam said.
Carol Levinson was one of the therapists with whom Adam shared office space. He wasn’t in formal therapy with her, but he talked to her on an asneeded basis.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” Adam said. “How’re you doing?” “I’m okay,” she said. “I guess.”
There was coldness in Dana’s tone, an undercurrent of distance, and Adam knew it had to do with the gun. She’d been opposed to having it in the house, and she’d asked him to get rid of it on several occasions. He’d explained to her that he felt it was necessary, that he felt too vulnerable and unprotected without it, and finally she’d agreed that as long as they kept it hidden she was fine with it. But now he knew she was harboring resentment and secretly blamed him for the shooting. Of course, she wouldn’t actually say something about it- not now, anyway. No, that wasn’t her style. In these situations, she always avoided confrontation and was frequently evasive and passive- aggressive. She’d let it simmer for a while first to create more drama, and then, maybe a couple of days from now, she’d bring it up.
“I’d tell you to go to sleep now,” Adam said, “but I think Clements is going to want to talk to you again too.”
“I just want all these cops out of the house.”
“Me too. But it can’t be much longer now.”
“Is the body still there?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t check.”
“Are the reporters still outside?”
“Probably.”
“I don’t want to be in the newspapers,” she said. “I don’t want my name, your name, and I definitely don’t
