She couldn’t say how long she sat there, but it seemed late when she arrived at the hotel, and she fell asleep with her clothes on.
Chapter 17
After Susan left, Will called Ella. “What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Just a little housework.” Ella was on the couch, sewing a hidden pocket into the top of one of the living room curtains.
“I’m coming over,” Will said.
“Oh, Will, not tonight.”
“I won’t bother you. I have a lot of work to do. And this place is depressing. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Can you make it thirty?”
“OK, thirty.”
“You’re a doll,” Ella said as she held the curtain up in front of her for inspection.
“See you soon,” Will said.
Ella hung up and slipped her phone into the little pocket she had sewn into the back of the curtain. She felt through the fabric for the smooth lens of the camera, then used an X-acto knife to cut a tiny circle just large enough for the lens to peep through.
She hung the curtains back on the window behind the table and slipped her phone into the pocket just above the rod. The weight of the phone made the top portion lean slightly forward. She turned on the video camera and sat at the table and pretended to type. Then she checked the video.
A few minutes later, Will greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. She could smell the wine on his breath.
“Nice to see you, sunshine. I have to do some work, and I’m not in a good mood.”
“OK, Will. I’m going to watch TV upstairs.”
“How about watching on the couch? Use the iPad. I like to look up and see you when I work. It soothes my mind.”
“OK.”
“And put the headphones on. I can’t work when the TV is talking.”
“Sure.”
Will put his computer and phone on the table in front of the curtained window, and then went to the bathroom.
Ella quickly turned on the camera hidden in the curtain, then went to the kitchen and uncorked a bottle of the heaviest red she could find. She returned to the living room just in time to see Will logging in to his computer, the little camera peering over his shoulder.
Ella put the glass on the table.
“Not so close to the computer,” he said. He lifted the glass and took a sip, and then set it down a foot away.
For the next hour and a half, Ella lay on the couch watching the iPad while Will worked. She turned periodically to check the wine glass. Will, thinking she was looking at him, returned her look with a smile.
She refilled his glass several times, eventually dipping into a second bottle. As she entered the living room with the fifth glass of wine, she saw Will type his passcode into the phone that lay flat on the table. She looked up at the hidden camera and a little thrill ran through her.
When her eyes returned to Will, he was looking directly at her. “Had a little thought there?” he asked. “Something in you just lit up.”
Ella smiled and shrugged.
“Well, I’m afraid it won’t be tonight,” Will said. His eyes were heavy. “I’m gonna pack it in. Too much red wine always puts me under.”
She followed him upstairs and waited in the bathroom while he undressed. She stayed there until she heard him snoring. Then she went back downstairs and retrieved the phone. The battery was dead. She plugged it in and found the video. Then she set her computer and an external hard drive down on the table.
She replayed the section of the video that showed Will typing his password. She zoomed in and followed his fingers again and again until she was able to discern TheGoodLife.
With that she logged into his computer, plugged in the external drive, and started copying everything. The little dialog on the screen said “5 hours remaining.”
She scanned through the video on her phone, looking for an instance of him typing the passcode into his phone. She found one 10 minutes into the recording. Again she zoomed and replayed and studied the movements of his fingers. 73719. She unlocked his phone, plugged it into her computer, and copied off everything she could. Then she returned the phone to its charger. She leaned back and took a sip from his wine glass, then went upstairs and set the alarm on her phone for 6:30 A.M.
Chapter 18
When Ella awoke the next morning to the gentle chirping of the alarm, Will was still asleep. She used the toilet and had just begun to brush her teeth when she saw Will through the crack in the open door. He was on his way out of the room. Remembering the hard drive she had left plugged into his laptop, she yelled in a panic, “Will? Will!”
Will stopped at the top of the stairs, alarmed by her tone. “What is it, sunshine?”
“There’s a rat in here. A big one.”
She ran from the bathroom, past Will and down the stairs, calling, “Get him, Will. I hate those things. Get him!”
“Aw, fuck.” Will walked back toward the bathroom.
Stepping lightly across the living room toward the computers, Ella yelled, “Get him, or I’m never going back upstairs.”
Ella yanked the hard drive cable from his computer and a little message appeared as she folded the laptop shut: “The disk was not ejected properly.”
“Shit!”
She put her computer and the external drive into a drawer in the kitchen, and began to fill the coffee maker. In a moment her heart stopped racing and her easy smile returned.
“I don’t see any rat up here,” Will called from the bathroom. “And I don’t hear anything moving. Where did you see him?”
“He ran right across the sink,” Ella called back.
“Arrogant little bastard,” said Will under his breath.
“Why don’t you just call an exterminator, Will? Save yourself the trouble.”
“Good idea,” Will called back.
He came down a few minutes later, looking irritable. “Red wine gives me a headache,” he said. “And rats piss me off.”
Ella poured a cup of coffee and handed it to him.
Will went straight to his computer and logged in. He squinted at the screen.
“The disk was not ejected properly? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I don’t want to hear about your fucking problems.” He dismissed the message and began to browse through his email.
Seeing he was in a bad mood, Ella took her coffee out to the front step and sat quietly enjoying the summer air.
Chapter 19
In his office later that morning, Warren Lane sat on the corner of Maxine’s desk as he looked through a stack of mail. “Did you manage to dig up anything on William Moore?” Lane asked.
“Not much,” Maxine said. “He imports furniture and art from Asia. High-end stuff. He also supplies a couple of wholesalers, and he runs showrooms of his own. Santa Barbara, LA, and Palo Alto. He closed his stores in Portland and Seattle last year. I’m not sure why. He occasionally ships things for museums in Santa Barbara and LA. Mostly stuff coming out of Asia. When the art museum sent that whole exhibit to Tokyo a few years ago, he handled all the shipping. He also brought in the stuff for the Chinese art exhibit last year.”
“But you don’t have any dirt on the guy?”
“He travels a lot, as you’d imagine in his line of work. What he does when he’s abroad, I don’t know. But there was this one little blurb in the local news last year.”
“What’s that?” Lane asked.
Maxine handed him a printout of a newspaper article and he read the title aloud. “Rare Artwork Destroyed in Transit.” He read silently for a minute, then said, “Now that’s odd. Just this one piece broke?”
“Just that one.”
“Might be worth looking into,” Lane said.
“I also found this,” Maxine said, pointing to her computer monitor. “He set up this trust that includes a
n investment account and a house in Goleta.”
“That’s worth a look too,” Lane said.
An hour later, he drove up to look at the house. He found Josie standing on the front walk, a stick of fat pink chalk in her fist. She watched him warily as he approached, but she didn’t back away.
He stopped less than a foot from her and leaned down until his face was so close she could smell the mustard on his breath. Seeing her draw back at the odor, Lane said, “Hhhhhhhhhhullo, little girl,” polluting her air for his own amusement. “Do you know who lives in this house?”
“That’s none of your business, Mister.”
“Do you speak to your father like that?” Lane asked, standing upright again.
“My father’s dead,” she lied.
“What a shame. Can you tell me who lives here?”
“No!” Josie said defiantly.
“You know I can just go read it off the mail.”
“You stay away from Miss Ella’s house!”
Seeing that she was beginning to tremble, Lane bent down again and leaned in so close that when he spoke she was looking into his mouth.
“You know what I want you to do?” Lane asked. He lowered his voice to a whisper and said, “I want you to...” Then as loud as he could, he shouted, “Run home!”
Josie dropped the chalk and ran full speed from the yard.
Ella was just opening the door, with her car keys in hand, as Lane was ascending the steps. “What’s going on?” she asked. When caught off guard, her voice had a soft, juvenile quality.
Lane looked her up and down and finding nothing to critique, said, “Looks like Will’s got himself a little school girl.”
He leaned toward the door to get a look inside, but Ella shoved him back. “Get out of here, you fucking creep!” She watched him with disgust as he strolled back to his car and drove away.
When Will arrived at the house half an hour later, Ella was still out. Josie’s mother came storming across the lawn in a rage.
“I don’t care what you do in that house over there, but I do not want to see that man around here again,” she yelled.
“What man?” Will asked.
“The one who was at your door half an hour ago. He screamed at Josie. She ran into the house shaking and crying and she won’t come out of her room. She’s terrified.”
“What man? Who are you talking about?”
She described Warren Lane, and Will began to bristle. “That man is a fucking prick,” he said. “If I ever see him again, I’ll knock his teeth right down his throat.”
Surprised by the violence of his reaction, the woman’s anger abated, and she said, “You don’t have to go that far. Just keep him away from here.”
Will shook his head. “He won’t come around here again.”
Ella returned fifteen minutes later to find Will’s car in front of the house. She left the box of birthday candles on the floor behind the couch and walked into the kitchen. Will sat at the counter with a half-empty cup of coffee, reading email on his phone. His lips were white with frosting from the cake she had made as a surprise for Ready’s birthday.
Will turned with a smile and said, “Oh, hey, Sunshine. Did you make this? It’s really good.”
Ella looked at him angrily.
“What? I said it was good. Learn how to take a compliment. What’s the matter with you? Is it that time of month?”
“Yeah, I’m having my period, Will. Why don’t you get the fuck out? The playground is closed today.”
“What the hell?” he said, as he rose abruptly from his seat. “Lighten up, will you?”
He picked up his keys and phone from the counter and said, “Let me know when you’re back in business.”
She stood with her hands on her hips, firmly planted in her disappointment as she watched him leave. The clouds lingered upon her face for the rest of the morning, and her spirit remained low.
At noon, Ready called. “Hey babe. Let’s go out and get some lunch.”
Ella instantly brightened. “OK. Take me someplace cheap.”
“Someplace cheap?”
“Well, not cheap. Mid-range. We can’t go anywhere expensive. I don’t want to run into Will.”
“Oh, so Will takes you out to the fancy places? And I’m your ghetto boy?”
“I’d take the ghetto with you over the world with him,” Ella said.
Chapter 20
Around noon that same day, Susan arrived at an Italian restaurant to find her lawyer already seated at a table, sipping water and reading the menu.
“Sorry I’m late, Martin.”
“It’s OK,” he said as he stood to greet her. “I started running the meter ten minutes ago.”
She looked at him with some uncertainty.
“I’m kidding, Susan.”
“Oh. Sorry. I’m a little off these days.”
“I can tell. I probably shouldn’t be joking with you.”
“No, I need a little levity. Just, next time, make it a funny joke.”
The waitress stopped by and explained the day’s specials while a busser refilled Martin’s water glass.
“Would you like a drink to start?” asked the waitress.
“I’ll have a glass of Chardonnay,” Susan said.
“Drinking at lunch?” Martin asked.
“Why not?”
“I’ll have an iced tea.”
Susan waited for the waitress to walk away, then turned to Martin and began to unburden herself, “I’ve known for a long time that this marriage would end in court, but even two weeks ago, I didn’t think we’d be sitting here today. It’s all happening so fast. Sometimes I wish I was a weaker person. I wouldn’t have lasted this long. The marriage would have ended a year ago, and I’d be on to a new life. But I’m stubborn and strong-willed, and I hold on when I should let go.”
“You are stubborn,” said Martin, relaxing back into his chair. “That’s a strength and a weakness.”
“It’s a weakness,” she said. “In me, it’s a weakness. I knew something was wrong a year ago, but I pretended everything was OK because I was scared of finding what I knew I’d find.
“I’m a coward, Martin. I’ll do anything to avoid pain. I’ll procrastinate. I’ll lie to myself. I’ll pretend. Anything to delay the hurt just one more day.
“But I’m done running. I’m done pretending. And now...” She stopped and thought for a moment. “Do you know what kinds of thoughts go through my head now?”
Martin looked at her and waited silently for her to continue.
“I think, ‘Are my friends talking about me? Do they talk about what a failure all this was? Do they talk about how Susan, who’s so smart and so together, let herself be betrayed?’ And what comes next? Where do I go from here?”
She looked at Martin directly and said, “I’m scared of what’s next. I can’t see it. It’s just a void.” The look of worry on her face was painful to behold.
“There was a time when I had faith in myself,” she said. “A long time ago. Before I knew just how wrong things can go in this world. But now... I don’t know.
“I keep looking for that faith, and it isn’t there. I have this fear, deep in my heart, that a breakdown is coming, and I’m going to need that faith to pull me through. But it isn’t there, Martin. It isn’t there. And I don’t know quite who I am anymore.”
“Well,” said Martin, “the hard part is coming. Are you sure you’re ready to see this through?”
She took a deep breath and nodded her head. She didn’t look at him; her eyes were focused straight ahead.
“And you have evidence of his affair?”
“You can talk to my doctor about that. I also have a video from his phone.”
“We can’t use the video in court unless he gave you permission to take it.�
��
Susan shook her head. “A private investigator got it for me.”
“If there’s more evidence on his phone, we should be able to get it legally through discovery. Same goes for his computer, paper records, anything that might be evidence.”
“The investigator is digging around for more,” Susan said. “Did you look into his assets? I’m sure he has accounts and properties I don’t know about.”
“I wouldn’t go looking too deeply into those,” Martin warned.
“Why not?”
“I reviewed the tax returns you sent me, and I did a little digging on my own. All I can say is... something doesn’t add up. Will has a lot more money than he’s reporting.”
“So why shouldn’t I look into it?”
“I have a bad feeling about it,” Martin said.
Susan studied him for a moment, and then said, “OK. I’ll leave that in your hands.”
“Thank you, Susan.”
* * *
Forty minutes later, as Martin and Susan were getting up to leave, Ready and Ella walked in. Ready was standing by the hostess’ podium when he saw Susan across the room. “Oh, shit!”
“What?” asked Ella.
“I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Ready disappeared into the men’s room a moment before Susan and her lawyer walked by. Susan dropped an envelope as they passed.
“Ma’am,” Ella called, picking up the envelope. “Ma’am, you dropped this.”
Susan turned and took the envelope. She was about to thank Ella when she recognized her from the video. Her eyes narrowed in anger, and she slapped Ella hard across the face and said, “Cunt!” Then she turned and left.
Ella stood staring after her in astonishment with her hand on her cheek and her mouth half open. When Ready returned a moment later, he asked, “Are you OK?”
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