Chương 5
“I’m here,” she said, “because there are overlapping issues involving the venue, the injury, the possibility of criminal charges, and public statements. You should have independent counsel.”
“I’m getting one.”
Daniel looked at her. “Who?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“I can recommend—”
“No.”
Meredith glanced at him.
Madeline noticed.
“I also need my things,” Daniel said.
“You can come in while my mother is here.”
“That’s unnecessary.”
“It’s what I’m comfortable with.”
His mouth tightened.
Madeline opened the door wider.
Daniel packed for twenty minutes.
He took shirts, two suits, running shoes, toiletries, three watches, his passport, and a framed photograph of his sister’s children. He left books, kitchen equipment, and the expensive speaker system he had insisted sounded better than Madeline’s old one.
In the bedroom, he paused beside the dresser.
“Are we breaking up?”
Madeline stood near the doorway.
“I don’t know what we were.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“You reused your former fiancée’s engagement ring.”
“She returned it.”
“You lied about buying it for me.”
“Yes. I lied.”
The admission landed strangely.
Daniel sat on the edge of the bed.
“I was embarrassed.”
“About what?”
“That I had proposed to someone else. That I had been that certain and been wrong.”
“You could have bought another ring.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He rubbed his hands together.
“It was expensive.”
Madeline stared at him.
Daniel looked up.
“I know how that sounds.”
“You make four million dollars a year.”
“Some years.”
She actually laughed.
He closed his eyes.
“That was stupid.”
“No. It was honest.”
“I changed the setting. I had it reset for you.”
“The stone was hers.”
“The stone was mine. I bought it.”
Madeline felt the distinction immediately.
Legal.
Precise.
Defensive.
“Sophie said the ring belonged to her.”
“She returned it when we separated.”
“Did she want it back?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“Why would I?”
Madeline folded her arms.
“Because apparently we’re all spending this weekend learning basic questions.”
He stood.
“Don’t turn her into a victim in every part of this.”
“She went to the hospital because of me. I don’t need help turning her into one.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
He looked tired now.
For the first time, Madeline wondered whether he had slept at all.
The thought made her angry with herself.
She still knew how he looked when exhausted. She still knew he hated hotel pillows. Some parts of intimacy survived facts that should have killed them.
Daniel picked up his suitcase.
“At least let me help you with the legal side.”
“No.”
“You could be charged.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t. You’re treating admission like morality will protect you. It won’t.”
Madeline held the door open.
“Goodbye, Daniel.”
He stopped beside her.
His voice lowered.
“You think Sophie is telling you the truth because I lied.”
“I think Sophie is worth listening to because you worked very hard to prevent me from hearing her.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“It’s worse.”
After he left, Elaine came out of the kitchen carrying half a bagel.
“I never liked the way he corrected waiters.”
Madeline stared at her.
“You loved Daniel.”
“I did.”
“You literally told me he was the first man I dated who knew how to buy decent towels.”
“He does buy decent towels.”
“Mom.”
Elaine sat down.
“People aren’t court exhibits, Maddie. I can have liked him and still remember things that annoyed me.”
Madeline opened the refrigerator.
There was almost nothing inside except sparkling water, eggs, mustard, and a container of leftover Thai food.
She closed it.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
Her mother chewed slowly.
“About which disaster?”
Madeline looked at her.
Elaine shrugged.
“There are several.”
That afternoon Madeline hired Rachel Kim, a criminal defense attorney recommended by Anne’s personal attorney.
Rachel did not tell Madeline everything would be fine.
Madeline liked her immediately for that.
They met in a conference room overlooking Sixth Avenue. Rachel wore a navy sweater instead of a suit and spent the first ten minutes asking Madeline to repeat the incident without character judgments.
“No ‘she was desperate.’ No ‘Daniel was deceptive.’ No ‘I was humiliated.’ Tell me what bodies did.”
Madeline did.
Sophie grabbed her right wrist with her left hand.
Madeline pulled back.
Sophie did not release immediately.
Madeline shifted her weight.
Madeline kicked the lower frame of the cart.
The cart moved.
It struck Sophie.
Sophie fell.
Rachel asked, “How hard did you kick it?”
“Hard.”
“Were you trying to make the cart hit her?”
Madeline stared at the tabletop.
“I wanted it out of the space between us.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
Rachel waited.
Madeline pressed her fingertips together.
“I don’t know.”
“Good.”
Madeline frowned.
“How is that good?”
“Because ‘I don’t know’ is more useful than inventing a clean memory after a frightening event.”
Rachel made a note.
“The venue has footage. We’ve been informed they preserved it.”
“Daniel knows.”
“Daniel is not our concern.”
“That feels ambitious.”
Rachel almost smiled.
“Fair. Daniel is not our client. That distinction matters.”
She explained that the police could seek the footage. Sophie could cooperate or decline. The venue might provide it pursuant to legal process. Madeline should not contact employees, witnesses, or Sophie about the incident.
“What if I want to apologize?”
“Then wanting to apologize is something you live with for now.”
Madeline looked out at the traffic below.
“That sounds terrible.”
“It’s not supposed to sound good.”
On Monday, Sophie retained counsel.
On Tuesday, Madeline was asked to take temporary leave from the foundation.
On Wednesday, Daniel issued a statement through his firm saying he was “deeply concerned for everyone affected by a private personal dispute” and requested respect for all parties.
He did not mention that he was the reason the dispute existed.
Madeline read the statement in Rachel’s office.
“Can I say he’s a coward?”
“To me? Absolutely.”
“He’s a coward.”
“Anything else?”
May you like
“He uses the word ‘affected’ when he means injured.”
Rachel nodded.
