A Good Marriage(15)
Krell Industries’ investigation shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
System Review: A detailed review of all available data systems to identify internal failures and external intrusions that led to the breach.
Witness Interviews: Interviews with all relevant parties. Interview subjects shall be informed that confidentiality is critical to investigatory success. Confidentiality forms will be executed.
Weekly Progress Reports: Will be distributed to summarize progress on the investigation.
Critical Event Reports: Will be distributed on an as-needed basis to highlight information requiring a more urgent response.
Suspect Identification: Potential subjects for civil and criminal action will be identified.
Amanda
SIX DAYS BEFORE THE PARTY
When Amanda arrived at Sarah’s already crowded brownstone, Kerry was standing near the door, pressed up against the wall like he was trying to dissolve into it.
It was a relief to finally see a friendly face. On the quiet twilight walk over, Amanda had gotten two calls to her cell from an unknown number. The sudden shrill sound had made her heart take flight, even though the phone had rung only once each time, not even long enough for Amanda to decide whether to answer. The calls could have been unrelated to the many that had come before—only a few weeks earlier Amanda had fully believed that was a possibility. But once the breathing started, there was no pretending anymore. Somehow, he’d found her. And whatever he wanted, it wasn’t something good.
It was hard not to envy all those parents squeezed into Sarah’s brownstone for the PTA meeting with their “cybersecurity” problems. Amanda had real security problems, and it was way more terrifying.
At least there in Sarah’s brownstone, Amanda felt safe. Sarah’s husband Kerry was a huge guy—over six feet, and with the girth of the defensive linebacker he’d once been. Amanda always had such a hard time imagining Kerry, with his soft, saggy brown eyes and quick grin, intentionally knocking anyone over, even on a football field. She could much more easily picture him as Prom King. Though his face was quite a bit rounder than it had once been. Amanda had noticed from some of the older photographs displayed through out the house.
Sarah hadn’t married Kerry for his looks anyway. Kerry had swooped in with his button fortune and his varsity jacket and swept Sarah right off her feet, made her feel safe and taken care of. Of course, in the end, she and Kerry had ended up not nearly as wealthy as Sarah had anticipated—she was quick to point out—but it wasn’t like they were suffering. Kerry was a very successful lawyer.
As far as Amanda was concerned, Kerry’s attentiveness was far more valuable than money anyway. Zach had always been more than happy for Amanda to fill the gaps left by his demanding career by hiring people—plumbers, carpenters, nannies, tutors, gardeners, painters. But she couldn’t very well hire someone to do something like reach Case’s baseball card collection on his highest closet shelf. Mentioning it to Sarah last weekend was embarrassing, but within the hour there was Kerry, standing on Amanda’s front stoop.
“I was instructed to come, madam,” he’d joked. “Something about baseball cards?”
“I’m sorry,” Amanda had said. “It’s so late on a Sunday night. I swear I didn’t ask her to make you come.”
And Amanda hadn’t, but she was glad Sarah had sent him. Case wanted his cards at camp, and Amanda wanted to get them shipped first thing in the morning. She’d tried using the extra tall stepladder, but the box remained hopelessly out of reach.
“Oh, don’t worry. I know my wife,” Kerry had said, glancing around the dark house. “Zach’s at work at eight thirty on a Sunday? That’s hardcore.”
“He has a funding meeting in the morning,” Amanda had said, which was often the case, though she hadn’t known it to be specifically true on that day.
Kerry had retrieved the box from the shelf without even having to go all the way to the top of the stepladder.
“Be sure to tell Case he’s a lucky kid,” he’d said as he handed it down to Amanda. “If one of our boys ever wrote from camp asking for something like that, Sarah would pretend the letter got lost in the mail. You want me to take a look at that closet door while I’m here? It’s probably just the hinge making it stick.”
“No, no,” Amanda had said, feeling mortified that Kerry had a mental list of all her undone chores. Did she mention them that often? “I’ve already called someone.”
It was no surprise then, that Kerry was there at Sarah’s PTA meeting, even though he’d probably had to leave work early. He was always wherever his wife needed him to be.
Kerry finally noticed Amanda hovering near the door and waved her over. “Can you help?” he whispered through clenched teeth once Amanda had made her way through the crowd. He rubbed a hand over his shaggy brown hair. “Why are all these people in my house?”
“Because your wife is the PTA president?” Amanda replied.
“But it’s summer,” Kerry whined. “There should be a summer reprieve.”
“Don’t look at me. She made me come, too.”
“On my signal,” he said. “Let’s run for the door.”
Amanda appreciated the way Kerry joked with her, like she was just another person, and not even an especially attractive one.