Little Secrets(46)

At seven a.m., she takes a long, hot shower. She puts on makeup. She puts on a dress, the silk Rachel Roy with the billowy sleeves. In the kitchen, she pushes a preprogrammed button on the professional-grade coffee machine Derek had splurged on a few months earlier, and three minutes later, her mug contains a perfect soy vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso. She brings it to the banquette, where she sits by the window and catches up on a few emails.

At eight forty-five, she reads the texts between Derek and his mistress. His attempt to end it once and for all. Her efforts to suck him back in. Which seem to have worked.

She makes her decision.

The call takes all of five minutes. Marin exchanges pleasantries with her personal financial adviser and then they get down to business. She recites the account number Julian gave her and confirms the amount. If her adviser is surprised, he doesn’t say so. He doesn’t ask questions. He handles only wealthy clients, and he knows better than to probe. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars is a lot to give to one charity, but she and Derek donate large sums of money all the time, and she’s increased her donations considerably in the past year.

It’s almost as if she believes she can buy her son back with good karma.

But there really is no such thing as karma, is there? Terrible things happen, and sometimes they lead to more terrible things.

She disconnects the call, and is lost in thought for a few minutes until her phone pings. You alive?

She picks up the phone and calls Sal. He answers on the first ring.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” she says back, and is reminded of the awkwardness between them, which didn’t exist this time yesterday. The line crackles, and she remembers he’s up at the farmhouse, where cell reception is spotty.

“Everything go okay last night?” he asks.

Marin hesitates. She almost doesn’t want to tell him. It feels too weird to say Yeah, everything’s great, I just wired a quarter of a million dollars to a charity that launders money for the fixer you recommended to kill my husband’s mistress.

“It’s a go,” she finally says. “I want her … gone.”

“I thought you meant Derek.” Sal’s shock is evident even through the crappy connection.

“I never said Derek. You told Julian that. Derek is my son’s father. It has to be … it has to be the girlfriend.”

There’s a long pause. In the background, she can hear the TV. The TODAY show is on, and she catches a tinkle of laughter from both the audience and Sal’s mother. She can picture the two of them sitting in the living room of the farmhouse, drinking coffee. Later tonight, the coffee will be replaced with a bottle of extremely expensive merlot or cabernet sauvignon from their underground wine cellar, which contains the last of what’s left of Sal’s father’s personal wine collection.

“Wow.” It’s obvious he doesn’t know how else to respond. “But you know it really isn’t about her, right?”

“I don’t care. She’s trying to ruin what’s left of my family.” More silence on the other end. “What, you didn’t think I had it in me?”

“I learned a long time ago not to underestimate you.” Sal lowers his voice, and the sound of the TV gets farther away. She pictures him walking into the kitchen. “But you know there’s no turning back now, right? Once you’ve paid him, the money’s gone.”

“I know. It’s done.” It’s her turn to pause. “Do you know … do you have any idea how he plans to do it?”

“Nope.” Sal’s reply is decisive and quick. “I don’t ask him questions like that. They don’t concern you, trust me.”

“That’s what he said, too.”

“He’ll make it happen. None of it will touch you. That’s why he costs so much.”

It makes Marin uneasy to think about how much faith Sal has in Julian’s skills. Just what has he had Julian do for him in the past?

“How long, do you think?” she asks, and what she really means is, How long before I can change my mind, if I wake up tomorrow and completely freak out about what I’ve done?

“I don’t know,” Sal says. “But not long. Hang on a sec.” She hears him saying something to his mother, and then he’s back. “Sorry. She couldn’t reach the remote.”

“How is Lorna?” she asks.

“Better. Mobile for the most part.”

“That’s good. I’ll let you get back to her.”

“Mar…” Sal hesitates. “You want my advice? Forget about it all. Forget about the diner, forget about the money. Put it out of your head, like it never happened, and move on with your life. Don’t think about Julian. And definitely forget about the mistress. They don’t exist to you anymore, okay? That’s the only way … it’s the only way to be good with it. And for fuck’s sake, call off the PI. You don’t want her finding out about this.”

She nods, then remembers she’s on the phone and Sal can’t see her. In the background, she hears Lorna calling for him.

“I gotta go,” he says. “I’ll be back in the city later tonight if you want to … talk. You could come over.”

Marin knows what he means, and he’s no longer referring to Julian. He’s referring to the two of them, and what happened between them yesterday, which they still haven’t discussed. And they need to, but not right now. Not anytime soon. She can’t deal.