The Herd(26)

“So you don’t have any updates,” Hana prompted, leading us into the living room and sitting. “You haven’t heard from Eleanor.”

He shook his head. His brown eyes looked glassy. “Not a thing. I didn’t hear from her once today, but I didn’t think that was weird. I hadn’t contacted her either, so.”

“Is it normal for you guys to go a whole night and day without talking?” I asked. This was my area of expertise, not Hana’s, I reminded myself—no matter how in-charge she seemed. I was the beat reporter here, trained in the subtle art of whittling away bullshit to get to the crystalline truth underneath.

He nodded. “Pretty normal. I mean, we text at some point most days, but I knew she was busy getting ready for her big event tonight, and she knew I was…busy too. With work.” His eyes darted back and forth between us, too fast.

“Where were you?” I said, at the exact same time Hana prompted: “What made you think she didn’t come home?” He looked overwhelmed, and Hana repeated herself.

He focused on her. “Eleanor’s predictable. She leaves her dishes from breakfast in the sink and then loads them into the dishwasher after work. She made oatmeal yesterday and didn’t eat much of it—I commented on it before I left for work. When I got home a little while ago, the oatmeal was still sitting out.” He pointed to the open kitchen, and again the question blared like something on a marquee: Where were you?

“And she’d picked out an outfit for the event,” he went on. “But it’s still in her closet.” He gestured toward the staircase that led upstairs—directly into their big sunny bedroom, and beyond it, the study.

“Daniel, where were you last night?” Mikki leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “You can tell us the truth.”

He blushed. “I told you, I slept in my office.”

“Bullshit.” Mikki crossed her arms. “We all know that’s code for having an affair.”

“It’s not like that!” Daniel looked like he might cry. “I would never—I love Eleanor.”

“The cops are on their way, right?” Mikki went on. “We’re going to tell them. They’ll ask where you were.”

“No, she…it was her idea.”

“What?” Hana’s face was frozen in alarm.

“It’s…” His body language changed; he’d made a decision. “Fine, I’ll show you. Hang on.” He stood and galloped up the stairs, his footsteps echoing. After a second, I rose and sprinted after him. Hana and Mikki followed.

He crouched in the study, long legs bent at an absurd angle, and fumbled to fit a key in the bottom drawer of Eleanor’s desk. Finally he yanked the drawer out noisily, fished around in it, and then held out a sheet of yellow paper, an edge ruffled where it’d been ripped from a notebook.

“Here,” he said. “It’s all in here.”

I darted over and snatched it from him, and Mikki and Hana crowded around my shoulders, reading. It was Eleanor’s loopy handwriting, instantly recognizable:





RULES:


         24-hour warning before dates



     Ask permission before spending night no contact until 3pm following day



     No one we both know



     Transparency re: married/experimenting only



     NEVER discuss EG/Gleam/Herd



     Sex only/no emotional affair



     SAFE SEX/regular testing



     Biweekly check-ins/prioritize HONESTY





Signed: Eleanor Walsh 10/25/19

Daniel Kim 10/25/19

“Jesus Christ,” Hana said.

Mikki looked up, shaking her head. “You two had an open marriage?”

“It was her idea.” He clutched his hands to his stomach and hunched over like he might throw up. “It was the first time I even met up with anyone else.”

Mikki crossed her arms. “You guys have only been married, like, six months.”

“And she’s the love of my life. That’s why I had to say yes. She said that…something about the wedding, the permanence. I guess it made her feel trapped. The thought that we’d spend the next sixty years with only each other…and you know how she dated a few women. She was really hung up on not ever…doing that again.” His cheeks reddened again and he cleared his throat, coughed. Hana and I exchanged a puzzled glance, but Mikki nodded.

“She never seriously dated a woman,” Hana said, like she could prove him wrong.

“Well, no.” He ran a hand over his hair, leaving it with new crazy tufts. “But this is…this is sex.”

“She was involved with a couple once,” Mikki offered, nodding our way. “For a month or two. I remember that.”

No one had explicitly told me this, but it all jibed with my image of uber-progressive Eleanor. “So you went straight to seeing other people?” I crossed my arms. “Why not go to sex parties together? Or have a threesome?”

“Katie, stop—we’re getting off-track.” Hana gave her head a horselike shake. “This contract. You both signed it. So she’s been sleeping with other people, and so have you?”