The Husband Hour(21)
If he got a rambling answer, he would ask her to repeat the one sentence that was usable. Years of sitting in front of screens in editing suites had taught him which answers were usable and which were not. Too much padding or repetition, and no matter how important the idea being expressed, he had to cut it.
He asked Stephanie for her name, and she told him about how her name was technically Stephanie Keller now, but she was getting divorced and going back to Adelman, so should she use…
“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Matt said.
“My name is Stephanie Adelman.”
“And how did you know Rory?”
“High school,” she said.
“Can you include my question in your answer?”
“Oh—right. Sorry. I knew Rory from high school. We were in the same year.”
“Do you remember when you first met?”
“God, it was so long ago. It’s like I always knew him.”
“Did you meet him when he started dating your sister?”
“No! Is that what she told you? Typical. I knew Rory first. She got to Rory through me.”
Matt refrained from reminding her that he hadn’t interviewed Lauren. “How did she get to Rory through you?”
“Rory was in my group of friends. I mean, I don’t want to brag or whatever but he and I were juniors. We were popular. Lauren was a year younger. A nobody.” Matt glanced at the row of silver-framed photos on the fireplace mantel.
“Is that you up there? Were you a cheerleader?”
Stephanie smiled. “Yep. I was a cheerleader. Starting sophomore year. I was squad captain by senior year.”
“Did the squad cheer at hockey games?”
She shook her head. “Just football and basketball.”
“Did you go to hockey games?”
“Sometimes. Hockey wasn’t the big sport at LM. It was more soccer and football.”
“So Lauren met Rory through you?”
“She was writing some article for the stupid paper. The school paper. And she was like, Oh, I need to interview Rory. Can you give me his number? Like, she had zero interest in sports and suddenly she’s Bob Costas.”
“How well did you know Rory prior to him dating your sister?”
Stephanie paused. “I mean, we hung out. Went to the same parties. I went out with some of his friends.”
“Did Rory party a lot? Drink, smoke, that sort of thing?”
She shook her head. “Didn’t drink, didn’t get high.”
“Can you include the question in your answer?”
“Oh—sorry. Rory didn’t drink or do drugs. Anyone else would have been considered totally lame, but he could get away with anything. Not only did people not give him shit for not drinking, but some of his friends didn’t do drugs when he was around because they didn’t want him to think less of them.”
Matt decided to abruptly switch direction, a tactic he used sometimes in interviews to get a more honest, spontaneous response from a subject.
“Do you know why your sister doesn’t want to talk to me?”
Stephanie hesitated for just a beat before saying, “It’s not personal. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone. Maybe she thinks she’s protecting his memory or something.”
“Protecting his memory from what?”
“I don’t know. Negative stuff.”
“Is there something negative to say about Rory? Because I can tell you that I’ve spent years talking to people about him, and no one has ever said anything negative.”
A strange expression crossed her face. “I guess you’re talking to the wrong people, then.”
“Do you have something negative to say about Rory Kincaid?”
Stephanie lowered her gaze. He was disciplined enough not to push.
“No,” she said finally. “But what do I know? Except that no one’s perfect, right? I mean, Lauren always worshipped him and now the whole world does.”
“Stephanie, I want to see Rory Kincaid for who he really was. I’m just trying to tell the truth.”
Stephanie narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know if that’s going to help you where my sister is concerned.”
“Why not?”
“Because not everyone wants the truth. Some people see only what they want to see.”
Chapter Thirteen
The sun started to set. Lauren could feel the breeze off of the ocean through the open kitchen window. Outside, her parents and sister were sitting at the table by the pool. Her mother had insisted on dinner together. Lauren agreed it was a good idea. After Ethan’s innocent but nonetheless provocative question—“Do you like my mom?”—she was determined to hit the reset button on her sisterly relationship.
Lauren grabbed the box of leftover muffins and doughnuts from the restaurant and brought them outside to the table littered with crumpled takeout wrappers from Sack O’ Subs, her father’s and sister’s empty beer bottles, and stray kernels of corn from her mother’s tomato and corn salad.
Her mother picked up a doughnut. “Does Nora have someone baking on the premises? These don’t seem very fresh.”
“She gets a delivery every day,” Lauren said, slipping back into her chair. “The muffins are great. People buy them in bulk all year round.”