The Marriage Act(8)

‘Damn, I married the wrong sister, didn’t I?’ Marley said. His eyes suddenly flitted to his Smart watch. ‘Which is a joke, of course.’

Anthony directed his attention to Matthew who was playing a game on his phone. ‘You know the rules, can you put that away please?’ His son reluctantly put the phone down.

‘So how’s work, Anthony?’ asked Ally, spooning salad onto her plate.

‘Ah, you know. Same old, same old.’

‘Actually I don’t know.’

‘But you do know I can’t talk about it.’ He smiled.

‘When are you going to slow down and enjoy life?’

‘Has my wife put you up to this?’

‘Don’t blame Jada, I say it as I see it.’

‘Ain’t that the truth,’ said Marley. ‘Try living with her.’

Now it was Ally’s turn to look at her watch and then at her husband. He flinched and mouthed sorry as he remembered their conversation might be recorded by his wearable Audite and analysed at any given moment. ‘You’d be lost without me,’ she said, in a deliberately sing-song tone.

‘That I would.’

‘Thirty-eight will be my retirement age,’ Anthony said, grinning. ‘In three short years we’ll be emailing postcards to you in New Northampton from our Saint Lucia beach home. Well, that’s if we can find the time between fishing, reef diving and rainforest hikes.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, Mr Moneybags,’ said Ally. ‘Just remember, money doesn’t always buy you happiness.’

‘But it gives you choice.’

‘What do you think Jem Jones was worth?’ Ally asked suddenly. Anthony’s stomach tightened at the mention of her name. ‘She was always being sponsored by some company or another so she must’ve been sitting on a fortune. She could’ve bought herself anything, just not happiness.’

‘You never really know what makes people tick,’ Marley replied between mouthfuls of breadfruit. ‘Have you guys watched that last video?’

Jada and Ally nodded while Anthony shook his head.

‘How have you not seen it?’ asked Ally. ‘It’s impossible to avoid.’

‘His office is like a bubble,’ said Jada. ‘Nothing goes in and nothing comes out. A comet could have struck and he wouldn’t have the first clue.’

‘Tell me you at least know who we’re talking about?’

‘A little,’ Anthony said. ‘I didn’t pay her much attention.’

‘I feel sorry for her,’ said Ally. ‘Nobody is thinking straight when they make a decision to end their life like that.’

‘Should we be having this conversation in front of your seven-year-old nephew?’ Marley asked. But Matthew was too engrossed in his phone to listen. This time Jada didn’t ask and took it out of his hand.

‘No one forced her to live her life in front of a camera,’ said Anthony.

‘Why should she give in to the haters?’ asked Jada.

‘But she did by killing herself.’

‘Is that what we’re going to teach our son? To let bullies win?’

‘Of course not,’ said Anthony. ‘But we’re not going to teach him to remain in a situation that’s making him miserable either. Jem should’ve left social media, checked into a clinic or something, got her head together then gone on to enjoy her money in anonymity. Instead, she died as she lived – as entertainment.’

‘Well, you have a lot to say about someone you didn’t know much about,’ said Marley.

‘How about you go and get us another bottle of wine?’ asked Jada.

Anthony tipped an imaginary cap to his wife. ‘I know my place, m’lady,’ he replied as he made his way back indoors.

A long burst of pulsations to his wrist distracted him. The senders who used coded vibrations to contact him via his Smart watch only messaged for a reason. He deciphered each letter and word until the sentence formed.

‘So you did it then?’ it read. ‘You actually killed Jem Jones.’

Anthony stared at the device, mulling over his reply before he dictated his one-word response.

‘Yes.’





HOW DOES IT WORK?

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We’ll fit your home with Audite and you’ll start receiving your Smart Marriage benefits. Audite will randomly record ten minutes of your daily conversations to analyse and keep your relationship on track.



WHAT HAPPENS IF MY AUDITE THINKS MY MARRIAGE IS AT RISK?

Don’t worry, we have you covered with a three-step programme.



LEVEL ONE On picking up on marital difficulties from random recordings, Audite will allow longer recordings and offer Push notifications with handy hints for how to make improvements.





LEVEL TWO If your Audite thinks you need a little extra help, we’ll issue you with a Relationship Responder – a trained counsellor who’ll listen to your recordings and get to the root of your problems with tailor-made couples and one-to-one sessions.





LEVEL THREE If further support is required, based on all the evidence presented to it, a Family Court will help you take that next step forward.