dissolve the partnership? How would Stephanie take it? Not well, he suspects.
They might have to live for the next while on Stephanie’s money. And the legal costs – they are going to be exorbitant, if this goes any further.
He goes back into the bedroom and Stephanie is up, getting dressed. She doesn’t speak. She’s said almost nothing to him since the inquest ended. He wants to know what’s going through her mind. ‘Steph?’ he says.
‘Yes?’ she answers, her back still turned to him as she pulls a shirt on over her bra. She doesn’t even look at him.
‘Stephanie,’ he repeats, ‘look at me.’ She turns slowly around, standing on the other side of the unmade bed, across from him. ‘It’s going to be okay. I didn’t do this, and they can’t prove that I did.’ She nods. He walks around the end of the bed and takes her in his arms. ‘Steph, I love you. You know that, don’t you?’ She looks up at him and there are tears in her eyes. One tumbles down her face and he wipes it gently away with a finger. ‘We’ll get through this, I know we will.’
She turns away.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Niall says. ‘I can’t fucking believe it.’
Nancy can’t believe it either, but they were up early and they’ve both read the online news – everything they can find on the inquest in Colorado. Now Nancy looks up from the laptop at the kitchen table and says, ‘You’d better eat something.’
He shakes his head, visibly upset as he leans back against the kitchen counter. She pushes back her chair and walks over to the coffee machine, pours him a fresh cup and hands it to him. He turns to her in disbelief and says, ‘I mean, it must have been an accident. Patrick wouldn’t murder his wife!’
The verdict wasn’t what they’d been expecting. ‘She’s obviously lying,’ Nancy agrees, but the information that had come out at the inquest had been rather shocking. She wonders how Stephanie is handling it all. She feels a terrible pity for her.
But what she feels most is alarm. ‘He certainly picked the wrong woman to sleep with,’ she says spitefully, ‘and so did you.’
Niall closes his eyes and says, ‘Nancy, don’t start.’
She takes a deep breath. He’s right. They have to stick together; they can’t tear each other apart, not now. She says, more calmly, ‘You’re going to have to cut ties with Patrick.’
His eyes open. ‘Nancy, maybe we should wait and see what happens. They haven’t arrested him.’
‘They haven’t arrested him yet,’ she says. ‘You have to cut him loose. More importantly, we have to distance ourselves from Erica. As long as you stand by Patrick, if he’s working with you, you’ll be in her sights.’ She adds anxiously, ‘She keeps calling you – it borders on harassment.’ He nods back at her, looking troubled.
She knows she’s right. He’s as worried about Erica as she is.
‘I just hate to kick a friend when he’s down,’ he says angrily.
‘You don’t have a choice. You can end the partnership. Bring in someone else. But be kind about it; surely he’ll understand.’
In Denver, Cheryl paces the kitchen wringing her hands while Gary stares at the floor. The newspaper is spread out on the kitchen table. They’re alone – Devin went to school early for soccer practice.
‘She’s obviously lying about the blackmail,’ Gary says eventually. ‘She did it to us – there’s no doubt in my mind that she blackmailed him.’
‘Should we tell them?’ Cheryl asks tentatively.
‘We can’t.’
Cheryl puts her face in her hands and bursts into tears. ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ she sobs. She hears the scrape of a chair and then feels her husband’s arms around her as he holds her tight. When she’s cried herself out, she pulls back from him and says, ‘What kind of woman does this? She could be lying about everything at that inquest. She’s Devin’s mother. She could be some kind of sociopath. What if that’s genetic?’
She can feel herself losing it. Her perfect child. Gary looks back at her; she can tell he’s deeply unsettled by this too. She continues, ‘And what if it’s true that he killed his wife – his pregnant wife – on purpose? He can’t be normal either, and he’s Devin’s biological father. I can’t deal with this. I can’t!’
Gary looks directly into her eyes and says, ‘Listen to me. Devin’s a great kid. He’s had a great upbringing. He’ll be fine. You’re such a