Page 57 of The Wife

“She actually said the civil lawsuit was good news.”

“Someone might try explaining that to Jason,” Susanna said. “I’ve got to be honest: he looks worse than I even expected.”

Colin glanced up the stairs to make sure that Jason was out of earshot. “Honestly, I think part of him was still in denial. He really thought this was going to go away. Today was a wake-up call. The university’s going after him, plus three major clients called FSS today and pulled out.”

I found myself wondering whether Jason had planned to tell me about the clients.

“None of that sounds like good news,” Susanna said.

“Olivia thinks it might be,” Colin explained. “The civil case makes Kerry look greedy, which plays into what Jason’s been saying all along. Olivia says she can use it to call into question Kerry’s motive.” I hated hearing that woman’s name used in my house. “Plus, a civil suit means we can use civil discovery.”

He must have realized that I hadn’t followed his last point.

“Civil cases have different rules for getting access to evidence. In a criminal trial, prosecutors sit tight on most information. But now that Kerry has sued, Olivia can demand access to the evidence because it’s relevant to the civil suit. Most importantly, Olivia can depose Kerry, meaning she can question her without a jury sitting there.”

I noticed that he was only talking about Kerry, as if Rachel didn’t even matter.

“So does that mean Martinez can depose Angela?” Susanna asked. I hadn’t thought of the possibility.

“I suppose, but I can’t imagine why she would.” Susanna gave my hand a brief squeeze as Colin tried to strike a lighter tone. “Trust me: She was going to sue him eventually, so it’s better that she did it in time to screw up the criminal case. Now, I’m going to drag Jason out of his office so I can make the two of you eat something.”

As Colin walked up the stairs, Susanna placed her hand on my forearm and jumped right back into our previous conversation. “You need to tell me what happened between you.”

I shook my head. For three years, I had blamed myself for breaking what I hoped was only a small part of our marriage. Now I didn’t know what to think. What I did know was that I still wasn’t ready to talk about it.

We ate lunch at Lupa in silence. While the waiter was running Susanna’s credit card—she insisted—Jason got a text message from Olivia Randall. She was filing a motion for access to all evidence held by the NYPD and the district attorney’s office. She also wanted to suspend the criminal case against him while the civil suit was pending.

“So what does that mean?” Jason asked, looking to Colin.

“Do it,” Colin said. “You hit pause on the criminal charges to deal with the civil case first. If you reach a financial agreement, the criminal charges might go away.”

Susanna shot me a concerned look. Colin was already talking about a settlement. I heard Jason’s phonebloopas he hit the send key.

“I told you that lawsuit might be a blessing in disguise,” Colin said as we walked out of the restaurant.

Nothing about this felt blessed.

Spencer called that night from camp. Jason was home, but Spencer refused to talk to him. I wanted to tell him how much his father needed to hear his voice, but the whole point of sending him away had been to protect him from what was happening at home.

“How long do you plan to freeze him out?” I asked.

“However long he was cheating on you. How does that sound?”

He had only been gone four days, and it felt like I hadn’t seen him for months. I tried to tell myself it was worth it. At least in his mind, his father’s only crime was an affair. But camp wouldn’t last forever.

37

“What do you know about Mozambique?”

Thanks to all their calls on the Jason Powell case, Corrine immediately recognized the number as ADA Brian King’s. “You’re kidding me, right? I’m African American, not East African.”

“That’s not what I meant. And you at least knew it was in East Africa, so you know more than I do.”

“Why the geography quiz?” she asked.

“I was reading up on Kerry Lynch’s employer.”

Corrine knew that Powell’s attorney was threatening to turn the trial into an indictment of Kerry’s employer for some kind of kickback scheme.

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