Betrayal (8 page)

19

Larry Stocks finished up his lunch. French onion soup with steak and a side salad. It had hit the spot. He’d spent the last three hours in court for a motion to suppress statements made by his client during a car accident. The injuries were severe enough that he wasn’t pulling any punches. With spine and nerve damage, and an inability to use the index and middle fingers of his left hand, the client was looking at a half million-dollar recovery at least. A third of which went to Larry himself.

The best part was that the insurance company sent the check to
Larry in his name. He then took his share and distributed the rest to his client. No haggling over money with the client, or harassing them or filing lawsuits. The money was in his control. Easy-peasy, he thought.

He checked
the Mariner Rolex on his wrist. The judge should have had a ruling by now. He’d head back to court and check with the clerk. Then again, this judge, an older woman who it was rumored was addicted to pain pills, routinely took long naps on a couch in her chambers. Sometimes she’d miss an entire day of court.

Larry
lay two twenties on the table and rose. As he headed out, he glanced over to a couple seated by a window. A man and a woman. The woman was crying and the man was consoling her. The woman was… Kali White. And the man she was with was not her husband.

Larry
lost his breath.

The man leaned over and kissed her, and she kissed him back. Their fingers were intertwined. They were chatting softly about something and he said something that made her laugh and
she
kissed
him
this time. Before wiping away tears with a napkin.

Larry
debated what to do. He took a few steps toward them, and then changed his mind. Instead, he headed out the doors to his car.

Adam White finished his sixth consult of the day.
A bodybuilder with gynecomastia. He kept calling them, “bitch tits,” and each time the bodybuilder said it, Adam would wince.

“I just don’t get it, doc.”

“It’s an attempt by your body to balance your hormones. When your testosterone level skyrockets, say through the use of illegal substances, your body compensates by releasing large amounts of estrogen. The female hormone. Breasts are a common side effect.”

“But why would they—”

“Dr. White?” his receptionist’s voice said through the speakerphone.

“One moment, sir… yes, Rachel?
”

“I have your lawyer on the line.”

Adam hesitated. Having your lawyer call you in the middle of the day for no reason couldn’t possibly be for any good news. “Send him through… Larry, how are you?”

“Adam, sorry to bug you. I know you were in a consult but I asked your secretary to put me through. I had something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Okay, one sec though.” He looked to the bodybuilder. “I better take this. My receptionist can get everything set up for you. I’ll give you a call later to go over any questions I’ve missed.”

“Thanks.”

When he was alone again in his office, he said, “So what can I do for you?”

“I was wondering if you were in Santa Monica today for lunch.”

“Nope, had lunch at my desk. Why?”

“I, um, I saw Kali out here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… she was with a man that I thought wasn’t you. I just wanted to ask.”

Adam paused. “Where’d you see her?”

“At a restaurant. Um… Adam, I saw them kiss. She was crying and it looked like the man was
calming her.”

Adam leaned back in his
chair, and chuckled. “I’m sure that wasn’t Kali.”

“If it wasn’t, she’s got a twin running around somewhere. I’m
sorry, I know this isn’t any of my business. I just thought I’d give you a ring.”

“I appreciate it
. It couldn’t be her, though.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Take care.”

Adam grinned. The thought was so ridiculous he couldn’t even take it seriously. He buzzed Rachel and told her to send the bodybuilder back in if he was still here.

On the drive home in the evening, Adam thought about his schedule for the next day, surgeries he had coming up, a billboard campaign that his partner Gil was trying to talk him into, and whether he was going
to be able to get out of work in time to catch Sandy’s soccer game this Friday.

But ano
ther thought was there, too. Larry’s phone call. He didn’t believe it, of course. Kali had been with him through everything. Through the days in medical school when he was so broke, he couldn’t scrape together enough money to buy gas and they’d have to walk everywhere. Through his residency when he was pulling hundred hour weeks and wanted to quit every single day. She’d been there, never faltering, never complaining. The thought of her with another man was ludicrous. If she wanted another man, she would have gotten him when Adam was dirt poor and couldn’t provide for her.

Still
, the thought nagged at him. Larry had recently set up a trust for Max and Sandy, so he’d seen Kali just a few weeks ago. He would know what she looked like. But, Kali was attractive. Numerous women dressed like her, did their hair like hers… he was certain there was no way that was Kali.

But, she had spent that
night at Elaina’s. She’d done it once before, when they’d let their drinking get away from them, so it wasn’t entirely unusual. But that was during the weekend, not a random Wednesday.

When he got home, Kali was in the kitchen working on dinner. He first went outside and checked on the kids, who were playing with some of the neighbor’s children. He spent some time with them before heading inside.

“Hey,” Kali said, grabbing some plates off a shelf she couldn’t reach without standing on her tiptoes.

“Hey. How was your day?”

“Good. How was yours?”

“Same old. Had a professional bodybuilder come in for some
work. That was a first for me. Guy was colossal. I was thinking maybe Max could meet him. I think he’d get a kick out of that.”

“Maybe I’ll bring him by when
the guy’s there next.”

Adam watched as she garnished some salads. He didn’t say anything for a moment. “So where’d you go today?”

“Nowhere really. Just hung out most of the day.”

He nodded. “Were you in Santa Monica today?”

She paused. “No, why?”

“I know you
were with Elaina. I was just wondering if you two were in Santa Monica today.”

“No
, we got back in the morning and she dropped me off and that was it. Why?”

“Just curious.”

Adam watched her a long time. He’d known his wife for almost two decades. They’d gotten into a rhythm. They understood each other. In fact, he understood her so well, knew her movements and the cadences of her voice so intimately, his gut could always tell when something was wrong.

And right now, his gut was telling him his wife, for the first time since
he could remember, was lying to him.

20

Adam spent the night reading online. He watched Kali put the kids to bed and straighten up. Sometimes they would watch one of their favorite shows before bed. She turned on the television and made some popcorn for them. But Adam couldn’t pay attention. He found himself glancing over to her too often.

“I forgot something,” he said. “Gotta make a quick call to Gil.”

He left the bedroom and
trotted down the stairs. Her cell phone was on the counter in the kitchen. He turned it on.

The first thing he did was flip through her contacts. No one there he didn’t recognize. Then he looked at incoming text messages… nothing there. But she could have easily erased anything.

Suddenly, he chuckled to himself. He felt like one of those husbands that put a GPS on their wife’s phone because they wanted to know where they were at all times. He felt ridiculous. As he went to turn the phone off, a thought hit him: he could easily verify where she was this morning. All he had to do was call Elaina.

He debated a
moment, glancing up the stairs to make sure Kali wasn’t coming down, and then dialed Elaina from Kali’s phone.

“Hey
Kal, what’s up?”

“Is this Elaina?”

A short silence. “Yes.”

“This is Adam White. How are you?”

“Good, Adam. What’s going on? Is Kali alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Sorry to be calling you at this hour. I just wanted to ask you a quick question if that’s okay.”

Another silence, this one longer. “Sure.”

“Were you with Kali this morning?”

“Yeah.”

“Where were you guys?”

“Santa Monica. We had brunch at some seafood restaurant.”

Relief washed over Adam. So much so that he couldn’t suppress a grin. “That’s what I thought. Thanks.”

“Sure.”

He hung up and turned the phone off. As he headed back up the stairs, he paused, and glanced to the phone. Elaina hadn’t asked what this was regarding. She hadn’t followed up with any questions about why Adam would be calling her for the first time or where Kali was. It was almost as if she were expecting his call.

Adam climbed the stairs, and got into bed. Kali put her hand over his. He looked to her, and then back to the television.

In the morning, Adam showered and dressed in a suit with no tie. The kids were ready to go and ran into the bedroom as he was putting on his shoes. They kissed him and ran off and he shouted to them, “Be good today.”

As he headed down the stairs, he saw Kali in the kitchen. She was placing a few dishes in the washer and absently staring out the window. He didn’t say anything. He just stood silently and watched her. Her gaze didn’t move from the window, but it didn’t appear like she was staring at anything in particular.

“I’m taking off,” he said.

She gasped and whipped her head around. “You startled me.”

“Sorry,” he said, taking a few steps into the kitchen. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You look anxious.”

She shook her head. “I feel fine.”

He hesitated. “I thought we could have lunch today.”

She turned back to the dishes. “I don’t… okay. Yeah. Let’s have lunch.”

“Great. Come by around noon.”

“Noon it is.”

He walked over and kissed her cheek. She was scrubbing a dish that was spotless. Adam left and drove around the block and came back. He parked a little up the street and walked back to his house. Peering through the front room windows, he could see her in the kitchen. She was speaking
on the phone.

He walked inside and straight to the kitchen. She turned to him, her face going slack, her eyes wide. She said, “I’ll call you back,
Lanie. Adam’s here.” Kali hung up and placed the phone on the table. “Hey.”

“Hey, sorry to startle you again. I forgot my cufflinks.”

“Oh.”

The two of them stood motionless. It only lasted a moment, perhaps no more than a few seconds, but Adam knew a gaping
crevasse was between them. He jogged up the stairs and grabbed the cufflinks he had purposely left on the bathroom counter, and then went back downstairs.

“That was Elaina?” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Did you call her at work?”

“She’s heading in to work right now.”

Adam nodded. “Well, I should go.”

“Okay. I’ll be by at noon, sweetie.” She traversed the distance between them and pecked him on the cheek.

He grinned and left the house, a heavy, gray feeling in his gut.

21

Adam White sat at his desk with his feet up. He
had four consults today and he’d cancelled all of them but one. The woman showed up early and he asked Gil to meet with her instead.

For the past two hours, he’d been sitting
at his desk staring at his computer screen. Researching. The latest search term he ran through google was, “Signs of spousal infidelity.”

Many of the signs of infidelity didn’t apply. Like a change in grooming or exercise habits. Eating less at meals or wearing fancier clothing. He didn’t notice a change in her sexual behavior with him either, which was allegedly one of the primary signs. But a couple of the signs stuck out to him.
Excuses for not answering her phone when he called, and changes in her daily routine. He’d called Kali several times the past month and it’d gone to voicemail. Usually, she picked up right away. She had told him twice that her battery had died and another time she said it was on vibrate and she hadn’t heard it.

Adam closed the browser and leaned back in his chair.
His fingers interlaced on his chest in a contemplative gesture. His father had done the same thing when he was lost in thought and it was strange for Adam to see it in himself.

But he’d spent enough time contemplating. As agonizing as it was, he either had to take action, or let it go. But if he let it go, it’d always be in the back of his mind. Every action, every conversation, every phone call and internet chat Kali ever did from now on would be suspect. He wouldn’t be able to trust her, no matter how much he wanted to. Action was the only recourse.

He picked up his phone and dialed his attorney’s office. He asked the receptionist for Larry and she said he was in mediation but that she would transfer him to voicemail.

“This is Adam White, Larry
. I need a private investigator. Please call me back.”