Turner:That case is closed. What if I can’t find the shirt? That was a long time ago.
Dani:Are you or are you not at this very moment wearing the shoes you had on when you graduated from the academy?
Turner:Not answering that without a lawyer present.
Dani:You’re lucky I like keeping old things around.
Turner:I prefer vintage.
Dani: Well, I can’t wait to spend the night with my vintage husband.
Turner:I miss us.
Dani:I know.
If you’d asked her a week ago whether Turner could ever be vulnerable or sincere, she would have said no. He had one dimension and that was douchebag. This peek into his personal life—his family life—was surreal. Josie had pored over thousands of phone records in her career, including very private exchanges between victims and loved ones, but she’d never felt more like an intruder than she did now.
There were a few other messages between Turner and Dani in the days before their dinner discussing logistics and then, just as Turner described, after the date everything went downhill. Fast.
Turner was angry:That’s seriously it? You’re going to slam the door in my face and ignore me? If you want to co-parent, we need to talk.
Dani:We already talked. I told you that you’re an inconsiderate asshole.
Turner:Three hours ago you were practically sitting on my lap in the damn restaurant. We had a great night. The best we’ve had in a long, long time and now this.
Dani:Really? You’re going to put this on me? I’m not the one who blew up this family.
Turner:Not going over this with you again. It’s ancient history. You promised to put it behind us.
Dani:Maybe I can’t.
Turner:I’m coming over. If you’re going there again, I want you to look me in the eye.
Dani:Stop being so dramatic. You always knew there was a chance this wouldn’t work out.
Turner:You came to Denton. That has to mean something.
Thirteen minutes elapsed. Dani didn’t respond. Finally, Turner wrote again:Unless you tell me not to in the next five minutes, I’m coming over.
Josie wondered what Turner had done to blow up their family. The most obvious misdeed seemed infidelity. Had he lied to her earlier when he said he didn’t have an affair with Zara? The truth was that once he started talking about all the things he’d done for the former escort, Josie had concluded that he had had an affair. Why else would he have done it? Out of the goodness of his heart? Was she expected to believe that?
She could definitely imagine him cheating, especially with the way he flirted shamelessly with witnesses. Had he really complained about how often he and Dani fought and how little she thought of him when it was his fault the marriage was on the rocks? It was classic Turner.
Seriously, what did his wife see in him?
Josie’s job wasn’t to judge. Certainly not from what amounted to a snapshot of a relationship that spanned almost two decades. Not all marriages were the same. Some could survive incredible strain, betrayal, and heartbreak. Others could not. Relationships weren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. They were complicated and nuanced.
Including Turner’s relationship with his daughter. The two of them appeared to have some sort of ongoing game where they sent one another words and the other person had to use it in a sentence without looking it up.
The day before he’d canceled the festival plans with Cassidy, she’d texted him:
intractable. Don’t google! I’ll know if you do.
Turner:I’m intractable.
Cassidy:Cute.
Turner:Catawampus.
