***
I have my reasons for ending up at Richard’s apartment building—I’m scared, I need a place to go, I can’t reach anyone else. But I could have tried more people. I could have waited at some brightly lit café until Thalia woke up. I can still leave now. It’s not too late.
And yet, he’s part of the situation. Richard has a right to know the context, to understand how dangerous the Senator might be. There is a very real possibility he will go to Richard’s wife—just out of spite.
But deep down, I know none of these is the real reason I’m here. I can’t leave the puzzle unsolved
A moment later I’m inside Richard’s immaculate marble lobby, an extravagant arrangement of fragrant lilacs on the reception desk helmed by a tall, young doorman.
“I’m here to see the Falks. They know I’m coming.” I smile and motion to my outfit, trying not to hate myself for my very deliberate, very false use ofthey. “I got locked out of my apartment. Sorry about the…no shoes.”
The doorman leans over, eyes widening when he spies my bare feet. “Oh, yeah, you can’t…No.”
“Can you please call up? Or I can just go…” I gesture toward the elevator.
He frowns as he snatches up the phone. A moment later, his voice is much softer and more submissive. “I have a young lady here, a…” He looks my way and raises his chin, asking for my name.
“Thalia,” I say, hoping that Richard will remember. Another lie so easily told. And now Richard and I have yet another secret. How many more before we are comprised entirely of lies?
—
Richard is standing at the door when I step off the elevator. He waves me into the apartment like an excited teenager, and I feel a pang of regret. Whatever my legitimate reasons, this is why I really came.
The hallway is as fancy as the lobby, lavishly textured yet tasteful wallpaper, a delicately patterned, luxurious runner setting off polished hardwood. The carpet squishes between my bare toes as I make my way to Richard’s door.
Richard smiles, shaking his head. “What happened?” he asks in a loud whisper, pointing at my feet.
I put my finger to my lips.I’ll tell you when I’m inside. And then I am.Inside. Standing in Richard’s stately marble foyer, which opens to a gleaming kitchen on the left, a sprawling living room lined with massive windows on the right, an elegant staircase in between. A duplex. It’s all pristine, sparkling white, dotted with navy-blue accents in the living room, mint-green in the kitchen. It’s so…serene. That’s my first reaction.
My second reaction hits me with stunning force. I am a trespasser in this woman’s home, pure and simple. I am invading a place of serenity that she created forherhusband and children. Worse, I’ve convinced myself there’s something noble about what’s happening. Or fated. That I have no choice. But everyone chooses, all the time. I’ve decided that how I feel is more important than pretty much anything else. Including what’s right.
And so what does that make me—a monster, a whore? Or just lonely, human. Alive. Maybe I am all those things—and always will be—whether I climb one mountain or a hundred.
“What’s going on, Frankie?” Richard asks. He sounds concerned as he leads me into the kitchen. “Come sit. Let me get you some water.”
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?”
“Absolutely fine. Gretchen’s off at tennis and then headed straight to a full day of benefit meetings, so you’ve missed her.” On his way to the sink, he reaches out as if to put a hand on my shoulder but stops short. His hesitation sucks the wind out of me. “I’m glad you’re here. I was going to text you again. Something has been bothering me.”
I brace myself. “Oh, yeah—what’s that?”
“Are you sure that Van was right behind you?”
This is what he wants to talk about? “You mean before he fell?”
He nods. “It’s been bugging me ever since we talked about it after dinner at Las Nacionales.”
“Yeah, I think so.” I replay those last moments again. “I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but I remember Van said something, and he was right behind me. Then Kito came up to ask me if I was okay, so it would have been Van and then Brooks in back.”
Richard rubs his chin, deep in thought. “But Brooks said he wasin frontof Van, that’s why he didn’t see what happened.”
“Maybe he felt bad?” I shrug. “Wanted to pretend he didn’t see it?”
“That doesn’t sound like Brooks,” Richard says. “He also made a lot of money because Van didn’t get down from the mountain. He was going to call off the sale.”
“I thought Brooks was rich already.”
“Yes, but I found out from Scotty that Brooks had to leverage some position in his dad’s company right before the trip. It cleaned him out, apparently. Plus, his wife left him before we went to Tanzania. Scotty told me that, too.”
