TERRANCE CASTLE leaves the stage.
JULIET
Um, oh, that’s right. We’ll hear from Dr. Castle later. Thank you again. Now, where’s Bob? Let’s saber that giant champagne bottle and have a drink!
LAUGHTER
FADE OUT
Chapter 3
Ethan finds me in our bedroom after the shower, watching the video of my speech for the third time. He looks pale, almost like he’s been avoiding this conversation too.
“Hey,” Ethan says softly. “I think someone . . . died near Hope Street.”
“I know.” My voice breaks, and I start to cry again, not wanting to, but the shock must be wearing off. My heart hurts worse than my head. The pain makes it hard to breathe. “I’m sorry,” I gasp. “I did something so . . . so . . . stupid.”
“Jesus, Jules.” He shuts the bedroom door with a shaking hand. “What happened?”
“Last night . . . last night, after the launch . . . I met Terrance for a drink because he was being a diva, basically, and I don’t know. I was drunk. Completely blackout. We were at the Sider, and now . . . he’s dead.”
Ethan stands at the closed door with his hand still on the doorknob, but the shake has traveled all over his body. It pulses in his broad shoulders like an unknown life-form trying to escape. “This can’t be happening,” he whispers firmly, as if to wake himself from this nightmare. But it gets so much worse.
I almost want to tell him to go, even if the only certainty I have is how much I need him. The way he loves me and supports me. Still I remember what this can do to a family. What it did to my own family when I was a girl.
“I drank too much. I’m so embarrassed.” My words are gasps through the tears. I have to pause and try to catch my breath. “The police were here, Ethan. On our porch.” My face burns from shame. “Fitz was inside while the police were . . . asking me questions.”
He inhales sharply as he crosses the room, and whatever color was in his face is gone. The police make him nervous too. His mother was constantly harassed by them when he was growing up. “What did the cops say?”
He drops beside me on the bed as I cover my face with my hands and sob. “It’s . . . so . . . terrible.”
Ethan pulls me into his chest. “Take deep breaths, babe.”
I try to do as he says, but calming down also means telling the awful truth. Minutes pass, and finally, I’ve tortured us both enough.
He hands me the tissue box, or maybe he’s been holding it this whole time. I wipe my face of tears and then blow my nose. I throw the fistful of tissues away and then hurry back to him.
“There’s a detective. Ramos. He said that by Terrance’s . . . body . . . they found my wallet.”
“Oh my God. Jules. How could that happen?”
“I don’t remember.” I press my fists to my forehead, willing the memories out. “Total blackout. I remember the launch event. But I’d had so much champagne and nothing to eat all day. I went to Hope Street Pizza. Then the Sider . . . I think.”
His jaw is frozen open for several seconds before he speaks. “Did anyone see you do anything?”
“If they did, we’d be having this conversation in jail.”
“I don’t mean . . . Jules. You would never hurt anyone. I only meant did someone see Dr. Castle being shot or whatever happened?”
“No, I think they found him . . . dead . . . and my wallet was just there. I have to give a statement to the police.”
Ethan pulls me close again. “You can’t go by yourself.”
“I don’t know that I’ll go at all,” I say, remembering my father didn’t either. How the prosecutor really hit that fact hard with the jury, but our lawyer said it was actually Dad’s saving grace. “They’ll try to trap me with their questions and accusations.”
“But there’s nothing to trap, right?”
“Innocent people go to jail all the time,” I say.
“You don’t have to tell me that, Jules.”
“Sorry.” I don’t want to bring up his mother right now. I’m sure this incident is pushing almost as many buttons for him as it is for me. “There must be a good explanation for why Terrance had my wallet when he was murdered. I need time to think.”
He doesn’t answer and runs his hand along my arm and shoulder, as if soothing us both. I feel him shuddering and sniffing. My mind races from memories of Terrance to memories of my father on trial to wondering if I should go to the police station now to just get it over with.
I try to freeze my brain and grasp the tasks that must be done:
I need to call our family lawyer.
I need a statement strategy. Maybe a video testimony on my own turf instead of their interrogation room and their questions?
I need to go into work.
I need to brief the board. We will mourn Terrance, but there’s a legacy too. Once this wallet nonsense clears up, I will lead us forward. I am the best person to make sure we honor him.
My phone buzzes, and it’s an email from my work account.
SUBJECT: LEAVE OF ABSENCE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
Juliet: We have heard of the murder of Dr. Castle from his widow, Dez. Her understanding is that you are being questioned by the police because evidence tied to you was found at the crime scene. During this difficult time, I recommended to the board you take a leave of absence without pay. We ask that you respect what’s best for our organization and Dr. Castle’s widow.
All best,
Miller
CC: Board of Directors; Head of Security; Dez Castle
Chapter 4
The house is empty and quiet now that Ethan has taken Fitz to the park. I sit with my work computer on my lap, both stunned by my leave of absence at the hands of Miller and damn angry. I have given everything to the Poe Foundation. How dare they treat me this way.
Finally, the file I’ve been waiting for appears on my computer screen. Elle has sent me all the raw footage from last night’s event. Perhaps there was a fight with Terrance and a guest? Or if I could jog my memory a bit so that the end of the night is clearer.
Elle sends a message with the link:
Hey sweetie: sorry it’s messy, but it’ll all cool off soon. I’ve got your back, girlfriend, so sit tight and stay offline! Google is not your friend! More soon xoxo
I click play, and the video begins with a shot of the Providence Hotel ballroom. The chandeliers glitter onto the pale marble-tiled floors. There are cocktail tables with red tablecloths cinched with bows. Waiters with trays of hors d’oeuvres I carefully chose weave in and out of the formally dressed crowd.
I come into the frame as I’m greeting a funder. Elle interrupts, and I remember her saying I’m “hashtag Holly Golightly” in my “hashtag boss babe” black dress.
Seeing myself laugh on camera, I remember appreciating the pep talk. When you’re running the show, people are always taking shots. I wondered if that was part of why the Poe Foundation board agreed to promote me to CEO, even with all the history with my father. Because I’ve had whispers behind my back my whole life. People taking aim at my family. But I survived.
Even that night, my night, it was so easy to imagine the whispers:
Can you believe they made her CEO?