Page 18 of The Perfect Marriage

“And you fucked… I’m sorry had sex with her the first day you met?”

“Yes.” He pauses. “I’m sorry, Sarah.” He tries to reach for my hand, but I pull away.

“This isn’t the time.” I straighten my papers, aligning all the edges perfectly. It’s what I do when I don’t know what to do. I tidy. I clean things up.

He leans back in his chair and slides his hands down his face, pulling at his skin that seems to have paled from lack of sleep, grief, and stress. His eyes are bloodshot, and a five-o’clock shadow has taken up residence on his face. Despite what he has done and his appearance, he is still handsome to me. I can see why Kelly couldn’t resist him. I couldn’t resist him either.

“Did your relationship with Kelly continue regularly?”

“Yes, we saw each other several times a week, and she spent many nights at the lake house.” He lets out a deep breath.

“And you mentioned her husband, Scott. What do you know about him?”

Adam sits up straight. A sense of hope and anger appears in his eyes. I can tell before he even starts speaking, he hates this man and he wholeheartedly believes it was this man that killed Kelly.

“He’s not a good person. I know he had to have something to do with this. He was abusive. He threatened her. He hurt her, and I think he knew about us—” he says in a fury.

I cut him off. “Why do you think he knew about you and Kelly? Did you ever have any interactions with him?”

“Because of the texts from that night. He threatened her. He said he knew she was lying. He said he would hurt her.”

I jot down a few notes about Scott.

“If he threatened Kelly, that could help us with reasonable doubt and could give us a person to point the finger at. An abusive husband is very fitting. I’ve seen it a hundred times in my cases. If he had the means and the opportunity, it’s an easy win,” I say.

Adam’s eyes light up. “Really?”

“Yes, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That’s one avenue we can pursue… now, did you ever meet Scott?”

“No—but I didn’t have to to know what type of man he was.” Adam clenches his jaw and tightens his eyes.

“And what type of man is that?” I bite at the end of my pen.

“A bad one.”

“And what does that make you?” My eyes narrow.

Adam’s expression goes from pure anger to one of guilt.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” I pause for a moment glancing down at my notes and then back at him. “This is a total conflict of interest. I may be the best chance you have of getting out of this, but I don’t know if I can remove the pain and anger I’m feeling from this case.”

“Please,” he says. His eyes beg me to help.

I chew on the end of my pen cap. I know we had our issues, every marriage does—but to lie to me for the past sixteen months. Yes, I was inattentive, and yes, I wasn’t exactly the loving wife, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t love him and that doesn’t mean I never stopped loving him. Even now, at this moment I love him. I hate him, but I love him. Everything I was doing, I was doing for us. I was doing it for our future. Every night I spent at the office was for us so we could have the life we’ve always dreamed of. If his writing career wouldn’t have tapered off right when it started, maybe I wouldn’t have had to work so hard for the both of us.

The problems in our marriage were just as much his fault as they were mine. I did everything I could. I bought him a fucking house to help with his writing career, and instead, he used it to wine and dine and fuck another woman. Stop. I can’t think like this. I don’t know if I can separate myself from this. I just need time to think. I have to take a step back.

I begin gathering my things and push my chair back. Adam asks what I’m doing. Tears are forming in his eyes as panic sets in. He thinks I’m giving up on us, on him. I’m not. I don’t say anything. I hold back every emotion—anger, betrayal, sadness, worry, fear, all of it. I push it down, so far down.

The door behind me swings open as I take a step back. I’m thrown to the ground. My head clips the edge of the table and blood trickles down my face. I let out a scream. A six-foot man in a deputy’s uniform lunges over the table, tackling Adam to the floor. I wince as I touch the cut on my forehead and examine the blood on my fingertips. The officer with buzzed cut blond hair and wide shoulders pummels Adam’s face as he straddles him on the ground. Adam is trying to scream for help but struggles as the fists keep cutting him off and adding more blood to his mouth.

I get to my feet, stumble over to the officer and try to pull him off Adam. I punch him in the side of the head and ear. It doesn’t even phase him. Adam’s face is covered in blood, and his right eye is already swollen shut. He’s trying to stop the punches with his arms, but he’s no match for this man who is full of rage. I hit the officer again, and this time he stops for a second, looking back at me. His eyes are arctic blue and cracked with fissures of blood. He pushes me back without saying a word.

Just as I fall into the wall, Sheriff Stevens and Deputy Hudson storm in. They rip the man off Adam, who is nearly incapacitated on the floor. They’re screaming at him to stop.

“Deputy Summers, stop this right now!” Sheriff Stevens commands as he pins him into a corner. Deputy Hudson holds the officer back too. A couple more officers swarm in, holding back this enraged man. The veins in his forehead and neck are prominent. His piercing eyes are bloodshot with rage. Sweat is dripping from his forehead. He’s breathing with such intensity, I think he may collapse. I’ve never seen that much anger in a person. He lets out an exasperated growl. His lips purse in a tight inhalation, right before giving way. His nostrils flare so wide they could split apart. His face crumples, and he lets out a howl. This man breaks right in front of us. Tears pour from his eyes. Snot drips from his nose. His body loses all the tension it had been holding and turns practically into a puddle. The sheriff, deputy, and officers stop holding him back, and Deputy Hudson now helps hold him up.

“Scott, buddy, it’s going to be okay. I would have done the same. I actually tried to do the same.” Deputy Hudson pats his friend on the shoulder.

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