Page 53 of The Change
“You’re saying women aren’t allowed?” Jo asked.
“Of course we’reallowed,” Harriett replied. “Women are allowed everywhere these days. Golf courses, nudie bars, the Racquet and Tennis Club. It would be scandalous if we weren’tallowed. So instead, we’re just notinvited.”
The fact that this wasn’t news to Jo made it no less shocking.
“The truth of it is, I don’t think most of them really question our intelligence or abilities—though they don’t mind us believing they do,” Harriett continued. “We’re just turds in the punchbowl. We spoil their party. They don’t want us hanging around.”
It was true, Jo knew. Every word of it. Over the years, she’d trained several smarmy young men who’d gone on to become high-ranking executives. At the time, Jo had assumed it was her fault she’d never risen any higher. The men they’d promoted weren’t juggling a job and motherhood. They never had to scramble when the day care was closed or the babysitter called in sick. So Jo had watched as men who weren’t as smart or diligent or trustworthy as she was worked their way past her toward the company’s C-suite. And she did her best to be satisfied with rising profits, stellar reviews, and performance awards. The day after she was fired for assaulting a VIP—who had turned out to be the CEO’s golf buddy—Jo had dumped those awards out onto her lawn and set the pile on fire. But still, even after the success of Furious Fitness, she’d wondered if she’d ever really had what it takes to succeed in corporate America.
Now all those nagging doubts had gone up in flames. The truth was, she’d never had a chance. Jo felt her entire body throbbing with rage. She thought of all the late nights she’d worked on presentations she’d been certain would make a difference. She remembered how, despite her name tag, she’d been repeatedly mistaken for a desk clerk by big shots from the corporate office. She imagined the tens of thousands of dollars she’d wasted on her hair and makeup, hoping that would somehow make them all see her. Most painful of all, she mourned the time she could have spent with her daughter. She’d tried so hard to prove she was good enough. And now, with a few simple sentences, Harriett had explained it so plainly. Jo had been good enough all along. They’d made herfeel like a failure, when the truth was, they just hadn’t wanted her around. There was nothing she could have done.
Jo had stopped in the middle of the massive living room. Harriett was already at the glass doors that led out to the beach. “That anger’s like rocket fuel,” she told Jo. “Either it pushes you forward or it burns you alive.”
Jo got moving. She joined Harriett at the doors, and the two of them stepped out into the sunlight. When they reached the edge of the deck, they could finally see all the women and children. From the deck, a wooden walkway over the dunes ended at the stairs to the house’s dock. Beside them, the beach sloped down to the water’s edge. Rows of white chaises stretched out beneath blue-and-white-striped umbrellas. Most of the women were gathered in pools of shade, their hair tucked under dramatic straw hats that made them look like characters inTheGreat Gatsbyand their eyes hidden behind big, dark glasses. They sipped brightly colored concoctions and chatted in small groups of three or four. Their children frolicked in the surf while a squad of lifeguards inBaywatch-red tank suits watched over them.
“They seem like regular human beings.” Jo wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting.
Harriett leaned toward Jo’s ear as if whispering a secret. “Because they are,” she said. “These are guests. Let’s see if we can spot a few of the residents.”
Jo heard a burst of laughter above their heads. With a hand raised to shield her eyes from the sun, she looked up to see several men with glasses in their hands on the roof deck, leaning drunkenly over the railing.
“I really wish they wouldn’t ogle the lifeguards like that.” The unfamiliar voice oozed with frustration. It clearly wasn’t the first time its owner had observed such behavior, and it certainly wouldnot be the last. “It’s hard enough to get young women to visit the Pointe these days.”
A woman had come out of the house to stand beside them. Pixieish and petite, she wore a simple white T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. Her black bob was pinned away from her face with a butterfly clip. Her brow unknitted when she saw Jo was listening, and a mischievous smile replaced her frown. “Hi, I’m Claude,” she said.
“I’m Jo. This is Harriett. Are you here for the party?”
“You could say that.” Claude’s laugh made Jo want to laugh along, though she had no idea what was funny. “I organized it.”
“You did a great job.” Jo knew how much work must have gone into planning an event of this size. “It looks just like the beach scene fromTo Catch a Thief.”
“That was my inspiration!” Claude exclaimed with delight. “You’re the first to notice. Jackson only cares if the booze is cold and the ladies are half naked.” Her fingers flew to her lips and she grimaced at her indiscretion. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. He’s probably a friend of yours.”
“Nope,” Jo assured her. “We’re just here to drink his cold booze.”
“So you work for Jackson?” Harriett seemed to have caught a whiff of something. “Do you spend a lot of time on the Pointe?”
“I spend my summers here,” Claude confirmed. “But I try to avoid Jackson as much as possible. I come out to stay with my partner and wait for his fancy friends to throw business my way. I arranged to have the entire cast of theFrozenmusical flown in next week for an eight-year-old’s birthday.”
“Wow. That couldn’t have been easy,” Jo said.
“You wouldn’t believe. The negotiations were brutal. A couple of the women had heard about that murder down by Danskammer Beach. I had to hire a dozen extra security guards, which wastotally unnecessary. The president himself couldn’t get through the Culling Pointe gate without a written invitation.”
Jo had been wondering how she and Harriett would turn the conversation to murder. She felt grateful that the woman had done their work for them.
“Were you out here on the Pointe when the body was found?” Harriett inquired.
Claude nodded grimly. “Yeah, it was my first day getting things together for the party. What a tragedy. Have they found the guy who did it yet? I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to keep up with the news.”
“They’d have to search for the killer in order to find him,” Harriett said. “The cops don’t seem to think it’s worth their time.”
“I wish I could say I’m shocked,” Claude responded grimly. “My partner has a charity that builds schools for kids all over the world. In a lot of the places we travel, women are nothing but baby machines. Girls disappear all the time, and no one ever bothers to look. We like to think that things are different here. But they’re not. Not really.”
“Your partner runs a charity?” Jo asked.
“That’s how we met. I planned an event for him years ago. To be honest, I think he fell in love with my food. The man never met an amuse-bouche he didn’t like. That’s him right there.”
Claude pointed down toward the ocean where a middle-aged man with curly gray hair was horsing around with a group of kids. They were all lined up at the water’s edge, trying to leap over the waves as they arrived onshore.
