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“I know. She’s in high school,” Christian replied.

“She said she did it for Megan.”

Her father was silent. Kate pressed him.

“It’s like Mom’s note. ‘I did it for Kate.’ Sandra told me she did it—”

“I get it,” he said abruptly.

Kate couldn’t understand his reaction. “Don’t you think that’s important? They both did‘it’for their daughters. It raises the same question I asked the day you helped me move into my apartment. What does ‘it’mean?”

Her father rose, walked to the bar, and poured himself a brandy. “I would frame the question differently. Brandy?” he asked.

“No, thanks. What do you mean? How would you frame the question?”

He swirled the brandy in his snifter and returned to the club chair. “To me, it’s an ‘either/or’ question. And I’ll let you answer it for yourself.

“Either Sandra Levy is your new best friend, and she’s trying to tell you something important.”

“Or?”

“Or she found out what your mother’s suicide note said, and she’s messing with your head—to get back at me.”

That would have been an incredibly mean-spirited thing for Sandra to do, and it almost made Kate afraid to ask what kind of anger and resentment could possibly have prompted it.

“To get back at you for what, exactly?” she asked.

Kate watched her father swallow his brandy.

“Sandra’s a very complex person,” he said.

Kate waited, but it was clear he’d said all that he cared to say on the subject. He rose and grabbed the television remote from the coffee table.

“Since your date is over, want to sit and watch a movie with me?” he asked, clearly wanting to turn the proverbial page.

She wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily, but she could bide her time and circle back to Sandra’s “complexity” later. “Sure,” she said.

He switched on the TV and started scrolling through the menu, which reminded her of her talk with Sean.

“Dad, have you ever heard of the Crypto Rule?”

He was focused on the menu, not really listening. “Crypto is short for cryptography, which is all about codes, which is the world I live in.”

“I know what the word ‘crypto’ means. I asked what’s the Crypto Rule, as distinguished from the Golden Rule. Do you know?”

“I’ve heard people use the expression before, mostly Silicon Valley types.”

“What is it?”

He took a seat and handed her the remote. “Do unto others... before they do unto you.”

It made Kate wonder if she’d been too kind in calling Sean a snake. “How nice,” she said.

“Pick a movie, kiddo. What are you in the mood for?”

“Anything but a film stolen from a playwright,” Kate said.

Chapter 32

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