Chapter 2 - THE ROOM I HAD PAID FOR

Emily waited until the elevator disappeared.

Then she slapped me.

The sound traveled down the bright hotel corridor.

“You said she left you.”

I touched my cheek.

“I said the marriage was ending.”

“You said the papers were signed.”

“I was going to file.”

“You are expecting a baby.”

I looked toward the closed elevator doors.

“Yes.”

Emily stepped backward.

Her anger shifted into disgust.

“You told me Clara did not want children.”

“That she became pregnant to trap you after the separation.”

My silence answered.

Emily shook her head.

“You lied about everything.”

I wanted to tell her she had known enough.

She knew I wore a wedding ring during our first dinner.

She knew my wife was pregnant before the affair became physical.

She accepted my explanations because they allowed her to keep what she wanted.

But I had created those explanations.

I had built the first lie.

The truth did not become smaller because someone else had benefited from it.

Emily removed the diamond earrings.

She threw them against my chest.

One bounced onto the carpet.

“You can explain those to your wife.”

She walked toward the elevator.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“You came with me.”

“I can leave without you.”

The elevator doors opened.

She entered and faced me.

“I am not protecting you from this.”

Then she was gone.

I stood alone outside the presidential suite.

The hotel key remained inside my hand.

The room contained champagne.

Flowers.

A gift bag from a designer store.

A weekend itinerary prepared by the concierge.

Every luxury had been purchased by money I told Clara we did not have.

I entered the suite.

Two glasses sat beside the windows.

A silver tray held strawberries dipped in chocolate.

I remembered Clara’s breakfast that morning.

Toast without butter.

She had said the baby made rich food difficult.

Now I wondered whether she had been saving groceries too.

I called her.

The call went directly to voicemail.

I called again.

Then a third time.

No answer.

I opened our banking application.

The nursery savings account contained forty-three dollars.

Three months earlier, it held twenty-eight thousand.

I had transferred most of it.

Hotels.

Restaurants.

Jewelry.

A weekend in Napa disguised as a continuing legal education retreat.

I had always intended to replace the money.

That was how I excused each withdrawal.

After the next bonus.

After the next case.

After one final trip.

A thief often believes repayment exists because it makes taking feel temporary.

My phone rang.

It was not Clara.

It was the hotel’s housekeeping director.

“Mr. Mercer?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Patricia Sloan.”

“Your wife became ill near the service elevator.”

I stood so quickly that the chair struck the floor.

“What happened?”

“She experienced dizziness and abdominal pain.”

“We called the hotel physician.”

“Is the baby okay?”

“I cannot answer that.”

“Where is she?”

“Employee medical room on the second floor.”

I ran.

The polished hallways blurred around me.

When I reached the employee wing, a security guard blocked the door.

“My wife is inside.”

“Mrs. Mercer requested that you not enter.”

“I need to see her.”

Patricia stepped into the hallway.

She was a woman in her fifties with silver hair and a burgundy management suit.

“Mr. Mercer, your wife is being transported to Saint Matthew’s Hospital.”

“I’m going with her.”

“She does not want you in the ambulance.”

“She is upset.”

“She is eight months pregnant and just discovered her husband with another woman.”

Patricia’s voice remained professional.

“Upset is an inadequate description.”

The medical-room door opened.

Paramedics rolled Clara into the hallway.

She lay on the stretcher with one hand over her stomach.

I stepped forward.

She looked away.

“Clara.”

“Please don’t.”

“I’ll follow the ambulance.”

She closed her eyes.

“You have already followed me enough today.”

The stretcher moved past me.

I stood beside the housekeeping cart she had abandoned near the wall.

A paper shopping bag rested on its lower shelf.

Inside were two tiny yellow baby blankets.

A receipt showed she bought them on clearance.

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Twelve dollars each.

Upstairs, I had spent more than that on one glass of champagne.