The Stranger

Chapter 35

Sally Perryman sat alone at the far end of the bar, sipping a beer and reading the New York Post. She had on a white blouse and a gray pencil skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She’d put her coat on the stool next to her, saving it for him. As Adam moved closer, she moved the coat without looking up from the paper. Adam slid onto the stool.

“Been a long time,” she said.

Sally still hadn’t looked up from the paper.

“It has,” he said. “How’s work?”

“Busy, lot of clients.” She finally met his eye. He felt a gentle pow and held on. “But you didn’t call for that.”

“No.”

It was one of those moments when the noise fades away and the rest of the world becomes background and it’s him and her and nothing else.

“Adam?”

“What?”

“I can’t handle a big thing here. Just tell me what you want.”

“Did my wife ever call you?”

Sally blinked as if the question, too, had been a bit of a pow. “When?”

“Ever.”

She turned toward her beer. “Yeah,” she said. “Once.”

They were in one of those noisy chain-restaurant bars, the kind that majors in deep-fried appetizers and has a million TV screens playing maybe two sporting events. The bartender came over and made a big production of introducing himself. Adam quickly ordered a beer to get him to leave.

“When?” he asked.

“Two years ago, I guess. During the case.”

“You never told me.”

“It was just once.”

“Still.”

“What difference does it make now, Adam?”

“What did she say?”

“She knew you’d been to my house.”

Adam almost asked how, but of course, he knew the answer, didn’t he? She’d put a tracking app on all the phones. She could check at any time to see the boys’ location.

Or his.

“What else?”

“She wanted to know why you were there.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That it was work,” Sally Perryman said.

“You told her it was nothing, right?”

“It was nothing, Adam. We were obsessed with that case.” Then: “But it was almost something.”

“Almost doesn’t count.”

A sad smile came to Sally’s lips. “I think to your wife it probably does.”

“Did she believe you?”

Sally shrugged. “I never heard from her again.”

He sat there and looked at her. He opened his mouth, not sure what he would say, but she stopped him with her open palm. “Don’t.”

She was right. He slid away from the counter and headed outside.