Page 88 of Keep Quiet

“Okay, what’s up?” Jake sensed Pam was telling him that Ryan called her, not him, as if they still were playing tug-of-war with their son.

“There’s a memorial program tonight at school for Kathleen. The team is going, and he has to go with them.”

“Oh no.” Jake pulled over and parked, so he could focus. “That’ll be tough for him. Can’t he get out of it? Can’t we say he got sick again?”

“No. He has to go. We have to go, too. He’ll need the support. You have to leave work early. The program starts at six thirty.”

“Okay, fine.” Jake didn’t bother explaining that he wasn’t at work. “But honey, listen, we have to settle this. I can’t move out now. You have to let me stay home.”

“No I don’t. Get a hotel room. No one has to know. We’ll keep it a secret. You’re good at that.”

“Pam, I don’t think you and Ryan should be alone in the house right now. It’s not safe.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want to break up.”

“That’s not true. I’m saying it because you could be in danger. So could we all. The more I think about it, the more I worry that whoever killed Voloshin could come after us—”

“I thought you were worried about the police. Now a murderer’s coming after me? What is this, scare tactics?”

“No. It could happen, babe. I looked at those pictures you took and I figured out that Kathleen was meeting someone in secret. I’m thinking he’s the guy who killed Voloshin—”

“So what are you saying? I need a bodyguard?”

Jake hadn’t gotten that far in his thinking. “You might—”

“Oh, great! Of course we can’t go to the police, or Ryan goes to jail. My son goes to jail!”

“That won’t happen.”

“What do we do then? Got any ideas?”

“We can talk about it tonight. I need you to be careful. Keep an eye out when you’re driving or when you—”

“Jake, if you’re trying to scare me into staying in this marriage, it won’t work. You don’t understand the damage you’ve done. You don’t get it.”

“We can fix it. I can fix it.”

“No we can’t,” Pam shot back. “I didn’t go outside the marriage because I wanted to, I went out because I had to. I’m not proud of it, but it is what it is. And we gave it a shot, which you totally destroyed. I’m making myself crazy, going over it and over it in my head. If we had broken up, you wouldn’t have been in the car Friday night with Ryan. None of this would have happened.”

“You can’t think that way. You don’t know that—”

“Yes, I do. Get your head out of the sand, Jake. It’s over. It has to be. We can’t go back, we just can’t. I can’t. I’mdone. I can’t forgive you, ever. I want a divorce.”

“Babe, listen, I love you, and no matter what problems we’re having, we have to get through this together. Even tonight, we have to put up a united front, for Ryan’s sake.”

“You’re saying that for you, not for him.”

“No, I’m not. You know this is killing him, and we have to make sure he keeps it together. He’s cutting classes, getting high, messing up in basketball. God knows what he could do next. He needs us both—”

“You’re shameless! Since when are you so sensitive to our son? Since he started taking your side? Since he decidedI’mthe bad guy?”

Jake told himself to remain calm. “Pam, you said you don’t have time to talk, so let’s not waste time fighting.”

“It’s so unfair to me, Jake!” Pam raised her voice. “This is unfair to meandhim! You’re the one who put us in this impossible situation! You’re the one who told him it was okay to drive in the first place!”

“We’ve been over this—”

“But somehow, I’m the one who’s a murder suspect, and now, atarget! That girl would be alive if not for you!”