Page 50 of The Night We Lost Him

He gives me a smile and runs his fingers through his hair. And I clock it. He is wearing his wedding ring. Grace has been gone for the better part of a year now, and he is still wearing his ring.

I’m not sure if he sees me notice that, but he puts his hand in his back pocket.

I try to pivot in case he did notice. In case it made him feel badly, when noticing it made me feel the opposite. It felt like I was witnessing a gesture of something kind. Something like loyalty.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say. “I don’t think Grace mentioned to me that she lived in this building.”

“Well, she didn’t really. We lived over on Pierrepont. This used to be just my work studio. But I’m basically here since shortly after she passed away…” He pauses, as if considering that. “Eight months now.”

“Fresh start,” I say.

“Something like that.”

He clears his throat, his voice catching even at the mention of her, and the last place I want to be is standing there in front of a grieving husband, still wearing his wedding ring, at the start of a night that shouldn’t involve us.

“Look, I feel badly, guys, I know that I said it was okay to stop by, but my daughter is in town visiting and she just called, so I’m going to need to keep this real quick. She’s five months pregnant. When she calls, I come.”

“Sure…” Sam says. “We were just wondering if you still have Grace’s office belongings here?”

“Like company files?”

“Terry mentioned that when her office was cleaned out, her work computer was sent to you.”

He tilts his head, takes Sam in. “You mean her laptop?”

“Exactly,” Sam says.

Paul looks back and forth between us. “Can I ask why?”

“Our father’s cell phone is missing,” I say. “That’s the long and short answer. And Grace may have had access to whatever was on that phone. Family photographs, text messages, certain other communications that feel particularly valuable to us now that he’s not… here.”

“Why would her laptop have any of that?”

“Apparently, Grace often worked on her laptop at home, especially after she started coming into work less,” Sam says. “And IT believes her laptop may have shared files that weren’t on the company’s mainframe.”

“Well, if they weren’t on the company’s mainframe, wouldn’t there have been a good reason for that?”

“Because it was personal,” Sam says.

Paul shakes his head. “I’m confused,” he says. “So are you looking for personal photographs? Or company data?”

“Point is,” Sam says, “we aren’t trying to cause any trouble for her or for you, obviously…”

“Why would this cause trouble for me?”

I’m quick to jump in, not liking the look he is giving Sam.

“I think, maybe, what Sam is trying to say is we aren’t sure what her computer has on it. But we just want to see for ourselves what is there. We do realize that this is a bit of a strange ask…”

“Just a bit.”

“That’s not really the point,” Sam says.

Paul crosses his arms over his chest, his tone growing more irritated. “If you’re asking for access to my wife’s personal property, it sure is.”

“Actually,” Sam says, “it’s the company’s computer, so I’m not sure why it’s here in the first place.”

“I’m just going to say, I think whatever this is, I’m going to pass on being involved in it, okay?”