Someone Else's Husband(39)
Besides, this mountain was in a league of its own.
“Yes, the Western Breach will be on our route,” Bakari said, pointing to a spot on the map that looked like all the other spots. There was something ominous about the way he said it. A tautness to his tone, the way he didn’t look up from the map. We all stared at the spot where he was pointing.
“I googled the Western Breach,” Brooks added. “Sounds like no joke.”
“No. The mountain does not have a sense of humor. But the breach is day seven,” Bakari said, holding up seven fingers on two hands for emphasis. “A lifetime away. Today is today. We take this mountain as it comes—little by little, slowly, slowly.”
Yes, exactly. I could do this.
“Polé, polé,” Kito added in Kiswahili. “Slowly, slowly. That is the way we will get there.”
“And in one piece, right?” Van added. “I promised the wife.”
“No one’s died on your watch?” Scotty asked with a laugh. “Right?”
Bakari was quiet for a long, uncomfortable moment. Oh my God, the answer is yes.
“I have been guiding climbs for thirty years. Many things happen over so many expeditions. Last trip a woman got very sick at base camp, here.” Bakari shrugged. “Anything can happen. Several years ago a man got AMS near the summit. We brought him down right away, but…” He shook his head. “Sometimes the mountain has other plans.”
“He was with his fiancée,” Kito added. Don’t tell us more. Don’t tell us more. “He had insisted that she finish the climb. We all thought he was getting better once we got down. But then…” Kito held up his hands. “The mountain.”
Clearly they believed it was better to be honest. But it felt like someone had hit me in the solar plexus.
“That’s awful,” Scotty said. “I don’t think I realized.” He looked around at everyone. “I’m not really looking to die up here, guys.”
“No one’s dying,” Richard said, then turned to Bakari. “Right?”
“Of course not,” Bakari said. “Because we will be careful, and we will take each day as it comes. That’s the way everyone will stay safe and healthy, and we will all summit together. You must only ever push yourself to a spot that is not too far.”
“And how will we know where that spot is?” Brooks asked.
“You know yourself better than you think,” Bakari said. “You already know everything you need to. It’s what brought you here.”
Grand Jury Transcript
Testimony of Lita Hernandez
(As Provided Through an Interpreter)
Conducted by Abigail Hoffman, Assistant District Attorney
November 27
Q. Good afternoon, Ms. Hernandez. Thank you for being here today. You work for Richard and Gretchen Falk as a housekeeper, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. How long have you worked for them?
A. Twenty-two years.
Q. Did you ever have occasion to meet Frankie Callahan?
A. Yes, but I did not know that was her name at the time. She never said her name.
Q. Can you tell me how you met her?
A. I met her in the Falks’ apartment.
Q. Do you recall what day this was?
A. Wednesday, September 10th. In the morning.
Q. Who introduced you to her?
A. No one introduced us. She was leaving the apartment when I came to work. Mrs. Falk was out for the day, but Mr. Falk was home.
Q. Was that unusual, for Mr. Falk to be home on a weekday?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he explain why he was home?
A. No. It has happened before when he has been traveling or there is an event for the children. But not often.
Q. Did you interact with Ms. Callahan?
A. Yes, she was coming out the door when I was coming in. We surprised each other.
Q. This was at the front door of the Falks’ apartment?
A. Yes.
Q. And did she seem upset?
A. Yes, she was crying.
Q. Did she say why she was crying?
A. No. I didn’t ask. I didn’t know who she was.
Q. Did she say to you what she was doing there?
A. No. She apologized and then she ran out of the apartment past me. Even though Mr. Falk shouted at her not to leave.
Q. What did you do after that?
A. I came in and started to work downstairs first. That is what I usually do. I asked him if he wanted me to go work in another part of the apartment.
Q. And what did he say?
A. Well, this was all on text so we could use Google Translate. But he said no, that it was okay because he was leaving soon. Then he tried to give me some money and asked that I not tell Mrs. Falk that I had seen him at home at that time because she might be upset. And that no one wanted to see Mrs. Falk upset.
After
Gretchen
September 13
Gretchen and Hilary met at Sant Ambroeus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before afternoon yoga. Over the years it had been a walk in the park, barre classes, for a little while a moms’ book club. These days the coffee was nonnegotiable whether or not they skipped the yoga, which Hilary was doing more frequently. This was not lost on Gretchen, nor was the fact that Hilary often ordered wine instead of a cappuccino, sometimes before noon. Stress at home, she said. Hilary’s boys were a lot, with the piercings and the bad sexual choices and nearly getting thrown out of Trinity every other week. And then there were the money problems, which Hilary had sworn Gretchen to secrecy about.