Ironically, Isabel’s original vision came to life after Connor was killed. Woman after woman came forward in the news, sharing their illfated stories of meeting Connor in a dark bar. Isabel herself never commented publicly, no doubt wanting to disappear from the headlines as quickly as possible, but I like to think she felt validated by the stories that emerged. Even if they were far too late for “plan A.”
Upper West Side Moms on Facebook ate it all up, too. Everyone had an opinion about the case that they were more than happy to share.
Iris Chandler: Did everyone see this? （link attached） How could this have happened in our neighborhood? I thought this was a safe family neighborhood. Sad how much the UWS has changed in the past few years.
Nora Howell: Keep your husbands close and your babies closer, that’s all I can say.
Geri Hershon: No wonder this woman was losing her mind to the point of disappearing—she was living with a sociopathic predator.
Sarah Tassel: Thoughts and prayers to everyone involved. Except the husband, who, from what it sounds like, deserves what he got.
Wendy Cudell: Louise Wahrer was the attendance secretary at my high school. She wasn’t to be messed with then, either. What a gem. God bless her.
Maggie Cox: What’s happening with that poor baby??? She’s lost two mothers now. I saw them at Starbucks once and the aunt or whatever appeared to be very loving. This is a tragic story all around.
Gina Heinz: My question is how did the wife not do anything herself about her cheating husband. Like how do you not know? I know what my husband eats for every meal and how long after eating it he takes a shit. Sorry if TMI （and maybe we need more privacy in our marriage lol） but this sounds like a case of willful ignorance to me.
Alyssa Aron: Isabel, enjoy his money honey. You earned it.
Becca Leigh: Is anyone else appalled that this family had a gun? This is Manhattan, not Texas! Do people have guns around here?! This concerns me. I always wanted to raise my daughter in the city but maybe it’s time to have eyes on the burbs, after all. I mean, trigger-happy much? This Louise woman could have called the cops before just shooting people. Good grief.
Danielle Luft: I worked with Connor, back in the day. He was an asshole, to be sure, but it’s always sad when someone is killed, especially since he was a dad. RIP.
Alexis Brandt: @Danielle Luft I also worked with Connor and believe me when I say that he deserves what he got. Big difference between a father and a dad, know what I mean? That guy never would have been a real dad. RIP and all, sure, but frankly, good riddance.
Emily Brown: Holy Shit. I had sex with him. Or rather, he had sex with me. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead but he was NOT a nice person.
Elise Cordero: @Emily Brown OMG SAME. I wasn’t gonna say anything but so glad you did. DM me please. Let’s talk.
I spent way too much time reading these comments. I was tempted to reply to some, like the ones that criticized Isabel or Louise, to set them straight without revealing any privileged knowledge, but I exercised some self-control and stopped myself every time I came close.
I was caught off guard when Isabel reached out to the three of us to get together. Our unspoken agreement seemed to be to keep our distance. I have no idea what she wants, but strangely, I’m looking forward to seeing her. Seeing all of them. Just being together again. I’m surprised by my own feelings.
Equally surprising to me is that I haven’t tried to bury and suppress my memories of that night, as is my usual tendency. On the contrary, I think about that night all the time. I’m traumatized by it, yes, but it’s a trauma I want to own, to squish in my hands like a stress ball, to explore and make sense of.
Clara toddles ahead of me from the bedroom to the living room, surprisingly （and dangerously） quickly. She’s only been walking for about two weeks, and our apartment is a whole new world to her now. Within seconds, she bounces off our coffee table and spills the last of my coffee onto a pile of student papers that I was attempting to read earlier this morning while Tim, at the gym now, took Clara out for bagels （Clara squealing with excitement and saying “Dada! Dada!” as he lifted her into the carrier for their weekly Daddy and Clara Bear-a breakfast date）。 I had no business leaving coffee on such a low table, but luckily there was only a sip or so left, so the spill isn’t disastrous. And though it is early in the school year, my students are already used to getting their papers back a bit weathered. They’re good sports about it.
This assignment was to write a response to Lady Macbeth’s ruthless speech in act 1, scene 7 of Macbeth, when she tells her husband, “I have given suck, and know / How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this.” She’s trying to make a point to Macbeth about the importance of keeping one’s word, in an effort to make him keep his promise to kill King Duncan. The illustrative analogy she uses about killing her own child always appalls readers, and I know that one of the only ways to get high schoolers interested in Shakespeare is to sell its shock value. “What do we learn about both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in this scene?” I had asked, leaving the question as open as possible to see what students homed in on. The responses were insightful if generally one note: “Lady Macbeth is manipulative and wants the throne even more than Macbeth does,” one student wrote. Another put it more candidly: “Lady Macbeth is #girlpowergoals but she’s also completely crazy.” “Macbeth is insecure about his masculinity, and she knows it, so she uses it to get what she wants,” someone astutely pointed out.