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But Robyn seems to be picking up what we’re putting down. She chews her lip, worrying for a reason now. “We’ll do it tonight.”
I let out an incredulous laugh. “It’s already been a really long day, and I still need to clean up once everyone goes.”
Now would be a great time for one or both of them to offer to help, but the silence is thunderous.
Robyn sighs deeply and checks her watch. “Netflix is at nine. I’ll grab Melissa and meet you both in the office in an hour.”
An hour means that I’ll have to hustle my ass off here and then book it over to the Comb+Honey offices across town. Awesome.
Robyn turns to leave, and I glare again at James, who gives me a triumphant smile. “We’re doing the right thing,” he says.
“We now have a work meeting at midnight.”
“It’s the right thing,” he repeats.
One hour. He’s lucky that doesn’t leave me enough time to make a James McCann voodoo doll.
Partial transcript of interview with
Carey Duncan, July 14
Officer Ali: Ms. Duncan, have you ever seen Melissa Tripp angry before?
Carey Duncan: Is that a serious question?
Officer Ali: Am I to take that as a yes?
CD: She’s my boss. Of course I’ve seen her angry.
Officer Ali: Can you elaborate?
CD: How long do you have?
Officer Ali: Ms. Duncan. Please answer the question to the best of your ability.
CD: Melly is a perfectionist. She’s ambitious and impatient, but she’s also insecure. It’s a bad combination.
Officer Ali: Would you say she has a temper?
CD: Yes.
Officer Ali: I see. What about toward Mr. Tripp? Have you ever seen her angry with him?
CD: They’ve been married for twenty-six years. So, yeah.
Officer Ali: Carey, can you talk about the first time to your knowledge that Rusty Tripp had an affair?
CD: Well, it was the year after I started. So 2011, I think, with his old assistant, Marianne. It was just the two of us in the store—Melly and me—but then her friend Susan came running in like a cat on fire. She grabbed Melly and took her into the back and closed the door, and pretty soon Rusty showed up, totally freaked out, and went in after them. I’m guessing Susan caught Rusty doing something. If you know what I mean. Susan left, and maybe a minute went by before all hell broke loose.
Officer Ali: You’re saying Mrs. Tripp was upset.
CD: “Upset”? That’s a nice way to put it. They came out of the office yelling at each other, and Melly just lost it. Started calling him a liar, a cheat—lots of names. Then she started throwing stuff, at him, around the store. Melly is really big on appearances and coming off very prim and proper and family-oriented. She never swears—it’s actually sort of a rule that anybody who works for her shouldn’t, either. But wow, she can.
Officer Ali: Was Mr. Tripp injured?
CD: No, not that I can remember. I’m sure you’ve seen Melly. She’s tiny and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a shovel.
Officer Ali: And what happened then?
CD: It was pretty awkward, so I went home.
Officer Ali: I mean more generally. What happened afterward between Mr. and Mrs. Tripp?
CD: They must have worked it out because he was there the next day, all bright and shiny like nothing had happened.
Officer Ali: The next day? Didn’t that seem odd to you?
CD: I mean, I was seventeen and my parents used to fight constantly, so not really. Plus, things were really starting to take off for the Tripps, and Melly would never have let something like that get in the way of what she wanted. She told Rusty that if he ever did it again she’d leave and take him for everything he had, and got back to work. He’s always been really flirty. That’s probably how we ended up with James, eventually.
Officer Ali: Maybe you can clear that up for me. I show that James graduated from Vassar and MIT, but he works as Mr. Tripp’s assistant?
CD: Rusty is what my grandma used to call a tomcat’s kitten: a giant flirt but relatively harmless. Melly just doesn’t like women working for him, plain and simple. The assistant position happened to be open at the same time that Rusty was looking for an engineer for the show. James was there interviewing for the engineering job, but when Melissa saw him sitting outside Rusty’s office, she hired him on the spot. Told Rusty he could do both jobs, probably because Melly doesn’t know much about either engineering or being someone’s assistant. On paper James is the primary structural something something. But he still picks up the dry-cleaning, just like I do. Heaven forbid you call him an assistant, though. “I’m an engineer. Smart words, smart words, blah blah.”
Officer Ari: So, back to Mrs. Tripp and the incident between Melissa and Rusty at the store. Was this when New Spaces was filming? Or earlier?
