The Perfect Wife

“I understand now why you didn’t want me going out. But you might have told me the reason.”

Finally, you’re back at Dolores Street together, and alone. Tim grimaces. “I know. I’m sorry, Abbie. It wasn’t that I expected you to stay cooped up here forever. I just didn’t know how to tell you. These past two weeks have been such a special time for me. A second honeymoon, almost. And I suppose I was worried you might react the way everyone else did, back then. I thought if I could just reestablish the connection between us first…and then somehow it was easier to keep putting it off.”

“I understand,” you say, although understanding isn’t the same as forgiving him, not quite. “But Tim, what happened? You have to tell me now. The police used the word murder but they also talked about my disappearance.” You hesitate. “And what made them think you could have had something to do with it?”

He nods decisively. “You’re right. Let’s talk.”

* * *

—

It was a surfing accident, he says. He stresses the word accident.

“There’d been a storm—high winds and rain. You were at the beach house on your own, working on a new project. I stayed here in the city, with Danny. The whole point was to give you some time alone, to let you rediscover your spark.”

Even now, five years later, you can tell how difficult this is for him. He stares into space, his eyes unseeing. Fixed on memories that are still almost too much to bear.

“You often went night-surfing. Even in poor conditions—you found high waves exhilarating, and you were easily skilled enough to cope with them. You said it cleared your head when you’d been working. There were plenty of people who could confirm that. It was only later that the coverage got so…I kept some of the reports, actually.”

He gets up and comes back with a USB stick that he plugs into his laptop. When he turns the screen toward you, you see he’s put together a kind of digital scrapbook, a slideshow of cuttings and screengrabs from news feeds and social media. He sits back and watches intently as you click through them, scouring your face for signs of your response.

The first articles tell just the bare facts of your disappearance.

Air Search Fails to Find Storm Victim

The search continues today for Bay Area artist Abbie Cullen-Scott, whose vehicle was found parked overnight near San Gregorio State Beach in strong winds. The mother of one, who with tech entrepreneur husband Tim Scott owns a $10M beach house nearby, is known to be a passionate surfer.

Residents expressed surprise anyone would risk going out in the heavy breaks seen Friday. The area is known for unusual offshore rock formations that, under certain conditions, funnel freak waves as high as fifty feet.

You reach back into the past, searching for memories that would confirm any of this, but nothing comes. You have no recollection of that time at all. And that, somehow, insulates you from the horror of it. It’s as if you’re reading about someone else. Not your own final moments.

You continue clicking through. It was the Chronicle that first made the connection with Danny, and by implication raised a different possibility:

Search Halted for Tragic Abbie

The search was called off today for missing artist Abbie Cullen-Scott. The 30-year-old mother was “struggling” with her autistic son Danny, according to friends. Danny is currently being cared for at the couple’s home in the Mission by tech founder Tim Scott, 40, who has requested privacy through his legal representative.

The next day Tim issued a statement. Clearly, at least part of his reason was to combat the Chronicle’s insinuations.

Abbie is a wonderful person, a beautiful wife and exemplary mother, an incredibly optimistic, forward-looking individual who cares deeply about art and the positive effect it can have on people’s lives. Now that the search for her has been scaled down, I have to confront the devastating possibility I will never see her again. If so, I have lost not only my wife, but my soulmate. I ask that the media respect my privacy, and that of our son, at this difficult time.

The statement caused a ripple of interest on Circle of Moms and other parenting sites.

A woman in Australia drowned herself and her daughter. There’s a ton of stuff about it online if you do a search!

There’s no support. My cousin and her husband have a child with autism and they can’t even go out.

My friend’s boy screams if they make a left in the car.

Not so tough if you’re a millionaire tho IMHO!!!

I’m sorry but there’s no excuse for depriving a child of his mom, however bad your life is.

Ten days later, however, the Chronicle reported that detectives were now investigating the possibility that Abbie may have been the victim of a criminal act.

The next slide is a long-lens photograph of a police search team coming out of the house, carrying plastic crates. The caption reads: Detectives take away computers and other equipment belonging to tech founder Tim Scott. Investigators have brought in cadaver dogs trained to sniff for human remains.

You look over at Tim. His face is still impassive, but you can only imagine what being the object of those suspicions must have been like for someone as private as him.

And still the insinuations kept coming. The next article highlighted the similarities between your own disappearance and another death, four years earlier:

Police Probe Abbie “Copycat” Indications

Detectives are looking into “striking similarities” between the disappearance of missing artist Abigail Cullen-Scott from San Gregorio Beach last month and another case four years ago. Twenty-seven-year-old Kerry-Ann Brookheimer’s vehicle was also found abandoned near the beach after a storm, prompting a major search by air, land, and sea. Ms. Brookheimer’s body was never found, something a spokesman from the county sheriff’s office attributed at the time to the area’s unusual rip currents.

“Police are investigating whether Abbie, or anyone close to her, was aware of the circumstances of Kerry-Ann’s disappearance,” said Detective Ray Tanner, the officer leading the hunt for Ms. Cullen-Scott, yesterday.

The hint was clear—someone might have tried to make the more recent death look like an accident, knowing that a body washed into the sea in that area might never reappear.

In the absence of any facts, the mood on social media turned against Tim.

I’m not saying he killed her. But maybe he drove her to it. You can’t ever tell what goes on behind closed doors!!

You only have to look at him to see what kind of man he is.

I knew someone who worked for him once. People think he’s some kind of visionary but she said he was the most arrogant jerk she’d ever come across.

That coast is so quiet at night, it would be easy to drive a body down to the water.

And then, out of the blue, the Chronicle came up with a different angle.

“I Met Missing Abbie on Cheating Site,”

Claims Company Director

A married man claims to have responded to a profile created by the missing mother on Discreet Liaisons, an online forum for married people seeking affairs. “She was using a different name, but I’m 100% certain it was her. We chatted on several occasions, and she initially seemed keen. But when I pressed for an actual hookup, she said she’d chosen someone else.”

The article purported to be a serious investigation into the popularity of such websites, but it kept coming back to salacious speculation.

Women who sign up for these sites may be taking risks with their personal safety, as sites rarely vet clients or run identity checks. Did Abbie meet someone online who was involved in her disappearance? And did her husband know about, or become aware of, her activities?

The site, which is based in Romania, failed to respond to requests for a comment yesterday.

You glance at Tim, but his expression is still unreadable. A little uncomfortable—you still haven’t told him about the hidden iPad—you turn back to the screen and click onto the next item. More social media posts.

Why haven’t they charged him? CLEARLY he killed her when he found out what she was doing.

Surely any jury would convict on the balance of probabilities.

I disagree. A jury would likely give credit to a husband whose wife drove him to it with her infidelities.

The police have made so many errors, they’re probably scared of being shown up in court.

As if in response, the headlines then broke a new development:

Tim Scott Accused of Murder

Tech Titan Charged Despite Absence of Wife’s Body

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You click again, but that’s the end of the document.

“The police thought they’d found a motive,” you say, understanding now. “They thought, if I’d had an affair, that could be your reason for killing me.”