Excerpt: "Never Enough" By Joe McGinniss

Prologue: Three Days In November 2003

After Isabel ran inside, Ira suggested that they drive down the hill to Repulse Bay. He thought the quiet beach, the peaceful waters, the open air, and sense of space - space being Hong Kong’s most precious commodity - might comfort his daughter. On the way she stopped at a 7-Eleven and bought a pack of cigarettes. Ira had never seen her smoke. “I’ve been smoking for a while,” she said. “Rob hated it. F-- him.”

They found a gazebo at the edge of the beach and sat down. They talked about how sad it was that everything had fallen apart. Rob and Nancy had been married for fourteen years. They’d been in Hong Kong for six. At first, Rob had worked for Goldman Sachs. After three years, he’d moved to Merrill Lynch. He had an important job. He made a lot of money. He was planning to make a lot more. Nancy enjoyed the royal lifestyle of the wealthy expat. She liked to spend. Suddenly, all that seemed over.

Ira was perplexed by Rob’s disappearance. Nancy said Merrill Lynch had told her he hadn’t been in his office all week. He found that hard to imagine. Rob was obsessed with his work. He was driven. He’d often said he could not rest as long as anyone he knew was making more money than he was. But now? Ira sensed that divorce was inevitable. Nancy said she’d been living a nightmare all year. No matter how sorry Rob might be, she couldn’t forgive him this time. She’d take the children and move back to the United States and let lawyers hammer out the details. Ira, an emotional man, began to weep. So did Nancy. They sat together at the edge of the bay, his arm gently around her because he did not want to hurt her ribs, and cried together.

They met Isabel in the parking lot after the lesson. They could not talk about Rob in front of the children. Nancy had told them he was on another business trip. He traveled everywhere from Mumbai to Manila, and he was gone more than he was home, so the children didn’t question the explanation.
Isabel climbed into the backseat of Nancy’s Mercedes and asked her to play the Avril Lavigne CD. Her favorite song on it was “Complicated.” On the way back to Parkview she and Nancy sang along.

Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated? I see the way you’re actin’ like you’re somebody else . . .

They dropped Ira at the hotel. He was still jet-lagged and worn to the nub by emotional strain. He went to his room and fell asleep. The phone woke him at 11:00 p.m. It was Nancy.

“You’ve got to come over! You’ve got to come over right away! The police are here. They’re asking me questions. There’s just so many police. You’ve got to come over right away!”