Charlotte heard her on the phone talking to Mark about how Charlotte seemed paralyzed. She had no idea. In the days since Roger’s suicide, she had simply put one foot in front of the other. But her paralysis, as Brooke described it, was protecting her from something far worse. By forcing him out and allowing him to take the fall, she’d killed Roger as plainly as if she had pulled the trigger herself. Charlotte had delivered a statement in the East Room on the night they’d returned to Washington. She’d spoken to Stephanie and their children and offered her condolences. Stephanie had been polite and gracious. She’d invited Charlotte to speak at the funeral. Charlotte had attended the funeral and delivered a eulogy that Melanie and the speechwriters had stayed up all night writing. It struck the perfect tone of tribute and absolution. Charlotte never would have acted on it, but Stephanie hadn’t been crazy to worry about Charlotte’s relationship with her husband. Charlotte had felt as possessive of Roger as if he’d been hers, and his death had extinguished her last reserves of emotional resilience.
