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Kim was feeling like she would never be able to divorce Steve and it would be easier if he were dead,” Norma said. “I told Jenny that people say things like that, thinking it would be easier, but it wouldn’t. And the likelihood of Steve dying at thirty-five years old just wasn’t going to happen.”
    Jenny told Norma she just didn’t know if she could continue being Kim’s friend.
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    Jenny, Norma, and Kim met at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, where they worked in the main operating room as surgical technologists. They had been friends for several years. When they were together, the three friends often discussed what made them, and other people, tick. But Norma felt that she and Jenny shared a stronger bond of friendship and trust than she shared with Kim.
    â€œI’ve always described Jenny and I and our conversations as being able to think out loud with each other,” Norma said. “Jenny and I don’t have to worry about saying something stupid to each other because we know each other’s hearts and there is a trust that exists—a trust that has not existed the same way with Kim.”
    Still, Norma said Kim had always been a great friend to her and Jenny.
    â€œI would describe Kim as a strong, intelligent woman who knows what she wants and doesn’t stop until she is satisfied with the outcome,” Norma said.
    And Norma and Jenny admired Kim for her know-how and “go-get-’em” attitude. For example, Norma said because Holy Cross Hospital was a Catholic hospital, it had refused to pay for any type of birth control products for its employees, regardless of an employee’s insurance plan.
    â€œKim thought this was outrageous and unlawful and spent may hours contacting women’s groups to get the policy overturned,” Norma said. “Kim was always very aware of her rights as an employee and gave Jenny and I advice sometimes on some management problems we had at work. Jenny also noted how well Kim could work the system and could beat people at their own game.”
    Nevertheless, Norma said, there was a lot about Kim that she and Jenny just didn’t understand and a lot they didn’t know.
    â€œThere was a lot of things Kim didn’t share—her marriage to Steve was one of them,” Norma said.
    Norma recalled a time early in their relationship when she invited Kim and her family over for dinner. Norma was really surprised when Kim showed up with Sarah, but not Steve.
    â€œShe made some excuse that he had family in town or he was tired, I don’t remember the exact excuse, but I remember how odd it seemed that he wasn’t with her,” Norma said.
    Norma and Jenny often discussed Kim’s relationship with Steve, and why he was not really a social person, but they didn’t feel they could talk about it with Kim.
    â€œKim would say things like ‘he’s shy,’ or ‘he gets up early, so at the end of the day, he’s tired and he just likes to chill out at home,’” Norma said.
    Norma and Jenny, though, concluded that people could be shy, but when they were adults, they just needed to “get over it” and at least be social.
    â€œJenny and I found Steve to be rude and antisocial—the complete opposite of Kim,” Norma said.
    Whenever Norma or Jenny would try to talk to Kim about her marriage, she would just blow them off, saying she and Steve got along great. Even though they were different, she said, they complemented each other and they understood each other. To Norma and Jenny, it seemed Kim was always on the go and Steve was always at home, if he wasn’t at work.
    â€œJenny and I would often marvel at Kim’s energy and we would often wonder how she managed to do it all,” Norma said. “We would also wonder if she was trying to fill some void by filling up her time, so she didn’t have time to stop and think about something