Ed Beyea and Abe Zelmanowitz were close friends12 who worked as computer programmers for Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. At forty-two, weighing nearly 300 pounds, Ed had relied on a wheelchair since a diving accident as a young man left him paralyzed. Abe was fifty-five, an Orthodox Jew who lived with his older brother and his family. Both bachelors, Ed and Abe exchanged DVDs, shared meals and musical tastes, and played computer games of chess and golf. Ed couldn’t get down the stairs, and his pal Abe refused to leave him. Abe had already told Ed’s aide to leave because she had children at
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