Like a Sister(62)

It was the makeup artist.

“Can I help you?” Starr smiled at me like I was dropping off a package.

My introduction must not have left much of an impression. I smiled anyway. “Hi. I’m Lena. I met you the other day.”

“Oh, right,” she said but clearly still had no clue who I was. “What’s up?”

“I was just looking for Erin. She here?”

Starr looked confused. “No. Is she supposed to come by?”

Of course this wasn’t her house.

“Sorry,” I said. “She said she was gonna stop by on her way home. She must’ve changed her mind.” I leaned in, gave her my best Perky Black Girl. “Guess I can just catch her at her place.”

“It’s done being renovated? I thought she was still staying at the Omni.”

I thanked God for trusting rich people. I knew where to go next in this scavenger hunt. But first I had a question. “How long have you been doing her makeup?”

*



Starr had known Erin for just short of eighteen months. They’d gotten close enough—Erin often hung out at Starr’s house, including the day I’d picked her up to go to see Free. Starr was vague and unbothered about Erin’s background, taking her poor little rich girl story at face value. But then so had I. I did ask about Erin and Desiree’s relationship. Starr’d never seen them fight. I got her cell phone number and left.

My walk to the subway was quick. I snatched the last open seat from a jackass in a suit who should’ve given it to me anyway, then said a quick prayer Sherry would be at the Omni front desk when I got there.

She was, just not by herself.

“Hey, girl,” I said.

The guy next to her answered. He could have inspired a ’70s disco song—white and uptight, with specks of brown hair covering an otherwise bald head. He looked primed to talk to the manager, even if he was the manager. His name tag read BRENDAN.

“Welcome to the Omni. How may I help you?”

I glanced at Sherry and the smile pasted on her face, then looked back to Brendan. “Yes, I’m here to see Erin Ambrose.”

His eyes jumped like Kris Kross but recovered quickly. “I’m sorry but we don’t have a guest by that name.”

He hadn’t even checked, which meant he knew her. The question was if she really wasn’t here or if she was just using an alias. Privacy and all that bullshit.

Sherry cleared her throat. “Brendan, I’m gonna take my break.”

“What about a Karma Dodson? She in?” I said as Sherry came around the counter.

He just gave me a look. I shrugged. It was a long shot. Short of throwing out random name combinations Erin might have checked in under, I was out of ideas. “Clearly I got the hotel wrong,” I said. “Sorry to bother you.”

I was five feet out the front door when I heard my name. Sherry puffed a Newport right in front of a DON’T SMOKE WITHIN 20 FEET OF ENTRANCE sign. I walked over and strategically placed myself so any hand-me-down smoke wouldn’t come my way. “What was that about?”

“He’s uptight AF.” She inhaled. “He’s not lying, though. Erin’s not checked in.”

I sighed. “Someone said she was.”

Sherry exhaled and checked her cell. “Still got five minutes on my break. Walk with me.”

She took off. I kept up as we left a trail of smoke in our wake. Sherry waited until we were around the corner to speak again. “There’s a rule in New York City. You stay at a hotel longer than thirty days, you’re considered a tenant. And New York is a bitch when it comes to evictions. A lot of hotels don’t let you stay more than a month. You gotta check out even just for a night, then you check back in.”

Erin’s thirty days must have been up. “When will she be able to come back? Tomorrow?”

Sherry blew out another cloud of smoke as we passed a Dunkin’ Donuts. “When she pays the twelve thousand dollars she owes. Her card on file got declined. She’s been promising to give us a new one for a month.” She took another puff. “Brendan finally had enough. Told her not to come back. A shame. She’s a great tipper.”

I’m sure, especially since it was probably someone else’s money.

“Brendan wasn’t pleased when Erin was here for your sister’s party, but there wasn’t much he could do.”

“Did Desiree know?” Maybe that’s what tipped my sister off.

“She had to. She was there enough times when Brendan or Javi bugged Erin about a new card.” She smiled. “At least she didn’t use yours.”

I rolled my eyes. “Erin’s a fraud. Desiree found out.”

“And?”

I’d always appreciated Sherry’s bluntness. So I gave her some of my own. “And I think she might have helped Desiree ‘accidentally’ overdose.”

If I was hoping for shock and awe, I didn’t get it. Sherry just stubbed out her cigarette on a wall. “I don’t know. Even if she is a fraud, I can’t see her hurting anyone.”

“Because she’s pretty and blond and white? Society loves to have us believe pretty, blond white women are always victims. Never the threat. Erin has clearly taken advantage of that.”

“Touché,” Sherry said. “That would definitely explain the argument.”