Like a Sister(69)

Of course they did. I was surprised they’d waited this long. They’d had their minds made up from the moment they found her body.

Aunt E was still going. “We’re free to get Desiree’s car and things. She wanted to know if we could pick it up since we’re so close to the police station.”

I stood up. “Sure thing.” The one silver lining was that I could finally get my hands on Desiree’s belongings.

Erin stood too. “Guess I should probably go…”

She trailed off as if waiting for me to offer my spare bedroom complete with turn-down service. The only reason I wasn’t calling the police back was because I knew she’d use the opportunity to trash Desiree. But there was no way I could let her stay in this house. I didn’t care how apologetic she seemed. I didn’t trust her. Not anymore.

But Aunt E spoke first. “If you nee—”

For once I cut her off. We could argue about it after Erin was long gone. “Great,” I said. “I’m sure you have somewhere else to go.”

I doubted she could afford a hotel room, which meant she probably couldn’t afford a plane ticket. And it wasn’t like she had her car.

“I can stay with Starr. I just need my stuff.”

“You can wait outside. I’ll bring it out.”

“And my keys?”

“You don’t need them. Your car’s been repossessed.”

I headed toward the front door, ignoring Erin’s surprise and Aunt E’s disappointment.

*



Erin had claimed she kept her Louis Vuitton weekend bag in her car so she could hop on a flight whenever she wanted. Lie number 4,376,371. Both she and her designer luggage would be Starr’s problem tonight.

I placed Desiree’s phone on my kitchen counter as I walked to the back of my apartment. Erin hadn’t opened the curtains in the guest room so it was as dark as night. I didn’t bother with the light switch. I was on a mission. I could make out shadows of all the stuff she’d spread out on my dresser. Looking at it now, even in the dark, it was clear she had been planning a lengthy stay.

There was a dark lump on a chair in the corner that had to be her Louis Vuitton. I tripped over what I was sure was a designer heel. I picked the bag up. Of course, it was practically empty. Its contents were spread all over the room.

I grabbed earrings. Jars of moisturizer. Even dirty panties I picked up with an eyeliner pencil. The whole lot thrown back into the bag. I didn’t even check if the assorted bottles, palettes, and compacts were all the way closed. It’d serve her right to get foundation all over everything. I hoped her card got declined when she went for dry cleaning.

Once all traces of Erin were packed up, I went downstairs. She was waiting in the driveway, talking up Ms. Paterson of all people. I didn’t say anything. Just left the bag on the front stoop and locked the door behind me. I set the alarm, even put on the chain.

Aunt E opened her door as I was heading up the stairs. “Is this all worth it? You haven’t been sleeping. Haven’t been eating. Haven’t been acting like yourself.”

My back was to her so I rolled my eyes. She sounded like Mel. If she accused me of acting like Desiree, I would rip out both my braids.

“I’m okay,” I said.

“Are you?”

I didn’t answer her—because I didn’t know.

After a moment she kept on. “You didn’t have to kick that girl out like that.”

Aunt E had spent three decades working in a high school cafeteria, dishing out compassion along with lunch specials. She had cheered the ones who graduated. Cheered the ones who didn’t. I wasn’t surprised she felt bad for Erin.

I kept going up the stairs. “She’s going to stay at the five-thousand-square-foot town house. The one she told me she owned. She’ll sleep fine tonight.”

“Lena, I just think you—”

But I cut her off for the second time in my life, my voice as gentle as I could make it. “And I just think you need to trust me when I say we can’t believe anything she says. Please.”

Aunt E didn’t say anything. Didn’t move either because I didn’t hear her door close. She just stood there until I disappeared.

Back inside my apartment, I grabbed Desiree’s phone as I went into my bedroom, ignored the pile of clean laundry I’d dumped on one side of the bed, and hid under my sheets like I’d just watched a scary movie. Except this time the bogeyman was my own sister, and I wasn’t scared of what I’d see in the mirror. I was scared of what I’d see on her phone.

It didn’t help that the phone woke up without any prompting. I silently cursed Erin for keeping it charged. Mel, Desiree, and I stared out. Even in pictures, Desiree was so alive I could practically hear her heart beating. It was something about her smile. In theory, it was the same as mine, worn like a too-big jacket. The same one Mel begrudgingly pulled out on special occasions. But there was just something about hers. I stared for too long, gripping the phone so tightly a film of sweat formed between the pink case and my hand.

Even though it would take only a flick of my thumb to pull up the passcode screen, I couldn’t do it.

Her phone.

The lone thing separating me from knowing exactly what Desiree had been up to. And now I had it, I couldn’t bring myself to unlock the damn thing.