Like a Sister(87)

Erin was smart enough not to say much on the Uber over. The neighborhood was like I’d thought. Residences. Restaurants. Retail. We had the driver drop us off right in front of the Starbucks. It sat between a consignment shop and the restaurant. Bella Napoli.

“I’ll start at the Starbucks.” I motioned to the restaurant. “You wanna hit up next door?”

“Sure,” she said. Then, “Mind if I get something from Starbucks first?”

“A nonfat white mocha, no whip?” But I smiled when I said it, so she smiled too.

“Maybe.”

The place wasn’t as crowded as I thought it’d be. One barista took orders and another filled them. Erin got in line while I ran to the bathroom.

By the time I got back, Erin was at the front of the line. She motioned for me to cut, but I shook my head. I’d rather wait, not feel rushed when I talked to the cashier.

The cashier looked like he was eighteen tops. His name tag read GREG. He gasped when he saw Erin. “Erin Ambrose! I follow you on Instagram!!”

Erin seemed embarrassed. “Thank you! I’m actually thinking of taking a bit of a detox.”

“No.” He sounded genuinely disappointed. “What do you want? On the house.”

“I can pay for it.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’d be an honor.”

She hesitated, then whispered her order so I couldn’t hear. Greg’s voice was much louder. “Nonfat white mocha, no whip. Got it.”

She took out her wallet, stuffed a twenty-dollar bill into the tip jar. His eyes lit up. Erin still didn’t look at me, just shuffled to get her drink. It was actually kind of endearing. By the time the guy in front of me ordered, her drink was ready. Erin came over to me. “Gonna go next door.”

I nodded, then stepped up, ready to order my own nonfat white mocha, no whip. I was probably the only person in the continental United States without a standing Starbucks order. But when I got to the counter, Greg’s face fell. “Are you Desiree Pierce’s sister?”

I nodded, then smiled, anxious to endear myself as I swiped my credit card. “The freckles?”

“Yeah, but also I know she and Erin were best friends. Process of elimination. I’m so sorry she died.”

“Thank you.” I was about to ask if she’d ever stopped by when he spoke first.

“She was here a couple of weeks ago.”

I nodded, thinking of the credit card statement. “Ordering a soy chai latte, I’m sure. She meet anyone?”

He shook his head, and even though I knew it had been a long shot, I was still disappointed. Greg handed me my receipt. “She just wanted to talk to Alex.”

I glanced at the man putting together my drink, then said a quick prayer before I finally spoke. “That Alex?”

“No,” Greg said. “He’s not scheduled until tomorrow.”

*



I practically skipped out of that Starbucks. Alex’s shift would start at 11 a.m. I’d hit pay dirt so quickly that Erin was probably still at the restaurant. I went inside to find her taking a selfie next to a large mirror. WHY NOT INSTAGRAM THIS HILARIOUS SIGN? was written in big block letters.

What in the entire fuck?

“You want me to take it?” My voice reeked of sarcasm. “You can post it ASAP on IG.”

She jumped when she saw me. “Lena—”

“Greg will be happy to know you’re still posting after all. How many likes you think you’ll get?”

“I only took the pic because of Freck. It’s one of the last pictures she sent me. I wanted to do a side by side. I’m not putting it online.” She held the phone out. “If you swipe you can see the original.”

But I didn’t. I said nothing at first.

“Fine, I’ll delete it,” she said.

Then I practically snatched it out of her hand. “Sorry.”

I enlarged the pic. There was a man standing in the window, hair covered with a Yankees cap, eyes hidden by sunglasses. But even with the incognito treatment, I recognized his mole. The East Asian guy I’d seen on the subway. The one who’d let me use his phone to call Aunt E.

We weren’t near the Omni hotel. He had no reason to be staring at us through a window unless…

I panicked. My first inclination was to whip my head around, and it took everything not to do just that. Instead, I forced myself to casually turn. I didn’t see him.

“Lena, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

That’s because I was scared. I said nothing, just walked outside, this time not bothering to play it cool, almost knocking over a trophy wife and her poodle as I smacked through the door.

He was gone.

I wanted to be too.

Erin came out a moment later. “Are you okay?”

“We need to get out of here. Now.”

I hailed a cab.

*



I explained everything to Erin on the ride home. Recognizing Mole Man from the Omni. Even walking by the white van. I was so thorough that she was just as scared as I was by the time we pulled onto our block. Why would a man be following me? How long had he been doing it? And had he been inside my house?

I immediately thought of Aunt E.

I had just put the key in the lock when Ms. Paterson came out from next door, wearing gardening gloves. The rosebushes between our houses were her pride and joy—and her excuse to be nosy. On a normal day, I treated her like a man trying to say “Hey” on the street. I was polite, but I never stopped moving. This time I waved Erin inside and walked right up to the fence separating our driveways.