You Are Not Alone(60)
I cross out what I’ve written and jot down my email address.
I look up and notice Daphne’s sharp green eyes on me again. She slides my bag across the counter.
“Thanks,” I say. “Hope to see you again sometime. Maybe with Jane and Cassandra.”
She stands behind the cash register with her arms at her side, appearing a little reserved. Perhaps that’s just her personality, I tell myself. Then I remember her at the memorial service, laughing through tears and hugging her friends.
Daphne doesn’t respond to my comment. Instead, she merely says, “Have fun on your date.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CASSANDRA & JANE
CASSANDRA AND JANE ARRIVE at the restaurant twenty minutes before the others.
They dined here earlier in the week to get a sense of the space. The best table, they agreed, is the circular booth in the back right-hand corner. It can comfortably fit five. Every member of the group will be in attendance tonight except for Valerie, who has another obligation.
The booth affords a slightly obstructed view of the bar. Anyone sitting at the bar—which is oriented against the left wall as one walks into the restaurant—will have their back to the far right corner of the room. The lighting is dim, which will provide further cover.
Beth walks through the door first, which is surprising, given that she’s usually the last to arrive. One of the tails of her shirt is untucked and her blazer is a little wrinkled.
Both sisters slide out of the booth to give her affectionate hugs.
“What a long week.” Beth flops down on the leather seat and tucks her heavy briefcase under the table. She leans her head back and sighs.
Jane reaches over and squeezes Beth’s hand. “Let’s get you a drink.”
Beth is a bit frazzled tonight, but that’s typical—her job keeps her scrambling, but otherwise she seems upbeat. Beth beat cancer, and now her flaming-red hair is as thick and frizzy as ever; more important, her spirit is stronger than it was before her diagnosis.
As the waiter approaches and the women order cocktails, Cassandra catches sight of Stacey arriving. Cassandra stands up and waves, glad to see it takes Stacey a moment to spot her. Their table is truly unobtrusive.
Cassandra slips out of the booth so Stacey can claim a seat with her back to the wall, as is her strong preference. The women catch up while they wait for Daphne to arrive. Beth discusses a new case, then Stacey mentions she has landed a big corporate client, setting up the software for a new branch of the company. When the other women toast her, she gives one of her rare smiles, which makes her look younger than ever—especially in the vintage Wonder Woman T-shirt and Levi’s she’s wearing.
Daphne strides in at six-forty, apologizing for being late: “Sorry, my assistant had to leave early so I needed to close up.”
A glass of Pinot Noir waits in front of the empty spot in the booth. They all know Daphne’s beverage of choice, just as they know she prefers to sit at the edge of the booth. Her slight claustrophobia is another legacy from James’s attack.
Daphne reaches for the goblet gratefully and takes a sip. Cassandra and Jane give her a few moments to settle in before steering the conversation to the reason why they asked the women to gather.
“Valerie couldn’t make it, but we’ll fill her in later,” Cassandra explains. “Daphne, why don’t you go ahead and tell everyone what happened the other day.”
Daphne sets down her glass and takes a deep breath. She begins with the moment Shay walked into her boutique, claiming Cassandra and Jane had sent her there, and ends by recounting how Shay said she hoped to see Daphne again soon, maybe with Cassandra and Jane.
Daphne doesn’t leave out any relevant details, including the one that struck her most: “She looks so much like Amanda.” Daphne shivers and reaches for her wine again.
Beth’s gaze ping-pongs from Cassandra to Jane to Daphne. “Wait, so you guys didn’t send this chick?”
Jane shakes her head. She pulls something out of her purse and lays it flat on the table. “Remember this woman? You all saw her at the memorial service.”
Shay’s face stares up at them from the photo, her eyes wide and a little hesitant looking behind her tortoiseshell glasses, and her long brown hair swinging forward over her shoulders.
“Could she be the one who came into your boutique?” Cassandra asks Daphne.
“Yes, yes! I didn’t recognize her until now. But that’s the crazy thing: She looks different. She changed her hair and got rid of her glasses. And she was so subdued and meek looking at the memorial service. But when she breezed into my boutique, she was smiling and chatting … at least at first. When I got spooked, she shut down a bit.”
“Smiling and chatty?” Stacey repeats. “So she’s not just trying to look like Amanda. She’s trying to act like her, too.”
Beth is silently studying the photo. She picks it up and turns it into the light.
“You guys all know that when we approached Shay at the service, she told us she and Amanda went to the same veterinarian, which is obviously a lie,” Cassandra says. “What we haven’t shared with you yet is that we bumped into Shay a few weeks ago. At the time we thought it was a coincidence. We took her to tea to see if we could get any more information from her. And she admitted something shocking.” Cassandra looks around at the intent faces of the others. “Shay was with Amanda on the subway platform right before Amanda died.”