This morning, Ahanti’s face had the long appearance of someone who hadn’t slept, and before I left for church, I’d noticed she wore the same clothes as yesterday. She also hadn’t wanted to talk and had declined my offer of breakfast out at IHOP, even though her favorite indulgent breakfast was their cupcake pancakes.
I hadn’t thought she could possibly look worse, but she did. She still wore yesterday’s outfit, and she had the fidgety quality of someone who’d had twice the amount of caffeine that was healthy.
She tilted her head to the side in a follow me gesture, and then practically pulled me into the bathroom. She turned on the tap like we were in some sort of spy movie. “I asked Eddie to check the panel for a bug too. I couldn’t stop thinking about it last night. If this guy got in here once, he could have been in here before. He might know what I’m saying because he’s listening in.” Her bottom lip sagged, and she glanced up at her light fixtures, then quickly away. “What if he has cameras, too?”
My own stomach corkscrewed, and I pulled her into a hug to hide any reaction.
She could be right. I should have thought of it sooner. We’d thought up a lot of ways her stalker could have knowledge of private communications. We’d talked about keystroke trackers and tapped phones. She couldn’t remember where she was when she made the overheard call or wrote the compromised email, so we’d considered her stalker was in Skin Canvas and overheard the call. Perhaps they sneaked a look at her computer while she had the email open and half written, and left it unattended.
Now that we knew they had access to her apartment, we couldn’t cross off the idea that they’d had access all along.
What that meant they’d seen…the room spun slightly, and I held Ahanti tighter. “We’ll figure this out. I swear it.”
How was I ever going to come good on that promise? The one consolation was that her stalker clearly didn’t want to share her and so they wouldn’t post any still shots from a video around the internet.
For the first time in a long time, I wanted my dad. I wanted him to take over and fix this somehow.
My brain played a trick on me, conjuring my dad into the apartment. It sounded like Eddie was talking to another man out in the main room, but Ahanti hadn’t buzzed anyone else in, and there was no way Eddie would have done it without asking.
Ahanti yanked away from me and lost so much color from her face you would have thought she’d donated blood three times in one day.
She’d heard the second male voice as well.
15
Eddie didn’t sound upset, but no one else should be here. Even though I struggled to hear the voice clearly over the running water, I could tell it didn’t belong to either Geoff or Mark.
I touched two fingers to Ahanti’s shoulder in a stay here gesture.
Terrance stood next to Eddie, a set of keys still dangling from his hand.
He glanced in my direction, and his too-white-to-be-natural smile split his face. “Hey. I was just telling Eddie I didn’t expect anyone to be back here. Ahanti said she was staying with you for a bit. Thought I’d stop in and water her plants.”
It sounded reasonable. Sort of. Ahanti did have a collection of orchids and other high-maintenance plants along her window sills. When I was living next door, I’d been her designated waterer whenever she went out of town. She tended to leave more detailed instructions for her plants than most people left for their pets or children.
On one hand, Terrance was thoughtful to think about them and how upset Ahanti would be if one of them died before she came back.
On the other hand, it was kind of weird for him to come back to the scene of a former break-and-enter without permission. For all he knew, the police weren’t even done fingerprinting the place yet. She only got the call this morning.
I caught a movement of color in my peripheral vision. Now that she’d turned off the tap, Ahanti must have recognized Terrance’s voice and felt safe enough to emerge.
I was starting to wonder if that was the right call. I couldn’t get past the fact that he had a key, which meant easy access to her apartment anytime he wanted.
Ahanti moved up beside me. Her gaze flickered from Eddie to Terrance to the keys in Terrance’s hand. “Did you ever leave those lying around?”
Terrance flipped the keys up into his palm and closed his fingers around them. “Of course not. I’m not stupid. I got my car and apartment keys on here too.”
My heart beat so fast and hard in my chest that it almost felt like it was hitting my ribs. Terrance’s motives for coming here might be as innocent as he wanted them to sound, but they might not. I needed to defuse this situation. Fast.
Because if he were her real stalker, ticking him off right now was the worst possible thing we could do. Her stalker had left her what they clearly felt was a lovely present. They’d protected her. Ingratitude after that type of action could be a trigger for further violence.
I brushed my fingers against Ahanti’s arm. “I’m sure he keeps his keys in his pocket like Mark does. He’d know if anyone snagged them from there.” I directed my mouth into a smile. If I thought hard enough about my mom, maybe I could manage one that looked as real as hers did even when I knew they were fake. “We’re going to stop in and take care of the plants, but I’ll make sure she’s never here alone. Thanks, though. Ahanti was just telling me how big a help it is to know that you’ve got the studio covered while she takes a few days off.”
Ahanti and I hadn’t actually talked about her taking a few days off, but I didn’t want her going back to work alone with Terrance, given my newly born suspicion.
And giving him that responsibility sounded reasonable while still stroking his ego. If he were the stalker, it should be enough to keep him from doing anything else crazy until we could find some evidence to hand over to the police. Hopefully enough evidence to get a warrant for his fingerprints and kitchen knives.
His eyebrows twitched in a way that made me think he was deciding whether or not to frown.
Ahanti shifted beside me, almost leaning against me as if her legs were fighting to keep her upright. “I don’t feel well.”
Her face was still pale, but I couldn’t tell if she was saying that for show because I’d mentioned her taking a few days off or if she really felt unwell.
I slid an arm around her waist and moved her toward the couch.
Terrance raised a hand in the universal see-ya wave. “Take as long as you need. I can even call your clients and reschedule if you want.”
He backed out the door.
I helped Ahanti lower to the couch. When I looked up, Eddie towered right next to us. He still held the front of the alarm panel in his hand.
My breath caught in my throat, and I coughed. Ahanti wasn’t the only one getting jumpy.
“Are you alright?” he asked Ahanti.
She’d slumped her whole body back against the couch cushions. She moved her head in an almost imperceptible shake.
“Maybe you could come back and finish the check another time?” I said.
