We spoke longer than I’d anticipated. I barely even noticed when he finally started taking notes. He made it easy to talk, delivering on his promise to focus on Desiree’s life. I found myself forgetting why I was here, too busy recalling stories that had been long buried. Like the time she’d found a love letter at Gram’s house I’d written to a member of ’NSYNC. How she couldn’t ever remember what day it was but could always recite every line. She’d pick one at random, quote it at the most inopportune times. She had whispered one in my ear at my high school graduation. And how when she’d actually met him, she made him write me a joke proposal.
Remembering put me in such a good mood that I forgot why I’d wanted to speak with Stuart in the first place. My “talking points.” I wondered if I should even bring up the other things I’d decided not to tell him. The pregnancy. Maybe he’d know more.
“Have you heard anything at all about her autopsy?” I said. “Did they do it yet?”
“Police didn’t tell you?” He seemed surprised.
“I can’t even get Detective Green to return my phone calls.”
He nodded. “He’s a decent guy. Just overworked. He’ll get back to you as soon as he can. Let me know if you still don’t hear from him and I can check with my source.”
I was instantly suspicious. “That’s nice of you.”
“I owe you. You’ve really given me some amazing stuff. Between this and talking to your dad and stepmom yesterday, it’s going to be an incredible profile. Hopefully it’ll run Sunday.”
“How was meeting Mel?”
“I won’t lie. I was a bit nervous. Your dad has a rep.”
“The window,” I said.
He nodded, laughed. “The window. But I enjoyed talking to him. He and your stepmother invited me to their apartment. Wined and dined me, I suppose. But I appreciated how honest he was about Desiree and her past issues.”
I wondered if Mel had mentioned their current ones.
“It must be nice to have a family as close as you all are,” Stuart said.
Yeah, it must be.
“He mention how things had been between him and Desiree recently?” I said.
“He said things were going better, which was why he was so surprised by her overdose. Didn’t understand why she’d started using again. Why do you ask?”
That was it. I didn’t have to make a decision anymore. Mel had made it for me. “You mentioned your source earlier. How does that relationship work?”
He put his notebook in his bag. “It works however they want. They usually tell me something that they think is important but can’t say on the record. So they’re just a source. Source at the police station. Source at the mayor’s office. Source at the—”
“Mel wouldn’t know how Desiree was right before she died because he’d cut her off. Because he didn’t approve of her choice of a rehab facility.”
Stu paused a second, then immediately pulled his notebook back out.
I leaned forward. “You didn’t hear that from me, though.”
He looked at me as he put the notebook away a second time.
*
Stuart and I had spoken longer than I’d anticipated so I wasn’t able to see Omar. I sent him a quick text, then checked my messages. Green had finally called. I’d kept my phone on vibrate. I couldn’t tell you my ringtone if you offered me a free trip to Jamaica, so I’d missed it. And when I called him back, he didn’t answer. At the rate we were going, he’d join Aunt E and Tam as the only numbers I had memorized. I left another message. He was back to being It.
It took about another half hour to bike down to Midtown. The temperature had topped 90 degrees. I was sweaty and gross, but I was also going to a gym so I doubted it mattered. The fitness center was in the Parker New York hotel. There were two Starbucks so close you could see one line from the other. New Yorkers love their chain restaurants as much as they hate their tourists—me included, since it usually makes deciding what to eat all the easier. And we don’t just love McDonald’s or Wendy’s—though we have plenty of them too—but a whole subset of places known more for panini and salad than burgers and fries. Ask a New Yorker how to get to a fresh&co and they’ll point you in two directions. Both will be correct.
I found a spot to chain my bike, then walked over to the hotel. My first mistake was assuming the gym was off the lobby. It wasn’t. A guy at the front desk pointed me to an open doorway across the large room. It led to a hall that led to an elevator. There was just one button so I pushed it, prepared for wherever it might take me. Up, down, or even sideways. Gravity Fitness had been relegated to the basement. But since even New Yorkers don’t want to drop two-hundred-plus bucks a month to work out in a cellar, the hotel had branded it “underground.”
Gravity wasn’t alone in its lower-level status. The gym shared space with a nail salon, a blow-dry bar, and a facial place that willingly had chosen the name Skin Laundry. I ignored the women getting pampered on both sides of the hallway to hit the gym in the back. I felt like I didn’t belong. Again. It didn’t help that the woman stationed behind the front desk barely paid me any mind. One would think I’d be glad to be ignored since I wasn’t there to exercise, yet I still felt the need to speak. “Just waiting for a friend.”
It was like she didn’t hear me. I searched for where that waiting would take place. They’d forgone a couch for three armless brown leather chairs. Erin sat on the one closest to me.
“Surprise!”
Indeed it was. “You work out here?”
She shook her head. Offended. “My trainer has her own gym. Only charges five hundred a session too.” She got up. “If what you’re saying is true, there’s no way I’d let you confront that asshole by yourself.”
She gave me a hug, and I had to admit I was glad to see a familiar face. I was starting to see why Desiree liked her. She was loyal. Not something I was used to.
“If it makes you feel better, this is just a fact-finding mission,” I said. “Not a confrontation. I just want to ask him some questions.” I reminded myself that I wasn’t the police. I was a concerned sister.
She nodded and sat. “We can ask him what Desiree was like after I left. See if he knew about the baby.”
“No matter what he says, we play it cool, then take that info straight to Green. I want to force him to take it seriously.”
I settled in next to her.
“We should take a pic,” Erin said. “Want to do a selfie?”
My growing goodwill didn’t extend that far. “I think we’re good.” I could only imagine what she’d hashtag it.
I looked around nervously, as if Free would jump out any second like the guy from the Friday the 13th movies. The gym’s main workout space was off to the left, hidden behind one of those cloudy white walls meant to let in light while also ensuring privacy. It worked too well. From my vantage point, only two machines were visible. Both empty.
“He’ll be here soon,” Erin said.
I hoped she was right. “I don’t mind waiting.”
“Me neither.”