But she was gone. So were my bag and pepper spray.
*
Green was wrong again. I spent the entire fifteen minutes he took to arrive alternating between looking around for Erin and texting her. As the number of unanswered texts increased, so did my anxiety. Had Naut done something to her too?
Trevor finished his set and Naut took over. Or at least someone in an astronaut helmet did. I went back to the dressing room. The chaperone stood watch. “Have you seen my friend? White girl? Blond hair.”
By the look she gave me, she barely remembered me, much less Erin. I pressed. “Maybe she went to see Naut. If I can just go in there.”
She moved in front of the door. “No one’s allowed in but staff and performers.”
“But—”
“You shouldn’t even be back here.”
Fine. I’d wait for Green. I stayed right next to her until he texted me, then I left to meet him in the lobby. “I can’t find Erin,” I said.
He looked nowhere near as alarmed as I felt. “When’s the last time you saw her?”
“When I went to call you. She may have tried to speak with Naut again after I left. They won’t let me check his dressing room.”
He placed a hand on my arm to calm me. It worked. “We’ll check. I’m sure she’s fine.”
I hoped he was right. He approached the door backstage. I was just about to follow him when my phone rang. Finally. But when I checked the ID, it wasn’t Erin. Ms. Paterson’s name flashed across the screen. I couldn’t deal with her now. Not until I made sure Erin was okay. I hit IGNORE, but Ms. Paterson called back just as Green noticed I wasn’t behind him.
“Go in. Be right there,” I called out.
He nodded and turned as I hit the button to talk. “Everything okay, Ms. Paterson?”
“Why is that white girl breaking into your house?”
Thirty
Stay or go?
While I thanked Ms. Paterson for the phone call, Green disappeared inside. The question was whether to follow him.
Stay or go?
If Naut didn’t confess to Green, then it’d be my word against his. What if Green had to let him go and he disappeared? I waited a beat. Stared at my phone. Would the alarm company call? What had happened to make Erin take my bag, ignore my frantic messages, and head to the Bronx? Especially when the person she wanted to blackmail was still here? Naut couldn’t have been with her. Ms. Paterson would have told me if Erin had brought company.
Stay or go?
She must have needed my keys. What did she want? Her bag? Desiree’s phone? Something else entirely? If she’d wanted me to know, she would’ve waited. She had played me. Again. Trust and tears were a combination I didn’t share with just anyone. The realization hurt—just like a sister.
I went.
I sent Green a quick text and headed for Mr. Buck’s Caddy before I realized I didn’t have the keys. It was almost 9 p.m. and at least the Uber ride home was short at that hour. I spent the entire seventeen minutes cursing. At jaywalkers. At other cars. At Erin.
I was happy Aunt E wasn’t home, just like I was happy Kitty was. I’d use her if need be.
When we finally turned onto my street, it was deserted, and the lights were off in both Aunt E’s and my apartments. Mr. Buck’s car was parked haphazardly in front of my driveway. She hadn’t even taken time to open the gate. My phone rang just as I closed the Uber’s door. Ms. Paterson.
“She’s still inside,” she said as soon as I answered. “You want me to call the police?”
“I’ll do it.” Later. Besides, Green already knew. Kind of.
I hung up and stood there. What was she doing? The lack of lights confirmed what I already knew. She’d used me. After five minutes, it was clear that whatever she was after, she hadn’t found it. She had to know I’d be home eventually, and she wouldn’t have done all this if she’d wanted to be here when I arrived.
That meant I had to be covert. I opened the front gate just enough to slide through. As I walked by our blue recycling bin, I instinctively grabbed an empty vodka bottle. I tried my front door. She hadn’t locked it behind her. I sure as hell did when I got inside.
It was strange, creeping into your own house. I didn’t bother to turn on any lights. It was so black I couldn’t even make out the basement door down the hall. I listened. But that was the thing with older houses. They were as sturdy as an offensive lineman. Erin could have been dancing to Beyoncé at full volume. I wouldn’t have been able to hear shit. I paused on the ground-floor landing just outside Aunt E’s apartment. Another quandary. Should I start with my place or hers? Desiree’s phone was upstairs. Erin’s stuff was down.
I chose Aunt E’s door since it was literally within arm’s reach and I could get Kitty. For the first time ever, it was locked. But was it Aunt E’s or Erin’s doing? I had a key to Aunt E’s apartment. It was in my bag with everything else. So I went upstairs, tried a different door with the same result. Locked.
Shitnuts. I went back downstairs to wait Erin out. My phone lit up. In the darkness, it felt as bright as a spotlight. Ms. Paterson again. I ignored it, not because I didn’t want to talk to her but because in the light I noticed the basement door. It was cracked open.
There was nothing down there but forgotten furniture and a washer and dryer. I crept down the hall, my eyes adjusting. When I got to the door, I slowly peered down the stairs. A beam of light as thin as she was slashed through the darkness. I could hear her moving stuff. I turned on the light abruptly and the noise stopped. She appeared at the bottom of the stairs, not looking surprised—or embarrassed—to see me.
“What are you doing, Erin?”
A clichéd question but also a valid one. She had the nerve to smile at me like I’d caught her searching for her Christmas gift.
“Looking for the video.” Even from twenty feet away, she could tell I was confused. “Naut’s laptop, Lena. Freck left it here.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “When she stopped by for her weekly tea party?”
“During the first weekend in May.” She repeated herself. “First weekend in May.”
Then she disappeared back into the basement’s abyss. First weekend in May? Then it hit me. That was when we’d had our break-in. Even at the time, it’d felt strange. Random. Someone had picked the front door lock but bypassed Aunt E’s apartment to head straight for the basement. We’d only realized it’d happened the morning after.
Was that why Desiree’d been coming up here? I’d spent the last nine days feeling guilty my sister had needed me when she’d just wanted to break into my house—again—to pick up the blackmail she’d stowed for safekeeping. I didn’t want to believe it. Maybe Erin was wrong. She was a liar, after all.
When I got downstairs, Erin was halfway in Gram’s old china cabinet.
“Appreciate you turning on the light,” she said.
“You have two minutes before I call the police.”
Erin didn’t stop moving. “We’re doing that one again, Lena? You have any idea how much Naut would pay to get that laptop back?”
“I don’t care.”