“I’m . . . in the car. But Kuhio Highway . . . not moving. I think . . . tree fell . . . Stuck for . . .” Annie got the gist of what Brody was saying even with the bad connection.
“Oh no. I need you. I don’t know what to do. Marley is guarding the door outside the bathroom.”
“Do you think . . . danger? Should I call . . . police?”
“Yes! I don’t like this. Something’s not right.”
“I don’t like this either.” There was fuzz, and then Brody came in, loud and clear. “I’m calling the cops.”
Annie had wanted Brody to take control, but his words made her pause. What had Serena really done to threaten her? Nothing. Well, except admit to stalking her. But she hadn’t harmed her in any way, hadn’t threatened her. And she’d had a good reason for watching Annie and the house. At that thought, Annie slapped herself across the forehead. She was now defending the actions of a woman who may not be in her right mind? Was there something wrong with Annie?
“Hello? Annie, you there?”
“I’m here. I . . .” She hesitated. “I think she wants something from me. From us.”
“I don’t like this,” Brody said again. He cursed under his breath. “I’m boxed in. There’s nowhere for me to go. I’m going to try the cops.”
Annie gulped, wondering what was wrong with her. Why she was feeling sorry for Serena, of all people. She’d been terrified just moments before, but now she couldn’t help but think of the woman she’d bonded with. She was in there somewhere, underneath the erratic behavior.
Taking a breath, she said, “Let me see if I can find out what she wants.”
“Annie, I . . .” His cell cut out just then.
“Brody? Can you hear me?”
“Call . . .”
“I . . .” She opened her mouth to respond, but just then, a loud crash came from the bathroom. “Oh god.” What was that? What had Serena done? Had she killed herself in there? The blood pounded through Annie’s body, and alarm set in. Marley was barking his head off, which didn’t help.
“Annie. What . . . on?”
Another crash came from the bathroom, this one so loud that Annie jumped and dropped her phone, ending the call by accident. She walked to the bathroom, her steps slow, afraid of what she would find.
31
Annie stopped in front of the bathroom door, one hand restraining Marley. “Relax,” she said to him. He settled down but continued to growl.
“Serena?”
Silence.
“Serena, what happened?”
Why wasn’t she answering? Was she dead?
Just when Annie was screwing up her courage to try the door, it flew open, framing Serena in the doorway. “The towel rack fell off the wall. I tried to put it back up, but it slipped and knocked over the cabinet in there.”
“Oh.” They stared at each other for a moment, a million things running through Annie’s mind. “It’s been loose for a while. It’s not your fault.” Why was she trying to reassure a stalker? Maybe because Annie saw more than a little of herself in the other woman and it scared her. Serena obviously needed help. Did Annie?
She looked into the bathroom and saw that the small, narrow cabinet they’d been using to hold toiletries had been knocked to its side, with the towel rack on top of it. It had detached from the wall, the screws still sticking out.
“I’m sorry.”
Annie wasn’t sure if Serena was apologizing for the towel rack, or for everything she’d revealed. It really was too bad that Serena had turned out to be unstable. She hadn’t felt so comfortable with anyone in so long, and just her luck, she’d turned out to be a stalker. What did that say about Annie’s own judgment?
“What do you want?” Annie wanted desperately to believe there was something innocent about Serena’s actions. Something that made sense, because otherwise, was Annie just as delusional? She steeled herself, forced her voice to be firm, as if that would guard her heart against Serena. As much as she craved the closeness of their imagined friendship, the facts were, the woman had lied to her.
“I just need to talk to you. I swear.” Serena’s eyes pleaded with Annie to understand.
Annie eyed her suspiciously. “You came all the way from New York just to talk to me? Why didn’t you talk to me while we still lived at the lake?”
“I never got up the courage before.” Serena’s fingers knotted together, a gesture Annie had come to know she did a lot when she was nervous. “At first I was angry. I admit it. I was angry that you stole my life. I was angry that life was so unfair and I’d lost everything while you . . .” She stopped and gestured to Annie. “You had everything. You’re beautiful, with a wonderful husband, who adores you; a sweet boy; your loyal dachshund . . .” Serena stopped to throw a look in Marley’s direction. “And now you have another dog. I did blame you. But then you guys looked so happy that I just wanted to meet you. To get to know you.”
“Then why didn’t you introduce yourself all those times you were in the neighborhood? You could have told me who you were.” Annie watched as Serena walked away from the bathroom toward the breakfast bar.
“Because that would have been creepy.” Serena stopped next to the stools, as if unsure if she should sit, since Annie had been so intent on throwing her out.
Annie raised her eyebrows. “And this isn’t creepy? You coming all the way to Kauai and finding me in my house, befriending me like this, isn’t creepy?” If she needed proof that something was not right with Serena’s mind, this was it. “Wait. Have you been stalking me here too?” All those times when she’d felt as if someone were watching her. At the beach, at Walmart, in the parking lot of the humane society, and even at Hamura’s one day. Had Serena been following her this whole time? “That’s how you know where I live, isn’t it? You’ve been following me!”
Serena opened her mouth and then closed it. She took a breath and said, “I didn’t know how to approach you. Every time I got up the courage to tell you who I was, there’d either be too many people around or something would happen and I would lose my chance. So I started leaving you little gifts from your house on the lake. I thought that could be a way to ease into telling you who I am.”
“You’re the one who’s been leaving me all those things I lost years ago?” Annie walked to her. She hadn’t thought this woman could shock her further, but she’d been wrong. She’d thought she was losing her mind, somehow collecting things she’d lost over the years and bringing them here to Kauai. And all along it had been Serena?
“Yes.” Serena’s face was so hopeful that, for a moment, Annie really wanted to believe they were an innocent gesture of friendship. But no, these were not the actions of a stable person.
“And what do you mean ‘gifts’？” Annie took another step toward Serena. “Those were things you stole from me.”
“I didn’t steal them. You’d leave them lying around in the front yard, or dropped by your house. I wanted you to know I kept them because they meant something to me.” Serena lifted her head and gazed off, as if seeing the lake house. “You kept losing your gardening gloves. One day, you put them down by the driveway and ran in to answer the phone. I waited for you to come back out, but you didn’t. So I took them.” She shrugged. “I guess I wanted a piece of your life. Another time, your husband and son were coming back from the beach and they dropped Finn’s shirt in the road. Neither of them realized it and kept going. I picked it up, pretending that Johnny was still alive and this was his shirt. And one time, after taking Lili for a walk, you accidentally unsnapped her collar when you took off her harness. I was in the woods next to your house, and I saw the collar fall to the ground. I waited for you to come back and get it, but you never did.”