“Hey, Nat,” he says.
“Hey…”
“I heard about Dawn,” he says quietly. “Are… are you okay?”
My eyes fill with tears. “Not really. I… I can’t stop thinking about it. What happened to her…”
“I know…”
“She was beaten to death, Caleb. Can you imagine?”
“I know. It’s awful.” There is an interminable silence on the other line. “Listen, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about yesterday. I was kind of a jerk to you.”
“Oh.” That was the last thing I expected him to say. “Well, it’s okay. I mean, it was a stressful day.”
“It was.” His voice sounds a little scratchy, like he didn’t get enough sleep. “I’ve never been grilled by a detective before. And that guy was rough. He just kept pushing me, trying to get me to crack.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” he confirms. “Look, I do think it would be better to just tell the truth, but I get why he made you feel like you needed an alibi. And geez, it’s obvious you couldn’t have done this.”
Maybe it’s obvious to him. But the detective doesn’t seem to feel the same way.
“So anyway,” he says, “I’m sorry I freaked out. Do you forgive me?”
Only if you forgive me for sleeping with another guy last night. But no, probably better not to bring that up. He never needs to know about it. And like I said, it was a one-off. Seth knows that.
“Do you want to come over tonight?” I ask. I hate the idea of coming home to my empty house again.
He groans. “I wish I could, but I’m going to be at work late today. I don’t even know how late. How about tomorrow?”
“Okay.” I wish he were coming tonight, but as long as I’m going to see him soon. “And maybe this time you really can spend the night.”
He sounds shocked. “Really?”
“Why not?”
“I… I just assumed with all the stuff going on with your friend, you wouldn’t want to…”
“Dawn wasn’t really my friend,” I say slowly. “I mean, she was my coworker. I liked her. But we weren’t friends.”
“Oh,” he says.
Did I say something wrong? Is it really so inappropriate to have my boyfriend over after a coworker who I hardly even knew was murdered?
“Also,” I say, “the 5K is on Saturday. You’re still running, aren’t you?”
Again, he sounds surprised. “That’s still on?”
Despite everything, I feel a jolt of irritation. “We raised a lot of money for charity, Caleb. I can’t just cancel it.”
“Well, okay…”
“I mean, this is for kids with cerebral palsy. It’s not like I’m throwing a sweet sixteen party.”
“No, I get it,” he says. “I, uh… I guess I’ll be there then.”
I had imagined Caleb and me running together the whole way. He has longer legs, but I’ve been training harder than he has. He runs on the treadmill at the gym, but he hasn’t specifically been training for this. I’ll hold my own.
But I don’t know what’s going to end up happening with the 5K now. Dawn’s murder has changed everything. I don’t want to ruin everything we’ve worked for though. Maybe I need to put a new spin on things.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
THREE MONTHS EARLIER
From: Natalie Farrell
To: Vixed Employees
Subject: Bridal shower!!!!
This Friday afternoon at three we are going to have a bridal shower to celebrate Kim’s upcoming nuptials! Gifts are allowed and encouraged, and there is no spending limit! After all, Kim will only be getting married once. (We hope!) We are also going to do this potluck style so please let me know what yummy treats you will be bringing so we don’t all bring the same thing!
From: Dawn Schiff
To: Vixed Employees
Subject: Re: Bridal shower!!!!
I’m so excited! I’ll be bringing my famous turtle cupcakes. Sometimes with respect to desserts, “turtle” refers to candy made with pecans and caramel dipped in chocolate, but these will be actual turtle cupcakes! The inside will be chocolate, and while I won’t be giving away all my secrets, trust me when I say these cupcakes will very much resemble turtles. I’m so excited to share them with you!
Sincerely,
Dawn Schiff
From: Natalie Farrell
To: Vixed Employees
Subject: Re: Bridal shower!!!!
For God’s sake, Dawn, you don’t need to always hit “reply all” on emails!!! I will let you know if anyone else claims cupcakes.
To: Mia Hodge
From: Dawn Schiff
Subject: Re: Greetings
Dear Mia,
This morning, I came to work with a tray of a dozen cupcakes. Natalie never got back to me about whether it was okay for me to bring them, but I figured you can never have too many cupcakes. I made chocolate, because we all know everybody loves chocolate. But I did use vanilla frosting, because I was able to add blue food coloring to make the icing look like the ocean, and then added green gummies to turn them into turtle cupcakes. I worked so hard on them. I’m attaching a photo so you can see how beautiful they were.
The bridal shower was at three o’clock in the conference room. Natalie spent most of the day preparing for it. Every time I looked up, she was in the conference room decorating. I thought about asking if I could help, but I didn’t want to annoy her. So I kept my distance.
At three o’clock, my coworkers started filtering into the conference room with trays of food. I ran to the break room to grab my cupcakes, which I stashed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Except the cupcakes weren’t there.
I was sure I put them in the refrigerator. I did it as soon as I came in, so the cupcakes would stay fresh. I checked every shelf, although the tray was bulky enough that it didn’t seem like it would get lost in the refrigerator. Then I started checking the cabinets above the sink, wondering if somebody stashed the cupcakes up there.
After about five minutes of searching, I was starting to panic. My heart was racing as I rummaged through all the drawers and cabinets in the break room. I had been so excited to show everyone my cupcakes. What could have happened to them?
But then it hit me. Somebody probably saw the cupcakes and brought them over to the conference room, assuming they were for the shower.
The bridal shower had been going on for about fifteen minutes at this point. I rinsed off my hands and headed to the conference room to join the others. I could see almost everyone in the office was participating. This was an excellent opportunity to get to talk to my coworkers in a low-pressure environment.
Natalie was by the conference table, talking to Seth, who was munching on a tray of food. Seth had a smile playing on his lips, the same way he always did when he was talking to Natalie. I never figured out if he knew about his wife showing up at work and leaving that threatening note for Natalie. I did think about telling him, but I decided to take your advice and keep out of it.