didn’t want ugly cords around my bed and I charge my cell at night. So he said to get a regular phone and have it by my bed. And I said why? And he said because I live alone and he’d feel a lot freaking better if I had a phone close in case anything happened in the night, I could—”
I cut myself off.
Both men watched me patiently, and I made the decision to stop babbling about Diesel, my protective brother, and definitely stop talking about things happening to women alone in the middle of the night.
I went on, not babbling this time. “So I think, I mean, thinking on it, maybe I’m listed. And obviously my cell isn’t. So whoever it was, was trying to find me and that’s how she found me.”
“What did she say?” Nightingale queried.
“She said, ‘If you still care about Chantilly, you better come and see to Chantilly.’ Then she hung up. And that creeped me out not only because it was two in the morning and I had a call on my landline, or because she said that, and it was clearly a warning. But she called her Chantilly. No one calls her Chantilly.”
“Even at work?” Chavez asked.
I shrugged, shook my head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to her . . .” I swallowed, “work.”
“Of course,” Nightingale muttered. “So you went to Diane’s after the call?”
“I called her,” I told him. “She didn’t answer. I called her again. She didn’t answer. I was creeped out enough to get up and go. So I went. I called her again on the way.”
“She didn’t answer,” Chavez finished for me.
And again I was nodding to Chavez.
“We’ve listened to the 911 call,” Nightingale stated. “You didn’t go inside?”
I shook my head. “I got to her house. The lights were on. But when I got up to the door, it was open.” I shook my head again. “Not open, ajar. Not much, a few inches, but it freaked me. She doesn’t live in a good ’hood. No one leaves their door ajar in the middle of the night. I looked into the window, you could see light through the blinds, one blind was not all the way down. I saw a lamp that was lit, but it was on the floor, the shade off, but still, it was lit. It tripped me out. I got worried, Diane didn’t keep good company, and not just the porn variety of not-good company. So, I ran back to my car, got in and called 911.”
“That was the smart thing to do, Rebel,” Chavez informed me.
“Was she . . . was she, I mean,” more swallowing, goddamn it, “should I have gone in?”
“No,” Nightingale said. “Like Eddie just told you, what you did was right.”
I looked in his eyes again. “What I mean to ask is, could I have helped her?”
Nightingale leaned back in his chair, sorrow filling his eyes for a second before he blanked it and answered gently, “No, Rebel. She was gone before you arrived.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
It was his turn to nod. “I’m sure.”
“You’re sure,” I pushed.
“I’m sure, Rebel,” he said quietly.
I looked to my purse in my lap and tried deep breathing again.
It came shallow.
And more shallow.
Then came my eyes feeling funny.
“Rebel—” Nightingale called softly.
I aimed my gaze at him and snapped, “Why is it so hard to breathe?”
“We’ll give you a minute,” he offered. “You want more coffee?”
“I want my friend not to be dead,” I told him.
He glanced at Chavez.
“She was going to be a goddamned therapist,” I shared.
Nightingale looked back at me.
“She didn’t know, physical, occupational, even speech. She was leaning toward physical. She already had her psychology degree. But she wasn’t into it. Her folks and I thought she just wasn’t coping. You know, not having the challenge of school. Getting good grades. Working hard at something. Then she took that bad fall. Playing volleyball. Fucking volleyball. She was into sports. So fit. God. Always running or hiking or playing tennis or volleyball. Goes up for a spike, runs into the other chick, bam!”
Nightingale and Chavez were silent.
“Docs give her Oxycontin.”
“Damn,” Nightingale murmured.
“Yeah,” I spat. “Next thing you know she’s on oxy, on meth, smoking pot, and starring in porn movies as Chantilly.”
I shuffled my ass back in my seat, tucking my purse deep into my abdomen. So deep, I could feel the clasp digging into my flesh.
Neither man spoke.
So I did.
“You know, I watched one. I watched her have sex and give