“Is it fancy?”
“Totally.”
A fancy restaurant didn’t sound like anyplace I wanted to go. I didn’t have anything to wear to a place like that.
“Don’t worry about what to wear,” she said, like she read my mind. “She gave me this to give to you.”
She handed me the cardboard box with the bow on it.
“Go on. Open it.”
I pulled off the bow and took the top off the box. There was some thin paper underneath, and under that was a black dress. There were high-heel shoes in there too. They looked expensive. They looked really expensive.
“It’ll fit,” she said.
“She’s giving this to me?”
“Don’t worry so much,” Penny said. “It’s not a big deal. Come on, she’s footing the bill. If you don’t go, then I don’t get to go.”
“That woman,” I said, still looking at the dress, “the one I was with at the hospital. She was with you guys, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“You know I was with her when she died?”
“Yes. Don’t worry about her. It wasn’t your job to protect her. She knew what she was getting into.”
“Why does your friend want to meet with me and Nico?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “I just know it’s important. She’ll explain everything.”
“I don’t know if Nico will go or not.”
“Don’t worry about him,” she said, waving her hand. “He was easy. He’ll go.”
“I don’t know if he’ll want to go with me.”
“I’m telling you; he’s on the hook.”
“Why didn’t she just come herself?”
“That’s what she’s got me for,” she said. “Besides, I think she thought you and me would hit it off, maybe become friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah, friends,” she said, holding out her hands. “You don’t want to keep all your eggs in one basket. Do you have something against friends?”
“No—”
“Okay, then.”
She opened the door and turned to face me in the doorway before she left. She gave me a weird look, and I felt my heart rate slow down a little.
“It’s tonight,” she said, handing me a card. “Call Nico, and tell him to pick you up. See you there.”
She left. I closed the door behind her. After a few seconds, I locked it.
In spite of how strange the visit was, that was the thing I couldn’t stop thinking as soon as she left. The way Karen’s face looked when she pushed her like that, and the way her whole attitude just changed completely afterward. It didn’t seem right somehow.
Maybe. I guessed I did. Not as much as before, but I had to admit I did sometimes still, and not just to her. Was that what it was like? If anyone else watched me the way I had just watched them, would they think it was just as wrong?
“Karen’s my friend,” I said out loud. She was my friend because she wanted to be, not because I made her. Not even I could make someone be my friend. You could make people do a lot of things, but you couldn’t make them like you.
In the end I decided not to go down. It seemed weird to show up again right after that. She was happy when she left. I figured I’d leave it at that.
Instead I took the dress the rest of the way out of the package. It looked like it cost a mint. I held it up in front of myself and went into the bathroom to see.
It was gorgeous. It was the nicest thing in my whole apartment.
I picked up my cell and called Nico’s number again. I was kind of hoping he wouldn’t pick up so I could just leave a message, but he did.
“Wachalowski,” he said.
“Um, hi. Nico?”
“Zoe. Did you get my message?”
“Um, not yet.”
“It’s okay. Look, I made some calls, and I don’t think you have to worry about the incident at the hospital.”
“No?”
“No. It got dropped.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Someone else must have gotten involved.”
“So they’re not looking for me?”
“No,” he said, “but I don’t think this is over.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
He paused on the other end of the line.
“What’s wrong?”
“I kind of have something to ask you.”
“Sure.”
“I was wondering, if you’re not doing anything else, and if you feel like it, if you might want to go out to dinner.”
“Are you asking me out to dinner?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I was so embarrassed, I could hardly talk. He thought I was calling him to ask him out on a date. If I didn’t say something soon, he’d start making excuses why he couldn’t go. My throat felt like it was going to close up on me.
“Not exactly?”
“Well, someone wants to meet you …us …and …”
“I understand,” he said. “I was told to expect your call. Do you know who she is, Zoe?”
“The one who came here is named Penny. She said the one that wanted to see us both is named Ai, though.”
“Do you know that name?”
“No. Do you?”
“No.”
“Do you think we should go?”
“I do,” he said. He sounded serious. “Where and when?”
I flipped over the card she’d written the time on the back of it.
“Suehiro 9,” I said. “At seven.”
“That explains the suit,” he said, kind of to himself.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ll pick you up at six thirty?”
“You’re going to pick me up?”
“Of course.”
“Oh. Good. Six thirty sounds good.”
“I’ll see you then.”
I hung up, then flopped down on the couch and let out a deep breath. It felt good. Ten minutes before,
