Envy

“Yes,” Taylor said. “You’ve been calling.”

“Yes, I have. I want to talk to you.”

Taylor delivered the understatement of her life. “You’ve really been a pain—like some kind of stalker. Facebooking us! Leaving annoying messages! Bothering our friends. We’re kind of pissed off. But, yeah, my sister and I will talk to you.”

“That’s great,” Moira said, indifferent to anything other than what she’d wanted. “When?”

“How about now?”

“Okay,” Moira said. “I’d rather do it in person, but fine. I’ll put you on speaker so I can take notes.”

Taylor smiled; as nervous and tired as she was, she loved every moment of this.

“You don’t understand,” she said. “We’re here. At your house. Right now.”

A curtain in the window by the front door parted a sliver, then widened. Moira peered out over the gravel driveway toward the idling Camry.

“So you are,” she said. “Hang on. I’ll let you inside.”

Colton got out, but his mom stayed in the car. A trail of exhaust curled from its tailpipe into the cold air.

Moira, fully dressed even at that ridiculous hour, opened the door and came down the steps, squinting into the light from the car. She could see the teenagers silhouetted in the light. The scene was eerie and beautiful.

Hayley immediately recognized Moira as the young woman who’d been arguing with their father at the pizza place.

“I’ve seen you,” she said. “You were yelling at my dad.”

“Actually, he was doing the yelling,” Moira said.

Why hadn’t their father said something about Moira that night? What had she said to him if she wasn’t a fan wanting a free book?

“Who’s that?” Moira said, indicating Colton.

“My sister’s boyfriend,” Taylor said. For the first time, the words felt good instead of acid reflux-inducing. “His mom is here too.”

She looked over at the car, still running. Shania had rolled down the window and moved her hand. It wasn’t a wave—just an indicator that a person was there.

There was no need to be friendly. This wasn’t about that at all.

“Just what do you want with them?” Colton asked, now standing slightly in front of both girls. He was clearly on their side of things.

“This is between us,” Moira said, looking at the girls, bypassing Colton’s glaring stare. “And they know what I’m after.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, his warm, angry breath leaving puffs of white vapor in the air.

“Do you mind? This has nothing to do with you.” She looked at Colton and then turned back to Hayley and Taylor. “I saw the tape,” she said.

“So what?” Taylor said. “Tape’s gone.”

Moira looked puzzled. “Gone? How so?”

“I burned it up,” Colton said.

“You’re a lot of trouble, aren’t you?” Moira stared hard at Colton, annoyed that she had to deal with anyone other than the twins. She took a breath and held out her phone. “Savannah’s tape might be gone. That is, if you were stupid enough to burn it. Doesn’t matter to me. I made a copy. Not the best quality, but good enough.”

“I don’t believe you,” Hayley said. “Show me.”

Moira looked down at her phone and pressed a button to start the video. The image was miniscule, but it was good enough to see the pasta message. “Then you’ll talk to me?” she asked.

“If you have the video, what choice do we have?” Taylor asked. Taylor was stringing Moira along, of course. She would never talk to her. Never.

Moira brightened a little, glad that things were going her way. “None. None that I can see. By the way, do you know what I’m thinking now?”

Hayley wanted to say something about how there were no synapses firing in Moira’s head, but she actually did know what she was thinking.

So did Taylor.

“You need to leave us alone,” Hayley said.

Shania tapped the horn, and the teens looked over at the car. Moira turned too, but the clouds blocked the moon and it was hard to see in the dim light.

A dog started barking, or rather, yapping. It was a very familiar bark-yap.

Hedda!

Taylor lost it right then. “You’re the one who took our dog? You took our effing dog?”

She pushed past Moira, nearly shoving her to the ground, and rushed up to the porch. Her eyes were darts of anger. Colton was at her heels.

Stunned by being strong-armed, Moira steadied herself. “It wasn’t like that. I found her. I was going to bring her back to your place tomorrow.”

“You are such a big liar,” Hayley said.

Moira started to sputter. “I promise. I was. I was going to bring her back. I saw on your Facebook wall that she was missing.”

Taylor opened the door, bent down, and picked up the dog—the laziest, fattest, ugliest doxie in the history of the world was in her arms. At that moment, no one could have taken that dog from her.

“What a liar!” Taylor repeated. “We’re getting out of here.”

Hayley tugged at her sister. “Wait! What about the recording?”

“I don’t care,” Taylor said. “I don’t deal with people like that.”

“I’m sitting on the story of stories,” Moira said. “And I’m going to tell the world about you. About what you two can do.”

“Just shut up, you psycho dog-stealer!” It was Colton. “Shut it!”

“Wait! We can work something out!” Moira said. Her voice was pleading, desperate. She didn’t want to lose this opportunity. She needed to talk to those girls. “You can trust me to do a good job!”

“This isn’t about a news story, and you know it,” Taylor said.

Moira was frantic, spinning around and trying to figure out a way to get them to stay. Her light eyes flashed with fear. Everything she needed, wanted, had to have, was slipping away.

“Don’t leave! You’ll be sorry if you do.”

What came out of her mouth then were the words of truth. Whatever she wanted, it was important enough to threaten them.

You’ll be sorry if you do.

Just then, the headlights were adjusted to the bright setting and the Camry’s engine revved. Hayley, Colton, and Taylor turned to face the car.

It started across the driveway, gaining speed.

Moira opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. It was just that quick. She was over the hood, then down on the ground, and finally, over the embankment to the water below.

What had Shania done?

“Mom!” Colton said, nearly crying at the shock of what had happened. “Mom, what did you do?”

“Get her phone and get her laptop out of the house. Don’t touch anything else.”

Colton locked eyes with his mother and nodded.

Shania had just done the unthinkable, but it was apparent that she had, in fact, thought of everything.

It took only a second and Colton found the laptop on the dining table amid a nest of empty sparkling-water bottles and a half-empty bottle of wine. He snatched up the computer, yanking it from its power cord as he hurried back to the car. While Colton was inside, Hayley recovered Moira’s phone in the gravel of the parking area. She shoved it into her pocket.

Instinct told her to look for Moira, but when she scanned the water below the bulkhead, she saw nothing— not even a shore bird. Just the ripples of the tide. Moira was dead and gone, and Hayley, scared and worried, felt relief.