The Shop

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Zoe, you can be so dense! Somebody sent a whole bunch of pictures from my phone, and I don’t know who!”

“I don’t see…”

“The video! It was sent from my phone to someone else.” She stood up, pulled her shorts on over her swimsuit, and reached for her shoes.

“Maybe we can figure out where it went. Who touched your phone?”

“I don’t know!”

“You’ve only had the phone for a couple months,” Zoe said. “Has anybody else used it?”

“No, nobody…except Luke. He was the only one who got near it.”

Zoe watched as Riley teared up again.

“I miss him so much!” Riley grabbed herself around the middle, as if she had a stomachache. Zoe was used to Riley’s breakdowns. She didn’t blame her. Riley’s boyfriend, Luke, was dead. He’d been shot after taking a woman hostage at a motel in Gardenia. Only the fact that Riley and Luke had kept their love affair secret had spared Riley from becoming a household name.

Zoe said, “You’re sure he was the only one?”

Riley stared daggers at her. “Yes, I’m sure! We were in love. We shared everything!”

“Then the video is probably still on his phone.”

“We’ve got to go over there right now.”

“Where?”

“Luke’s. Aren’t you listening? What if he sent it to someone? Oh my God, what if it’s on YouTube?”

Zoe said, “I think you’re blowing this thing out of—”

“It wasn’t just any video! Luke and I taped ourselves. You know, doing it. We used my phone.”

Zoe felt bad for Riley, but she was also curious how that worked—just how they had managed to have sex and take pictures at the same time. Although she had never had actual sex, she’d seen porn on the Internet and thought the mechanics of filming yourself on a cell phone would be hard to do.

“What are you looking at?” Riley was still standing on one foot, still battling with one sandal. She threw it down on the deck and started to cry.

“It’s okay,” Zoe said. “We’ll just go over there and get his phone. It’ll be all right.”

“You sure?”

Zoe didn’t have an answer to that.

They took Riley’s Boxster Spyder because Riley didn’t like Zoe’s Miata.

Speeding down the two-lane highway, top down, music loud, hair blowing in the wind, Riley freaking. She must have asked Zoe a dozen times if it would turn out okay. Zoe always said yes.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Although Zoe had her doubts. She imagined Luke’s family would have cleaned out the house by now. It had been over a month since Luke died.

Riley tried Luke’s number. It went to voice mail. Zoe said she thought it was a good sign.

“You think so?”

“It’s out there somewhere.”

“God, I miss him!”

For the first time, Zoe began to believe Riley actually did love Luke. It didn’t seem like it when they were hooking up, but now Riley seemed genuinely wounded.

Riley honked her horn at the black SUV ahead of them. “Can’t he go any faster? He’s driving under the speed limit.”

The man holding the sharpshooter rifle in the open back of the SUV lifted a hand in a friendly wave. Riley returned his gesture by flipping the bird.

Behind them, Mr. Clean stuck close to their back bumper. He looked like an egg with sunglasses.

Riley glanced in the rearview mirror. “When we get there, make sure they stay far enough away, okay? I don’t want them hearing anything and telling tales.”

“Okay.”

Riley parked in front of a junky-looking green house. Two little kids sat in a kiddie pool out front. A chunky woman in a striped tube top, cutoffs, and flip-flops watched them from the porch, her face impassive.

“Mrs. Frawley? I’m Riley Haddox—”

“I know who you are.” She leaned forward in her lawn chair. The webbing looked like it would go any minute. “What do you want?”

“There are some things that Luke said I could have. Can you let me in so I can get them?”

“And exack’ly what kind of legal standing does a chippie have?”

“Excuse me?”

She pointed to the younger girl. “My neighbor’s little girl is on’y three years old, but she’s smart enough to look up your skirt. I know loose morals when I see it, and you can bet Luke did, too.”

Zoe looked at Luke’s landlady in her tube top over a pouchy brown midriff ribboned with scars.

“So I guess you didn’t know we were engaged,” Riley said. She held up her hand. Zoe knew for a fact that Riley had bought the ring herself and wore it on the occasions she didn’t want to be hit on. Rare, but it happened.

“You think Luke would marry someone like you? For your money, maybe. I know all about you. I know about the times you drove by here and spied on him after he called it quits. Somehow I don’t think he’d want you pawing through his things now.”

Riley’s face had gone slack with disbelief. For once, she had nothing to say. Zoe found her own voice. “Mrs. Frawley, Luke had something of Riley’s she really needs back. If you could just let us in for a minute, we could be out of your way.”

“You her attorney? You sure sound like one.” She heaved to her feet and walked in the direction of the converted garage in back. “There’s nothing left. Cops took everything. But I suppose you won’t go away until you see for yourself. Watch Charly and the little one while I go get the key.”

“Told you.”

The blinds were pulled and the room was dark and sour-smelling, but the only thing that remained was the cheap furniture. Zoe cringed at the thought of living here, something Riley had retroactively fantasized about, after Luke died “an outlaw.” Zoe had to wonder how long Riley would have wanted to live here after growing up on the Haddox compound, love or no love.

“When did the cops come?” Zoe asked.

“Later that day. Put up yellow tape for everyone to see, which sure hasn’t helped me get a new tenant. Stuff like that gets around. They took out a bunch of stuff then, came back later that day to get the rest.”

“Everything?” Riley’s voice was bleak.

“It’s all evidence now, I reckon.”

Riley went to the dresser, pulled open the top drawer.

“Hey! I didn’t say you could do that.”

Riley ignored her. She opened another drawer, went to the kitchen and opened cabinets. Crashed around the apartment, looking more and more scared—scared and desperate. Zoe just stood on the stoop, wishing they could get out of here.

Mrs. Frawley looked at Zoe. “You look like a sensible girl. Not so caught up in your looks you can’t listen to reason. If she’s your friend, you ought to tell her she pushed Luke away with both hands.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chasing after him like that, once he’d had enough. One thing I’ve learned, chasing never makes it better. It only makes a man so desperate he’ll chew his foot off to get away.”

“She loved him.”

“She’ll get over it.”

Riley came out of the bathroom. “The police have everything?”