It was just after three a.m. when I called Roxy and explained what happened. Fifteen minutes later she walked through my door carrying a broom, cleaning supplies, and a box of garbage bags. She laid everything on the ground, then enfolded me in her arms.
Roxy’s not big on displays of affection, I think because she had so little of it growing up. But she hugged me like she wouldn’t let go. I clung to her and cried.
When I finally pulled away, my gaze swept over the room. “Who would do this?”
“Sullivan, of course. We can’t rule out Dane, either.”
“Dane?” I frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Did it ever occur to you that Dane might not be helping you out of the goodness of his heart?”
I gave a little humorless laugh. “Yeah, I think he’s doing it to get into my pants.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Or he could be working with Sullivan. Dane popped up out of nowhere at the exact same time your bud, Ax, disappeared. That’s quite a coinkadink.”
“That’s crazy talk. He went to Penn’s Cigar Bar with me. Why would he do that? And why would he give me a list of NorthStar businesses in the first place? That doesn’t make sense.”
“He never thought you’d find any real evidence? Maybe Sullivan wants Dane to keep tabs on you.”
My gut clenched in a knot. “No, I can’t believe Dane would do that.”
“He didn’t seem real excited after you showed him the list from the hard drive.”
True. He’d pooh-poohed. Was that because he just didn’t want to mess with the bigwigs of Huntingford or because he was trying to throw me off track? Maybe Dane was setting me up.
Roxy snapped open a trash bag. “All I’m saying is, be careful what info you share with him. He may be working for the enemy.”
She was absolutely right and it had never occurred to me. It should have. What did I even know about Dane? He was cute and dimply? And very eager to help me. Because he sat behind me in sixth grade? I automatically assumed he was attracted to me. He kissed like he was attracted.
“You know, even Kevin could have done this,” Roxy added.
“I hadn’t even thought about Kevin.”
“Jealous ex.” Roxy picked up a broom and began sweeping. “He was all shades of pissed when I saw him the other night. Kept going on about how you two were meant for each other and wanted to know who you were dating.” She stopped mid-sweep. “He’s cute and all, but he’s not that smart.”
“He wouldn’t think about consequences, that’s for sure. He did change his name to Spaz.”
“What about Packard?”
I ripped a wad of paper towels off the roll and started mopping up the milk/juice combo. “I told him I didn’t have the hard drive, but maybe he didn’t believe me.”
“Anybody else not in your fan club?”
“Officer Hardass wasn’t too fond of me.” I threw the sopping towels into a trash bag. “But he wasn’t on the spreadsheet.”
“Chief of Police was though,” Roxy said. “Or maybe Manny figured out who you were and decided on a little payback.”
“Well crap. I shouldn’t have such a long list of enemies. I’m a likeable person, right?”
She glanced up at me. “I like you. But I have low standards.”
I actually laughed. “Thanks, Rox.” I grabbed a trash bag and began stuffing it with the remnants of my clothes.
It took over two hours, but eventually we put everything into bags. We dragged them, along with the remains of my futon mattress and the busted bistro table and chairs, out to the dumpster — it took several trips.
“I still can’t believe no one called the cops,” I said as we walked back inside. “This is such a small building and no one heard or saw anything?”
“People pay attention to their own shit,” she said. Putting her hands on her hips, she leaned back, stretching her muscles.
“No kidding. See if I give wino Wanda a bottle of red this Christmas.”
I tried to boot up my computer, but wasn’t having much success. “I’ll take this to Eric today. Maybe he can fix it.”
“What are you going to do, Rose?” She sat on the floor with one knee pulled up to her chest.
“I’ll replace what I can. Mainly a few clothes and food right now.”
“I mean about this Sullivan guy. He’s the most likely person to have done this, right?”
I put the laptop on the kitchen counter and sat down next to her. “I thought we decided Sullivan was just one of many.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think you can rule the rest of them out, but Sullivan’s my number one suspect.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you.” I slid her a sideways glance. “Henry tossed me in the back of a car the other night. He took me to see Sullivan.”
I’ve seen Roxy in a pissy mood. Plenty of times. And pissy was her only mood since she quit smoking. But I’d never seen her truly angry before. She jumped up, her fists clenched, the muscles in her jaw working. “What? He kidnapped you? Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head.
“Answer me, Rose. Did he hurt you? Because if he did…” She pounded her fist into the wall.
I got to my feet, trying to ignore the ache in my knee. “Roxy, stop. He didn’t hurt me.”
“They why did he take you? And why didn’t you tell me?” I heard the pain in her voice.
“He told me to quit asking questions. Quit looking for Axton. Then showed me pictures of all my friends and family. Like surveillance pictures.” I bit my lip and stared at my empty futon frame. “There was one of you. You were standing outside of The Carp. There was one of Scotty, Jacqueline, my parents, Ma, and one of Axton, bound and gagged.” I glanced at her. The look of betrayal on her face was almost more than I could stand.
“What the hell? Why did you keep this from me? Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Bullshit, Rose.” She poked a finger in my sternum. It hurt. “You didn’t want to stop looking for Axton. You were afraid I’d tell you to quit.”
Was that the truth? My head hurt and my eyes felt grainy. I covered my face with my hands. I stood that way for some time, just breathing, blocking out Roxy, blocking out my empty apartment. Finally, I dropped my hands and looked at her. “I’m sorry.”
She glared at me for what seemed like an hour, then finally said, “It’s okay.” She pointed at me, and I backed up a step in case she wanted to poke me again. “But you’re on my shit list once this is over.”
“Fair enough.”
Then she scuffed the floor with the toe of her shoe. “I thought we were best friends.”
“We are. I was wrong to keep it from you. From now on, full disclosure. I promise.”
“Okay.” She knocked her shoulder against mine. “You are such a dumbass. I wouldn’t have told you to stop looking for Axton.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears pricked my eyes. I thought I was all cried out, but I was wrong. I slid to the floor and covered my head with my arms, sobbing.
Roxy sat next to me and patted my arm. “Please don’t cry.” She handed me paper towel.
When the tears slowed down, I mopped up my face. The paper towel was rough on my cheeks and even rougher when I blew my nose.
“Gross,” Roxy said with a chuckle.
I laughed a little, too and then looked down at borrowed catering uniform. “I guess I’m going to have to wear this to work, huh?”
“You need to skip work and replace all your shit.”
“Unless I go to work, I can’t afford to replace any of my shit.”