“You bet.”
She put her cup of coffee down. I handed her the clothes. “I’ll get these back to you right away,” she said. “I’ll get them dry-cleaned.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“No, no. You’re a life saver, actually. I just remembered it’s my office Christmas party this morning.”
“This morning?”
“Well, late morning. It’s like a brunch thing. At the Loews.”
“Fancy.”
“Right? So now I’ll feel like…appropriately dressed.”
“Glad to be of help.”
Spike walked into the kitchen, yawning and stretching. I’d seen him wake up many times over the course of our friendship. He’d always reminded me of a bear coming out of hibernation, and this morning was no different.
“Morning, Spike,” Elspeth said.
“Morning, kid.” Spike held up Elspeth’s phone. “You left this in the kitchen last night, so I charged it for you.”
Elspeth stared at it, the smile slipping from her face, theprevious night creeping up on her, overtaking her. “Did…Did you check the texts?” she asked.
Spike shook his head. “I didn’t want to invade your privacy,” he said. “But I heard it ding a couple times.”
Elspeth took it from him with shaking hands. She tapped the screen and looked at it. Then she dropped it on the table.
I looked at her. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head.
I pointed to the phone. “You mind?”
She shook her head again. Spike moved closer to me. I picked up the phone. A series of texts striped the screen, all from that same number.
BE SMART. PLAY DUMB.
IF U TALK, U R DEAD
Wanna join Trevor????
Bitch.
I’m always awake. I’m always watching.
“Jesus,” Spike whispered.
The last text contained an image of the front of my building at night, my face in the living room window, my hand holding back the curtain. The shot had been taken after Elspeth hadfallen asleep, when I’d peered up and down the street and seen no one.
The hairs on the back of my neck had been right.
I looked at Elspeth. She’d put down my clothes and she was trembling, her arms pressed against her stomach, as though she was literally trying to hold herself together.
“I can’t talk to the police,” Elspeth whispered. “He’ll know. He’s watching.”
My gaze returned to the screen, a thought sneaking up on me. “We can draw him out,” I said. “I know something about him that he may not even know himself.”
