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Chapter 44
BRIDGET
Past
Ibarely slept. The couch isn’t comfortable at all and smells like stale beer. I can’t stop thinking about Amy and Simone, and my bizarre call with Felipe. I don’t have any answers that would explain the strangeness of it all.
Darren calls me in the early morning, but I decide not to answer. I’ve got to focus what little attention I have on my stats final, which I end up bombing.
Afterward, my phone rings. Felipe’s number shows up, so I answer it.
“I can be in Berkeley in thirty minutes,” he says, his tone grim. “You know a place where we can talk privately? With no one around?”
What in the world is going on?
“I’m crashing at my roommate’s boyfriend’s place,” I suggest.
“Will we be alone?”
I text Kat asking if Brad and his roommate will be around. She responds that they’re playing a game of pick-up basketball right now and will probably head to the student union afterward for lunch.
“Their apartment isn’t far from the BART station,” I tell Felipe. “I can meet you there.”
I had hoped to stop by the hospital to check in on Simone, or possibly go back to the apartment to help box up Amy’s belongings so that Mrs. Liu won’t have to. Hopefully whatever is agitating Felipe won’t take too long.
I pass by a couple holding hands on the way to the Downtown Berkeley BART Station Plaza, where two little kids laugh and chase a robot on wheels. A group of young men sing a cappella, to the delight of bystanders. On this sunny day, there’s a lot of joy and love around me. But I feel like my world is crumbling. Why would God allow Amy to survive a shooting, only to have her end up dead from carbon monoxide poisoning?
When Felipe arrives, I throw my arms around him and hold him tight. I can feel the tears I’ve yet to shed pressing against my eyes, but something is clearly troubling him, so I step back.
“Sorry,” I say, “I’m a little bit of a wreck at the moment.”
He looks at me with sympathy. “We can talk as soon as we have privacy.”
We walk to Milvia Street and then toward Durant. When we reach Brad’s place, I reach under the mat for the key he left me. Felipe seems jittery the whole walk over but relaxes a little when we’re inside.
“Ugh,” he says. “The smell of a straight man’s place.”
“There’s my place,” I offer.
“No. You do not want to go back there.”
“You know about what happened? Was it in the news?”
“No. I overheard the man who did it.”
I’m not sure I heard him correctly. “The man who did it?”
“The heating unit in your apartment was messed with. On purpose.”
I understand the words, but I don’t truly comprehend them because it’s hard to believe.
“Who is this you overheard?” I ask skeptically.
His eyes downcast, Felipe shuffles his feet. “He’s a fixer. He was hired to take care of you and Amy.”
My mind reels. “What are you saying?”
He looks at me with anguish. “I am so sorry. You’re such a wonderful person, Bridget. You don’t deserve this. And I’m so, so sorry I never said anything.”
