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“I’m not sure.” Aiden met my gaze with a feeble smile. “Do you have any thoughts?”
“No, but whatever happens, we have to make sure that Annisa tells the police everything she knows,” I said determinedly when I saw Annisa get out of her car with a large Louis Vuitton tote bag.
“She needs to change out of her wetsuit before she asks to speak to the officers. She looks ridiculous,” I said, taken back by the contrast between her designer bag and the thick neoprene suit.
“She’s got to be roasting in that,” Aiden observed, shaking his head.
“I don’t know. She was shivering while we were talking outside, so maybe she’s still warming up from the cold.”
“Maybe,” Aiden said and opened his door to get out. Then, casually over his shoulder, he added, “It is California, after all.”
I grinned, thinking about the interesting outfits I’d seen since I had come back to the States from being in the Middle East after a year. I jumped when I heard a knock on the window. While I was musing about the unique outfits on the streets of San Francisco, Annisa had come up to my side of the car.
“Claire, are you coming?” Annisa’s face was pressed close to the glass.
I gave what I hoped was an encouraging smile as I thought, If you weren’t Julia’s good friend, I wouldn’t be here.
I sighed and got out of the car. “Here we go!” I muttered.
Chapter Ten
“Everyone’s staring at us,” I whispered to Aiden when we walked into the police station.
“Not at us,” he said, talking out of the corner of his mouth. Then he motioned his head toward Annisa, who hadn’t changed from her neon pink wetsuit. She was eliciting stares from everyone as she passed, but she wasn’t paying any attention to the gawking.
A small boy sitting on his mom’s lap stopped playing with his toy. He looked at his mom and asked, “Is that Aquagirl?”
“No, Jake, that’s not Aquagirl. That’s…” The lady paused to think of something to say.
I wanted to finish the mom’s answer by telling the boy that Annisa was scuba girl, but by the determined way that she was marching to the reception desk, I thought better of making the joke.
Instead, I half-shrugged at the boy and his mom as if to say, I know. It’s weird.
To be honest, I marveled at Annisa’s confidence. Unless I was getting ready to dive, there would be no way that I would be walking around in a formfitting wetsuit. Especially one with a color that was designed to be spotted from outer space.
“Excuse me, I would like to talk to Officer Shin,” Annisa said when she got to the desk. I noticed she omitted Officer Frankel’s name.
The receptionist looked up and blinked several times. She had been typing on her keyboard when she was interrupted by an Asian lady wearing a wetsuit.
She opened her mouth in surprise, trying to figure out if this was some sort of prank. She blinked a few times. Then, when the vision in front of her didn’t disappear, her eyes flickered around the room to see if anyone else was seeing the person in front of her.
When she saw they were indeed seeing the same thing, she turned back to Annisa. “May I help you?” Her voice was raspy as if she smoked too many cigarettes in her younger days.
“I would like to talk to Officer Shin,” Annisa said again.
The receptionist squinted. “Is he expecting you?”
Annisa shook her head, but when the receptionist saw that she was being completely serious about her request, the lady picked up the receiver and punched a few buttons.
“Alex, there’s someone to see you— Yeah, she’s waiting for you at the front— Her name?” The woman looked at Annisa and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Annisa Choi.” She said it loudly enough that Officer Shin heard her on the other end.
There was mumbling that I couldn’t hear, but judging from the receptionist’s stunned look, I assumed that the officer said that he knew who Annisa was.
“O-kay,” the receptionist drawled out warily. Then she looked up at Annisa and said, “He’ll be right out.”
Annisa gave the woman a brilliant smile and gave her a look that said, I told you so. Then, she turned to walk back toward where Aiden and I were standing.
