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“Why don’t you FaceTime him now?” Julia motioned toward the phone that I was holding.
I gave her an incredulous look and said, “Uh, I don’t think so.” I looked down at my sweats and t-shirt that served as my pajamas. “Goodness! I can’t imagine what I look like right now,” I said as I self-consciously raked my fingers through my unruly hair.
“You look great!” Julia assured me.
“And you obviously biased!” I shook my head in exasperation. Next to Julia’s perpetual optimism, I felt like a curmudgeon.
“I’ll call instead,” I said, placing the cup down on the counter to wipe my palms on my thighs. I don’t know why, but I was nervous to talk to Aiden. I took a deep breath and searched through my contacts until I found his name. I pressed the button and waited.
He picked up right away—a good sign, I thought. Julia must’ve agreed because she gave me a thumbs-up. Thanks, umma, I mouthed, sending her into a fit of laughter at the use of the Korean word for “mom.”
“Good morning, Claire.” I relaxed instantly when I heard Aiden’s low, soothing voice greet me, and my lips curled up in a smile.
I also waved my hand at Julia to shush her because she was still laughing. I didn’t want Aiden to think we were deranged.
“Hi, Aiden. How’s everything going?” I asked, and as Julia crept closer to listen to our conversation, I pushed the speaker button on the phone.
“Well, as you know from last night, I was there with Annisa when the police explained why they had her in custody.”
“Go on,” Julia interrupted.
“Oh, is that Julia?” Aiden was surprised, but he recovered quickly. “Good morning, Julia.”
“Hi, Aiden! So, what did the police say?” Julia greeted him, but her voice was strained as she rushed out the question.
I heard Aiden’s sigh through the phone. “Apparently, the police found Trevor’s cell near his body. When they unlocked it, they saw that he was sending a text to Annisa.”
“WHAT?” we cried out and looked at each other, stunned by the news.
“Did they say what he wrote?” I asked.
“Not entirely, but they questioned Annisa about some scuba diving equipment. Do either one of you know why they would do that?”
I licked my bottom lip as I remembered what I saw yesterday at the beach.
“When I was helping Annisa get her equipment from her car, I was surprised by the expensive brand names she had. From what I could remember, it looked like she had over several thousand dollars’ worth of equipment. And based on the way she tossed her equipment into the bag, she had no idea how nice her gear was.”
Aiden made a small grunting sound. “That’s pretty much in line with what she told the police when they asked about the scuba equipment because she couldn’t even remember what gear she had.”
I stifled a groan and rolled my eyes. Then I said to Julia, “I already mentioned this to Aiden yesterday, but when I was helping Annisa get her diving equipment from her car, I saw that she had a bunch of brand-new purses and wallets in her trunk.”
Julia was kneeling on the floor playing with Grumpy, but she stood up abruptly and asked, “What kind were they?”
“Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada,” I listed the names that I could remember.
“Were they real?” Her voice rose in shock at the brands I named.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but they looked genuine to me. I didn’t know why she had them stuffed in her car in the first place.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if there’s any connection to the purses and the scuba diving equipment,” Aiden said dismissively. I was disappointed when his tone didn’t sound as interested in the brands as Julia was, but he was probably focused on getting Annisa out of jail.
I waved Julia off when she wanted to ask more questions about the stuff in Annisa’s car. “We can discuss this later,” I muttered, knowing that she would bring up the goods again. Aiden didn’t hear me whispering to Julia, and he continued talking. “The other thing that the police questioned Annisa about was the part that he wrote, ‘Call me back, I need to pick up something that I left at your place.’”
“Did Annisa know what that meant?” Julia placed a hand on her chest as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Frankly, neither could I. But one thing was clear. Julia and I needed to check Annisa’s apartment for “the something” that Trevor left at her place.
“She said she didn’t,” Aiden said, but there was doubt in his voice.
“Does this mean that Annisa is still under arrest?” I asked, remembering how frightened she sounded when she said that she didn’t want to go to jail.
