Since she’d be home within two hours, I dumped the bag in the guest bedroom, so it didn’t sit as a reminder. My phone rang in the kitchen, and I hurried to see who was calling. It wasn’t a number I recognized, but in dealing with Mom’s death, I had all kinds of unknown people calling.
“Hello?” I answered.
Frank Darren’s voice filled my ear. “When your sister gets home, ask her if her skin prickled this afternoon. The way she looked over her shoulder, I know she felt us watching her. Gary likes ‘em young, don’tcha Gare?”
My belly dropped and I felt nauseous, but I straightened my spine. “What the hell, Frank? Why are you following—”
“I said no fuckin’ cops!” he yelled.
“I didn’t call the cops.”
His volume went back to normal, but his tone was exceedingly sinister. “Don’t lie to me. You were at a substation bright and early this morning, bitch.”
How did he know that?
“Admit it,” he yelled.
“I…I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t,” I stammered.
“You better not have. But Gary likes the look of your sister. You step one toe out of line and she’s gonna pay the price.”
“No,” I breathed.
In a demonstration of his split-personalities, Frank’s tone turned conversational. “You know, I’m not a bad guy.”
No, he took bad to new heights.
“So, we’re gonna leave your sister alone today, and since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you until next Friday to scrape together last month’s payment.”
The question sat on the tip of my tongue. I was damned if I asked it and damned if I didn’t.
“Are you freezing the interest?” I asked in my sweetest tone.
He chuckled. “Fuck, no. You’re lucky I’m not increasing the interest. Get the money, Savannah.”
He hung up and I called Catalina. There wouldn’t be much she could do, but at least I’d be able to warn her about someone following her. I wasn’t certain Frank would leave her alone. The phone rang twice and then went to voicemail.
“Dammit!” I hissed.
This was not the time to reject my call. I tried Cat again, and it didn’t even ring once. Immediate voicemail.
“Shit,” I sighed.
The mounting tension made my neck tight, and I felt the need to stress-eat, which reminded me of my plan to hit the grocery store. Buying groceries wouldn’t help me get the money for Frank, but I had to feed my sister. If I hurried, I could get the groceries and get home before Catalina.
Mom’s maroon Buick wasn’t sitting in the garage when I returned. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Before I gathered the five grocery bags from the trunk, I tried Catalina’s cell again and got sent to voicemail. Inside the house, I locked the door behind me, then set the groceries on the kitchen counter.
A moment later, the muffled sound of the garage door going up filtered into the kitchen as I hung my purse on the back of a kitchen chair.
“I’m home, Savannah,” Cat called, wandering into the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said.
Her eyes darted to the side, she set her backpack on the floor, and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Sorry I rejected your call earlier.” She pressed her lips together for a beat, then shook her head. “You might think I’m crazy, but I swear someone followed me to Firehouse Subs this afternoon.”
My eyes closed when I took a deep breath. On my exhale, I opened them.
“Wait… why do I get the feeling you—” Her head tilted. “Did you expect something like that to happen?”
