“As her number-one fan club, we must step up,” Chloe said. “My partner and I are donating two hundred dollars. Please give what you can. I have the station Venmo account here. If we raise more money than any other fan group in town, their news director told me they’d put our names on a wall of donors they’re creating. Isn’t that neat? Who’s in?”
Carol shot her hand up and so did everyone else, including Heather and Steve. Chloe’s eyes widened and she grinned.
“You all are the best. Although we’ve lost Faith, look what we’ve gained in getting to know one another. It’s truly the best community I’ve ever been in. Let’s all get our phones out and Venmo at the same time. The station will be blown away!”
People fumbled for their phones, saying things like, “How do I do this again?” Heather leaned over toward Carol and Carol thought she was going to ask her something about Venmo. Carol barely knew how to operate her own and didn’t want to teach someone else, so she faked that she didn’t notice Heather getting closer to her by keeping her eyes on her own phone.
“Carol, did you say your niece met Faith?” Heather whispered. “I heard a rumor that Faith gave an intern some piece of paper. Was thatyourniece, by chance?”
Carol’s head snapped toward Heather. How would this woman know that bit of info?
“Where did that rumor come from?” she asked, suddenly worried sick for Olivia if this got around.
“From Chloe,” hissed Heather, nodding toward Chloe, who was helping an elderly couple who didn’t have Venmo and wanted to donate cash. “She knows a lot of things.”
“Well, it was not my niece. Must have been some other intern.”
Carol was going to protect Olivia at all costs. No way she was divulging info to this teddy-bear-toting, weird-earring-wearing, glomming-on woman.
“Oh, OK, I just wondered ’cause you know, we’re all looking for justice for Faith. That’s all we want. If it was your niece, your secret is safe with me. I mean, if she told you anything, anything at all that could bring justice, we could all work together to do so.”
What an odd thing to say, Carol thought. Why would Heather press her in this manner and say “your secret is safe with me”? Did Heather not believe her?
“Well, it wasn’t my niece,” said Carol firmly.
“Cool beans,” replied Heather. Carol glanced around again and wondered if she could slide over to an open chair without being rude. Chloe started talking loudly again.
“Venmo time is over but if you need tech help I will stay after this meeting. Next I want to talk about Faith’s… you know… her… her baby.” Chloe’s voice cracked at the last word, and she paused to compose herself. “I’ve been thinking of ways to honor him or her. What about a community baby shower where we all get diapers and wipes and formula and things for those less fortunate? Or does anyone have any other ideas?”
For a few minutes they went back and forth on thoughts, Chloe writing them all down and nodding vigorously at each one. Steve raised his hand.
“Yes, Steve?” called out Chloe.
“We were gonna name the baby Zeus, it was a boy,” he said.
Heather leaned over and whispered in Carol’s ear.
“No way you can tell that at six weeks.”
Chloe smiled in that appeasing way toward Steve and said, “Thank you for sharing. Anyone else?”
Another woman raised her hand and started talking about a day care that really needed donations and maybe they should zero in on that.
Carol heard a ping of a phone and thought it was hers. Others seemed to as well, as a few people near her fumbled in their pockets or bags for their phones. But as she glanced down at her phone Carol saw that it had nothing new on it.
Heather was reaching into her purse for her phone. She pulled it out and clearly it had been her phone making the noise as she pushed something on the screen to read whatever the text or alert was.
Heather’s mouth dropped open. She shoved the phone back into her purse and stood up hastily. Her whole demeanor seemed to change. Her face looked stricken and her eyes sort of wild. She snatched the teddy bear off the table and shoved it into her purse.
“I need to go,” she declared. “Sorry.”
Heather bolted out of the room, startling the rest of the members of the FWFFC, who all looked after her quizzically. Carol watched Heather practically run through the coffee shop toward the parking lot.
“Well, oh-kaaay then, we certainly hope everything is all right,” said Chloe. “Listen, some great ideas here. Let’s wrap for the night and I’ll post on the Facebook page what our Venmo total was. We should be very proud, Faith would be very proud. This has been a super meeting.”
People began standing and collecting their items, chatting with each other and shaking hands. Carol wanted to try and pin down Steve for more info. She walked back over to him.
“We were interrupted,” she said. “I think I was asking if you ever heard from Faith again Friday night.”
