Ziya looked up from her phone, the screen angled away from Amie as she tried to understand the question. “What?”
“For leaving them at the club. Are they mad?”
“Oh. No, they’re not mad.” She dropped her phone into her clutch, closing it with a definitivesnap. “Just being annoying. They say hi.”
“To me?”
“Yeah, to you.”
“How did I come up?”
“I told them I was with you.”
“Are they mad at me?”
“No, they love you. That’s what they’re being annoying about.”
“How so?”
“Oh, look, we’ve reached the end of the hall. How time flies.” Ziya pulled open the door to the stairwell. Amie’s unanswered question was left hanging in the air behind them as she followed.
“Sorry you wasted your time coming here,” Amie said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “You probably expected a little more excitement than coaxing me down from the balcony like a cat stuck in a tree.”
Ziya snorted. “Firstly, a cat would’ve beenwayeasier andwayless nerve-wracking to get down. Secondly, helping you escape a potential murderer and discovering a blackmail plot isincrediblyexciting. Thirdly—”
“Hello, girls!”
Amie had just pushed open the stairwell door to the lobby. Elena was standing by her mailbox, a couple of envelopes in hand, beaming at the two of them.
Excellent, Amie thought with consternation as Ziya waved to the older woman. She braced herself for Elena to make things weird.
To her credit, Amie’s neighbor wasted no time. “Two visits in one day,” she observed cheerfully, closing her mailbox. “Just couldn’t stay away from our Amie for too long, could you, Ziya?”
Ziya let out a stilted laugh, dropping her gaze to the floor. Amie blinked with surprise. Was Ziyaembarrassed?
“She was just stopping by to get her—” Amie fell silent. When she began speaking, she’d been planning on saying that Ziya had returned to pick up her clothes from the night before. Two thoughts that she wished had come to herbeforeshe began that sentence were that Ziya wasn’t holding any clothes, and that informing Elena that Ziya had stayed over the night before wasnotthe direction Amie wanted this conversation to take.
“Purse,” Ziya finished, holding up her clutch. She’d apparently recovered from her bout of embarrassment. “Amie borrowed it a while ago, and I needed it for tonight.”
“Sure, sure,” Elena said mildly, flapping her mail at them. “Any excuse you can find, I get it.”
“Great seeing you as always, Elena,” Amie said hurriedly, gesturing for Ziya to follow as she headed for the front door. “Goodnight!”
As they exited the building, Amie took Ziya by the elbow and pulled her over to one side of the door.
“She’s absolutely going up to her window to spy on us,” Amie explained to a wide-eyed Ziya. “She won’t have a good line of sight if we stand here.”
“Oh,” Ziya breathed, her face relaxing. “Got it. Makes sense.”
“Sorry about her.”
“Pfft. It’s fine. She’s fun.”
“That’s one word for it.” Amie looked up, just in case Elena was leaning out the window to get a better view of them. “I forgot I still have your clothes. I can run up and grab them.”
“No, don’t worry about it. I’ll get them eventually.”
Amie’s heart lifted at the promise of eventually.
