“He’s busy these days.”
She frowns. “Are you overworking him?”
I arch an eyebrow at her annoyed tone. “Of course not…and why do you care how much I work him?”
“I don’t.” She clears her throat. “I was just, you know, asking. By the way, I saw Liza this afternoon.”
I freeze. “Liza” is an illusion, something made up to entrap me. Everything about her is fake. “Her name is Elizabeth,” I say, my voice cold.
“I know, but it isn’t easy to switch. To me, she’s always going to be Liza, I’m afraid.”
“Try harder.”
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes in that petulant “I’m superior to you” manner she acquired in her teen years. Adult or not, she hasn’t grown out of that yet.
Then something else occurs to me. “Was she stalking you?”
“Huh?”
“Did she…find you or something? It seems a bit odd that you ran into each other, don’t you think?”
“Not really. I saw her come out of a store, and I said hi.”
Hmm. Maybe I’m being too paranoid. L.A. is a huge city, but it’s possible to run into acquaintances. Still… Elizabeth’s persistent avoidance of me…then the dinner and now running into my sister…?
“Trust me, she wasn’t following me,” Kristen says forcefully. “Anyway, we had coffee.”
“Whatever for?” I ask, aghast.
“Just to catch up.”
“What did she want to say?”
“Dominic. I asked her for coffee.”
What the hell? Before I can say anything, Kristen gets up and goes to the kitchen. “Got any chips?”
“In the pantry. Second shelf, on your left.”
She finds a bag of baked potato chips and brings it over. After munching on a couple, she offers me the bag, even though she knows I don’t like chips and will decline. It’s an old routine. If I’m going to eat junk calories, I’m having fries.
“Well?” I say when I get tired of watching Kristen chew.
“Well what? Li— Sorry, Elizabeth didn’t really want to tell me anything in particular. She was as gracious as the articles say, and she listened to what I’ve been up to.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.” Kristen sighs. “Look, I know you’re going to hate hearing this, but…”
“Then don’t say it.”
“But maybe I should. It’s just a theory of mine, but I’ve been wondering about things.”
Not interested at all. But I don’t cut her off either. Maybe Kristen has some insight that can help me figure out what’s been bugging me about Elizabeth.
“I don’t think she wanted to hurt you. I mean, if she had, why was it that nobody charged you?”
I’ll forever rue the day I told Kristen the truth. I only did it because she was so freaked out about returning that damned prom dress. “Like I said, the DA probably thought it was a dumb charge.”