Page 9 of Heart Me Up
“Oh, yes. And she didn’t show up for her shift.” Craig raised a finger. “But the next day is when it got interesting. Corrie was scheduled to work the midday shift, which starts at 10:00am. She didn’t show up or contact us, so Kat called her cell phone around 10:30.”
He pulled up the second recording and played it.
“Hello.”The voice wasn’t Corrie’s, but it sounded familiar.
“Hi, this is Kat from Bark & Purr. I’m trying to reach Corrie since she’s late for her shift.”
“Oh!”The woman made a sobbing sound.“I’m Corrie’s mother. I guess, I guess you should know. I found Corrie dead last night.”Another sob.“She killed herself.”
“What the fuck?” I sat up straight in my chair, staring at the laptop. Craig nodded with a wry smile.
“What?”Kat’s voice increased in pitch. “Oh, no! That’s awful! I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Yes, the pregnancy was really stressful for her. And being pressured to work while she was pregnant.…”More sobs.
“Wait, what?” I sputtered, and Craig paused the recording. “I think thatisCorrie’s mother. I’ve met her like twice, though, so I could be wrong. But is she trying to say Corrie killed herself because her boss told her to come to work?” What kind of mind-fuck game were Corrie and her mother playing? This was horrible. Silvia was going to be appalled when I told her.
Craig just nodded and continued the playback.
Kat sounded cautious now.“Ma’am, it’s terrible she was so upset. She always seemed so upbeat and, um, cheerful when she was here. Is there anything we can do for you?”
“Please, can you send her paycheck as soon as you can? I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford the funeral.”
“Yes, ma’am, of course. Please convey our condolences to the rest of your family.”Kat was talking faster now, probably desperate to get off the phone.
“Corrie didn’t have any other family.”
I gasped in outrage. Corrie fuckinglivedwith her grandmother.
“I’ll let everyone here know what happened. We’ll all be thinking about you in your time of loss.”
“Thank you. You’re so much nicer than Corrie said you were.”I choked and Craig rolled his eyes.
“Oh, um, thanks. Goodbye, ma’am.”
“Goodbye,”the woman whispered, and the recording ended.
Craig sat back in his chair and held his hands out, palms up. “You see what we were dealing with.”
“Wow.” I was having trouble processing it all. I rubbed my hand over my jaw.
“Are you sure that was her mother?” he asked.
“Pretty sure.”
“Huh. We figured it was one of her friends. It doesn’t seem like something a mother would help her kid do.”
I grimaced. “You haven’t met Corrie’s mother. She’s not the most stable person, which is why Corrie’s been living with her grandmother for the past year or so.”
“I see. Well, anyway, Kat was pretty upset about the call, as you can imagine. We debated whether it was fake, but Greg and I decided that because we couldn’t be 100% sure, we should go ahead and send a condolence card. We had to tell the staff Corrie was dead so they could sign the card.” He shook his head.
“When did you figure it out?” I was getting pretty pissed at Corrie and her mother.
“Corrie hadn’t worked here long enough to make friends, so it wasn’t until a couple of days later when Kat thought to check out Corrie’s Instagram. Guess who’d just posted a photo of herself out at some club?”
I snorted. “Of course.”
“Of course.Andof course it was well after the condolence card was sent and gone.”
