Page 83 of Truth, Lies, and Second Dates
“So the takeaway here is to keep the shenanigans to a minimum when you’re making egg rolls. Got it. Y’know, I love this macabre shit, even though I spent ten years pretending otherwise. I’m sure someone died a horrible-yet-weird death right here in this building.”
“A banker had an allergic reaction to someone else’s service dog and went into anaphylactic shock. It wasn’t murder, but it was interesting.”
“Itisinteresting!”
“I’m pleased you’re pleased. But if you’ll allow me to go off topic—”
“No more carpet and egg-roll chitchat while you work up the nerve to tell me what’s really on your mind?”
That took him by surprise, which was foolish. Ava was many things; stupid was nowhere on that list.
“—you checked the peephole before you opened the door, yes?”
“Yep. Don’t worry, it definitely wasn’t Becka with a crowbar. Though I’m so hungry, I might’ve let her in if she’d had food.”
“Your text alarmed me.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to tell you what was going on. I called Jan, my union rep, too. To ask about Becka.”
This, too, was alarming. He set down his partially gnawed kebob. “Ava, I donotlike your exposure here.”
“Don’t worry, Jan won’t say anything. And she didn’t give me much, either. Apparently Becka was a big fan of mine even before she started working for the airline.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Jan knew who I was asking about before I mentioned Becka’s name.”
He had picked up his kebob, then nearly dropped it. “I don’t like that, either.”
“Weird, right? But apparently she aced her psych exam. All her exams. And Jan didn’t think I was in any ‘physical’ danger from her.”
“That’s an interesting way to quantify such a thing.”
“That’s what I said! Then that rotten bitch hung up on me, which is only fair, but it’s still annoying. So what do we—salt, please—what do we know? Becka’s young—early twenties.”
He took the salt back. “Which could rule her out.”
“Except we can’t use the ‘she’s too young’ rule because she could have a partner. That’s why you suspected me at first.”
“Yes, but in her case, she’s—what? Eight or nine years younger than you are?”
“Yeah. So if she has a partner, it hasn’t been for long, isthat what you’re saying? Because it’s a good point. And talking about Boston, that’s the other thing I wanted to know—how’d she know I was going to Boston and how’d she find me, also in Boston?”
“It is troubling. If you’d never before met, never moved in the same circles, why would a random pilot seize her attention in such a manner?”
“Hey! No, wait. You’re right. Iama random pilot.”
“Perhaps the exposure from the belly landing flagged her attention?”
“Maybe, but that wouldn’t explain how she knew all about me months earlier, when she was applying to the airline.”
“Point. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to get some answers.”
“Have Hannah dose her with truth serum? Bug her uniform? Dig a pit and lure her into it, and refuse to let her out until she confesses?”
“Those are all terrible ideas.”
“Thereareno terrible ideas in brainstorming, Tom.”
