Page 84 of For Your Eyes Only
Natasha walks around, pulling a book out of the built-in bookcases. “He said he’d be here soon. I texted him on the drive over.”
“Does he know about Debbie?” Rainey’s voice is small and hushed, like it’s a secret.
“I’m sure he read the paper today.” Nat’s head tilts to the side. “Yeah, he wouldn't have read the paper. Maybe he saw it on his phone? I don’t know.”
I’m not particularly interested in being the one to break the news his girlfriend is dead, but we’re here now. The best I can hope for is to pump the girls for information, not that I expect them to have any.
“For a proper Irish wake,” I act like I’m thinking about it, “we all have to share our fondest memory of the deceased. What’s your best memory of Debbie?”
Natasha’s face scrunches as she thinks, but Rainey rushes right in.
“One time, when I was getting out of a cab, the driver’s foot must’ve slipped off the brake or something because it started to move on me. I almost fell, but Debbie ran in front of the cab and beat on the hood. She yelled at him for being an asshole.” Rainey’s chin dropped. “I don’t think she even knew who I was. She was just cool like that.”
“She was probably high.” Natasha’s tone is dismissive. “Debbie loved to play the role of the tough girl when she was stoned.”
She rolls her eyes, another mental note. I didn’t know Natasha paid so much attention to Debbie’s behavior. I wonder if it had anything to do with Grish. I feel like a window has been opened, perhaps a clue I’ve ignored in the past.
I’m not ignoring it now.
“Did you have a fond memory of Debbie, Nat?” My tone is teasing, and her face blanches at my suggestion.
I never liked Natasha. Now I think she’s a shallow, self-centered cunt, who possibly knows more than she’s saying.
“Debbie was a drug addict with a big mouth.” Natasha levels her eyes on me, and I think she knows I’m fishing for clues and isn’t intimidated. “She was entitled. She had no qualifications to do anything, and I’m not surprised she finally looked herself in the mirror and realized the world was better off without her.”
“Nat!” Rainey gasps, crossing herself. “How can you say something like that?”
“Very easily and with very little remorse. Debbie was a thorn in my side for too long.”
I’m ready to dig deeper into this, but the door opens, and Grish steps inside quickly. I catch the panicked expression on his face the half-second before he realizes we’re all here.
The moment he sees us, his mask of cold indifference snaps into place.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” He slides his hand down the front of the same brown blazer he was wearing when I left him last night.Interesting.
He hasn’t been home since we parted ways.
“Oh, Grisha!” Rainey closes the space between them, walking straight into his arms and burying her face in his chest. She sniffles like a little girl, before finishing. “You don’t know? You really don't know?”
My friend’s body stiffens, and he catches Rainey by the upper arms, moving her off him. “What do you think I don’t know?”
Rainey’s chin wobbles, and she pulls her bottom lip under her teeth with a sharp inhale. “It’s Debbie. She’s dead.”
Grish’s eyes slide closed, and his chin drops. “I heard she was dead.”
Walking slowly to the kitchen, he pours himself a tumbler of vodka. I don’t miss the look he exchanges with Natasha as he passes. She shrugs and walks away, through the living room area into the bedroom, stopping at the window overlooking the street below.
I turn to Grish. “Do you know how it happened?”
“How would I know that?” His black eyes glitter.
“You don’t seem as upset as I’d expect.”
“How the fuck would you know, Trip? You’ve never loved anything.”
My gaze drops, and all I can think about is Gia. He has no idea, and I need to keep it that way. Her mere association with me is enough to put a target on her back… or her forehead. Or the middle of her chest.
All three possibilities nearly drive me to my knees, but I hold it together.