On the Night She Died: A Quarry Street Story Read online

  Marie touched her on the arm so Jenni looked at her. “You okay, hon? No offense, but you look kinda rough. Like you’ve lost weight.”

  Jenni caught a glimpse of her reflection in the diner’s mirrored wall. Faint dark circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were more hollow, but since when had being skinny ever been a bad thing? “Can’t be too thin, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Marie didn’t look convinced.

  “Just a little tired. I’m fine. I’ll get him after I use the bathroom.” In the stall, she pulled a couple of pills from her pocket and slipped them into her mouth to dry swallow them.

  Jenni closed her eyes, waiting for the flood of numbness. It took hardly any time at all, probably because what she’d told Maria wasn’t a lie. She was tired. She’d been sleeping like shit lately. So much on her mind, the only way to get to dreamland was by using, and the more she used, the more certain it became that Barry was going to find out she’d been skimming.

  Fuck, now she’d started nodding off.

  Jenni finished in the bathroom and grabbed a coffee carafe. At Ilya’s table, she stood with a hip cocked. She didn’t pour him a cup, even when he shoved the plain, thick white mug toward her.

  "What are you doing here?" Her demand was crisp. Cool. Every word enunciated, since she had to struggle to make sure she wasn’t slurring.

  Ilya sat up straighter in the booth. "Getting something to eat, what does it look like?"

  "Are you stalking me?" The words hissed out of her.

  He started to laugh until he saw that she was serious. "What? No!"

  "Look, this is where I work. You can't just show up here. I don't have time for this."

  "Time for what? I'm not doing anything." It wasn’t the truth, and they both knew it. Still, he tried to charm her with a smile.

  A few months ago, it would have worked.

  "You're going to get me in trouble." Jenni glanced over her shoulder with a frown. "Reggie doesn't like kids just hanging around. I can't give you anything for free, don't even ask."

  "I don't need free anything. I came to get a burger and fries." Ilya pointed across the room. "There are tons of kids from school here, and he doesn't seem to mind them hanging out."

  Jenni fixed him with a long, stern look that was designed to dig right into him. Whatever he thought he was up to, she wasn’t having it. None of it. "I don't need you checking up on me, Ilya."

  "I'm not even..." He cut himself off, tossed up his hands and shook his head. "Whatever. I'll just eat and go, okay? Sorry to cause you such distress."

  For a second, she almost softened. They’d been friends so long. Too long for it to be like this between them. Too bad she couldn’t figure out how else it ought to be. They wanted different things. They were different people.

  Jenni took her coffee pot and returned to her section of the diner. She didn’t look at him again, even though she could feel the burden of his stare all the way across the room. Ilya wanted her attention, and she couldn’t give it to him, not even to fix whatever it was that had gone so spectacularly wrong between them.

  She sent Maria over to him with his food. Jenni pretended not to notice when Lisa Morrow and her best friend Deana joined Ilya in the booth. Lisa was putting on a show, giggling and tossing her hair. Her laughter was loud and braying, determined to draw attention to the fact they were sitting together. It was so pathetic, so transparent, but with the drugs filtering through her now, Jenni could not bring herself to care. She’d heard a rumor that last year, Lisa had given Ilya a hand job at Benji Masterson's party. If Ilya wanted Lisa or Deana, he could have them both. If he was trying to make her jealous, he could just keep trying.

  “Hey, Bob.” Jenni managed a smile for one of her regulars. “Get you anything else?”

  “You know, I b’lieve I’ll take a little of that special dessert you’re so good about putting back for me.” The trucker slid a wad of money across the table to her -- way more than it would take to pay for the eggs and pancakes he’d polished off.

  Jenni tucked the cash into her apron pocket and counted out some change. She put it on the table, along with three pills he’d bought. Bob covered both the pills and the money with his hand and slid it toward him. It almost got away from him, one pill rolling toward the table’s edge. He slapped his hand on it.

  “Careful there, girl,” he said to her, like it was her fault he’d been clumsy.

  She nodded and moved away without a backward glance. She took the money and the check to the cash register and rang him out. Bob passed her on his way through the front door.

  “You take care, you hear?” he said.

  Jenni gave him another smile. “I always do.”

  She heard another swell of harsh and desperate feminine laughter but refused to turn to see what Lisa was laughing about. Jenni went into the kitchen instead. When she came out, Ilya was gone.

  Good. She had the rest of her shift to finish, and she didn’t want to get in trouble because Ilya was hanging around. Plus, she didn’t want him to see her talking to Steve. So far, he hadn’t shown up, and there was always the possibility that he wouldn’t. Once again, he hadn’t paged her when he said he would. That was what he did. Made her promises, didn’t keep them, made her wonder if he’d ever promised them in the first place. Made her crazy.

  For the rest of the night, she took and delivered orders, occasionally passing out the rest the drugs from her pocket in exchange for cash she went into the bathroom to count. She looked to the door every time it opened.

  And then, an hour before she was due to leave, Steve finally came in. Her heart pounded at the sight of him. Excitement, but also a little anxiety. He’d promised her he was keeping the money safe for her, but he also hadn’t given it back to her. He knew better, he’d said. He was older. Smarter. She knew that wasn’t true, but she hadn’t been able to figure out how to get the money back from him, either, and didn’t that make her the dumb one?

  Maria sat him in Jenni’s section, way in the back corner, but it took Jenni a few minutes before she could get over to him. She had to make sure her hands weren’t trembling. That she could talk without stuttering.

  “Hey,” was all he said when she came up to offer him coffee and water.

  It was how he greeted her every time. Same smirking smile. Same casual tone. If Ilya had spoken to her that way, like she barely mattered, Jenni would have hated him for it. But from him, oh, him, it was just how it should be, so instead she hated herself for making it all okay.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  She nodded. She had a bag packed, mostly empty. There hadn’t been anything she really wanted to take with her. “Yes.”

  “You’ll have the rest of the stuff?”

  “Yes. All of it.”

  “Good.”

  She took his order. The usual. Steak and eggs, hash browns, biscuits with butter on the side. He was finishing up as her shift ended. She took his money without slipping him anything along with the change — he got better treatment than that. She’d have something special, something she held back, just for him, but would give it to him in the car when they parked. When he touched her. When he made good on his promise to take her away with him.

  “Jennilynn,” Maria said as Jenni was clocking out. “Do you need a ride home? This weather is terrible.”

  “I have one, thanks.”

  Maria looked concerned. Her mouth, outlined in hot pink lipstick that had feathered into the wrinkles at the corners of her lips, pursed. “You sure? I can ask Reggie if he minds me cutting out a little early.”

  “I’m good,” Jenni said and caught sight of Maria’s stare. Uncomfortable and feeling caught out, Jenni frowned. “What?”

  “He’s too old for you,” Maria said in a low voice. “And he’s…well, there’s been talk.”

  Jenni took a step back. Her heart pounded again, for different reasons this time. For all the care they’d taken, Maria must still have seen something in the way they spoke to each ot