I saw Karen’s smile kind of go down a notch, and she looked confused.
“Actually, I’m with the Lesbian Recruitment Corps,” Penny said. “We’re—”
“Okay, that’s it,” I said, cutting her off. I went to usher Karen out so I could get rid of the weirdo, but before I could, Penny’s eyes changed. Her pupils opened all the way, and Karen’s face relaxed. The confused look that was starting to get mad went away, and she looked totally at ease.
“It doesn’t matter what we say,” Penny said to me over her shoulder. She thought it was funny.
“I’m a new friend of Zoe’s,” she said to Karen. “I don’t work at the FBI, but she met me through work. That’s all you need to know. I’ll be a very good influence on her, and I’m no threat at all to your friendship.”
“Oh,” Karen said.
“I’m pretty too. And funny.”
“Come on,” I said. “Stop it.”
“Well, those things are true,” she said, but I thought that might be debatable.
“Let her go.”
It wasn’t like I’d never done it to her myself, but I wasn’t comfortable watching someone else do it to her. Penny didn’t argue; she just nodded.
“Forget everything else we said after we met,” she told Karen. “It’s not important.”
“Okay.”
Her eyes went back to normal, and Karen snapped out of it.
“Give us a second,” I said to Penny. I led Karen back to the front door.
“Sorry,” I said. “She won’t be long.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I just wanted to tell you I was sorry about before. You’re right about Ted. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I canceled our lunch date.”
She looked over my shoulder, then back at me.
“She’s really pretty. She’s funny too,” she said. I nodded weakly.
“You’re not mad?”
“About what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because of her?” she said, smiling. “No. We should all go do something together.”
I tried to think of an excuse of why we shouldn’t do that, but nothing came into my head.
“Dancing,” Karen said.
“I don’t know about dancing, Karen.”
“Too much? Well, something. I’ll get out of your hair for now.”
She lowered her voice and leaned closer.
“Tell me all about her later.”
“I will. So you’re not mad? About her or Ted or anything?”
She hugged me. Karen liked to hug, and I wouldn’t admit it, but I kind of liked being hugged by her too.
“Yes, I was mad. Friends get mad at each other sometimes,” she said in my ear. “I love you.”
She pulled away and waved, then slipped out. I stared at the door. I don’t know what made her say that last part. I don’t think anyone had said that to me since I was little.
“Sorry about that,” Penny said. She actually looked kind of apologetic.
“Just …tell me what you want.”
“I would like to officially invite you and your friend Nico to meet with Ai at Suehiro 9,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“A restaurant.”
“Why a restaurant?”
“I don’t know. It’s public. It’s exclusive. They have good security. Plus I think she wants to impress you.”
“Is it fancy?”
“Totally.”
A fancy restaurant didn’t sound like anyplace I wanted to go. I didn’t have anything to wear to a place like that.
“Don’t worry about what to wear,” she said, like she read my mind. “She gave me this to give to you.”
She handed me the cardboard box with the bow on it.
“Go on. Open it.”
I pulled off the bow and took the top off the box. There was some thin paper underneath, and under that was a black dress. There were high-heel shoes in there too. They looked expensive. They looked really expensive.
“It’ll fit,” she said.
“She’s giving this to me?”
“Don’t worry so much,” Penny said. “It’s not a big deal. Come on, she’s footing the bill. If you don’t go, then I don’t get to go.”
“That woman,” I said, still looking at the dress, “the one I was with at the hospital. She was with you guys, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“You know I was with her when she died?”
“Yes. Don’t worry about her. It wasn’t your job to protect her. She knew what she was getting into.”
“Why does your friend want to meet with me and Nico?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “I just know it’s important. She’ll explain everything.”
“I don’t know if Nico will go or not.”
“Don’t worry about him,” she said, waving her hand. “He was easy. He’ll go.”
“I don’t know if he’ll want to go with me.”
“I’m telling you; he’s on the hook.”
“Why didn’t she just come herself?”
“That’s what she’s got me for,” she said. “Besides, I think she thought you and me would hit it off, maybe become friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah, friends,” she said, holding out her hands. “You don’t want to keep all your eggs in one basket. Do you have something against friends?”
“No—”
“Okay, then.”
She opened the door and turned to face me in the doorway before she left. She gave me a weird look, and I felt my heart rate slow down a little.
“It’s tonight,” she said, handing me a card. “Call Nico, and tell him to pick you up. See you there.”
She left. I closed the door behind her. After a few seconds, I locked it.
I should go see Karen.
In spite of how strange the visit was, that was the thing I couldn’t stop thinking as soon as she left. The way Karen’s face looked when she pushed her like that, and the way her whole attitude just changed completely afterward. It didn’t seem right somehow.
But you do it all the time, don’t you?
Not all the time.
But you do it.
Maybe. I guessed I did. Not as much as before, but I had to admit I did sometimes still, and not just to her. Was that what it was like? If anyone else watched me the way I had just watched them, would they think it was just as wrong?
“Karen’s my friend,” I said out loud. She was my friend because she wanted to be, not because I made her. Not even I could make someone be my friend. You could make people do a lot of things, but you couldn’t make them like you.
In the end I decided not to go down. It seemed weird to show up again right after that. She was happy when she left. I figured I’d leave it at that.
Instead I took the dress the rest of the way out of the package. It looked like it cost a mint. I held it up in front of myself and went into the bathroom to see.
It was gorgeous. It was the nicest thing in my whole apartment.
I picked up my cell and called Nico’s number again. I was kind of hoping he wouldn’t pick up so I could just leave a message, but he did.
“Wachalowski,” he said.
“Um, hi. Nico?”
“Zoe. Did you get my message?”
“Um, not yet.”
“It’s okay. Look, I made some calls, and I don’t think you have to worry about the incident at the hospital.”
“No?”
“No. It got dropped.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Someone else must have gotten involved.”
“So they’re not looking for me?”
“No,” he said, “but I don’t think this is over.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
He paused on the other end of the line.
“What’s wrong?”
“I kind of have something to ask you.”
“Sure.”
“I was wondering, if you’re not doing anything else, and if you feel like it, if you might want to go out to dinner.”
“Are you asking me out to dinner?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I was so embarrassed, I could hardly talk. He thought I was calling him to ask him out on a date. If I didn’t say something soon, he’d start making excuses why he couldn’t go. My throat felt like it was going to close up on me.
“Not exactly?”