She stuffs the wad of cash into her purse and hurriedly leaves the hotel room without saying goodbye to Franco or Mondo. She hopes she never sees either of them again.
Rayna knows this has already gone too far, she shouldn’t have come back here today. But as Daryl counted out the six thousand dollars into her hand, she couldn’t help but feel powerful. But then, she keeps coming back to what Zeki would think if he knew what was going on. And Rayna knows it wouldn’t be good.
She takes an Uber to her bank and deposits all but two hundred dollars. This will last her quite awhile, that’s for sure. Then she walks to the nearby coffee shop and purchases a hot tea to calm her nerves.
While sitting at the table, she picks up her phone multiple times, daring herself to message Remi and tell her what’s going on. Her twin has always had her head screwed on straight, and she would know what Rayna should do.
But she never quite gets up the nerve.
She finishes her tea, leaving the cute mug on the table for the employees to clean up, then she uses her phone to order an Uber home.
As the car pulls up to the curb to drop her off at home, Rayna looks up toward the big house. The lights are all off, giving it an empty vibe.
She doesn’t know why, but suddenly this house doesn’t seem like the one she helped pick out a few months ago.
Rayna unlocks the door and heads inside. She stops by the kitchen to pop a bag of microwave popcorn, then heads for the couch. She absentmindedly picks out a movie and pushes play.
Her phone buzzes from where she left it on the coffee table.
Zeki: Can you pick up groceries before I come home tomorrow?
Rayna reads the text and thinks for a moment before responding. Zeki sure seems to be getting demanding lately, and Rayna isn’t too ready to part with the money she worked hard to earn this afternoon just yet. She decides to try something.
Rayna: Sure, can you send me $$?
She turns back to the movie, awaiting her boyfriend’s response. She doesn’t have to wait long.
Zeki: What? You don’t have any?
She feels her anger bubble up, and all the shame she feels about her activities earlier today fades away. All this time, she’s been telling herself she should not go through with it, that she should just ask Zeki for money. And look what happens.
Rayna doesn’t even bother texting him back. She’s so annoyed that she let herself feel embarrassed this entire time, when really she shouldn’t have been. Zeki’s the one who told her to quit her restaurant gig, now he gets annoyed when she asks for money.
She picks up her phone again, ignoring the text from Zeki and opening a new conversation.
Rayna: Let me know when you need me again. Interested in more scenes.
She feels no regret as she pushes send. He’s quick to reply.
Daryl: no problem. Tues? Not as high as today, but 2k again.
Rayna: Perfect.
She tosses her phone toward the other end of the couch, a smug smile on her face. She definitely does not need Zeki’s money.
RAYNA
NOW
The female officer pauses as the phone at her hip rings.
“Grady,” she answers. She puts a finger up to indicate she’ll be just a moment, then walks into the kitchen to take the call.
So that’s her name, Officer Grady. Rayna glances around the room again, trying to think of somewhere, anywhere her sister would go to get away. But she keeps coming up blank.
Because until last night you guys barely talked, her subconscious reminds her.
Rayna knows their drifting apart has been mostly her fault. After all, she’s the one who left the bulk of the texts unanswered in the beginning. And then Remi stopped trying after awhile. And honestly, Rayna can’t blame her. Kinda hard to keep texting someone who never texts back.
Officer Grady hangs up the phone and returns to the couch. “Sorry about that, where were we?” she asks as she picks up her iPad once more.
“Um, well, Remi called me in tears because she found out John was married.”
“Uh huh. And did she say how she found out?”
Rayna nods, the conversation flashing back to the front of her mind once more. “Yes, his wife came over here last night and paid her a visit.”
“Interesting.” Officer Grady begins wildly typing notes. “Did Remi say anything about the wife or what she wanted?”
“I mean, she was in tears,” Rayna says, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyes, trying to remember the exact words her sister said, “but I don’t think she said why she came over. The name might have been Patricia or something like that?” She taps her finger on her chin. “Maybe Patrice?”
The officer nods. “Alright, that gives us something to go off of. Now, does your sister have any enemies?”
“No, none, everyone loves her. I’m the hated one.” Rayna crosses and uncrosses her legs, glancing at the clock on the wall. It’s almost eleven, she’s already been talking to the officer for an hour.
“None at all? Most people have at least someone who doesn’t like them.”
The scene from months ago before she moved out comes to the front of Rayna’s mind. “Actually,” Rayna hates to do this, but finding Remi is more important than avoiding her boyfriend’s anger, “she never really got along with my boyfriend, Zeki Arnold.”
“Did they argue?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing of the sort. It was actually a bit more awkward than that. Remi had never been a fan of him, and then a few months ago he was drunk and mistook her for me. That’s why I moved out of this apartment actually.”
“You used to live here?” The officer doesn’t even look up from her iPad.
Rayna rolls her eyes. “That’s what I just said.”
“And where do you live now? We will need to check out the room where you last saw your sister.”
She bites her lip as she realizes they’ll need to see the guest room. And Rayna grimaces as she remembers its current state.
“I live on the other side of town. I’m happy to have an officer come check it out, but—“
“But what?” Grady pries.
Rayna’s embarrassed now. “My boyfriend tore apart the guest room this morning. I’m not sure, if there was any evidence in the first place, if there will be any left.”
“And does your boyfriend tear apart rooms of the house often?”
This is starting to feel like an attack, and she can feel herself becoming defensive. She tries to repress it and remind herself she’s only helping Remi, but it’s difficult.
“No. Zeki is great, he just, uh, had a bad morning.” She realizes after she says it how fake it sounds. Zeki is definitely on the suspect list now.
Officer Grady slides her iPad into a pouch. “I think you and I better head to your place and have a look at this room. Can you call Zeki to meet us there?”
Rayna winces, but agrees. Calling Zeki is never easy.
Both of them rise from the couch, and Rayna goes to slip on her shoes. Officer Grady stands by the door. “I never properly introduced myself, by the way. I’m Detective Grady. My partner, Detective Brown, is going to follow in his car.”
Rayna nods, glad to finally get their names, although she didn’t realize she’s been speaking to a detective this whole time. As they step out the door, Rayna decides to ask a question that’s been bothering her the whole time. “So do you and Detective Brown work a lot of missing persons cases?”
“Some,” Grady replies curtly, opening the passenger side door of an unmarked police car for Rayna.
“And do you usually find the person?” Rayna asks hopefully as she slides in and buckles her seatbelt.
Detective Grady looks Rayna straight in the eye before answering.
“I’m not going to lie to you. Detective Brown and I, our main job is homicide.”
REMI
NOW
She’s been in here for almost a month. She’s sure of it. If only she had a way to
see the daylight and mark off the sunsets to be sure.
Her stomach growls, at a volume she’s never heard before. Hunger is beginning to have a new meaning. Not that Remi has ever been picky, just conscious of what’s good for her body and what isn’t. She obviously isn’t a vegan, but she’s always gravitated towards all organic foods, and kept her meat consumption to a minimum.
What she wouldn’t give right now for some chicken wings. Or even a package of one of her most detested foods, Oreos. She’d eat the entire thing.
She’s out of water again, and God hasn’t reappeared with more. She’s tried praying again, but to no avail. Her mind has questioned if there’s a possibility maybe it isn’t the Christian God. Maybe it’s the Jewish one, and He became offended when she said “in Jesus’ name” at the end of the prayer. Maybe she should try again without it. Does Buddha get offended? Is that even possible?
As her thoughts spin over all the religious lore she’s absorbed over the years, her ears perk up at a sudden scratching sound.
“Hello? Who’s there?” she calls out.
No one answers.
Remi begins to crawl forward on her hands and knees, looking for the source of the sound. On her first loop of the small room, she encounters nothing. She sits back on her heels to listen.
This time when the sound comes, she thinks she can tell where it’s coming from. Moving forward to the nearest wall, she places her ear on it. At first it’s cold, but her ear quickly adapts. She begins to slide along the wall.
As she approaches the corner, she hears the sound again, loud and near her ear—just on the other side of the wall.
“Who’s in there?” she whispers, mostly to herself. The scratching stops.
It’s probably just a mouse, she reasons.
Just to be sure, she continues to slide around the perimeter of the room with her ear to the wall. As she comes to the spot she thinks is directly opposite from the scratching, she hears something similar to the ocean.
“Running water?” she asks out loud to no one in particular. “Am I by a river?” Of course, there is no answer, so she continues her listening expedition. She doesn’t encounter anything else interesting and is soon back to the scratching noises.
“Hello, mouse family. If you are mice, that is. If you’re not, and that sort of thing offends you, I’m sorry.” Remi realizes she’s whispering to a wall and chastises herself for a moment. But then she shrugs her shoulders and continues, “if you’re not a mouse, maybe a cat or something, maybe you could get me help?” She mentally slaps herself at how dumb and crazy she’s being, but for once she feels like she’s doing something besides sitting around.
The scratching noises stop again. And Remi sits down and leans on the wall.
“I’ll just wait here while you go get help, ok?” she lets the noises know.
They don’t start back up.
Remi touches the two empty water bottles by her feet. She fiddles with them, stacking them on one another to pass the time. It’s pretty boring with only two water bottles, but she doesn’t know what else to do.
While she’s fiddling with the water bottles, she remembers a time when she was really little. She and Rayna were playing hide and go seek. Remi had climbed in her parents closet on a shelf, and buried herself in clothes.
Rayna looked for minutes, then hours for her sister. Remi used the time to take a nap. When she woke up and returned to the living room (she had forgotten they were playing hide-n-go-seek) her parents were aching with worry, asking her where she had been and why she hadn’t come out when they called. Remi never liked being yelled at, and this intimidated her so much she started crying. She never ended up revealing her hiding spot.
That was the end of hide-n-go-seek for the twins, though. Rayna never wanted to play it again. In fact, Remi distinctly remembers that as a turning point in their childhood. It was the last day of their doing everything together. Sure, they still played together often, but it created a rift between them.
Their parents became even more concerned when, a month later, Remi came home from school with an imaginary friend.
Rayna was always popular, even in kindergarten, surrounded by her little posse of friends. Remi struggled, and always relied on Rayna to be her best friend. Kindergarten proved to be difficult, as Rayna wanted to gravitate toward new people, away from her sister. Their parents didn’t know what to do.
Remi didn’t mind at all, really. She liked her friend Zoza. They did whatever she wanted all the time. Her parents indulged her, setting a place for Zoza at the table and even making her a plate of food when Remi insisted. Her father found it especially hilarious.
“So Remi, where does Zoza sit in school?” he asked as they ate dinner one night.
Little Remi shrugged as she munched on her pasta. “She waits outside and plays on the playground all day. Zoza doesn’t have to go to school.”
“And why is that?” her father presses, trying to restrain his laugher.
Remi doesn’t even hesitate. “She already knows everything.”
“Ah I see.” He chuckles. “Well maybe she can help me with a problem. Can you ask Zoza what the square root of twenty five is?”
“Sq-Square root?” Remi stutters, never having heard the word before as she was only five.
Her dad nods. “Yes, square root of twenty five.”
Remi turns to the chair next to her and begins whispering. After a moment of silence, she turns back to her dad. “She knows but says she doesn’t need to tell you.”
“And why is that?” he prods.
“Because you’re not in charge of her.”
Her dad didn’t stop laughing for a full five minutes.
Remi smiles at the memory. At the time, she didn’t know what her dad found so funny. Now she laughs along with him.
Luckily, she finally outgrew Zoza, but much later than her parents anticipated. Zoza went everywhere with Remi until almost fourth grade. And even then, Zoza only disappeared because other children started to bully her.
Remi closes her eyes and reminisces about Zoza. She never told anyone, but Zoza looked just like her and her twin sister. Only young Remi considered her a real twin, because she actually liked all the things young Remi liked. Even hide-n-go-seek.
And Zoza won every single time.
REMI
BEFORE
The sound of her alarm wakes Remi and she rolls over to quickly shut it off before it wakes John. She isn’t quite fast enough, however, and his groan reaches her ears.
“It’s Saturday.”
“I know,” she whispers back. “I need to get some work done.”
“No,” John protests as his arms snake around her waist and he buries his nose in her hair.
As comfy as she is, Remi knows her work can’t wait. She gently pries off his arm.
“I have to.”
John grunts an unintelligible response.
By the time Remi stands up and slides on her yoga pants, he’s already sound asleep and snoring softly. “Men,” she mutters under her breath with a quiet laugh.
She’s rooting around in her drawer, looking for a T-shirt, when she hears a flush from the bathroom down the hall. Daisy must be awake, too.
Remi grabs her computer and slips silently into the hall, closing her bedroom door behind her. The hallway is empty, but as Remi turns the corner into the kitchen, she finds her roommate sitting quietly at the table in her bathrobe, drinking a cup of coffee.
“Coffee’s fresh.” She motions to the pot on the counter.
Remi helps herself to a cup. “Thanks.” She looks around for the ceramic hippo that holds the coconut sugar she usually likes to put in her coffee, but the container doesn’t seem to be on the counter. Too lazy to look, she shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee black.
“You’re up early,” Daisy comments from her spot at the table.
Remi raises an eyebrow. She’s up early quite often, she’s more curious as to why her roommate is just sitting at
the table, not appearing to do anything. “I’m normally up quite early. Why are you up this early?” It sounds a little more accusatory than she means it to, and she quickly gulps her coffee to try and hide her awkwardness. This is why she doesn’t have friends.
Daisy shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“My twin and I often have trouble sleeping, but we usually stick to watching TV or reading and avoiding the coffee.” She motions to the cup in her roommate’s hand.
“I’m not really planning to go back to sleep,” she responds dismally.
Remi tops her cup off and heads to the table, setting up her laptop. “Work today?” she asks as she keys in the passcode to her work database.
“You know it.” Daisy swirls the last of her coffee in her cup and then tosses it back in one large gulp as if it’s a beer.
Strange, thinks Remi. If she were more into social situations, she probably would ask if something’s wrong. But she decides instead she should keep quiet.
Daisy rises from the table, setting her used mug in the sink. Without another word, she turns and heads down the hall to her room. Remi hears the sound of the door closing behind her.
Really strange.
Remi quickly buries herself in her work, completely zoning out of the world around her. This happens often when she gets really into projects. Jonathon has yet to let her know the outcome of the audit, but she hopes to find out when she goes back to work Monday. For now, she’s distracted with making sure the tax documents her team prepared for a company are completely in line.
There are a few mistakes here and there, probably from Jared, but when she gets to the line regarding charitable donations, her eyes widen a bit. The number is a lot larger than she remembers it being when they started the return a few days ago. She quickly minimizes it, and opens the spreadsheet the CEO sent her personally.
Sure enough, the number has almost doubled.
Giving her team members the benefit of the doubt, Remi quickly types up an email to the CEO, asking if there have been any changes or last minute donations he forgot to notify her of. For this particular return, she’s supposed to be the point of contact, but he may have called when she was away from her desk, or pushed the wrong extension and spoken to either Jared or Lyle. All things aside, they really are a team.
Before Now Page 7