The Follower

by Jason Starr

  “Not much—fortunately for you, I suppose. I didn’t see her leave the building with anyone except a girl with curly blond hair. But you feared she was having another heterosexual relationship, right?”

  “That sounds like it was her roommate,” Peter said. “Where’d they go?”

  “To a falafel place on Second Avenue.”

  “Did they meet anyone there?”

  “No, they dined alone. Then, on the way home, they stopped at a grocery store. I’m in front of the building now, and they’re still there. I was planning to stay till around midnight, and then I can pick up tomorrow morning if you—”

  “No, that’s okay,” Peter said, smiling, relieved. “If you can stay till midnight, that would be great. But there’s no need to watch her tomorrow. If I need your services again, I’ll call you. And I’ll bring you the balance of what I owe you tomorrow morning, okay?”

  Hillary hesitated then said, “Oh…Okay,” and Peter clicked off.

  He went around the apartment, shouting, “Yes! Baby!” and pumping his fist in the air. His prayers had been answered. Katie had been faithful to him; they could start their lives together without any lingering doubts.

  Peter felt like he was back in control of everything, and he planned to keep it that way.

  TWENTY-TWO

  When Katie woke up on Sunday morning she decided not to go to the gym. She knew Peter would be there, and she felt like they needed a little break from each other, and it would be better to spend the day apart.

  She still wanted to get some exercise, though, so she went running in the park, around the reservoir. She was in the middle of her second lap when her cell rang. She didn’t recognize the number on the display and let her voice mail pick up. When she finished her run and did her stretching near the Ninetieth Street entrance to the park, she played the message from Detective Himoto. He didn’t say much, just asked her to call him back as soon as possible. It was hard to read his tone because she’d only spoken to him that one time, but he didn’t seem very happy.

  She returned the call right away and he said, “Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you a few more questions,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “About the murder.”

  “I thought you caught the guy.”

  “We had a confession, but it’s doubtful the guy did it.”

  “What’re you talking about? Yesterday you—”

  “He was the wrong guy.” Himoto sounded impatient. “I really need to talk to you again. How’s right now?”

  Katie explained that she’d just finished a run and needed to go home and shower, but arranged for Himoto to come by her place in forty-five minutes.

  Walking home, Katie felt very unsettled. She’d been starting to accept Andy’s death; now it was like she had to deal with the shock all over again. She also felt guilty as hell for going on a date with Peter, for enjoying herself so soon after Andy was killed.

  Then the fear kicked in.

  The killer was still out there, and for all she knew he’d come after her next. She knew she was being irrational, that the murder was random and had absolutely nothing to do with her, but on the way home from the park she found herself walking much faster than normal and looking around a lot.

  At her apartment, she showered, and while she was still rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, Susan started knocking on the door.

  “What is it?” Katie shouted to be heard over the rushing water.

  “A detective’s coming up to see you.”

  Katie cursed Himoto. It couldn’t have been forty-five minutes already. God, this was so fucking annoying.

  She hurried to finish showering and when she came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, Himoto was sitting on the couch in the living room. He looked over at her, his eyes widening for a moment, then looked away quickly and apologized. Maybe this wouldn’t have been a big deal for some girls, but Katie didn’t have the greatest body image in the world and she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.

  “Give me a couple of minutes,” she said, and then she took a good fifteen, wanting to make him wait as punishment for his rudeness.

  When she came out, Himoto said, “Sorry about before. Your roommate let me in and—”

  “It’s fine,” Katie said, still embarrassed and wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. “So what do you want from me? I already told you everything I know the other day.”

  “Your cooperation is very much appreciated. Unfortunately, these situations often require repeated questioning, especially from those closely associated with the victim.”

  The formal cop-speak was frustrating, and Katie wished he’d get to the point. She rolled her eyes slightly and said, “I understand.”

  “Great,” he said. “I want to know more about your relationship with William Bahner.”

  “Who?”

  “Andrew Barnett’s roommate.”

  Katie needed a few more seconds, then said, “Oh, Will. What about him?”

  “How well do you know him?”

  “I barely know him at all. Why? Wait, you don’t think—”

  “When was the last time you spoke to him?”

  “Spoke to him?” Katie was freaking out, imagining having to tell Amanda that the guy she’d set her up with was a killer. “The other day. I mean, Wednesday, when we all went out. Me, Andy, Will, my friend Amanda.”

  “Did you notice any antagonism between Andy and Will?”

  “Antagonism? No, of course not. They’re, like, best friends. At least I thought they were. Why are you asking me this?”

  “I had a talk with Will yesterday afternoon. Then we did a little research. Did you know he was once arrested for assault?”

  “I don’t know anything about him. We met the other night and I didn’t even talk to him that much.”

  God, this was the last time she was ever setting anybody up, no matter what. How was she going to tell Amanda?

  “His senior year of high school,” Himoto went on. “He apparently hit a classmate with a baseball bat at a party, broke the guy’s arm. There had been a dispute, apparently over a girl.”

  “Oh, God, I can’t believe that,” Katie said. “But why would he kill Andy? That’s what you’re trying to say, right?”

  “Right now it’s still in the theory stage.”

  “Theory? But you can have a theory about anyone, right? How about a theory about me, or my roommate? Why Will?”

  “I’m asking the questions.”

  “If you want me to answer them, I want to know why you think a guy I set up one of my best friends with may’ve killed my boyfriend. I think I have a right to know that.”

  “He’s only a suspect,” Himoto said, overly calm, trying to placate her. “For all I know, he has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. But there were some things that intrigued me.”

  “Like?”

  “Like he seemed evasive when I questioned him for the first time, the day the body was discovered.”

  “Maybe he seemed evasive because he was worried. You said he was arrested before. He’s a doctor, or trying to be one. He probably doesn’t want stuff like that getting out.”

  “You know, you’re very bright. You should think about being a lawyer.”

  Kate thought he was being sarcastic but said, “You sound like my father.”

  “Actually, I learned about William’s past partly from Mount Sinai,” Himoto said. “They ran a background check on him before he was admitted to med school. So he was forthcoming about the incident, but, yeah, you’re right, he’d probably like to keep it as quiet as possible. Anyway, he says he has an alibi for Thursday night—claims he was in his room studying. He also said he was talking to a friend of yours on the phone.”

  “Amanda?”

  “I have a call in to her, but she hasn’t gotten back to me yet. Do you hav
e another number for her? I think I have her cell.”

  “Yeah, I have her home number, but if he has an alibi, why do you think he—”

  “I don’t think anything. I’m just trying to rule things out. The call to Amanda was placed on his cell—he says at around ten P.M. That doesn’t mean he was home. He could’ve been anywhere when he made that call, and he could’ve killed Andrew Barnett after he made it, since the Medical Examiner thinks the murder took place between midnight and two A.M.”

  “What about his roommates? Didn’t they see him?”

  “His roommate, Steven Walsh, confirms that he was in his room at around ten thirty. But Steven went to sleep at eleven that night, so it’s possible that William left while he was asleep.”

  “I’m sorry,” Katie said. “I mean, I know you said he beat up that guy in high school, but that was high school. He’s in med school now. And there was no tension at all between him and Andy the other night. They seemed like best friends.”

  “How’d you get that impression?”

  “It was just the whole vibe I got.”

  “Actually, that’s not what I heard. Their roommates said they’d had some friction from time to time. William was against Andy moving in in the first place and tried to convince the other guys to get him to move out.”

  Katie wasn’t sure what she thought anymore. For all she knew, she was in total denial. How did she know what Will was or wasn’t capable of?

  “But, you have to understand, our investigation isn’t focused entirely on William,” Himoto went on. “We just believe that there’s a personal connection to this, that it wasn’t a random event.”

  “How do you know that?” Katie was feeling paranoid again, like someone was out to get her.

  “The main thing is the method of the murder—strangulation. That’s often associated with crimes of passion. So we’ve been looking into Andrew’s past, trying to find out if someone had a vendetta against him. Just so you know—we’re not only talking to you. We’re looking at his other relationships as well.”

  “What other relationships?”

  Himoto took a moment, then said, “I don’t want you to feel insulted or hurt, but Andy seemed to have a reputation as a…well, as a womanizer.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Katie said, stone-faced, but she felt like an idiot. She remembered going on to Amanda about what a great guy Andy was, how special he was. What was wrong with her?

  “His friends and family say there are a few angry ex-girlfriends from college, and his roommates say he had several relationships in New York that ended bitterly. It’s likely a man killed him, however, so I’m interested in any love triangle situations or…”

  Katie zoned out, thinking about the night they had sex for the first time. Now that she knew Andy had been a womanizer, she felt like it had definitely been rape. There was no ambiguity anymore.

  “What?” Katie asked, lost.

  “Did Andy tell you about any past girlfriends?”

  “No. I mean, nothing specific. No names or anything like that. But I knew he’d dated people in the city.”

  She was thinking, How could I have been so fucking stupid?

  Himoto, looking at a notepad, rattled off the names of about ten girls. The only one Katie had heard of was Jen, but she didn’t know any details about Andy’s relationship with her.

  “Let me throw an idea out at you,” Himoto said. “Is it possible that Will had a thing for you and didn’t like the idea that you were with Andy?”

  “I told you, I barely know Will, and besides, he’s been dating Amanda.”

  Himoto seemed very frustrated, and Katie noticed how exhausted he looked.

  “Can you give me Amanda’s home number?” he asked.

  Katie gave it to him, then he said, “I’ll let you know how things progress,” and he left.

  Susan came into the living room and asked what was going on.

  “Nothing new,” Katie said. “Just more questions. I’m so sick of it, I don’t even care anymore.”

  Katie got dressed and went out shopping. She needed to distract herself, to forget about everything, and she couldn’t think of anything better to do. She wound up at Bloomingdale’s, where she overpaid for a pair of strappy sandals she knew she’d never wear.

  When she returned to the apartment, she felt a little better. Susan asked her if she wanted to go out for some dinner. Katie felt like she was too upset to eat, but knew she probably should.

  They went to the falafel place on Second Avenue. Although Susan had her limitations—she was very white bread, anal retentive, and closed-minded—and Katie couldn’t imagine ever being close friends with her, she was also a truly sweet person. She had a good soul and genuinely felt bad about what Katie was going through and wanted to help her get through it. Peter had been the same way, and Katie decided that from now on she was going to make a concerted effort to spend more time with people who had a positive effect on her life, and to stop hanging out with toxic, damaging people.

  During the meal Katie got a call from her friend Jane, but she let her voice mail pick up. When she returned to her apartment she lay on her bed and returned the call.

  “Hey, Jane Blaine,” Katie said, using the nickname they’d made up as kids.

  “Hey,” Jane said flatly.

  Katie could tell something was wrong. Then she remembered the e-mail she’d sent.

  “Oh, my God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean anything by that. I felt so bad after I clicked SEND.”

  “Bad about what?”

  “You’re upset about the e-mail I sent, right?”

  “Well, yeah. Kind of.”

  “I didn’t mean to rub it in. I mean, I hope you didn’t think I was bragging about Peter Wells. I was just—”

  “I didn’t think that at all. I was just concerned, that’s all.”

  Katie, totally confused, said, “Concerned about what?”

  “About you and Peter being together.”

  Katie remembered telling Jane in the e-mail that Peter “could be the one.”

  “Oh, that was an exaggeration,” she said. “We’re not together like that or anything. We just went on one date.”

  “Oh, because when you told me you were going out with Peter Wells, I was like, the weird guy?”

  “Who called him that?”

  “Everybody. My brother was in his class in junior high and used to talk about how creepy he was.”

  “Creepy how?”

  “He was alone all the time; he didn’t have any friends. I just remember he used to go on about what a freak and a weirdo he was.”

  “He’s changed a lot,” Katie said. “He’s more outgoing now. He’s cute, too. And he’s a really nice guy. The other day I was going through a crisis and he rushed right over to be with me.”

  “Well, I just wanted to tell you to be careful. I mean, I wasn’t sure how well you knew him in Lenox.”

  Katie was starting to sense a jealousy vibe from Jane and wondered if that was why she was trying to turn her against Peter.

  “I didn’t know him very well at all,” Katie said. “I mean, I knew him from around town and because my sister knew him…. Wait, he wasn’t a total loner. My sister was friends with him.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Jane said. “I mean, if you say he’s changed, I guess he’s changed.”

  “He has. I mean, I’m not in love with him or anything. Honestly, I like him, but I don’t like-him like him, I don’t think. We’ll probably end up as just friends. It’s hard because I’m coming out of this relationship with this other guy.”

  “What other guy?”

  Katie didn’t feel like telling her about Andy. She would eventually, but right now it was too much of a downer and she didn’t feel like getting into it.

  “Just a guy I was kind of seeing for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I’m probably just rebounding or something and it’ll end up being nothing. So what’s up with you? Tell me more about Oily Man.�
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  As soon as the conversation switched away from Peter, Jane became her normal self and Katie was able to relax as well. Lounging in bed, having a meaningless, gossipy teenager-like conversation, reminded Katie of when she was in junior high and would call Jane and say, “Let’s talk about people,” and they’d stay on the phone practically all night.

  This time they yapped away for almost two hours, taking advantage of the weekend minutes on their cell phones. They decided that it had been way too long since they’d last seen each other, and Katie said she would start looking into flights to San Francisco, to see if she could afford to visit.

  After she hung up, Katie went online to research flights. She was still smiling, thinking about some of the things Jane had said on the phone. But her mood darkened when she remembered the stuff that Jane had said about Peter. It seemed like Jane was jealous; what other motive could she have for badmouthing him so much? This was a guy she’d barely known as a kid and whom she hadn’t seen in years. What right did she have to warn Katie about him?

  There was a good fare on JetBlue, but Katie wasn’t sure she wanted to go anymore. Jane was a good friend, although maybe she was the type of friend who was great to talk to on the phone once in a while, but who was better off three thousand miles away.

  Katie still couldn’t shake what Jane had said, about how Peter used to be known as “the weird guy.” Katie couldn’t remember anything weird about him. True, he always seemed to be alone as a teenager, and he probably got picked on a lot, but what did that mean? Teenagers can be incredibly cruel, and Peter, with his awkward looks, was probably an easy target.

  Later on, Amanda called. Detective Himoto had come to talk to her earlier and she was still very upset.

  “He was asking me all these questions about Will and I kept telling him that I was only with him that one night and I haven’t even heard from him since.”

  “I thought you guys were going out again.”

  “We were supposed to—he cancelled on me. He said it was because of what happened to Andy, but I think he was blowing me off. What did he say? Oh, yeah—‘My schedule’s kinda tight the next couple of weeks, I’ll have to get back to you.’ Can you believe that? Treating me like I’m a freaking patient or something. He’s such an asshole. I’m so glad I didn’t sleep with him.”