See Me (38 page)

Perhaps it was nothing, but it was time, he thought, to check the license plate, which ended up being a waste of time.

Like the others, it belonged to one of the homeowners.

 

 

On Thursday morning, Colin and Maria were having a breakfast of egg whites, oatmeal, and fruit at his place. She told him she was having dinner with Jill and Leslie and then planned to spend the night at her parents’ house.

“They’re worried about me,” she explained, but Colin knew she still wasn’t ready to return to her condo alone, especially since Colin had to work. “I think they’re also worried about Serena.”

“Why?”

“Because I told them I’ve been staying with her the last few nights. We’re not married and they have old-school values. I know you disapprove of lying, but I can’t handle my mother’s disappointment on top of everything else right now.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I know. But I could hear you thinking that I should be honest with them.”

He smiled. “Okay. Have you heard from Margolis?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. And I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad news.”

“It might be no news.”

“That would fall into the bad category,” she said. “He didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence in his determination to attack the problem. For all I know, he hasn’t done anything yet.”

Colin nodded, acknowledging that he’d been thinking the same thing. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, however, so he switched topics. “Tomorrow’s the big day.”

“For what?”

“Aren’t you offering your two weeks’ notice?”

“Oh yeah.” She smiled. “And yes, it’s tomorrow, but it’s strange, because I barely think about it unless I’m with Jill. It’s just so surreal. A few weeks ago, I could never have imagined that I’d be getting ready to join a start-up.”

“What do your parents think?”

“My mom’s excited, but my dad’s nervous. He knows how hard it is to start a business. He also liked telling people that I worked for Martenson, Hertzberg and Holdman.”

“For now.”

“Yes.” She flashed a wry smile. “For now.”

“How’s the mood at the office?”

She shrugged. “Hard to say. It’s not as bad as it was last week, but it’s still gloomy. Work is piling up, and I’m hearing whispers that more people are thinking about leaving. It’s one rumor after another. Yesterday, there was a rumor that the firm was close to settling the whole thing – with all the plaintiffs – but that’s probably just wishful thinking. If you read the EEOC complaints, Ken was a lot worse than even I thought he was.”

“Did you ever tell your parents about him?”

“Not a chance. If my dad had known, he would have gone berserk. Latino blood can run as hot as yours sometimes.”

“Then you probably did the right thing by not telling him.”

“Maybe. But you didn’t do anything.”

“You’re not my daughter.”

She laughed. “He’s still not so sure about you. Because of your past, I mean.”

“Okay.”

“And also because of your present persona.”

“Okay.”

“He even has this crazy idea that you were the one who was stalking me.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Because he thinks he saw your car in the neighborhood when he was out walking the dog yesterday morning. I know he’s worried about me, but sometimes he can get a little carried away.”

As can I.
 

M
aria kissed Colin good-bye on his doorstep; though he’d offered to follow her to the office as he had all week, she told him that she’d be fine and to go on and head to his classes. In the instant she’d said it, she’d believed it, but as she drove to work she nonetheless found herself wondering whether Lester might be following her. For the first time since she’d moved from Charlotte, she felt her heart beginning to race for no reason whatsoever. Within seconds, it became harder to breathe and her vision began to narrow.

Instinct took over and she was somehow able to pull the car to the side of the road, feeling her body suddenly go haywire.

Tightness in her chest.

Oh my God
…
 

This wasn’t normal.

She couldn’t breathe.

Her vision continued to narrow and her thoughts began to slip.

She was having a heart attack and needed an ambulance.

She was going to die on the side of the road.

Her phone began to ring, but she only vaguely heard it sound half a dozen times before it went silent. It dinged a moment later, someone texting.

The muscles in her chest tightened.

She couldn’t get enough air.

Her heart continued to pound and terror set in, feeding on the knowledge that she was going to die.

She rested her head against the steering wheel, waiting for the end.

But it didn’t come.

Instead, she simply continued to die little by little over the next few minutes, until she was no longer dying at all.

In time, she was able to lift her head from the steering wheel. Her breathing eased and her peripheral vision was returning. Her heart still pounded, but it felt less intense.

A few minutes later, she began to feel better. Still shaky, but better, and though it seemed impossible, she understood that she hadn’t been having a heart attack.

Instead, she knew her panic attacks had returned.

 

 

It was another half hour before she felt completely normal, and by then she was already in her office. Barney wasn’t around, but he’d left a new matter for her – the regional hospital was being sued by a family over an infection called
pseudomonas
that had eventually led to a patient’s death – along with a hastily scrawled note asking her to get started on finding the appropriate legal decisions necessary to bolster their defense.

She was pondering the entry point for her research when her cell phone rang. She glanced at it, then looked closer, making sure she hadn’t been mistaken. Serena?

She pressed the button, connecting the call. “Hey,” she said, “what’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“Why?”

“I called earlier but you didn’t answer,” Serena chirped.

“Sorry,” Maria said, thinking back on the panic attack. “I was in the car.” The truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. She wondered what Colin would think about that.

“How goes it with the investigation?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Have you called Margolis?”

“If I don’t hear from him today, I will.”

“I probably would have called already.”

“I’m sure. So… what’s up?”

“What do you mean?”

“You never call me this early. And why aren’t you in class?”

“It starts in a few minutes, but I just had to tell someone. I got an e-mail last night, and it turns out that I’m one of the three finalists for the scholarship. I guess the dinner at Mom and Dad’s must have had a positive influence… Though the e-mail didn’t exactly say it directly, I think I might actually be in the pole position.”

“Pole position?”

“Yeah. You know, when they restart a race following a wreck or whatever, that’s the car in the first position.”

“I know what it is. I’m just curious how
you
know what it is.”

“Steve watches a lot of NASCAR. He makes me watch it, too.”

“So it’s really a relationship now?”

“I don’t know… there’s this really cute guy in one of my classes. He’s a little older though, and he’s dating my sister, so that might be a problem.”

“That is a problem.”

“I’m just glad you put your ego aside and went to talk to him.”

“It had nothing to do with my ego.”

“Ego, close encounter at a bar fight, same thing.”

“You’re insane, do you know that?”

“Sometimes,” Serena admitted. “But it’s worked out so far.”

Maria laughed. “That’s great news,” she said. “About the scholarship, I mean.”

“I don’t want to get too excited just yet. Don’t tell Mom or Dad.”

“I wasn’t the one who told them last time.”

“I know,” she said. “Do they still think you’ve been staying in the dorm with me?”

“Yes. And it’s my turn to say don’t tell them.”

Serena laughed. “I won’t say anything. But I’m pretty sure Mom knows that you’ve been staying with Colin. Of course, she’s operating under the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy, which means it probably won’t come up tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, tonight.”

“What’s tonight?”

“You’re kidding, right? Mom’s birthday? Family dinner? Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Oops.
“Uh…”

“Seriously? Do you never check out my posts? Or my tweets? I know you’ve got a lot going on, but how could you forget Mom’s birthday?”

She’d have to cancel dinner with Jill and Leslie, but they’d understand, right? “I’ll be there.”

“Are you going to bring Colin?”

“He’s working. Why?”

“Because I was wondering whether to invite Steve.”

“What does one have to do with the other?”

“It’s simple. I figure that if Dad is busy glaring at Colin, he won’t be able to grill Steve, and they’ll think he’s great in comparison.”

Maria scowled. “That’s not funny.”

Serena laughed. “It’s a little funny.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“See you tonight!”

 

 

After hanging up with Serena, Maria realized she felt strangely nervous as she made her way to Jill’s office. She didn’t think Leslie would be offended – it was an honest mistake – nor did she want Leslie to question Jill’s recommendation. But when she said as much to Jill, her friend laughed aloud.

“Are you kidding? Leslie doesn’t care about that kind of stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. It’s your mom’s birthday. What are you supposed to do?”

“I could have remembered in the first place.”

“There is that,” Jill noted, and Maria grimaced. Surprising her, her cell phone rang again. Thinking it was probably Serena again, she was going to ignore it before realizing that she didn’t recognize the number.

“Who is it?” Jill asked.

“I’m not sure,” Maria said. After debating for a few seconds, she took the call, praying to God that it wasn’t Lester.

“Hello?”

It wasn’t Lester. Thank God. She listened to the voice on the other end. “Yes,” Maria finally said. “I’ll be there.”

She disconnected the call but continued to hold the phone, thinking about it. Jill must have seen her expression.

“Bad news?” Jill asked.

“I’m not sure,” Maria offered, thinking it was finally time to tell her friend about her history with Lester Manning… not to mention the drama of the past couple of weeks, including the ups and downs and ups with Colin. The thought of telling everything to Jill wouldn’t have bothered her in the past, but volunteering such personal information to her future boss felt…
risky
, even if Jill was likely to find out anyway.

“Who was it?”

“A cop – Detective Margolis. He asked to meet me.”

“The police? What’s going on?”

“It’s kind of a long story.”

Jill stared at her before getting up from her desk and crossing the room. She closed the door and turned around.

“What’s going on?” she said.

 

 

In the end, confiding in Jill was easier than she’d imagined it would be. Future boss or not, Jill was her friend first and foremost, and more than once, she gripped Maria’s hand, clearly concerned. When Maria assured her that it wouldn’t affect her ability to help with the start-up, Jill merely shook her head.

“Right now, you have more important things to worry about,” she said. “Leslie and I can handle whatever we still have left. You need to do whatever and take whatever time you need, so that you can find a way to put this behind you for good. It’s not as though we’re going to have clients lining up in the first couple of months anyway.”

“It better not take that long. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it. I had a panic attack this morning.”

Jill was quiet for a moment. “I’ll help you any way I can. Just tell me what you need.”

Leaving Jill’s office, Maria realized again that lower salary or not, leaving to work with Jill not only had been the best option available, but already seemed to be the best career choice she’d made to that point in her life.

What it didn’t do, however, was help the rest of the morning pass more quickly. Nor did her workload; wondering what Margolis was going to say made it difficult to concentrate, which only prevented her from gaining traction on her research for the hospital suit. With her frustration beginning to rise, she set her work aside and texted Colin.

Yes, he texted back, he’d meet her at the station at a quarter past noon.

She peeked at the clock.

Then back at the claim, knowing she needed to review it closely.

Two hours until she met with Margolis.

Time inched by.