CHAPTER ELEVEN
Manda leaned back in her chair and stared at the computer screen. The afternoon sunlight pouring through the window made the picture on the screen look dull and faded. It was a photo of Nik and Sierra at an awards show a few months earlier. Sierra had been nominated for a media award, but hadn’t won. In the picture, the grins on her and Nik’s faces barely hid the disappointment in their eyes. Manda focused her attention on Nik, standing there with his arm fixed around Sierra’s waist. This was about the seventh picture she had seen of him and Sierra together, and Manda had stared into his eyes in each one, trying to see if there was anything strange lurking there. Ever since she had heard about his dead girlfriend, he had been popping into her mind more and more.
She hadn’t even gone online to do a search on Nik. She had wanted to find out more information about Obeah. What did it mean if someone sent you a chicken foot? And a burnt one at that? After reading several accounts of people who had received animal body parts in the mail, she still had no idea what to think. Had the chicken foot in the newspaper been a warning, or a promise? Either way, it had left her frightened and so worried that someone might be lurking around, that after she came back from Noah’s, she had kept most of the lights in the flat on all night.
She had gone downstairs to confide in Noah about the whole thing, but before long she had found herself folded up in his arms on the couch, the two of them listening to his radio and chatting about their school days. The time had gone by so fast. Their conversation had been light and happy, and she had forgotten why she had come to see him. She hadn’t even brought up him and Sierra. Three hours later, she had reluctantly climbed back upstairs to her bed, afraid that otherwise she might land in his. Daniel’s presence still trailed her like a ghost, and no amount of Noah’s kisses could keep him away for very long. Noah was both a comfort and a distraction, but she still loved Daniel. He had been the biggest part of her life for most of the past year. Only weeks ago, he had given her a card in which he had written,
To my soul-mate,
Until I met you, my glass was only half full,
But now it runneth over.
And she knew he had meant it, because Daniel didn’t know how to mask his love. Manda cupped her hands behind her head and looked up at the white ceiling. What did she really know about Noah anyway? Except that whenever he looked into her eyes, she felt a warm stirring in her belly. And whenever he touched her, it sent tiny shockwaves flowing through her entire body. And his kisses were like morphine to her pain.
The telephone was ringing. Manda sprung out of her chair and hurried into the living room to answer it. She had left a message on Sierra’s mobile, but hadn’t heard from her since she went off to Nik’s the night before. But the number on the caller id wasn’t Sierra’s. It was a London number. Manda snatched up the phone and said hello.
“Minchie, darling, it’s you,” Aunt Beryl said on the other end.
“Aunt Beryl,” Manda said in surprise. It was the first time anyone had called her from England since she had left. “Is everything alright?”
“It took me seven tries before I got your number right. I was about to give up.”
“How’s Mum?” Manda asked.
“Well, I did see Myrna the other day, and she don’t look good at all.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Manda pushed aside some magazines Sierra had left on the couch and sat down.
“I don’t know, but she look drawn and out of sorts.”
“But is she actually ill?”
“Minchie, she’s always bothered with one thing or another. But I’ve never seen her so unhappy-looking. I think you should come ‘ome and see about her.”
Manda let out a breath. “Aunt Beryl, I really need to be here right now. I’ll only be here for another few weeks. Less than that, actually.”
“Yes, but a lot can ‘appen in a few weeks’ time.”
“Then why can’t you look after her until I come back?”
“Because I’m not the one she needs, Manda. She’s your mother. She give birt’ to you.”
“And she’s your sister, Aunt Beryl. And you can help her too, just like I’m trying to help my sister.”
Her aunt was silent for a moment. “How’s that sister of yours anyway?” she said, finally.
“Things aren’t going very well,” Manda said. “Sierra still isn’t taking me seriously. That’s why I need to be here, at least till I can make sure she’ll be alright.”
“Well, there’s something else I wanted to tell you…nah, never mind,” Aunt Beryl said.
Never mind what?” Manda asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing, really. I don’t think you’d want to ‘ear about it, so it was bad of me to bring it up.”
“Bring what up?”
“Nothing, love. There’s no point rehashing old feelings. And I’m not one to get into other people’s affairs as you know.”
“Aunt Beryl, if you have something to say, just say it.” She wasn’t in the mood for games.
“Well, if you must know…Milton took me to dinner over at Covent Garden last night. Manda, they have a fancy new Italian place over there and you’d just love it. I know ‘ow you love your pasta and cheese-.”
“Aunt Beryl, what happened?”
“Keep your knickers on, I’m getting to that. When we got to the restaurant, lo and behold who do you think comes waltzing by?”
“Who?”
“That Daniel, the devil’s spawn himself.”
“Daniel? Oh.” Hearing his name was like a blow to her gut. Manda sat down on the couch.
“Yes, there he was, wearing his Sunday best. Said he was coming from some play or another, but the boy was so nervous he was stumbling over his own tongue.”
“Nervous? Why was he nervous?” Aunt Beryl had seen Daniel. She couldn’t believe it.
“Ah, well, he didn’t expect to see me, did he? He’s lucky I didn’t smack him, after what he did to you.”
“Did he…” Manda took a deep breath. “Did he ask about me?”
“That wretch? No, but I said ‘Manda’s fine, in case you want to know’.”
Manda felt her heart deflate. He hadn’t even asked about her. “Was he…by himself?”
“Well, not at first, but she went into the restaurant without him when we start talking.”
“Who was she?” It felt like someone had wrapped a fist around her heart.
“I don’t know, Minchie. Some woman who was standing beside him, dressed up like a Christmas cow.” Aunt Beryl started to tell her how, back when she was a child in Pebble Beach, every Christmas townspeople would choose a special cow and paint its face, put a fancy hat on it, and hang a wreath around its neck. A man would dress up like a clown, bang a cymbal and lead the cow down the road with a crowd of people following after them. The poor cow would moo along, never knowing the Christmas feast specialty was stew beef.
Manda slapped a hand against her forehead. “What did the woman look like?” she asked, cutting off Aunt Beryl’s story. She didn’t want to hear about some bleeding cow.
“Minchie, what does it matter?” Aunt Beryl said. “He never introduced the woman, but as I said, I don’t like getting into other people’s business.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care, and I wish you hadn’t mentioned it in the first place,” Manda said.
“Well, I did tell you, you wouldn’t want to ‘ear about it. Now you’re all ‘urt, and you probably want to blame me.”
“No, I don’t blame you. I did ask, and I’m sorry. So let’s just drop the subject, alright? “Fine.” Aunt Beryl went on to tell her about Milton, his good points (he had bought her a gold bracelet, and he never let her touch the check) and his shortcomings (only five inches when he was excited).
After she hung up the phone, Manda curled up on the couch and turned on the television. She stared blankly at the images onscreen, not seeing or hearing them. All she could think about was Daniel. It had barely been six weeks since he had left her. How dare him forget about her so soon, when not a day went by without him coming to her mind? And to think how much she tortured herself every day because of her feelings for Noah. And how guilty she had felt after the blackout. It seemed Daniel had instantly moved on with his own life. Manda spent the next hour throwing herself a pity party, complete with tears and tea. Sierra’s dolls watched the tragedy with indifference from their seats around the room. She needed to get out of the flat before she did something awful, like skewer one of those dolls. She washed her face and grabbed her purse.
Outside, the bright sun gleaming down from a cloudless sky was like a glaring counterpoint to the thunderstorm that was raging inside her head. She walked west, then headed uptown along Fifth Avenue. By the time she looked up, she had reached the corner of Fifty-Ninth and Fifth, where Central Park began. Pedestrians, mainly tourists, jammed up the sidewalks and paths, and stood gawking at the sites and taking pictures of themselves. The air smelled of manure, mixed with the perfume of some late-blossoming tree. Manda stepped out of the way of a white horse with a purple plume on its head, pulling a white carriage behind it with a couple inside. Other horse and buggy teams were parked along the sidewalk while their owners, one dressed in a beige top hat and waistcoat, solicited tourists for rides.
Manda kept walking, past the girl who sat stiffly in a metal chair, fidgeting with her mobile phone while an artist drew a pencil sketch of her. Past the vendors selling prints of New York streets and landmarks, and pencil drawings of celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Mick Jagger, and Lucille Ball. She stopped for a minute to listen to a man playing a jazz piece on his saxophone. Beside him was an open case with coins and dollar bills scattered inside on the red velvet. When he finished his song, she dropped a bill in his case and moved on.
This was exactly the sort of distraction she needed, and she soaked it all in like a healing balm for her aching heart. She entered the park and walked towards the only unoccupied bench she saw. It stood along the path across from a green lake. As she passed a couple stretched out together on the grass, the woman’s head nestled comfortably on the man’s chest, Daniel sprung back to her mind. She felt the gloom wash over her again. Why had she prompted Aunt Beryl to tell her details she really hadn’t wanted to hear? Daniel didn’t want her back. He had already found himself a girlfriend. She could barely believe it. Swallowing this truth was like swallowing a stone with nothing to wash it down. Her throat ached. She felt ill. What would happen when she returned to England? What if she ran into him?
Manda sat down on the bench and watched two children scramble up the face of a big rock that sat by the water. She closed her eyes for a few minutes and listened to the city-symphony of taxi horns, children’s laughter and a multitude of voices. When the vision came this time, she was even less prepared for it than she had been before.
Again, there was the cloudy sky above her with its little blue patches, and the forest spread out below her. She heard the birds calling around her. Now she could see Sierra standing on the cliff. Her silk scarf flapped in the wind, and tears ran down her face. But this time, as Manda looked on, a hand suddenly shot by her – a man’s hand, pale, with a red mark on the back of one wrist. She saw the flash of a silver thumb ring with a snake carved into it…and then Sierra was falling backwards, with that look of horror on her face. Manda reached for her. She heard the horrific scream…
And her eyes flew open. The children on the rock had turned to look at her. Had she been screaming? She was gasping for breath like someone who had just been rescued from drowning.
“Miss, are you alright?”
Manda’s head flashed around. An old man stood nearby, squinting at her through a pair of thick bifocals. “What? Um…” She glanced around for her bag. It was lying on the ground between her feet. She snatched it up, and staggered away from the bench, clutching her bag to her chest. She had to get home and call Angie.
When Manda got home, she collapsed on the couch, exhausted and trembling. She had taken the train back home, but the vision had stayed with her all the way on the ride. Over and over again, she saw the hand flashing by her, with its silver thumb ring. Nik’s? But how…why?
She picked up the phone and rang Angie at the restaurant.
“Angie,” she stammered, when her cousin came on the line. “The vision. I had it again. It was worse than ever. I saw his hand, and a silver ring, and Sierra…she fell, and…” She realized she was babbling.
“And what happened?” Angie asked. “Start from the beginning.”
“Daniel,” Manda blurted out. She was crying. The bugger didn’t deserve her tears. She told Angie what Aunt Beryl had said about seeing Daniel.
“You poor wretch,” Angie said. “But why did my madda tell you that? She love gossip too much.”
“Well, I did ask her, didn’t I? But that’s not all,” Manda said. “I needed to get out of the flat, and when I went to Central Park, I saw another vision.” She described what she had seen to Angie.
“What a thing to happen, back to back,” Angie said. “But you really think it was Nik?”
“I saw his thumb ring. Who else’s would it be?”
“Uh-huh. I hear you. But why would Nik push her? Unless something’s going on that you don’t know about.”
“I don’t know.” Manda closed her eyes. “Sierra’s very secretive. I can’t imagine why he would want to hurt her, but I saw it happen.”
“Listen. Why don’t you come by the restaurant? Let me feed you some soup.”
“No, Angie, I can’t. I have to talk to Sierra. This can’t wait.”
“Alright, but call me later. I want to know you’re okay.”
Sierra rang just as Manda hung up the phone. Her voice was drenched in excitement. She wanted Manda to come out and meet her and Nik at a function in a couple hours. She said it was important for Manda to be there, but she didn’t say why.
Manda wondered how she would face Nik. And how she would get a chance to talk to Sierra, with Nik always hovering close by. Would Sierra even believe her? Not bloody likely. But she would have to listen. Her life depended on it.
The event was at a large West Side club called Passion. It was a private function to promote the opening of the club, and most of the people there were journalists and other people in the media. There was a dance floor on the first level and multiple lounges and bars on the other two levels. Loud music echoed throughout. Colorful fluorescent lights lit up the main floor, and there were neon-lit yellow, purple, blue and red rooms on the two upper levels of the club. The whole effect was mind-numbing, a shock to the senses. Manda felt like she was on another planet.
Sierra was wearing a form-fitting white dress, and her white Stetson hat sat on top of her head. As they roamed about the club, people kept coming up to chat with her and offer her compliments. On the second floor, they found themselves in a large open space. Glass-enclosed showers had been set up on stands around the room, and in each one there was a woman in a spandex mini-dress dancing under running water. Fluorescent lights built into the showers over their heads turned the water to different colors as they danced. Nik went up to one of the showers to get a closer look, and Sierra latched onto his arm and tugged him away.
Trays of hors d’hoerves were spread along tables on one side of the room, and a chocolate fountain flowed into a basin in the middle of a table, surrounded by islands of desserts. Nik hooked a marshmallow on a stick, and stuck it under the chocolate waterfall. He held a napkin under the dripping marshmallow as he chewed on it. Sierra picked up a doll-sized burger and bit into it. She and Nik stood grinning at each other. Manda watched them together, trying to pick up any clues that could possibly turn her vision into a reality. Sierra’s birthday was less than two weeks away now. Somewhere in that time, Nik was going to push her over a cliff. It didn’t seem possible.
When Nik went to look for a bar, Manda and Sierra found themselves a free table and sat down on the soft round seats.
“Did you cut yourself?” Manda called across the table to her, when she noticed a bandage wrapped around one of Sierra’s fingers.
“Oh, just a little cut,” Sierra said, staring at her hand and smiling. She seemed quite proud of it.
“Sierra, I have to talk to you about something. It’s very important. Urgent, actually,” Manda said. “Can we go outside? It’s too loud in here.”
“Wait,” Sierra said. “Nik and I have some news of our own. I think you should hear ours first.” She squirmed around in her seat like a child in church. She glanced over Manda’s shoulder and waved her hand.
Manda turned to see Nik beckoning to Sierra, who got up and hurried towards him as if she was all too glad to get away. They both disappeared around a neon-lit pillar. Manda sat alone at the table, watching people pass back and forth, carrying drinks and little paper plates covered in hor d’hoevres. She wondered what it was that Sierra wanted to tell her. When she saw them coming back to the table, Nik holding a bottle of champagne and Sierra carrying three glasses, Manda frowned. Sierra put down the glasses and Nik filled up each one.
“Champagne,” Manda said. “What’s the occasion?”
Sierra gave her a sheepish smile. “We’ve got some good news,” she said.
“What?” Manda didn’t like the way they were looking at her.
Sierra pulled away the bandage that had covered the bottom half of a finger. “We’re getting married,” she said, revealing a diamond engagement ring that hadn’t been there before.
Nik pulled Sierra to him and kissed her on the side of her head.
Manda stared at the gold engagement band on Sierra’s finger.
“I still can’t believe it,” Sierra said, grinning.
“When…when did this happen?” Manda asked, frowning.
Sierra’s grin disappeared. She looked at Nik, who rubbed her shoulder. “Well, you see, Manda, it was about six weeks ago, before you arrived. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you, seeing what happened…between you and Daniel, I mean. It just never seemed like the right time. But now, we want to share it with you.”
“Oh…” Manda took a big gulp of her champagne. Was this what the two of them were whispering about, that night she had arrived? The thing Sierra hadn’t wanted Nik to mention?
“Manda, are you okay?” Sierra asked, touching her hand.
“I…I don’t know what to say, that’s all.”
“You could say ‘congratulations’,” Nik said.
Manda looked at him. This was the man who was supposed to hold her sister’s fate in his hands. The one who would bring about the Obeah woman’s curse. She felt a chill go through her, looking at him now. What did you say to a person who was supposed to do something terrible, if they hadn’t done it as yet? If there were no physical way to prove they would ever do it?
“Well?” Sierra said, her eyes growing worried.
It was like a standoff. Manda opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. She pushed back her chair and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Sierra asked, standing up herself.
“I need some air.” Manda turned to walk away.
“Manda,” Sierra said, grabbing her arm. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”
“Oh…” Manda glanced at Nik, who stared back at her with curiosity. “We’ll talk when you get home,” she told her sister.
“I won’t be home tonight. I’ll be with Nik.”
“Sierra, no, you have to come home. It’s important.”
“What is it about, then?”
“I…I can’t tell you here.”
“Why not? Is it because you don’t want Nik to know? Listen, Manda. I don’t hide things from Nik, so you might as well tell me.”
Manda glared at her. “That’s right. But you have no trouble keeping secrets from me, do you? Well, go on then. Stay at Nik’s. I’ll just go home.” As she walked away, she heard Sierra calling after her, but she didn’t look back.
When she got outside the club, she leaned against the wall and looked up at the dark night sky. Her chest burned. She didn’t know whether it was the champagne, or Sierra’s news. Or both. So, Sierra and Nik were engaged. At any other time, she would have been happy for her sister. But in the space of hours, she had found out that the man who had practically dumped her at the altar had already moved on with his life; and her sister had been engaged all along, but was hiding it from her. Now she knew why Sierra was always hiding her notebook. It wasn’t just a birthday party she was planning. She was also planning her wedding. Manda could have forgiven Sierra for being secretive about it. Sierra had been trying not to be insensitive, after all. But the real problem was, Sierra was engaged to Nik, the man who was soon going to push her off a cliff unless someone stopped him. So there was nothing to say congratulations about. Now there would be no turning back. No convincing Sierra that she should run while she still could.
Sierra stayed at Nik’s that night, and never even rang to say anything. But the next evening, she came home. She hardly spoke to Manda, and when she did, her words came out as hollow as a doll’s.
“Sierra,” Manda said, when she saw her standing before the bathroom sink later that night, brushing her teeth. “About the other evening…I’m sorry I walked out on you in the restaurant.”
Sierra studied her for a moment in the mirror. “That’s alright. Really.”
“No, it’s not alright. I shouldn’t have run off like that. I didn’t mean to ruin your evening.”
“You didn’t ruin it.” She spat toothpaste into the sink and rinsed out her mouth.
“But still. I was rude, and you didn’t deserve that. I’m just worried about you.”
“Thanks, but you don’t have to worry about me.”
“Yes, I do. Sierra…I had another vision. But this time-.”
In the mirror, she saw Sierra roll her eyes.
“But this time, I saw why you fell.” Manda leaned against the door. “I know you might not believe this…I know it might sound crazy to you – it does to me too – but it was Nik. He pushed you.”
Sierra stopped in the middle of rubbing night cream into her cheeks. “Nik. Nik pushed me,” she said. “Manda, you’ve lost your bloody mind.”
“Sierra, I’m not mad. I saw his hand and his ring,” Manda said. “I’m not making this up.”
“How can you say something so awful?” Sierra wheeled around to face her. “Nik would never hurt me. He’s always bending over backwards to protect me.”
“I know, I don’t understand it myself. But Sierra, I’m sorry, I saw him do it.”
“Manda, you were dreaming. Have you ever considered that?” Sierra put her hands on her shoulders. “That’s all it was. You had a nightmare, but now you have to let it go.”
“But Sierra-.”
“I understand, Manda. I get it. You’re going through a very rough time, and your mind is in flux.” Sierra brushed down Manda’s hair with her hands. “Just yesterday I had to tell a woman it was time to stop grieving over her runaway boyfriend. I was thinking of you when I said it. Just let it go, luv. Let it go.”
“It wasn’t a dream…” Her voice sounded feeble in her own ears.
“Shhh.” Sierra wrapped her arms around Manda and patted her back. “The nightmares will be over soon. I promise.” She kissed Manda on the forehead, then went into her room and shut the door.
The nightmares would not be over soon. Manda spent most of the night awake, rolling from one side of the futon to the other. She didn’t know what to do. Time was running short. Sierra’s birthday was only a couple weeks away, but she had no idea how to get her away from Nik. She remembered how Sierra had mentioned Nik’s previous girlfriend, when they were sitting on the grass during the blackout. How did she die anyway? Sierra said Nik didn’t like to talk about it. Manda wanted to know more about that woman. She wished there was someone…. Manda sat up in bed. There was one person who might be able to tell her something. Carmen. Sierra’s friend.
The evening that Sierra had returned from Connecticut, they had gone on a girls’ night out with her mates. Carmen had had a little too much to drink, and she started making snide remarks about Nik, until Sierra got up and walked away. Carmen had made no secret of her dislike for Nik. She said he was too controlling, and he was going to squash Sierra if she didn’t watch out. She told Manda that she had been friends with Nik’s old girlfriend, and she said he used to try to control her constantly. But at the time, Carmen had failed to mention that the woman was now dead.
As soon as she got out of bed the next morning, Manda found the business card Carmen had given her, and called to ask if they could get together later in the day. They agreed to meet at a Starbucks in Greenwich Village, close to Triple One FM, the competing radio station where Carmen worked.
Manda had already been there for twenty minutes before Carmen arrived. When Carmen sat down, she said she didn’t have much time to talk because she was on her lunch break and had to meet a client straight afterwards. The café was crowded, and the line was already long when they joined it.
“It’s hot in here,” Carmen said, even though the cold air conditioning was making Manda shiver. Carmen lifted up her hair with one hand and fanned the back of her neck with the other.
Manda noticed a tattoo on her back, a clenched red fist at the end of a wrist rising out of her shirt collar. Sierra had said Carmen had been through a lot. She had a history. Manda wondered what kind of history would have prompted that tattoo.
By the time they ordered some lunch and dashed at a table that had just been vacated, another ten minutes had already passed. Beside them, a policeman sat at a table reading a copy of the New York Post. The radio strapped to his belt was on, and static and scratchy voices rose up from it. Most of the people at the other tables sat before open laptops. Some had headphones on, possibly to drown out the melancholy singer with the trembling voice whose CD was currently playing. Manda sipped her tea through the little hole in the cup’s plastic lid and nibbled at a blueberry scone. She could feel the rumbling of the train in the station underneath them. Carmen opened her tuna salad sandwich and scraped out half its contents.
“I’m on a diet. Trying anyway. But this, I can’t resist,” she said, opening her cup of raspberry mocha frappuccino and slurping at the layer of whipped cream on top.
“Mmm,” she said, closing her eyes and smiling. She opened her eyes and laughed when she saw Manda’s face.
Everything about Carmen was big, from her head-full of black curls that spiraled down her back, to the over-long lashes that jutted out over her eyes like awnings, and the wide mouth that she would open even wider to let out her loud, howling laughs. She wasn’t one to hold anything back, and had probably never kept a secret in her life. Manda had felt instantly comfortable around Carmen from the moment they had first met.
Manda took a deep breath. The strong scent of coffee flowed through the air. The smell enervated her, even though she rarely ever touched coffee. “Carmen,” she said, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a near-whisper. She didn’t want to waste any more time. “Tell me about Nik’s girlfriend. The one he was with when he met Sierra. What was their relationship like?”
“Stacey?”
“Yes, Stacey.”
Carmen gave her a curious look. She fingered a black rubber band that was fitted around her left wrist. “Stacey was one of those people you would want to face a tribe of cannibals with,” she said.
Manda squinted at her.
“She was a very good friend,” Carmen explained. “And she could make a friend out of anybody. Kind of like Sierra. But Stacey had one drawback. Nik. He was always trying to control her, and she was always letting him. Used to drive me crazy.”
“Kind of like Sierra,” Manda echoed.
Carmen nodded. She gave Manda some examples of things Nik had done, in his crazed efforts to control Stacey and take over her life. He would never let her out of his sight, and had even gotten her a job at his radio station so he could keep an eye on her. It all sounded so much like his relationship with Sierra.
“He’s a control freak. I wish Sierra would dump his ass. He’s such a freakin’…” Carmen stuck a finger under the rubber band on her wrist and snapped it. “Ouch. Damn it.” She snapped the band again and grimaced.
“Pain therapy,” she said, before Manda could ask what the daylights she was doing. “My boyfriend says I got a good heart, but a rotten mouth. He thinks I swear too much, so I’m trying to cut down. You know, if it hurts enough, you’ll stop. So now every time I curse – or get tempted to light a cigarette – I snap this thing.”
Manda stared at the red bruises on Carmen’s wrist. “I hope it’s working for you,” she said.
Carmen barked out a laugh, although Manda was quite serious.
“Um, Carmen, I hope you don’t mind if I ask you, but…how did Stacey die?”
Carmen put down her frappuccino. She wiped away her whipped cream mustache. “She drowned.” Her face had lost its laughter. “In her backyard swimming pool, of all places.”
“How awful,” Manda said. “Was Nik there when it happened?”
“Oh, he was there alright.” Carmen sat back in her chair. “According to Nik, the two of them had been drinking by the pool. The ratings at the station had gone up, and he said they were celebrating. Then he got a headache and went up to bed without Stacey. And when he woke up later that night and she wasn’t beside him, he went back down to the backyard and that’s where he saw her. Floating in the pool.”
Manda shuddered. “Did they figure out how it happened?”
“They said she was drunk,” Carmen said. She shook her head slowly from sid