I know, that’s too old for you.
Not really.
Courtney put her hands on her hips.He’s creepy. Can’t you see? It’s like you have a blind spot.
You’re being ridiculous. I’m going back in.
I’m leaving.
Then leave, Julia said after a beat.I’ll see you back at the room.
Courtney threw up her hands.No, I don’t want to leave you alone.
Whatever, I’m going back in.Julia turned around to reenter the house, just as Matt was leaving with a pretty redhead on his arm.
Mortified, Julia did an about-face. Matt and the redhead crossed the porch behind her. She turned to watch him go, her throat catching. She’d missed her chance with him and didn’t know when she’d get another one. It bummed her out the next day, and she went to the library, dressed up just in case, hoping to run into him. But no luck.
The memory faded as fatigue crept through her body. She couldn’t hold off sleep any longer, and in the next second, she drifted off.
Boom! Boom!
Julia jumped at the sound. The door was jolting in its hinges. Noises and shouting came from right outside the room. Somebody was trying to get in. Unless it was a vision. Her heartrate zoomed. Her mouth went dry.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Julia scrambled out of bed, yanked the sheet off, and pulled it around her. She ran to the far side of the room just as the door burst open, slamming against the wall. Backlit shadows invaded the room.
Julia gasped, realizing she wasn’t having a vision, at all.
22
Julia stood aside, shocked. Uniformed police swarmed her room and began tearing it apart. It was the New Dover police, and they flashed her a search warrant and commanded her to stay out of their way. She couldn’t believe it was happening. It was so unreal it felt like a vision.
“Why are you doing this?” Julia backed against the wall, her heart hammering. She wrapped the sheet tighter around her body, feeling exposed in the Eagles shirt with no underwear. The door hung open on broken hinges. The cold night air blasted into the room.
The cops ignored her. One went through her purse and dumped her wallet and makeup on the rug. Her blusher rolled out, open. Another cop upended her suitcase. Her clothes and toiletries tumbled to the rug.
“What are you looking for?” Julia’s thoughts flew, panicked. “You don’t have any right to do this!”
The cops didn’t answer. Julia could hear cops next door in Courtney’s room, doing the same thing. Courtney would be terrified, too.
Julia watched appalled as cops pawed through her panties and bras. They uncapped her shampoo, poured it out, and stuck their fingers inside. They yanked the coverlet off the bed and dumped it on the rug. They searched inside the pillowcases and tossed the pillows. They pulled the mattress off the boxspring and left it askew. They took out flashlights and shone them under the bed.
Her chest tightened with anger. Her mind raced to understand. She figured that Glushenko had to know about this, or he had ordered it. It had to be payback for her and Courtney pissing him off at the meeting and going into Samuel’s cabin. Glushenko was telling them to back off. It was lawless and, worse, heartless to Courtney, on the night before her grandmother’s funeral.
Meanwhile the cops were opening every drawer and throwing them on the floor. They tore open the door to her empty closet, pulled out the spare blankets, and threw them on the rug. A cop went into the bathroom, and Julia could hear him pulling back the shower curtain.
Fifteen minutes later, they piled out of the room, leaving Julia furious and shaken. She picked her way to the door to see what was going on. Cruisers started their big engines and drove off, leaving a line of red taillights. She tried to close the door, but it wouldn’t close all the way.
“Courtney!” Julia headed to the door between their rooms. She opened it to find Courtney’s room torn apart. Her suitcase had been dumped, her sheets lay on the rug, and her mattress sagged against the wall.
But Courtney wasn’t there.
She hadn’t come back last night.
23
Julia spent a few hours putting both rooms back together while an all-night locksmith fixed both doors. The motel keeper told her there would be an extra charge for the damage caused by the cops. She showered and dressed for Kay’s funeral and was almost finished blow-drying her hair when she heard a car engine outside. She went to the window and saw Alex’s red VW Beetle parking in front of their rooms, then Courtney getting out and hustling to the door of her room.