“Yeah.” She nodded. “You’re from the restaurant?”
“I am,” he said, handing her the folded bills he’d had in his wallet. He hesitated, then asked, “Are you staying alone in your apartment?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m staying with my BFF Kendall. But I need my tablet, so I came over to get it.”
Behind Harper, the door to the apartment building opened and Dawson hurried out of the building. He disappeared around the corner again, and tension flowed out of Nico. What would Dawson have done if Harper had found him? Nico refused to think about that.
“Okay,” he said. “How are you getting from here to Kendall’s house?”
Harper shrugged one shoulder. “Walking,” she said. Her tone said ‘duh.’
“You want a ride?” he offered. “Julia and I could drive you there.”
Harper frowned. “No, thanks. Not after what she did to my mom.”
“Your mom stole from Julia,” Nico pointed out. “Julia had no choice. So you want a ride? Or not?”
Harper stared at her feet. Finally looked up. “I’ll take a ride, I guess.”
“Let’s walk back to the restaurant then,” Nico said.
Harper shook her head. “I need to grab that tablet. I was putting the mail on Mom’s desk when the phone rang and didn’t have a chance to get it from my room.”
“I’ll walk you over there,” Nico said.
Harper took a deep, shuddery breath. “Thanks. I didn’t want to go there by myself, but didn’t want to make Kendall come with me. The first night, after Mom was… was arrested, I was at home, waiting for Kendall’s mom to pick me up. I heard noises. Like someone was putting a key in the lock. At first I thought maybe my mom had been released, so I hurried over to the door. But then it stopped. And I heard footsteps walking away.”
“Probably someone who’d had a few drinks and thought your apartment was theirs,” Nico said easily, but a chill ran down his spine. Had Dawson tried once already to get into Carole’s apartment?
Nico walked Harper across the street and they rode the elevator up to her floor. When she opened the door, he said, “I’ll wait outside for you.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay if you want to come in. You can sit in the living room while I get my stuff together.”
“You shouldn’t invite someone you don’t know into your apartment,” Nico said.
“You’re from Madeline’s,” Harper said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I trust you?”
“Maybe I just told you I was from Madeline’s. Maybe I was trying to get you alone.”
“That’s super creepy,” Harper said, taking a step away from Nico.
“I am from the restaurant, and I did come over to give you the money. But you don’t know me at all. I could be totally lying to you.”
“But you gave me the money,” Harper said.
“You ever hear ‘don’t take candy from strangers’?” he asked. “Same idea.”
Harper edged toward the door. “You stay in the hall.”
“Good call,” he said.
Harper opened the door, and Nico caught a glimpse of the living room. A couch, a loveseat, a television on the wall. A desk in one corner with a laptop on it.
The door clicked shut, and Nico leaned against the wall. What had Dawson been looking for?
Had he found it?
Nico suspected he hadn’t. If he’d gotten what he’d come for, he would have left the apartment before Harper showed up. He thumbed through his wallet until he found Detective Eva Gorowski’s card, then dialed the number.