The look Charlie gave me was incredulous. A lot of people used that gym because Charlie said he didn’t use cameras.

“Here’s the license number of that SUV I saw hanging around. Someone else saw it again yesterday.” He handed me a scrap of paper.

“Thank you, Charlie!”

But I should’ve realized he wasn’t looking at me in a friendly way. Or I wouldn’t have said what I said next.

“Do you know people who could hide something for me?” I was thinking of the journal in my purse.

“Know people? Know what people?” With scorn. “No. Get the hell out. Take your bag of junk with you.”

I straightened up. I was one step behind what was happening. Again. The panic returned. Hard to doubt his tone. Something about the contempt for my go-bag hit harder. Like he’d always been judging me.

“Charlie—”

“You leave now and you don’t come back here. For a good long time. I don’t want any part of what this is. Remember— I told you someone was following you.”

A gut punch. But it made me mad, too. Reflexive. Like, I didn’t understand the old world was receding from me.

“No, I’m not going to do that. I’ve been a member of this gym for—”

“Leave or I’ll call the cops,” he said. “Trespassing.”

“What the fuck, Charlie!” Call the cops … on the one who’d been robbed. Unfair. Like I was playing a role where I was the innocent.

“Cops or get the fuck out!”

I knew he’d do it. The expression on his face told me. The set of his body, like he wanted to punch me. And that’s when I knew for sure Charlie owned the place. And it was all he had.

“Can I come back when—”

“Get the fuck out.”

So I got the fuck out.

[43]

Halfway back up the hill, I realized someone had followed me from the gym. A glimpse back revealed a bulky man in a suit. Shitty haircut for dull brown hair, washed-out features. Very wide shoulders. Maybe fifty and a powerful build, only a bit gone to fat. Laboring on the incline. Built for a different kind of labor.

Quickened my pace, determined to get to my car, then slowed again. What if someone else was waiting at the car? Then fast-walked again. I had no choice. There was no one on the street, just a few cars passing by. I’d reached the part with the fence and the small woods. I got ready to use my phone to call the police. Hesitated. Realized just how complicit I was in … something. I’d broken into an apartment. For example.

I looked back, and the guy had gained on me. A kind of determined calm look on his hangdog face that irritated me. Like I was just all in a day’s work. Like, this woman isn’t going to be a problem. I couldn’t tell if he was just trying to shadow me in his clumsy way or catch up.