All of a sudden, Steven is here, just behind Mikaila. “Easy, babe.”

“With me?” Mikaila asks. “What’s wrong with me?”

“You can’t just sneak up on somebody like that. You scared the shit out of me. And I broke a glass.”

“It was a joke, Becca. Lighten up.”

“And stop calling me Becca. It’s Rebecca.”

Mikaila’s mouth opens again. She gasps like she’s offended. Or hurt.

Or both.

“I’ve tried to be your friend, Becca—Rebecca. But I don’t have to deal with this shit.” She turns, her hair flying out and surrounding her head like a halo. “Come on, Steven. Let’s go back to our room.”

“Hold on, babe.”

Mikaila stops mid-storm-off. She stands in the middle of the living room, turning back, hands on hips. She looks like she’s pretending to be a fashion model, all the way down to the pouty look on her face.

“What?” Mikaila asks without losing the pout.

“I need to say something to Rebecca,” Steven says.

And Rebecca remains tense. What could Steven have to say to her? The two of them rarely speak, and while he seems like a decent enough guy, she also has to wonder what he sees in Mikaila beyond the way she looks. If that’s all there is, aren’t there a thousand other girls he could pursue in this town who might look just as good without being as shallow?

And then she worries that Steven is about to go off on her—take Mikaila’s side and turn the whole apartment into a war zone. Two against one, even though one isn’t paying any rent.

Would Rebecca have to move out and find a new place to live?

But then Steven says, “I heard you ask Mikaila about that package we found on the porch. The one in the big envelope?”

Rebecca feels like she ran five miles. Her breathing is just coming back to normal. “What about it?”

“You asked if we saw who left it here,” he says. “And Mikaila was ahead of me because I was carrying both of our bags and our food from the car. But I looked over to the side of the building—you know, over where people wash their cars when the weather’s warm? Anyway, there was a woman standing there, peeking her head around the side of the building. And it was like she was watching us come home. And when Mikaila got to the top of the stairs and picked up the envelope, the woman pulled her head back and disappeared out of sight.”

“For real?” Rebecca asks.

“For real.”

“What did she look like?” Rebecca asks. But she thinks she knows the answer.

“I don’t know. All I saw were big glasses. And red hair. Really bright red hair.”

CHAPTER SIXTY