I will find you.

Her pep talk was working, and Claire felt her nerves subsiding just slightly. She splashed some more water on her face, careful not to wet her clothes. She straightened up and looked at herself in the mirror. Reaching into her bag, she took out a tube of lipstick and smeared on a deep eggplant color that was perfect against her dark-brown skin. She fluffed her curls a little bit and then took a step back from the mirror.

Go, go, you can do it!

It was silly, the little chant she sometimes said when she was feeling nervous, but it always helped. She’d been muttering it to herself when she walked into the restaurant to meet Bill. Claire bent her elbows, lifted her fists in front of her face, and punched the air a few times. She owned a kickboxing workout tape, which she did in her living room sometimes, and she ran through one of her favorite sequences.

Right hook, left hook, uppercut, jab.

You don’t get to kill people, you motherfucker.

Right hook, left hook, uppercut, jab.

You don’t get to take another person’s life.

Right hook, left hook, uppercut, jab.

I’m coming for you.

Claire grabbed her purse and swung the bathroom door open, stepping out into the empty hallway.

“Go, go, you can do it,” she muttered very quietly to herself, hoping that would help keep the nerves in check. She clenched her hands at her side. For good measure, she lifted her arms and did one more little punch, a right hook, followed by a left, and then quickly let her arms fall by her sides. She straightened her shoulders and continued walking.

“That’s new.”

Claire sucked in a breath and stopped before turning around to see Greg walking toward her from the other end of the hallway. She felt the heat rise to her face as he walked up, a small smile on his face.

“Moonlighting as a boxer?” he asked.

“Moonlighting as a stalker?” she asked, continuing to walk briskly toward the stairs to get to the press room. “Where are you coming from anyway?”

“Um, the other bathroom behind the storage room,” he said, his eyes darting to the floor. He coughed uncomfortably. “No one usually uses it, but…well, this one was occupied for a while.”

Claire’s eyes widened, then she started walking more quickly. It was just Greg, and she realized that she’d rather him think she’d been on the toilet that long than know the truth.

As if he had his suspicions, he walked quickly to keep up with her. “You ready for this?”

“Yeah, of course,” she answered quickly, maybe too quickly, and she forced a smile. “When have I not been?”

“Never,” he said, and there was a confidence behind the word that made Claire uncomfortable. “I’ve never seen you not be ready for anything.”