The Friend Read online

  Getting up off the bed, Splendor admired her reflection in the little mirror over the dresser. She liked her new look. It didn’t matter what her mother thought. In the past, her mother’s scorn and disparagement had made Splendor feel smaller. She wasn’t going to give her mother that power anymore.

  She wasn’t going to be deterred, either. She was going to carry on with her plan.

  Turning on her computer, Splendor googled Sunrise Salutation Yoga Studio and looked at the class schedule. As she scanned the website, she was excited to find that they had an introductory offer for potential members. She could afford that.

  Maybe she would see Piper there.

  Piper loved her yoga class. The instructor led them through a routine of simple and more challenging sequences while sharing interesting information about anatomy as well as meditation and relaxation techniques. Beginners were always welcome.

  This morning, Piper noticed that there was someone new in class. An overweight girl with a dark complexion and unruly blond hair had laid down her mat at the far corner of the studio. Piper identified, remembering when she had started practicing yoga. She had gravitated to the side of the room as well, not wanting to call attention to herself. Now, Piper didn’t care where she laid her mat. Most often she found herself right next to the teacher at the front, in the only spot left, because she was the last one to arrive—a minute or two before class began.

  The teacher asked the new student her name.

  “Splendor,” the young woman answered in a soft voice.

  “I’m sorry,” said the instructor. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “Splendor.” The voice was more forceful this time.

  “Welcome to our class, Splendor. Today, just do as much as feels comfortable. Don’t push yourself. Some of the people here have been coming for a long time. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to keep up or do everything at first. This isn’t a competition.”

  The instructor led the class through a series of sun salutations, triangles, bends and lunges. She explained the muscles that were being worked and gave tips for positions to try for sore backs and necks. The teacher made a special effort to help the new student, encouraging her and gently correcting her posture when necessary.

  At the end of the class, the students got into corpse pose, lying flat on their backs with their hands out slightly from their sides and their feet splayed apart. Piper loved this part of the class. Meditation and relaxation.

  Piper closed her eyes and began to focus on her breathing, in hopes that she would be able to clear her mind. It was always a struggle for her, but Piper had gotten better at it than she once was. Still, before Piper was able to let go and enter a meditative state, she found herself thinking about the new student at the other side of the room.

  Splendor. Such a pretty name. She had never met anyone with that name before. Now, Piper had come across it twice in the same week. She wondered if the new girl in class could be the same one who had friended her on Facebook. As Piper continued to inhale and exhale in even, cleansing breaths, contemplations of Splendor evaporated from her mind.

  Wearily rising from the rubber yoga mat, Splendor glanced over in time to catch a glimpse of Piper as she slipped out of the studio. Splendor picked up her towel and followed, making sure to keep a discreet distance. It wasn’t difficult. Already feeling sore, she walked slowly.

  She watched Piper put on her coat and stride out the front door. Splendor stood at the window and watched as Piper got into a nondescript sedan and drove away. Splendor was a little disappointed. She thought Piper would have had a cooler car. Splendor memorized the license plate.

  Before she showered and dressed to go for her hair appointment, Piper checked Facebook. She was satisfied to note that the picture she had posted of the low-fat muffins on the Icing on the Cupcake page had gotten several comments.

  SOMETHING DELICIOUS AND NONFATTENING. NOW, I HAVE NO EXCUSE.

  FINALLY. I WON’T HAVE TO FEEL GUILTY.

  YUMMY.

  MY THIGHS THANK YOU.

  Piper recognized many of the names and photos identifying the comments. They were customers who came in regularly, people Piper had known in Hillwood all her life.

  She stopped when she saw the pink teddy bear. Splendor Wilkins had written CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THESE.

  Clicking onto Splendor’s page, Piper observed that the post was the only comment that Splendor had expressed since she had requested Piper’s friendship. But as Piper looked further, she saw that Splendor now had a list of LIKES. The Icing on the Cupcake bakery, Sunrise Salutation Yoga Studio, Pompilio’s restaurant, Shaw’s Books, Hillwood Dog Park and the Best Little Hair House. A surge of uneasiness shot through Piper as she realized that the LIKES were all the same as her own, and that she was Splendor’s only friend.

  On her way home from yoga class, Splendor stopped at Shaw’s Books. A pleasant-looking man with black-rimmed glasses greeted Splendor as she entered the store.

  “How can I help you?” he asked.

  “I’m looking for a book,” said Splendor. “But I’m so bad at remembering titles.”

  “Do you know the subject matter or the author?” asked Tom.

  “Not really,” said Splendor. “But my friend really liked it and told me she got it here.”

  “Well, if you tell me who your friend is, maybe I’ll recognize the name and be able to remember what she purchased.”

  “That’s a good idea,” said Splendor, smiling. “Piper Donovan?”

  Tom nodded. “Oh sure, Piper. She’s in here all the time. I know she loves books about show business. Last time, I think she bought Diane Keaton’s memoir. And she also purchased Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank and What Happened to My Sister by Elizabeth Flock.”

  “Oh,” said Splendor. “I can’t really afford to buy all of those right now. But I’ll take that one about the sister.”

  As Tom carried the book to the register, Splendor wondered if Piper had a sister. She hadn’t noticed any reference to one on Piper’s Facebook page. Splendor had always wished she had one of her own, somebody to be a friend and ally in dealing with her mother. At least Piper had a pet. Splendor didn’t even have that.

  Splendor approached the desk. “While we’re at it,” she said, “do you have any books about dog training?”

  Piper settled into the styling chair. She enjoyed her conversations with Kym almost as much as she liked the way she cut her hair.

  “Your friend was in here the other day,” said Kym as she pumped to lower the chair.

  “Friend?” asked Piper.

  “I forget her name. Heavyset girl, kinda bad skin, dark hair. Well, her hair was dark. Now it’s blond. Like yours.”

  Piper frowned and shook her head. “I can’t think of anybody like that,” she said.

  “Well, she is certainly thinking of you,” said Kym, as she fastened a cape around Piper’s neck. “She asked me to cut her hair just like yours.”

  Piper swallowed. “Did you?”

  “I tried,” said Kym, shaking her head. “But it didn’t come out like yours. Her texture is much coarser and harder to control. It looked good enough when she left here, but I think it’s going to be difficult for her to maintain. Wait a minute, I’ll go up to the appointment book at the desk and check.”

  When the stylist returned, she spoke the name. “Splendor Wilkins.”

  The color drained from Piper’s face.
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br />   “Oh, Piper, I’m so sorry,” said Kym. “She said she was a friend of yours. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing.”

  Splendor read the breed description of Piper’s dog. Sturdy, tough and tenacious. Full of intelligence and life. Jack Russell terriers are energetic, smart and need a high level of exercise and stimulation.

  She skimmed through the table of contents: Choosing a Breed, House Training, Stopping Chewing and Barking. Splendor turned to the section with general rules for dog obedience training. Praise, reward and consistency seemed to be the keys. The book was adamant that appropriate motivation was a crucial tool in getting the dog to do what was desired.

  When Splendor got to work, she picked up a box of Fido Fudgies.

  They said imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, but it felt invasive and creepy to have a stranger copying her. Why would Splendor Wilkins be doing that? Piper’s first impulse was to call Jack, but he was spending the week at Quantico, the FBI training facility. While her boyfriend was brushing up on firearms techniques and new developments in criminal and terrorism investigation, Piper felt ridiculous bothering him with something like this. She also considered telling her father about Splendor, but Piper didn’t want him overreacting. As a former New York City cop, Vin Donovan would go straight to the Hillwood Police Department.

  What had Splendor actually done, anyway? Only asked to be Piper’s friend on Facebook, added herself to the fan base of the local businesses and places that Piper frequented, and asked to have her hair styled like Piper’s. None of those things were crimes.

  For the next few days, Splendor cruised by the Hillwood Dog Park on her way to and from work. She searched the parking area, looking for the sedan with the license tag she knew by heart. There were usually only a few cars in the lot. Splendor supposed the cold, gray weather was keeping people at home.

  She wasn’t going to give up, though. Sooner or later, Piper was sure to bring her dog for a run.

  A powdery snow flurried outside, and Piper was happy to be sitting in front of the fireplace in the family room. She was working on sketches of designs for the cake for her cousin’s wedding. The nuptials were going to be performed on a Florida beach. Piper was trying to decide if the cake should be festooned with sugar sand dollars or seahorses.

  She had been frequently checking Facebook for the past several days. She’d seen no new posts from Splendor Wilkins. Nor had the yoga student named Splendor returned to class. Piper was beginning to think that she’d been concerned for nothing.

  “Emmett, cut it out, will you?” demanded Piper as the dog tugged at the toe of her sock. She pulled her foot away and continued to draw. She could feel Emmett looking at her with his dark eyes.

  “What?” asked Piper. “What do you want?”

  The dog wagged his tail and took a couple of steps toward the door.

  “You want to go out, Em? All right,” said Piper, getting off the couch. “Let’s go to the dog park. You’ve been a pain all afternoon. You need a good run.”

  She inhaled deeply as she spotted the sedan. When Splendor drew closer and confirmed the license plate number, her heart pounded. Finally.

  There were only a few dogs and owners in the park. Splendor immediately honed in on Piper. She was laughing as she tossed out a ball and her terrier scampered to retrieve it.

  It was not going to be easy to be invisible. Splendor was glad she had scoped the area in advance. She knew where she could leave her car without its being seen, knew where the blind spots were.

  She parked and reached around to take the package of Piper’s brand of dog treats from the backseat. Splendor scooped out a handful and put them in her pocket. Getting out of the car, she walked to the rear fence, taking care to stay out of Piper’s field of vision.

  There was a spot where the wire fence had come undone with a little help from a pair of pliers on one of Splendor’s advance reconnaissance missions. Now, she was able to wedge her way through. She crouched down to peer from behind the barren bottom branches of an old boxwood hedge that lined the inside of the fence.

  It was getting darker now. The owners were leashing their dogs and leaving the park. Splendor watched as Piper threw the ball again and again while Emmett ran after and returned it. The dog was going to be exhausted. Better for Splendor.

  “Okay, Em. We’ve got to get going. This is the last one,” Piper called as she reached back and threw the ball with all her strength. At the same time, Splendor took the Fido Fudgies from her pocket.

  Piper waited for her dog to come running back.

  “Come on, Emmett. Come here, buddy.”

  She squinted through the semi-darkness, straining to catch sight of the terrier. “Emmett,” she shouted. “Come.”

  Trudging across the snow and mud to the rear of the park, Piper was annoyed that the dog wasn’t obeying. Emmett was such a clever little thing. He knew that she was going to take him home now, and he didn’t want to go yet.

  “Emmett. I’m not kidding. Get over here. Now.”

  She continued to look around in vain, her exasperation turning to panic when she saw the rubber ball next to the open space in the wire fence.

  There were no lights on at home. Splendor was relieved. Her mother wasn’t home from work yet. Splendor carried the dog into the house and right down the hall to her room.

  “There, Emmett. There, boy,” she said. She took another treat from her pocket and fed it to the terrier. “I’m going to take real good care of you. But you have to stay quiet. Please, Emmett. You have to stay quiet. I’ll give you lots of treats if you just don’t bark.”

  She opened the closet door and cleared the shoes from the floor. “I’m going to make a nice bed for you, boy.”

  Taking the pillows from her bed, Splendor lined the bottom of the closet. “See? Nice and comfy,” she said, patting the cushy surface. “You’ll be fine in here.”

  She sat down and cradled the dog in her lap, stroking his coat. When some white hair came off on her jeans, Splendor didn’t mind. She enjoyed it, knowing that Piper must have experienced the very same thing.

  With the car’s windows open, calling Emmett’s name, Piper drove up and down the streets near the dog park. She stopped to ask anyone she saw walking along if they had seen her dog. No one had.

  She called her parents and told them what had happened. Her father and mother immediately got into their other car and joined her in the hunt. Hours later, they were all still looking.

  “I think we should call it a night now, Piper,” said Vin when they met up again in the dog park lot. “I’ll let the police know and ask them to be on the lookout for Emmett on their patrols tonight. And don’t forget, lovey, Emmett has his microchip.”

  “That’s right, sweetheart,” said Terri. “I’m so glad we had that done. It’s going to be all right, honey. You’ll see. Emmett is going to turn up.”

  Despite their reassuring words, Piper knew her parents were as worried as she was. “You two go on home,” she said, her voice breaking. “I want to keep looking.”

  It was after midnight when Piper finally pulled into the Donovans’ driveway. Alone. It was only then that she let herself cry.

  Usually, Splendor hated it when she woke up knowing that the night before her mother had gone directly after work to the bar she routinely frequented. This time Splendor was glad about it. Emmett had whimpered steadily during the night, even barking at times, but her alcohol-
plied mother had slept right through it.

  Splendor sat on the floor of the closet, petting the dog until she heard the front door slam. Once she heard her mother drive away, she rose and let the terrier out into the fenced backyard. She told herself that, if she just got home today before her mother did, everything was going to be all right.

  Piper barely slept. As she tossed and turned, she tried to take some comfort in the thought of the identifying microchip inserted under Emmett’s skin. If Emmett were brought to an animal shelter or veterinarian’s office, he would be scanned. The Donovans would be notified and reunited with their beloved pet.

  The security service also provided a lost pet alert to all members of the network within a 25-mile radius of where the dog was last seen. But what if Emmett didn’t get to a vet or shelter? What if Emmett didn’t come in contact with anyone in the recovery network?

  Getting up in the middle of the night, Piper turned on her computer. Her throat tightened as she gazed at photos of Emmett. His mischievous personality expressed itself in every shot.

  “Where are you, Em?” she whispered. “Where are you, buddy?”

  Selecting one of her favorite pictures, Piper attached it to a blank page and added a MISSING DOG headline. Beneath the photo, Piper composed a short list of information including the terrier’s name, where the elfin creature had last been seen, and the phone number to call if the dog was spotted. Then she printed fifty copies.