The Zero Night

13

On Saturday morning, Serena texted the masseuse named Toni, using the phone number that Curt Dickes had given her. She asked for a meeting at a budget motel across from a car dealership on the north side of the city. Guppo’s brother owned the motel, and he was always happy to help the police by letting them borrow an empty room. Toni responded to her text immediately with a time, a price, and a string of kiss emojis.

From the motel’s first-floor window, Serena watched the parking lot. Elton kept his paws on the window ledge, alert to every car passing on the highway. He’d slept beside her all night, and when she’d gotten up early to go for coffee, he’d run to the Mustang ahead of her and waited for her to open the door. She felt a kinship with the dog. He seemed to be attuned to her moods, although she didn’t know if that was true or if she simply wanted it to be true.

She’d stayed awake most of the night, picking her way through the minefield of her memories. She found herself wondering why she’d kept the story of the dog in Phoenix from Jonny for all these years. But she knew. It was because her life in Phoenix had always been more complicated than she’d let on. To Stride, to Cat, to Maggie, to Guppo, to everyone who knew about her past, she’d been a victim, a prisoner who finally escaped. Except nothing was that simple. Everything Samantha had asked her to do, she’d done, and she’d never once said no. If her mother wanted it, then she wanted it, too.

Elton barked.

Serena looked through the sheer curtain and saw a red Kia pulling into the motel parking lot. It parked, by chance, right next to Serena’s Mustang, but there was nothing on her own car to identify her as police. The door of the Kia opened, and a petite woman in her twenties got out. She had shoulder-length blond hair and wore boots, leggings, and a long cowl-neck sweater dress. The woman opened the rear door of the car and removed a square carrying case, which Serena assumed was for a portable massage table.

Shortly after Toni headed for the motel lobby, Serena got a text from Guppo’s brother. She’s on her way. A few seconds later, knuckles drummed on the door of Serena’s room.

She opened the door. The young woman gave her a bright smile from the hallway. “I’m Toni.”

“I’m Serena. Come on in.”

Close up, Toni was pretty and even younger than Serena had suspected. She was probably barely twenty. Her eyes were a kind of pale flecked gray, and her makeup was skillfully applied, including peach-colored lipstick and just the right amount of blush. Her nose was round and small. Her fingernails were short but painted glossy red. She wore a charm bracelet loosely on one wrist, and Serena noticed a silver UMD bulldog among the charms. Toni was probably a college student.

“Hey, beautiful dog,” Toni commented, noticing Elton, who’d jumped up on the motel bed.

“Thank you.”

She came into the room, and Serena closed the motel door. Toni propped the black carrying case against the bed. “So who gave you my number?”

“Curt Dickes,” Serena replied.

Toni hesitated, her smart eyes reassessing Serena with surprise as if to say: Oh, so it’s going to be that kind of massage?

“How do you know Curt?”

Serena stood in front of the door, blocking it. “I’ve arrested him a few times.”

Toni stiffened, and her smile vanished. “Hey, come on. Are you kidding? What the hell? You texted about a massage, I gave you a price for a massage. Period. I didn’t promise anything else.”

“I’m not trying to set you up, Toni. I just want information.”

“You could have told me that in your text,” she snapped.

“Somehow I didn’t think you’d be as likely to show up that way,” Serena replied.

Toni shrugged and didn’t disagree. She sat down on the bed, crossed her legs, and began petting Elton. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”

Serena took a chair from the small motel desk, and she sat down, too, keeping herself between Toni and the door. “Chelsey Webster.”

“Sure. Guess I should have seen that coming.”

“Do you know anything about her disappearance?”

“Only what I see on TV.”

“Do you have any idea who might have abducted her?”

“Well, my bet would be Gavin,” Toni replied, “but I can’t prove it. It’s always the husband, isn’t it? But I have no idea who he got to do the dirty work for him. So is that it? Can I go?”

“Relax, Toni. I booked you for an hour. I’ll pay you for an hour.”

Her eyebrow arched with surprise. “Seriously? Well then, it’s your dime. You want a massage while we talk?”

“No, thanks.”

Toni’s shoulders bobbed, and she went back to petting the dog. “Your loss. I’m really good.”

“Tell me how you met Chelsey.”

“Through Gavin,” Toni replied. “He said his wife liked to play tennis and she’d screwed up her shoulder and wanted a massage. I owed Gavin for some legal work, so it was on the house. Chelsey liked my style, and she’s been bringing me back ever since. She pays cash. Nice tipper, too.”

“How long have you been giving her massages?”

“About a year, I guess.”

“How did you first meet Gavin?” Serena asked.

“I told you. He’s a lawyer.”

“I heard differently,” Serena said.

“Oh?”

“Curt says you’re part of the decorations at Broadway’s poker games.”

“Curt has a big mouth,” Toni retorted sharply.

“Is it true?”

“I have nothing to say about Broadway.”

“You sound scared.”

Toni’s jaw jutted with defiance, but one of her boots bounced nervously on the carpet. “If you want to talk about Broadway, you can keep your money, and I’m out of here.”

“Okay, no Broadway,” Serena went on. “Tell me more about Chelsey.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Start with what she’s like. I’ve never met her.”

“Chelsey’s one of those fortysomething women who was hot in her twenties and thinks she still is.” A wicked smirk bent across Toni’s face. “No offense.”

Serena shrugged. “Your time will come, kid.”

“Yeah, well, Chelsey thinks she can turn back time if she works out hard enough. Tennis, kickboxing, weight lifting, running — she keeps in pretty good shape.”

“You mean for her age?”

Another smirk. “Yeah, for her age. But you can’t hide from your masseuse. I see her naked, so I notice what’s sagging and what’s not.”

“Does she ever talk to you about Gavin?” Serena asked. “About her marriage?”

“All the time.”

“And? What does she say?”

Toni twisted the charms on her bracelet. “Chelsey thought she was buying a Birkin bag and wound up with a knockoff. At least until recently, that is.”

“What does that mean?”

“She told me that when she married Gavin, he was on the way up. Big-shot corporate lawyer, nice house on the hill. Fundraisers at the Kitch. Nice life, right? Then they lost everything. That was quite the comedown. She said Gavin turned into a different person after that. Angry, bitter, always pissed off about not having any money. She said he hated the work he was doing.”

Serena frowned. “His parents told me Gavin preferred the criminal work to his old corporate law practice.”

“All I can tell you is what Chelsey said,” Toni replied. “But we all tell our parents what they want to hear, right? Trust me, I don’t exactly brag to my folks about how I pay the tuition.”

“And their marriage?”

“Strained,” Toni said.

“Did Chelsey know about the gambling? About Gavin losing money at Broadway’s poker games?”

Toni swept some of her blond hair away from her eyes. “I told you, I don’t talk about Broadway.”

“For now, I don’t care about him. This is about Gavin and Chelsey.”

The girl took a long time to answer. “Yeah. Chelsey knew.”

“How did she find out?”

“Someone saw Gavin at the games and told her about it.”

“Who?”

Toni shook her head. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. But she found out how deep in the hole he was, and she was furious. That was money they didn’t have. They had a hell of an argument over it.”

“Why not divorce him?”

“Who knows? Love’s a weird thing.”

“She still loved him?”

“That’s what she told me.”

“What about Gavin? Did he love her?”

“I guess that’s the million-dollar question.”

“Did Gavin ever talk to you about his wife?” Serena asked.

“No. He wouldn’t do that. He knew I saw Chelsey for massages all the time. I’m sure he figured anything he said would go straight back to her.”

“Did Chelsey talk about the inheritance?”

“Yeah, for a while, she was pretty upbeat about it. She thought it would finally change things for them. And it did. But not the way she was expecting.”

“How so?”

“Well, she noticed that Gavin was very careful about keeping the money he got from his sister in a separate bank account. His name only. That way, Chelsey couldn’t see how he was spending it. She worried that he’d gamble a lot of it away. Plus, she was afraid he was thinking about dumping her and taking all the money. If you inherit stuff, apparently it’s yours, and your spouse can’t do shit about it. So Chelsey thought he might be looking to get rid of her.”

“She said that? Those words?”

“Yup.”

“When did she tell you all this?” Serena asked.

“Not long ago. A few weeks. There was definitely trouble in paradise.”

“What else did she say?”

“Sex was a problem, too,” Toni said. “I mean, she even asked me if I’d ever fucked Gavin.”

“Had you?”

“No, but the fact that she asked told me she thought he was cheating on her. She said he was getting weird in bed, too. He’d gotten a daily Cialis prescription, and she said it was definitely not like he needed boner pills every day for their love life. She also said he’d been pressuring her to try stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Like X. He said he’d heard it would heighten her arousal, and he knew where to get some.”

“Where?” Serena asked.

Toni rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about that.”

“Broadway?”

“I’m not talking about that,” the girl repeated.

“And this happened recently?”

“Very.”

Serena frowned. She tapped the side of her thigh, and Elton immediately scrambled off the bed and ran to her. She stroked the dog’s fur as she contemplated what Toni had told her.

“Did Chelsey ever tell you that she feared for her safety?” Serena asked.

Toni hesitated. “Not in so many words.”

“In what words?”

The girl played with the cowl on her dress. “Well, it’s just that — I don’t know whether Gavin was cheating on Chelsey, but I’m pretty sure that Chelsey was cheating on him.”

“She told you that?”

“Kind of. I was giving her a massage, and I noticed — well, I noticed what looked like a bite mark on her ass. I made a joke about Gavin being a vampire, and she went white as a sheet. She swore and asked me how noticeable it was. I said it was pretty obvious.”

“So you got the idea that it wasn’t Gavin who gave it to her?”

“Bingo.”

“Do you have any idea who it could have been? Did Chelsey ever say something to give you a clue?”

“No.”

“When was this?”

“A while ago. Maybe a year? It may have been the first time I gave her a massage. So it was long before they had any of the money from his sister.”

“Did Gavin know?” Serena asked.

“I don’t think so. Chelsey looked panicked about the bite mark. She said Gavin had a temper. If he thought she was cheating on him, she wasn’t sure what he would do to her.”