The Night Sister

Piper was loving it.

“For me?” Piper said, reaching to take the phone from Margot. Margot shrugged, looking equally puzzled. Who on earth would be calling Margot’s home phone looking for Piper at 10:00 a.m. on a Monday?

“Hello?” Piper said.

“Piper? Hey, this is Crystal. Lou’s aunt?”

“Oh, sure, hi.” Piper’s pulse quickened a bit. Had something happened to the little girl?

“So…Lou hasn’t stopped talking about you since yesterday. Guess you made quite an impression. She keeps asking when she can see you again.”

“Oh, that’s nice. I could come by and visit again sometime.”

“Yeah, well, here’s the thing. I’ve gotta work this afternoon, and I don’t have anyone to watch her. Would you mind?”

“This afternoon?”

“Just for a couple hours. Until Ray gets home at three. Lou’s really not all that comfortable with most adults, especially now. It would be a real favor.”

“Uh, sure. I guess I can do that.”

“Cool. Oh, and maybe you could go by her house first? She needs some things. Clothes and toys and stuff? When they brought her over, all she had was the stuff she was wearing. She doesn’t want to go back there—can’t say I blame her.”

“But isn’t it all sealed off? Will the police let me in?”

Margot’s eyes got huge as she watched Piper. “The motel?” she mouthed. Piper nodded.

“It’s all clear. I talked to the cops this morning. They’re done up there and said we could come anytime. Ray won’t go, and, me, I can’t stand the thought of going anywhere near the place. I mean, Mark is”—her voice faltered—“was my brother.”

Piper didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

“So would you mind?” Crystal went on. “Picking up a bag of stuff for Lou and bringing it by later? I can’t tell you what a help it would be. I leave for work at one.”

Piper didn’t want to go to the motel, no way, no how. Didn’t want to see where Amy and her family had died so horribly. But then she thought of Lou—her pale face, her smile that reminded Piper so much of a young Amy. The poor kid had been through so much; didn’t she deserve the slim comfort of her own clothes, a few favorite stuffed animals to provide some sense of normality, to remind her of the time before this nightmare? It seemed like the least Piper could do.

“Sure,” Piper said at last. “No problem. I’ll see you at one.”

She hung up and told Margot what was going on.

“Holy crap! You’ve gotta go check out the motel! Take a good look around.”

Piper groaned. “You’re kidding, right? The thought of even setting foot near that place makes me sick, and you want me to play Nancy Drew? What am I even looking for?”

“Evidence that we’re right. That Amy didn’t kill her family.”

“Don’t you think the police would have found that if it existed?”

Margot shook her head fiercely. “It’s a cut-and-dried case to them. Besides, no one knows that motel like we do, right?”

“Jason will kill me if he finds out I went anywhere near the motel.”

“Please. You’ll be back in no time. He’ll never know! You can stop at Rite Aid on your way back and get the stuff on our list. If he calls or stops by, I’ll tell him you’re out shopping. Then you come back here for lunch—and to tell me everything—and head over to Crystal’s to babysit Lou. No problem.”

“I don’t know….”

“For Christ’s sake, Piper. You already told Crystal you’d pick up clothes for Lou, right? I mean, you don’t expect Crystal to go out there, where her brother was killed? And so, while you’re there, just…look around. See what you can figure out.”

Piper was silent, trying to come up with a way to make Margot understand that it was impossible, that she couldn’t bear it. Then Margot said, quietly:

“You know Amy would do it for you.”

So that was that.

—

Piper gripped the steering wheel of her sister’s Subaru tightly as she came up to the Tower Motel sign.