32. Lottie
Lottie
G ia’s shoulders droop when the call goes to voicemail.
“Maybe she’s just busy right now. We can try again in a little bit.”
“I don’t know, Lottie. Something doesn’t feel right.” Gia rubs her chest as her gaze goes distant. It’s as if she’s trying to connect with Ginny from across the country. I can’t blame her. We’ve all started to worry about her.
The wedding is only a few months away now.
Gia and her mom are supposed to go out to California in a few days to go dress shopping.
Neither of them is looking forward to it.
They’re excited to see Ginny, of course, but Ginny’s manager scheduled photo ops with the bridesmaids while they shop. It’s turned into a major circus.
Before we can say anything more, my laptop rings with an incoming call. Gia answers it right away, and Ginny’s face fills my screen.
“My two favorite people!” Ginny grins at us, and Gia’s body relaxes on the couch. If I wasn’t sitting right next to her, I’d never have noticed.
“But I’m the first favorite, right?” Gia smirks. Her face shows none of her earlier concern. I’m not sure why she’s hiding it from Ginny. Maybe with how stressed she’s been about the wedding, Gia doesn’t want to add to it.
“Naturally,” Ginny says drily. “Sorry, Lottie.”
I laugh. “It’s all good. Twin always trumps bestie.”
“What have you guys been up to? It’s been forever since we’ve gotten to FaceTime.” Ginny leans back in her bed. She looks relaxed and at ease in her space.
“Lottie got herself a boyyyyyfriennnnd,” Gia sings.
Ginny gasps. “Who is it?”
I cover my face with my palms, my cheeks heating until I’m sure they’re bright red.
“It’s her soldier boy from college.”
“No. Way. Are you serious? How did that happen, and why the heck am I only just now hearing about it?”
“You’d know if you were around more often,” Gia murmurs under her breath.
I stick my elbow into her ribs to stop her from saying it louder. “It’s only been a few months. He moved home, and I wouldn’t leave him alone until he went out on a date with me.”
Gia scoffs. “That man was obsessed with you after you spent the night with him.”
“He was not!” I argue.
“I’m missing so many details. Start over from the beginning.”
Gia and I tell Ginny the story and everything that’s happened since Teddy came back to Sonoma.
Gia’s additions are less than helpful, but I like hearing this story from her perspective.
It’s surprisingly cathartic to talk to Ginny about it all.
There are moments when it feels like I’m walking on a frozen lake around Teddy.
If I take one wrong step, I’ll be trapped under the water, unable to find a way to the surface.
The other night, I almost blurted out that I’m in love with him. The only thing that stopped me was his obvious avoidance of the emotion. I’m sure my eyes were screaming it at him, and he looked away instead of facing it. I wish I knew what that meant for us going forward.
“I’m missing so much.”
“So come home,” I plead.
Ginny gets a thoughtful look on her face. “I’ve been thinking about it. The label has been pushing me to put out a new album and do another tour.”
“Fuck them. You do what you want,” Gia retorts.
“That’s easy to say, not so easy to do.” Ginny visibly shakes it off. “I’ll look into coming home next month. Things are going to get crazy after the wedding.”
“Please try. The six of us could go camping again,” I suggest.
“The Scooby-Doo Gang hasn’t solved a mystery in a while.”
Gia’s remark makes Ginny laugh. It’s the first true smile I’ve seen on her face since we started talking. “We’d need to find a mystery first.”
“Leave that to us,” Gia says.
“Virginia! Help me with this, would you?” Wesley’s bark makes Ginny flinch.
“I gotta go. I love you both.” She blows us a kiss and hangs up before we can say anything in return.
“I’m going to skin that motherfucker alive.” Gia grinds her teeth together.
“I’ll hold him down.” My quip makes her huff out a laugh.
“You’ve turned bloodthirsty, my friend. I like it.” Gia turns her body sideways to look at me fully. “Has your dad found anything out about the text?”
I shake my head. “Nope. It came from a burner, and there’s not much you can do with that information. I haven’t gotten any other messages either. ”
“You’ve also been keeping everything remote since then.”
“True. Do you think they’re able to track my location or something?”
Gia shrugs. “You’d know way more about that than I would.”
“I’d never tell my dad or Teddy this, but it’s scary to think about someone being pissed I’m investigating the Mansgrove case.”
“You’d be an idiot if you weren’t scared. Just because you’re a badass and can take care of yourself doesn’t stop the danger from posing a threat.”
“I just wish I knew what I’ve done differently this time compared to the others. I’ve never been threatened like this before.”
“You haven’t interviewed anyone outside of the norm?”
“Nope. I’ve kept it all pretty similar. The only person I haven’t been able to get in contact with is Crystal’s boyfriend, Craig. That’s not unusual, though.”
“What if Craig actually killed her and is coming after you?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think he did it. Despite being the number one suspect, he has a decent alibi. Not to mention how available he’s made himself throughout the investigation, myself excluded. Granted, they only have a general timeline for her disappearance since they never found her body.”
“This is when you lose me. I don’t understand any of this stuff.”
I grin at Gia. She’s never been a fan of watching true crime shows.
She always says enough shitty things are happening in the world, she doesn’t need to watch even more.
I can understand where she’s coming from.
It’s not always easy for me to be surrounded by the awful things humanity can do to each other.
What keeps me going are the victims and their families.
They deserve justice for what happened to them.
If I can help play a part in that, then I’ll do what I must.
“What are we going to do about Ginny?” I ask hesitantly. I don’t want to piss Gia off or make her sad, but something tells me she needs to talk about it to someone.
“I don’t know.” She sighs. “I feel like the longer this goes on, the further she drifts away from me. Wesley is killing her slowly. Or her career is. I haven’t been able to pinpoint which one yet. She’s lost the shine she used to have.”
“Let’s do what we can to bring her home. Maybe if we separate her from them, she’ll tell us what’s going on.”
“You might be on to something.”
“At the very least, we can remind her that we’re always here for her, no matter what.”
“And she needs that reminder. Of that, I have no doubt.”