The Matchmaker

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Twenty-nine

Darcy is in the back hallway by the kitchen. My hallway.

She’s wearing jeans. A dark hooded sweatshirt. Her hair is pulled into a bun. Stray strands frame her face. She’s not wearing any makeup. Her face is ghostly pale. I scarcely recognize her.

“You know,” she says softly. “Don’t you?”

“Darcy…I—I’m sure there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here.”

She looks at the front door. “Is Fiona out there? She is, isn’t she?” Before I can reply, she walks across the kitchen and snatches my phone out of my hands. She types something, hits send, and tucks the phone in her back pocket. Letting out a long exhale, she looks at me. Her eyes glisten. “I’m so sorry about this, Nura. I didn’t mean for any of it to happen. You have to believe that.”

“Of course,” I say quickly. “There’s got to be some kind of explanation.”

“I was almost in the clear. I swung by the office this morning, and when I saw Borzu through the window running around like a chicken with his head cut off, I just knew —” She breaks off. “Borzu had to go and ruin everything. It’s like I hurry and tie up one loose end, and another one pops up. It’s fine.” She wrings her hands. “It’ll be okay. I’ll deal with him later. One thing at a time. One thing at a time.”

“He misunderstood. He must have,” I say. “You and I have known each other for five years.”

“ Six years. I guess you didn’t really notice me that first year, did you?” She smiles at me sadly. “I was just the barista filling your orders.”

“What? No! Of course I noticed you. We chatted all the time, remember? You showed me how to make the perfect latte. We were friends.”

“ I noticed you long before you noticed me. You, your life, it was all so…perfect.” A tear slides down her face. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of your perfectly manicured nails, your Louis Vuitton bag. Every outfit you wore was a name brand I could only dream of. It was like you had the whole world figured out, you know? Like I didn’t feel bad enough being a law school dropout with crushing debt. God, I wanted to be you.”

My chest hurts. My head hurts. Everything hurts. This can’t be happening. Darcy was my first hire. She was so warm. So helpful. So easy to talk to.

To trust.

My hands tremble. I try to steady them, but it’s no use. I can’t seem to stop them.

“Why, Darcy?” I manage to ask. “Taking on clients that we declined…working with people behind my back…”

“I had no other choice. You have to understand that,” she pleads. “I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t absolutely have to. My debts, they were like a mountain growing taller and taller every day. It was crushing me.”

“You could’ve asked me for help. If you were going through such extreme hard times, we could have figured a way out.”

At this, she laughs and shakes her head. “Do you hear yourself, Nura? As nice as you can be, at the end of the day, your clothes and shiny diamonds are like blinders for you, aren’t they? The rest of the world doesn’t grow up in a wealthy relative’s house and inherit a golden business to go with it. Regular people have to work hard for every little thing, and it’s still never enough. We owe money forever unless we take matters into our own hands. Which is what I did. All those clients you turned down, for what? A white lie about the grades they said they got in college? A minor infraction with the cops? Or because they deigned to ask you the wrong question? No one can live up to your impossible standards. You were so picky. I tried to talk to you about it for years, but once someone was out of your favor, you refused to give them a second chance. So I took on some of those people. Helped them. And they paid me enough to actually make a dent on what I owed. It was a win-win. It’s not like you wanted to work with those clients, anyway.”

“You took on Basit ?”

“Yeah, so…Basit was a tough one.” She looks contrite. “He wanted nothing to do with you, but once I talked him down, he was up for working with me. So I dealt with him directly. It was kind of freeing not to have to pretend to be you for a change. Of course, then Farhan came along and ruined everything, though the payments did free me of Andrei once and for all.”

“Andrei? Y-your ex?”

“More like a loan shark with benefits. Though the benefits wore off years ago.” Her expression darkens. “He’d started amping up his threats. Found my new place. He was going to hurt me, ruin my chance of happiness with Samir. But it’s handled now.” She looks at me and shakes her head. “Seriously, Nura. I get that Basit was pushy and rude, but he offered to double your fee. Did you even think about it? Nope—you were offended. You didn’t even consider how that kind of money could change a person’s life. Of course, now I know it was a mistake. There was no fixing Farhan. He was fixated on you from the jump. I tried to get him to see reason, but then he started getting pissed at me for talking him out of his insane ideas.” She shivers. “It was a complete nightmare. He wanted to prove to Lena that you were a fraud. You have no idea what he actually wanted to do to Avani and Dev to prove his point before I intervened. I tried to keep him from going off the deep end as best I could.”

“The mug shot,” I say slowly. “The threatening note left at the agency. That was you ?”

“I’m so sorry about that.” She wipes away tears. “He made me do it. Somehow he figured out that I was going rogue by representing him. Threatened to expose me to you if I didn’t play ball. I couldn’t let that happen, not when I was so close to finally being free.”

I remember the shock that coursed through me at seeing the forged court documents that Avani’s mother had crumpled and tossed at me. The late night at Borzu’s trying to figure out who could have done this. A wave of nausea passes over me.

“He kept spiraling,” Darcy continues, her words coming fast. “He was convinced I could make Lena fall in love with him. I never thought he’d actually go so far as to kidnap them. I tried to talk him out of it. I went to the cabin to beg him to let them go. He wouldn’t listen. It was like talking to a rock. I realized he was actually going to kill Tanvir that night…. I had to stop him. Neutralize him. But I needed to buy some more time, so I offered up your location as a compromise.”

“ You were the one who told him I was at my aunt’s?”

“I wasn’t going to let him do anything to you, Nura. I had it all figured out. He’d race over to your aunt’s. Then I’d do what needed to be done. Thank God, it all went according to plan.”

“Darcy…”

“I stopped him, didn’t I?” Her eyes are bright. “He didn’t kill Tanvir. He didn’t hurt you. And look at Lena, she’s got more brand endorsement sponsorships than ever. A million new followers. I bet she’ll have a book and movie deal in no time too. This whole kidnapping thing ended up being a net positive for her in the end.”

She says this all so sincerely. As though this is a normal workday and she’s leaning against my office door with a tablet in hand, updating me about the day’s business. Darcy was my friend. I was going to be the maid of honor at her wedding.

A chill goes through me. She didn’t need to tell me all this. Why is she confessing everything now? She needs this moment for some reason.

My mouth grows dry. I take in her tear-streaked expression. She’s here to finish what she started, isn’t she?

I glance around. My purse is on the counter. Where did I put my keys? I look at the curtained window. Fiona doesn’t even know someone’s in here with me. Who knows how Darcy sidestepped my security cameras and how long she’s been hiding in my home, waiting for me?

Darcy follows my gaze. “I’m sorry, Nura, but that’s not how this story ends.”

My voice comes out a choked sob. “Darcy. Please.”

“This is hard for me too,” she says earnestly. “You have no idea. If there was any other option, I would do it in a heartbeat. I’ve gone over it a million different times, but there’s only one way out for me. And, Nura, I’m going to need you to play ball, okay? If you don’t follow along…” She hesitates. “There are going to be consequences you won’t like.”

“Consequences?” Who is this woman standing across the room from me right now? How can any of this be real? “Darcy, what are you talking about?”

She closes her eyes, and then: “Look, I’m sorry, okay? But I hired someone. They’re waiting by your aunt’s house right now, and they’re armed.”

“Whatever you’re planning, you don’t want to do it.”

“Of course I don’t want to do this! Can’t you see how hard this is for me?” She shakes her head. “But sometimes we have to do hard things, right? I’m not bluffing about this, Nura—if you don’t do what I say, your family dies. That’s a promise.”

My family dies ? Jesus. “Who are you?” Hot tears trail down my cheeks. “What do you want me to do?”

She looks visibly relieved.

“This part’s easy, I promise.” Darcy unzips her purse. She pulls out a translucent bottle. Ten white pills tinged with blue clatter onto the kitchen table. “You won’t be in pain. I read up on it to make sure. It’ll be like drifting off to sleep.” She gestures toward the cabinet above the sink. “Now, why don’t you go ahead and get yourself a glass of water?”

These pills. The same ones that fell from my purse at the hospital.

“The car accident,” I say softly. “How?”

“Do you really want to know? It’ll only hurt your feelings.” She looks at my stricken expression. “It was simpler than it seems. The dark web and a few thousand dollars. Honestly, the plan was for it to all be over that day. The police weren’t getting off my back ever since that night I shot Farhan. They’re still on my case. It’s ridiculous. He was at your house with a gun. I guess I kind of messed up, though. I accidentally called Farhan from my regular phone. It was just the one time. Barely a few minutes, but they’re fixated on that. I knew they’d back off if they found a different suspect, and you’re the most logical one. If you were gone, that would be the end of it. But someone drove by that night and ruined everything. I never ran so fast in my life. Thank God it was a moonless night.”

“You were there? Y-you drugged me?”

“I was trailing the road to see where you landed…. I did get scared you might sideswipe me too. You were out cold when I reached you; it would have been perfect. I’d even tucked the pills into your purse. Clean and simple and done.” She sighs. “I should’ve gotten a bigger syringe. It obviously wasn’t enough.”

“Now you want me to take these drugs.”

“It ties in perfectly to the blood work that came up after the car crash,” she says. “You didn’t mean to die. It will look like an accident. An overdose.”

“Darcy—”

“Nura.” She folds her arms. “We’re friends, so I’m trying to be as nice as I can about all this, given our history, but if you don’t do what I say, the people standing by your aunt’s house will kill your family. I’m not bluffing. If you care about them, you need to move quick.”

Lilah’s bouncing curls flash through my mind’s eye. I shudder. Darcy could be lying. I would never have thought she’d be willing to hurt my family. But I don’t know her very well, do I? I can’t risk anything happening to them. I walk to the kitchen cabinet. Pull out a clear cup. I press my hands against the cool metal faucet and turn it on. Water splashes off the edges of the glass. My burner phone rings. Again. And again. Darcy yanks it out of her pants pocket.

“Nina? What does she want?” She powers it off and wipes it clean with a tea towel.

“Have you thought this through?” I try again. “Don’t you think the police will be suspicious when they find out you were here when I died?”

“Have I thought this all through?” She laughs a little. “I came early to cat sit and took a nap upstairs. I came down after I woke up and found you lying on the sofa,” she says. “I thought you were sleeping. Didn’t want to wake you, so I waited a bit—but then I saw the pill bottle on the table.” Her eyes widen. “At least your family will be alive to mourn you, so there is that.”

My heart pounds against my rib cage. I have to get out of here. There’s got to be something I can do…

She gives me a sympathetic look. “You still think there’s a way out, don’t you? I see how your eyes dart around. To that pen on the counter. Your keys. You’re desperate. For something, anything, that might deliver freedom. Denial is normal. One of the five stages of grief or something, right? But time is of the essence here, so I’m afraid we’re going to need to go ahead and skip to acceptance. Because sooner or later, you’re going to have to wrap your head around the fact that tonight, Nura Khan, you will die.”

“Look—”

“Say one more word and I make the call.” She lifts her phone. Her lips press into a thin line. “I mean it, Nura. Enough. Get that pill on your tongue. Let me see you swallow it.”

I sit at the kitchen table. With unsteady hands, I place one in my mouth. I take a sip of water and pretend to ingest it before stuffing it in my cheek. But it’s no use—it’s dissolving.

“Was any of it real?” I ask her. “Was Samir?”

“Nura! Samir is my fiancé.” She looks offended. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“So it was only our friendship that was a farce.”

“Hey.” Her expression softens. “Our friendship is real. I care about you, Nura. I do. Can’t you tell I’m sick over this? Trust me, I racked my brains for another way—but it’s either you or me. And I’m finally starting my life. Samir and I, we’re at the brink of our future together. We’re going to have kids and I’m going to do things right. I’ll be there for my family like my mother wasn’t. I can’t lose it all before it begins.”

“You could have had all that without doing this. You were paying down your debt. You were going to be fine eventually, and—”

My watch buzzes against my wrist beneath the kitchen table. I don’t dare glimpse down, but I know who the messages are from. Nina. She’s getting frantic. Waiting for me. Wondering where I am.

“Next pill, Nura,” Darcy snaps. “Can we get on with it, please?”

“H-how many am I supposed to take?”

“We’ve got a whole bottle to go, and I’m going to be honest, my patience is starting to run out.”

I take a sip of water and swallow another. How many of these will it take before I black out? I have to stay conscious. I have to find a way out of this.

My iPhone buzzes. Again. And again. Darcy stalks toward it and glowers. She leans down to read the messages.

“Nina again?” She scrunches her nose. “What’s her deal? Are you friends now or something?”

I’m late. I check the wall clock hanging over the back window. I’m twenty minutes late.

Grabbing my phone from the counter, she types in my passcode. Hits the voice-to-text button. “Can’t chat,” she says. “Something came up.”

“It doesn’t have to end like this.”

“I wish that was true,” she says. “This is just the way it has to be.”

Under her watchful eye, I take another pill. Is my pulse slowing, or am I imagining it? What comes next?

My wrist buzzes again. Will Darcy notice if I look down? What have I got to lose if she does? I sneak a glimpse at the incoming text.

Nina: Something came up? WTF, Nura? I can still make it for the social hour if you get here in the next ten minutes. Please.

Oh.

“What if I confessed?” I blurt out. She eyes me. I rush on. “A deathbed confession? Instead of an overdose, it could be a suicide. My guilt over my actions ate me alive. I’ll say I helped Basit. The other clients. Stole their money. I’ll admit to all of it.”

“Hope springs eternal, huh?” She gives me a small smile. “You think bargaining with me might buy you time to convince me to change my mind?”

“My family relies on me for their livelihood. I-I want them taken care of when I’m gone. How about this? I’ll leave you my business in my confession. In exchange, you look after my family and make sure their financial needs are met.”

She regards me suspiciously. “And you trust I’d actually do it?”

“I trust the Darcy I’ve known for the last six years.” My voice wavers. “You’re right, maybe you won’t honor my wishes, but I have no choice but to try. There’s an old-fashioned tape recorder in a cardboard box in the closet there. There’s no internet connection on that, so I can’t use it to call for help.” I point to the coat closet a few steps away. “I’ll say whatever you want. In exchange, keep my family safe.”

“I’m not sure….”

“I mean it, Darcy. Please. If I’ve ever meant anything to you, even the slightest bit, let me do this for you, and in exchange, you help my family.”

A wave of dizziness washes over me. Focus. She’s tempted. She glances at me and makes her way toward the closet. She opens the door. Looks inside.

This is it.

Hands trembling, I click Nina’s message on my wrist. I hit the voice button.

“Don’t kill me, Darcy. Forcing me to take pills in my own home won’t fix things. Please help me. You’re in danger too. Call the police and this can all be over.”

Heart pounding, I hit send.

“Nura—I’ve been trying really hard to be understanding. I understand your predicament, I’m sorry it has to happen like this, but I’m fucking over it. This—ah—here it is.” She pulls out the bulky recorder. “Totally thought you were bluffing.” She looks at me with what I can only describe as grudging respect. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“If it helps my family, I’ll do anything.”

My heart thrums against my ribs. Did the text go through? I’ve never voice texted from my watch before. I don’t dare check now that she’s setting the recorder on the table and settling down across from me.

“Go on and take another pill,” she says. “This is a deathbed confession. Let’s go ahead and get on with the dying.”

I do as she says, choking the next pill down my throat.

She pushes the recorder toward me. She nods.

I click the red button.

Please, Nina, I pray frantically. Please call for help before it’s too late.