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Her stomach growled since Adelia was too slow to answer, and they laughed. “Are you sure?”
“Promise.” She moved the bagcloser to Adelia and sank onto the bench. “If I could swipe my badge and not work tonight, no one would even know. They’ve over hired like whoa for tonight. You know? I mean, have we ever worked together?”
She bit her lip. “I’m new.”
“Ah.” Her eyes closed as she swayed on the bench. “Eat and wake me up when it’s time for shift change.”
Plain, white rice shouldn’t sound so good, but Adelia pushedup and took a spot on the far side of the bench as though maybe germs couldn’t jump that far—and then reached for the bag. It wasn’t like she would lick her hands orlive long enough to get the flu, and with that in mind, she inhaled the lukewarm rice, returning the carton and plastic fork to the bag.
A fortune cookie stared up at her before she could roll the top closed, and her heart squeezed.“Do you want your cookie?”
The woman’s head barely shook. “Nah.”
“It’s your fortune though.” Adelia couldn’t look away.
“I’m too superstitious. You eat the food; you get the cookie.” A weak smile appeared only long enough for her to lull back to a sleepy, sitting state.
That girl couldn’t work. Wow. Adelia pushed the empty carton aside, watching her new acquaintance wobble in a semi-comatosestate, and took out the fortune cookie. Maybe it would give her life advice about becoming a murderer—something simple and to the point likedon’t do it.
The veins in her temples beat a quiet drum, pumping faster with the start of a stressful headache. Each second passing meant a second closer to whatever the future might bring. Decisions and death. For her. For someone else.
Her throat hurt,and she tore the cellophane plastic away from the cookie. The crinkling wrapper echoed in her ears when she released it into the bag. She wished one last time that Colin had been there to make a joke or remind her that the last few weeks had been nothing more than a dream.
Adelia cracked open the cookie and pulled the slip of paper from the crumbs in her hand.
You know everything you alreadyneed to know.
What? That did her no good. She needed specific advice! A fortune! With exact information, courtesy of the Chinese food gods. Was that too much to ask?
She shoved the cookie into her mouth and crushed the fortune into her palm, then dropped her head into her hands.
“Not a good fortune?” the woman quietly asked.
Adelia snorted. “I was hoping for a miracle.”
“And instead yougot…?”
“The usual. It says you already know what to do.”
“Then you do.”
Adelia tilted her head to study her bench mate. She should be home in bed, nursing the flu, sipping on broth, and asking her man to bring her tea with honey. Those seemed like things Colin might do for her. “So do you, but it’s not that easy.”
She finally opened her eyes. “How so?”
“You’re here, and you shouldn’t be.”
A long sigh fell from her tired lips. “True. We do our best with what we have, I suppose. But at least I know.”
What did Adelia know? She knew that Gloria Astor was a monster who had to be stopped, and she knew there was an expiration date on her own life. She had no idea how to do anything, get anywhere— “Hey.”
“Hmm?” The woman’s eyes had shut again.
“What if…” She bit the inside of her cheek.“What if I swipe you in? Just go home and sleep.” Adelia was taking a chance, but what was the woman going to do? Report her to human resources for suggesting the lie? At a job she didn’t really have? And it would give her access. Plus, hell, Adelia would do her job for her, at least for a bit until she found Gloria. And then, who knew. She’d have to figure that out quickly though. “Where do youwork?”
Her wary eyes studied Adelia as if she’d gone mad but simultaneously offered her a miracle. After what had to be an inner war, she quietly said, “Banquet and catering.”
Adelia held the fortune between her fingers, waving it slowly. “You know everything you already need to know.” Her brows raised. “Go home and take care of yourself. You know you need it.”