Page 89 of The Tenant

“I’ve got water bottles in the back if you want it,” I tell Stacie.

“Oh, thanks!” she says. “Female Uber drivers are so much more considerate! I’ll definitely give you five stars.”

The water in the back serves two purposes. First, it will distract her from her phone so she won’t notice that the Uber she called is not the same car that has picked her up. Second, I used a very fine needle to inject something into her drink.

“So,” I say casually, “doing anything fun tonight?”

“Always,” Stacie giggles. “Just hanging out with the girls tonight.”

“No boyfriend?”

“No, not at the moment, sadly.”

I check in the rearview mirror, and she is drinking from the water bottle. Good. It won’t take long now before she starts to get drowsy. I used more of the sedative on her than what I used in the cookies that knocked Blake out before I swiped his phone and hid it in Amanda’s room.

Blake kept a photo of me on his desk at work, so in the back of my mind, I was a bit worried Stacie might recognize me. That’s why I bought a cheap wig, and I got a little creative with makeup. But I shouldn’t have worried. Stacie doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested in me, and anyway, she’s mostly looking at the back of my head. I’ve also got a pop music station playing loudly, on the off chance that she might recognize my voice.

“It’s hard to believe you’re single,” I comment. “I mean, ifyoudon’t have a boyfriend, what hope do the rest of us have?”

Stacie laughs. “You would be surprised. It’s harder than you think, even for me. All the good ones are taken.”

My jaw tightens. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Trust me.”

“What about at your work? I’ve heard that’s a good place to meet people. Not that I would know.” I laugh good-naturedly.

“Oh no.” In the rearview mirror, I can see her shaking her head emphatically. “I tried that once, and it didnotwork out.”

“That sounds like an interesting story.”

I’m hoping Stacie is the sort of person who enjoys talking about herself. She certainly seems like she is.

“Not that interesting,” she says. “There was this guy…not exactly my boss, but worked right under my boss. Anyway, he wassohot. I was really into him.”

“Hard to imagine he didn’t like you back.”

“Oh, he did,” she assures me, and I want to strangle her right now. But no, too soon. Wait for the sedatives to kick in. “But he was engaged to some other girl—a real Mary Jane type. I thought I could lure him away from her. And I came pretty damn close.”

“Oh? Did you hook up?”

“Once. In his office.” She giggles again. “It was super hot.”

And there it is. Confirmation that Blake cheated on me with Stacie. I was 99 percent sure it was true, but now I have my 100 percent confirmation.

That bastard really cheated on me. I loved him with all my heart, and I believed he loved me just as much. We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together. He ruinedeverything.

And now I don’t have to feel bad about what’s about to happen.

“So what went wrong?” I ask. “Why didn’t he leave his fiancée?”

I glance back in the mirror in time to catch her rolling her eyes. “After we hooked up, he got all ridiculous. He kept talking about what a huge mistake it was, and it could never happen again, and how much he loved his fiancée, blah blah blah. It was pretty pathetic. I lost a lot of respect for him after that.”

Me too.

Stacie lets out a loud yawn, head lolling against the window. “God, why am I sotired? It’s only eight o’clock. I’m turning into an old person.”

“If you want to close your eyes, I’ll wake you up when we get there.”