Girl Undercover 1, 2 & 3: Three-Part Bundle

by Julia Derek

  I got to my feet, not feeling like eating at all. “Thanks, but I’m going to get going. I have a client at seven in the morning.”

  That was a total lie, but it didn’t matter. I needed to be alone and digest all that I had just learned. I was also planning on going back on Eve’s Facebook page to see if I could find out some more information about her. Maybe I had missed something.

  “All right. See you tomorrow at eleven?”

  We had a session scheduled for then. “Sure.”

  Less than an hour later, I was in front of my own computer and on Eve’s Facebook page.

  I didn’t see anything else of interest there, but I was able to determine who some of her closest friends seemed to be. And by going to their Facebook pages, I was able to figure out not only that Eve’s funeral was tomorrow afternoon, but where it would be held. As soon as I had done that, I went to bed, still thinking about what I would say to them when I approached them—which I would do at some point during the funeral reception that I intended to crash. Maybe talking to them would give me some insight to this situation so full of contradictions.

  ***

  Ariel was standing at the fitness desk when I was done training Ian and about to give myself a workout before heading to Eve’s funeral reception. She was as usual wearing one of her tiny tops that flaunted her perfect abs together with tights that looked like they had been painted on they fit her so snugly.

  “Hi, Jamie, how are you today?” she said as I was about to walk by her, smiling at me. I really had no choice but to stop for a moment.

  “Hey, Ariel, I’m good. What about you?”

  “I’m great. Are you working out?”

  “Yeah, I was just about to go down to the third floor and do some full-body stuff.”

  “Me too. Let’s go work out together. I could use some inspiration today.”

  “Um, sure.”

  Ariel started walking toward the staircase that would take us down to the third floor and the functional training area. Again, I didn’t know what else to do but to join her.

  “So how do you like working here so far?” Ariel asked me.

  “It’s great. Everybody’s so nice.”

  “I know, right?”

  We entered the functional training area where there were currently more trainers working out than members. Loud pop music filled the workout floor, its beat uplifting and making you feel like pushing yourself.

  “What do you want to do first?” Ariel asked.

  “How about some squats with overhead presses?” I had already resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to get rid of Ariel, so I might as well make the best out of the situation. Maybe I would figure out why she seemed so hell-bent on becoming friends with me. I didn’t buy that she was only after fitness inspiration and new moves. No, there was something else behind her eagerness to work out with me.

  We went over to a wall where rows of dumbbells were placed on shelves and picked out a pair each. I was a little tired today, so I went with eight-pound ones, while Ariel grabbed ten-pounders. It was amazing how she could train and workout herself while keeping those long nails so flawless.

  I placed the weights on my shoulders and began to squat.

  “Let’s do fifteen,” I told Ariel.

  “Okay,” she said and mimicked me.

  When we were almost done with the fifteen squats—each of which was followed by a vigorous overhead press—Ariel glanced at me and said, “I really like that guy you just trained.”

  I finished my set and put the weights back on the rack. “Who? Oh, you mean Ian?”

  “I don’t know what his name is. The blond, hot one. You know who I mean.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like Ian.” I went over to the TRX stand and grabbed a pair of straps so I could do body weight rows. “You like him?”

  Ariel giggled. “Yeah, he’s so cute. Is he single?”

  “As far as I know, yeah.” I contemplated her as she also began doing rows with the TRX straps. Is this the reason she is so eager to get to know me? I wondered quietly. No, it couldn’t be; the day she asked me to join her for lunch I had yet to train Ian. “You like him?”

  She was blushing now. “Oh, my God, I have such a crush on that guy! Have had it for months. Is he nice? He seems nice.”

  “Yeah, he’s great.” I wasn’t about to tell her how smug and annoying he could be. If she ever got to know him, she’d see that for herself.

  “Do you think he might be into me?”

  She gazed at me with such expectation that I didn’t have the heart to say I had no idea; the girl clearly wanted to hear something more positive.

  So I smiled and said, “Sure, why not?” Then I remembered that she had a tendency to be very persistent when she was into a guy. A little too persistent. The memories of how she’d tried to get her claws into Nick, undeterred in the face of his rejection, came rushing back to me all at once. Maybe I shouldn’t have sounded quite that optimistic…Well, it was too late now and judging from the light that went on behind Ariel’s eyes, I wouldn’t be allowed to retract my statement easily.

  “Really?” she said. “You think you can introduce us? You know, in a non-obvious way.”

  “Um, I can’t see why not.” I finished my set of rows and moved on to doing jump lunges. Ariel soon joined me, jumping with even more energy than I was. She grinned big at me.

  “That would be so great. When are you guys training next? Maybe I can swing by and you can do it then?”

  “We’re training Friday at noon.”

  “Oh, that’s perfect. I have a break then. I can totally swing by and say hi then.”

  I nodded as I finished my set of lunges. “We’ll probably be on the fifth floor then.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll find you guys. The club’s big, but not that big.” She finished her lunges as well and clasped her hands together, pressing them to her huge chest. “Oh, I can’t wait until it’s Friday. I have a good feeling about me and this guy.”

  I just smiled at her again and nodded, thinking that I’d better warn Ian about what was to come.

  Chapter 7

  The sky was overcast and it was drizzling lightly when I exited the subway a couple of hours later, the perfect weather for a somber funeral. The reception should be going strong by now, having started a while ago. I hadn’t bothered to change my looks in any way since I was going to act like I had met Eve at Nikkei and become friendly with her there. I wasn’t about to tell anyone I had been her trainer just in case someone knew her old trainer, and it would seem weird if I attended her funeral having met her only once as her new one.

  The mood inside the big restaurant was cheerier than I had expected it to be considering the occasion. Eve must have had lots of friends and family because the establishment that had been rented for this event was jam-packed with chattering people. I was grateful for this as it would make my task that much easier. If I couldn’t find someone in here that would shed light on what was really going on with Eve and the homeless man, I would never know.

  I walked up to the buffet that was filled with cheeses, cold cuts, olives and crackers, as well as cookies and cake. I grabbed a plate and chose a few cheese cubes, a couple of slices of salami and crackers, then went to a corner where I could scope out my surroundings, figure out who to approach.

  As I picked at my food, I noted that quite a few people had blotchy faces and red, swollen eyes like they had been crying a lot. I could spot at least a dozen from my current vantage point. Some were still sniffling into napkins and handkerchiefs, hanging on to each other for support. Well, for someone as coldhearted and mean-spirited as Eve had appeared in her Facebook post and been described by Pete and Lisa, she sure would be missed by several. They couldn’t all be of the same ilk as her, could they?

  I kept looking and looking, but I couldn’t see anyone that appeared even remotely similar to the ones I had deemed to be close to her on Facebook. Of course, I didn�
��t necessarily have to approach them. Not all people liked Facebook. Surely, with the amount of people here, there were others who had known her well.

  I had almost emptied my plate when I finally spotted a couple of people I could approach, a boy and a girl that were talking quietly in a corner. They looked like they were of college age and wore preppy outfits. Unlike so many others, their eyes were dry. They also had a friendly air about them.

  I placed my now clean plate on the table and sidled up to them. Taking a quiet breath, I looked straight at the boy—who seemed to be the more dominant of the two—and smiled.

  He smiled back and gave me a small nod, cute dimples having formed in his cheeks.

  I immediately stuck out a hand in his direction and introduced myself.

  “Nice to meet you, Jamie,” he said. “I’m Henry and this is my friend, Nora.”

  The dark-haired girl with the huge eyes smiled at me and we shook hands.

  “We’re both members of Eve’s church,” Henry continued, which had me taken aback. I had never pegged Eve for the church-going type. Was it possible that I had misheard him? I’d better double-check.

  “Church?” I said. “I wasn’t aware that Eve went to church. Which church is that?”

  “The Journey Church. It’s close to Time Square.”

  “Oh.” Must be a church that doesn’t approve of homeless people, I thought while studying Henry and Nora, searching for signs of evil on them. I couldn’t find any; to the contrary, they looked like nice people.

  “How did you know Eve?” Henry asked.

  “I’m a member at her gym,” I replied. “We became friendly there.”

  Henry looked impressed. “You’re a member at Nikkei? That’s such a great gym. She took me rock-climbing there once. I wish I could afford to become a member.” He twirled a hand that had perfectly manicured nails and sighed. “Oh, well, one day I will.”

  I took a closer look at him. This guy just had to be gay, which made the whole church-thing even weirder. Maybe he was still in the closet and wanted to stay there.

  “How did you hear about this awful thing that happened to Eve?” Nora asked.

  “When she didn’t show up for our lunch the other day I got worried, so I called her house and her mom answered. That’s how I found out. Her mom invited me to come to the funeral.”

  “Eve’s mom is dead.” Nora stared at me, those big eyes looking like they were about to pop out of their sockets. “Both her parents died when Eve was ten.”

  Damn. How could I have made such a stupid mistake? I had known both her parents were dead from talking to Ian. I should have figured this was going much too well. But I wasn’t about to admit that I had just crashed this party. So I coolly met Nora’s probing gaze, determined to save face.

  “Really? How strange! Well, then who was it that I spoke to? The person claimed to be Eve’s mother. Why would someone lie about something like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Nora said, still staring at me with Ping Pong eyes. She didn’t seem friendly at all any longer.

  “Do you think you might’ve misheard the person?” Henry suggested, looking a lot nicer as he gazed at me through his Harry Potter glasses.

  I screwed up my mouth. “Maybe. Maybe it was her maid that answered. Does she have a maid? She never mentioned a maid to me.”

  “Yes, I think she might,” Henry said. He turned to Nora. “You knew her better than me. Did she have a maid?”

  “Yes, she did have a maid,” Nora replied, barely meeting Henry’s gaze she was so insistent on staring at me. Out of the two, she was definitely the brighter one. But I wasn’t about to buckle even if this conversation was getting more and more awkward. I needed to get away from these two before it got worse. Nora didn’t seem like she was about to let me get off the hook anytime soon.

  “Then it must have been her maid who answered the phone. Speaking of phones, I think someone’s calling me.” I reached for my phone in my purse and pulled it out. I glanced back at Henry and Nora and smiled apologetically. “Yes, someone’s calling me. I had it on vibrate. I need to take this. Excuse me.”

  I walked over to a corner and pretended to talk on my phone, all the while keeping track of Nora and Henry to see if it looked like they were about to alert someone about the weird chick who’d claimed Eve’s dead mother invited her to the funeral. But they were just talking to each other again, not even looking over in my direction. Still, the sooner I could get out of their line of vision, the better. They might be discussing the best way to break to the host that I might not belong there.

  I pretended to disconnect my call and then made my way farther into the big space, only stopping when I got to the other end of it, far away from the two churchgoers. I took in all the people in this part of the restaurant and told myself that at least I knew more about Eve now than when I’d gotten to the reception, so, overall, the conversation hadn’t been a total waste. Who would have thought this chick went to church? Looks sure were deceiving, something Nora’s behavior further reinforced. Hopefully the next person I spoke to wouldn’t be as aggressive and unfriendly. I wondered what her problem might be.

  I sauntered up to an older man standing by the windows. He peered out into the rain while sipping on a tumbler full of what must be scotch. He was tall and balding, dressed in a dark tailored suit and tie.

  I positioned myself next to him and, crossing my arms, I peered out the window as well. The restaurant faced the street and people were walking by outside, cars driving on the road. This time I was going to wait until the man struck up a conversation. Maybe that would work better. But he just kept gazing out the window while sipping on his scotch.

  I waited another minute and then decided to move on. He obviously wasn’t in a chatty mood. But right as I was about to move on, he began to speak.

  “Ironic, isn’t it?” He had another sip of his drink, the ice cubes clinking softly against the glass.

  “What’s that?” I asked, turning to face him. He had so many wrinkles and so little hair on his head that he must be in his sixties. Even so, his energy and the way he carried himself made him appear like a man in his early forties.

  “That she would fall victim to a homeless person.” He threw me a quick glance revealing red-rimmed eyes before gazing out the window again.

  I thought about what he had just said, not about to screw up my second chance at getting to know more about Eve through some of her friends. Though was this one a friend? He looked more like he could be her grandfather or maybe older uncle. Considering what he had just said, I didn’t think he had been friends with Eve on Facebook. If he was, he couldn’t have been nearly as active as she’d been on that site. Anyone who had seen the hateful cartoon she had posted about homeless people would never have uttered such a comment. Actually, what had happened to her seemed more like poetic justice than irony.

  Before I could say anything, he spoke again, shaking his head.

  “She was such a good person, cared so much about the homeless.”

  Yeah, he’s definitely not aware of the kinds of horrible things she posted on Facebook, I thought.

  “Yes, it’s very sad,” I said just to say something. I was eager to find out who this man was now. “Excuse me for asking, but how did you know Eve? I myself met her at the gym.”

  “I was her teacher.”

  “Oh, really? In college?”

  “No, I was her improv teacher. Eve wanted to become a comedienne. Well, she was a comedienne. An excellent comedienne.” He tskd and had another large sip of his drink. “The world experienced a great loss when Eve left us. It’s truly a tragedy.”