Page 8 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Not coke. Something that sent me to sleep.”

“A roofie?”

“Apparently not one of those. Wait! He was British?”

“He said he was on vacation.” She put on a Bridget Jones-ish accent. “Or ‘holiday.’ Why do Brits use the wrong words for everything?”

“Technically, it was their language first.”

“Forget language. Hedruggedyou? OMG. He didn’t…”

“No, thank goodness. I felt ill in his car and jumped out at a traffic light. Then he drove off with my purse and left me there.”

“Do you need cash? A ride? New make-up?”

“I’m home now. Annie picked me up. But when I spoke to the police, I couldn’t remember anything that happened, and I’m hoping you might be able to fill in some of the blanks.”

“They’re gonna catch the guy, right? No woman is safe while freaks like that are walking the streets. Or wine bars. You know what I mean.”

“What did he look like?”

“As I said, he was wearing a bandage. Said he sprained his wrist snowboarding in Switzerland three weeks ago, and he couldn’t drive his Porsche because it was a stick.”

“Hair colour? Eye colour?”

“Brown hair, definitely. Quite dark. No idea about the eyes.”

“Any distinguishing features?”

“Uh… He wore a Hermès belt.”

“What shape was his face? Big nose? Small nose? Bushy eyebrows?”

“Sorry, I’m useless with faces. I remember thinking he was hot. Oh, and he drank sparkling water, which was kind of weird when he’d just bought us a bottle of champagne.”

Bad with faces? No wonder Maria always married ugly rich guys. Perhaps she’d trained herself not to look at them over the years.

“Probably he needed to keep a clear head for assaulting me later.”

“Oh, hun, I’m so sorry! What can I do to cheer you up? A spa day? Shopping?”

“It’s sweet of you to offer, but I just want to piece together what happened.”

“I wish I could help more, but when he came over and seemed interested in you, I didn’t want to get in the way.”

“Will you talk to the police if they call?”

“Sure I will. Maybe they can speak to the bartender too? Although the guy paid cash, I recall that much. He had a big roll of hundred-dollar bills.”

“Arollof—”

“Oh, wait! I remember his name.”

“You do? What was it?”

“Tim.”

“Tim?”

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