The Friend Read Free Page B

maintain. Wait a minute, I’ll go up to the appointment book at the
desk and check.”
    When the stylist returned, she spoke the name.
“Splendor Wilkins.”
    The color drained from Piper’s face.
    “Oh, Piper, I’m so sorry,” said Kym. “She said she
was a friend of yours. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing.”

    S plendor read the breed description of Piper’s dog .
Sturdy, tough and tenacious. Full of intelligence and life. Jack Russell
terriers are energetic, smart and need a high level of exercise and
stimulation.
    She skimmed through the table of contents: Choosing a Breed, House Training, Stopping Chewing and
Barking . Splendor turned to the section with general rules for dog
obedience training. Praise, reward and consistency seemed to be the keys. The
book was adamant that appropriate motivation was a crucial tool in getting the
dog to do what was desired.
    When Splendor got to work, she picked up a box of
Fido Fudgies.

    T hey
said imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, but it felt invasive and
creepy to have a stranger copying her. Why would Splendor Wilkins be doing that?
Piper’s first impulse was to call Jack, but he was spending the week at
Quantico, the FBI training facility. While her boyfriend was brushing up on
firearms techniques and new developments in criminal and terrorism
investigation, Piper felt ridiculous bothering him with something like this. She
also considered telling her father about Splendor, but Piper didn’t want him
overreacting. As a former New York City cop, Vin Donovan would go straight to
the Hillwood Police Department.
    What had Splendor actually done, anyway? Only asked
to be Piper’s friend on Facebook, added herself to the fan base of the local
businesses and places that Piper frequented, and asked to have her hair styled
like Piper’s. None of those things were crimes.

    F or
the next few days, Splendor cruised by the Hillwood Dog Park on her way to and
from work. She searched the parking area, looking for the sedan with the license
tag she knew by heart. There were usually only a few cars in the lot. Splendor
supposed the cold, gray weather was keeping people at home.
    She wasn’t going to give up, though. Sooner or
later, Piper was sure to bring her dog for a run.

    A powdery snow flurried outside, and Piper was happy to be sitting in front of the
fireplace in the family room. She was working on sketches of designs for the
cake for her cousin’s wedding. The nuptials were going to be performed on a
Florida beach. Piper was trying to decide if the cake should be festooned with
sugar sand dollars or seahorses.
    She had been frequently checking Facebook for the
past several days. She’d seen no new posts from Splendor Wilkins. Nor had the
yoga student named Splendor returned to class. Piper was beginning to think that
she’d been concerned for nothing.
    “Emmett, cut it out, will you?” demanded Piper as
the dog tugged at the toe of her sock. She pulled her foot away and continued to
draw. She could feel Emmett looking at her with his dark eyes.
    “What?” asked Piper. “What do you want?”
    The dog wagged his tail and took a couple of steps
toward the door.
    “You want to go out, Em? All right,” said Piper,
getting off the couch. “Let’s go to the dog park. You’ve been a pain all
afternoon. You need a good run.”

    S he
inhaled deeply as she spotted the sedan. When Splendor drew closer and confirmed
the license plate number, her heart pounded. Finally.
    There were only a few dogs and owners in the park.
Splendor immediately honed in on Piper. She was laughing as she tossed out a
ball and her terrier scampered to retrieve it.
    It was not going to be easy to be invisible.
Splendor was glad she had scoped the area in advance. She knew where she could
leave her car without its being seen, knew where the blind spots were.
    She parked and reached around to take the package
of Piper’s brand of dog treats from the backseat. Splendor scooped out a