Free Beware Beware by Steph Cha

that followed the dizzying curves of an athletic body. Her dark, burnished brown skin shimmered like stretched satin.
    It took me a second to see Jamie behind her, and when I did, he looked incongruous with his beautiful girlfriend. Jamie might have been handsome most of the time, but today he looked tired and haggard, like he’d surrendered five pounds since I’d seen him only a day before. His cheeks had a hollow look, giving his face the contours of a dented melon.
    Daphne spoke first, and her voice made her instantly familiar. “Song, it’s good to finally meet you.”
    â€œYou, too.” I gave her my hand and she gave me a hug. “Though it would’ve been better if you’d had no reason to come.”
    Jamie gave me a limp smile, his lips barely holding their shape.
    â€œCome in,” I said. “Want coffee?”
    They declined, and I led them into Chaz’s office where they sat across from me, separated by Chaz’s messy desk.
    I asked Daphne about her flight, and she talked freely, like she did over the phone. Jamie was silent and visibly nervous. White tabs peeled away from raw red around his cuticles, and he started biting at them before we even got started.
    â€œSo,” I said to him after a few minutes. “You’re in some trouble, huh?”
    He nodded. “You’ve got to help me. I didn’t do anything.”
    â€œSure, man. I believe you, okay? That’s the default. I believe you.”
    â€œThanks.”
    Daphne put a hand on his knee, and he squeezed it like he was getting a tetanus shot.
    I tapped a pen on Chaz’s desk and uncapped it to take notes. “What do they have on you?”
    â€œI was there, and they know it wasn’t a suicide.”
    â€œThey know that, huh? How?”
    He ran his free hand through his hair, twice, in quick succession. “There was no way he could’ve done it. He was on too many drugs.”
    â€œWeren’t you on the same drugs?”
    He shook his head. “There was Rohypnol in his system. A lot of it.”
    â€œYou mean the date-rape drug?”
    â€œYeah, the roofie. But that’s not its only use. It just has that bad association.”
    â€œEducate me.”
    He looked sideways at Daphne, who rolled her eyes gently. “It’s a downer. You know, like a sedative. Have you ever tried coke?”
    â€œNo.”
    Something like disappointment swirled around his eyes. I felt strangely inadequate, a vestigial twang from early adulthood, when drug abuse seemed edgy and cool.
    â€œWell there’s a reason people get addicted, but there are some bad side effects, too.” He gnawed on his lip. “Like you get real jumpy, and sometimes it comes with a bad crash that just makes you want to, I don’t know, stab yourself in the chest.”
    â€œSounds delightful.”
    â€œYeah, well, there are things you can do about it. For example, Rohypnol shaves some of that down, and it feels good on its own, too, or just with alcohol. Actually, some people will take it with booze to get drunk faster. Especially around here. You know, less calories.”
    â€œCan’t be good for you.”
    â€œNo, and apparently Joe, he took some stupid amount. Enough to make sure he was knocked out cold.”
    I rested my chin on the heel of my hand, piano-played my cheekbone. “So their theory is that someone—probably you—used Rohypnol to knock him out, then slashed his wrists open.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œDoes anything strike you as particularly idiotic in that theory?”
    His eyes widened at me, clueless and hopeful. He looked like a teenager. “That I didn’t do it?”
    â€œNo, not that. It makes sense that they’d suspect you. Look. I’m no expert, but isn’t it pretty easy to overdose on cocaine? Especially if you’re mixing it with Rohypnol and who knows what else?”
    â€œYeah, it happens.”
    â€œAnd