The Neighbors

2.20 The Meeting

Instead of the terror that had been mounting with every new message, I felt something new with this one.

I felt relief.

I could finally confront this woman and give her whatever she wanted so that she would leave our family alone once and for all. We had money, what else could she possibly want?

I called my mom and asked, "Mom, will you please come over at 4:00 today? I have to run an errand and I can't bring the kids with me."

"Sure," she replied, thankfully not asking where I was going.

Aunt Courtney dropped the girls off after school as normal, and then I waited for my mom. When she arrived, she asked, "Where are you going, hon?"

"I just have to return something at the Mall Of America. It won't take me long. There's leftover pizza in the fridge." I made sure my wallet was in my purse, and that my checkbook and ATM card were inside of it. I was prepared to offer this woman any amount of money in return for her agreement to just stop harassing us once and for all. I hugged my mom and rushed out the door before she could ask any more questions.

As I drove away from my neighborhood, I muttered, "I can't wait to finally get you off my back, Cortin. Or Victoria. Or whoever you are."

I arrived at the Mall of America, feeling a little nervous, but mostly feeling hopeful that there was some concrete way to get rid of this major annoyance in my life. She wanted something. I felt certain I could pay her off. I hoped that Harry wouldn't be too upset if it was a lot of money.

The thought had crossed my mind that maybe I should have told someone exactly what I was doing. My mom would have worried too much. Maybe I should have told Niall.

Oh, shoot! I remembered that Niall was supposed to come over this afternoon. Oh well, hopefully I would have the whole problem solved before I even talked to him. I would call him as soon as I was done talking to Victoria. Maybe he could find her easily if she was just leaving the mall and he could question her. Better yet, he could arrest her for extortion as well as the stalking charges. I was starting to think this was going to work out better than I had originally planned.

I walked into the mall feeling confident that I was in a public place. I mean, I couldn't really be in any danger with other people around, I reasoned. Once inside the mall, I decided on a quick call to Niall. It went straight to voicemail. I left a brief message: "Niall, I'm meeting Cortin at the Mall of America. It shouldn't take long, but if you head over here, I can call you when I find out where she is."

I made my way down the first hallway that Cortin had described. I stood outside the women's restroom for several moments, debating whether I should really go inside or not. Finally, I pushed the door open and it squeaked a little bit as I walked in. It seemed deserted. I looked around and then checked my watch. 4:43 PM. I waited and waited. At 4:48 PM, I started looking inside of the stalls. When I got to the last stall, a large, handicap-accessible stall, I shoved the door open, full expecting to see some weirdo perched on the toilet. Instead, I saw a tiny envelope taped above the toilet rolls. In large red letters was written "Lise".

I carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a slip of paper with a crudely drawn map. In the same red pen as my name had been written, there was a star over the hand-drawn bathroom stall saying, "You are here."

I read the instructions under the map, which told me to go back out to the hallway and to find the employee entrance for a small jewelry shop. The note said that the door would be ajar so that I could get in without a key.

At that point, I wondered whether I should go and find a security guard or call Niall again. But I didn't want to delay this meeting any longer. And I didn't want Cortin Valow to have a chance to get away.