What Happened at East Houston Street

Chapter 13

Tip pulled up to Sarah's apartment at 9:40pm. He didn't bother to find a parking spot on the street because he knew this wouldn't take long. He put the Volvo's hazard lights on and jumped out of the SUV, texting Sarah in the short walk between the street and her building's front door. It took less than a minute for Sarah to appear at the glass door of the foyer, hurriedly opening it to meet Tip on the front steps.

They stood in front of one another, exchanging worried looks before embracing in a tight hug, swaying together while sharing a bond of concern for Stephanie. After a moment, Tip started to pull away, breaking the tightness of the embrace, but keeping his hands loosely on the small of Sarah's back. Sarah had to look up at him, since he was considerably taller than her.

"Who else knows about this?" he asked the older sister.

"Well, I told the police but they don't give a shit since she's not a 'missing person'", Sarah replied, placing the last two words in air quotes with her fingers. She continued. "Her boss knows because he was the one who called me when she didn't show up for work and wasn't answering his calls." she shrugged, stepping out of his hold, and said, "And then I called you. That's it. There's no one else that really cares about us."

Tip let out a small breath he had been holding, realizing that Sarah had left out the one person who he knew would want to be the first to know if something had happened to Stephanie.

Sarah stepped aside, opening the glass door and propping it open with her body. "Come on in," she gestured to the inner hallway of the building.

Tip shook his head, "No, Sarah. You're coming with me right now. We have to go to Boston."

Sarah chuckled, shaking her head. "Tip! I'm not going anywhere. If....when...Stephanie calls me, I'm going to be right here waiting for her." She folded her arms in a stalwart stance, still leaning against the propped open door.

Tip started pacing the length of the landing, his head down taking a moment to compose his next sentence in his head. He had to convince her to come with him back to Boston. He knew that Sarah needed to be there when he found Stephanie, not knowing what condition she would be in.

"Listen, Sarah," he started, still not making eye contact with the girl. He continued to pace.
"Stephanie isn't in New York. She's most likely in Boston."

Sarah gave a breath of disbelief. "Tip, you don't know that. You have no idea what you're talking about. Why would Stephanie be in Boston? She lives here in New York!" She was visibly annoyed now, not approving of his plan of action.

Tip stopped pacing and stood in front of her now, only inches apart. "She's not here, Sarah. I know she's in Boston and you need to come with me right now. We don't have much time, so LET'S GO!" He was starting to get angry at her defiance.

Sarah, having trained herself early on to never back down from an angry man, arms still folded, leaned in close to Tip's face.

"I'm. Not. Fucking. Leaving. New. York. City," she calmly said between gritted teeth, never breaking eye contact. She took a step inside the foyer, letting the glass door slam shut and lock in Tip's face. She turned around and walked back up the stairs towards her apartment door.

Tip ran a hand through his short dirty blonde hair, pacing the landing again, thinking of how to get the stubborn older sister to go along with his plan. He thought about the gun he had stowed in the duffel bag in his car. Instead, he pulled his cell phone out of his suit jacket and went to Sarah's text conversation. He quickly typed up a message.

She's in Boston. I will explain everything to you on the car ride. We don't have any time to waste. I love your sister. I'm telling you the truth.

He sent the message. A few seconds later he typed a second message.

Please.

Tip stood still on the landing, staring through the glass of the front door at the stairs that Sarah had just moments earlier ascended towards her apartment. A few deep breaths later, he saw her coming back down the stairs, wearing her coat and carrying a small duffel bag.

Tip took a step away from the door as Sarah exited the building, not looking at him and heading straight to the double-parked Volvo. She paused before she opened the door to get in and yelled to Tip, who was still standing on the front stairs. "Well, let's go! You have some explaining to do!"

The ride out of New York City was fairly quick, as it was after 10pm. Traffic on the RFK was light. As soon as they reached the George Washington Bridge, Sarah turned to Tip and looked at his profile in the dark car. He steered the Volvo with two hands on the wheel, visible tension in his scrunched shoulders and white knuckles. Sarah moved her gaze up to his furrowed brow. She noticed two lines on his forehead under his messy dirty blonde hair.

"Okay, Tip," she broke the silence. "What's going on?"

Tip knew that Sarah wanted an explanation and he measured his words carefully before responding.

"How...how much has Stephanie told you about what's been happening to her in the past month?" he asked.

Sarah scrunched her nose, confused. She was expecting him to go into a long explanation, instead he was the one with questions. "What do you mean? She hasn't told me anything? What's been happening to her in the last month?" Her voice became slightly higher pitched towards the end of her question. "Tip, WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" Sarah was agitated now.

Tip nervously replied, not wanting to enrage her more. "Okay, okay, Sarah, listen. I saw your sister a few weeks ago at my party. She looked really tired and seemed kind of out of it. I was worried about her so I asked her about it." Tip shook his head remembering the conversation with Stephanie two weeks prior, while sitting on his living room couch and drinking a glass of wine. "She laughed it off, saying she was fine, nothing was bothering her, blah, blah, blah. But, I know your sister, I know that she likes to put up a tough facade, even if her world is crumbling around her."

Sarah slumped in her seat, knowing full well that what he was saying about Stephanie was the truth. Her little sister had always tried to brush everything off. She was rarely vulnerable. She only showed weakness to people that she really trusted.

Tip continued. "I finally convinced her to open up to me about what was bothering her. She told me that she was having a hard time sleeping, that she was getting a lot of weird phone calls, like they seemed threatening." He hesitated to keep going, knowing that what he said next would upset Sarah even more.

Sarah, sensing Tip was stopping his explanation, but still had more information, prodded him to continue.

He spoke again. "She thought she was being followed. One time in the subway station, she got really scared because a man aggressively bumped into her and she nearly fell onto the tracks. It wasn't in a rushing commuter bump type of way either, but more like an aggressive intentional push. It really scared her." Tip let out a shaky breath, "She was really freaked out. It was like he was targeting her."

Sarah let out a gasp, knowing the difference between a very busy morning on a New York City train and a real act of aggression with meaning behind it. She had lived in New York City for almost two years and knew that the aggressive subway interaction was not just an innocent act.

"But why would this guy just push my sister like that?" Sarah worriedly questioned.

Tip was certain that he knew the answer to Sarah's question, but he couldn't bring himself to give her the full answer just yet. Knowing that he had to give her something, he took a deep breath and asked a question. "Sarah, how much do you know about Lauren Newell?" He glanced over at her.

Sarah's brow furrowed. "Who?" she responded.