Chapter 7
While Alice ordered tacos from a place nearby, I went to shower and change.
Part of me had hoped for a nice, normal bathroom, but I should have known better …
The room had an honest-to-god avocado-green toilet and tub with tiny, hexagon tiles covering the walls and floor.
Some people really did have more money than taste.
I took a long shower with the lights off, something I’d done since I was a child when I needed to work through an emotionally sticky situation. I washed the last, crusty remnants of blood off my skin with floral-scented soap and tried to take deep, calming breaths.
My whole body was thrumming with pain, and I took a moment to do a full head-to-toe assessment of potential damage.
After some careful probing I decided my nose definitely wasn’t broken, which was a win, though it would likely be bruised to fuck by the morning.
My ribs were sore and my right hip was screaming in pain, but it wasn’t dislocated or anything, just suffering from being kicked.
In short, I’d survive.
I had bigger problems than the physical pain.
I finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair and worked really, really hard to hold back tears. I’d given into that urge enough in recent times, but it felt important to hold myself together tonight.
I got out of the shower and wrapped myself in a fluffy green towel, then stood for a minute in the steamy air. Alice knocked on the bathroom door.
‘Kendra? Food will be here soon.’
‘I’ll just be a minute,’ I called back.
The bathroom didn’t connect to the library room, so I waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade away before I ducked out and crossed the hall to the bedroom so I could get changed.
Even though I wasn’t that far from my apartment, being here felt like a million miles from what I was used to.
The dark underbelly of the antiques world had appealed to me as soon as my mom had let me in on the secret when I was sixteen.
That was when she had started sending me on small jobs, since it was easy for a teenager to move through the city unnoticed, collecting items to take back to the shop or delivering antiques to collectors.
It made me feel so grown up and important when handsome men in dark suits would wink at me as I accepted their packages and then slip me hundred-dollar bills as a tip. Back then I didn’t see it as creepy or predatory – something I definitely recognized now.
That was how it started, and from there I thrived, the jobs becoming bigger, the thrill of the risk enticing me each time. But even though I’d faced tough situations before, nothing had felt life-threateningly dangerous until now.
I’d been so sure for so long that my mom’s death wasn’t an accident, but I’d had nothing to go on – no theories, no leads.
Yet now that I knew my mom had bought the jewelry from Wilson for way less than it was worth, and he’d subsequently lured me out of hiding and made a comment about ‘exciting new pieces’ in circulation, I was certain everything was connected.
Wilson clearly wanted to know what I knew, and it was pure luck that I had been completely in the dark when we met.
If Wilson had somehow found out what my mom had, that the Insect Brooch had survived the Titanic and was worth potentially a million dollars, how would he have reacted – especially since he’d sold the whole jewelry case for only two hundred and fifty grand?
He’d want it back.
And if my mom had refused …
I didn’t know Wilson to be a killer – he was a thief and a drug dealer and a money launderer, but not a murderer. Yet, if a million dollars was in the mix, I couldn’t rule it out.
Knowing nothing was possibly the only thing keeping me safe at the moment.
Knowing something might have been what led to my mom being killed.
Right now, with a missing case of jewelry likely worth over a million dollars and danger seemingly lurking round every corner, this was the first time in the three years I’d been breaking the law that I felt in way over my head. I had no idea what I was going to do next.
Alice had set out the food on the coffee table by the time I re-entered the living room and had put some late-night TV show on low volume as background noise. She’d changed too, into stylish loungewear: a pair of incredibly soft-looking shorts and a Gotham FC T-shirt.
‘Thanks for this,’ I said, genuinely grateful for someone else taking charge, if only for a short while. I wasn’t sure how long I could hide what I suspected from Alice, but for tonight, at least, I didn’t want to think about it any more.
‘It’s fine.’ She waved away my gratitude. ‘We need to eat, right?’
She pushed a plate of soft tortillas over to me while she dug into a pile of chips and an enormous serving of guacamole. For a few minutes we ate in silence, half paying attention to the TV, while I tried to set aside the stress and panic of the past forty-eight hours.
‘You must think I’m a real brat,’ Alice said out of nowhere.
I finished chewing my bite and swallowed before I replied. ‘Why would I think that?’
She glanced over her shoulder at me and gave me a wry smile. ‘Because I turned up on your doorstep demanding my family jewelry back?’
‘You’re not the first, Alice,’ I said, snorting with laughter. ‘I doubt you’ll be the last. People often sell stuff and then come to regret it.’
‘At least those people made the choice themselves,’ Alice said. ‘My mom was heartbroken when my grandmother’s place got broken into. We were still dealing with her death, and then the robbery on top of that sent my mom spiraling even further.’
‘It happens,’ I said dismissively, before realizing how cold I sounded. ‘Thefts from old estates aren’t unusual. I’m sorry it happened to you.’
Alice nodded, and it seemed like I’d managed to cover my slip-up.
‘Are you an only child?’ I asked, suddenly curious to know more about her.
‘No,’ she said with a laugh. ‘I am the youngest, though. And the only girl.’
‘Yeah, okay, I’m not surprised,’ I said, and that made her laugh more.
‘My oldest brother, Ben, works as a researcher for MSNBC. And Eric plays center field for the Yankees.’
‘Shut up,’ I said immediately. ‘No way. Your brother plays baseball? Like, pro?’
Alice nodded, still grinning. ‘He was always the sporty kid, whereas Ben was the smart one.’
‘What about you?’ I asked without thinking.
Her smile turned a little sour. ‘The flighty one, I guess. The spoiled brat.’
It was the second time she’d said that and I guessed it was one of those things that she’d internalized, whether it was true or not.
‘I guess being the youngest girl earns you that title,’ I said. ‘Are you in college?’
‘I’m starting this fall,’ she said, and I could almost see her bubbly personality rising back to the surface.
‘I’m going to be a History major. I’ve always been interested in genealogy.
My family has such an interesting history – as you now know – and my grandmother spent a lot of her life tracing where we came from.
My mom wasn’t as interested, but I’ve always loved it. My ancestors came over from France.’
‘Yeah? When?’ I asked, intrigued.
‘During the Revolutionary War. Yorktown.’
‘Oh, wow, way back, then.’
Alice nodded and stretched her legs out, before crossing them again. Then she pulled her ponytail out, scooped up all her hair, and tied it back up. She was fidgeting, which was weird, because she didn’t seem visibly uncomfortable.
‘You should finish these,’ she said, pushing the chips over to me.
‘Thanks,’ I murmured. ‘So, you’re a history buff and a women’s soccer fan?’
Alice glanced down at her T-shirt and grinned. ‘I’m multi-faceted.’
I smiled back. ‘I can tell.’
‘Plus, you have to support your local team. Eric got an offer from the Red Sox and Ben and I told him we’d disown him before we’d let him play in Boston.’
‘That’s fair,’ I said, laughing until the movement caused a twinge of pain through my nose, and I winced.
Alice clocked on. ‘I’m getting you more ice,’ she said decisively, standing up before I could tell her she didn’t have to.
She came back a few minutes later with a bag of ice and what looked like a pillowcase.
‘Sienna doesn’t have dish towels,’ Alice said, rolling her eyes. ‘I don’t think she ever cooks, if I’m honest. Or cleans.’
‘Sienna’s life sounds great,’ I said. When I pressed the ice to my nose it stung but soon numbed the throbbing into delightful nothingness.
‘Is there anyone you need to call?’ she asked, sitting back down next to me, a little closer than she was before. ‘To let them know where you are?’
I shook my head. ‘It’s fine. I might call my uncle in a few days, but I’ve mostly been operating solo since my mom …’ I trailed off. ‘How about you? Do you need to tell Sienna I’m staying with you?’ I asked, quickly changing the focus of the conversation.
‘Nah,’ she said. ‘She doesn’t care what I do, so long as I’m not throwing parties and pissing off the neighbors.’
‘We’ll keep the parties to a minimum then,’ I said.
Alice was staring at me intently. She seemed to realize I’d noticed and looked away, two pink blotches staining her cheeks.
‘Do you have a boyfriend or anything?’ I asked. ‘Someone who often stays over when you’re here?’
‘I don’t have a boyfriend,’ she said seriously, and I realized way too late that I’d offended her. She straightened and stuck out her chin. ‘I happen to be a lesbian.’
My stomach tripped, stumbled, and swooshed. Oh.
Oh.
Oh fuck.
‘Ah,’ I croaked.
‘People look at me and they see blonde, girly and straight. Just because I’m not a stereotype doesn’t negate my identity.’
I held up both hands – one empty, one full of ice – in surrender. ‘I’m not arguing with that,’ I said. ‘I’ve known you less than forty-eight hours, and you’ve already managed to bully me into staying in an apartment full of snakes.’
That made her lips twitch, and I thought I might have managed to break through the armor she’d suddenly put up.
‘Thank you for that, by the way,’ I finished.