21. Our Broken Memories
CHAPTER 21
Our Broken Memories
Nikki
“What did you tell him?” I asked Lisa.
Behind me, Henry leaned on the wall, waiting patiently. I couldn’t even imagine the guilt he felt seeing Lisa in this place. I wanted to hold him, let him release everything he’d bottled up inside for years. But that would kill Lisa. To see how affected we were by all this. No. The best thing to do was to keep a cool head.
“I asked him to take you away from here.” She held up her hand when I opened my mouth to protest. “But he’s right. We all need to see this through to the end. Do you really believe Jonathan killed Henry’s dad?” Her lip trembled before she got it between her teeth. She was also trying to hide how scared she was. I nodded, and she continued. “Do you know why I sent you that letter last month? Because Jonathan came to see me. He wanted to know if I knew where Tessa kept her jewelry. He said there might be a way to prove I didn’t kill James.”
“What?”
“I told him I had no clue.” She pointed at the sapphire resting on my clavicle. “I recognize that necklace. Where did you find it?”
“Tessa’s security box,” I said.
“He was lying, wasn’t he?” She shook her head in disgust. “Was he just trying to get his hands on Tessa’s money…and your money? He told me that if I helped him, he would sell me Hotel Cavalier. He said he was certain you’d find the proof we needed in the hotel tunnel. The one we used to hide in when we were kids, remember?”
I nodded. “That tunnel isn’t there anymore.”
“He didn’t give a shit about us. He just wanted more money. I’m such an idiot. I got you into this for nothing.” She buried her face in her hands.
Jonathan had played her, but why?
“Not for nothing, Lisa. Henry and I have a plan. None of this is your fault, okay? I promised I would get you out of here, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Do you trust me?”
“I trust you with my life.” She placed her hand on the glass panel. “Be careful, Nikki. If you get in his way, Jonathan won’t think twice. After all he’s done, who knows what else he’s capable of.”
I had a pretty good idea. “I can take care of myself. You know that.” I smiled at her, hoping it was enough to put her mind at ease. Lisa didn’t need to know Jonathan had already sent someone to hurt Henry.
“It’s time,” the guard said.
She nodded and hung up the phone. I sat there as she left the room, no doubt feeling worse than before she talked to us. I sure as hell felt worse. After the door shut, Henry placed his hand under my elbow and escorted me out of the prison.
“What did Lisa say to you?” Henry asked when we got in the car. “Please don’t lie to me. I can handle it.”
No more lies. We needed to stay together and stick to our plan. “As it turns out, Jonathan visited Lisa a month ago and told her there was a way to prove she was innocent.”
He shot me a glance with his eyes full of surprise before he turned his attention to the road and pulled out of the parking lot. With each passing day, he had let me in more and more. My heart melted every time he let me see how he felt.
“What?” He shook his head. “Why did he ask for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”
“I didn’t think about that. He has your family’s money, so why would he need a quarter of a million dollars? That’s small change for him,” I said.
“You said he came to her a month ago, in June?” He checked his rearview mirror before switching lanes.
“Yeah, that’s when I got her letter asking me to bring the money and take ownership of the hotel.” I tucked my leg under my knee and shifted under my seat belt, so my body faced him.
“Son of a bitch.” Henry slammed his palms on the steering wheel. “Jonathan knows who you are. He didn’t want money. He wanted you.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Best case scenario, to distract me. I got here at the beginning of the summer. He must’ve known I wasn’t here just for the downtown reno. He knew I had come for him. He brought you in to confuse me, to keep me out of the way. I don’t know. But it’s too much of a coincidence that shortly after he lost the hotel to me, he went to see Lisa.” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw. A deep furrow appeared across his forehead as he gripped the steering wheel.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. All this time Jonathan had known who I was, and I hadn’t picked up on it. How had I missed that?
“What’s the worst-case scenario?” I asked.
Henry checked his mirrors again and took the ramp onto I-10. He let the silence linger for so long I thought he hadn’t heard me.
He slanted a glance at me with worry written all over his face. “He brought you back to tie up all loose ends. You and I are the only two people who knew he was in the tunnels that day. Maybe he was afraid we’d remember something. Our broken memories may not be enough to put him in jail, but it’ll be enough to turn the town against him. We’re a threat to him and everything he’s worked so hard for in the past fifteen years.”
Everything Jonathan did, even when James was alive, was to earn the town’s respect. I’d bet he almost had a heart attack when Henry returned to Paradise Creek or when we showed up at his house for the Founders’ Gala. But he had to play along since his wife had already invited us. She’d done it in a very public way too, as if she’d wanted to show the town she was very close to Henry. More lies. More pretenses.
“And we both know that would be like death to him. He cares so much about keeping up appearances. Why is that?” I asked.
“He always wanted to be like Dad. To be loved like he was.” Henry gripped the steering wheel.
“Same way the town loves you. It must really get his panties in a bunch to see how quickly the townspeople welcomed you back. It must make him nervous too, to think that you might tell someone about what he did to you. What would Mrs. Blaine think if she found out Jonathan and Francesca Cavalier are common thieves and murderers?”
“I think you’re right.”
I pressed my palm on my chest. “There’s one more thing. Jonathan asked Lisa about Tessa’s jewelry.”
“What did he want?” His gaze dropped to the pendant on my chest .
“He wanted to know if Lisa knew where Tessa kept them. What does he want with that? If he doesn’t need money, what is he after?”
“Only one way to find out.” He reached for my hand over the car console as he got onto the 101. “Your plan is the only way to flush him out, to force him to make a move.”
“How are we going to do that?” I wrapped my cold fingers around his warm hand.
“Lisa went pale when she first saw you. She recognized the necklace, didn’t she? Just like you did.” He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re right.” I nodded. “All we need to do is let him see me with it.”
He dug in his back pocket and pulled out his phone. “I hope your poker game has improved since that last time we played.”
“Who are you calling?”
“Russ. You remember him?” A smirk pulled at his lips.
“Sure. Nice guy. Very accommodating.” I gave him a one-shoulder shrug.
He shook his head, smiling. “Hey, Russ. It’s Henry. Call me when you get this message. Just wondering if you have room at your poker table tonight. Let me know.” He ended the call.
“And now we wait,” I said.
James Cavalier had been a regular at the Speakeasy Bar, where everyone went to try their luck. Everyone in town knew that. Just like Henry, he’d had a real knack for cards. Yet another thing James had that Jonathan didn’t. More memories came rushing back—Tessa and James laughing in the hallway because Jonathan had gambled and lost again…and once again, he had acted like a sore loser.
“Poor guy,” Tessa had said. “He can never catch a break.”
Had Jonathan been so jealous of his brother he ended up killing him? How much anger and hate did someone need to keep hitting his brother with a bronze statue after the first blow, after he was clearly dead? According to Lisa’s files, James had received six blows, one to the head and five to the chest.
Henry squeezed my hand. “Got a text from Russ. We’re in. There’s a game tonight at the Speakeasy Bar near the hotel.”
I offered him a weak smile. I didn’t want Henry in the same room as that psycho, but it had to be done. If Jonathan thought we had what he wanted, if he thought he was about to lose this cat-and-mouse game, he might lose his calm and hopefully make a mistake.
That night I dressed carefully. Ballet flats and a simple black dress with a flouncy skirt with plenty of room for me to strap a Taser on my right thigh and an emergency pack on the other. The monochrome ensemble made the sapphire stand out against my skin. I rubbed the stone between my fingers. Soon, we’d get the answers we’d been looking for. It would help a great deal, though, if we at least knew why Tessa’s jewelry was so important to Jonathan. Turning the sapphire, I squeezed it tight, and a ragged edge scratched the inside of my nail.
“Fuck.” I sucked on my finger, glaring at the stone in the mirror.
The shape was slightly off as I brushed the facet that’d cut me. I rubbed it again between my fingers. As if the entire stone were two pennies stuck together, the top slid off and something fell out of it. When Henry first put the necklace on me last night, even though the sapphire had the same oval shape and size, it had definitely felt lighter. This was why. It was a fake stone. The inside was hollow, a perfect place to hide something small.
I sat on my haunches and hovered over the SD chip on the carpet. Tessa must’ve made a replica of her necklace so she could hide something inside it. Was this chip the reason Henry and Tessa were still alive? I took the memory card out and shoved it in the SD slot in my laptop. Bracing for the worst, I clicked on the file and stepped back.
A knock on the door startled me and made me snap the computer shut. “Nikki. We have to go.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there. Just having some female problems over here.”
“Okay. Two more minutes,” Henry said.
I stared at my closet and the few clothes I had with me, doing my best to keep my lunch down. I didn’t have time to think this through. Following my gut instincts, I stuffed the chip in my bra, slid the stone closed, and grabbed the bag full of Tessa’s money and jewelry. I pressed my ear to the door and waited until Henry’s steps echoed on the grand staircase to sneak out of my room and into his.
I had to do the right thing. For Henry.
Henry didn’t have the criminal mind needed to see this thing with his uncle through to the end. If there was something I could do to protect him, I had to at least try. I went through the mail he had on his dresser and found a preapproved credit letter. I turned it over and scribbled a note on the back of it, stuffed it back in its envelope, and wrote his name on it, hoping he’d recognize my writing. I swallowed the lump in my throat and dropped the chip in before placing the envelope back on the dresser. I had no doubt in my mind that Jonathan would act the minute he saw me wearing Tessa’s necklace.
An hour later, with my hand holding Henry’s elbow in a death grip, we walked into the bar and headed straight to the back room where Russ had told us he’d be waiting. The Prohibition Era had been a big deal for this town. Bootlegging was how the town had survived the closing of the mines. Most of the older buildings still had secret back rooms and tunnels that led to Main Street. Russ met us outside the bathrooms.
“You made it.” He beamed at us .
Henry patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks for making room for us.”
“It was nothing.” He shrugged. “It’s always fun to watch you win your uncle’s money.” Chuckling, he gestured for us to follow him.
At the end of the hallway, we were greeted by a double-wide commercial-refrigerator door. The thermometer on it showed the room behind the door was at thirty-two degrees. With a crooked grin, Russ pulled on the lever, and the door squeaked open, slow and heavy.
On the other side, a dark corridor lined with shelves stocked with pantry items led the way to another room. Henry took my hand and ushered me inside. As soon as Russ shut the door, the lights came on, shining on the cherrywood floors and dark red paneled walls. The temperature was a comfortable seventy degrees.
Around the corner, Russ showed us into a large room covered in wooden panels, with a poker table in the middle, chairs upholstered in burgundy leather, and a sparkly chandelier casting a glow over the cards.
“Henry,” Mr. Paredes said. “Glad you could make it.” He stood and shook Henry’s hand.
Next to him, Jonathan sat frozen, eyes wide. He wasn’t looking at Henry. He was staring at me. That hadn’t taken long at all. He’d recognized the necklace.
I met his gaze. Your move, asshole.
Jonathan blinked fast several times before he stood to welcome us to the table. “Ms. Swift. Good to see you again. Please.” He pulled out a chair for me.
“I’m not playing, darling. I’m just here as Henry’s good-luck charm.”
Russ took a seat and quickly shuffled the cards, Vegas style. He’d obviously been running these games for a long time. He dealt the cards, and the second game of the night was on. Henry took a split second to look at his cards before he placed his bet in the middle of the table. His expression was hard as stone. Jonathan took a long swig of bourbon as his gaze darted from the pile of chips in front of him to his cards.
“Damn. I’m out.” Mr. Paredes pushed his cards in after Russ laid out the flop.
“I’ll bite.” Russ threw his chips in.
Jonathan stared at the table, looking paler than before. What was he afraid of? He knew that as long as he had Tessa, Henry couldn’t touch him, and I couldn’t use what I’d seen on the SD chip. Until Jonathan made a move, our hands were tied.
Time to force his hand.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” I stood and tipped my head. “I have to use the little girls’ room.”
Jonathan’s head snapped up at me. I gave him a half smile and left the room.
I fumbled with the fabric of my fluffy skirt until I found the pouch strapped to my thigh. If I had to guess, Jonathan already had someone waiting for me. I walked out of the Speakeasy room with my hand firmly over the Taser. My plan was simple—Taser the fucker in the crotch until he told me where Tessa was being kept.
As soon as the door closed behind me, a shiver prickled my back at the same time a needle pierced the skin on my neck. I turned and saw Scott, the bartender Jonathan had sent to hurt Henry.
“Hello, beautiful.” His stale-beer breath hadn’t improved since the last time Henry beat him up.
My heart drummed so hard I couldn’t swallow. I gripped the front of his shirt to keep awake, to hold on to my fading lucidity. Then everything went black.