Twenty-four
There was no use pretending. Eliza was avoiding him, and everyone else was, too.
Joey had heard them whispering inside the tea shop, and when he peeked through the smudged glass, he saw Eliza’s Granny trying to hide from him, contorting herself in a chair.
He was unwanted. He didn’t know why, but it was time to take the hint.
The air was cool and the wind cut through his jacket as he walked back to Russell’s house. When he reached the thicket of trees between the properties, he turned to look back at the cottage. It was dark except for a single glowing window upstairs.
Joey pulled out his phone and called.
Eliza picked up mid-ring. “Joey?”
Her voice bounced in his ear, soft and strong. “Hey, yeah, hi.”
Eliza cleared her throat. “Is everything okay?”
He looked up. Above him, half of the sky was black with clouds, and the other half glowed an eerie orange. The light filtered through the tangled branches of trees, casting webs of shadows around him. “I think we need to talk.”
She was quiet. The wind rattled the empty branches above. “Okay. Where are you?”
“I was just walking back from the tea shop. Are you there?”
“No.” Quiet for a moment. “I can meet you down at the beach, though.”
His heart leapt. “Okay. I’ll see you in a minute.”
The wind blew against him and he nearly tripped, first over the twisted roots of the trees, then rushing across the beach with the unexpected sinking of his shoes into the dry stones.
A hooded figure emerged from the cottage and grew larger, closing in. A flash of light cracked above him. He saw Eliza’s face rimmed with black fleece.
“Hi,” she said when she reached him. “Looks like it’s going to storm.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t care. His heart raced. “Are you okay? I haven’t heard from you in so long.”
A smile flicked at the corner of her mouth. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He paused. What was the point of dragging her out here if he wasn’t going to tell the truth? “I really miss you.”
She looked down. “I saw you yesterday. In Anacortes.”
He smiled. “Really? I didn’t see you. Where were you?”
She looked up, locking eyes with him. “I saw you with Stacy.”
He looked up, the last scraps of light overtaken with clouds. “Oh, yeah. Russell sent me to pick up some people, but they found another way to the site. She came up to me and said she needed a ride.”
She peered up at him. “Did she.”
“I tried to get something out of her,” he continued, “but she wouldn’t say a word. Steel trap.”
Eliza pulled her jacket tight over her chest. “Is that the truth, Joey?”
He focused his gaze on her. “Yes. You’d be the first person to know if she told me anything useful.”
“No. I mean about everything.” Her voice softened. “I’m not going to turn you in, you know.”
Waves pulsed closer, one nearly hitting his shoes. “What? Turn me in?”
“Why did you want to work with me, Joey? Why did you want me to help you find the robber?”
His chest tightened and his guts twisted. She knew. He didn’t know how, but she did.
He took a deep breath. “There are two parts to this.”
Eliza’s expression didn’t change, her eyes slowly scanning his face, left to right, up and down. She tilted her head as if to get another angle.
He went on. “First of all, Granny offered me twenty-five dollars to scare off the kids who were trying to torment you.”
She frowned. “She never told me that.”
“Ask her.” He cracked a smile. “Well, actually, ask her for the last five dollars, because she only gave me twenty.”
“What’s the second part?”
He wanted to say it. He did. It was on the edge of his throat, but he kept biting it back, the words too harsh and acrid. “Because…I thought you’d be the best person to find the bank robber. That’s the truth.”
She kept her eyes on him, waiting for more. When he didn’t add anything, she said, “What about the bag in the tea shop?”
He scrunched his eyebrows. “What bag?”
“Don’t lie to me, Joey. Please.”
“I don’t know about a bag. The robbery bag?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know if it was the robbery bag.” She paused. “But I know you were involved in it.”
He shut his eyes, the shame crashing in. “How did you figure it out?”
“Just lucky, I guess.”
Joey ran a hand through his hair. “It’s embarrassing.”
“More embarrassing than carrying a bomb into a bank?”
A drop of water hit him in the cheek. He looked up. “You’ll think I’m an idiot.”
“Try me.”
He sucked in a breath. The air cut his lungs but he held it, trying to get the first words out. “The morning of the robbery, Russell had me flying a bunch of people around. It was my second week here.
“A guy showed up. Black bag over his shoulder, cowboy hat. He had a big mustache, but I don’t remember much else. Friendly guy. Asked me for a ride back to Anacortes, saying he was supposed to pick something up for Russell.”
“He had a cowboy hat?”
Joey nodded. “I didn’t think anything of it. I really didn’t, until I saw the police sketch of the guy in the hat.”
Eliza was silent, biting the inside of her cheek. “You didn’t think to tell me this before?”
“I didn’t want…” His voice trailed off. “I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup if you offered me a million dollars. I wasn’t even sure he wasn’t one of Russell’s guys until you told me about the hat. Then I was sure.”
“And you still didn’t tell me?”
He dropped his shoulders. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t want you to think I was part of it.”
“Well, yeah.” She let out a breath and drew herself up. “I found the tassel in your plane.”
“Oh.” Misting rain coated his face. He squinted. “You already knew.”
She sniffed, touching her reddened nose with the back of her hand. “I didn’t know for sure. Mackenzie’s convinced you’re the robber.”
“What?” A gust of salted air blew into his eyes. “I’m not the robber!”
“How can I be sure?”
The wind wouldn’t let up. He jerked his head, trying to keep it out of his eyes. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding me? You really think I’ve been robbing banks and forgot to tell you?”
Her phone buzzed and she pulled it from her pocket. The screen lit her face for a moment as she typed a message.
Waves crashed into the shore, foaming the smooth rocks. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
She tucked the phone back into her pocket. “What I think is that either way, you’re going to leave, so it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m the robber?” A swell built in his chest. His breathing picked up. “Are you hearing yourself right now?”
“Either you are the robber and you’re going to fly off with your bag of money. Or you’re not and we’ll find him, then you’ll fly off with your bag of money.”
“So that’s what you think of me?” He was shouting now, over the wind, over his anger. “That I’m just a guy flying away with a bag of money?”
“I don’t mean it like that.”
She stepped forward, her arm outstretched, as he stepped back.
“What can you possibly mean, then? You think I’m a bank robber, Eliza. You think I’m the lowest of the low, that I’ve been using you.”
“No! I’m saying I can’t even think straight because I know you’re going to leave.”
“Yeah, sure.” He shoved his hands into his coat pockets. His fingertips were ice against the smooth lining. “If you didn’t want me to leave, then why did you cut me out of everything?”
She turned her head toward the cottage. Joey stopped to listen. A voice rode the wind like a whisper, calling her name.
“You’d better go,” he said. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think I was stealing from you.”
Her mouth fell open. “Joey.”
He spun on his heel and started walking, each footstep heavy in the rocks.
When he reached the twist of trees, he turned around. Eliza was gone. There was nothing but the strip of beach in front of him, the downpour blending the horizon with the darkened sea.