Chapter 39 Gabriel
Gabriel
“Hi, Amelia,” Sydney says.
Amelia freezes, her gaze dragging over my wife. Then she plasters on a happy smile and throws herself at Sydney with a squeal. “You’re back at work? Really? You should have told me you were coming.”
Amelia bounces and rocks Sydney in her arms.
I knew when Sydney told me she’d try to keep her co-workers at arm’s length that this was a possibility. Sydney can’t reject her hug without looking suspicious. And if Webster catches on to us, she could turn on her in a heartbeat.
If Amelia attacked on a fair playing field, Sydney from a year ago would have wiped the floor with her. But this Sydney needs a nap after ten minutes of soccer with the niblings.
My wife eases out of her arms.
“Are you back for good?” Amelia asks.
Sydney shakes her head. “Not yet. Just thought I’d stop by and say hello since I was in the neighborhood.”
Rob scowls and opens his mouth to call her out for lying to him earlier, then shuts it with a snap when he catches sight of the warning in my eyes.
Amelia throws out her arms like a performer on stage.
“Well, hello there. And, sorry I had to leave your birthday party early last weekend. Rob was my ride, and you know what a stick in the mud he is,” she says, lowering her last words by an octave, teasing censure in her laughing head wobble and singsong voice.
Sydney glances at Rob, then back at Amelia. “You missed some drama at the end.”
Amelia’s face doesn’t show a hint of genuine surprise. “Oh, no. You had a relapse? I knew the party was going to be too much for you. You shouldn’t push yourself so hard. It’s not worth it.”
“I’m okay. Come here, you,” Sydney says.
Dave and I both tense as she pulls Amelia back into one of those rocking hugs.
What the fuck is she doing? It’s one thing to have been unable to refuse her without raising suspicion.
It’s another thing entirely to deliberately step into danger.
I move close enough that I can rip Amelia away from her if it becomes necessary and meet Sydney’s eyes over Amelia’s shoulder. “You promised to be careful,” I mouth.
Sydney gives the tiniest hint of a cringe.
Amelia visibly relaxes in her arms and sniffles. “I’ve been so worried about you since everything happened. Don’t feel like you have to push yourself to come back here too soon. It’s not like you have to work.”
“That’s so kind of you,” Sydney says in a choked voice.
Jaw ticking and eyes narrowed, I keep my attention on Amelia and Rob. Assess their posture. Evaluate the threat.
Amelia laughs wetly through a small sob. “I know I’m being sappy, but my friends are important to me.”
“Me too.” Sydney’s brows come together, and she inhales deeply through her nose. “You know that asshole is dead now? There’s no more danger.”
Sydney releases her and holds her at arm’s length.
“You’re right. The danger is over. Time to move onward and upward. In a few more months, it’ll be like the whole nightmare never even happened. You look fantastic. Truly,” Amelia says.
“Thanks.”
Rob steps forward, clearly too annoyed by the conversation to remain silent a second longer. “That’s great. But have you remembered why you vandalized the lab?”
Amelia whirls on him. “Rob, that’s enough. We agreed not to talk about it anymore.”
Sydney glances my way, and I can see the wheels turning. It’s the look she had when she’d repeated, “my husband” back to Officer Price the day she called 911. This is my wife when she’s sunk her teeth into a problem and is two seconds away from digesting it.
Sydney shakes her head. “Sorry, Rob. I have to be honest, memories of how that happened aren’t ever coming back for me.”
Rob’s face falls.
Amelia puts a commiserating hand on his shoulder. “If she can’t remember, she can’t remember. We move on from here. Fresh start.”
Sydney rubs her forehead, then straightens and sighs. “Amelia, why don’t you tell us about that night?”
Amelia freezes. “What do you mean?” Her question comes out an octave too high.
“Rob, did Amelia clean out my locker for you when she suggested the change?” Sydney asks.
Rob glances at Amelia. “Yes.”
Amelia glances to the doorway where Dave now stands, blocking the exit.
“Amelia,” Sydney says coldly, “you gave me my hat back. Where are my sneakers and sweater that were supposed to be in that locker?”
Shaking her head, Amelia backs up. “It wasn’t the same hat. It wasn’t from me. It was from Rob.”
“I didn’t buy it. I was going to give her a gift card. You told me you’d put my name on it because you had two gifts,” Rob says.
“It was the same hat. Where are the rest of my things?” Sydney demands.
“How would I know? You wore them,” Amelia says.
“I had lunch with you that day. You were crying. I asked what was wrong, and you told me your grandmother was sick and asked me for a hug. That’s when you took the necklace off me and planted it in the lab.”
“That’s crazy. Maybe it fell off, but I didn’t take it. How can you say something like that to me?”
“You’re one of only a handful of people who knew it had a tracker in it.
You took my clothing from my locker and smuggled it out in your gym bag, then snuck back in here wearing a wig after hours and pretended to be me.
You kept your hair down, turned your face away from the cameras, and wore my clothing. ”
It has to be a guess, but Sydney has clearly remembered enough details to put the events of the night together.
Amelia clutches her stomach, her expression panicked. “How could you say something like that? I didn’t even know your locker combination.”
“I trusted you. I was elbow-deep in a time-sensitive photoreactive polymer two years ago. You said you were hungry. I had a bag of pretzels in there and told you the combination so you could get them without me having to stop what I was doing.”
“I can’t remember a combination from two years ago,” Amelia says.
“We have video coverage of Sydney’s birthday party from our security cameras. Multiple angles. You roofied her drink,” Dave says. He doesn’t say we caught her drugging the seltzer, but he does an excellent job implying it.
Amelia clutches her scalp. “No I didn’t.”
“I saw you and didn’t know what you were doing with her drink. I thought you were obsessed with her,” Rob says in a disbelieving voice.
Amelia turns on him. “Shut up.”
“We have enough evidence for a search warrant, Amelia. The FBI will turn your place upside down. They’ll go through every purchase you’ve made, every phone call and text and DM.
Every website you’ve visited. They’ll check your locations on your phone.
They’ll interview your neighbors about your comings and goings.
They’ll get the security feeds from your building.
They’ll interview your neighbors. They’ll interview Markov’s neighbors.
They’ll find wherever you stashed Markov’s money,” Sydney says in a hard voice.
Amelia clutches the countertop behind her. “I didn’t want his money.”
“What were you hoping to accomplish by drugging Sydney at the birthday party? Don’t lie.
We already know what you did. Make us understand.
” I keep my tone deliberately calm, as if I’m the “reasonable” one who will help her if she’ll only confide in me.
I’m the nice McRae. The funny one. The one who never takes anything seriously. You can talk to me.
Amelia turns watery brown eyes my way. “I didn’t want to do it. I had to. And, obviously, she’s fine now. It wasn’t dangerous. It was supposed to look like a relapse. You’d take her away somewhere she could be happy, and I’d be safe.”
It nearly kills me, but I paste on a look of concerned confusion because that’s my role today. “Sometimes people have to make difficult choices, but I don’t understand why you made this one.”
“I’ve never been good at relationships. No one ever loved me.
Not the way Nick did. So, when he said I chose work over him, I begged him to go back to acting like the man I fell in love with.
He told me I had to prove my loyalty, or he was leaving me.
It was supposed to be harmless. Like . .
. like a prank. I didn’t know what he’d do to her.
No one was supposed to get hurt. The company could afford some bashed-up equipment. ” Amelia sobs.
Sydney takes a step backward.
Amelia puts out a beseeching hand to her.
“You have to understand. I knew Arden McRae wouldn’t charge his own daughter-in-law for anything.
He wouldn’t even let the information go public because of how bad it would look.
And I knew your marriage was fake. I walked in on you with your prenup on the computer the day after you got engaged.
You weren’t with Gabriel, at all. Then the next day, he’s giving you a million dollars and an early out from your contract to marry him?
Everyone thought you were together. Rob did, but I knew you weren’t dating.
I overheard Gabriel call you a blackmailer.
You said it was a joke, but I knew it wasn’t.
So, what could he do to you if he thought you wrecked the lab in a temper? Nothing. It should have ended there.”
Every molecule of air freezes in my lungs until my chest burns. Sydney goes utterly still, not even blinking in her shock.
Look at me. Please.
Instead, she angles her face away and takes a step toward Amelia. “How did you get my badge without me noticing it was missing?”
When Amelia hesitates, Sydney slaps her across the face. The sudden violence cracks through the otherwise quiet room. Amelia gasps and cries out. I force myself not to interfere.
“How did you get my badge?” Sydney repeats, her voice shaking, with memory or rage or hurt.