53. Hit Cat
53
HIT CAT
Ruby
Great. Just great. After all that, I still had to see Eli and tell him that his car—and, oh yeah, his diamonds—had been stolen. The thirty-minute wait and ensuing cab ride hadn’t been long enough to figure out what I was going to say to my stepfather. It hadn’t been enough time to wrap my head around everything that Jake had said.
He was right about one thing though. I felt like a pawn in someone’s game.
A heartbroken pawn.
The cab pulled up in front of Eli’s house, and I paid and headed to the door, my feet weighted down with dread. I’d called ahead and told Eli and Willow something had happened to the car, but before I could break the news, Eli told me to come to the house. Like a guy worried about what had happened to his car with the millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds in it.
Groan.
Before I could knock, the door swung open to reveal Eli holding up a bottle of Cristal, wagging it in…celebration?
“Come in,” he invited, sweeping out his arm in a grand gesture of welcome. “Let’s celebrate.”
Confused, I walked into the house where Willow pounced and pummeled me with a hug. “You’re a superstar.”
These two. I swear. They operated by rules of their own. “How am I a superstar? What are you celebrating?”
Willow poured and handed me a flute of effervescent wine. “We’ve been saving this bottle for when we caught the thief,” Eli said, lifting his own glass.
“What thief?” Up was down; left was right. Any moment now, a white rabbit in a vest would run by with a diamond-studded Rolex and I wouldn’t bat an eye.
Willow’s eyes glimmered with glee. “The one trying to steal the diamonds.”
Making a time-out sign was awkward while holding a champagne glass. “Somebody needs to explain to me what’s going on.”
Eli walked to the kitchen. Willow followed, and I did too.
“A few weeks ago,” he said, leaning against the marble kitchen counter, draping an arm around his fiancée, “we realized someone was sniffing around for our precious gems. We’ve tried everything to catch the would-be thief, and now we have.” He beamed proudly at me. “Seconds after you called, I contacted my friends on the police force about the stolen car and the stolen gems, and Clarissa is already under arrest.”
Willow squeezed his arm. “Don’t forget Tristan,” she said.
“Yes, Tristan is locked up too.”
I remembered him zipping by in his green Honda, and the smug look on his face. Mr. Smith, I presumed.
“You’re telling me that Clarissa and Tristan were working together to steal your diamonds?”
“I had a hunch it was her,” Eli said, stopping to sip his champagne. “I’ve been setting traps, trying to catch her. That’s why Nigel hid nuts in the back of the painting in my office, and then dropped hints to all the club employees that the gems were in the frame.” He laughed like a king, above the world’s cares on his throne. “I wish I could have seen Clarissa’s face when she sliced open the frame the other day and found nothing but nuts.”
Willow joined in the laughter, queen to his king.
Of course he would think his trick was hilarious. I let them continue to think it was Clarissa who peeked into the frame after slitting the backing. Served them right with their mighty attitudes.
The sunlight streamed through the kitchen window and splashed its rays across Willow, catching on the pendant at her throat. The gem flashed with a glint of blue. “Your necklace,” I exclaimed. “How did you get it back?”
Willow placed her hand on it, leaning in slightly to stage-whisper. “It was never missing in the first place. I just pretended it was stolen by wearing a fake during the gallery party. I popped it out of the setting and dropped it into my drink.”
She laughed at her cleverness.
I didn’t laugh.
“So you never suspected Nigel of stealing anything? Maris said—” I broke off, not wanting to get Maris in trouble for telling me something she shouldn’t have.
Eli waved a careless hand. “Oh, Maris and Nigel are dating. She spread the word that we suspected Nigel. But we just wanted the thief to feel secure, like we were looking in another direction, so they’d finally take action. And they did!”
Willow shrieked and pointed frantically to the countertop. She covered her mouth with her hand and choked in terror, “Spider.”
Eli grabbed a paper towel as if he planned to squash the trespassing insect, but out of nowhere, the silver tabby leapt onto the counter, all hold-my-beer attitude, and swiped the offender into next week.
Cats .
“Aww, Jade,” Willow cooed, as the cat groomed its murderous paw. “What a good kitty you are, getting rid of that nasty spider for Mommy.” Jade accepted her due adulation then sauntered off, pausing only to eye me as if I might be another trespasser who needed taking out.
I shuddered and got back to business. “So who stole the diamond from my hotel room? Was that part of this ruse?”
Eli banged a fist against his counter. “Bastard! Tristan must have seen me give it to you at the restaurant that day. All because I didn’t want to invest in his terrible business idea. I wish that hadn’t happened to you.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, dryly.
“I feel so betrayed by Clarissa though. I gave her a job when she couldn’t find one. Then I found out she couldn’t get a job because she was wanted for burglary. That was when I suspected she was the one trying to steal the jewels.” He shook his head sadly. “Maybe now that she’s been arrested, you’ll get it back.”
“What about the diamonds from your car?”
Eli and Willow laughed in tandem, and Eli answered, “Those are fake, of course. The real ones are safe and sound and so well hidden that no one will figure it out. I wouldn’t put real diamonds in a car trunk. But I had to make it easy for Clarissa to steal them. I had a feeling she was following you, and I’d been dropping hints that the diamonds were in the Audi.”
“You loaned me the car to use me as bait?” Another gut punch. He’d used me. Some tiny part of me had thought that, no matter what his crimes, he still felt a little bit of affection after he’d helped raise me. “You didn’t care about my safety at all?”
But he waved off my implied worry and Willow cut in to reassure me, “Darling, you needed good AC, and of course we knew Clarissa wouldn’t hurt you. She’s a nice girl who just needed money.”
“She’s a nice girl who’s wanted for a felony!”
“Now, now,” tutted Eli. “Don’t get hysterical, honey.”
The pair swilled champagne and basked in their happy outcome while my world had been turned inside out. I hadn’t even made it to Wonderland yet. I was still falling down the rabbit hole.
One thing was clear—Eli was capable of anything.
“Were you really planning to offer Mom alimony?” I demanded.
“Hmm. When did I say that?” he asked, ignoring the frown that Willow cut his way.
“At lunch!” I said, my voice rising as I sensed him erecting his Teflon wall. “It was only yesterday. You said you wanted to be more fair to her. You told me that.”
“I’m sure I never mentioned alimony.”
I opened my mouth to protest that yes, he had, but immediately realized that he hadn’t—he was too slippery for that. Of course, he’d curved around commitment like a snake. Danced out of danger that he might have to do the right thing.
Willow made a showy little grimace of distaste. “Eli wouldn’t have discussed money matters in public. That would be tacky.”
This from the woman who went into raptures about sex-toy party favors.
Eli just nodded in agreement. “We keep our financial affairs private.”
That. Was. It.
I’d lost millions of dollars in fake diamonds, broken up with my almost boyfriend, and shattered my last illusion that the man who’d raised me cared about me in the depths of the slimeball he had in place of a heart.
“Private?” I asked, stretching the word with sarcasm. “You mean like defrauding your investors—that kind of private? Skimming the Eli Fund accounts? Private like that?”
Willow’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and whipped over to Eli. Then, like that move wasn’t a neon “we are guilty” sign, she mouthed silently to her fiancée, You told her?
He’d fucking done it. He’d done the thing. He’d never deserved my reasonable doubt.
Worse, he’d get away with it. I had no evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had stolen the only real diamond I’d had in my possession.
And, I realized, the only chance I had to come away from this with money for Mom.
Later, I was sure the disappointment would hit me. The disillusionment. The dejection. Right then, I was livid and hurt.
Eli, oblivious to my riot of emotion, simply patted Willow’s hand and said, “Don’t worry yourself. Ruby is family.” Refilling both their champagne glasses, he pointed to my untouched one then raised his in a toast. “Let’s celebrate. The diamonds are safe, the thieves have been caught, and you helped us. And don’t worry about your diamond. If the police don’t recover it, I’ll buy you another one.”
“I don’t want another diamond. I don’t want a diamond at all. That’s the last thing I want.” My head felt stuffed with cotton. I had to get out of there, far away from him.
I stumbled out the door. Jake was right—I was too open and trusting. My instincts were totally off.