Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“That’s all? Not ‘You’re right, Ruby,’ or ‘I trust you, Ruby’?”
I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face. Why couldn’t I just say that? But I didn’t trust my instincts anymore. “This whole case has felt like someone is playing a game. None of the clues add up. Even if you are totally uninvolved, the only thing that connects all the pieces is you.”
“Even if?” Ruby seemed to wrestle with saying something else, her mouth open and closing but nothing coming out.
When she finally spoke again, her words were measured, icy, and sharp as a blade. “Here are three clues for you, Jake. One, you know me, but you’re too gun-shy to trust yourself. Two, this is not a game to me. Because I’m falling for you. Three, this hurts me more than you can know. And when I put those all together, they tell me it’s best if we take a break. Goodbye.”
She turned to leave, and though I wouldn’t have thought it possible, the horrible moment became even worse.
And it was all my fault.
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.”