Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Drew was clearly deeply offended by my refusal to spend time with him, and there were only so many excuses I could come up with since I basically spent all my time at my parents’ place. So, on Sunday when my mom had found the bag he had left behind the night before and asked me to drop it off as I was heading in his direction to pick up some groceries, I decided to act like an adult, and I picked up a pizza on the way. He was expecting me, but not the pizza.
“Can I come in?” I asked when he opened the door.
“Sure,” he looked surprised.
“I’m going stir crazy at my parents’ place. And my mom doesn’t believe in fast food, so it’s been ages since I had a decent pizza. Her homemade just doesn’t cut it, and she loves pineapple!” I said, trying to sound uber-casual.
He led the way into his main room, which had a kitchen area against one wall.
“Grab a seat,” he said, getting out some plates and glasses and a couple of beers from the fridge.
I sat down and looked around, pointing to some framed prints on the wall. “I love this artwork, is it new?”
“Yeah,” he said, joining me. “A friend of mine makes these prints and sells them in the art market. You should come along sometime.”
“I’d like that,” I said, helping myself to pizza. “Can I see?” I gestured to the couple of frames sitting on the side that he hadn’t put up yet.
“Sure,” he smiled, and I got up to go look, but he was suddenly standing up and racing to the side where he cleared away a stack of paperwork, scooping it up and shoving it into a drawer. “Sorry about the mess, I didn’t expect you to come in…”
“It’s okay,” I said, looking at the prints. “I love these. You have to give me his name.”
“It’s actually a her. I’ll send you a link to her website,” he nodded. “Are you drawing much at the minute?”
“No, not at all,” I said. “Just too busy with work and everything. I got some good photographs in Dublin, I was planning to do something with those but…” I tailed off.
“How was Dublin?” he asked. “I feel like with everything that happened we sort of forgot that you had this amazing experience.”
“It was incredible,” I said, glad that someone was interested at least. “It’s just such a beautiful country, and the city is so vibrant. I just wish I’d had longer to explore.”
“And it’s a shame about the company, right?” he smiled.
“Well, yeah,” I nodded and took a sip of beer and raised my eyebrows. “There is that.” If only he knew, I thought.
“Probably best not to put it in the online review… ‘Fab city, despite the embezzling drug addict tour guide…’” he laughed.
I paused and looked at him as he chuckled at his joke and took another slice of pizza. “Drug addict?” I asked.
He blushed. “Yeah, didn’t you say he had some kind of drug past?”
“I said there were rumors of a criminal past,” I said slowly. “And embezzlement? Where did you get that from?”
“I think, uh, Beatrix let something slip about that,” he said apologetically.
“Ah,” I nodded. I didn’t want him to see it, but suddenly my stomach was churning with nerves. Something wasn’t right here. I got up and wandered over to look at the art prints again. There was a dirty cup and plate sitting beside them, and a couple of food wrappers. Why leave those and hide the paperwork if he was worried about me seeing his mess? I quickly pulled out the drawer that he had shoved the papers into and riffled through.
“Freya?” he stood up. “What the fuck–”
“What the fuck indeed?” I said, holding up a yellow envelope, identical to the one I had found under my door with my name on it. Only this one was in his own handwriting, and he had scribbled a line through it.
I didn’t wait for an explanation. He muttered a list of excuses. It was money to help with my travel plans. It was money he won. It was so that I wouldn’t need to go to Clover House anymore. It was a gift. It was for me to give to Dynasty Games because he knew they wouldn’t accept it from him. Any one of the excuses might have been plausible, but a whole contradictory list of them? I didn’t answer. I walked right out, leaving my groceries sitting on his floor.
I went straight to Beatrix’s, texting her on the way and then letting myself in through the back door as I always did. I called her name and she called for me to come upstairs. I found her in bed, even though it was barely eight.
“Beatrix, this is important. Have you ever talked to Drew about Keegan being investigated for embezzlement?”