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Good, I thought, hoping I’d find something that I could use to make him hurt. Hurt like I hurt.
The oddball lessons learned at Margot’s feet resurfaced and my nimble fingers, always so much more silent and careful than my brothers’ at such things, went through Matt’s clothing, searching out clues, evidence, secrets.
Our little pickpocket, Tyler had called me a million years ago.
Thinking about all that brought a gush of emotion I didn’t want to feel.
All I wanted right now was to be righteous and angry.
I’d put these strange skills behind me along with the gambling and card playing that my whole family loved. That Matt had reduced me to this was one more thing to hate about him.
Matt’s pockets were empty so I went around the room, a ghost on bare feet, finding hiding spots and hidden nooks.
I tipped over a broken dusty pot in the corner and found a black leather wallet.
And under that, a set of manila folders.
MATT
I dreamed of box hedges. And a pattern, a maze. Detailed and difficult, something a wild eight-year-old would get a kick out of. And at the center of that maze a secret heart. Lush bougainvillaea bushes, perhaps. Definitely some birds of paradise. A bench. A fountain, something old-fashioned and courtly that Margot would adore.
Someplace quiet for the sun to filter through Savannah’s hair.
My eyes blinked open and in a heartbeat I knew what to do with the courtyard.
A maze. It was perfect.
Inspiration, gone for months, flooded back.
A sound in the corner, something between a laugh and a sob, made me turn.
Savannah, pale as a ghost.
Holding my wallet.
Looking through my files.
My stomach bottomed out and I cursed.
“What…what is all of this?” she whispered.
I cleared my throat. The truth, I reminded himself, the pristine truth. I stood, not wanting to have this conversation naked, and yanked on some pants.
“Information I had gathered on you and your family.”
“Information?” she whispered, paging through the pictures with shaking fingers until she came to the one of her and all that baffled hurt froze into anger.
“This is a nice one,” she said bending back the folders. “It was Katie’s last day of school. Where’s her file?”
“I don’t have one. My investigator didn’t tell me about her.”
“You just can’t get good surveillance these days, can you?” Savannah snapped, her mouth trembling, but then she bit her lips. Her whole body was rigid, concrete and rebar.
I said nothing.
“Why?” she demanded. “Why would you pay a stranger to follow my family?” She flung out the picture of Tyler at a card table in Vegas, and another one of Margot in her car and the third one of her eldest brother, Carter, leaving his office.
Thank God she didn’t get to the one of her mother.
She threw the rest of the files on the bed and took my wallet from the pocket of her robe.
“And why would you lie to us?” She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Matt Woods, is it?”
“I’ll answer all your questions,” I said, holding up my hands as if talking down a jumper. “But I need a few answers of my own.”
“You!” she breathed, fury igniting her face. “You are in no position to ask any questions!” She hurled the wallet into the corner. “Get dressed. And get the hell out of here.”
She whirled to leave but I got ahold of the sleeve of her robe. “Savannah, we need to talk.”
“Talk?” she cried. She smacked at my hand and then, her mouth tight with fury and her eyes bright with tears, she slapped my face. So hard my head snapped sideways and my ears rang.
“You lied to me. To my family,” she whispered. “Get. Out.”
I shook off the sting of her blow and stared her down.
“I deserve that,” I said and her eyes narrowed. “I deserve that and more and I’m truly sorry for lying to you. But you never would have talked to me if I didn’t do it this way. My name is Matt Woods. Howe was my mother’s maiden name. I need—”
“You need to leave, Matt.” She spat my name like it was rotten meat.
I felt like shit. This was a total nightmare and not at all how I imagined things going. But I’d come here for a reason and I wasn’t going to leave without getting some answers of my own. Savannah might not know where her mother was, but there was still the small matter of the gems to be considered.
“Not until I have a chance to explain and get some answers.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said. “Like I’m going to answer any of your questions.” Her anger cracked and sadness leaked into her face, her voice. The way she held herself, as though she was losing more strength with each passing second, made me want to howl. “Just go. I don’t care what you have to say.”
