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She shrugs. “I’m getting a vibe. I’m being curious. Dexter always tells me my curiosity is going to get me into trouble one day. Hey, speaking of which…” She looks around as if someone might be eavesdropping.
“Did you take it?”
“What?”
“The Inverted Garden!”
“No!” My heart does a somersault as I look around quickly, in case anyone heard her, but no one is listening. Not even the two guys in suits at the bar. They’ve found two young women with long, tanned bare legs more amenable to their charm.
“I didn’t steal anything,” I hiss.
“Hey, it’s none of my business, Laura. And just so you know, I haven’t told anyone about what you did. But I did wonder.” She tips her glass in my direction.
I feel a touch of vertigo. “I don’t know what you think you saw. I was checking the lock, that’s all. Sometimes the bolt sticks out—”
“Oh, okay.”
“—so I checked the lock, and I used my key to check the bolt, that it was sliding in and out the way it was supposed to do. That’s all.”
“You did look like were you hacking at that thing like you were trying to kill it. No offense.”
“Cut it out!”
She tilts her head at me. “Honestly, I’m not going to tell on you. I was curious, that’s all.”
I drop my head. “Listen,” I lean forward again. My lips are trembling as I speak. “I didn’t take anything, okay? I accidentally left the door open the day before. That’s the truth. When I came back the next morning, an artwork was missing. I scratched the lock to make it look like a robbery, I mean a real robbery. Rather than me just…screwing up.”
She takes a moment to think about this, one eyebrow raised. My heart is beating in my throat. She nods slowly. “Well, there you go! See? There’s always a logical explanation if you look hard enough.”
I breathe out. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re not going to tell anyone?”
“Who would I tell? And why would I? It’s none of my business.”
I drop my face in my hands. “Thank you.” I look up. “It was for the insurance, I swear to God. Please don’t tell anyone. Please don’t tell Bruno.”
“Only if you share the loot with me.” She winks.
“But I didn’t—”
She laughs. “It’s okay, I’m just kidding. Why don’t we have another drink and you can tell me about Bronwyn?”
I nod. A lot. I feel dizzy. I keep waiting for her to say something else about it but she’s rummaging through her purse, pulls out her wallet.
“No, hang on. I’ll get it.”
“Okay, thanks!”
I push my chair back, stand up, my stomach clenched. I feel sick and I don’t think it’s the wine. “Actually Summer, if you don’t mind…maybe we should do this another time. I probably should go home.”
She pouts. “Come on, Laura. Don’t be like that. Let’s have another drink.”
She makes it sound like we’ve done this before, like she knows what I’m like, how I get.Don’t be like that.“Okay,” I say. “Sure. One more.”
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to sound so oppressed. I’m not asking you to take a shot of cyanide.”
