AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Barron gets a glint in his eye that tells me he’s considering the question seriously rather than rhetorically, pricing the thing out in dollars and cents. “Millions,” he says finally.
Bob pokes Barron’s chest with his gloved finger. “Next time, before you come in here acting heavy, you get your story straight. I’m a businessman. I don’t cheat the families, I don’t cheat other workers, and I don’t cheat my friends, no matter what your mother told you. Now, before you go, you better be buying something nice. Something expensive—you get me? Otherwise I’m going to tell a couple of my friends how rude you boys were to Bob.”
We go out to the counter. Bob pulls out a couple of pieces that are in the right price range for our transgression. Barron picks out a diamond heart set in white gold for nearly a grand. I manage to seem convincingly broke—something that isn’t hard, since it’s true—and am allowed to buy a much cheaper ruby pendant.
“Girls like presents,” Bob tells us as he lets us out of the store, adjusting his glasses. “You want to be a charming guy like me, you got to shower your girl with gifts. Give my best to your mother, boys. She looks good on the news. That woman always knew how to take care of herself!”
He winks, and I’m ready to slug him, but Barron grabs my arm. “Come on. I don’t want to have to buy the matching earrings.”
We march back to the car. Our first mission together, and it was pretty much a bust. I rest my head against the frame while Barron takes out the keys.
“Well, that was… interesting,” he says, unlocking the doors with a click. “For a dead end.”
I get in, sliding into the passenger seat with a groan. “How the hell are we going to find this thing? The stone’s gone. There’s just no way.”
He nods. “Maybe we should try to think if there’s something else we can give Zacharov?”
“There’s me,” I say. “I could—”
The car starts, and he pulls away from the curb, veering into traffic like he’s daring the other cars to a game of chicken. “Nah. You’re already mortgaged to the hilt. But hey, maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way. Mom has a nice apartment to stay in and an older gentleman to keep her company. Three square meals. Patton can’t get to her. What exactly are we trying to save her from? Given what we know about her history with Zacharov, she might even be getting—”
I hold up a hand to ward off whatever he’s about to say next. “LALALA. I can’t hear you.”
He laughs. “I’m just figuring that maybe she might be better off unsaved—safer, happier—which is excellent, because, as you said, our chances of finding that stone are pretty much zero.”
I tip my head back against the seat, looking up at the Ferrari’s tinted sunroof. “Just drop me at Wallingford.”
He pulls out his phone and texts while he drives, making him nearly pull into another lane by accident. A moment later his phone buzzes and he glances at the screen. “Yeah, okay. That’s perfect, then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hot date,” he says, grinning. “I need you gone.”
“I knew it,” I say. “I so knew you weren’t dressed up like that to go to Paterson with me and meet Bob.”
Barron takes his hands away from the wheel to straighten his lapels and to tuck his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket. “I think Bob appreciated my outfit. He made me buy the more expensive pendant. You might think that was to my disadvantage, but I accept that status comes with a price.”
“Not usually so immediately.” I shake my head. “You better not be hitting on federal agent ladies. They’ll arrest you.”
His grin widens. “I like handcuffs.”
I groan. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”
“Nothing that a night being worked over by a hot representative of justice couldn’t fix.”
I study the clouds through the sunroof. I think I see one in the shape of a bazooka. “Hey, so do you think Dad lied to Mom about the second fake diamond? Or do you think Mom lied to us?”
“To you,” he says. “She didn’t even try to tell me.” The smile has curled off his mouth.
“Yeah.” I sigh. “Either way it’s a hell of a dead end.”
Barron nods. His foot presses the accelerator harder, and he veers into the fast lane. I don’t protest. At least he has something good to race back to.
* * *
Barron drops me in front of Strong House. I slide out of the car and stretch. Then I yawn slowly. It’s just barely nightfall. The last of the sun is still blazing on the horizon, making all the buildings look like they’re catching fire.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say.
