AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I had a think.” She holds up her chipped mug. “And I’m gonna guess the fucking Agnossios and Millers. Or, as you might say, your bad choice in lovers’ families.”
I let that slide.
“A family names Everton—”
“Fancy,” Harry says.
“—claimed the necklace was stolen.” I show her the computer. “Look.”
“That’s old.” Harry frowns.
“I know.”
Harry twists her mouth to the side. “I should have been able to find that. It doesn’t look like it’s something that should be hidden in a dark corner of the web. They’re offering a reward. Not a big one. And this looks old, but it’s hard to tell since it’s just a photo of the cut out.”
“Un-bunch your panties,” I say.
She gives me a look. “Keep out of my nether regions drawer, Lena.”
“I’m now officially scared to ever peek in there.” I smack her arm lightly. “Now listen. This Everton family’s gone, married into various others, male lineage only had female heirs or none and now it’s extinct. But they offered a reward about eighty years ago.”
“I’m lost.” Harry knocks back some of her drink.
“There’s another article. It’s really small.” I pull it up. “Seems that Everton got it back and donated it to a small museum in Seattle. Then it went missing again, got into the hands of the Agnossio family, or the Miller family. I don’t know. All we have is anecdotes and the photos which prove nothing.”
Her eyes get big. “Neither family owns it?”
“Nope.”
“But that doesn’t matter. We deal in stolen goods all the time, like the stealing stolen goods kinda thing. It’s the territory, so—”
“The reward article is from the museum. It’s called Vanderland and it’s still there. They still own the Heart of Dark Desires, and they have a reward.”
“I could fence the damn thing or we could just get Jac to pay for you to get it back.”
“No. They’d never let us live. They’re powerful.” I take a breath. “Hendrick murdered that slumlord down on Water’s Edge.”
“Ray Rodgers? That fucker?”
I nod. “For me. He found out I’m from there. Our upbringing. He’s going to rebuild, improve.”
“That’s some fuckin’ magic pussy you have. Did Jac raise the dead?”
“Jac’s up his own ass a little too much, but…” I pause because what I’m suggesting is dangerous. “We turn it over to the museum, collect the reward.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Or we tell them? If I can get near the real one, can we pull off a grift? We did it growing up. Not on this level, but if we can switch out the real for the fake, the museum will have a pretty appraiser, or they will. We walk with the diamonds and get the fuck out of town.”
“Or we get dead, Lena.”
I nod. “It’s a risk.”
“Let’s sleep on it,” she says.
I know she’ll say yes.
* * *
