“Was your aunt also a part of this Partridge Family of crime?”
“No.” Her answer was swift and sure. “She and my dad never saw eye to eye. Everything I said about her was true. She even helped me get into college and away from my dad when I was a kid.”
“I’m glad something wasn’t a lie.”
She flinched, though she was expecting his disdain. Up until now, he’d been focused on their common enemy. He was justified in being angry at her.
She curled her toes into the cheap rubber soles of her flip-flops.
Mira mentally erected walls around herself, high and strong. They were the same walls that had made it easy for her to walk away from a dozen matches and nearly forget Jay’s name the second he rejected her. The same walls she’d used when she’d ended things with Naveen.
She rubbed her ring finger with her thumb. “I can take you to the airport.”
He placed his hand on the table. “To the . . . to the airport?”
“Yes.” Mira sat up straighter. Silly, a flight would be a problem, with no identification. “Or the bus station. You can go home.”
He closed his eyes and appeared to take deep breaths, like he was trying to throttle his temper. Up until now, she hadn’t even realized he had a temper. He’d always seemed so fun loving. Though, to be fair, getting kidnapped and threatened with your ex would put anyone in a mood. “I can’t leave.”
Mira bit the inside of her cheek. “I’ll handle this,” she repeated. “It’s my sister, my responsibility.”
“How?”
She faltered. “I—I don’t know—”
“You’re going to take on the mob?”
“We don’t know for sure that this is Mafia business.”
“Even if it’s not, we know that they’re not above kidnapping, assault, or larceny. That’s all stuff they did today. They’re dangerous. They know who and where my family is. My mom, my grandfather, my cousin, her baby. No, I can’t go anywhere. We’re in this together until we clear this up.”
The accusation in that last sentence was loud and clear. Mira dug her toes into the rubber harder.
Naveen stilled. “Jesus. They could hurt my mom or grandfather.”
Mira rubbed her hand over her mouth. “They’ll have to go to California. It’ll take time.”
“Unless they have people everywhere, like he said.” Naveen pushed back from the table. “I need a phone. Excuse me? Miss? Do you have a pay phone? Or can I use your cell?”
The waitress didn’t even stop, just snorted a negative.
Mira fisted her hands. “We could find the necklace.”
He turned back to her slowly. “And how do we do that?”
She swallowed. “I might know where it is.”
Naveen stared at her for so long a drop of sweat ran along her hairline. She glanced around quickly, then reached into her bra.
To his credit, his gaze didn’t drop below her chin.
She pulled out the key she’d tucked up between her breasts. “It’s the storage locker key my aunt left me.”
“You knew all this time that you had the key to a place where your dad might have hid the thing, and you let them put a knife to my throat?”
She leaned farther over the table, to make sure no one could hear her. “If I’d given them this key, they would have slit your throat.”
To her surprise, he blinked, then nodded. “Possible. Yes.”
She sat back. “Not possible. Definitely. We were only useful insofar as we could provide them information.”
“You sure your aunt didn’t get rid of the storage unit?”
“I’m pretty certain it’s what she was referencing in her letter. She sold our house, so it’s the only place I can think of.” When her brother had died, Rhea had asked if Mira would like to go through the man’s house to save anything, but Mira had left no trace of herself in that three-bedroom ranch.
By appearances, no one would have known Vassar was anything but a single dad, which was entirely by design.
“It’s where your dad kept the things he stole?”
“No, but he didn’t really steal things back when I was home. He stole money, or information. The storage unit was mostly for documents he didn’t want at the house, and a safe place in case things got too hot.”
“Fine. So, we go to this unit, hope it is where he kept his stash, find the necklace, give it back to them.”
He made it sound so easy. She hoped it was, but nothing was easy where her dad was concerned.
Naveen signaled the waitress. “First, though, we need another car. They could have GPS on this one.”
She hadn’t even thought about trackers, though she should have. It wasn’t difficult to locate a car.
Gladys came up to the table and placed a check there without them asking for it. Naveen cleared his throat. “Is one of those cars out there yours, ma’am?”
The waitress popped her gum. “What business is it of yours?”
“I’ll buy it from you,” Naveen said flatly.
Mira didn’t know who looked more surprised, her or the waitress. Other than their shiny Ford, both of the cars in the parking lot were at least twenty years old and falling apart. Gladys was probably surprised he wanted to buy anything; Mira was surprised he had any money.
“How much money?” Gladys asked.
Naveen slid his ring off his hand. “You can have this.”
Mira lurched forward. That was his father’s ring. Naveen had told her that one night when they were lying in bed and she’d traced the gunmetal stone. His voice had been filled with admiration and love and fondness. Normal things that normal people felt for their fathers. “Wait,” she interjected, but the other two ignored her.
Gladys picked it up and weighed it in her hand. “Throw in the car you got here in, and I’ll give you mine and comp your meal.”
“Uh . . .” Naveen looked at her. “Someone might come looking for it. Soon.”
She shrugged. “I have boys who can handle that. And take apart that vehicle before they do.”
“Can you throw in your phone? Or at least a few phone calls?”
“So whoever’s after you can tie us to each other? Haven’t you seen CSI?” Gladys gave Naveen a pitying look. “Boy, no.”
Gladys was an enigma, Mira decided.
“Fine. It’s a deal.”
The waitress nodded and pocketed the keys to the stolen SUV so fast Mira would have missed it. “I’ll go get my CDs out of the car.”
Naveen came to his feet a second later.
“What are you doing?”
“We have some . . . CDs we have to remove from our car too.”
The guns. “Naveen, your ring. You shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t worry about it. I used it for exactly what it was intended for.” On that cryptic note, he turned away. “Stay here.”
She hated the surge of anxiety that ran through her. Don’t you dare get too used to having him around. It definitely will not last.
She’d been on her own for ages. This was nothing new.
Still, she couldn’t resist calling his name. “Naveen?”
He gave her a questioning look over his shoulder.