I put the walkie back to my mouth, unclenching my teeth one-by-one.
“Listen,” I hiss. “I’ll be about two seconds from offing your ass, if you don’t. We’re tailing Marilyn. And the biggest part of tailing is that you follow the subject. Wherever they go. Whatever they do. So… fucking follow her.”
Jesse exhales loudly. “Sure,” he declared. “But I don’t get it… Do we have to do this GI Joe-style?”
I shift in my car seat. “Yes.”
“Well, can we at least use some traditional walkie-talkie code?”
I inhale deeply, exhaling just as quick “No.”
“So, we want to keep an eye out for Violet and your sister, why?”
“Because we’re protecting them,” I added.
“More like stalking,” my college roommate concludes. “And don’t get me wrong,” he spouts quickly. “I’m all on board for a little light stalking work, but if that’s what we’re doing, ya gotta tell me. Might have to dial down my focus, especially since you’re not paying me.”
I tap the throttle in my car, resisting the urge to smash the black talking square against it. I hold it closer to my mouth instead.
“Jess. Listen. I need all of your focus. Turn your dial back the hell up.”
I sit back in the driver’s seat of the rented Audi, my nerves on high. Post-blizzard Manhattan traffic plays the score to my impatience, and I wait for Jesse’s voice to come over the line again, hoping he will have a clue as to where Marilyn’s heading, where she might lead us.
I hope to God it’s to Violet.
She’s the one under the threat. Not my sister.
But with cell phones out of commission and Violet’s love for “DND” mode, I can’t tell if she’s running from me again…or been taken. If she’s run, I know my sister won’t tell me the truth.
Either way, I need to get to her. Before whoever’s taking aim at King & Sparrow’s stock and business comes calling after her.
Marilyn had just gotten back to her apartment and yet here she was again, leaving it. My wily sister was making up for lost time since making it out of the hospital.
I’d considered Brett to help me tail her, but Jess had been my first call. With paparazzi tailing him and Elsie, it was the last thing my best friend needed, especially after we’d last ended on such fucked-up terms.
I still needed to mend that when I had a chance. But my own time was now running out.
I was worried about Violet.
I continue sitting there in the car, anxious for Jesse’s next update, and when it comes, I regret my decision to call him for the fortieth time.
“Holy shit,” he comments on the line. “When did Marilyn get so grown up?”
I sit up. “Sometime around the age we did.”
“Your sister is gorgeous.”
“Really great update, Jess. I’ll tell her you mentioned it.”
“I just noticed how…adult she is. She seemed like such a kid when we were at Harvard.”
“She sort of was.” I growl. “No more than seventeen. Now, could you keep your eyes off my sister’s ass and on where she’s going? I really don’t need a play-by-play of you noticing how hot she is.”
“Huh. Well, she is.”
“Congratulations on having eyes.”
“And my eyes weren’t on her ass, but if they were…” He trails off. “I mean, it is tight as hell. You could bounce a fucking quarter off it. Nice skirt-suit she’s wearing, by the way.”
I snap. “Stop talking about my sister’s ass.”
“We could talk about Violet’s ass, if it makes you feel better.”
“Look anywhere near Violet’s ass, and I’ll throw your fucking walkie talkie into the street.” I lower my voice. “With your ear still attached.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it, boss.” Jesse jokes. “I’ve got her covered.” I snort loudly and I can sense his smile over the line. “In the…non-sexual sense, of course, and well, would you look at the time…?”
“Quit fucking around, Jesse. And keep me updated.”
“Yes, that’s right. Okay, I’ve got Manhattan covered. You…have fun in Brooklyn, I guess. Nothing there anymore but bad art and hipster bars.” He pauses. “I wouldn’t trade places with you right now for the world.”
His statement sets something off in me. My gut clenches with a new thought. I turn the wheel. Kicking up grudge and dirty snow, I head in the direction towards the bridge—back to Manhattan. Thrusting my throttle, I throw the Audi car into overdrive, my fist tightening just the same as my tires which spin over ice and sleet, flying over the road.
I lower the walkie from my ear, whispering into the small speaker, my pulse bouncing all around my throat. I hiss to Jess.
“Turn around. I know where Violet is going to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
VIOLET
Christmas Eve
Le Petite Pony has a few people, but Heath isn’t one of them. After our taxi cab took us to his apartment, I found it empty. Scouring the city, looking for him, my phone deader than dead, I, at last, land on the local bar we can’t stop coming to.
The one we’d been in the night we first met.
On Christmas Eve, the streets are scarily quiet. The snow has shuttled everyone inside and as I stroll towards the back space of the bar, my eyes scanning for Heath, they land on something—someone—I never thought would be here.
His blue eyes and blond hair are a dead giveaway.
“Hi, beautiful.”
My heart drops at the sound of his voice. Fuck.
I wrap my hair in a quick twisted top bun, crossing the length of the bar. Running my fingers over my hips, I try to rub the nerves out, but they’re still singing by the time I make it to David’s stool, my skin still prickling as his blue eyes peruse my body, trailing all over my black shirt and skirt.
I cross my arms over my chest and wait. “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” he comments, spinning towards me. “There’s only one reason anyone comes to a bar.” He raises a glass I hadn’t seen until just now. He lowers it. “And it ain’t to look at the bowls of peanuts offered to the patrons.”
I nod, feeling nothing. “It’s a little early for the hard stuff, don’t you think, David?”
His eyes scan the bar. “Doesn’t look that way. Looks just early enough to me. It’s not like the bar’s completely emptied even on Christmas Eve. And speaking of ‘empty,’ if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t been around much lately.” He straightens his overpriced silk tie. “Would’ve been a shame not to see you before Christmas.”
“I’ve been around. Just got a lot of work to do.”
He sniffs. “Does that work include Heath Sparrow?”
I cut my eyes at him. “Why don’t you go home and rest? Looks like you’ve had your fun.” I sniff. “You reek of vodka and you need to clean up. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.” I mutter under my breath. “Unfortunately.”