“I’m going to consider that a compliment,” Adrian said with a laugh. “Unless you were talking about me to my assistant while trying to poach her again, in which case my fee for this hour triples.”
“I was talking to Noah Barden.” I sat on the landing and stared out the porthole windows at Naked. Sunny must’ve had the same idea when she heard the thunder because the crowd had thinned considerably and she was busy flipping chairs onto the tabletops. “He sang your praises.”
“He’s not a bad client,” Adrian murmured. “For an attorney.”
“I have to imagine you’d be a peach of a client,” I said.
“Yeah, well.” He blew out a breath, saying, “I have some updates for you. Remember how I told you I had a specialist checking into that video? The report came back and they detected some slight irregularities. It’s possible the video was edited at several points, specifically when Rabbit was speaking. We can’t be sure it means anything substantive because we don’t know what was altered but it’s enough to raise doubt.”
“That’s great,” I said, still focused on Sunny. Only a few more customers to send on their way and then I could take her home. “Right? This is good news, isn’t it?”
“I am optimistic about this. We’re drafting motions tonight to throw out the entire video and we’re calling around to find additional experts to examine the video. We might have something to work with here but you know the road ahead of us is long. This isn’t wrapping up anytime soon. Rabbit’s going to be in there for a while.”
I rubbed my neck and stared at the dark, shiny hardwood beneath my shoes. “Yeah. Okay. What else? Any news on my mom?”
“It would’ve been helpful if she hadn’t missed that damn flight.”
“Believe me, I know. That’s pretty much the Ballad of Sandy Loew these days.”
“There does not seem to be an appetite to extend her another deal. I’m going to keep working on it, though we do need her to be a tad more cooperative in the process.”
“Tell me how to make that happen, Adrian. I’m all ears. Short of flying to Central America myself and searching every island down there, I don’t know what to do.”
He sighed like his entire skeleton was disintegrating, and then said, “I might have some ideas but it’s going to take a considerable amount of time and money.”
“It’s funny how those are the only things you ever want from me.”
“We’ve exhausted all the straightforward solutions available to us. We can’t help her if we can’t get her home, and we can’t get her home unless we send someone in to get her.”
It was my turn for my skeleton to disintegrate. “Are you talking about some kind of Navy SEAL-style extraction? Because that’s what it sounds like.”
He barked out a laugh. “No. Nothing like that. There’s a firm based out of Washington, D.C., and while it is run by some former intelligence operatives, their work is all very civilized.” He paused. I braced for impact. “That’s why they’re so expensive.”
I turned my attention back toward the café while Adrian went on about minimizing exposure and Sandy-proofing these plans. I tuned him out, delighted to find the café empty and most of the chairs stacked on the tables but cold poured down my spine when I set eyes on Sunny.
She took a step backward and then another, a hand raised as if she was trying to calm someone down. Everything inside me turned to ice when I followed her hand to the person there. My organs, my blood, my muscles, everything. Frozen solid.
I could taste the panic on my tongue when I saw the ski mask pulled over his face and the long, heinous hunting knife he pressed into Sunny’s chest.
chapterthirty-four
Sunny
Today’s Special:
Naked Flambé
Two problems presentedthemselves at the same time: first, a strange, nearly sweet scent filled the café all at once, and when I went in search of the source I found myself face-to-face with my second problem, which happened to be a giant knife pointed directly at me.
Oh, and a guy in a ski mask.
Although I got the impression it wasn’t actually a ski mask but a thick beanie pulled down over his nose with some slits cut for his eyes. He seemed really toasty in that thing, what with the sweat pouring down his jaw and neck. Perhaps it was the combination of armed robbery stress and a poor choice of disguise given the weather.
“Hi. What’s up?” I wasn’t versed in knife-wielding intruder protocol. It showed.
“Shut up,” he yelled, jabbing with the knife.
I shuffled back several steps. The more distance between me and that gnarly blade, the better. “Okay, okay,” I said, holding a hand out to steady both of us. Of all the days to leave the dogs at home. “Just tell me what’s going on and I’ll see what I can do to help.” I took a few more steps until I had the windows on my side. Someone leaving the oyster company would notice this—thissituationsooner or later. Sooner would be so much better. “Are you hungry? I have cookies and—”
