She shook her head again. “Amy is too smart for that. She’s just too talented for her own good. They needed her and she was starting to complain too much. They were afraid she was going to run.”
Mal turned that information over in his head a few times. “So, what was their plan? Kidnap her? Force her to keep making counterfeit bags?”
Lisa startled, seemingly surprised that Mal knew Amy was the one making the bags, but she recovered quickly. “They weren’t coming for Amy. They were after Casey. Leo thought if he kept Casey, then Amy would keep quiet and do as she’s told.”
“That seems…illogical,” Mal said. “Maybe that might work short-term, but they could hardly keep a kid locked up indefinitely. Right?”
“They have a whole sweatshop going. They wanted Amy to train the others to do the work as she did,” she explained. “These bags make Leo a lot of money, not just here but overseas. Thedemand is high. Not just for the bags but for the drugs they smuggle inside those bags.”
“So, why not just find someone else to train them?” Nico asked. “She can’t be the only one who knows how to make a knock-off bag.”
She shook her head once more like she was dealing with idiots. “Do you know how hard it is to trick a buyer who knows what they’re looking for? I’m not talking about your average buyer on the street but the ones who use these bags as investments.”
Nico snorted. “A purse as an investment?”
Lisa pointed her fork at him. “Two years ago, a Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Birkin 35 sold at auction for $450,000. There are women all over the world on a waiting list for an Hermes Birkin bag. And these women know how to spot a fake, as do the appraisers they take them to.”
“And Amy could trick them?” Mal asked. “She knew how to make a bag look exactly like the one you mentioned?”
Lisa nodded. “It’s not just a matter of making a bag look the same. Couture bags use all kinds of tricks to ensure they can’t be duped. They look at the label, the stitching, the hardware, the leather, how the logo sits on the material, even the color of the thread they use to stitch the bag together. Amy was meticulous. She was a designer herself. She knew what to look for. She knew how to create exact replicas. They needed her to teach the others.”
“And they would just keep Casey indefinitely?” Nico said.
That would have been enough to keep Amy compliant for sure. But it hadn’t happened. None of this had happened. “But Amy didn’t run and Casey is with us. So, where did Amy go? Who else would want to hurt her?”
“I didn’t really know Amy. Like, we worked in the same stalls but up until GTB took over the market, we’d barely said twowords to each other. I only know what I know because these bitches like to gossip.”
“The ladies in the other stalls?” Nico asked, staring at his half-eaten pancakes with a forlorn expression that told Mal he was getting full.
“No, the ghosts. They’re always running their mouths, always threatening us with all kinds of grotesque punishments, but they’re the ones who never stop talking.”
“And what are they saying?” Mal asked.
“Everything I just told you,” Lisa said. “I heard all that from the two idiots that you saw sitting there babysitting us this morning. They love to talk.”
Nico leaned heavily against Mal. “But you’ve never heard them say anything about Amy? Well, other than what you’ve already told us? She didn’t have any problems with other vendors? Maybe with a local buyer? Anyone?”
Lisa went silent, looking out the window, her expression guarded. “I did hear one thing, but I don’t know if it’s anything, really.”
“Tell us anyway,” Mal prompted.
“About four months ago, I overheard them talking about how Amy had done something that had pissed off one of the twins.”
Nico and Mal exchanged glances. “What was it?”
“She’d complained that one of them was harassing her. Following her around, asking her out, being a general nuisance. But she told Leo that if he wanted her to keep working for him, that he needed to make it stop. As far as I know, it did.”
“Which twin?” Nico asked.
She shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. They’re both dangerous. They could both easily make Amy disappear to get even. But if they did, they didn’t clear it with Leo first because he still thinks Amy and Casey ran away.”
Mal nodded. “I think it’s best that he keeps believing that for now. Don’t you?”
“They’re not going to hear it from me,” Lisa said. “I’m just biding my time until I have enough saved for my tuition, then I’m moving to New York. Luckily, for me, I’m not really worth anything to them. They won’t care that I’m gone.”
Mal nodded again. “Can you take my number and call if you hear anything from anyone?”
Lisa gave a hesitant nod, unlocking her phone and handing it to Mal. He downloaded the encryption app and put in his details, then called himself to save her information before giving her phone back.
