“That’s not what I want.”
Eric let his head fall back, looking up at the stars. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
It’s what I was afraid of, too. But I decided not to say anything.
“Rumors are going around, mate,” Eric said after a long pause.
“About?” I asked sullenly. It couldn’t have been Natalia; no one knew about her being here. “If it’s about her, I know where they came from.”
“Not about her. About some Lucy, in a Stoney Creek Mental Health Facility.”
My heart skipped a beat—and that’s not something that happened to me. Not because I cared about Lucy, but because Lucy was one step closer to Natalia. One step too close.
“What’s the rumor?”
Eric swirled his whiskey. “There’s a rumor that this girl Lucy is really somebody else.”
I turned sharply to him. “And who would that be?”
Eric knew he was on to something. “People are saying...” he cleared his throat again, “It’s a strange thing that someone like Alaric Vitkus is paying for a mentally ill patient in a mental ward. I don’t think it’s too long before they start thinking of all the people it could be. Before someone gets around wondering if it could be... I don’t know... that long-lost daughter of Kyril Karkarov’s.”
“She’s dead,” I said bitterly. “Lucy is a favor.”
“To who?”
“I don’t kiss and tell, you know that.”
Eric laughed lightly.
“That Karkarov girl. What was her name?”
I glared at him. Something in my expression must have frightened him, because he held up his hands in mock surrender. “Look, mate, you got no problem coming from me, okay? I don’t know any Natalia, I never met any Natalia, and I don’t want one fucking thing to do with any Natalia, Karkarov or otherwise. Every Natalia I ever met was bad news. But look, man... you’re putting me in a bad place asking me for this favor.”
He was right. And I’d never thought of it, not even for a moment.
Eric cleared his throat. “Look. The guy I knew—the guy we all know—wouldn’t be playing this game. How long you think it’ll take for someone to put two and two together? They’re gonna go after that Lucy girl, and when they carve her eyes out and they don’t work, they’re not just gonna go home and say, oh well. And if Lucy knows, knew, or has even thought about knowing some Natalia in her whole life, she’s gonna say so by the time they’re done with her. So you tell me. Is Lucy going to know a girl named Natalia?”
I looked at my drink. “Lucy is unrelated.”
Eric made a derisive sound with his nose. “Right.”
“I did the wrong thing, asking you here,” I said. “You’re right, it puts you in a bad position.”
“You’re fucking right it does.”
“I’ll pay you.”
Eric sniffed again. “Not enough money even in your bank accounts, mate, for the trouble you’re causing me. And anyway, that’s not the thing.” He pointed at me, pouring more whiskey into his glass. “The thing that troubles me, mate, is that you didn’t eventhinkabout that, and it’s more obvious than Kim Kardashian’s ass. And now I get here, and you’re playing Beach House Barbie with Natalia Karkarov, and you want me to what—?”
“It’s not your business. You owe me a favor and I’m cashing in on it.”
“You’re overdrawn, mate.”
“Then go home tomorrow. Have Randy take you home.”
He shook his head.
“See, this is what I’m talking about,” Eric said after a pause.
