“Check her,” Jim said to Ned.
Ned was only too happy to frisk me, careful consideration of all my pockets and curves. Creep. He pulled out my set of keys and pocketed them, then the scrap of paper with my song notes on it, opened it, shrugged, threw it on the bar. “No phone,” he said to Jim.
“If I had a working phone, I would have already called the police,” I said. “And if we had treasure in this pub, you don’t think we’d be out spending it? Or selling this place to the gangster who wants it and retiring to a life of luxury? We’re in theredhere.”
“We’re not in the red,” Alex said.
“All those envelopes in the office you’re letting stack up,” I said. “Some of them look kind of serious.”
“Some of those aren’t for us,” Alex said. “The bills and collections notices are for someone named Michael Jordan. I don’t know any Michael Jordan.”
Sometimes jokes were lost on Alex.
“The vendor invoices, then,” I said. “You’re not even opening them.”
“I set up online banking,” Alex said. “I wanted more time away from the bar.” There was a blush rising up his neck. He checked the top button on his flannel shirt. Yep, buttoned.
“To spend with me,” Oona explained.
“That’s sosweet,” Jim said in a buttery voice, pressing the gun into the side of my head. “But I would like to get on with business. Let’s all remember who has the gun in this room.”
“Me,”said a timid voice to our left.
Jim spun us both so that I was the shield against this new front.
Sicily had thrown off Marisa and stood there alone, a gun drawn at the end of skinny, shaking arms. She sagged at the knees in the glare of our attention.
“Let her go,” she said.
Oh, Disney princess, it sounded more like a question than a demand, and everyone watching already knew the answer.
48
Gun on themantel.NowI got what Alex had always meant. If a gun was on the scene, it would eventually getaimed. And fired.
“Oh for the love of…” Quin muttered.
One gun was bad, but two guns were far worse. And this one I couldsee. My stomach dropped to my feet.
“Sicily, honey, where did yougetthat?” Marisa asked.
“Put it down, kid,” Silent Jim said. “You’re going to get someone killed. Yourself, for instance.”
Ned looked anxiously between his boss and Sicily.
“I said… let her go?” Sis said.
“Is that the one…” I said, swallowing hard. “I thought Bonnie was locking that away.”
“They use my birthdate for all the passcodes,” Sis said.
“Oh,” Marisa said. “Oh no.”
Everyone in the room had to be glaring at Marisa. I knew I would be, if I could choose where I was pointed.
“Does everyone agree that this is a situation of one gun too many?” Quin said. “Atleastone too many.”
“Shut up, Jim,” I said.
