“I didn’t see his face. He was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. He had a scarf tied over his mouth.”
I take a deep breath through my nose. “And the fact that he was dressed like a ninja didn’t tip you off that maybe you shouldn’t be smuggling for him?” I ask, keeping my voice as even as possible.
“Look, man, I’m sorry. I figured it was just a fan letter, or something. I wouldn’t have done it if it was like, a bomb.”He hesitates. “Shit, is she okay? Is she gonna sue me? I—”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” I interrupt. “Please call this number back if you remember anything useful.” I end the call just as Matt walks back into the kitchen. “Well?”
He scowls. “There was a blip in the alarm system a few minutes after we left. They thought it was an error.”
I bite back a curse, running a hand through my hair. What the fuck is the point of having a security system, if you ignore it whenever it goes off? I give Matt the rundown of my conversation with the courier, and his face just gets more thunderous.
“We should report the kid,” he growls. “He put her in danger.”
“He was just young and poor and dumb. What I don’t understand is how X found her in the first place. Did you notice anyone following the car when you drove to the appointment?”
Matt shakes his head. “There were paps outside, she wouldn’t have been hard to track down. I think—” He jumps as Briar comes up behind him, tapping his shoulder.
“I have a nail appointment,” she says quietly. “I need to go to the salon.”
“No,” Matt says immediately. “There’s no way. You’re not going anywhere until we figure this out.”
She rubs her eyes, looking tired. “I can’t go out with my nails like this. They have mani cams at these things.”
“Mani cams?”
She glares. “I don’t really want the headlines tomorrow to be about my cuticles, instead of disadvantaged kids.”
Jesus. She lives in such a strange world.
An idea pops into my head. “We have a neighbour who works as a beauty therapist. I can call her and ask if she’s available to do a house call.”
Matt nods. “Good idea.”
Nin is a very sweet sixty-year-old woman who lives in our building. Glen helped unblock her sink once, and ever since, she’s been calling us upstairs to feed us homemade meals once a week. She works as a beauty therapist, but from what I can tell, work is pretty light for her at the moment. We’ve been discretely loading up her electricity meter for months.
I expect Briar to protest, but she looks almost bored, waving her hand vaguely.“Sure. Whatever. Make the call.” She looks around the room. “I’m gonna take a bath. Exfoliate, and... whatever.”
She flounces out of the room. At least she doesn’t seem bothered by this mess.
Twelve
Briar
?
I can feel myself starting to crack.
I’m so tired. So, so tired. I can’t handle the insomnia and the nightmares anymore. I’m holding myself together with stubbornness and under-eye concealer, but I can feel myself fraying.
Nin, the sweet beauty therapist that Kenta and Matt called in, natters cheerfully as she carefully applies a top coat to my nails. I try to respond, but I just can’t bring myself to focus on what she’s saying.
He found me. Again. He’s following me. He’s watching me. Even now, he could be peeking in through a window, ready to snap a picture. I glance to my bedroom window, then my bathroom, like he might just pop up out of nowhere.
Luckily, Nin is happily chatting, keeping up the conversation for both of us.
“When I was a teenager, I didn’t like beauty at all,” she chuckles, using a Q-Tip to clean off the edges of my nails. “I was such a tomboy. I just wanted to study.”
“How did you get into manicures, then?” I ask, forcing myself back into the conversation.
