But how? We had secured Marco’s suite our first night here, as soon as we’d found the bodies.
Unless we weren’t the first ones to break in…
I rewound through the fog of tequila to the conversation I’d had last night with Sam and Georgia in the bar.
You and Vero were barely gone before Nick had Sam and me packing our bags into the back of Garrett’s Suburban so we could come looking for you.
Garrett had driven them here.
Not Charlie.
Nick said Charlie hadoffered to come.He never said Charlie had brought them here.
Nick and the others hadn’t arrived until the morning after Marco was murdered. But Charlie could have arrived anytime after we had. Maybe evenrightafter we had. Early enough to have followed us to dinner with Marco, then followed him back to the Villagio.
A new story began taking shape in my head. One in which Ricky wasn’t the killer at all.
There was a knock on the door between the adjoining rooms. “Finn? It’s me,” Nick called through it.
“Hold on! I’m getting dressed!” I tore a single page out of Marco’sblack book—the one containing Vero’s name and how much she’d owed Marco—and tucked it into my shirt. When Nick eventually found it—and I was certain he would—at least Vero’s history with Marco wouldn’t be spelled out in it.
I returned the rest of the ledger to the suitcase. My hands shook as I stuffed the cash back into its compartment and zipped it up. I did a quick scan of the room, checking to make sure everything was how it had been before turning the dead bolt.
“We got him,” Nick said, a triumphant fire in his eyes as he blew into the room and held out his phone. The grainy image on the screen was taken at a high angle, as if from a ceiling-mounted security camera, but I would know that profile anywhere. The razor-sharp cheeks and regal posture. The slicked-back hair and icy frown.
My mouth went dry. “Feliks is here?”
“He landed in Atlantic City right after we left for Newark.” Nick grabbed his badge and his wallet off the dresser. “Garrett’s picking me up in a few minutes. We’re meeting with the local PD to track Zhirov’s movements since he landed. I’m hoping he got sloppy and we can figure out where he is.” He dragged on his coat. “Charlie’s not answering his phone, and no one’s heard from him since yesterday afternoon. Sam said you were the last one to see him. Did he mention where he was going when he dropped you off last night?”
I shook my head. Charlie was probably still out looking for the thumb drive.
My stomach dipped as I stole a glance at my phone. Cam still hadn’t responded to any of my text messages. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since we’d left him asleep in Louis’s room. And for that matter, where had Ricky gone when he’d mysteriously disappeared from his last shift at work?
Nick reached for his coat. “Sam and Georgia are staying here to keep an eye on things. Don’t let the kids out of your sight. I want all of you to stay in your rooms until I get back. Or better yet, stay right here.” He leaned in to drop a quick kiss on my lips, and then he was gone.
CHAPTER 31
As soon as Nick was gone, I hurried down the hall to Javi’s room and banged on the door. Someone groaned inside.
“Go away!” Vero said, her voice muffled as if she was speaking into a pillow.
“It’s Finlay! Open up!”
Footsteps shuffled closer. The dead bolt unlatched. Vero opened the door wearing the shirt Javi had been wearing last night and very little else. Her hair was tangled around a cheap white veil that hung crooked on her head. It looked like the same one I’d seen lying on the bar last night when Nick and I had left.
“What time is it?” she mumbled, wincing as she pressed a hand to her forehead. A hideous neon-green spider ring clung to her fourth finger, the same kind we’d seen in the plastic eggs being dispensed from the quarter machines in all the boardwalk arcades.
“Eight thirty. Get dressed,” I said, stepping around her into the room and switching on the light.
She blinked several times, smears of mascara around her eyes stretching wide. “Oh, shit. Ricky!” She ran back to the bed, searching for herclothes in the mounds of tousled blankets. She grabbed a corner of the comforter and yanked it aside, both of us freezing in place as Javi bolted upright. He raised an arm against the glare, wearing nothing but Louis’s argyle socks, two sleeves of tattoos, and a purple bat ring on his fourth finger.
“Jesus, V!” He yanked the sheet over his waist. Vero and I stared at the purple bat, then down at the spider on her hand. She reached up, touching the veil in her hair.
“Oh, god!” She grabbed a folded piece of paper off the nightstand. Her mouth fell open as she read it.
Javi took it from her, frowning at the wedding certificate the bride and groom had left on the bar last night. “Mr. and Mrs. Todd Liebowitz?”
Vero put her hands on her head. “Tell me we didn’t get married.”
