“Yeah. She was ringing him up and making small talk, I guess. He was well-mannered and chatted back. She asked howhe was settling in, and he asked about good places to go for dinner. Oh!” Her eyes widen. “OH! La Tavola! He was asking for you!”
“You’rewaytoo excited about this.” I slide my tongue down to wet my lips and consider how best to get Alicia out of my office so I can reclaim my privacy. But then my cellphone dings with an incoming email, stealing my focus as I lean across and scan the screen. Picking it up and reading the small snippet available, I know my expression darkens as I unlock the device and swipe across.
“Are-are you okay?” She sits forward, her movement a mere flicker in my peripherals. “You look like you just got bad news.”
“Not bad news.” I open the email at the top of my inbox and nibble on the inside of my cheek.
Dear Ms. Nichols,
Under the directives outlined by your brother, Ryan Nichols, in his last will and testament, we write to inform you of a parcel he wished for you to receive in the event of his death. Please call the office at your earliest convenience so we can set up a time to meet.
Best Regards,
Jodie Aberdeen
“Nova?” Alicia tries again. “What is it?”
“The lawyers.” I tap the hyperlink at the bottom of the email, and bringing the phone to my ear, I release Ry’s chain and lift a finger to silence my colleague.
“Abercrombie and Aberdeen,” a bubbly voice answers.Ironic, really, since anyone calling a lawyer’s office is probably experiencing some of the worst days of their lives. “This is Tegan speaking. How can I help you?”
“Hi, Tegan.” I reach up and smooth the deep lines of stress scoring my forehead. “It’s Nova Nichols. Can I please speak to Jodie? I just got an email from her.”
“Sure. Hold the line, please.”
17
LINCOLN
THE LIES I TELL
“Ineed more time.”
With the phone pressed to my ear and my eyes scouring Nova’s shed, I search through every drawer, every toolbox, every hidey hole, gap between tools, and up in the rafters, to make sure Ryan didn’t leave his secret cache up there.
“I’m doing my fucking best, Aster. Seven days isn’t enough time to slide into a woman’s home and search for athingwhen we don’t know what it is or what it looks like.”
“Your deadline ends tomorrow.” He exhales a plume of cigar smoke and sits up in his ivory tower, pulling strings and screwing with people’s lives. “You knew the parameters of the job before it began, but now you come to me at the eleventh hour and ask for more time?”
“A week isn’t long enough!” I snatch a ladder from the corner and spread the legs to make an A-frame. Climbing up, I get above the rafters and glance amongst the dust and mouseshit. “I’ve searched the house already. I sent you packages two days in a row. How about you give me some answers? Was the watch important? What about the USB sticks? What about the fucking tablet I sent over? It had no charge, but it was in the bottom of his duffel, which means it was his.”
“USBs were decoys, just like you said they would be. The watch was useless. The tablet was cleared, as in,” he pauses for emphasis. “Nichols wiped it before he died.”
Stunned, I lower my gaze and set one hand on my hip. “He factory reset it?”
“Looks that way. I’ve got it with my tech guys now to see what they can pull. You don’t wipe a device unless you want information to disappear.”
“So, I found it, then?” Slowly, I climb back down to the dusty shed floor and lean against the ladder with my elbow on one of the highest rungs. “Thethingis Nichols’ iPad? He wiped it for a reason, and now you have it. The mission is complete.”
“The mission ain’t complete til I have my code, and I told you a week ago, I needed it by tomorrow.”
For fuck’s sake.I’m not done.
Pushing straight and re-folding the ladder, I put it back where I found it, careful to angle it exactly how it was when I came in.
Turning to a wall of tiny drawers designed to hold nuts and bolts and washers and all sorts of shit, I start at the top left and search each one. “Did you send the watch back now that it’s cleared?”
Faking obliviousness, he exhales. “The watch?”
