She lifted a shoulder. “Up until then, it was small-time scams. Kind of fun, if I didn’t think too hard about it. But my sister was like fourteen, and if we got caught I’d get tried as an adult, and she’d be left with no one to take care of her. So I said no, and he kicked me out. I guess, either way, Mira was left with no one to take care of her. In the beginning, he didn’t let me talk to her. After a while, though, I kind of liked not thinking about her.
“It was nice,” she added, her voice dropping, “to not have to worry about someone else for a change.”
Ah. Elder sibling sense of responsibility. He knew it well. “You didn’t go back?”
“No. I’ve only seen my sister a few times since then. They were not happy reunions.” Sejal looked away. “It’s no big deal.”
It sounded like a very big deal.
“Anyway, that’s when I learned a lot about busking. My dad had done some cup-and-ball stuff, taught me on a street corner. I’d picked up card magic on my own, watching videos, hanging around casinos when he went to gamble. I’d sneak into shows.” She smiled, like she wasn’t making Krish feel terrible for a gangly, abandoned child. “So my aunt floated me some cash, and I also got on a bus. Traveled around, took up space on street corners. I loved that time.” Her smile faded. “Until I met Alexei.”
He was silent for a beat. He wanted to ask her about Alexei, buthe could tell by her grim face she would shut down. “Maybe we crossed paths, when we were both traveling around the country.” What would that have looked like? If a young him and a young her had sat next to each other on a bus somewhere in America? What could they have been to each other?
She cleared her throat. “Doubt it. You’re so much older than me.”
Well, it looked like her moment of vulnerability was over. “Again, I am younger than—”
“I wish we’d had enough money for a change of clothes. A disguise would be handy, in case Viktor finds the car.” Her words were spoken in a rush, an obvious bid to change the subject.
“I have a disguise.” He tugged on the brim of his baseball hat.
“I don’t know who told you that that’s a good disguise, but a baseball cap just makes you look like a cop at a ball game.”
“I thought you said I didn’t seem like a cop.” For good reason.
“You did fool me,” she admitted. “But maybe the Harvard vibe you give off is a fed vibe.”
“That could be it.” He was about to inhale the final bites of the salad when he realized that she wasn’t eating anything. “Where’s your food?”
“Oh.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small packet of M&M’s.
He checked the price on the lid of the salad. It was about a dollar shy of the ten he’d handed to her. “Did you spend it all on my food?”
Sejal rolled her eyes. “Don’t say it like that. Like I’m some kind of nice person.”
He pointed to his salad. “I hate to break this to you, but this is nice-person behavior.”Trust me, I also hate it. Why can’t you just be a one-dimensional pawn?
“As I said, it was a thank-you. That’s all.”
He offered it to her. “Eat the last couple bites.”
“I’m good.”
“Come on. It’ll be late before we stop again, and unless you have money in your shoe, we won’t be able to get much more.”
She took the bowl from him. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
Appetizers and drinks.“What did your family order?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you think I come from an appetizers and drinks family, what kind of family did you come from?”
Her smile was humorless. “We didn’t really do family dinners, unless my aunt was in town. She took Mira and me out to eat, and yes, then we got whatever we wanted. But if it was my dad, he thought paying for any luxury was a scam. Unless we were on someone else’s dime, in which case the sky was the limit.”
Do not feel bad for her. Do not feel bad for her.This could all be a part of an elaborate manipulation attempt.
Though... he doubted it. He might not be an FBI agent, but he had his own instincts.
