And then another.
He watched his effect on her with dark pleasure, which made her narrow her eyes because she didn’t like being used. “Next question,” she began tightly.
“No. You’ve used them all.”
“I have two left!”
“No, darling. You asked a follow-up about your sister and Ben, if you’ll recall. And the last one you asked me, just now, was about how I dared. I made sure to explain myself fully.”
“That wasn’t a question!”
“But I answered it.” He pushed the plate away and dropped his napkin on top of it. “I might answer more if you kiss me again. But since you’ve rejected our initial agreement, you should know that I’ll be seeking out specific performance from you, the breaching party.” He flashed her a quick, wolfish grin. “Are you up to performing for a breach?”
A slight gasp from behind suggested that the waitress had caught the tail end of this conversation. Forgetting about her last piece of toast, Nadine jumped to her feet, circling around the blushing waitress and banging her hip on a table in her haste as she headed for the bathroom. Cal’s softly satisfied laughter chased her as she went, much to her humiliation.
The bathroom smelled like pina colada air freshener, which Nadine had always thought was a disturbing smell for a place like this. Who wanted to be thinking about cocktails while they were trying to do their business? She leaned back against the cold tiled wall, staring up at one of the brassy sconces while bluegrass played from some hidden speaker, annoyed at herself for letting him get to her. What was even more annoying was that a very small part of her—which she wanted desperately to deny—even secretly enjoyed his teasing.
Ben was right, she thought miserably.I shouldn’t have come.
Then she remembered the note.
She reached into her shirt and carefully pulled the damp square of fabric out of her bra. The ink was a little blurred now but still very much legible.
FIND THE GREEN BOOK
COUNT THE SPARROWS
Well, that was creepy. Count the sparrows? Like, actual ones? There were sparrows all over Argentum.
And what was the green book?
When she left the bathroom, with her hopes for an easy answer neatly dashed, she found that Cal had settled the bill in her absence and was waiting for her by the door. Several other waitresses had come out of nowhere and were circling the room casually, even though there weren’t any other patrons.
“I suppose she gave you her number,” she said stiffly.
“Not her number,” he said. “I told her I wasn’t on social media.”
Nadine knew this to be fact since she had looked for him on there herself. Still, it was satisfying to hear that he didn’t have some secret burner profile she hadn’t been able to find.
“That’s too bad.”
“Let me ask you something.” He unlocked the car with a clicker. Even though this one wasn’t as showy as the British import, the key fob and the interiors made her suspect it was probably just as expensive. “What do you get out of this? Coming here. Stirring up old bones. What are you hoping to find?”
“My sister.”
“I know that. But why not leave it to the police? Or the sheriff?”
“Maybe it’s crazy,” Nadine said. “But Noelle is all I have. And until I f-find her, I’ll always be fearing the worst. It’s like Schrodinger’s box—it feels like she’s alive and dead, all at the same time.” She swallowed hard. “And it’ll feel like it’s my fault, if I don’t look hard enough. If I don’t care enough. I’ll blame myself for it until the day I die if something happens to her.”
Cal put his hand on her knee. She felt the burn of it through her jeans.
“It’s not your fault,” he said, his voice low and surprisingly gentle.
She opened her mouth to respond and a sob came out.
“Oh, Nadine,” he whispered, rubbing her knee so gently that she jerked. “Sweet Nadine. You can’t take on a burden like that. It’s going to crush your little wings.”
“You know I don’t trust you,” she said, but her voice cracked on the last syllable.
