She could feel the way he tensed, and she thought he would pull away. But then his fingers relaxed, sliding between hers as they stopped next to the streetcar platform. Vivian wanted to close her eyes, to sink against him, to convince herself that she didn’t have to be alone.
That was when she saw the man in the blue suit leaning against a lamppost across the street. He was holding a newspaper, his head tilted down as if he was reading. But even from that distance, Vivian could feel the weight of his stare.
She had seen him before. She had seen him nearly every day that week.
In spite of the sunny morning, Vivian felt cold, a prickle of uneasy comprehension slithering down her spine. Her fingers tightened on Leo’s. “He’s been following me.”
Leo frowned. “What? Who’s been—” He saw where she was looking and glanced over his shoulder, then cursed, turning so that his body blocked her from the man’s view.
Vivian dropped his hand and stepped around him so she could see the man again. She stared at him openly, coldly enough that he stopped pretending to read his paper and stared right back at her. He tipped his hat, and even from that distance, she could feel the mockery in the gesture. Vivian clenched her jaw, anger suddenly replacing the uneasiness. “He’s a cop, isn’t he? The commissioner is having me followed.” When she glanced back at Leo, he didn’t look surprised. She sucked in a breath. “You knew.”
He glanced at the man, then nodded. “I guessed, at least. He’d want to make sure you didn’t skip town.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” Vivian demanded.
He sighed, and she could see a muscle clench in his own jaw. “What would the point have been, Viv?” he asked, his voice coming out bitter. “What should I have done, asked him to stop? Promise him you weren’t going anywhere and he should believe me because we’re family? He’d just get angry, and nothing’s worth that.”
Vivian stared at him. “Nothing?”
Leo winced. “That’s not what I meant,” he said through gritted teeth.
They stared at each other without speaking. It was only a moment, but it felt like a lifetime. Vivian could feel the cracks in the ice growing. “You could have told me,” she said at last. She didn’t know if she was being unreasonable or not, but the thought of someone following her for days, watching where she went and who she talked to, seeing Leo stay with her each night and leave in the morning… She felt ill.
“Well, next time I will,” Leo said, giving her a smile that looked like too much work.
She knew it was supposed to be a joke, but Vivian didn’t laugh. Instead, she glared over his shoulder once more at the plainclothes cop. “And I’ll tell him where he can stick his watching me,” she ground out.
“Viv, you go talk to that fella, you’ll only make more trouble. It’s just a few more days—”
“Not him,” Vivian said, breathing heavily. She felt as if she’d been running, even though they hadn’t moved in minutes. “Your uncle.”
“No.”
She turned to stare at him. “No?” She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t like the idea. But she was outraged that he thought he could tell her what to do.
“It’s a bad idea, and you know it,” he said, dropping his voice. He glanced around, looking uneasy, and stepped closer to her. “He’s not my uncle. He’s made that clear. And you showing up to yell at him will just… it’s going to make things worse.”
“I’m not just going to waltz in there and throw a fit,” Vivian said, stung. “What about the arsenic? What about the fella Buchanan was meeting with? There’s things that don’t add up, and your lawyer friend said the best way to help myself was to give them someone else to suspect. We can at least try to do that, right?”
“Vivian.” Her name came out like a sigh. “They’re probably already looking at those things. Which means they’ll find something, right? There’s still time.”
“Not that much,” Vivian said, shaking her head. “And that Levinsky said—”
“You can stick it out a few more days, can’t you?” he asked, reaching for her hand without letting her finish. “We stay away from him, and then it’ll all be over and done.”
“Don’t.” She couldn’t tell if he was just trying to distract her or if hereally believed it, but she had seen the panic in his eyes when she mentioned his uncle. She wanted to push him away, to make him say which scared him more: the thought of losing her or the thought of angering the family that didn’t want him anyway. She took a deep breath, shivering as the wind picked up, the sky growing dim as a mass of clouds hid the sun from view. “I’m not just going to sit around waiting. I have to do something.”
“Of course we’ll do something. Nothing’s gonna happen to you, okay?”
“You don’tknowthat,” she said sharply, pulling back. The cold air caught her breath, bitter in her throat and her lungs, and there was nothing sweet words or gentle touches could do to change that. “Don’t keep pretending like this isn’t real. It’s happening.”
“I know that, Viv—”
“Then act like it!” Her voice was nearly a shout, and she glanced around nervously, wrapping her arms around her own body as though she could protect herself from the curious stares directed her way. More quietly, she added, “I’m so scared I can’t think straight, and you’re talking like there’s nothing to worry about at all.”
“I won’tletthere be anything to worry about,” he insisted, his voice gentle again as he pulled her into his arms. Vivian let him, her body still stiff and distant. All she could think about was the cop across the street watching them. “I won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll figure it out, just…” He sighed. “Don’t go talk to the commissioner, okay? Trust me, it’s better you don’t get him thinking about you any more than he already is. We’ll just focus on finding out what we can.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “We’ll turn up something, okay?”
“Yeah,” Vivian said softly. “We’ll turn up something.”
