River gave her a tight smile. “Marina, I think, works for the developer trying to mess up the neighborhood.”
“Oh.” Cara stepped back like Marina had cooties. “Drinks are on you then.” She walked away without another word.
River tilted her head and smiled a little. “What she said.”
Marina sipped her concoction and decided she hadn’t had a drink that good in the city in years. Every note blended together perfectly.
Unlike the notes she was creating with River. “I’m sorry.” Marina hated saying those words, but it seemed like the only way forward right now. “You’re right. I should have said something the last time we met. I’m not used to knowing the people involved on the other side of the cases I take on. It took me by surprise.”
River looked at her for a long moment. “Okay. Apology accepted. Now tell me why you were here tonight.”
“Information gathering.” Marina figured there was no sense in obscuring the truth. “My client?—”
“Black Pinnacle?” River asked.
“Yes. They want to know how much opposition we’re going to face, and it’s my job to get a sense of it. I could have hired a PI, but I wanted to see for myself.” The drink was helping muffle the pain in her ankle and the embarrassment of having been caught lurking.
“I admire your diligence,” River said. “And what did you learn?”
Marina shook her head. “Not much. It sounds like people are divided, like they usually are in these situations. But come on, River. Look around. Your community is flatlining, and the only way to revive it is by rebuilding it entirely.”
River took a long sip of her drink. “You’re wrong.” Her fingers drummed gently on the table. “Yeah, maybe some areas need some love, and it isn’t all polished marble and steel. But it has character, and people who love it. What is it your client wants to do?”
Marina swallowed. “I can’t tell you that without her permission. Client confidentiality and all that.”
“Yeah. Sure.” River shook her head and finished her drink. “Just to be clear, I won’t be selling my building. Not for any of your client’s pristinely washed money. This is my home.” She stood. “I wish…” She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “I wish you’d been the person I’d hoped you’d be.”
She left with a brief wave to Cara.
Marina shifted the ice on her ankle and took another sip of her drink. Maybe it would burn away the feeling of somehow selling River out.
Cara placed the bill on the table with a thump. “When you’re ready.”
Marina gave her a conspiratorial grin. “I don’t suppose you know what River’s superpower is? She hasn’t said.”
Cara’s pretty brown eyes turned thoughtful. “Kindness. Honesty. Empathy.” She looked down at Marina. “I imagine those are pretty massive superpowers when it comes to the world you work in.”
She walked away, and Marina slumped in her chair. Okay, so this community was going to be a little harder to get on their side. That was fine. She’d had fights like this before, and she could finagle the law so that they’d end up having no choice. It wasn’t a nice way to do it, but Marina hadn’t climbed to where she was on the ladder by beingnice.
She called an Uber, then limped out of the restaurant to the sidewalk. Cara was nowhere to be seen. The Uber driver looked incredulous when she told him to stop a block and a half away instead of at the address she’d put in as a placeholder, but she ignored him. Just as she was about to drive off, there was a tapping on her window.
An old woman with dark skin and darker eyes peered in at her. Gray hair framed a thin, parchment lined face, and she leaned heavily on a cane.
“Yes,” Marina said, rolling down her window.
“I saw River go running out after you, and I know you’re not from around here.” She lifted her cane and tapped it against Marina’s car door. “I don’t know who you are, but don’t you dare go hurting our River. Her mom and dad were saints, and River has carried on their legacy. She deserves the best.”
Based on her expression, she didn’t think Marina fit that description.
“I think River is a big girl who can take care of herself,” Marina said, wanting to get home and get her foot up on something.
“Ha! Shows what you know.” The woman tapped her cane against the door again, a little harder.
“I take it you’re one of the customers who goes to her to find out their future, or what that one line on their palm means with regard to their destiny or soulmate or whatever? Someone who charts their way through life by looking at the stars and then blaming the moonbeams when things don’t go right?” This time, the cane hit hard. “Would you stop doing that? You’re going to dent my door.”
“Better your door than your head,” the old woman said. “Or maybe not. And River has more understanding in her little finger than you have in any part of you. If you knew her, you’d know you’re messing with the wrong person.”
Marina started the car and revved the engine. “Why? Will she put a curse on me? Is she some kind of mystical hitman?”
