Marina scrambled for other basic things about herself that weren’t windows into her soul. “I’ve always wanted a pet but have never had one because I don’t have the time. I like leather notebooks and nice pens.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for your birthday.” Sheila’s smile was weak and more human than it had been before.
Marina did her best for the next two hours to keep conversation light and empty, and it seemed to do the trick. Sheila’s regular demeanor came back into being, and Marina was once again on solid ground. By the time she got to the office, she had a tension headache, but she knew she’d done exactly what Montgomery wanted her to do. She’d been the person Sheila needed in the moment.
But as she made her way home later, she couldn’t stop picturing River’s expression throughout the meeting. While she’d kept her real emotions hidden for the most part, there was no question about how she felt toward Sheila. Did that apply to Marina now too? The thought made her want to throw something.
Or cry. But she’d be damned if she’d shed tears over a woman, even one who seemed determined to fill her dreams and make her wish she’d chosen some other type of law. The good thing, maybe, was that Marina would be spending more time in the South Shore community if they agreed to the concept they’d put forward in the meeting today. Spending more time around River might drive her to the very edge of her ability to stay detached.
CHAPTER 24
River saton her porch as the sun draped the trees in slivers of sherbet light. After the meeting, she’d sent a text to Audrey letting her know she wouldn’t be in the shop today, and then she’d spent the rest of the day at home. Sam had offered to give her the documents, but she didn’t take them. She didn’t want anything to do with Black Pinnacle near her. Not even paperwork.
The meeting had been worthless, for the most part. Marina clearly thought she was doing something good, but all she was doing was giving the villain easier access and a way to try to save face. And why shouldn’t she? That was her client, after all, and she owed them her best work.
But that work was dire. It was ugly and dark and had no sense of morality, community, or empathy. The strangest thing, though, was that she’d felt Marina’s unease. Rather than being confident and cut-throat, she’d been embarrassed by Black’s behavior and by the brutal nature of the plan as it was explained. But River knew without a doubt that it had been Marina’s idea. Someone like Black didn’t come up with anything to benefit people she thought of as beneath her in every way.
Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out. It was Audrey, saying good luck at the meeting later and checking in to make sure she hadn’t abandoned them all and left cowboy-style on her bike.
It made her smile a little, but she couldn’t get the energy to send anything back, so she just sent a heart emoji. Seeing Marina in action had been almost physically painful. She lost all of her warmth and character in that place. In her dull gray suit surrounded by white walls and the kinds of formless art that cost more money than most people made in a year, she wasn’t at all the vibrant, outgoing person River had spent time with on that rooftop. She’d been flattened, like a can of paint spilled in the road and then run over too many times to have any real color left.
And that woman.Her energy might as well have been made of obsidian: hard, sharp, and opaque. There’d been a tinge of sadness, sure. But overall, she was someone who would hurt people.
Her feelings toward Marina made River shudder. There’d been an air of possession in the way her energy swirled around Marina’s, snakelike, looking for the moment to squeeze. That kind of energy suffocated anything beautiful, leaving only a husk behind. It was even worse than it had been when she’d bumped into them at the ballet. But Marina had been uncomfortable with it, that much was also clear. So much so that it had taken all of River’s self-control to keep from telling Black to back off. It wasn’t her place.
She sighed and stood to go inside just as the streetlights came on. But before she turned, something moved in her periphery. It was the stranger ghost, and she was staring at River. Like last time, she’d grown more substantial, more shaped. Long hair floated around her shoulders, almost down to her waist. She was far younger than River had thought she would be. Maybe noteven a teenager yet. Most striking though, was the look on her face.
Desperation mixed with fear to create an expression usually worn by the people running from ghosts, not on the ghosts themselves. River walked down the few steps and onto the grass. She held out her hand. “I might be able to help if I can understand you better.”
The ghost moved toward her, then her head snapped to the right and she poofed out of sight, leaving the faint scent of vanilla in the air once again. River sighed and looked over to see Billy coming up the walkway. He stopped and looked at the area around her.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked and rubbed at his arms.
“I’ve got a new visitor, and I’m trying to figure out what she needs. But she’s shy, I guess.” River shook her head. “Let me get my jacket. It’s getting cold.”
He followed her inside, glancing around furtively. “Are you ready for tonight?”
She shrugged on her leather and grabbed her keys. “I don’t know. It’ll be a long discussion, and there’ll be questions we probably don’t have answers to yet. I don’t know how I became the one expected to answer them either.”
“Audrey told me you pulled the Tower card when you met Marina. Seems like you didn’t have much choice in the matter.” Billy glanced over his shoulder, shivered, and pulled his jacket closer around him.
“Yeah. Maybe.” She didn’t say anything else. Words were failing her in the face of what seemed like impossible odds.
The meeting space was already loud and crowded when she got there. Adriana was there too, and River wondered how much of tonight’s meeting would be broadcast. Would people speak up if they thought they’d end up on camera for all the world to see?
“Hey there,” Adriana said, coming over and giving River a quick hug. “If you don’t mind my saying so, you look rough. Are you okay? Is all this getting to you?”
River scanned the crowd and was glad to see that Marina wasn’t there. “A little, yeah. I liked my quiet life. This is anything but.” She looked back at Adriana. “Are you doing a segment tonight?”
Adriana shook her head. “I want to hear the details and get a sense of what everyone is thinking and feeling, and I don’t think that would be real if there was a camera involved. But it will be good for me to have that info before I do my next one tomorrow.”
River nodded and squeezed her shoulder. “That’s great. Thanks for sticking around. We might need some outside input after our meeting with Black Pinnacle this morning.”
Sam saw her from his place on the stage and waved her over. She joined him and he looked how she felt.
“I’d like you to open the meeting, and then I’ll take over and explain my understanding of the offer. Then we can field questions as best we can. I’ve got someone who will take notes and write down any questions we have to take back to the lawyers.”
River nodded but didn’t say anything. She was so damn tired of all this. Turning to the group, she raised her hands for quiet and waited. “Hey, everyone. We’d already planned this meeting, but over the weekend, we got an invitation to meet with Black Pinnacle to hear about a counter proposal they’ve come up with.” Loud grumbling met her statement, and she held up her hands again. “I know. But we heard them out, and Sam is going to explain what their new offer is. Then we’ll talk about it.”
