Shaking her head ardently, she protests, “No way.”
I hold up the glass, feigning a toast. “Cheers to my last night as a free woman.”
She settles on the couch and takes my hand. “Tell me everything.”
“I might as well have been made of glass for how that man saw right through me.” I struggle to keep the deluge of tears at bay. “When I started asking questions about his case, as innocent as I tried to appear, his entire demeanor went flat. He knew what I was doing. Maybe not the reason why I was doing it, but he knew. No doubt he’s more convinced than ever that I’m involved. There’s no point in?—”
She squeezes my hand, cutting off my words. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. There’s no room for negativity. We can’t give up, Lila. Not when we’re this close.”
I wish I shared her enthusiasm.
“Isn’t this weird?”
“Isn’twhatweird?” she asks.
“You. Cheering me up. It’s like we did a body swap.”
Her smile warms my frigid soul. “That’s because you’re my yang.”
“Well, you’re gonna be yangless soon.”
“What did you learn, though? Maybe it’s not too late.”
Ignoring her misplaced optimism, I ask, “Will you feed the birds for me when I’m in prison? And that assumes I’m able to free them before I’m hauled away in cuffs.”
“Huh?” Kenzie asks, a handful of popcorn frozen in front of her mouth.
I explain how all but one lonely male peacock has been missing for the last three days, followed by a recap of my interaction with the jerk next door.
As expected, she doesn’t care much about my bird woes. But she does give me a consoling pat on my back. I’ll take any comfort I can get tonight. Even if it’s merely patronizing.
“Anyhow, yeah. Since I’m about to go to jail, I might as well do one last act of service and free the birds before I go.”
Kenzie groans and rolls her eyes at my dramatics. “How about you don’t get trespassing added onto your rap sheet?”
“Rap sheet? Ha.” I nod solemnly. “I bet your brother is probably typing up the warrant for my arrest as we speak.”
“Given your comments about the bird and your general gloom and doom aura, I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’re being completely overdramatic. Tell me whatreallyhappened tonight.”
“Let’s see.” I savor a sip of wine and then launch into a recap of my most recent horrific encounter with Reed. “This is way bigger than we thought, Kenzie. They’re investigating eight home invasion cases.Eight. The FBI knows all the victims are tied to casinos. And not just mine. Those monsters are doing this down in Miami and on the gambling cruises on the East Coast. And in other states.” My tone darkens like my thoughts. “And he said they’ve been violent. Likereallyviolent.”
She barely takes any time to let that sink in before asking, “Any mention of missing persons? I find it hard to believe I’m the only one they kidnapped.”
“He didn’t say anything about that. If Silas kidnapped other people to use as leverage, they must not have found the connection to the home invasions.Yet. But his entire team isworking on the case. It’s only a matter of time before they figure everything out.”
She worries at her lip, seemingly deep in thought. “This is more intel than thenothingyou promised, so give me a moment to gloat about being right that youwereoverreacting.”
I flip her off with my index finger and middle finger together. My hands aren’t fond of cussing either.
She waves my indecent hand out of her face. “Although that’s a solid start, I don’t know if it’s enough to barter with Silas. What else?”
“Um.” I sift through the hopelessness clouding my thoughts to recall other specifics. “Apparently, some of the victims have been helpful. But he didn’t specify how. He became a human vault after that. I’m not gonna get anything else out of him. He probably won’t ever speak to me again. It’s over. I need to turn myself in. I’m gonna call Agent Dad tomorrow. You’ll need to be ready to answer questions about your abduction.”
From behind a bemused smirk, she asks, “Did you just say Agent Dad?”
A giggle frees itself from my chest. “Yeah. He was older and nice. Bet he’s a good dad.” I shake free of Kenzie’s hand and fill mine with a handful of popcorn. “He can arrest me instead of Reed. I’ve humiliated myself enough in front of your brother for one lifetime.”
Kenzie and I munch on popcorn and sip our wine for a few minutes, neither of us talking.
