Peter gave an odd jerk of the head, like he’d only just remembered I was there. “What?”
“When Roderick has things he wants to keep safe, where does he put it? If I’d gotten a bracelet, would I put it in his safehouse or what?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t join him all that long ago, and I keep my things to myself. You could ask Lochlan, though. He’s been with Roderick for much longer.”
“I don’t understand Lochlan,” I admitted. “He doesn’t make sense to me.”
Peter didn’t answer. He was back looking like he was doing some serious thinking and hadn’t heard me, so I let the matter drop and joined him in all the silent thinking. Part of me still hated Lochlan for how he’d so easily left me at that hospital, but the other part couldn’t stop thinking about him and how he was so kind to old Mable.
I sighed. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this mission. Could I drug Roderick and force the information out of him? Even if I did, I’d still have to go find where the information was hidden, unless I could convince Roderick to remember and tell me. But the odds of his remembering who he’d sold a single girl to more than a decade before were minimal. I ground my teeth in frustration. This was the closest I’d come to finding one of my family members, and yet I felt just as far away as ever before.
We didn’t say another word to each other until we got back to the cottage, both lost to our own thoughts.
“Did you have a good nap?” Peter called as he went inside.
Lochlan was still in the same rocking chair and seemed to have just woken up. He blearily looked around and stretched. “Good enough. Where did you go?”
“To a couple cemeteries to pay our respects.” Peter pulled out one of the items he’d stolen. “I was very respectful to the dead. A little less so to the living.”
Roderick came out of the back room, the bag of pixie dust cradled in his arms like he was carrying around a baby. “Just don’t try to sell it anywhere close to here or they’ll find you out.”
Peter stared hungrily at the bag of pixie dust. “I’m not stupid. So what’s the plan now? Do you have buyers lined up yet?”
“A few have expressed interest, but I held off on telling them too much until it’s confirmed. There are still two more crates out there we need to track down. Tyrone being arrested ruined our original plans.”
Peter picked up an apple, threw it into the air, and caught it. “So you want to plan a prison break to get him out or what?”
Roderick let out a bark of laughter. “And have more people looking for a cut of our profits? I don’t think so. No, we just need our little knitting store to be open again. Once Lochlan gets information about buyers and the second shipment, we can move forward.”
“This will make us a fortune,” Peter said, rubbing his hands together.
Lochlan quietly pulled out his knitting and Peter shot him a grin. “Oh, are we boring you, Mom? Do you need your knitting so you can stay awake while we talk?”
“Absolutely. If I’m going to listen to yet another monologue, I need something to occupy my hands or I’ll fall asleep again. Roderick has a very monotonous voice.”
Roderick let out a guffaw. “Leave him be, Pan. I need some new socks anyway.”
“Shall I use the pink to make them?” Lochlan asked. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.
“Can you even tell which one is pink?” Roderick shot back.
Lochlan rolled his eyes. “Let’s go with black. The same color as your heart.” He looped the first stitches onto his needles. “Continue. I can listen now and not fall asleep.”
Roderick glanced my way. “Gil, did you get a good haul for yourself at the cemetery?”
I shrugged. “No. We didn’t have much time and there were too many people watching. Even Princess Tess from Haven Harbor was there.”
That got Roderick’s attention. “The princess? Who knows how much money she had on her! Did you check?”
“Royalty wouldn’t carry their own purses,” Peter responded without hesitation. “They have servants for that sort of thing, and it looks like she’s a student right now. Pupils don’t make a habit of carrying around purses.”
“Then her jewelry! Her rings and necklaces?—”
“Would have immediately been noticed if they were missing from around her neck.” Peter was standing close to Roderick, staring down the older man without the slightest flicker of laughter in his eyes.
“Her brother was responsible for many of my buyers being put behind bars.” Roderick cracked his massive knuckles. “I know what I’d like to do to that pretty little neck of Tess’s if I?—”
Wham.
