Page 95 of Hard Heart

“That’s what Ruby used to say. I did sell a few paintings—she used to go to craft fairs with her jewellery, and sometimes she’d take a canvas or two.”

“I found a box with beads and necklaces in her bedroom.”

“She used to sit in the studio and work on her own projects while I painted. Ruby loved colour. She was a synesthete.”

“A what?”

“Think of it as a bridge between the senses. She saw letters and numbers as colours.”

“That’s…fascinating.”

“When she was a kid, her mom told her it was weird, so she mostly kept it a secret. Eventually, she confessed that she used pictures as a kind of word search when she got bored, so I started hiding words in my paintings for her to find.”

A little stab of jealousy needled at me. Would I ever have that sort of relationship with Levi? He and Ruby had quietly become such big pieces of each other’s lives, while I was left with covert foot rubs and snatched phone calls that were monitored by the correctional staff.

“There’s a painting of Blackstone House with a woman sitting on the porch—is that her?”

“With the yellow and pink roses? Yes.”

“What do the colours mean?”

“They symbolised us. She saw L as yellow and R as pink.”

“Not ruby red?”

“No, and that always annoyed her.”

“I think I would have liked Ruby,” I said quietly. I might have had to fight her for Levi, but I’d probably have enjoyed spending time with her when we weren’t busy clawing each other’s eyes out.

“Yeah, you would have.” Levi gave a sigh, and I felt the heaviness in his heart. “Everybody liked Ruby.”

CHAPTER 28

SERAFINA

The news began trickling out on Sunday afternoon. Rumours that the remains of Amie Carlson had been found. Police activity at a piece of land allegedly owned by Norquist Construction. A horde of podcasters live-streaming as a body bag was carried to a waiting van.

“Popcorn?” Heidi asked, shaking the bowl.

“How the hell can you eat at a time like this?”

“Dancing burns a lot of calories.”

I felt torn in two. On the one hand, the discovery of Amie’s body strengthened Levi’s case because what were the chances of two killers living in the same house? But on the other hand, a young woman was dead, and some of the rumours said she might have been pregnant.

I’d wanted to see Levi walk free, but not this way. He’d be devastated by this update too.

“I need to call Raelene.”

“Does that mean she’s going to send the press release?”

“That’s what we agreed.”

The statement said we were reviewing the case, and we believed Levi was innocent. We also reiterated the request from our petition—we wanted the police file. In truth, I was dreading the heightened publicity. I’d always known the Costello murder was a big deal, one that had captured the public’s attention and turned into a feeding frenzy for the press, but it was one thing reading the old news stories and quite another preparing to dive into the shark tank. Raelene had been there, done that, and walked away from the whole shebang when she left New York, and she’d given me a pep talk yesterday. Keep a low profile. Don’t speak with the press, be careful what you say to friends, and understand that if a random person approaches you in a bar, there’s a reasonable chance they’re a journalist. This will end. It might take a while, but it will end.

I had to focus on the good things. Levi’s daily phone calls. Time with Heidi, who’d turned out to be the best roommate I’d ever had. Flora was coming to stay for a while. Oh, and Rudd had emailed an invite to his birthday bash at some fancy bar in New York. Of course I didn’t plan on going, but ignoring him gave me a small measure of satisfaction. Screw him and the rock star he rode out on.

“How long do you think this whole thing will take?” Heidi asked. “The appeal and whatever?”