“Make sure you look good tomorrow, Gwen.”
“Don’t I always?”
“Yeah. I just don’t want you bitching at me for the next ten years that your hair isn’t the way you like it in your passport photo.” He kissed my temple, his lips warm and soft, and his voice was a mere whisper. “First thing tomorrow, before work, we’re crossing that off the list. The sooner we can hit that beach, the better.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Yeah, I do marathons.
Mostly on HBO.
- Gwen Goode, binge-watching
“Justice is a double-edged sword!” Hecate shrieked, black tongue jutting from between her beak. “Double-edged sword!”
“She loathes the cage,” Zelda said, drawing my gaze back to her. “But my captors insist upon it.”
We were seated at the small folding table inside the holding room at Gravewatch. It had taken four full days of creative persuasion (bycreativeI mostly meantnaked) but Graham had finally caved and agreed to a brief visit with my former psychic. I had a feeling this decision was, at least in part, because Zelda was being unnaturally stubborn, refusing to reveal where she’d stashed the stolen jewelry.
Graham was frustrated. His men were frustrated. Hell,Iwas frustrated. Still, I strove for a light, unbothered tone. “How are you doing, Zelda? Do you need anything?”
“Besides a pack of cigarettes, an orgasm, and my freedom, you mean?”
I loosed an involuntary snort of amusement.
“I assume I have you to thank for my continued internment here?”
My amusement faded. “Actually, you can thankyourself, Zelda. You’re the reason you’re here. And if the O'Banions find you before they get their possessions back, you’ll be wishing for the safety of this room.”
“Beware the hierophant!” Hecate squawked.
She stared at me, her cloudy blue eyes brimming with resentment. She was clad in a pale pink caftan, a matching turban poised atop her head. She’d made a halfhearted attempt at makeup, lining her brows with dark pencil and coating her lips in a thick, cakey layer of plum colored lipstick.
“Did they send you in here to make me talk, Gwendolyn? If so, you can save your breath. I’m not telling you a damn thing. After the way they’ve treated me? Thosetwins.” She hissed out the word like a curse. “Devils, the both of them! And you’re the one who sicced them on me!”
I glanced briefly at the camera mounted above the door. We were being monitored by live video feed in the control room down the hall, just in case Zelda pulled any funny business. Not that she could. The room was stripped to the barest of bones, with a partitioned bathroom area, a bed frame, two-person table, and a flatscreen bolted to the wall. It was completely devoid of art and color. Beige tile on the floors, beige paint on the walls. It didn’t even have a window.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Zelda,” I forced myself to say.
“You aren’t sorry, you entitled little brat. You’re just as conniving and self-serving as the rest of them.” She spat at the floor, a disgusting gob of translucent saliva splattering against the smooth tile scant inches from my boot. “All of this is your fault.”
My spine snapped ramrod straight. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You’re to blame! I had a plan. I was going to disappear, start over fresh somewhere. Instead, thanks to you, I’m rotting in this room while Mickey and his brothers circle closer. As far as I’m concerned, if they make trouble for you in the process, it’s no more than you deserve. ”
My veins burned with indignation, but I kept my voice casual. “You know, you’re right. Itismy fault you’re here, Zelda. Or, should I call you Jennifer? That’s your name, isn’t it? Jennifer H. Custer. A conwoman. A fraud.”
She scowled, her penciled brows furrowing.
I kept going. “I guess it doesn’t really matter what I call you. The point is, you’re not who I thought you were. Because I thought you were my friend. I thought you were my business associate. I thought you could be trusted. That’s the only reason I dragged the men here at Gravewatch into this mess in the first place. I thought I washelping you.”
The skin around her lips pulled tight as a drawstring purse, deep smoker’s grooves feathering the skin.
“Ever since I made it clear that I didn’t want anything bad to happen to a friend of mine, the men in this office have been busting their asses to make sure you’re protected,” I continued. “Brokering a deal on your behalf with the O'Banions —the freaking O'Banions!— to ensure you can walk away from this mess you’ve created without a Mickey-shaped shadow for the rest of your days.”
Zelda was beginning to look a little nervous.
I pushed my chair back from the table and got to my feet. “You know what? I made a mistake, putting myself out there for you. I thought you were worth saving, but I see now that we don’t mean anything to one another. So, I’m going to give you exactly what you want.” I paused, for maximum effect, planting my hands on the table to look her dead in the face. “Your freedom.”