She couldn’t deny he had a point.
“So”—Bobby gave her shoulder a squeeze—“I assume you’ve spoken to Uncle Felix?”
“He’s in.”
“What about Irina?”
Kat shrugged at the sound of Gabrielle’s mother’s name. “She’s already working on something.”
“Ezra?”
“He’s the one who told me how to find you.”
Bobby stopped short. Kat, not expecting that, walked past him a little, and had to stare back into the sun when he said, “You can always find me, Kat.”
“I know.”
“So are you going to tell me what’s really wrong?”
Was he able to see through her so easily because he was a great grifter or a terrific father? Kat couldn’t really tell. But that was just as well. It didn’t really matter.
They walked together down the crumbling, sinking sidewalks of Venice, and Kat took a deep breath. “Hale needs your help, Daddy.”
“Oh, Hale does, does he?” her father asked, then went on before she had the chance to answer. “What is the job?”
“We’ve got to do the Anastasia.”
Bobby gave a deep whole-body laugh, then suddenly stopped. “You aren’t serious.… Wait. Are you serious?” he asked, like she must be trying to con him.
She pulled a copy of the Times from her bag, pointed to a headline about the return of the long-lost Reginald Hale, and said, “We are. Uncle Eddie’s already inside.”
From the look that came next, Kat couldn’t tell if her dad was proud or scared, or possibly a little of both.
“How’d you talk him into this?” Bobby shook the paper at Kat, pointing to the blurry picture of the old man with the cane.
“He’s a man who appreciates family.”
“And a share of the Hale family fortune?” Bobby guessed.
“That’s not it.” Kat tried and failed to pull the paper from her father’s grasp.
“Oh,” Bobby said as he slipped the paper under one arm, “I bet that’s a little bit it.”
The thought had crossed Kat’s mind, of course. But this wasn’t the time to linger on it.
“We need you, Dad.”
“And by we, you mean…”
“Hale and I need you,” Kat grudgingly admitted.
“So the rumors are true.… It’s ‘Hale and I’ now, is it?”
“Hale’s my best friend.”
“He’s a little more than that, from what I hear.”
“Dad…” Kat said. “He’s Hale. You know Hale.”