his fingers catching a strand of my hair, teasing it an eternal moment, before his hand falls away. “Until next time,” he says, and with that, he turns and walks away, leaving me breathless, leaving me confused. Leaving me alone again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Power.
It’s all around me.
Ed’s home is a den of luxury. The doorman calls up to his place to announce my arrival and it’s not long before I’m sitting in Ed’s library, rows of books around me, and luxurious leather beneath me, delivering the bad news. “It’s just not going to happen, Ed.”
Ed’s retired, that is true, but he’s only forty-eight, fit, in jeans and a polo shirt this Saturday. His dark hair is thick, his jawline chiseled, and his wrinkles more character than age. He’s also a man with a calm demeanor, but that calm ticks with an undercurrent of power. “Who was the buyer?”
“Alexander—”
“Voss?”
“Yes, actually. You know him?”
“He worked for me.” His lips thin. “I’ll handle this, Aria. Thank you for trying. We should do dinner sometime soon. We’ll talk about my wish list and other interesting tidbits you and I need to unearth.”
Unease flows through me at that wording and for no good reason. After all, this is not an invitation to dinner. It’s an invitation to leave. “In the meantime, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.” I stand up. His cellphone rings. “I’ll see myself out.” I turn away and head for the door and he doesn’t stop me.
A few minutes later, I step to the street with a nagging sensation in my gut and I don’t know why. I’ve known Ed for a good year now and he’s shown no interest in anything but wine. Still, his words replay in my mind: We’ll talk about my wish list and other interesting tidbits you and I need to unearth.
Hunting for buried treasure suits me just fine, as long as the treasure isn’t my family secret.
***
I arrive back at the store close to rush hour, a cold front whistling wind between the high rises. Hurrying into the building with a shiver, I find Nancy packing up to leave. “I thought I was going to miss you again and Joey has a school event tonight.” With long dark curly hair, she’s a pretty young, twenty-something single mom, always on the run and like me, never dates. She has her schedule and her six-year-old son to think about. I have that reckless note to think about. “I have messages for you and Gio from several customers. Apparently, Gio isn’t returning anyone’s calls.” She sets the messages on the edge of the counter, grabs her bag, and rounds the counter, looking adorable in pleated black slacks paired with a black and white sweater. “I haven’t seen Gio in like two weeks. Is he still not back? That must be some treasure he’s hunting.”
She has no idea. He’s disappeared a few days here and there, but never for weeks. “I’m pretty sure the treasure is a woman,” I tell her.
“Oh. Well, in all of my two years here, that man has always been a player.”
She’s right, he is, but no woman would keep him from contacting me. No hunt would keep him from contacting me.
“Whatever the case,” she adds, “there are a few customers getting upset.”
“I’ll call them. Thank you. And good luck to Joey tonight.”
“Thank you. He’s playing the recorder for the recital. He’s pretty good. I’m hoping he wants to join the band or orchestra. I think it’s character building.”
A topic that is starting to get a little too close to taboo for me, but she’s right. It is. I loved playing the violin as a young girl. I just can’t admit that to anyone, ever. “He’ll be great at whatever he does,” I say instead.
“Thanks, Aria. See you Monday.”
“See you Monday.” I follow her to the door and lock up after her, keying in the alarm.
The minute it’s in place, I rush forward and grab the messages, looking for Sofia, or anyone who might be helpful, but I know all the customers. There’s nothing in those messages that helps. I walk to my small office and set my bag on top of the old wooden desk that takes up almost the entire room. I round the desk and sit down, trying to figure out what to do.
When Mom died, the police were involved, but they knew who killed her. They’d caught it on camera. No one investigated Mom or our family to set off