now Kalai thinks I was secretly working with the undercovers all along, that I convinced Esme to rat him out. He thinks the sting was my doing.”
“I don’t understand. Can’t you just explain to him that it wasn’t you?”
“Kalai is paranoid. He’s decided I’m to blame and so I am. My father wants me to leave right now, go out to California where my brother is.”
Darby’s world was collapsing. Esme was a police informant and involved in the drug trade. Sam was fleeing New York City. Mother’s harsh words echoed in her brain. She’d been blinded by her hopes and didn’t see the danger they were all in.
Sam reached out and took her hands. A slight tremor shook his fingers.
“You’re shaking,” she said.
“I’m angry. I’m angry at Esme for screwing everything up for me. For us.”
Darby’s heart pounded in her chest, heavy with dread. “I think Esme did this for me.”
“What?”
“I think it’s probably a scheme she came up with to take care of me, until we’re on our feet. If she got money for snitching, it was to support me. She couldn’t have known that it would be leaked in the papers.”
“She should have talked to me first. I could have helped. Now I have to leave and go where no one knows me. I’ll have to start as a line cook somewhere, begin all over again.”
She couldn’t bear to see him go. “Maybe it’s only for a month or two. Mr. Kalai will end up in jail, and you’ll be able to come back.”
“His sons won’t give up the business. The money involved is too enormous. The police may get Kalai, but the organization will carry on. That’s why I want you to go with me.”
Her heart stopped for a moment as she processed his words. “To California?”
“Why not? We’ll take the train out tonight. I have some money saved, and we’ll find my brother and start a new life together.”
“The two of us?”
“Yes. I hear California’s great, no freezing winters and you can eat figs right off the tree.”
“But what about New York City?”
“It’ll always be here. We’ll come back in ten years, when the coast is clear and I’m a successful chef and you’re a famous writer. We’ll be married with a couple of kids and we’ll show them where we first met and fell in love.” He took a deep breath. “I love you, Darby.”
The room closed in around her. If she chose to go with Sam, she’d be a single girl, traveling with a bachelor. No chaperone.
And no more gloves. No clunky typewriter with the x key that always stuck. No giraffes.
But no Esme.
“I love you, too. I’ll go with you. But I have to say good-bye to Esme first.”
“You won’t find her.” He spoke firmly, calmly. “I’m telling you, Darby, I promise you, she’s gone.”
She thought of Daddy, what he might have revealed to her if she’d known to give him the chance. Esme deserved that as well. “I have to try. Can you give me some time? Not much. Just enough to nose around here a little bit. Her shift starts in twenty minutes. If she doesn’t turn up, I’ll leave a note for her at the front desk.”
“Fine, but be careful. I’ll head downtown to get my things and meet you under the clock at Grand Central in two hours. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good.” He brought his hand to Darby’s cheek and smiled. “I’ll be waiting.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
New York City, 2016
After packing her personal possessions from her desk into a canvas bag—there weren’t many, a mug, an umbrella, and an extra pair of high heels—Rose walked out of the WordMerge offices for the last time. The rest of the staff had no idea what had occurred with Tyler. She’d collected her things and left, as if she were only popping out to the gym.
Five years ago she’d been a rising star, groomed to take over a national anchor position one day. And now she couldn’t even hold a job at a start-up. But with her father so ill, the trajectory of her career seemed an inconsequential thing, like a burned-out lightbulb you kept meaning to fix. She’d get back to it and figure it out soon enough. For now she had to focus on her dad.
Bird was eager to get outside when she returned to Darby’s apartment. Or maybe Esme’s apartment, really. But once they walked out the service entrance, the rain began falling in sheets. She tucked Bird under one arm, strode into the