little sad, because I’d thought Leo was more principled than that.
Apparently, he wasn’t.
Damn it. We were so over.
“Is this entire island uphill?” Gina muttered.
“Oh, sorry, sweetheart,” I answered. “I guess you should have worn more practical boots.” I heard a tiny snort of amusement, and if I didn’t know better, I might say she was starting to like me. The feeling was not mutual. I couldn’t wait to get this over with and send these two douche-canoes back to wherever with their freshly confiscated jewelry.
It was nearly noon when we stood on the front step of Dmitri’s modest cabin. The sun was still shining, the wind was still calm, but a storm raged inside me. How was I going to admit to him that this was my fault? I’d promised to keep his secret, but I guess loyalty was in short supply around here. Betrayal seemed to be the soup of the day. I’d betrayed Dmitri. Leo had betrayed me, and when it got right down to it, Dmitri had betrayed everybody. We were all karma’s bitch today.
I tapped lightly on the door, and then tapped again. I finally heard some movement inside, and Dmitri opened the door. He looked surprised and then nervous, and no doubt he was, seeing me there with Leo on one side and Goth-Barbie Intimidatrix on the other side.
“Brooke?” he said slowly and carefully. “Um, sorry, honey, but now’s not really a good time. I’m sort of in the middle of something.”
“This won’t take long,” Gina said, pushing open the door so fast that it bumped against him. She plowed past, and Leo and I followed. I mouthed the words I’m sorry, and Dmitri’s face fell. Even without knowing the full truth about Leo, Dmitri surely knew this wasn’t a friendly social call.
“What can I do for you folks?” he asked, his eyes never quite landing on any of us and his distress evident. As my grandmother might say, he was as nervous as a whore in church.
“We’ll keep this simple, Mr. Krushnic,” Gina said, pronouncing his name with a hint of drama. “We’d like the Wellington jewels and any other contraband you’ve stolen over the years. Hand it over without any fuss and we’ll keep the police out of it.”
A breath escaped Dmitri, and he grasped the back of a kitchen chair for support. My heart twisted.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re referring to . . . miss?”
“I’m Gina Gonzales. I believe you’ve met my partner, Leo Walker? We’ve been retained by the family of Marian Singer Wellington to retrieve the items you stole from her on the night of July seventeenth, 1987, and any other items still in your possession. We have at least two sources who can verify that you are indeed James Novak, but if you want us to publicly prove that, we can, and we will.”
Dmitri’s eyes finally flickered over me and landed on Leo. “Is that so, kid?”
Leo’s face flushed as he gave a single nod. “I’m afraid so, sir. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed our fishing trip.”
Dmitri offered up a rueful chuckle. “Yeah, me too, but life is like that sometimes, I guess. You think you know a person . . .” He paused as if waiting for us to respond. We didn’t, so he added, “But, you see, here’s the fascinating part. I don’t have anything left. It’s all gone.”
“Mr. Novak,” Gina said, dropping the name pretense and frowning, “we know that’s not true. Do you want us to contact Chief Callaghan about this matter? And then he’ll have to contact Judge Murphy to get a search warrant? And then we’ll have to tear up your whole house before we finally find what we’re looking for in your bee houses.”
Damn, she was harsh.
Dmitri’s face filled with pain and disappointment as she mentioned the bee houses, and I felt awful because I was the one who knew about that. I was the one who’d told Leo last night about Dmitri’s awesome hiding spot. Obviously, Leo had told Gina.
“Dmitri, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I didn’t have any idea who Leo was when I told him those things. He promised to keep it to himself, but he lied.” I cast a scathing glance Leo’s way, but since I’d been glaring at him for the past hour, he’d become somewhat desensitized.
“Don’t beat yourself up over this, honey,” Dmitri responded. “I know a thing or two about lying. It starts out simple and then it gets complicated. But