been living here for thirty years. We all love him. I don’t want to ruin his life over something he did when he was twenty-something years old.”
Leo paused for a minute, then started stacking empty food containers. “I’m not sure that’s true. If he fenced stolen property within the last six years, he could be picked up for that.”
“He could? Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure. His best bet would be to turn himself in to the authorities and return whatever items he still has. Did he show them to you?”
I shook my head. “No, and I have no idea how much is left, or honestly, how much he even stole in the first place. Do you think I should tell my dad?”
Leo thought about this for a minute before saying, “I do think you should tell him. It sucks for your friend, but he stole things from people, and a crime is a crime. If the statute is up, then nothing will happen to him.”
“Of course something will happen to him. Everyone on the island—everyone who’s been his friend for the last thirty years—is going to feel betrayed. He might have to move after that, and he’s fifty-five years old. If he gives the jewelry back, there goes his retirement.”
Leo’s expression told me he disagreed. “He hasn’t earned that retirement, Brooke. Just because he’s been sitting on that jewelry for half his life, that doesn’t make it his. It belongs to someone else. And every time he fences something, he risks getting caught. Better he moves to another city and starts over as best he can rather than ending up in prison.”
This conversation had taken a turn toward the serious, and I didn’t like it. I wanted our fun, funny night back, but I couldn’t deny the truth of Leo’s words.
“What if he just, I don’t know, anonymously returned the stuff?”
“Would he be willing to do that?”
“I don’t know. He said if Mick, his accomplice, showed up and asked for it, he’d probably give it to him. Oh, that’s the part I didn’t tell you. Dmitri thinks that Bill Smith the private investigator may actually be his old partner, Mick.”
“They haven’t seen each other?”
“No, but he did say he feels kind of obligated to give what’s left to his partner, since Mick did prison time, even though Mick is also the one who told the police about him.”
Leo was silent for a few minutes as he got out of bed and started cleaning up the food boxes and leftovers. I couldn’t quite read his mood. I thought he’d think the whole thing was a lark—the Beekeeping Hat Bandit—but he was somber. Did he think it was wrong of me to even consider protecting Dmitri?
I stood to help, gathering the refuse and carrying it down to the kitchen. I was wearing my dalmatian pajamas because Leo had seen them hanging in my bathroom and thought they were adorable. See, Emily didn’t know everything. Leo was in his white T-shirt and boxers as he followed me downstairs with a now-empty bottle of wine.
I emptied the trash and threw the bag outside by the back door. Leo got us each a glass of water.
“What are you thinking?” I finally asked. “I hope you don’t think I’m terrible for wanting to protect a friend. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty conflicted about it.”
He stepped close and draped his arms around my shoulders. “Of course I don’t think you’re terrible. I understand the predicament you’re in, probably better than you’d believe.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, knowing what the right thing to do is can be compromised by how we feel about someone. It’s just human nature. Dmitri does seem like a good guy, even if he is a thief. Do you believe everything he told you?”
“I do. In spite of this one huge lie, and of course all the made-up stories, I could tell today that he was being completely sincere.” I had believed that, but what if he’d played me? What if he was at his house right now, loading up piles of stolen treasure and getting ready to make a break for it? No. It just wasn’t possible. I’d seen the tears in his eyes when I’d told him about Alice and Amelia. I’d heard the regret in his voice. And I’d spent the whole of my life with him. I might not have known who he was then, but I knew who he was now.