trouble.”
“Oh. Okay.” Devoss’s expression of relief was nearly unmistakable. “Hey, while I’m gettin’ info, why is everyone rich besides us? Mr. Berne has an island, Oz has the car and the suits—”
“Don’t forget about Garsea’s grain silo,” Lila added with a snicker.
“—and Lila sets her own hours.”
“I’m not rich,” Lila replied at once. “I’m just a careful budgeter. To a near-pathological degree. And I have a weird niche job so I can set my own hours and prices.”
“And you don’t want to get rich the way I did,” Oz added.
At that, Devoss’s small face went the color of a July tomato, so quickly Lila wondered for a panicky second if the kid was stroking out. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, Oz. I forgot. Just—forget I said anything. I’ll go play with Sally, keep her out of your fur.”
There was a short silence, as Devoss practically sprinted from the room, broken by Lila. “Well. At least that didn’t make me incredibly curious about Oz’s money and wonder if it’d be rude to ask about it.”
“Kids died,” Oz replied shortly. “And I almost did. Lawsuits made the guilty parties pay up.”
“Got it.”
“Anything else?”
Which kids? When? And what were they to you? Is that why you had to live with Annette and Mama when you were a kid? Is that why you want to get out of accounting so badly? Is it why I’m drawn to you—because you’re someone who nearly died when their life imploded?
“…nope.”
“Liar,” he replied, kindly enough, so she chanced a smile and was relieved to get one back.
Chapter 40
“Now! What have you lot got for me?”
“All sorts of exciting things,” Nadia said. “By which I mean the coroner’s report and more distressing photographs.”
“Lovely. Er…” Berne made a point of looking around Lila’s humble living room. “Are ye sure this is the best place to meet? Shouldn’t we be at IPA?”
“I think you’re gonna be glad we’re meeting here, Magnus,” Oz replied, sounding terribly serious, which wasn’t sexy at all, except it was, so fuck.
Berne turned a friendly gaze on Lila. Gah, the guy was so big he was blocking the sunlight from the window. “And you’re here for this meeting, too, lass?”
“It’s my house, Berne.” Why were none of them getting this? She was starting to think it was pathological.
“O’course, o’course. It’s kind of you t’offer it up. I havna said so and I’m remiss—I’m grateful for all you’ve done for Sally. Especially since you’re not. Ah.”
Lila didn’t say anything, so they could all feel the enormity of the elephant in the room. Fifteen. Excruciating. Seconds. Went. By.
“Right,” Oz said, and you could almost hear the collective gasp as everyone started breathing again. “So, updates. First, thanks again for flying us to the crash site.” He had riffled through Nadia’s file of photos, found what he was looking for, put it on the vintage trunk Lila used as a coffee table. She hoped to be buried in it someday. (Roomy!) “D’you mind telling me what this is?”
They all leaned forward to look down at the pic, which was kind of funny, given that at least three people in the room had already seen the photograph. To Lila’s eyes, it was just another pic of twisted metal and torn cloth, with something that looked like a mangled backpack, all smooshed and flattened at the edge of the frame.
Wait. Not a backpack.
“That’s a parachute,” Berne said, staring fixedly at the picture.
“Uh-huh. A parachute in your plane. The plane you lent to the Smalls.”
Berne was still staring.
“Do you often carry parachutes on your planes?”
Ten. Excruciating. Seconds. Went. By.
“Magnus?”
“As a matter of fact.” Berne looked up. “Yes.”
“More than one?”
“Usually two.”
Oz took a few seconds to digest that. “Why?”
“In addition to being a ferry pilot, I take people jumping.”
“Wait, what?” Lila could have bitten her tongue; the filter in her brain hadn’t engaged quickly enough. But Oz just looked at her expectantly. Keep going was (probably) written in his body language. Or Keep out. She sometimes got those mixed up.
“Lila? Something to add?”
He’s looking at me like he’s giving me a cue. Like I’m part of the IPA team. Or an aviation expert. Which is deeply nuts. “It’s just. When I heard Sally’s parents went down in a single engine, that’s the first thing I wondered about. But it doesn’t fly, no pun intended. An unmodified Cessna? Going down? That’s a terrible plane to jump out of. And a terrible altitude. There probably wouldn’t be enough time for the chute to deploy.” She looked around