Page 57 of Bourbon and Secrets

He knows there’s more to me being here; I just need to hope it won’t interfere with tonight. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Uncle Grant,” Lily calls out, saving me from having to answer any more questions. “Can we please get matching slippers? They might have a size big enough for you, too?”

He nods as he moves away and approaches his niece and wife.

Out of the corner of my eye, Lark rummages through the t-shirt display. “I went to that tour. I was in Washington, and someone said if I wanted to see Dave Matthews Band live, then the only place would be at The Gorge.”

Glancing at me briefly, she goes back to looking through the pile. I think she’s dismissing me until she asks, “Well, did you?”

“See them there?” I laugh. “No. Sold out. But I scalped a ticket in Seattle and got to hear a few of my favorites.”

She quits looking for her size and then walks away.

Fucking small towns. There’s no reason I should be running into any of them here. And as charming as this store is, the last thing I was prepared for was an interrogation and a pre-teen’s wrath. Truthfully, I’m more jilted by the latter. I don’t know why it bothers me—wanting her to like me, but I do.

An hour later, and I’ve been perfectly fitted in what might be the prettiest dress I’ll ever wear. It almost seems like a waste to wear it for someone like Brock Blackstone. But I don’t have any other options. I have just under three hours before I need to be ready for the car service. He didn’t ask why I was being picked up at Midnight Proof, but I wasn’t about to give him the address for my family’s farmhouse. The less he’s aware of who I was before Rosie Gold, the better.

“So you make jewelry now, too?” Maggie asks as she leans against the doorway in my makeshift bedroom. “Another surprise hidden up those sleeves?”

“Yup,” I say, focused on what I’m doing, before her words sink in. “Wait, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

She looks around the room, taking inventory of what gym equipment I’ve had to move to make space for my things. I watch her attention flick to the line-up of small weapons laid out on the floor near her elliptical. “Those areinterestingaccessories.”

“I’m a single woman who takes her clothes off as entertainment. I’d be careless, borderline stupid, not to have some sort of protection with me.”

“I heard about some kind of high-profile event tonight. Is that where you’re going?”

It has me pausing. I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to understand her sudden interest. “How would you hear about something like that?”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Better question—why are you attending?”

We stare at each other for a moment, neither one of us tipping our hand. But she’s the one to crack first when she says, “There’s so much you don’t know. And somehow, I feel like I’m the one in the dark.”

Narrowing my eyes on her, I let out a sigh when I ask, “Then why don’t you enlighten me, Maggie? I’m not the bad guy here.”

“You sure about that?” she mumbles, and my head rears back.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I shout after her as she steps into the hallway.

But per usual, she doesn’t respond to my question. “Nice dress, by the way,” she calls out, and then a few moments later, the front door slams shut.

I’m staring off, a bit dumbfounded, trying to make sense of whatever that just was. I know there’s more to unpack, but tonight isn’t going to be the time to figure it out.

My dress was a jackpot in more ways than just being stunning. It needed to match the jewelry this time around. And the long chain necklace that glitters also has a little extra flare. The 2mm camera was under fifty bucks and fits perfectly into its crystal onyx center. My phone will act as its Wi-Fi hotspot in my clutch bag so that everything from tonight is recorded and stored in the cloud. Tech doesn’t need to be complicated to work in my favor—between the mirroring software I had coded and cheap gadgets like this, it makes private investigating far more comprehensive than simple stakeouts and note-taking.

I’m not going to miss a single moment or face. I’ve spent the past few weeks filtering through countless emails and fulfillment orders from freight companies regarding Blackstone auctions. Procurement could mean a lot of things. But a private auction that the FBI was sniffing around meant there’s more than authentic paintings and Fabergé eggs to be sold. Cortez still hasn’t shown his cards, but that doesn’t mean I can’t figure out other ways to see them. So I dug into the details of exactly what types of things Blackstone had been “acquiring” for tonight. I wasn’t going to wait and see. The bill of landing that listed out what was delivered to Blackstone’s estate wasn’t what I’d expected—multiple quantities and variations of erectile-dysfunction drugs, fertilizers and chemicals, a singleline item that just read “snakes,” which, again, troubling, but the smuggling of reptiles didn’t seem like something Cortez would have been so elusive about. None of that felt like the bigger picture, but simply details.

“The only thing I need from you, Faye, is confirmation on the attendees,” Cortez says over my phone. “If the auction happens and you’re within earshot, then take note of who is purchasing.”

Pulling the straps of my dress on carefully, I slide the zipper up the side of my waist.

I turn to the side and, damn, that’s perfect.

As I pick up my phone from the bathroom sink, I make sure he can hear me when I say, “You can tell me exactly who I should be looking at, Cortez. That would make my job here easier.”

I toss my lipstick into my glitter handbag that has a special sewn-in compartment that holds my karambit knife. The small blade has a finger hole for easy maneuvering when necessary. I adjust the elastic of my garter belt, functioning to hold up my thigh-high stockings and doubles as a convenient spot to fasten the palm-sized pepper spray. They weren’t much, considering I didn’t know what Blackstone was capable of, but having weapons makes me feel safer. They always have.

“All I can say is that if anything feels off, or if you need to get out of there, then get out. This isn’t a situation where the cavalry is waiting to raid this place. I have some support, but you need to operate here as if you’re on your own. I need you to be smart.”

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