Page 80 of Your Every Wish
“You watch too many movies. Here, hand me that.” She pulls the bottle of wine away from me, tired of watching me methodically remove the protective foil wrapping around the cork. “If you must know, I got inside his head, found the one thing that makes Dex tick.”
“And what is that?” Killing kittens? Drinking lamb’s blood? Disappointing Emma?
Misty uncorks the wine and pours us each a glass. “Winning. Dex loves to win and hates to lose.”
Don’t we all?
“Yeah, so how does that help Emma?”
“By giving Dex some competition.” Misty’s lips curve up. “Liam.”
“Seriously? This is what you call witchcraft? Because I call it the oldest trick in the book. Lame, Misty. You’re better than this.” I take my wine to the living room. Despite the cutesy signs and all of Misty’s crocheted dollies, it’s more comfortable here than standing around the kitchen.
“Hush. It’s working, isn’t it?”
I doubt it. What’s working is Dex’s need to insert his penis somewhere other than his hand. But I didn’t come here to quibble over Misty’s magical matchmaking skills, which aren’t all that magical.
“We’ll see.” I find space on the sofa, which is cluttered with her sewing accoutrements. “Are you still working on your costume?”
“It’s a complicated pattern, dear. All right, tell me what you found and what you didn’t find. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
I pull up the picture of the piece of paper we discovered in Willy’s wall and hand my phone to her. “This.”
She studies the picture for a few minutes, zooming in with her fingers. “Where’s the original?”
“We left it, afraid it would implicate us in a crime. But the photo is good.”
“I need the original,” Misty says.
“Come on. What’s the difference? It’s a piece of white notepaper with some chicken scratches on it. It’s notThe Da Vinci Code.”
“I can’t get a reading from a photograph. I need to feel the presence of the person who wrote these numbers. What they were thinking. What they were going through at the time.” She hands my phone back to me.
“Misty, what we did was illegal. We could go to prison for burglary—or worse.”
“I never told you to break into your late father’s house. That was not my suggestion at all.”
“I’m not saying you did. All I’m saying is we did our best to mitigate the situation by not taking anything, especially something that might be seen as evidence.” Though what good would it do the authorities now that Willy is dead? “And there’s no way we’re going back again. Even if I were willing to risk it, that was our last chance. The place goes on the auction block this week. So this is what we have to work with.” I wave the picture on my phone in front of her for emphasis. “I just need to know what the numbers mean or if they mean anything at all.”
“You give me such a headache. Or is it this wine?” She picks up the bottle from the coffee table and studies the label, then puts it down with a shake of her head. “Let me see the picture again.”
I slide her my phone. She blows it up and stares at it for what seems like an eternity. I start to explain our various theories, but she holds her hand up for me to be quiet and stares at the picture some more.
“I’m not getting anything,” she says, finally. “It’s completely stagnant. ”
“Take your time,” I say, starting to fear that Misty, my last hope, is a dead end. “Would it help if I set up the scene and describe the wall where we found it?”
“What would help is if you stopped talking.”
Surly much?
“It’s impossible.” She pushes the phone at me.
“Do you at least think it means something having to do with the golf bag or the money?” The money. I’d spent it a dozen different ways in my head. A new car with an air conditioner that works. A condo in one of those swanky new buildings in Summerlin. A real Birkin bag.
I’d buy my mother a place, too, if she promised to leave Max off the deed. And a car. Emma could get a place in San Francisco, maybe something with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. She could have a real office to write her column, instead of having to use the kitchen table.
“When we Skyped and I saw the wall, I felt it. The key. Not the actual key but the key to what you’re looking for. A roadmap.”
