Page 74 of The Last Grift
“Mph. I should have had Niall drive me. And I have too had honest work. At least once.” She chuckled at her joke.
Gabe blinked. What alternate universe had he stumbled into? Maybe the cut on his hand was worse than he’d thought, and he was suffering from blood loss.
“Niall,” Shay explained, ignoring Claribel and her joke, “is theotherother half brother. He’s an ex-police officer. Homicide. I was a defense lawyer in Seattle for most of my career,” he said, confirming Gabriel’s lawyer suspicion. “Nowadays, I pick and choose my cases.”
A lawyer and a cop? Jesus Christ. Heidi was laughing her butt off.
“You’re not in Seattle anymore?” Gabriel didn’t think he’d heard either of those names before. Admittedly, he didn’t have much to do with homicide.
“No, all of us live up on Piedras Island now.”
Had his mother ever mentioned Piedras Island? Gabriel didn’t think so, not at least to him as an adult. He’d certainly never visited what was supposed to be the jewel of Washington State, just like he hadn’t visited Heartstone.
Not much for the likes of us up there, Chance.
“I’ve heard it’s pretty.”
“Never been?” Shay asked.
“Nope.”
“Well, you’re coming up now,” Claribel announced. “Everyone is going to want to meet you.”
“Everyone? Is she always like this?” Gabe asked their audience.
“Claribel believes the motto ‘she who must be obeyed’ applies to her personally,” Shay said with a laugh.
“Ah.” Gabriel glanced at Claribel out of the corner of his eye. “Thank you for traveling all the way here.” Did he need to outright ask for the deed? What did they want from him?
“It’s settled, then,” Claribel said.
Gabriel had no idea what exactly was settled. All he needed was the document that provedThe Golden Ticketwas his. He certainly didn’t want any new family to come along with it.
He decided to ignore her comment.
“Casey Lundin, the guy who just left, told me I need the deed to register the boat in my name at the marina.”
“You give Shay here a dollar and he’ll write up a bill of sale. It’s much easier to transfer ownership that way.”
Shay eyed his—their—aunt and then looked back at Gabriel. “Claribel is right. And you don’t know how much I hate saying that aloud.”
After the dollar-deedexchange and goodbyes that lasted too long for comfort—including another thinly veiled command to visit soon—he and Elton watched Shay help Claribel into the backseat of the Cadillac. Then he moved to the front and climbed in behind the wheel of the big car, like he was her chauffeur. Smiling at them, Shay sketched a wave and proceeded to expertly maneuver a three-point turn and head down the road toward Westfort and the ferry dock.
Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief when the car disappeared from sight. “That was a lot.”
“It’s probably a good thing Claribel’s influence is limited to a small island close to the border with Canada.”
Turning away from the front window, Gabriel looked at Elton.
“Do I want to know how you and Claribel know each other? I probably don’t, do I? You know what was really weird about an already extremely weird situation?” He didn’t wait for Elton to guess. “It was almost like looking in a mirror, seeing Shay Delacombe. I used to want a sibling, and it turns out I have not just one, but two brothers. And they look like me, or at least Shay does. We lookalike.” He dragged a hand down his face as if that would help him articulate his feelings. “I don’t know how to process this. Do I want to? There’s so fucking much going on right now.”
It was a good thing Elton knew better than to offer him a beer.
“Take your time. You have the bill of sale now. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Gabriel side-eyed Elton. “Are you sure about that? I seem to recall a vaguely threatening invitation to visit Piedras Island.”
Elton chuckled. “You have some time anyway. Shay will try to keep her in line.”
