I don’t know what to say; I don’t even know what to think.
It all comes down to this: Do I trust Paul or not?
As soon as I put it that way, I know I am not walking through that door.
“Yeah, I, um, ah—” Think fast, think fast! “It’s my friend Angela. Sorry. I borrowed a bracelet of hers that she wants back for a big date tonight.”
Conley gets this look on his face, like I’m so cute, like a GIF of baby puppies or something. I wish I could slap him. “Ah, to be eighteen again.”
“The thing is, I put it on this morning, but I don’t have it on now.” I hold up my wrist, trusting that Theo didn’t notice I wasn’t wearing a bracelet this morning. With my other hand, I drop my phone back into the pocket of my skirt. “I feel sure I had it on in the car. Can I just—I want to run down and check the lobby, maybe the car, too? Sorry, but if I’ve lost this bracelet, oh, my God, Angela will totally kill me.”
Okay, I laid on the silly-teen-girl routine a little thick at the end, but right now I need Conley to think that’s all I am. I need him to be one more of those assholes who thinks my brain couldn’t hold anything other than gossip and favorite colors of nail polish. If he believes that, he’ll let me go in the confidence that I’ll be right back.
Theo exchanges a glance with Conley and says, “Women. What are you gonna do?” I’m going to give him hell for that later, but maybe he’s realized I need to walk away. He takes his car keys from his pocket and tosses them to me. “Hurry back, all right? Oh, hey, there’s a Starbucks in the caf that delivers to the labs. They’re open today, I think. You want a latte?”
“Sounds great.” I smile at him, but the smile can’t be very convincing. Here’s hoping it only looks like I’m worried about a lost bracelet.
Even turning my back to them as I wait for the elevator is excruciating. Every second I keep expecting Conley to call me back, or to feel his hand on my shoulder. Yet when the chime sounds and the doors slide open, I’m able to step in without any problems.
As soon as the elevator begins its drop, I grab my phone to see that Paul has texted again. Good job. Now get out of the building. Go somewhere safe.
I type back, Tell me where you are. I won’t take no for an answer.
Answers—that’s what I need, and I’m not waiting for them any longer. But my phone remains silent as I keep sliding down, the screens projecting green light at me with the message “Everyplace, Everytime, Everywhere.”
So I send one more message. Tell me or I swear I’ll go back up there.
I mean it, too. Because if Paul isn’t ready to tell me the truth even now, maybe I’ve been wrong to believe in him. Maybe I was right to want him dead.
My phone buzzes. San Francisco, the Tenderloin. Meet me in Union Square Park.
The elevator deposits me in the lobby and politely says, “Have a nice day, Miss Caine.” That thing is creepy.
In case Conley’s watching from above, I pretend to look around in the lobby for my bracelet, then apologize to the security guard as I turn in my badge and head outside. Then I run for Theo’s car so fast my flats nearly fly off my feet.
As I unlock the door, Paul texts, You know you need to steal the car.
“Borrow,” I say out loud, knowing he can’t hear me. “I’m borrowing Theo’s car. He’ll understand. Eventually.”
I punch the key into the ignition and hurriedly send, What do you mean, Conley is after me?
The answer comes even before I can put the car in reverse: This is all about you, Marguerite.
You’re the one Conley has wanted all along.
22
THEO ALWAYS SAID HE’D TEACH ME TO DRIVE A MANUAL transmission someday, but he never seemed to have the time. So really this is all his fault.
The clutch grinds, or the motor grinds—I don’t know what it is making that sound in Theo’s car, but I know it’s not right. As soon as I get near a BART station, I stash Theo’s car in a garage and hop onto a train that will take me into the city.
Now, though, as I sit there on the train—so plain in dull pale blue, so unlike the holographic Tube cars in London—I can feel my heart beating so hard that it seems to be drumming against my locket.
I’ve run straight to the guy who seems to have betrayed everyone I love, the man no one believes in but me.