“It’s complicated,” he said.
“Then simplify it.”
“Fine,” he said. “Your uncle wanted the Creature Notebook. Neely got it instead. So Jahn had Cole create a forgery.”
“Cole?” I repeated.
“Do you want to let me finish?”
I held my hands up in surrender.
“We switched the original with the forgery. Which means that the original is in your living room, and Neely’s about to donate a forgery to a museum in Belgium.”
“Cole seriously created a forgery? The quality of that work must be exceptional.” I was legitimately impressed. I mean, I’d spent some time studying forgeries, and that was no small feat.
“Focus for me, babe,” Evan said. “This was no big deal while Neely kept the notebook in his private gallery. But it’s about to go to a museum. It’s going to be poked and prodded and analyzed. And while I think Cole is pretty damn talented, the odds are good that the forgery will be discovered. And if it is—”
“—then it will come back to Cole,” I finished. “Yeah, I get it.”
“No, you don’t,” Evan said. “Because it won’t just come back to Cole. It’ll come back to Jahn. It will ruin his business, his reputation, and the foundation. Not to mention biting me and Tyler on the ass, too.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“We want your notebook,” he said simply. “And then we’ll just switch them back.”
“All right,” I said. “How can I help?”
He shook his head. “I told you. By giving us the notebook.”
“And then?”
“No,” he said. “No way. That is exactly the kind of thing that your uncle didn’t want you to do. That is exactly the kind of shit he wanted you away from.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. I crawled on the bed toward him and pressed my hand to his chest. “I think he wanted me in on it.”
Evan cocked his head, and I could tell from his expression that he was trying to decide if I was bullshitting him. “Why do you think that?”
“Because of the timing of his will,” I said. “Because of the note he left you,” I added. “And because he left me the facsimile copy. Not the original.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed, and I knew I had his attention. “You think he was giving you his blessing with that note,” I said, “but I think it was more than that. I think the note and the bequest together were his way of saying we’d make a good team.”
“Keep going,” Evan said. I started to lean back and take my hand off his chest, but he pulled me back, then gently shook his head. “Stay,” he said. “And talk.”
I moved to his side and took his hand. “Don’t you get it? Jahn knew me better than anyone—and now that you’ve told me what he was into, I’m even more certain that I’m right about this. He expected us to work together. He wanted us to.”
“Maybe,” Evan conceded.
“And there’s an even a bigger reason to agree to let me help,” I pressed.
“What’s that?”
“Because if this really is the last thing keeping you from being fully legitimate—from getting out of that damned FBI spotlight—then I want to help. It matters to me, Evan. It matters a lot. Please. Please don’t say no.”
“Baby,” he said, lifting my fingertips to his lips. “Could I ever say no to you?”
“No fucking way,” Cole said. “I mean, no offense, baby girl, but no fucking way.”
I was sitting beside Evan on the leather couch. Now, I took his hand, searching for solidarity, and was rewarded when he squeezed back. We were back in my condo, Evan and I having spent the morning having breakfast with Ivy and then playing four rounds of Candy Land. Evan had called the others from the road and told them to meet us. That we had a lot to talk about.
“Yes, fucking way,” I said, making Cole roll his eyes. “And guess what? I moved the manuscript to a safe deposit box at HJH&A this morning. So unless I’m part of this, there isn’t going to be any this. Get it?”