by Amy Murray
James caught me by the arms, and his touch brought me back.
“Is this where it happened?” he asked. His eyes, dark and ominous, were crackling with tension.
I nodded to the corner. “That’s where Thomas was murdered.”
I turned in the opposite direction and walked until the sidewalk came to an end. Three steps led down to a brick-paved driveway separating the buildings. I stepped down and stood at the mouth of an alleyway. Garbage bins lined either side of the narrow passageway, and puddles of water had accumulated in the broken pits of pavement. The ground was littered with crumbled pieces of trash and rock, but when I squinted my eyes, I could see it as it was all those years ago.
I pressed my back into the building’s wall and felt the rough edges of brick press into my skin.
“You kissed me.” I shut my eyes and the memory surfaced, bright and on fire. “Right here.” I could feel the warm press of his lips, the desperation under my skin. I could sense the danger—the urgency. “You made me promise I’d be quiet no matter what. And then—”
I opened my eyes, and James was standing inches from me. His hands crept up my arms and he palmed my face. “It was a long time ago.”
I searched his eyes. “It doesn’t feel that way.”
Every emotion I’d held inside all those years ago surged violently. I felt angry, sad and happy, nervous and scared. I pushed forward and gripped James by the shoulders. My fingers kneaded the muscle and traced the length of his arms as I stared at the space above his collar and below his throat.
James’s hands, ever so soft, slid down my arms, and when I linked my hands around his neck, my sweater rose a quarter of an inch. His thumbs shifted up and tickled the flesh above my jeans. A shock went straight to my inner thighs, and my body clenched.
When his thumb bent, and he grazed his nail across my hip, desire unfurled and my head dropped back to meet his eyes. I don’t know who reached first, but our lips collided, and it was everything but sweet. It was hard and punishing, needy and sacrificial. I’d never felt more alive.
Against the pressure of his lips, I opened my mouth, and the kiss deepened. I pressed my body against his, and James’s arms wrapped around me and tightened in a crushing embrace. My hands moved to tangle in his hair, and with two stumbling steps, my back crashed into the wall.
The world fell away, and I took comfort knowing James needed me as much as I needed him. I could feel it in his kiss, in his touch. We were no longer two people separated by time and circumstance. We were one person, neither one whole without the other.
“Excuse me,” said a woman’s voice just after she politely cleared her throat.
James pulled away, sharp and abrupt, and moved to stand in front of me. I stared at the ground while embarrassment licked my cheeks.
“You two quite finished?”
At the entrance to the alley stood an elderly woman, her short hair so silver it was white. She was small, hardly five feet tall, and wore a smear of bright red lipstick that accentuated her perfect posture and sarcastic drawl. I stepped beside James, and her critical eyes flicked over me.
“Can we help you?” James asked as I fidgeted under her stare.
“My daughter was right, ya know. Nino’ll kill ya just for the sport.” Her voice had a heavy twang, an accent not often heard in the city. She shrugged and took two steps into the alleyway.
After several silent moments, I managed to find my voice. “Evelyn? Evelyn Bastone?”
“Well, who else would be stompin’ ’round after ya?” Her eyes were wide as if offended I didn’t recognize her sooner.
“How did you know where to find us?”
“I didn’t, but I figured you’d end up here sooner or later.”
I shook my head in confusion, and she continued. “The old Bellingham Hotel was just down there on the corner, and young James Bellingham was found dead right here. If you two knew anything about the diamond, you’d come here eventually.”
“Your daughter said you wouldn’t help us.”
Evelyn waved a hand. “She’s scared, and rightly so. She’d have a fit if she knew I was here, and frankly, I’m too old ta be listenin’ to her scoldin’ me like I’m a child. I’m ninety-five, not seven.”
“She doesn’t know you’re here?” James asked.
“She’d lock me up in that house ‘afore she let me wander out here to talk to the likes a’ you.”
“Why? Why wouldn’t she want you to help us?”
“Same reason I shouldn’t be helpin’ ya. My cousin is just like his daddy, who, sadly, was just like that snake of a man that was my grandaddy. Ruthless. Heartless. I have nothin’ nice to say ’bout those men.”
She stopped a foot in front of me and sighed. Her brown eyes were smart and attentive.
“Ya look like her. I can see why he’d think you’d know somethin’.” She looked at James briefly before shifting her knowing eyes back to mine. I crossed my arms—her observations made me nervous—and Evelyn tilted her head in response. “And I’m guessin’ ya do.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know anything.” She squinted, and her papery thin skin crunched around her eyes.
She took a deep breath and hiked her handbag higher around her elbow. “’Bout every few months I get someone comin’ ’round my house looking for the Florentine. Believe me, if I knew where it was, I’d a gone and found it myself. After all, it’s mine, or should be if it were to be found. My cousin is quiet misguided if he thinks that diamond is his.”
I looked sharply at James and then back at Evelyn. “What do you mean it’s yours?” I asked cautiously.
“That diamond belonged to my momma. It was a gift from my grandaddy. If it’s recovered, it belongs to me and then will pass on to my daughter, Valerie. Now, tell me what you know, and don’t lie to me, child. I may be old, but I am not stupid. You’re the spittin’ image of that gal my granddaddy spent his life lookin’ for. So if you’re not related then I must be dead and starin’ her ghost.”
“That’s why we’re here,” I answered. “I was hoping you could help me.”
“Well, honey, don’t you think if I knew where that diamond was I’d already have it?”
“I don’t think you know where it is, but you might know something that may help us locate it.”
“Well, spit it out,” she huffed. “It’s cold out here, and I’d much rather be sittin’ at home in front ‘a my fire.”
James spoke. “Your grandfather came to Houston looking for—” He stopped short and glanced at me. “He went looking for a girl.”
“The one that looks like you.” She nodded. “I remember. My momma spent most ’a that night cryin’.”
“Did you ever find out what happened there in Houston?”
Evelyn nodded. “That night, my mother lost her father.”
My jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. “He died? There?” I didn’t believe it. How had Roselli been killed when in my last drift, his gun had been pointed at me?
“Shot, from what I remember. Twice, actually. Once in the head and once in the heart. Nothin’ more than he deserved. Mama knew it. Told me later those were the happiest tears she ever cried.”
James’s hand found mine, and our fingers entwined as my mind whirred at an impossible speed. “Do you remember anything else about that night you could tell us?” James asked. “Anything your mother might’ve told you.”
“Well, I don’t know what ya think I could remember. I was only a little girl at the time, but Mama told me other things. When I was older, a’ course. Things about the man that stole her necklace, things about his brother.” Evelyn glanced at James before turning her focus back to me. “And things about the girl that planned it all.”
I swallowed and shifted under her scrutiny. For a woman I’d never met, I had a feeling she knew quite a lot about me.
“Can you tell us anything about the night your grandfather was killed?” James asked, breaking the tension.
“All
but one died from what I understand, and the one that lived, he up and disappeared. The necklace wasn’t recovered. Believe me, my momma asked. Was all she talked about, there at the end.”
“What about the house? I know it may seem silly, but I think if we find it, maybe we will have some luck,” I said. “I’m not ready to die. And your cousin…well, your daughter said it herself. I’m already as good as dead.”
Evelyn lifted her chin. “I don’t know much. Only little things. My momma took me there, though, right after Granddaddy died. I was just a tiny thing, but I remember it had white wood sidin’ and a deep porch that ran the length ‘a the house,” she said. “I don’t remember much else.”
“What about the neighborhood or the street?” James asked.
Her forehead crinkled over her eyes. “Now that I think about it, I remember somethin’. Heaven? Heavenly…no…Heavensent? Haven, maybe?”
My throat hitched and swelled and blood rushed in my ears. “Havensent Street?” I asked and Evelyn’s eyes sparked with recognition.
“Yes, yes, I believe that’s correct. Do you know the street, then, darlin’?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but was unable to draw breath. My drift was pulling at my consciousness, and an image of Roselli, with his gun gripped tightly in his hand, came forward. The blood drained from my cheeks, and an ice-cold sweat broke out on my neck. It was taking me, and for the first time, I was scared I wouldn’t be coming back.
Nino stood in front of me, his arm held aloft with the barrel of his gun pointed at my head. Fear should’ve had me in a panic, but instead, I was numb. The last three years with Colin had been a lie. That fatal night, he’d pretended to rescue me, and over the years I’d grown to love him. I wanted to gag on my ignorance when everything fell into place. I’d abandoned James in that alley and started a new life with the man that had murdered him.
I didn’t deserve to live.
“Don’t do this, Nino. She doesn’t know where it is.” Colin stood with a hand stretched in my direction.
Roselli pulled the stump of his cigar from his mouth and stubbed it out on the end table to his left. “Tell me, because I’m quite curious,” Nino began in a bored voice. He stared at Colin, distaste clawing at his lips. “That night in the alleyway, did you know she was there? Did you see her? Hide her?”
I shook my head instinctively, answering for Colin. He wouldn’t have seen me. I was too far down. There was hardly any light.
“Yes,” Colin said. My gaze caught his, and I gasped with disbelief.
“You saw me?” My voice cracked. Colin looked down and then back at me with an emotion in his eyes I didn’t understand. There was sadness, but there was something beyond that. Something wistful, something pure.
“So, that night, you lied to me,” Nino said.
Colin didn’t take his gaze from mine when he answered. “Yes.”
“Was I not paying you enough? I recall you were always compensated quite well. Unless…unless it was because of the necklace. The diamond.” He tilted his head as he considered Colin. “You wanted it for yourself.”
A thousand thoughts screamed and surfaced all at once, and the parts of me I thought couldn’t fracture any further, broke apart and ripped my insides raw. Colin had proposed the night he saw me with the necklace. Could Nino be right?
Roselli’s face reddened. “I treated you like family. I treated you like a son.” His voice held distaste, accented by the spit that flew from his lips with every word.
“I didn’t care about the necklace then, and I don’t care about it now.”
Roselli raised a single brow, and his lips parted. I could see his mind putting something together like pieces of a puzzle. A wheezy laugh escaped his lips, and life sprang to his eyes. He dropped the arm that held the gun and chuckled.
“Could it really be that simple?” he asked. “Could you really be that stupid?” His questions weren’t meant for answers, and Colin didn’t reply. The silence thickened, and the smile on his face widened until he barked a quick laugh. “It is, isn’t it? Oh, is this the girl? The one you followed day and night? Oh, this is rich. She is, isn’t she.”
Roselli straightened, his face splotchy and his eyes watery with mirth. He walked toward me, his steps smooth and languid, and while every part of me screamed in protest, I didn’t move. His gaze roved over my face, my neck, and then lower. I turned away from him, disgusted by the thrill I saw in his eyes.
“I knew you had a thing for her, but to kidnap her? To lie for years just to be with her.” He nodded with every word. “Impressive. I have to say, Colin, quiet impressive. And it would’ve been sweet were it not absolutely pathetic.” Nino smiled at me. “Tell her about it. I’m sure she’s interested.”
I turned to Colin. “What is he talking about?”
“It’s not what you think,” Colin said.
What did I think? I didn’t even know. “You knew I was there? You knew who I was? Tell me what this is about,” I whispered.
“It doesn’t matter, not anymore,” Colin answered.
“Doesn’t matter? Right now is the only time it matters. I want the truth before I die.”
“You’re not going to die,” Colin said, his eyes so sad that for a moment my anger abated.
“Now, Colin, don’t go making promises you can’t keep,” Roselli said. “Why don’t you tell me where the necklace is, huh? That way I can get what I came for, and I might let you two lovebirds get back to your blissful marriage.”
I looked down at my feet and then at the shattered glass. My wedding ring sparkled amidst the wreckage. Marriage. Ours wasn’t a marriage. It never had been.
“Let her go. I’ll get the necklace for you, but you have to let her go first.”
Nino’s nostrils flared as he sucked in several angry breaths. “Give it to me now.”
“No.”
“No?” His brows lifted. The anger that was present only seconds ago seemed to evaporate and the malevolent smile that twisted his lips was back in place. “Tell me, how much does she mean to you? You love her, don’t you? Would it bother you to see me gut her? To see me cut out her heart and feed it to my dogs?” His lips curled over his teeth, his words crisp and clear.
“Let her go,” Colin demanded again. “She can’t help you find the diamond.”
Roselli considered me then turned his gun on Colin. “You’re lying to protect her,” he said before he turned back to me. “If I shot your man here, would you tell me what I want to know?”
“I—I—”
“Tell me,” Roselli yelled. His voice pierced my ears, momentarily deafening me with his volume.
The chime of the grandfather clock echoed in the following silence. I glanced at the face. Ten o’clock.
It chimed again, and Roselli pulled back the hammer of the revolver and a bullet clicked into place. Another chime, and another…
“Nino,” Colin said. “Don’t do this.”
I looked between the two men while the clock continued to tick, and fear clawed at my bones. I saw the flick of Roselli’s hand, the imperceptible tightening in his wrist.
“No,” I screamed and took two automatic steps in front of Colin just as the bullet fired.
I grunted and my hands flew to my belly. The pain wasn’t immediate—and for a moment, I thought he’d missed—but then it hit, and the pain was crippling. Fire exploded in my middle and a small scream escaped my lips as I bowed forward and fell to my knees. I pulled my hands back and whimpered as blood poured from the open wound. The clock struck ten, a strange thing to remember, and my world fell black.
Chapter Eighteen
A blood-curdling scream ripped from my lungs and twisted me inside out. I grabbed at my sweater until my hands touched bare skin. My fingers curled into my flesh, where a phantom sting pulsed like rhythmic blasts of dynamite. I pulled my hands away, expecting to see blood, but through the blur of unshed tears, I saw nothing. They were clean.
“God, Abby.” James shook my
shoulders and forced me to meet his gaze, but my stomach lurched and I bent forward, pressing my palms against my knees.
A shattered gasp made staccato sounds echo between the buildings before drops of crimson blood splattered the ground from my nose.
“It’s okay. You’re here, you’re safe.” James rubbed my back and whispered in my ear.
But I stared at those drops of blood and knew his words wouldn’t be true much longer. Roselli would come tomorrow, and if he didn’t kill me, I knew my drift would. Either way, I was dead.
“Take this,” Evelyn said dangling a handkerchief from her fingertips.
“Thank you.” I pressed the cloth to my face and watched as Evelyn’s face scrunched with worry.
“I’m not sure what all just happened, but from the looks ‘a it, it’s not good. If I could give ya any advice, it’d be ta disappear. Go far away from the likes ‘a my cousin. Forget about that diamond.”
I pulled the fabric from my face and stared at the bloodstained cloth. At the corner there was an initial embroidered. I turned the fabric and ran my thumb over the letter B.
“My mother gave me that afore she died.” Evelyn was staring at the embroidered letter. “Told me it was my father’s, but I think she just wanted to give me somethin’ ta hold on to. That man didn’t have an ounce a class, and that handkerchief—well, I think it’s too fine ta ever have been his.”
My thumb ran over the dense stitching. “I feel bad for ruining it.”
“Don’t. I don’t have a need for it.”
She reached for my shoulder and gave me a squeeze before turning away.
“Abby,” James’s voice was at my ear, soft like a caress. His arms enveloped me, and I buried my face in his chest, pressing myself as close to him as I could.
“You scared me,” he said. His words were rough and hoarse. “I’ve never heard a scream like that.”
With my ear pressed against him, I felt his words vibrate against my cheek, and when he fell silent, I concentrated on the steady sound of his beating heart.
I came back. Mack had said I wouldn’t. He’d said if I witnessed my death, I’d die. Yet, here I stood in James’s arms, in the alley where it began. I squeezed my eyes closed, and my drift, in all its grisly detail, came flooding back. I could see the bloodstain swelling on the bodice of my dress. I could see my hands dripping with it. I heard a scream—Colin’s scream. It was an awful sound, born of pain. Of suffering. Of the worst kind of despair.