Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Ruby took a deep breath, looking away. When she exhaled, she seemed to have come to a decision, then her eyes found mine.
“I’ll level with you. Duke is my ex,” she said with a sigh. “My very, very ex. When we broke up, he tried to ruin my business. He enlisted a bunch of his friends to help him. They trolled me on every review site and blasted social media with bad press and outright lies.”
And I felt like even more of a dick. “So you thought I might be a friend of his here to set you up?” I asked, hating that she’d thought that for even a second.
She blushed, pursed her lips, then admitted, “It doesn’t hold up to logic, but my first reaction…” She shrugged and looked forlorn, and I just wanted to comfort her with my words, my arms, my lips.
Yet she could have a scumbag of an ex who treated her like shit, and she could still be in cahoots with Eli somehow. Schemes and heartbreak were not mutually exclusive.
“But here’s the thing,” Ruby went on in almost the same tone. “That picture isn’t anywhere public. It’s on my friends-only social profile. So it didn’t come from your sister.”
Oh, hell.
This was a disaster. I’d made a stupid, rookie mistake. This was what I got for getting involved romantically during a job. I’d botched a cover-up that should have been a slam dunk.
Ruby held up her hand to stop me from digging myself deeper. “But that also tells me who probably did send it. This was from a private tour I did for a friend of my mom’s. So I know exactly who you are.”
“You do?” I asked evenly. Didn’t need to give myself away.
“You’re the guy Andrew hired to find the money he thinks my stepdad stole.”
Damn, she was good.
“Your mango cake,” the waitress said, swanning over to our table and placing a plate of cake and ice cream between us.
We both stared at the dessert. Detente still? Unlikely.
When Ruby spoke her tone had shifted again, this time to curiosity. “Jake Hawkins, ’fess up. Are you the guy Eli’s business partner hired to find out what happened to the money? Because if you are, you and I want the same thing. The truth,” she said, passionately, her eyes flickering with both vulnerability and intensity at the same time. This mattered to her deeply, the mission she was on. “I know something bad happened, and it somehow involved Eli, and I’m pretty sure it also involves—”
We both spoke at the same time. “Diamonds.”
14
DIY DETECTIVE
Ruby
I’d knocked Jake for a loop. He’d been showing me his poker face since I’d called him on the website photo bluff. But now he was appraising me and the situation, putting puzzle pieces together, deciding what went where.
“Are you working for Andrew?” he asked, his eyes narrowed, a procedural tone in his voice.
I shook my head. “I’m not working for anyone. I have my own reasons for trying to figure out what’s going on. But my mom told me Andrew hired someone, and that seems to be you. Right?”
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he asked, “You decided to go the DIY detective route?”
“You mean when I detected that the picture of me wasn’t from my site but instead from social media? C’mon. That wasn’t world-class Sherlocking right there. That was common sense.”
He huffed, in obvious irritation, then his mouth tightened. I felt a glow of satisfaction. Pride, even. In a mere day, I’d tracked down useful intel and started putting clues together. Yeah, I could do this. I had brains and drive. Take that, Jake Hawkins.
“Do you even have a tour scheduled? Or was that just a cover?” he asked. Damn, he was persistent. But I couldn’t just write him off. I needed intel from him too.
“I do have a tour. I came down here a few days early to…do some of my own research,” I said, keeping my detective work vague enough. “I want to find out what happened to the money. To help my mother. But let’s rewind.” I didn’t need to focus on my amateur credentials or lack thereof. I was much more interested in our serendipitous conclusion on the jewels. “Why did you just say diamonds?”
“Because I saw one on Eli’s fiancée, and I have some evidence leading to the diamond business here on the island.” He paused a beat, then asked, “What made you say diamonds?”
The big, shiny rock in my hotel room safe.
This morning I’d tangoed with the idea that my stepdad had given me a gift bought with stolen money, but now it seemed highly plausible.
And more poisonous.
I didn’t plan to tell Jake I had ice in my hotel room. He’d given me more reason to distrust him than to trust him. But maybe I could use the diamond to get more intel.