“Most people who aren’t decent wouldn’t admit that.”
“You’ve had a lot of experience with people who aren’t good,” he said matter-of-factly. It wasn’t a question, but she replied anyway.
“Yes.”
“So have I. Tell me why you stole this envelope.”
Should she tell him? Well, at this point what did she have to lose? She shrugged. “Carl said there was money in the safe at Reaper’s. He set it all up, he just needed my help.”
“That’s it? All there is to it?”
“What more would there be?” Nothing more than she was going to tell him anyway.
“Seems a stupid idea, stealing money and blackmail material that belonged to the head of a criminal organization.”
Well, yes, that sounded mighty stupid, didn’t it? But it wasn’t like Carl had clued her into what exactly was in that envelope.
But that wasn’t an excuse. Yeah, she was scared of Carl. And yes, he’d made her promises. But she’d had choices. She could have said no and risked his wrath. But it seemed she’d only been putting off the inevitable anyway, because look at her right now.
It didn’t matter her reasons, or the pressure she’d been under. She’d helped Carl steal from the Iron Shadows.
From Fergus Bartolli.
Dead. Woman. Walking.
“Why’d you do it?” Zander asked.
She shrugged. She didn’t intend to tell this stranger anything about her life. He’d already admitted that he wasn’t a decent person. Not that Keira would know what to do with a decent person.
She’d met very few of them.
“Why did you call Eden again? Were you hoping to get more money from her?”
“E-Eden?” Did he know Eden? Why was he talking about her? How did he know her?
“Yeah. Eden Jensen. The woman you contacted several months ago, and she gave you some money. Then you rang her again, wanting to meet up at the Suck ‘n Blow, only you never turned up and she got attacked in the parking lot by two assholes.”
He rattled everything off so matter-of-factly, as though he wasn’t completely destroying her world.
“A-attacked?” She couldn’t breathe. The room started to spin.
“You seem very upset by that,” he pondered.
What the fuck? Who was this guy? Didn’t he have normal feelings?
“Upset? Why wouldn’t I be upset by that? Attacked? She was attacked because I . . .”
“Didn’t meet her that night, yes. It could have been much worse if those men weren’t interrupted. Do you feel guilty about that?”
“Of course I do!” she snapped. “I’m not a monster. Eden is my friend.”
“Really? Then why didn’t you turn up that night? Why have her meet you in such a dangerous place?”
“I . . . I . . .”
She needed to be careful. He was trying to goad her into revealing more than she was prepared to. “Something came up. I called her the next day.”
And Eden hadn’t said anything about being attacked. But that was Eden. She kept things close to her chest as well. In some ways, they were alike. They both had wounds they protected savagely. Yet Eden had a family, two brothers who protected her fiercely.