Becoming Rain (Burying Water 2)

A good, solid clean living, running this place and flipping cars, just like Rain suggested.

I eye my burner phone sitting next to my personal phone. Quiet and unassuming. I haven’t gotten used to it. Do I really want to spend the rest of my life carrying one of those around? Wondering who’s listening on the other end?

Do I really want to sit at a bar with my girlfriend and my uncle and worry about an angry Russian showing up to yell and spit at us?

I lay in Rain’s bed last night for hours, listening to her breathe against my chest, thinking about everything. Wondering if, when she actually finds out what I’ve been doing with Rust, she’ll change her mind and leave me.

Stupid, really. If I should be worried about anything, it’s jail time, not losing my girlfriend. Yet Rain, and what she’ll think of me, is the one constant worry that keeps popping into my head. Lately, it’s even louder than my worry about disappointing Rust if I tell him that I think I want out.

What will he say?

Chapter 46

CLARA

“Did they give you any trouble?” Elmira closes in for a double air kiss on either side of my face.

“Not at all.” Aside from the registration lady’s once-over of my jeans and black boots. By the time I made it through the security gate, a valet, and a front desk, I knew this was the most exclusive of exclusive clubs.

“Good. We pay enough in membership fees that they shouldn’t.” She offers me her trademark smile—small, slightly standoffish—before gliding down a long hall with signs pointing toward the swimming pool. Other signs point toward the squash and tennis courts, a curling rink, and a golf store. Double-glazed doors with iron inserts hide a spa. I’m guessing the soothing smell of essential oils in the air is coming from there.

“Thanks for meeting me today.” Honestly, when I called Elmira this morning, I expected to get her voice mail, but she answered. I held my breath when I suggested lunch and I deflated with disappointment when she declined, saying her day was full. Then she suggested I meet her here, as she was on her way for her morning swim.

“Of course. You sounded like you wanted to talk.” She leads me into the spacious change room. “These are all visitor lockers.” She points to a row of cream-colored metal. “It’s quite secure, so you’re fine to leave your purse, your jewelry . . .” Dark, youthful eyes—free of all traces of makeup except some mascara—flicker to my chest, where my dragonfly pendant normally hangs. “I’ll meet you out there in five?” She doesn’t even wait before she disappears around the corner.

My wariness grows. She makes me uncomfortable. If it weren’t for this case, and for Luke, I’d go out of my way to avoid her.

But she may know something that can help me, I remind myself, as I peel off my clothes, slide on the bathing suit that I stopped and bought on the way here, and head out to the pool. Elmira’s already there, her shiny black hair tucked into a cap, making her look more like a little girl than ever before. We’re the only two in the pool area. I do a quick scan of my surroundings, as I always do. No lifeguard, no cameras. No other swimmers.

That’s a little surprising, given the people milling about the rest of the clubhouse. But this isn’t a bathhouse with hidden, steamy alcoves, I remind myself. This is safe, neutral country club territory.

Still, the hairs on the back of my neck rise. If not for the wall of windows opposite me, overlooking the green, I’d be more than a little concerned.

Elmira dives off the edge with the sleek movements of a well-trained athlete and swims the length of the pool before pausing, her eyes trailing over my one-piece. “It’s warm enough.”

Okay.

Inhaling a lung’s worth of chlorine-scented air, I dive off the side and into the deep end, reveling in the feel of the tepid water. When I emerge, I find Elmira waiting for me, treading water in the center of the expansive pool. “So, how have you and Luke been, Rain?”

It could be my paranoia, but the way she says my name . . . “Uh . . . we’re good. Great, actually.” What is it exactly about this woman that puts me on edge like this?

“Yes, Aref says that you and Luke are growing much closer.” She adds, almost as an afterthought, “Luke told him, at dinner the other night.”

I highly doubt that Aref and Luke were talking about our relationship, but I play along. “At Corleone’s?”

“Yes. That’s right.” She says nothing else, waiting. She’s fishing. She wants to know what I know, what Luke has told me. Maybe she’s here at her husband’s bidding. The deal’s in motion and he wants to know who can identify him, should things go sideways.

I’m not giving her anything. “I’m glad Luke feels that way.”

“Did he tell you that he and Aref struck a deal recently?” She mentions it so casually, as if we were drinking cappuccinos at a café patio and talking about our husbands’ legitimate jobs.

I was counting on her knowing. The question is, what can I get out of her? “He mentioned it, yeah. I didn’t get many details, though. Luke’s still pretty tight-lipped.”

A small, amused smirk touches her lips. “I took you for a woman who would do whatever she needs to get what she wants.”

It’s an art, speaking as Elmira does. The average person would miss it. Or, if they were already paranoid, they’d stumble and stutter over their words, giving her the answers she’s looking for without uttering a word.