“The ones who do the squeaky clean jobs?”
“The perfectly legal ones, yes.” He took another drink, a long one. “Your mother has recently been involved with them.”
“If they’re into legality, why would they hook up with her? Don’t they know who she is?” How she is?
“I don’t think they had a lot of choice in the matter.”
Mom had sacrificed our familial relationship, and now she’d ditched our business one, too. She couldn’t cut us out any more clearly if she’d used an X-Acto knife.
“And as far as Poe is concerned, I believe your mother persuaded him to help her instead of us.”
The hits just kept coming.
“He wouldn’t betray me like that.” He couldn’t have. He was my only friend.
“I hope not, Hallie, but I’m not sure what to expect from anyone anymore, and until I know exactly what your mother is up to, I’m going to hire extra security.”
“Come on, Dad,” I whined in protest. “What are you going to do, put a guard on every inside door?”
“Just yours.”
I put my face in my hands to stifle the sound of my groan. “You can’t—”
“I can. I’m making my final decision this afternoon.” He set his jaw. “Whoever I choose will start tomorrow. Prepare yourself.”
My phone rang just as I reached the top of the stairs.
I didn’t want to answer, but I always did. I stopped in front of the window seat in the upper hallway that looked out over the street. “Hello, Mother.”
“Good morning, Hallie.”
“It’s already afternoon.” I wondered if she was in a different time zone. I strained to listen for background noises on her end of the line.
“Why must you always split hairs?”
“What do you want?” I dropped down onto the red velvet cushion and watched a dragonfly repeatedly crash into the window. I figured they’d all have taken to the swamps with the recent cold snap.
“You’ve usually hung up by this point in our conversations. What’s stopping you today?”
Poe. The fact that my mother always had me on a hook. The endless pull between wanting her approval and wishing she didn’t exist at all. It tore at me constantly, leaving my insides busted up and oozing. “I know you want something. Might as well find out what it is now.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Please.”
She sighed. “There’s something you and Poe retrieved for your father. I need to know its location.”
“Oh. That’s why I rank a phone call.”
“You rank a phone call because you’re my daughter.”
“Don’t.” I knew it was wrong to roll around in all my upper handedness, but damned if it didn’t feel good. “You know my involvement ends after the jobs are done. I’m not privy to the location of things, and I seriously doubt Dad would leave whatever you’re looking for lying around for some idiot to come across.”
ned away from the mirror and stepped into the shower.
When I got out, I had a new text. Dad, requesting an audience.
I avoided looking at the bench as I crossed the courtyard. No little girl, but the lullaby still hung in the air, floating on the cold autumn wind.