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For a moment, I thought of informing her but decided against it. She didn’t seem like she wanted opposition. We finally reached a giant brown door.
She pushed it open and entered. I followed. The smell of books was the first thing that hit my nostrils. The room was huge, filled with books arranged on shelves. At the center was a polished table and chair fit for a king.
It was Mr. Ethan’s study.
“How old are you?” Her voice echoed through the room as she dove between the shelves.
“Twenty-one.” I was glad that my voice came out smoothly.
She continued walking until she disappeared from sight. “You know you aren’t quite what I was expecting.” Her voice thinned out somewhere between the shelves. I contemplated following her, but her next words kept me rooted in my spot.
“You don’t seem much experienced and I wonder what good a twenty-one-year-old would do to Sophie.”
I swallowed.
“Sophie is my first granddaughter. Not to mention, she’s my only female granddaughter out of the three I have.” He had siblings? I was suddenly curious.
I heard her before I saw her. Trailing her eyes in between the shelves, she continued.
“Now I’m not underestimating you. I’ve heard of your records.” She stretched to check something between a book.
When she didn’t find it, she turned to me. “Honestly, I’ve missed my granddaughter. I miss who she was before she turned into… this.” Her voice held longing. Her eyes too.
Slowly she walked until she was right in front of me. “I just want you to promise me that you’d do everything in your power to bring my granddaughter back.”
Tears glistened in her eyes, and I restrained myself from doing the same. That’s what this was about. Making sure I did my best.
I held my breath. “I promise you, ma’am, you’ll have your granddaughter back.” Conviction laced my words. Frail hands wiped her eyes before she smiled. “Thank you.”
I nodded. It didn’t take long for awkward silence to settle between us. I mean, what else do I say to an eighty-year-old—
“Do me a favor. Find my ring.”
Uh?
“It’s silver and has a huge diamond on it. I may have left it the last time I was here. It’s why I’m here now. Finding it is one of the things that brought me here.”
“O- okay.”
I turned to the table to begin the search. One by one I raised a few papers. Each one revealed an empty table. Just when I turned to the other side of the table, I spotted something. Shit. The flash drive.
I quickly held it in my hands to be sure it was the same one from last night. It was. It was the same flash drive he needed for a deal today.
Instantly I found my phone in my pocket and dialed his number.
Ethan Thorne, leave a message.
Shit. Voice mail.
“What’s wrong, Evie?”
I could barely hear Mrs. Throne from the loud thrum of my heart. He’d seemed stressed working on it for the presentation just to forget it? Hadn’t he realized it was missing?
“I’m sorry I have to get this to Mr. Thorne immediately.”
“Then what are you waiting for,” she urged. “Go.”
I raced down the stairs and immediately met Virginia at the end.
