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“No,” I repeated.
He threw the folder at my feet. “She didn’t show this morning for her prelim. You can pay the one-ninety-five at the office tomorrow. If you don’t, we file a Notice of Default on this house at the end of the day. Additional fees accumulate daily per the bail agreement. It’s all in there. Any questions?”
I shook my head. Where was Lara, and how the hell could I keep from losing Casa di Rossi now?
He held his hand out toward Constance. “We’re done.”
In a few moves, she had the gun unloaded and handed to him in pieces.
“You really know how to use that?” Billy asked.
She shrugged. “At the range every week.”
He looked my direction again. “There’s a reward if you help me find her.”
“No idea where she is,” I said truthfully.
He opened the door. “Keep it in mind if you hear from her.”
The door closed behind him.
“I assume that’s not one hundred and ninety-five dollars,” Constance said after securing the deadbolt.
I picked up the dreaded file. “Thousand.”
“Bad day all around,” she said.
“You could say that.” I grabbed the wine bottle and poured myself another glass. The day had become a twenty on the ten-point shitty scale.
We both sat back on the couch.
I pulled my knees up to my chest, freezing cold suddenly at the prospect of losing the property. It was all that remained of my grandfather’s legacy.
Constance looked over. “I’ll bet your step-uncle’s house was that bail guy’s first stop.”
The implication was clear. Ernst wanted the rewardandmy home.
Asswipe.
Chapter 43
Nicole
Friday morning,I looked at my coffeemaker and decided I deserved better. I texted Sandy.
ME: Starbucks????
SANDY: Sure see ya in 30
I passed by the flowers that had arrived from Josh just after Bad Boy Billy had left—yet another trip for Constance to the front door. They were lovely, but wasted on me.
Constance hadn’t allowed me to throw them out. She’d said it would be mean, and that’s all it took. Mean was something I wouldn’t be.
“I’m walking to Starbucks to meet a friend. Want anything?” I called to her.
“We’re going together,” she said, walking into the kitchen.
“You don’t have to follow me everywhere,” I complained.
