Page 12 of Entwined With You

“Keep going.”

“So you were supposed to pull up closer when you got a signal. And then Jorge would drop Darrin at the van with one of the sisters. That way the gems would be split up in case someone was caught. You were at the museum, positioned to get a signal when the inside guys were coming out. You’d signal to Brina, and that’s when she’d bring the van closer and you’d get inside and wait for Darrin.”

“She told you a lot.”

His voice is tight, like he can’t believe that his Sabrina would do something like that. Share those kind of secrets. Well, maybe he’s right. But I still know what I know.

I offer him a tiny little smile. “You had your secrets. She had hers.”

“She put us at risk talking to you.”

I have to force myself not to leap to my feet. “She put you at risk? You son-of-a-bitch.”

“I didn’t kill her.” There’s ice in his voice, but I don’t care. I want the truth. Maybe I won’t get it out of him tonight, but I will get it.

Still…

I take three deep breaths, forcing myself to back off. I can’t burn bridges because this man is literally my bridge to the past. I may not trust him, but I still need him. “Look,” I say, keeping my voice soft and reasonable. “She told me everything. About the heist. About you. About her life on the street. It was like we were the same person, you know? That’s how we were our entire life. So there was no way I would tell a soul.”

I can tell he wants to argue, but then he makes a swiping motion with his hand. “Fine. Go on.”

“That was pretty much it. The two teams would meet up, get the stones to a pre-arranged buyer that Tim had set up, and that was that.” I grin. “How did I do?”

“A-plus,” he says. “Tell me the rest.”

“You tell me about the text.”

“Tell me more about what my role was—not security. The part where you said I was waiting. Tell me all of that, and you can probably take a guess about the text.”

I want to argue, but I want answers more. So I press on. “Sabrina was driving. You were her—what do you call it? Her wingman. And while Darrin and Tim were inside, you were supposed to just be a bystander in the alley by the service entrance, somewhere between that door and the getaway car. You wore a headset, and they signaled when they were coming out. Beeps or something.”

“Why couldn’t they just signal me and Brina in the van?”

“Because of the low-range frequency they had to use inside the museum. Using a higher range would have corrupted the hacks you and Brina had done to the in-place security.”

He nods, looking both annoyed that I know so much, and impressed by how well I understand.

“That’s why they needed an intermediary. They couldn’t signal Jorge or Brina directly. So once you signaled, you’d walk back toward the van. It was, what? About two blocks away? And you could see it, right?”

He nods. “Not consistently. Sometimes traffic blocked it. But we timed it out. I could get to the van in less than the time it took for Jorge to circle around to it.”

“That’s all I know,” I tell him. “Except that you didn’t walk back. And you never got into the van. And now you’re alive. You may say you didn’t play a part in blowing the woman you supposedly loved to bits, but I don’t believe you. So if you want a chance to convince me, now’s the time. Tell me about this text that’s somehow the reason Sabrina’s dead.”

“I never wanted to leave her alone. I protested that point in all of our planning sessions. But the other guys—and there were only guys—insisted. And like you said, because of the short-range communications, we needed someone to relay the ready message.”

“Keep going.”

“We timed it,” he said. “Ninety-seven seconds. But on that day I got a text from her.”

A chill races up my spine. “From Sabrina. You got a text from Sabrina?”

“Telling me to hold off. To wait until she signaled again.”

It’s everything I can do not to leap the short length of the sofa and claw his face off.

“Sabrina texted you.”

His throat moves as he swallows. “I thought so at the time. Now, though…”