Page 102 of Blue Moon

Hope flashed in Elene’s eyes, but Ana quickly dashed it when she held up a phone.

“This is a burner. No contacts other than Tripp, no photos, no call history. If you had a twin sister, there would be some trace of her.”

Silence.

“If you think you’re getting out of here scot-free, you’re wrong.”

As designated good cop, Ryder stepped forward. “We don’t want to detain you for longer than necessary, but our client needs the money back.” On cue, Khatia removed Hill from the room, and Ryder moved to Ana’s shoulder. “You didn’t honestly expect to get away with taking ten million dollars?”

“I don’t have any more comments.”

Ana shrugged. “Fair enough. We have your fingerprints now, so we’ll start there. Nobody goes from zero to grand larceny in the space of a month. Do you have a record?”

Elene tried to hide the flinch, but she didn’t do a great job of it.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’ Which means we’ll have your identity by morning, and then we’ll start pulling your life apart. Do you have loved ones? I’m sure they’ll be disappointed in you.”

“No!”

“You’re not in a position to be making demands.”

She turned pleading eyes on Ryder. “This woman is crazy. Why are you letting her do this?”

“She’s the boss. All you have to do is return the money, and then we can get on with our lives.”

“You lied to me.”

“And you lied to Ron, so I guess we’ll call it even.”

“He lied too! He said he was six feet tall and weighed a hundred and fifty pounds. There’s no way he’s forty years old either. I should have known you were too good to be true when you looked like your picture.”

“Ditto. And there’s a difference between adding a couple of inches to your height and stealing somebody’s life savings.”

“That wasn’t his life savings. He said he earned millions every year from property rentals.”

This was news, or was Elene lying? Ryder heard a grunt through his earpiece, and then Hill choked out, “Okay, okay, I told her that.”

“He lied about the property rentals. He also left out the part where he stole the money from someone else before you stole it from him.”

Another jolt of shock. “It wasn’t his money?”

“No.”

Elene opened her mouth, thought the better of trying to justify her actions, and closed it again. Ana gave her leg a sharp kick.

“Give the money back, and we’ll release you.”

“I can’t.”

“Did you know the human body can survive for three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food? Which one do you want to test first?”

Ah, fuck. That didn’t sound good.

“I-I-I don’t have the money anymore.”

What? This wasn’t over?

“You stole ten million bucks, and you didn’t keep it?”

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