Page 70 of Cashmere Cruelty

“The coin?” Grisha blinks.

“Yes,” I reply, impatient. “The coin.”

Yuri quickly flips through his notebook. “It was a common quarter. Nothing special, no prints. Likely belonged to one of our men.”

“Where was it found?”

Yuri doesn’t seem to understand my line of questioning, but he answers promptly anyway. “About halfway between the two cell doors.”

“There’s a game our men play when they’re bored,” Grisha adds. “Sometimes, if they’re standing guard on opposite doors, they’ll toss a coin back and forth between them to pass the time.” Like a stage magician, he produces a quarter from his pocket to demonstrate, throwing it at Yuri and nearly hitting him in the eye. My brother catches it at the last second, fuming.

“Mymen don’t waste time on stupid games like these,” Yuri hisses at Grisha.

“Have you ever seen an employee play around while the manager’s clocked in?” Grisha replies evenly. “They wouldn’t do it in front of you, Yurochka. Especially not with that feisty little temper of yours.”

“Listen, you fu?—”

I tune out their argument. Instead, I walk to the center of the warehouse. With slow, deliberate steps, I look around me.

Twenty feet to the front door. Twenty more to the back door. No nooks to hide in at the corners, no holes in the walls to shoot through. Only?—

“You two. Come here.”

Silence returns.

Trading suspicious looks, Yuri and Grisha make their way over to me. “Did you find anything?” Yuri asks.

Find? No.

Find out, though?“Yuri, give me the coin.”

Yuri blinks, but does as he’s told. He tosses it lightly and I catch it midair, feeling the cold metal between my fingers. “Go stand at the doors.”

Still exchanging glances, the two obey.

Grisha settles in front of Room A. Yuri takes Room B. “What now?”

“Now,” I say, feeling a grin tug at the corners of my lips, “pretend you can’t see me.”

I toss the coin.

While it spins in the air, I take a few steps back. Yuri and Grisha stare at the coin until it lands, theclinkof metal against concrete ringing out in the empty warehouse.

Nothing happens.

I run a hand through my hair, sighing. “You’re still seeing me,” I chide. “Don’tsee me. Yuri, pass me the coin again.”

Yuri walks to the center, picks it up, and tosses it back at me.

I take back my spot between them. “You’re the guards. You’re alone. You’re facing the door.”

The two turn around, their backs to me, and I place the coin on my thumb.

Three, two, one…

The coin flies. I retreat.

Clink.

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