Page 29 of Thief of Night
Odette sighed. “You imagine yourself like actors, Vaseline on the lens, hiding your flaws. But you should want someone to kiss your scars. Someone who’ll catch your vomit in their hands. Who’ll love you just as much if you get so drunk you piss the bed—or if you need a fucking catheter and a piss bag. True love has to take stink along with sweetness.”
Charlie’s heart sped with nameless panic. “People aren’t like that.”
Odette gave her a puzzled look. Marni was watching them, not weighing in.
“Everything costs something,” Charlie clarified, searching for solid ground. She felt unreasonably panicked by Odette’s words.
Odette shrugged as though that were obvious, but not particularly meaningful. “You give and get.”
No,Charlie wanted to insist.People only love you if you make it worth their while. No one loves you once they see your weaknesses. No one loves your flaws. No one loves your ugly, broken parts. No one loves you and expects nothing more than your love in return.Instead she blurted, “Who goes first?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wondered if they made sense. Especially since they’d started this conversation talking about Don and Erin.
Odette didn’t look confused, though. “Ah,” she said. “Now that is the tricky part.”
13Rose
Once her shift was over, Charlie crossed the parking lot of Rapture. Her hand was in her pocket, touching the papers that Balthazar had given her. A map to the missing piece of Red, the part that might restore his memories and bring him back to her.
Vincent.BringVinceback to her. That’s what she meant.
She made a sharp noise of surprise as she realized Red was walking beside her, matching his stride to hers. Her hand flew to her chest. There had been too many surprises recently. Her nerves were shot.
“You told me that I didn’t need to disappear all the time,” he accused. Tension hunched his shoulders.
“Right,” she said. “Good.”
He nodded once and seemed to relax a little.
The van’s engine wheezed when she turned it on. Her own car had stalled out completely months before—and the cost to fix it had been more than the car was worth. That left her with Vince’s van—a vehicle he owned but had never registered or insured, considering he wasn’t a person with a Social Security number, or even a license. If the van broke down too, she wasn’t sure what she would do next.
“Tell me about Mark,” he prompted.
She shook her head, not ready for that conversation. “Let’s talk about the guy who drank out of the dog dish.”
He gave a small shrug. “Quincy Crowninshield.”
“Wait. Youknowhim?” She was pissed. Vince hadn’t told her that. He’d just told her about the watch.
“Crowninshield Construction owns half of Western Massachusetts,” Red said, oblivious to the deceptions of his past self. “One of Salt’s cronies—not someone who knew him well, but someone he spent time with at the local country club.”
“Gross,” she said.
He met her gaze. “Make serving him scotch out of a dog bowl more gratifying?”
She smiled. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Did you know Don fights with his girlfriend in the parking lot sometimes?”
Charlie blinked in surprise. “Whaaaaaat?”
Red gave her his familiar half-smile, reminding her of how much he’d always loved gossip. “And Balthazar meets Bellamy behind Rapture occasionally. It doesn’t seem entirely professional.”
She laughed as she pulled onto the highway, realizing how well he’d distracted her from Mark. It was a kind thing to do.
“I’m going to drive by the church,” she told him.
“You think there’s anything to see?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Probably not.” Charlie was operating on instinct. She would have cased the place if she was going to steal from it, so she figured it would be a familiar way to start an investigation.
