Page 61 of Love Me Steadfast
“I’ll make you a deal. If the items I’m looking for turn out to be stolen, I’ll put in a good word for you with the police.”
He rolls his eyes. “How about you do a little shopping first? I got some nice purses. Shoes.” He glances at the ceiling. “Maybe you’d like a little home décor?”
“Or I could tip off the police that you’re buying stolen goods from drug dealers.”
He flashes his palms. “Whoa there. Don’t be stirrin’ up shit that don’t need to be stirred.”
I cross my arms and tuck my shaking fingers out of sight. “What’ll it be?”
The man’s purplish lips purse for a moment. “What were they?” he says on a sigh.
I pull out my phone and open it to the picture I’d saved. “A Martin D-28, and a Holstein Bench Strad violin.” Saying these words aloud—here, of all places—is like chewing glass.
The man frowns. “Violin? Nah. Don’t remember that. The guitar though…” He shifts to the corner of the glass case and wiggles the mouse attached to an ancient computer and grimy keyboard.
My breath feels too fast in my throat as he scrolls with the mouse,his beady eyes focused on his screen. “A Martin D-28,” he says slowly. “Nope.”
“What about a trumpet?”
He arches his eyebrow at me. “Sounds like a band breakup gone wrong.”
I keep my gaze firm and steady.
He sighs and returns to his computer. Scrolls a little more. Types something. “Nope.”
I’m torn. If the instruments came through here, then I have a chance at tracking them down and getting them back. Now there’s only one person I can turn to, but I don’t have any idea how to find him, and even if I did, confronting him alone would be unsafe. R.J. took advantage of my sister, ushering her right off the edge without so much as a second thought, and I’m sure he wouldn’t think twice about hurting me too. It makes me feel useless that I can’t help Zach bring this crook to justice.
Is this what William felt back then? Sometimes my rage is dormant, like a snake in hibernation. Other times it’s so hot and sharp I can’t breathe.
Because of my work, I keep business cards handy at all times, and dig one out of my purse. You never know when you might land the gig of your life. “If those items come in, I need you to call me.”
The man glances at the card I place on the glass. “Uh huh.”
“I’ll buy them all back at whatever price you deem fair, no questions asked.”
This gets one of his eyebrows twitching.
“Thanks for your time.” I turn for the door.
I wait until I’m in my car with the doors locked before I exhale my anxiety in one full gush of breath, folding over the steering wheel.
When I pull away from the curb, I call the Finn River Sheriff’s Department, then ask for Deputy Zach Hayes.
He answers in his cop voice.
“Zach, it’s Charlie.”
“Hey,” he replies. “Everything okay?”
There’s no quick answer to this, so I skip it. “I just left the Pinedale Pawn Shop. I’m trying to track down something that my sister may have sold or lost.”
“Ah.” In the background, a door clicks shut. “Didn’t find it?”
“No.”
“Is it pushing my luck to ask if you’ve questioned R.J. Feldman?”
“You think he’s connected to these items?”
