Page 28 of A Real Good Bad Thing

Ruby held up her hand to stop me from digging myself deeper. “But that also tells me who probably did send it. This was from a private tour I did for a friend of my mom’s. So I know exactly who you are.”

“You do?” I asked evenly. Didn’t need to give myself away.

“You’re the guy Andrew hired to find the money he thinks my stepdad stole.”

Damn, she was good.

“Your mango cake,” the waitress said, swanning over to our table and placing a plate of cake and ice cream between us.

We both stared at the dessert. Detente still? Unlikely.

When Ruby spoke her tone had shifted again, this time to curiosity. “Jake Hawkins, ’fess up. Are you the guy Eli’s business partner hired to find out what happened to the money? Because if you are, you and I want the same thing. The truth,” she said, passionately, her eyes flickering with both vulnerability and intensity at the same time. This mattered to her deeply, the mission she was on. “I know something bad happened, and it somehow involved Eli, and I’m pretty sure it also involves—”

We both spoke at the same time. “Diamonds.”

14

DIY DETECTIVE

Ruby

I’d knocked Jake for a loop. He’d been showing me his poker face since I’d called him on the website photo bluff. But now he was appraising me and the situation, putting puzzle pieces together, deciding what went where.

“Are you working for Andrew?” he asked, his eyes narrowed, a procedural tone in his voice.

I shook my head. “I’m not working for anyone. I have my own reasons for trying to figure out what’s going on. But my mom told me Andrew hired someone, and that seems to be you. Right?”

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he asked, “You decided to go the DIY detective route?”

“You mean when I detected that the picture of me wasn’t from my site but instead from social media? C’mon. That wasn’t world-class Sherlocking right there. That was common sense.”

He huffed, in obvious irritation, then his mouth tightened. I felt a glow of satisfaction. Pride, even. In a mere day, I’d tracked down useful intel and started putting clues together. Yeah, I could do this. I had brains and drive. Take that, Jake Hawkins.

“Do you even have a tour scheduled? Or was that just a cover?” he asked. Damn, he was persistent. But I couldn’t just write him off. I needed intel from him too.

“I do have a tour. I came down here a few days early to…do some of my own research,” I said, keeping my detective work vague enough. “I want to find out what happened to the money. To help my mother. But let’s rewind.” I didn’t need to focus on my amateur credentials or lack thereof. I was much more interested in our serendipitous conclusion on the jewels. “Why did you just say diamonds?”

“Because I saw one on Eli’s fiancée, and I have some evidence leading to the diamond business here on the island.” He paused a beat, then asked, “What madeyousay diamonds?”

The big, shiny rock in my hotel room safe.

This morning I’d tangoed with the idea that my stepdad had given me a gift bought with stolen money, but now it seemed highly plausible.

And more poisonous.

I didn’t plan to tell Jake I had ice in my hotel room. He’d given me more reason to distrust him than to trust him. But maybe I could use the diamond to get more intel.

“Eli loves jewels…and he gave me a diamond this morning. Maybe it was purchased legitimately.”

“Maybe not,” he remarked dryly, the conviction in his eyes showing he found my stepfather guilty.

“Do you have evidence?” I asked. “About the missing money, I mean. Not specifically the diamonds.”

“I do.”

But what I also wanted to know was this—was last night a ruse? Did he seduce me to butter me up? I leaned in closer, kept my voice low. “But you see how this looks, right? Like you’re trying to get close to me because you think I know something. Is that why you found me at The Pink Pelican last night?”

“If you remember,” he said, tapping his chest smugly, “I was at The Pink Pelican already.Youwalked in.”

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