Wish You Were Here (15 page)

Freya lifted her coffee cup and mumbled into it,
“Probably because he didn’t want to tell you he’d turned down two million dollars.”

Ruby slapped her hand down on the table.
“Two million dollars?
You turned down two million dollars for this rat trap? Are you out of your mind?”

“
That’s debatable,” Freya said.

“
Yeah, it is.” Nate turned to Ruby and opened his mouth to speak but she held her hand up to stop him from talking.

“
Don’t tell me you turned it down to keep your word to your father. I just ate.”

Nate closed his mouth, a
nd Ruby put her hand to her throbbing head. How in the world Nate had come from Mick was beyond her comprehension. Two more different men had never existed; they only thing they had in common was being dumber than dirt.

Freya put her coffee cup down, her eyebrows knit again.
“This doesn’t make any sense.”

“
No kidding.” Ruby couldn’t help herself; she reached out and hit Nate on the arm.
“
Two million dollars
!”

Nate shrugged, and Freya shook her head.
“‘No, I mean, why in the world would his dad want him to find a plate?”

Ruby sat back. This was all so much worse than she
’d thought it would ever get. She looked at Nate.

“
You’re not giving up your restaurant.”

Nate’s expression was
firm. “I think this is what’s best for Piper. I can open a restaurant again later, but she’s only going to be a kid now. So, that’s it. Stop arguing with me. It’s done. I’ve already called and told them I’m taking the offer.”

“You
what?
”
Ruby’s stomach churned and she put her hand over it; there weren’t enough Tums in the world for this.

Nate sighed.
“I called them this morning. It’s done.”

“
No,” Ruby said. “Call them back.”

“
A plate with a purple rim,” Freya said, in her own world at the other end of the table. “That’s just weird. Did Nikkie say anything else about it?”

Nate ran a hand over his forehead. Ruby understood; she
’d have a migraine, too, if she’d just turned down two million freakin’ dollars.

“
It’s, um, gold at the edges,” he said, “and it’s got some kind of bird in the middle.”

“
An eagle,” Ruby muttered.

Nate turned to her.
“Look, I’ll keep my word to you, Ruby. I’ll get you the money to move out to Oregon. It’ll just be a little while, couple weeks. There will be lawyers and paperwork, I’ll probably have to take at least one trip out to Cincinnati —”

“
Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Ruby couldn’t take it anymore. To hell with just the right time. She needed to tell him about the plate
now.
She threw her napkin down on the table and stood up. “Follow me.”

Nate exchanged a glance with Freya and then looked back at Ruby.
“Why?”

Ruby rolled her eyes and stalked out.
“Just come on.” She stalked up the stairs, stopping by Piper’s door and sticking her head in. Piper sat on her floor, engrossed in whatever she was playing on her game console.

“
You stay in here,” Ruby said, and Piper said, “Yeah, later,” as if she hadn’t even heard.

Good kid.

Ruby shut the door, then glanced behind her at Nate and Freya, who were watching her, expectant confusion on both their faces. Ruby crossed the hall to her bedroom door and opened it, holding it open for them before stepping in and shutting it behind them. She stepped past Nate and Freya and shoved the rug aside, then removed the floorboard. Ruby knelt, reached into the empty space in the floor, and pulled out the tackle box.

“
I found it about two weeks after you and Piper got here.” Ruby kept her eyes on the box as she spoke; she couldn’t look at Nate. “I hid it because I didn’t want you to leave just yet. And then the longer I hid it, the more I didn’t want you to go, so I never said anything.” She held the box out to Nate and steeled herself to meet his eye. “And I apologize.”

She stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed.
Nothing to do now but wait.

Nate looked at her,
then looked at the box in his hands. “My father wanted me to find a big, purple ladies’ tackle box?”

Freya nudged him with her elbow and leaned her head over toward his shoulder, speaking in low tones.

“Maybe open it,” she said.

“
Oh. Right.” Nate flicked the catch on the box and flipped the top open. “Okay.”

Ruby kept her eyes on the floor.
“So, there you go, Nate. Now you can keep your word to your father, and go back to your life and your restaurant.” She heard the sound of the box shutting, and swallowed hard, then pushed up off the bed. “I’ll just start packing my things.”

“
Wait,” Nate said. “What the hell are you talking about, Ruby?”

Good God. She knew he
’d had a rough night and probably hadn’t slept much, but Nate was being pretty slow on the uptake this morning.

“
The
plate,”
she said, and as the words came out of her mouth, it hit her how light the box had seemed when she’d lifted it out of the floor. She snatched the box out of his hands and opened it, then—just to be sure—turned it upside down and shook it.

The plate was gone.

“Son of a whore,” she said.

Thirteen

Nate
sat on the couch, staring at the patterns in the wood floor under his feet. His mind was going off in a million directions.

Ruby had lied to him.

He’d been searching for a plate.

He
’d lost his restaurant.

He was stuck in Idaho.

Nikkie’d been telling the truth.

Someone had threatened Piper, and that someone was probably going to be back for that plate, whatever the hell it was.

Wherever
the hell it was.

And he was right back where he started—searching for an item he neither wanted nor understood. Only this time, instead of his career being at stake, it was Piper who was at risk.

“Son of a bitch,” he said, rubbing his eyes. There were footsteps on the stairway, but he didn’t remove his hands from his face until Freya had settled on the couch next to him.

“
How are you doing?” she asked.

“
Great.” He put one hand on her knee. “How are you? You feeling okay?”

“
I’m fine,” she said. “And quit it.”

“
What?”

She cut her eyes at him.
“Worrying about me.
I’m fine.”
She pushed up off the couch. “Now, come on.”

He stared at her.
“What?”

“
You haven’t slept in two days. You’re going to bed.”

He shook his head.
“Can’t. I have to think.”

She reached down and took his hand.
“Think in bed.”

He got up, too tired to fight her
will. “But Piper—”

“
Piper will be fine,” Freya said, leading him to the stairs. “Ruby and I will be here.”

“
Christ,” he muttered. “Ruby.” He guessed he should have expected surprises from Ruby—the woman had lived with his father for eight years—but still. He’d never expected her to lie like that.

But he couldn
’t think about that now. He couldn’t think about anything. He followed Freya up the stairs dutifully, letting his mind go blank. Freya opened the door to his bedroom and stepped aside for him to go through. He walked in, made it to the bed, and collapsed into it. Hell, it was good to lie down. He felt tugging on the bed behind him and turned to see Freya lifting the covers from the other side of the bed and settling them over him. He rolled onto his back and watched her.

“
You’re amazing,” he said.

She rolled her eyes at him.
“Well, that settles it. The exhaustion has officially made you delirious.”

“
Maybe,” he said. “Stay here with me.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He laughed.
“Not for sex. Just...” He stared at her, trying to put into words what he was feeling. He couldn’t explain it, he couldn’t rationalize it, and he couldn’t defend it. All he knew was that if she walked out that door, he felt sure that part of him would die. His need for her at that moment was beyond sex, beyond words. It just
was,
and he hoped to God she’d understand without his having to explain it, because he couldn’t.

She watched him, her brain working behind those blue eyes, and then she simply nodded and crawled into the bed next to him. She rested her head on his chest and he put his arm around her, the two of them fitting together so perfectly that he wondered how he
’d gone his whole life without realizing she was missing from it.

Of course that didn
’t make any sense, but he didn’t care. She was with him, and at that moment, that was all that mattered.

***

Freya raised her head from Nate’s chest and angled herself to look at his face. He was out cold. His arm had drifted from her waist and fallen dead to the mattress over an hour before. She’d known for a while that she needed to get up, start things moving, but the idea of pulling herself away from him required more energy than she had.

But still. It needed to be done.

Carefully, she slipped away from him and sneaked out of the bed. She put her hand on the doorknob and quietly turned it, but then hesitated, taking another moment to watch him sleep before she finally got up the strength to leave him there.

It wasn
’t until she was out in the hallway that it occurred to her how weird it was to
want
to watch a man sleep. What the hell was happening to her? Didn’t matter much, though. She could worry about that later. At the moment, there was work to be done. She crossed the hall to Ruby’s room and knocked lightly on the door.

“
Come in,” Ruby’s rough voice called out.

Freya stepped in. Ruby sat at the far edge of the bed. Her eyes were slightly reddened, but aside from that, there were no signs that the woman was experiencing any real emotion at all. Damn, but that lady was tough.

Freya liked her.

“
How is he?” Ruby asked.

“
Sleeping,” Freya said.

Ruby nodded. Freya leaned against the wall, tapped her nails against it a few times, and then sighed.

“Look,” she said. “Most women, a situation like this, they’d sit down and have a heart to heart and talk it all out well into the next day. There’d be chocolate and tea and possibly shopping.”

Ruby
’s eyes closed heavily, as if she was fighting off a headache. Freya took a step forward, bracing both hands on the edge of the bed as she leaned over until her eyes were level with Ruby’s.

“
You and I both know, we’re not most women, so let’s just skip that shit and fix this and maybe later we can get drunk on some good single malt. What do you say?”

Ruby opened her eyes and locked them with Freya
’s. Freya thought she saw the older woman’s mouth twitch up a bit in something that might have been a smile, but she couldn’t be sure.

“
What do you need?” Ruby asked.

“
A phone with long distance and a decent Internet connection,” she said.

Ruby pushed herself up off the bed.
“Let’s go.”

***

Malcolm sat outside on his lounge chair, enjoying the midday sun. Idaho in June was really quite lovely. He didn’t know why more people didn’t take advantage of it. The RV part of the campground was nearly empty. Apparently, his nephew had the same weak head for business that his brother had had. Of course, at the moment, that was working in Malcolm’s favor, but still.

It was a damn shame.

His cell phone rang. He waited two, three rings, then picked it up. “Yes?”

“
Malcolm, you stupid piece of shit, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“
Nikkie,” he said. “Always a pleasure to hear from you.”

“
What the hell are you thinking?” Nikkie said. “You almost killed the snow bunny.”

“
The snow bunny?” It took Malcolm a moment to figure out what she meant. “Oh, you mean Freya Daly. So, she survived, did she?” Malcolm had had a hell of a time deciding if Richard would move faster with his daughter dead or not, and had decided to leave it up to fate. “That’ll work.”

“
Jesus,” she breathed, and Malcolm heard the deep inhalation of a cigarette from the other end, followed by a shaky exhalation. “Nate almost died pulling her out of there. Do I seem like the kind of woman who does single mother to you?”

“
Are you taking me seriously now, Nikkie?” he asked, keeping his voice cool.

There was a pause.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“
It
means,
”
he said, his patience wearing thin, “where is my plate?”

“
I should smash it over your fucking head,” she grumbled.

“
So you have it?” he asked again.

“
Yes,” she said. “I have it.”

Malcolm smiled. Finally, things were looking up for him.
“Good girl. Now nothing untoward needs to happen to your daughter. Well done, Nikkie. I’ll meet you at the diner in an hour.”

“
I can’t,” she said. “I’m already back in L.A.”

Malcolm closed his eyes and counted to five before saying,
“What?” through clenched teeth.

“
What did you expect me to do?” she said. “You were burning the place down like some kind of maniac. I got on the next plane. The plate and me, we’re in L.A. If you want your stupid plate, you’re going to have to come out here and get it, because I sure as fuck am not coming back.”

“
Has anyone ever talked to you about your language?” Malcolm asked. “It seems quite the oversight that no one taught you how a lady should speak. That said, you’ve got twenty-four hours to get back here and give me my plate, or I’m gonna burn this whole fucking place down with your daughter in it, you fucking cunt.”

There was silence on the line, and then Nikkie said,
“I’ll be there by eleven tomorrow morning.
I’ll text you the location where I’ll be. And then, this is over.”

“
I’ll tell you when it’s—” Malcolm started, but there was a click in his ear.

He stared at the phone in his hand, impotent fury throbbing in his veins.

The bitch had hung up on him.

People really
needed to stop doing that.

***

Freya’s eyes grazed over the screen in front of her, making sure all her information was right. She thought it was. Now there was just one more thing to check.

“
Hey,” she called to Ruby, who was standing by the front window of the office, staring out. Freya didn’t blame her, the woman obviously had a lot to think about, but right now Freya needed her.

Ruby turned and walked over, and Freya angled the computer screen to face her.

“This the plate?” Freya asked.

Ruby leaned in a bit and squinted, then nodded.
“Yep. That’s it. What is it?”

Freya released a breath.
“It belonged to Abraham Lincoln.”

Ruby
’s eyebrows shot up. “No shit.”

“
No shit.” Freya tip-tapped into the computer. “Limoges china, created for the White House in 1861 from Haviland in France.” She shook her head. “Except here’s what I don’t get. It’s worth, on the outside, fifteen grand. And that’s if you go through traditional auction-house channels with full provenance. On the black market, you’re talking maybe five grand.” She swiveled in the chair to face Ruby. “Who’s gonna threaten to hurt a little girl for five grand?”

Ruby looked down at Freya.
“Well. There’s more.”

“
More?” Freya tapped her nails on the desk as she looked up at the older woman. “You’re kinda like a jack-in-the-box. I never know what’s gonna pop up. What else?”

“
The plate was wrapped in cellophane, and it had a note taped to it that said to take it to the Boise police.”

“
Boise?” Freya went stiff. “That’s... interesting.” She went quiet for a minute, thinking. “Mick’s handwriting?”

Ruby nodded.

“When did he write it?”

Ruby shrugged.
“Beats the hell out of me. It was torn from a yellow legal pad, but it was pretty dusty and faded. Could be ten years, could be thirty.”

Huh.
“Is there any reason you didn’t mention this before?”

Ruby met Freya
’s eyes solidly. “Because Nate’s been through enough over this whole thing. We can deal with all that when we find it.”

Frey
a swiveled back to the computer. “If we find it. For all we know, Nikkie might have gotten it and delivered it to whoever’s threatening Piper.”

“
Maybe, but I don’t think so,” Ruby said. “Things were crazy, but I don’t think Nikkie’s smart enough to sneak it out under my nose like that. She didn’t have time to get the plate after Nate ran out to pull you from that cabin, and if she had it before that, then she would have taken off without saying a word.”

“
Know Nikkie well, do you?” Freya asked.

“
Know the type well enough,” Ruby huffed.

There were a few moments of silence while Freya concentrated on her search, and then Ruby asked,
“Why are you still here?”

Freya stopped typing and looked up at Ruby.
“What?”

“
Well, you came out here to buy the place, right?”

Freya nodded.
“Right.”