“Violating parole is going to get you into serious trouble, O’Malley,” Leo said to a now-handcuffed Mick. Not surprisingly, Gina had supplied the cuffs from inside her jacket. “But possession of a firearm will get you thrown back into the slammer for good. We’re willing to make a deal. You leave the island with us, promise to never come back, and forget everything you ever knew about Jimmy Novak or Dmitri Krushnic, and my partner and I will escort you safely back to Florida just in time to meet your parole officer, end of story.”
“I’m supposed to believe that? Why would you let me go free? What’s to stop me from getting another gun and coming back here for my share of the take?”
“There won’t be anything left of the take,” Dmitri answered. “I’m turning over everything I have left to these two so they can return it to the Wellington family. I’m about to become a law-abiding citizen.”
The matter of Mick having pointed a gun at all of us, especially at me, seemed to be of secondary concern to everyone. “How about we arrest him here?” I said. “That seems like a better idea to me.”
Dmitri’s face fell. “I know it’s a lot to ask, Brooke, but I’d still like to keep Harlan and the law out of this.”
That seemed like a bad idea. This guy was more than a menace—he was a dangerous menace—but after all was said and done, I had the chance to keep Dmitri’s past in the past. Not sure I owed him that, considering the fact that he’d lied to me and everyone I cared about for the past thirty-some years. But then again, I couldn’t ignore the reality of what Dmitri, the Dmitri I knew, meant to me. “I guess,” I said with a sigh.
Gina motioned me to the side a few minutes later. “Don’t sweat it,” she murmured in my ear. “We’re going to deliver Mick straight to the cops as soon as we hit the mainland. The only jewels in Mick’s future will be the ones shaken in his face during shower time for cell block eleven. We just want to keep him quiet and compliant for as long as possible.”
That was a mild relief, although the “quiet and compliant” part hinted at what Leo had done to me, and a fresh wave of hurt and dismay washed over my skin. How could I have been fooled again? Did I have gullible tattooed on my forehead? Technically Leo had saved my life today, what with him flinging himself into harm’s way to knock down the man with the pistol, but Leo was also the reason I’d been in that predicament to begin with. My emotions were in chaos. This was going to require some serious self-reflection about my life choices. And a lot of vodka.
“Is this everything?” Leo asked a few minutes later, surveying the kitchen table now laden with the most beautiful pieces of jewelry I’d ever seen in my life. There were diamond-encrusted necklaces, chunky emerald bracelets, teardrop ruby earrings. I hadn’t seen so much sparkle in one place since I’d watched the Oscars on television last year.
“That’s everything,” Dmitri said, looking more sad than remorseful. “After Brooke was here the other day, I moved everything from the bee houses and cleaned it up. My plan was to move it all to a safety deposit box in Manitou, but I guess that won’t be happening.”
I couldn’t resist picking up one of the more garish necklaces and holding it up to my throat in front of the mirror on Dmitri’s wall. I caught Leo in the reflection standing behind me.
“That looks really pretty on you. Sorry I can’t let you keep it.”
I pulled the necklace away and turned around. “Yeah, well, given all the other stuff you should be sorry about, that’s pretty low on the list.”
He took a step closer and lowered his voice so only I could hear. “Brooke, I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am about all of this. I wish I could go back to the beginning and have it happen some other way, but . . .” His voice trailed off as if he was waiting for me to jump in and say it was okay. That I understood. Sure, I understood. I understood that he’d started a relationship with me under utterly false pretenses. So even if the feelings we’d shared had been real, the foundation of everything was false. The bad canceled out all the good, and the fragile trust I’d offered him was irrevocably broken.
“How can I make this up to you?” he asked.
“You can’t.”
“I’m going to try anyway. I have to get these items back to Mrs. Wellington, but when all this is over, I hope you’ll forgive me, and maybe we can start again?”
Had he conked his head when he’d jumped on Mick? Did he have a concussion? Because he wasn’t making any sense.
“When all of this is over, Leo? It is over, and so are we. We are so very over. Go ahead and take all this gorgeous crap back to where it belongs, get your paycheck, and then don’t come back here. I don’t want to see you again.”
“You don’t mean that.” His refusal to take me seriously just added to my anger.
“Oh, I do mean that, and it’s the most polite version of my feelings that you’re going to get, so unless you want to hear me start swearing and calling you every vile name I can think of, you will back the fuck up and leave me alone.”
Leo may have been keeping his voice down, but I had not, and the others turned to stare. Mick snickered, earning him a cuff on the head from Gina.
“Ow,” he cried out melodramatically. “That’s police brutality.”
“I’m not the police, you moron,” she said, draping a coat over Mick’s handcuffed hands. “And remember, keep your mouth shut from the moment we leave this house until the moment we deliver you back to your parole officer, or we will turn you in for having a weapon and possession of stolen goods.”
“I don’t have any stolen goods.”
Gina picked up a bracelet laden with garnets and diamonds and dropped it into the front pocket of Mick’s shirt. “Possession,” she said.
She and Leo left soon after with a backpack full of very expensive jewelry, and each with an arm looped around one of Mick’s elbows. Leo cast one last glance my way.
“I’ll call you, Brooke,” he said.
“Don’t bother. I won’t answer.” And I meant it.
Dmitri sighed beside me as the door shut behind them. “Don’t be too hard on the kid. He was just doing his job.”
I walked into the kitchen and pulled the cork from a bottle of red wine. “He lied to me, Dmitri. About some pretty important stuff.”
“Yes, he did,” he said, joining me in the kitchen and pulling two glasses from the cupboard. “But for what it’s worth, I think he really cares about you. Don’t underestimate the value of that. I left behind a woman I loved and have regretted it every single day since. Don’t make that same mistake.”
“Our situations are totally different, Dmitri. You avoided Alice because you wanted to protect her. Leo did the complete opposite. He didn’t think at all about how any of this was going to affect me.” I filled the glasses with wine and took a gulp. This was not an occasion for sipping.
“I suppose, but there’s no way he could have anticipated any of this. And I want you to know how sorry I am for my part in it. I let you down, Brooke. You deserved better.”
I did deserve better, but somehow that didn’t make me feel any better. Leo was gone, and I knew what lay ahead. Weeks of heartache while my brain and my heart went to war with each other. I took another slug of wine and shoved those thoughts away. This wasn’t the time to indulge in tears. I’d save that for later.
“I expect a lifetime supply of free honey,” I said instead.
Dmitri lifted his glass to toast. “Done. Here’s to a lifetime supply of free honey for you and a life free of crime for me.”
We drank, and suddenly an expression of realization crossed his face. “Oh my goodness, Brooke. Do you know what this means?”
“What?”
“I don’t have to wear that stupid beekeeping hat anymore. No one is looking for me.” His bright smile exposed that gap between his teeth. “And do you know what else this means?”
“What?”
“It means I can take a little vacation down in Florida. I’d like to figure out a way to meet my daughter.”