“She wouldn’t want it that way, Noah,” Klimes said. “We both know it. She would not want you to take the fall on this.”
I took a step closer to Klimes. “Do not tell me what she would’ve wanted. Ever.”
“We’re your friends, Noah,” Klimes said. “We’re all on the same side. Let’s make sure it stays that way.”
He turned to leave, and Zanella quickly followed him out. Wellton lingered in the living room, staring at his shoes.
“Your ride’s leaving,” I said.
Wellton turned and watched Klimes and Zanella disappear off the patio. Then he looked at me.
“You find him, you call me,” he said, his voice rough and low. “Any time, any place. Call me. Not them.”
He walked out into the rain.
FIFTY-EIGHT
A knock on the door the next morning startled me out of bed. I grabbed my gun for no other reason than I was hoping it was Landon Keene. I looked through the peephole and saw Miranda.
I opened the door, and she looked at the gun.
“Easy, Homeland Security,” she said.
“What do you want?”
“My stuff. I left some of it here.”
I stepped aside and let her in, closing the door behind her.
“I’m going home to San Francisco,” she said, sitting down on the arm of the sofa.
“Oh. I think your backpack is in the bedroom.”
“Great. I have to get back to school. And there’s nothing for me to do here anyway,” she said, disgust in her voice. “Not like anyone’s gonna do anything for Darcy now.”
I leaned against the door.
She folded her arms across her chest. “Look, I know your girlfriend is dead. I’m sorry. I really am. But my friend is dead, too. I didn’t know your girlfriend, but I did know Darcy. It bothers me that what happened to her is going to take a backseat now.”
I understood what Miranda was saying, but it didn’t change a thing for me. And I also thought that if I took care of Keene, that would be doing something for Darcy, too. Maybe Miranda didn’t see it that way.
“Look, I didn’t come here to fight with you,” she said. “I came to get my stuff and to confirm that you are off Simington’s case.” “Confirmed.”
She nodded slowly, not surprised. “Figured as much. I’ll see if I can find another attorney to take it over.”
“Won’t matter. He doesn’t want to get off. He’s done.”
She shrugged her bony shoulders. “Whatever. Darcy would want me to find someone to at least try.”
I turned away from her. Trying was a waste of time, and we both knew it. But I didn’t doubt she’d go through the motions on Darcy’s behalf.
She disappeared into the bedroom and reemerged with her backpack.
“You gonna go see him again?” she asked. “I don’t know.”
“If you do, don’t go for the wrong reasons.” “And what the hell would those be?”
She clutched the backpack to her body. “I’m guessing you think he might be able to give you some answers, help you solve all this?” I didn’t say anything.
“Then you’ll take care of things on your own, right? Exact your own revenge because justice isn’t enough?”
I turned and looked at her. “You have a fuckin’ point?”
“You hate Simington,” she said, tilting her head to the side, like she was trying to get a better look at me. “And, probably, that’s fair. He fucked you over, and there’s no denying he’s a piece of shit.” Miranda stepped closer to me. “If you do this, you become him. The whole circle of life thing.”
Something resembling an icicle formed in my chest. “Fuck you.”
She laughed and smirked at me. “Are you serious? You don’t see it? You think because you’re hurt, that makes what you’re thinking about doing different?”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking about doing.”
“I don’t?” she said, raising the eyebrow with the ring in it. “That vicious scowl you’re wearing as a mask? What’s that for? That’s not grief, Noah. That is hate and anger and I’m-going-to-kill-the-motherfucker-who-did-this- to-me all over your face.” She let the eyebrow drop. “And why else would you think about going back to see a man you hate? It’s not going to be to tell him you’ll miss him.”
The icicle grew bigger, and I looked past her to the slider. Rain was slapping the big window, running down the glass in thick, blurred streams, obscuring the ocean.
I moved my gaze back to Miranda. “What about you? You don’t want justice for what happened to Darcy? We’re talking about one person who did this to both of them.”
