“What?” Alaric was at her side in an instant, looking over her shoulder at the phone in her hand.
“Irvine Carnes just endorsed Kyla Devane for his old senate seat.”
Alaric gave a low whistle of surprise, so clearly that was unexpected, but I had no idea why. All I knew was that Irvine Carnes was somehow wrapped up in the disappearance of the aforementioned stolen goods, seeing as it was his assistant who’d picked up the package in London and then fled the country.
“For those of us who don’t follow American politics, could you explain?” I asked.
“Carnes is a Republican, Devane’s independent,” Emmy said, as if that answered everything.
“Carnes recently retired from the senate,” Alaric explained. “Said he wanted to spend more time with his family. Everyone expected him to throw his weight behind the next Republican on the ballot for the special election to replace him. Carnes is well-liked in Kentucky, so his opinion carries a lot of sway. For him to push Devane instead of David Biggs…that’s huge.”
“So why would he do it?” Ravi asked. “Does he have a problem with Biggs personally?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Their policies align, and Biggs seems like an okay guy.”
Emmy snorted. “The term ‘okay’ being relative. Biggs is a lawyer turned politician. He checked his morals at the door.”
Considering Emmy had thrown a man off a building two days ago, I wasn’t sure she was the best person to make that argument, but then again, I’d had a hand in helping her. I kept my mouth shut.
“Maybe it was tactical?” Alaric suggested. “Devane’s been surging in the polls, and Aidan O’Shaughnessy’s been rising too. Perhaps Carnes figured that if Biggs was going to lose, Devane was the lesser of two evils.”
“But is she though? I heard she wanted the US to pull out of UN peacekeeping operations.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“From the horse’s mouth. Her Twitter account. Apparently, the US military’s just too expensive, and those countries should be fighting their own battles.” Emmy gave her head a little shake. “No, Carnes’s move doesn’t make sense. If he’d publicly backed Biggs, Biggs’s poll numbers would’ve gotten a boost.”
“Then why do it?”
“Who knows? Maybe we’re missing something.”
“Like what?”
“If we knew that, it wouldn’t be fucking missing, would it? But I’m curious. Aren’t you curious? Let’s add it to the list of questions when we talk to Carnes and his assistant.”
I had to admit, I was curious. I’d long since learned from my father’s cronies that when a politician did the unexpected, it was usually to benefit themselves rather than the country. Like the time Digby Bartrum, MP for Surrey Heath and Daddy’s doubles partner, had awarded the contract for a new government computer system to a company my parents had invested in, despite it being more expensive than the other options. They’d split the spoils. I heard them bragging about it over drinks.
“Why not? Sure we can’t fly straight to Frankfort?”
“Sky needs to go to Richmond. Plus I have a meeting, and it’s already been rescheduled twice thanks to all the shit that happened in London.”
Alaric sighed, and Emmy’s tone softened.
“We’ve been chasing this painting for eight years, Prince. Another day won’t make much difference.”
Prince. Once again, I was reminded of Emmy and Alaric’s past, of a time when they’d been close enough to give each other nicknames. Cinderella and Prince Charming. A hot bud of jealousy swelled in my chest, which was completely irrational since Emmy was happily married now. Stand down, hormones. Alaric had made it quite clear that he was focusing on his career for the moment, and I was getting over a messy divorce. Plus there was the whole lying/stealing thing.
No, I had to concentrate on work. My salary from Sirius was the only thing keeping me and my current horse off the breadline, and with my sketchy résumé, I couldn’t afford to screw it up. Not with Chaucer’s livery bill due in a week.
“I only booked accommodation from tomorrow night,” I said. “If we go straight to Kentucky, I’ll need to change the reservation.”
Alaric straightened and came back to his seat beside me. “We’ll go tomorrow. But this painting’s jinxed, I can feel it. Just like Emerald. Every time we get a lead, it blows up in our faces.”
The painting in question was Red After Dark, a modern masterpiece by Edwin Bateson valued at a cool million bucks. It had been stolen from the Becker Museum in Boston thirteen years ago along with four other paintings, and I’d left it in my freaking car while I nipped into Tesco. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, obviously—my ex-boss had lied to me about the contents of the package—but my need to buy carrots for Chaucer had been the catalyst that led to the grand unravelling of my life and landed me on the plane today.
And Emerald? The Girl with the Emerald Ring was Alaric’s nemesis. Believed to be the main target of the Becker raid, the oil painting hadn’t been seen since the day it was stolen. Alaric had been on her trail eight years ago, ready to swap what was effectively a ransom for her safe return, when the pay-off had vanished along with his reputation.
See? We really were quite similar. I’d lost Red, and he’d lost Emerald.
Then we’d both lost everything.
“That’s the way of the world,” Emmy told him. “If shit ran smoothly, neither of us would have jobs, would we?”
“I’d be good with that. Wouldn’t you like to lie around on the beach all day, listening to the waves?”
“Nah, I’d get bored.” The plane hit another rough patch, and her bullets fell over and rolled off the table again. “Fuck it. On second thoughts, the beach doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
Wow.
Alaric had told me a little about the Riverley estate before we arrived, but I still wasn’t prepared. Quite fancy, he’d said. I’d feel right at home.
Sure, if I were the Duchess of Marlborough.
My
