The scam worked—so well, we did it again before moving on to other locations around the city so the cops wouldn’t see a pattern. I continued to accidentally-on-purpose spill a drink on unsuspecting men, mainly, or tripped into them so they’d spill theirs. I invested in a set of wigs and fancy new clothes—paid for out of my cut—to conceal my identity, and used a different name and accent each time. At the rate I was going, I’d be able to pay for my entire art course in one go and have money to spare.
Dominic called me a natural, and I got greedy, cocky and careless. My demise was swift. The last mark he chose turned out to be an undercover cop working the case, and I was arrested, and all my money was seized before you could say Mercedes. I was in danger of doing some serious time until my parents stepped in. Because of their high-priced lawyer, long-standing connections with the District Attorney and regular rounds of golf with a number of judges, I was offered a heavily reduced sentence—twelve months—providing I gave up whoever I was working with. I did, and when I found out Dominic, who’d professed his undying love for me, had at least three other girls in different cities with whom he ran the same ruse, I didn’t regret selling him out one bit.
I shuddered at the memory of my father’s voice the last time I spoke to him after I’d been released. “Don’t forget our agreement,” he said, sliding an envelope containing fifteen hundred dollars across the table before listing his conditions on his fingers. “Leave town, always provide us with your contact details and, most of all, stay out of trouble. Follow through, and we may consider putting you back in our will.”
“Can’t I come home?” I said, my voice small. “I want to come home.”
“You’ve brought so much shame on us, Lily. Your mother may never recover. As far as everyone else is concerned you’re studying law in the UK. You’ll probably love it so much you’ll stay, permanently. We’ll visit you from time to time, of course.” When he put air quotes on the word visit, I knew this was the last time I’d see him, the exact moment I’d lost my family, whether I now wanted to or not.
“Can I speak to Mom and Quentin before I go? Please? I want to apologize.”
Dad tapped the money-filled envelope with his index finger. “Goodbye, Lily.”
I’d been lucky, in the end. After half a decade and a slew of jobs, which took me from Syracuse to Philadelphia, Baltimore to Washington, an old school friend who owned a sports shop in Ocean City offered me a job. When she’d sold the place, I’d met Mike while watching the sunrise, and joined Beach Body. Not long after, I’d moved to Brookmount, putting more distance between me and the hordes of tourists, and changed my last name to Reid, which had been my grandmother’s. I never got my art degree, but I had met Jack. The irony that it had been in a bar and he’d given me a false name wasn’t lost on me, and maybe it was penance, not only for my past, but also because I’d never shared my secrets with him. If I had, perhaps things would’ve turned out differently. Maybe he’d have had the courage to confide in me.
As I finished my story, Heron said, “And Jack knew nothing of this?”
“No,” I whispered. “I was too ashamed.”
“Maybe you were running another scam together,” Stevens said, flipping to bad-cop mode, which was starting to seriously piss me off. “Maybe Whitmarsh was involved, too. Perhaps it wasn’t working for you anymore and you decided you could do it on your own, or at least without Jack. Make more money that way.”
“Enough,” I shouted, and they raised their eyebrows in unison. “I don’t know anyone called Whitmarsh, Jack and I weren’t running any kind of scam and I’d never hurt him.”
“You need to calm down,” Stevens said. “You’re not doing yourself any favors here.”
My jaw clenched. When they’d arrived, I’d considered telling them about the library book and my conversation with Maya. No way would I do so now. They’d turn things around, they couldn’t be trusted, and I’d be damned if I’d let them do to Jack what they were trying to do to me, especially when he wasn’t here to defend himself.
“I did my time,” I said. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I didn’t know him then.”
Heron nodded, smiled that sympathetic smile of hers again, thinking she’d get me to open up that way. Not a chance in hell. “Lily, perhaps—”
I cut her off by raising my voice again. “Tell me about the boat.”
“We can’t comment at this point,” Stevens said.
“Why?” I snapped. “Because of your ridiculous theory it was me?”
Heron quietly said, “You do understand if you ran into Jack—”
“I didn’t, I already told you,” I said, trying hard not to yell. I knew how this worked, I had to be calm and give them the facts. “I wouldn’t even know how to drive a motorboat. Besides, I was here Friday evening, and all Friday night, right up until I went to Sam’s.”
“Alone.” Stevens seemed to make a point of saying this as a statement, not a question, and one I was certain he didn’t believe.
“Yes, alone. Talk to the people in the building. Ask my landlord downstairs. I got here at four on Friday, stopped by to pick up some cookies she’d made and came right up. I was on the phone with the cable company for ages, and had a pizza delivered at six. I’ll give you the receipt and you can see for yourselves. My car never moved, neither did my cell. Check them. Check it all. I’ve got nothing to hide.” Neither Heron nor Stevens responded, and when the silence became unbearable again, this time I got up
