"Okay, stop," Kylie said. "Turn around. We need to go home. There are other people handling this. The authorities can-"
"The authorities have never helped me out a day in my life. Don't fool yourself, Kylie. We're on our own." She pulled into the marina parking lot, which was dark. Very dark. It was getting close to dawn, but the day wasn't going to come with much light. The sky was heavy with an incoming storm.
This wasn't good. In fact, this was bad. Very very bad. Kylie pulled out her phone to call Joe, but she had no service. "Mom, check your phone. Do you have any reception?"
Her mom pulled hers from her purse. "One bar. Not enough for shit."
"Which mean you've got to stop because we can't call for backup. We're not going to be the stupid chicks in the horror flicks, okay? So just pull back out onto the street and keep driving until we get cell service, and then we'll-"
"This first," her mom said. "I just want to ask him some questions, no big deal. Wait in the car if that makes you feel better. I'll be right back." She pulled the car up to the shadows at the edge of the parking lot and hopped out of her still running car.
"Mom-"
But she was gone, heading for the docks.
Dammit. Kylie crawled over the console, into the driver's seat, and drove through the lot, one eye on her phone. She didn't want to leave her mom but she had to call Joe. When one bar finally appeared, she nearly collapsed in relief. It wasn't enough for a call, but she thought maybe she could get a text out. "Siri," she said, eyes on the spot where her mom had vanished. "Text Joe. I'm at the marina with my mom, who's gone in to talk to Kevin. Send." She tossed her phone down, drove closer to the maze of docks, parked, and went after her mom. Maybe the woman hadn't been all that great a maternal figure, but she was still the only one Kylie had. There was no way she could just sit in the car and wait for help.
She tried to stay in the shadows as she headed to the dock. Once there, she was out in the open, but the sky was still dark and there were no lights. Stymied by the huge maze of docks, Kylie slowed to listen but couldn't hear a thing except for the water slapping up against the pylons. "Mom?"
No answer, but she thought she could hear the clicking of her mom's sandals to the right, so she turned that way and nearly groaned at the amount of boats.
An entire row of them, as far as the eye could see.
But only one had an interior light on. Kylie headed that way, her stomach filled with dread. She so did not feel good about this. After creeping closer to the lone boat with the light, she hid behind a pylon and peered into one of the windows.
The interior of the boat was tight quarters, jam-packed with . . . wood furniture. She crept closer to get a better look and froze. Most of the pieces were cookie-cutter pieces, a stack of the same headboards, another of identical nightstands, but mixed in were a few other things, such as a table that looked an awful lot like the one in the picture she'd received. Another was a unique grandfather clock that she recognized from her grandpa's shop. The shop where everything had supposedly burned.
Chapter 31
SayHelloToMyLittleFriend
Panicked, Kylie once again called out for her mom. When she didn't get a response, she moved to the ladder and boarded the ship, jumping to the deck. "Mom!"
Still no answer, but she could hear voices now, her mom's and a man's, both raised. She rushed to the hatch door, not sure how to feel when she found it unlocked. A few steep steps and she found herself below deck in the area she'd seen through the window from the dock.
Just beyond that, her mom and Kevin stood in a tiny galley, toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose. In unison the two of them turned and looked at Kylie, her mom not surprised, Kevin very surprised.
"Kylie?" He sounded shocked. "What are you doing here?"
Feeling oddly emotional at the sight of him, she pointed to the grandfather clock. "Where did you get that?"
He looked confused. "What's going on?"
"Kylie's question first," her mom said.
"Okay." Kevin looked at the grandfather clock. "Your grandpa gave it to me."
Kylie shook her head. "He couldn't have. It was in his shop on the night of the fire, still unfinished."
"He hadn't finished a lot of things," Kevin said. "Kylie . . ." Expression warm, he stepped closer. "It's really good to see you. I-"
"Hold on." She held up her hand, staring at the clock. "How is it here if it burned?"
He hesitated and she let out a rough breath. "You were at his shop that night. And you, or someone, took it and finished it." She waited for him to say otherwise, hoping against hope there was a good explanation that didn't involve him betraying her grandpa and one of the few good childhood memories she had.
But he said nothing.
"Explain," her mom said to him. "Explain right now."
"Listen," Kevin said directly to Kylie, ignoring her mom. "Clearly, there's some confusion. Your grandpa gave me this piece before the fire, and it was finished. But great news, you've just confirmed it's his work. Can I get you to authenticate that in writing?"
"I'm not confused." She'd offered to help her grandpa finish the piece and he'd been delighted with her interest. Only they hadn't had the time before it was too late. She looked around and saw a Polaroid camera on the galley table, which made her heart start a heavy drumming in her chest. "Is that your camera?"
Kevin followed her gaze and sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. When he looked at her again, his bafflement was gone, replaced by resignation. "All you had to do," he said, sounding very tired, "was agree to authenticate my work so I could make enough money to fund my own gallery instead of working for a bunch of big corporate idiots who know nothing about the art of furniture making."
"I couldn't do that," she said. "I couldn't authenticate what wasn't his. Surely you knew that."
He shrugged. "You made your choice, I suppose. But now I have to make mine."
Kylie's heart sank to her toes and she slowly slid her hands into her pockets. Her right hand encountered her phone. She swiped the screen and thumbed what she was pretty sure would be her phone app. Then she tapped the screen near the top, hoping like hell that first, she had service now that she was away from all the buildings and on the water, and second, that she was calling the last person she'd attempted to call-Joe.
"I can't believe this," her mom said. "I knew right from the start that you were a bad apple."
"Right," Kevin said dryly. "Or why else would you have dated me?"
Her mom's eyes narrowed. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Kevin snorted. "It means you only date assholes. And you're a mom! What kind of idea was that supposed to give Kylie? It's amazing that she's not all kinds of screwed up."
Ha. Little did he know, Kylie thought. "Okay," she said quickly when her mom started looking around, probably for a bat to hit Kevin over the head with. "This is about Grandpa's work, not you two's past-"
"Shut up," they both said in unison, glaring at each other.
"You said you were the exception!" her mom yelled at Kevin.
"And you said you'd changed!" Kevin yelled back.
Kylie sighed and, keeping one eye on the children, she looked around for something to help the situation and caught sight of a couple of pieces of furniture against the far wall. An armoire and a matching mirror. "Oh my God," she said. "Those are my grandpa's too." She looked at Kevin. "They were also in his shop on the day of the fire, where supposedly everything burned."
"Most," he said. "But not everything."
Her mom's eyes were wide. And pissed. "How did you get this stuff?" she asked. "His stuff?"
Kevin shrugged. "You know how the guy was. Brilliant artist, shitty businessman."
"So you took advantage of him through me?" Kylie's mom asked.
"Hey, he'd offered to pay me to finish some things for him," Kevin said. "And I did exactly that, only he didn't pay me. He couldn't."
"He'd never do that," her mom said. "He was the most honest man I ever met."
Kylie had gone still. "The horses," she whispered.
"What?" Her mom looked at her. "What horses?"
But Kevin was nodding, confirming Kylie's fear. "He did love the races," he said. "And the betting."
The truth was, her grandpa had been a gambling addict-though Kylie had believed him to be a recovered addict. Her mom was looking stunned. Kylie's grandpa had been so good at so many things and it seemed one of those things was keeping secrets.