Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3)(27)

He took a slow step closer. “Why are you in London?”

“It’s probably nothing. And I didn’t want to worry you until we knew something for sure, so—”

“Why. Are. You. In. London?”

“Hale…” Kat reached for his hand, but he pulled away. He couldn’t touch her. “We came to get something out of your grandmother’s desk.”

“What?” he asked.

“We think…we heard that she might have had a different will. And we came to see for ourselves.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Hale shook his head. “Why would you think such a thing?”

For the first time, from the corner of Kat’s eye, she saw Marcus. He stood stoically at attention as always, but right then he made a subtle shift. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, Kat said, “Uncle Eddie.”

“What about him?” Hale asked.

“He heard the will was a fake,” Gabrielle said. “A really good con.”

“So Uncle Eddie heard that my grandmother’s will was a fake?” Hale asked. “But you don’t come to me. You don’t say a thing to me because… Why didn’t you say anything, Kat? Why would you…” Then Hale’s voice trailed off. He glanced toward the window with its views of the Tower and Buckingham Palace—places of power, family. Deceit. And his voice was cold when he said, “I’m not really the heir, am I?”

Of all the lies Kat had told in her life, not one was harder than the truth.

“I don’t know. But something’s wrong, Hale. We don’t know what, exactly, but your grandmother did leave some papers in that desk.”

Hale spun on her. “What did they say?”

Kat hung her head. “Garrett got to them before I did. They’re gone, Hale. I’m sorry.”

“What did they say?” he asked, his voice cold.

“We don’t know,” Gabrielle said. But Hale just kept looking at Kat. “Sure you do. Don’t you, Kat?”

“It might have been a will. I don’t know, though. Like I said, Garrett got to the papers first. And then he destroyed them. They’re gone, Hale. I’m sorry. I’m so—”

“So you think Garrett’s behind all of this? So he can…what? What’s his endgame? What does he want?” Hale sounded very much like someone trying to look at things objectively. As though it were just another job.

Kat shrugged. “We don’t have a clue.”

“You know who might have been able to help with that?” Hale shouted. “Me!”

“Hale,” Kat said, reaching for him; but he pulled away. “I wanted to tell you, but—”

“But what, Kat? But I couldn’t be trusted? But I’m too immature to keep a secret? Maybe you think I’m a screw-up, too.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“I saw him destroy those papers, Hale,” Kat countered.

“Yeah. Exactly. Papers. They could have been anything. This proves nothing.” He stormed toward the door, then stopped short. “No. Wait. It proves I don’t have a girlfriend anymore.”





Sleep every chance you get. Eat every chance you get. These were two of many lessons that Kat had learned at her father’s knee and her uncle’s table, but on the long flight over the Atlantic, she couldn’t manage to doze. She wanted to blame it on her coach-class ticket, but every time she closed her eyes, she heard Hale’s words and the slamming door. It felt like a dream on a constant loop inside her head, and as much as she wanted to press pause, it just kept playing over and over, and the scene never changed.

Not on the walk through the airport. Not during the long ride in the back of the cab. Even standing on Uncle Eddie’s stoop, Kat still saw the look on Hale’s face, and for once she had absolutely no idea how to steal the thing she really wanted.

“Don’t worry,” Gabrielle said. “He’ll get over it.”

Kat put her key in the lock and looked out over the sleepy street. Newspapers lay waiting for owners; the bakery on the corner had hot bagels and warm coffee. Gabrielle gave a full-body stretch and never once complained about the discomfort of the flight. There are some things even worse than flying coach internationally, and Gab knew it.

“He’ll come around,” she said. “Trust me, boys always come around.”

But that wasn’t it, so Kat shifted. “I’m not worried. I’m scared.”

“Hale will be fine. He’s just got to—”

“Not about Hale. Garrett. There was this moment in London… It was like…” She trailed off, unable to say the words aloud.

“What?”

“It was almost like he knew I was there. Or he was expecting me to be there or something.”

“You’re getting paranoid in your old age,” Gabrielle teased, but Kat didn’t think it was funny.

“Remember what Marianne said? About Garrett?”

“You mean how she was surprised that Hazel never got around to firing him?”

“Well, looks like that’s not exactly correct.” Kat handed Gabrielle the piece of carbon paper that she had found in the desk.