The Accomplice(47)

“Yes,” Casey said. “Go. Everything is under control.”

Luna knew Casey could handle things in the kitchen, so she made her escape. She navigated through the crowded living room and slipped out through the sliding glass door.

A golden retriever bounded up to Luna and wagged his tail. Luna had no idea who the dog belonged to. Its fur was incredibly soft. She wanted to take the dog home with her. Why didn’t she have a dog?

“Hey, Luna,” said a male voice that triggered a familiar surge of heat and nerves.

Luna turned around and saw Griffin Mann. His hair was wet. He smelled like soap. A few more lines were etched deeper into his forehead, but he was mostly the same. He leaned forward and hugged her. His sweater felt even softer than the dog. She had to restrain herself from petting it.

“When did you get here?” Luna asked.

“Just a few minutes ago. Sorry I’m late.”

“Where are you staying?”

“My boss has a weekend home in Hyde Park. It’s just twenty minutes south. We come up here a lot. It’s very dog friendly,” Griff said.

“Wow. I didn’t know you were coming,” Luna said.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course,” said Luna. “You should be here. It’s been ages.”

“Yeah,” said Griff.

It was like seeing a ghost. She felt prickly and numb and vaguely dizzy. She hadn’t seen Griff in fourteen years. Luna stared into the distance while she performed the mental calculations to confirm that it had been that long. To Griff, it looked as if all she wanted was to get away from him.

“It’s good to see you,” Luna said. Eventually.

“Is it?” Griff asked.

“Yes,” Luna said, finally looking him in the eye.

They were both transported briefly to another time, a better one. Then a worse time. Luna’s throat felt dry. She was almost too parched to speak. She was afraid that if she went inside, Griff would disappear. Then Casey returned from the kitchen with a pitcher of water and glasses.

“Thank god,” Luna said.

Casey placed the tray on top of a table. She glanced over at the man Luna had been talking to. “Griff!”

“Casey, wow. Hi.”

“Shit. I haven’t seen you since…I don’t know,” Casey said.

“It’s been a while,” Griff said, not wanting to summon the memory of his father’s funeral.

Griff and Casey hugged. As Luna guzzled a glass of water, Griff saw the woman as she was fifteen years ago, chugging beer the exact same way.

Casey leaned over and whispered in Luna’s ear, “Owen needs to talk to you.”

“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” Luna said, mostly to Griff.

Luna spotted Owen near the front door. He beckoned Luna toward the garage. The two had a cramped meeting between two parked cars and a wall of dusty boxes.

“Listen,” Owen said. “Amy, my Amy, drove Leo to my house—I just saw him get out of her car. What is he doing?”

“I don’t know,” Luna said.

“Does he know her?” Owen said. “Or is he fucking with me?”

“Owen, relax. I’ll deal with him,” Luna said.

Luna found Leo at the bar, fixing a drink.

“Luna, my dear, what are you drinking?” Leo said.

“Nothing at the moment,” Luna said. “How’d you get here?”

“The bar? I took a long stroll from the couch.”

“No,” Luna said. “How’d you get to this house?”

“By car. How else?” Leo said.

“Did someone drive you?”

“Oh yes. I finally hired an assistant. Since I knew I’d be drinking, I thought I’d avail myself of her services.”

“What’s her name?”

“Amy Johnson,” Leo said. “You reviewed her application. Don’t you remember?”

Now that he mentioned it, she did. Luna hadn’t, however, considered the possibility that the two Amys were one and the same.

“You wouldn’t even interview her last week. What changed?”

“I reconsidered,” Leo said.

Luna wasn’t buying it. She knew Leo hired Amy because of her connection to Owen. Luna would have asked Leo how he found out, if they weren’t at a wake. Luna roamed the house, searching for Owen. She passed by Maya, who was refreshing the ice bucket.

“Owen’s upstairs,” Maya said. “You were looking for him, right?”

“Yes, thank you,” Luna said.

Luna found Owen lying on top of his bed, resting his eyes and hiding out.

“I talked to Leo,” Luna said.

“What did he say?”

“He hired her as his assistant. She was one of the applicants I pulled for him to interview a few weeks ago. I’m sorry.”

“And it’s just a coincidence that he hired her?”

“I’m too drunk to think about it. Come back down and talk to your guests. It’s weird if you don’t. We can discuss the Leo problem tomorrow.”

Luna left Owen alone to regroup. She descended the stairs and wended her way through the balmy living room, returning to the brisk air outside. The golden retriever jumped up on Luna as she closed the sliding door behind her. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone was that happy to see her.