The Frame-Up (The Golden Arrow #1)(84)
Lawrence flicks through his phone, scanning the pictures. He stops on one, then sits back. “That’s cash. That’s a big brick of cash.”
“In a box of comics?”
“This has to be how they’re moving the drugs around. MG, they’re using your comics. My guess is they pack their product in these boxes after the comics are printed, send the boxes to China, sell the drugs, then send back the tear sheets with the cash. It’s brilliant, really.” The Yees are a part of this. They bought into the printing press so they could package the drugs with the comics bound for Asia. Didn’t Ryan say just the other week that the comic was selling gangbusters overseas? Maybe not quite as well as heroin.
I nod slowly. “I need a name. I need proof, because if I show up at the LAPD with these pictures, guaranteed you and I are dead. Officer James isn’t working alone. I need the other journals. Casey Junior thinks that his father named his murderer in them. You told me Casey Senior was amassing evidence against someone. I need it to prove that he was going to unmask the White Rabbit. It’s got to have his name on it.”
The journals. Everything comes down to a dead man’s journals that have been missing for thirty years. And given the fact that I came face-to-face with our mystery man in Casey Senior’s office, the Golden Arrow is looking for the evidence too. I wasn’t sure what the Golden Arrow’s game plan was upon finding them, but given the fact that he or she set fire to a building, I’m not sure murder is off the table. Either way, I need those journals first.
And now . . . well, I’ve probably tipped my hand to the White Rabbit too. If Matteo tells his team that he thinks I have the journals, the double agent will leak the information. The White Rabbit will then be looking for the journals, and for me, to get rid of us both. I need to get ahead of this thing. “How can I beat the Golden Arrow at this game when I’ve been two steps behind this whole time?”
Lawrence taps his chin. “If it were me, I’d put the journals in plain sight. Somewhere someone wouldn’t expect. Not in a safe, but inside a boring book or something.”
Think, think, think, MG. What was in the office? What would Casey Junior miss for thirty years? In the comic book, stuff was hidden behind a painting, in a wall safe. We saw the wall safe. It’s the most obvious place to look. And it was behind a painting. Something shifts in my mind, just like something shifted inside the frame when we moved it. At the time, I thought it was a broken frame, but now I’m wondering if Casey Senior’s spirit is reaching out yet again and delivering the story line.
Matteo said many of the paintings were being shipped to the charity auction at the San Diego Comic-Con. This is the connection between the two story lines. The printing press. The comic book, the painting, the wall safe. I guarantee the Golden Arrow is going to be at that auction, and so are we. In fact, I’m going to make sure the Golden Arrow is there, and the White Rabbit too. We’re going to catch them and end this thing once and for all.
“I have a plan.”
Lawrence nods as if he’s been expecting it. “I’ll call in my crew. You’re not doing this alone.”
I need to find that painting and whatever Casey Senior hid inside, and lucky for me, I’m already going to compete in the Miss Her Galaxy fashion competition. Perfect alibi.
CHAPTER 24
“You’re sure that they’ll find us?” I’m scanning the crowd outside the convention center, barely able to keep my tired eyes open. I’ve been up past midnight the last few nights putting the finishing touches on the six feet of sequined glory I’ve created for Miss Her Galaxy. My Band-Aided fingers tell the cautionary tale of sewing tulle while narcoleptic.
The crush of zany characters takes my breath away, costumes from every corner of geekdom. In our plain clothes, we’re pretty much mosquitoes among a butterfly gathering: boring and invisible to everyone else.
“Girl, you worry too much. It’s like gaydar. Queens can find each other anywhere.”
Once L agreed to my plan, he insisted his drag family were the perfect ones to pull this off. And look fabulous doing it. I glance to the side, where Ryan is still getting a selfie with an amazingly adapted steampunk Legend of Zelda character. We weren’t in line twenty minutes before he put our fangirling to shame. For all that he argued about coming, Ryan has already filled half his phone storage with pictures.
“Like a kid in a candy shop,” Lawrence confirms, looking over my shoulder. The line shuffles forward, and we dutifully follow. I’m on pins and needles for so many reasons, I kind of feel like throwing up now that I’m forced to be mostly still in line for our badges. Kinda like that time I had three butterbeers, then went on the Flight of the Hippogriff at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Barf city.
“What did you end up telling Ryan? You didn’t tell him . . . all of it, did you?” I eye Lawrence. I also can’t help but go back to my last conversation with Matteo, where he all but told me he suspected Ryan of being the Golden Arrow. I almost convinced him—and myself—that it’s impossible. Yet . . . Ryan and I haven’t talked about our conversation at the gala either. Ryan has basically been MIA since the gala, though I saw him at work a few times. I’ve also been busy: watching the news, preparing for my fashion show, brainstorming with L, and actively avoiding Matteo while I’m meddling in his investigation . . . Well, I didn’t have the time to track Ryan down to talk. In fact, this is already the most I’ve seen of Ryan in a week.