He Gave Me Fifty Dollars to Live, I Left Him with Nothing novel · Chapter 8 of 32
Chapter 8: The Brooch
Tobias pulled onto a gravel turnout above the water and cut the engine.
"We have ten minutes," he said. "Then you have to be back before he counts you missing."
"What do I do about the petition?"
"Nothing yet. I have a lawyer in Providence who owes me a favor, and she'll get it unsealed Monday." He reached into the back seat. "Tonight you do this."
He set a small velvet box on my knee.
Inside lay a silver brooch shaped like a sea fan, tarnished a little at the edges.
"It's ugly," I said.
"That's the point. Nobody steals ugly."
"Is it a recorder?"
"It's a recorder with a seven-hour battery. It sits on your collar and hears everything within thirty feet."
He turned in his seat to face me.
"Hold still."
I did.
He took the brooch and leaned across the gap between us to pin it just under my left collarbone, on the black uniform.
His knuckles brushed my neck.
The car went very quiet.
I saw a muscle in his jaw tighten.
It was nothing.
It was the cold.
"Thank you," I said, too quickly.
His hands did not move.
"Six years is a long time," he said.
"You didn't call."
"You were happy."
"I said that in a letter," I said. "I was twenty-seven and a bad liar."
His eyes were on the brooch, not on me.
"I thought you meant it."
"I wanted you to think so."
The wind pushed at the car.
"Roz," he said, very low.
My phone buzzed on my knee.
I jumped.
It was the housekeeper's number, calling from the kitchen line.
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