Damon made the decision to start with the most difficult climb first. The notorious Filbert Steps consisted of several hundred steps all going uphill. Those same stairs loomed in front of Damon and Brent. A beast disguised as a scenic must-experience for the tourist. Other, more convenient routes existed to their destination of Coit Tower. They could take the SF Muni 39 Coit bus picking up at Pier 39 or North Beach. They could also drive up to the top and park or be dropped off by a cab. But they didn’t want to miss any possible clue or marker. The numbers on the inside of the ring indicated Coit Tower, but also included the surrounding area leading up to the landmark like the plazas and house-covered hills.
They needed to find something specific to Christopher Barrett and they didn’t know what that would be. Their plan for the day included conquering the steps first and taking the Greenwich Steps on the way down. Cover as much area in a short amount of time as possible. Daylight wasn’t on their side. The late afternoon sun gave their plan an expiration. They knew going into this they would not be able to explore all avenues to get to the entrance of the tower today. They’d tackle the most difficult one first and hike their way to the top. Afterwards, they would regroup, look at photos, do some research, and figure out what to do next.
Tomorrow they would come back, or the next day, and try another entrance until exhausting all possibilities. The paths leading up to the tower were only the beginning. What other mysteries were hidden here?
Coit Tower sat atop the area of the city known as Telegraph Hill. A section with streets ending and turning into staircases leading somewhere else. If someone buried the missing diamonds here, Damon thought it was fitting, given the tower was one big labyrinth through gardens and parks or to the next attraction, guarded by private residences in between.
Damon adjusted his backpack, ready to get started. The wooden stairs intrigued him. They jutted through shrubs and brush, making Damon think of potential hideaways and nooks, all of which made for stowing objects ideal. There was a secret hidden. A clue. A link from Lila’s ring to something else. But what? Damon adjusted his backpack.
The first section stole Damon’s breath with the steep and strenuous incline. A curse word here or there punctuated the silence between the brothers. The worn steps revealed their age and their weakness from thousands of feet stepping on them over the years. They weren’t alone, either. People walked ahead of them and lingered behind. A couple in front of them stopped every few stairs to take a picture of themselves.
They paid no attention to the natural parts of the setting, like flowers and trees. Anything buried would have to be somewhere able to withstand years of wind, heat, and cold.
The climb came to an end at a narrow plateau. “Take a break,” Brent said, coming to a stop aside Damon. Brent drank half the water and handed it to Damon.
He chugged it, wiped his arm over his sweaty forehead and said, “Now that we’re here, our goal seems like a longshot.”
“This is more or less a scouting effort,” Brent reminded him. “Let’s see what we find.”
“I was going to give you an ultimatum,” Damon said, daring to bring up the work situation. The stress of working alongside Kendra seemed childish now. Glancing at the opening between the trees to a strip of the bay. “I couldn’t work alongside her anymore.”
Brent picked a leaf off the tree and tore it up, his face thoughtful. “I came to the same conclusion. I wanted to get through the holidays before discussing it. I wanted to find her a job or give you time to make a decision. You know the business as good as I do, but I can see the situation wasn’t good for either of you. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, asking you to leave Chicago.”
“I needed a change,” Damon admitted. “It was time for me to come back.”
“If you want to get out of the business, I won’t hold you back. You’re invested financially, and, as our legal representative, but you don’t have to stay. With the robbery and the damage to the store, I’m going to have to figure out what the next steps are for the company. It’s a good time to start over. For both of us.”
“Any ideas about what you want?”
“Yes, I do, but there’s no point in pretending things are as they used to be. I won’t ever work with Luke again and you’ve got a law firm to run. The three of us aren’t in our twenties anymore, living some fantasy of running a family business. I’m not out there in the jungles and mountains, halfway around the world. I’m in an office. Kendra’s dead. Melanie’s gone. Who knows what will happen to Luke. Things change. We’ve changed.”
“Maybe,” Damon said, mulling over Brent’s words. The three of them starting out in the business seemed like a different era in their lives.
“This time I want to start the business on my own terms. Gems are my life. I wouldn’t know what else to do. My side projects don’t come anywhere near as fulfilling as taking a rock and turning it into something more. I’ll have contractors put the store back together and I’ll move forward. The robbery showed me the weak gaps in our security which I’ll correct, including a fulltime security guard around the clock. I might even change the name. I never liked Trace Elements. That was all Luke.” Brent suddenly hit the rail. “Damn him,” he whispered.
Damon drank the rest of the water, crumbling the plastic bottle in his hand. “Keep moving,” he said, feeling oddly closer to Brent than he had been in years. “There’s nothing around us but some plants.”
They continued up the second section with a less rigorous incline. Stairs hugged the perimeter of residences. A preview of rooftops and building-covered hills met Damon’s gaze. A woman and a man stood in front of them pointing at something in the tree, a bird or parrot. Damon said, “Excuse me,” and continued walking.
The closer they got to the top, the more Damon felt what they looked for remained closer to the tower. The random trinkets, signs, plaques, and even an old parking meter, didn’t strike him as noteworthy. He needed to find something that would have been of value to Christopher Barrett.
And what did Barrett value besides money?
Family.
The third and final section took Damon and Brent close to the entrance. A slow line of visitors bottlenecked the juncture. Tote bags, cameras, even the rare fanny pack clung to a portly body just ahead of them. Damon got in line to go up the brick staircase. Damon started to look down, but a child rammed into his backside. He glared and the boy who quickly hid behind his mother.
“Almost to the top,” Brent said, “Last time I came here, Jessica and I didn’t take the stairs. We drove. The experience was much better.”
Damon’s lips curled into a grin. “Ah, Jessica.”
Brent stiffened. “What about her?”
“Nothing, I like her. She’s good for you. I can see that.”
“Coming from you, I’ll take the compliment. And, so you know, I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“Not surprising,” Damon said.
“I was going to ask her during our vacation, but we know why I had to rush back.”
“Congratulations are in order.”
“You do realize there’s more to life than spending it alone,” Brent said.
Damon did think about settling down in an abstract sort of way. Sure, he had his rules, Lila wasn’t the only one to have come up against them. Beneath all his success and wealth was a man not willing to let anyone in long enough to see his true self.
“I’m not alone,” he said, thinking of all the women who’d kept him company over the past year. Empty, maybe. A lost cause, definitely. But not alone.
A group of ladies in matching blue t-shirts laughed loudly and stood directly in his way.
One of the women met his eyes and her face lit up. She stepped to the side to let him through and Damon looked past her, his gaze landing on a familiar face and head full of long hair. Maggie. Maggie?
If she was here…Damon scanned the crowd looking for her cane-wielding counterpart. His head did a double take and saw her. There she stood. Eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Lips drawn taut in displeasure. Hair pulled back. “Shit,” he mumbled.
“Someone you know?” Brent said, following Damon’s gaze.
“No,” Damon said, watching her hand toggle the cane.
Brent craned his neck and looked to his brother, catching his eye. “You sure? Because she looks a lot like Lila Kent.”
“You can’t be sure. You’ve never met her.” Damon spoke low.
“I told you I looked her up online.” Brent swatted Damon’s chest. “She’s here for the same reason as us.”
“Excellent work, Detective.”
Brent shot him a look.
Damon flickered his gaze to Lila. Maggie stood close to her and said something in her ear. Lila nodded and pushed up her sunglasses. Damon didn’t recognize the two men in their group, although the taller one looked familiar.
“Jeremy Barrett,” Brent said, leaning close to Damon, “in case you didn’t guess.”
Upon a second glance, Damon groaned. An extra shot of unease to his system. They must have come to the same conclusion about the location, which meant they also knew about the jewelry heist from the museum. They also had an advantage with Jeremy in their crew. He’d know better than anyone if something connected to his father.
All of this aside, Damon concluded quickly why the sight of Lila annoyed him. She’d come here without telling him about the location. He hadn’t told her either, which meant they both held back.
“No way is this a coincidence,” Brent said, folding his arms over his chest. “You should talk to her.”
“I can’t. She’ll want to know why I’m here.” Damon took a step back, prepared to avoid her altogether.
“Sightseeing, obviously.”
“Damon!” Maggie called out, striding over to meet him.
“Who’s this?” Brent asked.
“The overprotective best friend,” Damon answered.
Maggie halted in front of them. One of her thin eyebrows arched in suspicion. “What a coincidence you chose this particular day to check out Coit Tower.”
Damon’s lips formed a shit-eating grin. “Naturally.”
“I’m Brent,” his brother said, extending a hand.
“Maggie.” She shook his hand warily, continuing to address Damon. “No really, what are you doing here?”
Damon grinned. “Spending quality time with my brother.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Lila knows you’re here. I wouldn’t say she’s happy about that either.”
“Why wouldn’t she be happy to see me?”
“You’re looking for something that doesn’t belong to you.”
“Did she tell you that specifically?” Damon challenged.
The brittle tone took Maggie by surprise. “Yes, she did.” Maggie reduced her voice to a whisper saying, “She spent one night at your house, don’t think for a second you know everything about her.”
Damon smirked. “I know enough.”
“You know nothing.” Maggie’s eyes hardened. “I just don’t want to see her going through anything else. She’s fragile.”
Damon didn’t think she was anything of the sort, which made him wonder how well Maggie understood her. “I have no intention of hurting her.”
“We,” she said, drawing a circle with her finger, “as in her friends and family look out for her best interest.”
Damon shrugged. “We’re not in your way. We came for the tour.”
Maggie scowled. “Yeah, right. Please go home. Please just…stay away. It’s selfish of you—both of you,” she said, pointing an accusatory finger at Brent, “to show up here. Your gemstone-hunting brother has his sights sets on finding where this ring leads and selling whatever we find or worse, using Lila to give you some of the prize.”
“Maybe we’re trying to help her,” Brent offered.
“Ha!” Maggie took a slight step back. “You’re helping yourselves.”
“We have better things to do than try to change your mind.” Brent nodded at Damon “Let’s go. We’ll stay out of your way,” he told Maggie.
Maggie’s bitter tone wasn’t lost on Damon, and, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t like the sense of control she seemed to have over Lila, showing up at the financial meeting. Disappearing for the night of the robbery, when Lila could have used her the most. The way she looked, pleased to be in the way between him and Lila. Despite what Maggie had said, Damon did know himself and he was beginning to know Lila. He’d bet his fortune any day of the week that Lila did want to see him. She wanted to be back in his bed. And Maggie didn’t have any influence over her there.
The steps leveled off and gave way to a main level with a small parking lot and a circle in the middle with a statue facing the bay. Groups of people moved together. Others stayed by themselves, walking around and taking in the scenery. Some of whom he’d seen on the way up the hill.
“I’ll go see what we need to get inside,” Brent said. “Stay here.”
The tower itself reminded Damon of a giant nozzle. Brent stood at the entrance, motioning him to come over.
“Attention!” announced a woman at the front doors. She pushed her oversized glasses over her nose. “We’re ready to start the next tour. I’ll need to see your ticket!”
“What are we doing?” Damon said, joining his brother.
“We’re taking a tour,” Brent said.
“I thought you were kidding.”
People got in line behind Damon at the same time he noticed those joining their group included Maggie et al.
The tour began on the first level and quickly moved to other areas of the tower. They all walked through the small space. The docent drawled on about the history of the tower, circa 1933.
The tower didn’t interest Damon so much as what secrets were hidden there now. They moved to a room with walls of painted murals. Each one depicted a different scene painted years ago by an artist. A farmer and a young boy, an iron worker with his employee in a factory, a busy street in the city with a police officer in a dated uniform. One after another, the mural depicted the people of a different era with ladies wearing fur coats and the men in suits faded in his mind as he strolled by the details of the Depression as told through mini stories.
The docent rattled off more facts, throwing around the name Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Brent acted the patient part of showing indifference and stayed near the tour guide. Each brother worked their own angle. Damon stayed back to focus on the plaques, signs, and artwork, presently a sign bearing the words California Wines met his scrutiny.
Maggie and the guys stayed together while Lila stopped in front of the picture of men, women, and children with dirty faces and tired expressions that matched Lila’s, except she wasn’t washing clothes in a river like the people on the wall. The rest of her group moved ahead without her, leaving them mostly alone.
The move gave Damon the opening he needed. He walked up to her and stood beside her. They faced the mural like two people interested in artwork. “What do you think of this one?” Damon said, careful to not frighten her.
“So, it’s true.” Her lips bent into that signature frown. “You really are here.”
“Climbed the Filbert Steps myself.”
“How exhausting. We drove.”
Damon’s hand met the small of her back. “Brent and I decided to have a real tourist experience. I ran into Maggie, as you know, and I see Jeremy is with you. Who’s the other guy?”
“Gavin is Maggie’s fiancé.”
“Good luck to him.”
Lila whirled around. “Totally uncalled for.”
Damon caught her forearm. “Why didn’t you tell me about Coit Tower?”
“You didn’t tell me, either.” She drew in a quick breath. “Why are you even here? The ring doesn’t even concern you.”
“It concerns Kendra. Therefore, I want answers just as much as you do.”
She looked up at him with anger shining in her eyes. “Somehow I don’t believe you. You ignored Kendra for years. You can barely admit you have a son. You aren’t here for the investigation, you’re here for yourself.”
Damon dropped his hand. “Maybe we should stick to communicating in my bed. You seemed eager to forgive my shortcomings there.”
She blushed and looked away. “I won’t be in your bed again so you don’t have to worry about that.”
Nobody liked their faults thrown back in their face and Damon was no exception, especially after he’d opened up to her. The stony look in her eye kept him from leaving her. “You were different at my house,” he said gently. “Did something happen between then and now?”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve reminded myself who you are.”
Damon stroked her jaw. “I’m not all bad, am I?”
“Are you handsome?” she blurted.
“Excuse me?” he said, not understanding the random question.
“Handsome. Hot. Good looking. Beautiful. Does your face match those descriptions?”
“All of them,” he quipped.
She put her hand to his chest and tilted her face. “May I?”
A shaky breath left his mouth. The skin beneath his shirt ignited with heat from her touch. Where she was going with this he didn’t know or care. She could touch him wherever she wanted. Damon folded his arms over his chest. “Do you have a point to feeling me up in public?”
She ignored his comment. “When I first began to lose my eyesight, I still acted as if I could see normal, even though I couldn’t. I saw through a pinhole. A tiny dot in the middle of my Iris tricked my brain into thinking I could see just fine. I lived with the illusion that I could still do anything. I didn’t think about all the things I would never do. I wouldn’t drive. I wouldn’t open a book and read text or watch a movie. I couldn’t even see myself in the mirror. I didn’t want to think this would be my fate. Except one day the pinhole did close. I remember the day more than any other in my life because it’s the moment I learned that we don’t always get what we want.”
Damon’s resolve to not touch her weakened. He fought the urge to slide his hands around that waist and draw her close enough to comfort her. “You can still wish for things, Lila.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want your advice. I accept my reality. It’s simple. Don’t wish. Don’t flirt. Don’t date. Never be intimate. This is how I survive….and…”
Damon’s eyes roved over her long black lashes and her shining eyes. “You were going to say something more.”
A giant swell of her breath pressed her chest into his. “Then I met you.”
“Then you met me,” he echoed her words. “Cheater. Liar. Asshole.”
“You have no idea how much I want to see your eyes and your mouth and your expression right now. You don’t understand where I’m coming from. It’s not all about you. It’s about me and you and how you make me break my cardinal rule of not having expectations. The ring is my problem to solve. My trail to follow. The police will find Kendra’s killer. It’s better for me if you’re not around. We’re different, you and me. You can have any life you choose and I…I can’t. I can’t be involved with you, in any capacity. That’s why I didn’t call you and tell you we figured out the location. The more I stay away from you, the better off I’ll be. I just wish I could take back this morning in your bed.”
“I don’t,” he said firmly.
Her cheeks turned pink.
The honesty flattered him. He’d been about to respond, when a movement to the right caught his attention. Maggie coming back to get her friend. “Sounds like we have nothing else to discuss. You should get back to your group.”
What he didn’t tell Lila was how much more he wanted from her. She made him start to wish for things he couldn’t have.