We did it!
Sloane sat at the ice cream counter, staring at the text. Clearly Madge had seen the $30,000 bid from the Captain. Madge thought they had this locked up, but Sloane knew better. She picked up the cracked watch she’d put on the sticky Formica next to her phone, willing the jagged lines to fuse back together. No dice. At least she was alone—except for the pimply kid behind the counter who had long since retired to the back to do whatever one does with a freezer full of ice cream and far too much time on his hands.
“Who the hell passes down a fake watch?” she whispered.
The bell attached to the door jangled in response.
“I thought that was you.” Rose had managed to control that weird habit she had of making everything she said sound like a question. Her long brown hair curled and frizzed in a million different directions but there was no denying she was beautiful—especially today, wearing a strappy sundress instead of her usual cargo shorts.
“Celebrating with a double scoop?” Rose slid onto the stool next to her.
“Not even close.”
“A triple then?”
“No, I mean I’m not celebrating.” Sloane felt her cheeks flush. “I mean, I think I’ve messed everything up. Bad.” She handed Rose the watch.
Rose held it up to the light and ran her finger over its cracked face. “They can fix this you know. I know it looks bad, but they’ll replace the glass, and you won’t even know it happened.”
“It’s not the crack.” Sloane took it and slipped it back into her fanny pack.
“Then what?” There was an edge to Rose’s voice. Her patience was wearing thin.
She swallowed. “They’re fake.” It wasn’t the whole truth, the important truth. But it was something.
“What do you mean?” Rose’s face darkened.
“I mean, they’re fake. The watches. Not real.”
“But … why?” Rose shook her head.
Sloane suddenly had a vision of what she must have looked like at the jewelry store, like a woman who found out her engagement ring was made of paste or a guy who discovered his fiancée was really a dude. “I have no idea.” She poked at her ice cream with a plastic spoon. “And it doesn’t explain why the Captain would have bid thirty Gs on them this afternoon.”
“Unless he didn’t know they were fake.” Rose sat up a little in her seat. “Maybe the boys already sold them.”
“You think?” Sloane’s mind was still turning over the idea in her head, letting it play over and over again until it started to make sense.
“We could always check the police files. I could have sworn I saw something in Trip’s about a watch.”
Rose stood. Sloane just sat there staring at her ice cream melting, wondering if the truth even mattered anymore. “We’ll figure this out, right?” She so badly wanted Rose to tell her that they would fix this together. That they’d make this right for Willa. That there would be justice.
“Yes.” Rose placed her hand on Sloane’s shoulder. She sounded so confident. So sure. “Sloane, listen to me. We’re in this together. Let me help you, okay?”
Half an hour later, they were sitting side-by-side on Rose’s bed, flipping through the details of Trip’s escapades. Sloane was struck by the strangeness of it all. That not a mile from her house, Rose’s stood, cramped and dingy, minutes away, worlds away. She hadn’t even known Rose existed before the War, and now she depended on her the way she might have depended on Willa if she were still alive. The understanding made her dizzy.
“There’s nothing here about a watch.” Rose sighed and tossed the file onto the floor. “I know I saw something though.”
Sloane grabbed a thick document from the bottom of the pile, and she forced herself to read the words on the cover: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. She needed to focus. “What’s that doing in the police files?”
“Dunno. But I’m glad it’s here. My dad saves all kinds of crap from his investigations. He must have been holding onto it for reason.” Rose paged through the ridiculously long document, and Sloane closed her eyes for a moment.
Goddamn James again. The second she closed her eyes he was there. Taunting her.
“Wait, here’s something.” Rose’s voice momentarily vanquished James from Sloane’s brain. “ ‘To my Grandson Trip, who makes it impossible to forget. Because of this, you have already received your full inheritance from me. Including the Cartier watch handed down from my brother Victor. Don’t bother selling it. It’s fake. Gotcha.’ ”
“I had no idea they could use words like ‘gotcha’ in a legal document.” Sloane couldn’t keep the note of wonder out of her voice.
“I might have added that for color,” Rose admitted with a laugh.
Sloane’s mind raced. “So the Captain knew all along they were fakes. But why bid on them on eBay? Sloane still wasn’t making the connection. It didn’t quite make sense.
“I think the Captain just likes to mess with people … because he can.” Rose flopped backward on her double bed with its threadbare flowered duvet and matching ruffle pillows. It looked like the room of a fourth grader, not that Sloane would say that out loud. “Besides, it’s not like he can really do anything about it now. He needs them to wear those watches so people don’t realize the true extent of his asshole tendencies.”
“So, now what?”
“We wait,” Rose said with authority. “We’ll know right away if the Captain is on to them.” Rose smiled to herself. “Once he finds out, James will be done. Over. Finished.” She probably would have continued providing synonyms about ending someone for at least another ten minutes if Sloane hadn’t jumped in.
“Do you ever wonder what really happened that night?” It was a dangerous question, but Sloane knew there was no one else she could ask.
The smile on Rose’s face faded. “Every day.” Her dark eyes burned into Sloane’s.
“He doesn’t remember.” Sloane’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He wanted me to tell you that he doesn’t remember.”
Rose’s face went white, her eyes wide. Sloane found herself standing. Her knees wobbled. She wanted to bolt from this bedroom before she broke apart into pieces. Nothing made sense anymore. Not James or Rose or the watches or the Gregorys. And this time there was no one to help her cheat, no geek she could pay to tell her the truth and make her look smart. This time Sloane was on her own. The fresh tears in Rose’s eyes confirmed it.
“I should go,” Sloane said.
“Yes,” Rose choked out. “You should.”