Sister Death (Acid Vanilla Series Book 4), Matthew Hattersley [best book club books for discussion .TXT] 📗

Stop this.

Stop this now.

She knew full well that even entertaining this joker was a massive red flag. She could already sense herself spiralling, the brittle craziness at the base of her soul swelling into her consciousness. She was thinking too laterally, was too eager to take risks, but also right now she didn’t care. Because wasn’t this always the double-edged sword of being who she was, of thinking the way she did? A part of her knew she was heading for the cliff-edge, but another part relished that fact, lived for the fuck it, let’s see what happens-ness of it all. Plus, she told herself, if the money was real, it could be the lifeline she needed.

She glanced at Danny. “How do we get our hands on this money?”

“That’s the spirit,” he said, raising his glass. “Although to be honest with you, Acid, I don’t think you’re going to like what I’ve got planned.”

Nineteen

Danny gulped back a mouthful of Jack Daniels, hoping, praying, that the strong liquor might provide him some instant courage. As it was, it only made him feel more nauseous and no less wary of this strange, scary, enigmatic woman sitting in front of him. It was safe to say Danny Flynn wasn’t used to strong women. Not ones he found so damned attractive, anyway. There was his ma, of course, Aunt Sheila too. Both strong as all hell, mentally at least. But this Acid Vanilla was like no woman he’d ever met. She was sexy, strong, and with a fierce tongue on her that made him not want to speak ever again. He certainly had reservations about telling her his plan. Because really it wasn’t a plan at all, was it? A vague notion at best. A sketch of an idea he was pretty much making up on the spot. He shuddered, the whisky passing his throat as Acid nodding eagerly at him, gesturing that he get on with it. He fixed her in the eyes, at the exact moment that everything he was preparing to say fell out of his head.

“Woah, there,” he spluttered. “I’ve only this second noticed your eyes. Would ya look at that, they’re different colours. Never seen that before. They’re… beautiful.”

Those same beautiful eyes (one dark turquoise, one light umber – although he might have gone with rich caramel) rolled back in annoyance. “Quit stalling, Romeo,” she told him. “Tell me your plan.”

But for once it wasn’t a line. Danny was transfixed. Those eyes, together with her striking bone structure and full, natural lips had him entranced. And she was still staring at him. Waiting. Her impatience growing.

“Enough stalling,” she said. “Spill or I’m out of here.”

“All right, here goes.” He stood up and hit himself on the chest a couple of times with the heel of his fist. “So… The man who hired the man, he’s called Luis Delgado. A local businessman and art dealer.”

“Yes. I’m aware of him. And the mad nun? She goes by the name Sister Death. Also Magpie. And she’s no nun.”

“Right. Well that’s reassuring – for a minute there I thought she was here to make me atone for my sins. Anyway, if you know Delgado, you’ll know he’s big news here in the Basque Country. Although, I didn’t realise just how big until yesterday. See, I’ve been working with him – or rather, for him – for the last few months. Brokering a deal on a few pieces. Fine art, mainly. He invited to me to his house on a couple of occasions. We ate together, drank. I felt like he was looking after me.” He shook his head, took another gulp of Jack. “Then Billy Big Balls here goes and fucks it all up. Like he always does.”

“What the hell did you do, Danny?” Acid asked. “I’m still struggling to understand why someone like Delgado – who I imagine has plenty of goons on his payroll – outsources to an international killer like Magpie. That’s a big price to pay, and for what?”

Danny slid off the bed and walked over to his holdall. “This,” he said, removing the egg from its box and holding it up. “I stole it from him.”

Acid squinted at the piece. “Fabergé?”

“You have a good eye,” he told her, returning to his position on the bed. “But this one’s been missing for decades. Super rare. Like, only a handful of people have ever even seen it. I’ve no idea how it came into Delgado’s possession but it’s pretty much priceless.”

“Okay, so I’m still not understanding where this all fits in with Magpie. Why hire her in particular?”

“I don’t know, but it was fecking stupid of me to take it, I know that. But I saw the opportunity and here we are. I was blinded by how much it could bring and what I could do with that sort of money. Plus, I figured by the time he realised it was missing I’d already be in the wind. He’d never see me again. Only in the excitement I left my passport and papers at his place. Stupid fecking eejit.”

“That’s pretty much what your uncle said as well.”

“Aye, fair enough.” He smiled grimly, his eyes on the egg, over which he ran his thumb. “You see, even then I didn’t worry too much. Delgado’s worth close to a billion euros. Losing one little egg wouldn’t have been such an issue for him. Only I stole more than the egg.”

“How do you mean?”

Danny shook the egg so they could both hear it rattle. “After escaping from your Magpie, I started to wonder, like you are, why is he sending professionals after me? He’s got men to do that sort of thing. A guy called Hugo and a few others. Big mean dudes. They’d have handled a cocky Irish tinker like me in a second. Anyway I got away, as you know, and was hiding out in a wee abandoned