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

chapel on the headland when I found this.” He opened up the egg and shook out the USB drive, holding it up for her to see.

“Wonderful,” she said, with a sigh and a mighty eye-roll. “I should have known.”

He frowned. “Sorry?”

“It’s nothing. Do you know what’s on it?”

“Aye, I found an internet café and opened it up and, well, fuck me, turns out Luis Delgado is way more than a local businessman and art dealer. Way more.” He shook his head, still not quite believing it. “Amongst other things held on this little piece of plastic, are his books for the last three years. His real books I mean, not what you’d give to the tax man. We all do it in the antiques world, but nothing like this.”

“So it’s incriminating?” she asked, holding her hand out.

“Oh, I’d say that’s an understatement.” He handed the drive over, not taking his eyes off it as she held it to the light. “But that’s not to say Delgado isn’t a legitimate businessman. He can cite two art galleries, three restaurants, a studio catering company and a massive vineyard as part of his empire. All this I knew, of course, which was why I made a beeline for him when I arrived in the region. But as his books show, the main purpose of those businesses is to launder more than ninety million euros a year, generated from drugs, hijackings, as well as shipping stolen cars and guns into Europe and the Far East. People, too. Young girls.”

“Sex trafficking?” The emotion was clear in her voice.

“Aye, he’s a real piece of shit, so he is.” He held out his hand and she placed the USB back in his palm. “This little drive is basically a Who’s Who of European and Russian crime lords. Traffickers. Arms dealers. It’s fecking crazy. So yes, I’d say it’s pretty incriminating.”

Acid leaned forward, her face twisted in thought. “Fine. That’s the background. Where does the ten million come in?”

Danny took his time placing the USB drive back inside the egg, wondering if he should go on. “There’s another egg,” he told her.

“O-kay.”

“Aye, somehow Delgado has also gotten his hands on the Hen with Sapphire Pendant, which, if anything, is even rarer than the Cherub here.” He held his breath, but she didn’t respond. “Both eggs together are worth at least thirty million.”

“Oh, and I’m only getting a third of that?”

He walked the egg over to his holdall and zipped it safely inside before returning to the bed. “We can talk about the cut later. Thing is, I’ve already got a buyer for both eggs. A guy in London called Petre Kaminski.”

“And who’s he?” she asked with a frown.

“A Polish businessman. Aye, I know, another one, but he’s the sort who doesn’t care how the eggs came to be in my possession.” He locked eyes with her, feeling the energy bristling between them. She was considering it. He went on, “I’ve known him for years, sold him a few nice pieces, and we both know not to ask too many questions about the other. But what I do know for certain, he’s not someone you want to let down.”

“And what,” Acid said, “without the second egg there’s no deal?”

“No kneecaps for me either, I expect. So hopefully it won’t come to that. From him or Delgado. You see, once I sell those eggs I’m gone. Forever. I won’t have to worry about dodgy businessmen ever again.” He took a deep breath, his gaze drifting off into the middle distance. “I’ve got my eye on a place in Antigua. Right on the beach. I’ll be happy to lie low there for the rest of my days. No one will ever find me.”

She looked down, but he noticed she was hiding a smile. “You like to make trouble for yourself, don’t you?”

He leaned in closer. “What’s life without a bit of trouble?”

She stuck out her bottom lip in agreement. “I’m assuming you want me to help you steal this second egg?”

“You’ve got to have had experience with this sort of thing, a bad-ass like you?”

“A bad-ass?”

“Sure,” he replied. “A bad-ass with a good ass.”

“Wow.” She shook her head, but he noticed a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. “That is lame as shit.”

“I can do better.”

“Can you?”

“Sure can…”

“Woah… Danny.” She pulled away, wiping at her mouth. “What the fuck?”

“Sorry,” he gasped, sitting upright, the room swimming back into focus. Their lips had touched for a mere moment, but it felt like heaven. “I thought you wanted me to.”

She swung her legs off the bed and marched over to the window. “I was intrigued, that’s all,” she told him. “Trying to get my head around your ridiculous story.”

“I really thought you wanted me to.”

“Well, I didn’t. You’d know if I did. Jesus.”

“Fine. I was only—”

“Leave it, all right? It doesn’t matter. But this is bullshit, Danny.” She spun around and glared at him. “How do you expect to get to the egg? Delgado’s not going to just open his house up for us, is he? And then there’s the little matter of Magpie. She’s not going to go away. She’s still out for your blood. Mine too now probably.”

Still a little dazed, he picked at a cream appliqué rose sewn onto the bedspread. “I don’t know. I’m thinking on the trot, like always. Sorry, love. I—”

“Enough,” she snapped, holding her hand up. “And if you want me to kill you, keep on calling me love. I mean it. I’ll—” A loud knock on the bedroom door shut her up.

The two of them stared at each other.

“Who is it?” Acid called out.

No answer.

She moved over to the dresser and grabbed her gun. “Who’s there?”

“Servicio a la habitación,” a woman’s voice replied. She sounded old, speaking with a heavy accent. “Is room service. You order Champagne?”

With a hard scowl creasing her features, Acid glided to the door. “No, wrong room,” she said through the door. “Not for here.”

There was a pause. Then, “Oh, I