The Palm Beach Murders by James Patterson (the read aloud family .TXT) 📕

they were speaking too softly for anyone to hear. But I learned lip-reading as part of my stage training years ago. To me, their conversation is as clear as a high-definition radio broadcast.

“I could use your advice on something,” Paolo says. “You know any diamond experts? Like some guy who can authenticate them?”

“What, did you rob some old lady?” Jamie says, giggling. He’s drunk.

“Dude, I’m serious. I’ve got a line on something but I need someone I can trust.”

“No worries. I’ll hook you up. When do you need him?”

“Tonight, man.”

“Tonight?”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t super-important. I’m meeting this guy at ten.”

Halsey pulls out his cell phone and begins thumbing it. “Done. Just texted my guy here on the island.” Then he claps Paolo on the shoulder and, in his normal brah voice, yells: “More shots! Who’s in?”

Halsey looks over at me expectantly. Perhaps through the haze of alcohol he believes he has another chance. After all, I didn’t flee the scene.

“What about you, Jana?” he asks.

“I’ve got the lady’s drinks,” says a voice behind me.

Your lovely voice, dear Matthew.

I’m thrilled you came after me, but for these two brats, I still have to play the part. I put on a pout. “Oh, now you want to drink, Matthew. I was having a perfectly lovely time without you.”

“With these two?” you say, eyebrows cocked. And I love you for it. You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you in that moment.

But before Paolo and Jamie realize they are being insulted, you whisk me away.

Chapter 22

THEO (THE TRADER)

“You got them?” Paolo asks.

We’re in the same backwater bar where we first met. The perfect shady place for shady business. Normally I’d suggest a drink, but the kid’s impatient and jittery (and already drunk), so we get down to the matter at hand.

I open my valise and show him the uncut rocks, tilting the bag a little so they glisten. “Here they are. Now, do you have a little information for me?”

“Not yet. I have a guy coming to verify those diamonds.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“No offense, man, but I gotta look out for myself. You understand.”

Oh, I understand completely. I also understand that guy is supposed to be here any minute, thanks to the intel that Jana provided. Which is why Quinn hacked into Halsey’s phone and texted the diamond authenticator to cancel this evening’s sudden appointment. All that remained was figuring out who would take his place on such short notice.

And then I see him.

Oh, boy.

“You the guy? Yeah, I’ll bet you’re the guy,” Otto says with a rapid-fire cadence, making him sound like Martin Scorsese on uppers. Then he points at me. “Who’s this? I don’t know this guy. Halsey said it would just be you. I don’t know this guy.”

“Take it easy, man,” Paolo says. “This is my business associate, uh…”

“Ted,” I say, shaking Otto’s hand. You glorious fool.

Just you wait, his eyes reply.

“Ted, huh? Well, yeah, good to meet you, Ted, you the guy with the stuff? I haven’t got long, Halsey said this was an emergency. I’ve never known an emergency that concerned diamonds, but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Let me see the stuff, Ted. Come on, break it out.”

I know what Otto’s doing—taking the attention off me. By the time he’s through, Paolo is going to consider me an old trusted buddy compared to this twitchy weirdo. Which is exactly where we want him.

Otto’s performance is kind of inspired, I must admit. He balances his manic Scorsese with a bit of Laurence Olivier from Marathon Man, taking his time when it comes to examining each (very fake) diamond from the stash I’ve brought. He tut-tuts. He looks at the same facet twice, three times, then a fourth just for good measure. He strokes his chin. He talks to himself. By the time he’s ready for a verdict, Paolo’s practically jumping out of his skin.

“They’re real, kid.”

Paolo exhales.

“Halsey told you about my cut, right? No? Well here’s the deal, I take five of these off your hands. I don’t negotiate because before me, you didn’t know if you had real diamonds or stuff that ladies use on their purses and jackets, what’s that called, when you put bright little pieces of clear plastic on something.…?”

“Bedazzling,” I offer.

“That’s exactly right, Ted! You could have been bedazzled by Ted, but thanks to me, you weren’t. You got a problem with me taking five?”

Paolo says he has no problem with that. Otto nods, takes great care to scoop five pieces of worthless glass into a velvet pouch, and then takes his leave. Paolo is so rattled by Hurricane Otto that I have to nudge him back to the business at hand.

“So…you’ve got your payoff. Now what about the girl?”

“Yeah,” Paolo says, sounding like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I’ll take you to her.”

Chapter 23

THEO (continued)

The kid is not entirely disarmed. He has the presence of mind to ask for my gun, then searches me for a wire. It’s a rather sloppy search, though. I’ve had more invasive pat-downs from TSA. There are any number of places I could have hidden a wire.

But I’m not here to secretly record Paolo. I’m here to see if he actually knows where Paige is buried, or if he’s trying to scam me.

As he leads me all over the island, I begin to suspect it’s the latter. Paolo acts like a kid who forgot he was supposed to deliver an oral report to the class and is making it up as he goes along. Not too much farther now. Sorry, I get a little turned around in the dark. I’ve only been here in the daytime. I swear, just a few more minutes…

I say nothing, because I’m looking for signs of an ambush. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me—some of Paolo’s hidden buddies waiting to pounce on me. And by the time I wake up in the hospital, the lifeguard