Page 66 of Because I Need You
“Isabel, pleasure seeing you again,” Dave said as he shook my hand.
“I can’t return the sentiment,” I said with a smile, “Nothing personal against you.”
Giovanni laughed behind me. He shook Dave’s hand as well and introduced himself, as if Dave didn’t already know who he was. “I’m only here as an advisor,” he added.
An advisor. I rolled my eyes. I turned toward the table just as Giovanni pulled out the corner chair for me, which was unexpected. He knew he’d shocked me, too, judging by the way his eyes twinkled when I thanked him. He sat next to me.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to give these to you,” Dave started, taking a seat at the head of the table, next to me.
His eyes assessed me, then Giovanni, and I knew he was trying to figure out how the heck this happened, or what the heck was happening. I wanted to say, hell if I know, but I wasn’t about to answer anything that wasn’t verbalized. He cleared his throat after a moment and kept his eyes on mine the entire time he spoke.
“We only open each safe twice a month,” he explained, “There were a couple of things in the first safe.”
Giovanni pulled out his phone quickly beside me and started to text someone. I ignored him. He was only here for the keys anyway. The damn warehouse keys. Dave reached for a suitcase beneath the desk. I didn’t miss the way Giovanni stiffened next to me, like he’s bracing himself for something to go sideways. At a lawyer’s office. He lowered his phone slightly. I glanced at him. He didn’t even look at me. Didn’t even blink. He kept his eyes on the briefcase. The only thing that ran through my mind was, what kind of life has this man led that would make him this paranoid? Followed by, is this the kind of person I’ll become if we gave this a real shot? Someone who can’t sit still at a private office out of fear she’ll get killed? I definitely didn’t want that. Again, my mind, overthinking and messing with my previous plans. I turned my attention back to Dave, who twisted the briefcase in our direction to show us stacks and stacks of yellow manila envelopes. Money? I pulled the briefcase closer to me, but look up at Dave again, who was also looking inside, waiting.
“Do you know what’s in here?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “It’s confidential, of course. I would never disclose it. There’s a checklist. It has your father’s initials. He counted the items every month.”
“Counted it,” I repeated, pulling out the first envelope.
I opened it just a tad, so only I could peek in. I saw a diamond glittering. At least, I thought it was a diamond. Giovanni didn’t get closer, or speak. He just sat there. He might as well have been a statue. My advisor, he’d said, but even an advisor would speak, right? Maybe he was really just being supportive. The next three envelopes were more of the same. Tiny diamonds. The only thing I could think about were the amount of people who died for these damn diamonds. Digging for them and moving them around here before my father got ahold of them. Who knew how many? The fourth was a gold band. His wedding ring, maybe? I closed that one quickly and set it down as if it burned me. I opened the next. This one held a driver’s license. I pulled it out. It was my father’s face, but it was a Colorado license. I didn’t know him to have ever even visited Colorado. The next one was the same, Florida driver’s license. Same photograph, different name. What the fuck? I opened a larger envelope and peeked inside. There were rings. More wedding bands? The licenses I understood. I didn’t want to, but I did, but I couldn’t imagine why he’d need so many different wedding bands, unless he married these many women? The idea made my stomach churn. They were different colors, too, different styles. One in particular caught my eye, because it seemed like it was dirty. I picked it up and examined it. It looked like blood. I turned to Giovanni. His eyes were on mine in an instant.
“Does this look like blood?” I whispered, hoping Dave couldn’t hear me.
Giovanni looked at the ring in my hand and gave one sharp nod. That was it. His mouth set hard, expression blank, and a sharp nod. I dropped it back inside the envelope and shut the briefcase with a loud thump. I’d seen Dexter. Both the regular and the sequel. I knew what trophies were. The thought of these being trophies made me want to vomit. Really vomit. I set the envelope back in the briefcase. There were two other big ones, but I didn’t want to look. I couldn’t right now. Instead, I buried my face in my hands, trying to breathe through the nausea. I’d never known him, not really. All of these years, twenty-eight-fucking-years, and I’d never known him at all. I was trying to keep myself from crying, but I knew the chances were low. A phone buzzed loudly on the table.
